Let's face it: Not everybody wants, or can afford, to give up their short-cab interior to a fully fiberglass custom entertainment unit. But that doesn't mean they don't want to enjoy some good music; it's just their trucks may need to be more functional. So with the idea of carving a blow-through sub box out of the equation, how do you bring dynamic sound to your short cab? Pioneer, that's how!
Pioneer has a thin line of subs that are 12 inches in diameter yet only 4 inches deep. This makes it much easier to find a cubbyhole to mount them in. Yeah, well, what about the cubic feet needed to run a 12-inch speaker, you ask? Well, these new-style 'woofers only require 0.8 ci of air suspension to run efficiently. We took on the challenge of making a set of the streamlined subs fit in a standard-cab truck, along with two pairs of 6-1/2-inch separates and 1,480 watts to power it.
We talked to a lot of shops, only to find that most of the off-the-shelf enclosures were going to eat up one or two notches in the seat adjustment. Plus, the seat would lose a substantial amount of room to lay it back. We inquired about a custom sub box, only to find out that the going price for a box that size was in the $700 range. Oh! Did we mention they also wanted about 80 bucks to mount each amp, and an additional 50 bucks to mount one set of the separates in the doors?
We talked about putting a set of the separates behind the seat, and at least two of the shops said it would be a big hassle and they would need to work off an hourly rate at that time. Thank god we already installed our head unit! The shop needed more than $1,000 to make the system work, and that didn't even include the price of the equipment itself.
We knew we could pull it off - a trip to Lowe's, Radio Shack, and some odds and ends from the local stereo shop, and we were in business for $210. Here's how we installed the goods in our '01 Chevy truck.
1.The installation of our...
1.The installation of our new head unit destroyed our stock speakers. Here, you can see what the door panel looked like before the installation of the Pioneer equipment.
2.The stock tweeter had a...
2.The stock tweeter had a nice mounting system. We just needed to figure out how to fit the new tweeter in the same area.
3.The new tweeter has a round...
3.The new tweeter has a round flush-mount system that won't fit in the stock-mounting hole. Some modifications were going to be in order to make them work.
4.On the backside of the stock...
4.On the backside of the stock tweeter, we found that the speaker was clipped and glued in place. The use of a butane soldering stick with a knife-edge tip cut through the glue and mounting clips.
5.Pioneer's packaging has...
5.Pioneer's packaging has perforated holes in it, to use as templates for mounting holes. We used a knife to cut out the template so we could center the template and mark the plastic.
6.Thank god for the grinder....
6.Thank god for the grinder. It made fast work of making a hole for the new tweeter. We just opened up the hole in the mounting plastic to make room for the Pioneer flush-mount tweeter.
7a.The mounting system is...
7a.The mounting system is pretty simple. After making the hole to hold the tweeter bucket, small metal tangs are slid through the bottom of the bucket and pinch the bucket in position. A screw is used to keep tension on the pinch tabs securing the tweeter mount.
7b.
7c.
8.With the bucket in position,...
8.With the bucket in position, a small curved piece of metal sits in the bottom of the bucket, making a spring that pushes on the tweeter. The tweeter is then pushed against the spring, and the small flush-mount bezel locks in place, holding the tweeter in the mounting bucket.
9a.In comparison, you can...
9a.In comparison, you can see the difference between the two speakers. The stock speaker has a significantly smaller magnet, reducing the necessity for a large cone surround (the foam or butyl rubber suspension attached at the top of the cone).
9b.
10.The seal on the old speaker...
10.The seal on the old speaker was reused on the Pioneer unit to prevent vibration noise.
11.Chevy wiring was heavy...
11.Chevy wiring was heavy enough to run the new tweeter, but we had cut off the stock speaker connectors to use them.
12.Solder and shrink wrap...
12.Solder and shrink wrap are a must when wiring is involved. We soldered all extensions and raw wire areas. We ran a second set of heavy wire to pump juice to the mids in our Pioneer separates. We also extended the stock wire to reach the new mounting location of the Pioneer crossover for our tweeters.