Upgrading HK Stereo

I ran the rcas through schoshe level pods for A pillar Hertz tweeters, front and rear door speakers, subs and under seat subs down to my amps in the back.





I built my own sub box piece by piece to fit the spare tire well.











In/out silent cooling fans

The amps are old school Rockford punch amps

500a2 for the front doors
600a4 for the rear doors and under seat subs
15001 for the rear subs



The door speakers have been replaced by premium Hertz HCX high energy speakers









4 gauge + wire off the battery



Tweeters



Compact 200 watt Kicker amp for tweeters and Kenwood EQ



A added the old school Kenwood kgc 7042 I had a few of to the front of the seat.





Under seat subs

MyCrazy said:

Wow. That looks...impressive. I wonder what that costs for that kind of complete sound system upgrade.

If there was one complaint I have about the TH (I bought the upgraded HK sound system from dealer)...is that the interior components in the doors, etc...are apparently too "plasticy" or just not solid...its American FCA build quality. I used to be a Corvette guy...same thing...around 60k miles on the vette...things start rattling in the interior.

Same with my TH off the lot. Great speakers, but too much base or house music on Sirius 53 channel and something starts rattling. Very annoying.

Click to expand...

The PAC harness is about 300.00
About 2k for the premium speakers and monster 12" subs
400 for the 1999 vintage new in a box EQ
Used ones on ebay when available about 200
So 3-3.5k for parts plus building the sub box and installing it.
50-80 hours of time


The door panels are 2 piece
You can feel the seam.
Mine are good and don't vibrate.



There's these wedges I think you can get at Home Depot
You can push them into the seams to stop vibration if that's the problem



Otherwise the rest of the door is pretty good.

So I decided to baffle my door speakers.
They weren't vibrating the doors but I like doing mods and looks like they're giving me better bass.
I did my SRT first but will probably do the Trackhawk on the weekend.



Door Track


The foam ones are too deep so I cut them down with a box cutter





Then I trimmed the hard shell ones



And put them in the foam ones

Rear Doors









Pretty easy stuff.
Took me 1.5 hours.

HemiCruiser said:

Ok
I did the Trackhawk front doors today.
Pulling the door panel off I saw daylight and noticed that the 2 part pocket had started separating at the bottom, probably from taking it off numerous times.
My doors weren't creaking or buzzing but I decided to 5 minute epoxy
the pocket across the bottom and up both sides some.
The passenger door was better but I also epoxy'd it

Click to expand...

Amazing post – and excellent information! Now the big question: “How does it sound”?
I’m asking because I am not happy with the sound of the HK system in my TH. It sounds thin, hard, digital and is far from audiophile. The bass is overpowered and spongy. In fact, one of the worst systems I had in a car. We also own a 2015 Audi Q5 with B&O system and a 2016 VW Touareg with Dynaudio system. Both of these systems sound much, much better. And with better, I don’t mean louder or more bass - I mean the sound quality. The HK sound is simply not enjoyable – at least not to my ears. And yes, I have played with all the sound settings.
I’m afraid I am going thru the pain of replacing the HK speakers and amp just to find out that the main unit is the actual problem – even when connecting it to a PAC harness to get RCA outputs.
Any help/feedback would be appreciated.

Decibell said:

Amazing post – and excellent information! Now the big question: “How does it sound”?
I’m asking because I am not happy with the sound of the HK system in my TH. It sounds thin, hard, digital and is far from audiophile. The bass is overpowered and spongy. In fact, one of the worst systems I had in a car. We also own a 2015 Audi Q5 with B&O system and a 2016 VW Touareg with Dynaudio system. Both of these systems sound much, much better. And with better, I don’t mean louder or more bass - I mean the sound quality. The HK sound is simply not enjoyable – at least not to my ears. And yes, I have played with all the sound settings.
I’m afraid I am going thru the pain of replacing the HK speakers and amp just to find out that the main unit is the actual problem – even when connecting it to a PAC harness to get RCA outputs.
Any help/feedback would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

It sounds awesome when you crank it up.
2800 watts rms 😃
The old school Rockfords have a 100 to 1 S/N ratio for crystal clear sound.
The subs thump like your hair is jumping and your chest shakes.
Forget about hooking other door speakers to the HK.
They're specifically made for the HK amps will sound terrible.






The PAC harness is about 300.00 and won't affect the HK noise cancellation system on the ceiling


From there it's up to you what amps you hook to it.
It doesn't need the level pods or the EQ like mine.
The PAC has a sub knob which is all you really need.
You can pick less expensive speakers than Hertz HCX, they have less expensive 6x9s and 6.5s.
Here's a 4 channel amp you could put under the seat and/or add a 10" sub box

My system took about 80 hrs but I enjoyed doing it.
Money wasn't an issue.
These Rockford amps are compact and fit into the rear space.
Obviously having it bumped up to 805 hp I'm not going to be selling it or trading it in any time soon.

Decibell said:

Thanks for the feedback! Just from looking at the different magnet size (HK vs Hertz) I imagine that these speakers make a huge difference. In addition to the new front tweeters high up on the A pillar, did you use the old front tweeter housing for additional tweeters? Or just left the old ones in there disconnected?

Do you know if the microphone loop can be turned off without having to cut a cable?

Click to expand...

The HK 6x9s and 6.5s are very bass only signal subs pretty good for the magnet size.
I left the old front tweeters hooked up and the door mids as well.
Might try unhooking the factory tweeters to see how it sounds now that you mention it.
I'm tuning down the treble with my Kenwood EQ
as it is.
Actually HK sounds better than the non HK with the PAC due to the door mids.
I don't know about cutting the microphone loop.
Maybe you can pry them off with a panel tool and unhook them.
Maybe do a search as to how it works.
With the PAC harness it's no problems.
When I tried an LC7i before the PAC I got bad feedback on the HK but not the regular Alpine. .

The old school made in USA Rockford Punch amps I've used for various builds over last 20 years have become old and problematic, even the rebuilt ones something was always going.
While shopping on Amazon I found these new Planet Audio amps about the same size and close power output ((400-500 rms) to the Rockfords that fit into my rear compartment if I remove the outside bottom plastic corners on both of them to fit the tire well indent.
They were only about 100.00 each and with a 102 db S/N ratio they sound great.
I bridged the one amp for my front speakers and used the other one as a 4 channel
for the rear doors and under seat subs.



Amazon.com: Planet Audio AC1200.4 4 Channel Car Amplifier - 1200 Watts, Full Range, Class A/B, 2-4 Ohm Stable, Mosfet Power Supply, Bridgeable : Everything Else
Amazon.com: Planet Audio AC1200.4 4 Channel Car Amplifier - 1200 Watts, Full Range, Class A/B, 2-4 Ohm Stable, Mosfet Power Supply, Bridgeable : Everything Else
www.amazon.com

Rockford 500a2 600a4





Planet Audio


Cut corner off






They also have a mono sub amp about the same dimensions as my Rockford 1500.1 which hasn't given me any problems.


Amazon.com: Planet Audio AC4000.1D Class D Car Amplifier - 4000 Watts, 1 Ohm Stable, Digital, Monoblock, Mosfet Power Supply : Everything Else
Amazon.com: Planet Audio AC4000.1D Class D Car Amplifier - 4000 Watts, 1 Ohm Stable, Digital, Monoblock, Mosfet Power Supply : Everything Else
www.amazon.com