05' Xterra Budget Build (1700 watt)

[rhedreen]

I have been out of the stereo game for about 20 years and really never thought I would look back. My Xterra came with the Rockford Fosgate system which I thought sounded great for the last 5 years. Fast forward to 3 months ago, my buddy gave me a 10" sub w/box. I dug out an old Orion Xtreme 400 amp that was buried in the garage and hooked it up. Man I couldn't believe how much I missed that low end punch! So I put together a simple build, but no matter how I had tried to keep the stock system (speakers/HU), I found myself needing to replace all or some.

My wife already thought I was crazy for doing anything, so i put my budget at $1500ish. Kicked around a few different brands, but ultimately settled on:

Pioneer x9600bhs

RF r400-4d

JL C5-075ct tweets

stock front door 6.9s (more on these later)

Soundstream PN4.320D (yea I know, but it was cheap?)

stock rear door 6.5 comp

RF r1200-1d

2x RF P3D4-15

1/0 pwr/gnd

stock alt 110a

The X. Duplicolor bed armor on front, back, side strips and top (why did they ever use grey?? Also fixed the spots where the white has been flaking off, so much better now)

Subs. Box was a PITA to get in the vehicle.

So I got it all in and was dissapointed in the mid bass. I noticed Xxxterra's build and saw how he crammed 8" mids behind the front factory door cover, so that is where I am today. Just got the RF PPS4-8s in and have been fitting the mounts. Should be done tomorrow.

Amps under passenger seat. Not pretty, but you only see the outside edges with the seats in. ;-)

It isn't perfect nor all that pretty, but was relatively cheap and (hopefully) will sound great with the mid fill these RFs bring.

This forum has been a lifesaver, THANKS Everyone!!!

Ryan

[bcbrassard]

nice budget build. They are always a fun challenge. Looks like you got alot of bang for your bucks.

[Tecomah]

Nice job man. Looks like installing is just like riding a bike.

[SMZ2]

Looks great man! I love seeing other xterra builds too!

[rhedreen]

Thanks guys, she needs a bath inside and out badly! Still trying to decide what to do in the rear, I had planned to fit 1/4 wood covered in grey to match the lower panels in the car so that the box looked like it fit perfectly. /shrug

The Rockford mids fit like a glove in the door panels (see below). They sound really good just running on high pass (around 90hz). I had picked up a cheap bandpass crossover that I was going to install that would allow me to set low pass at 4k hz (speaker fq range 80-5k hz), think it will sound better with those highs cut out?

[hifonix]

Did your friend know giving you a 10" sub would lead to this ? Very possible I think.

[bcbrassard]

Are those in the rear doors? Can you hear much midbass from them?

[bcbrassard]

Ya i say go grey so it matches interior.

[rhedreen]

Did your friend know giving you a 10" sub would lead to this ? Very possible I think.

HA, lurker. Yea I blame you (so does the wife)! Finally got her in the car this week, wish I had been running a video, her expression on a sine sweep was priceless.

Are those in the rear doors? Can you hear much midbass from them?

They are in the front doors and sound really good in the 100-400hz range. I love "feeling" a good drum solo! Still have factory components in the rears (sure they will get upgraded in the near future /sigh). I decided to at least hook up the active crossover tomorrow to see if it sounds better with the 4k hz low pass.

[bcbrassard]

Nice... front doors are better for that anyway. Glad its all coming together.