I actually have Blaine’s ST fairlead, along with his line and thimble. But for me, I prefer the simplicity of this thing, and how it tucks flat up against the fairlead.
Nashville TJ's Build - Continued
- Thread starter NashvilleTJ
- Start date
I actually have Blaine’s ST fairlead, along with his line and thimble. But for me, I prefer the simplicity of this thing, and how it tucks flat up against the fairlead.
A quick little project today - which of course means it took much longer than expected... 
In the rig I run Polk DB522's in the dash and in the sound bar, backed up by a Bazooka sub in the console. All driven by a Soundstream Nano Amplifier under the steering column. It sounds fairly good, with great volume - but it's always sounded just a bit flat with the tweeters in the dash pointing at my knees. To lift the sound stage a bit, and improve the clarity, I've been giving some thought to adding some tweeters to the top of the dash.
After a bit of research here on the forum, and some DM help from @DB04RedJeep , I found that several folks here have used Kicker component speakers to pull this off. So on a whim, I picked up these:
At about $200 from Amazon, not too big of a risk.
First up - out with the old:
Here are the Kickers next to the Polks on the left. The speakers are very similar, and the exact same weight.
The main challenge was getting under the dash to mount the tweeter pods (which came with the set) and fishing the wiring. That turned out to be fairly easy with just dropping the windshield and popping out the defroster grill:
After checking the clearance above the vent, I drilled a hole, bolted down the pod, installed the tweeter...
...and repeated on the other side:
The tweeters require a crossover to separate the high frequencies, and the kit comes with one for each side. I installed it behind the speaker with some adhesive Velcro:
With everything installed and wired I tested the new setup - and quickly discovered the tweeters were making a nasty, high-pitched, noticeable whine - even with the amplifier off. Not good.
After double checking all my wiring, and checking the gain on the amp, everything seemed correct. In frustration, I pulled out the crossover - and the whining stopped. Huh. Stuck it back in, and the whine was back. Something in that area was causing the interference. Good news.
Long story short, I found that if I installed the crossover in a vertical position in the exact location - as opposed to the original horizontal position - the whine did not occur. On the passenger side I had to relocate the crossover - actually not far from my original location - the get everything working quietly. Strange - but crisis avoided.
Then I was able to button everything back up and try out the new setup.
I've not spent a lot of time in there, but my initial impression is that it does sound much more clean and crisp.
A fun project for a Thursday afternoon.
In the rig I run Polk DB522's in the dash and in the sound bar, backed up by a Bazooka sub in the console. All driven by a Soundstream Nano Amplifier under the steering column. It sounds fairly good, with great volume - but it's always sounded just a bit flat with the tweeters in the dash pointing at my knees. To lift the sound stage a bit, and improve the clarity, I've been giving some thought to adding some tweeters to the top of the dash.
After a bit of research here on the forum, and some DM help from @DB04RedJeep , I found that several folks here have used Kicker component speakers to pull this off. So on a whim, I picked up these:
At about $200 from Amazon, not too big of a risk.
First up - out with the old:
Here are the Kickers next to the Polks on the left. The speakers are very similar, and the exact same weight.
The main challenge was getting under the dash to mount the tweeter pods (which came with the set) and fishing the wiring. That turned out to be fairly easy with just dropping the windshield and popping out the defroster grill:
After checking the clearance above the vent, I drilled a hole, bolted down the pod, installed the tweeter...
...and repeated on the other side:
The tweeters require a crossover to separate the high frequencies, and the kit comes with one for each side. I installed it behind the speaker with some adhesive Velcro:
With everything installed and wired I tested the new setup - and quickly discovered the tweeters were making a nasty, high-pitched, noticeable whine - even with the amplifier off. Not good.
After double checking all my wiring, and checking the gain on the amp, everything seemed correct. In frustration, I pulled out the crossover - and the whining stopped. Huh. Stuck it back in, and the whine was back. Something in that area was causing the interference. Good news.
Long story short, I found that if I installed the crossover in a vertical position in the exact location - as opposed to the original horizontal position - the whine did not occur. On the passenger side I had to relocate the crossover - actually not far from my original location - the get everything working quietly. Strange - but crisis avoided.
Then I was able to button everything back up and try out the new setup.
I've not spent a lot of time in there, but my initial impression is that it does sound much more clean and crisp.
A fun project for a Thursday afternoon.
Wow that was quick 
Glad you figured out the whining on the crossovers.
Are you going to try the foam rings to seal up the speaker around the grills like I did?
Glad you figured out the whining on the crossovers. Are you going to try the foam rings to seal up the speaker around the grills like I did?
A quick little project today - which of course means it took much longer than expected...
In the rig I run Polk DB522's in the dash and in the sound bar, backed up by a Bazooka sub in the console. All driven by a Soundstream Nano Amplifier under the steering column. It sounds fairly good, with great volume - but it's always sounded just a bit flat with the tweeters in the dash pointing at my knees. To lift the sound stage a bit, and improve the clarity, I've been giving some thought to adding some tweeters to the top of the dash.
After a bit of research here on the forum, and some DM help from @DB04RedJeep , I found that several folks here have used Kicker component speakers to pull this off. So on a whim, I picked up these:
View attachment 626754
At about $200 from Amazon, not too big of a risk.
First up - out with the old:
View attachment 626757
Here are the Kickers next to the Polks on the left. The speakers are very similar, and the exact same weight.
View attachment 626758
The main challenge was getting under the dash to mount the tweeter pods (which came with the set) and fishing the wiring. That turned out to be fairly easy with just dropping the windshield and popping out the defroster grill:
View attachment 626759
After checking the clearance above the vent, I drilled a hole, bolted down the pod, installed the tweeter...
View attachment 626760
...and repeated on the other side:
View attachment 626761
The tweeters require a crossover to separate the high frequencies, and the kit comes with one for each side. I installed it behind the speaker with some adhesive Velcro:
View attachment 626762
With everything installed and wired I tested the new setup - and quickly discovered the tweeters were making a nasty, high-pitched, noticeable whine - even with the amplifier off. Not good.
After double checking all my wiring, and checking the gain on the amp, everything seemed correct. In frustration, I pulled out the crossover - and the whining stopped. Huh. Stuck it back in, and the whine was back. Something in that area was causing the interference. Good news.
Long story short, I found that if I installed the crossover in a vertical position in the exact location - as opposed to the original horizontal position - the whine did not occur. On the passenger side I had to relocate the crossover - actually not far from my original location - the get everything working quietly. Strange - but crisis avoided.
Then I was able to button everything back up and try out the new setup.
View attachment 626764
View attachment 626765
I've not spent a lot of time in there, but my initial impression is that it does sound much more clean and crisp.
A fun project for a Thursday afternoon.
Gravity sensitive crossovers? Very weird
Wow that was quick
Are you going to try the foam rings to seal up the speaker around the grills like I did?
I may - I saw that over on your thread - but for the sake of evaluating how well the separate tweeters do, one change at a time.
I feel like it was passing through some sort of magnetic field, and the orientation either lined up with the field and caused the whine, or not. But, I have no actual idea.
I run those same kickers and love them!
And good to hear they didn't add any weight. I know you're keen on watching that slender yellow figure.
And good to hear they didn't add any weight. I know you're keen on watching that slender yellow figure.
I have a set of BLAM going in and plan to install this way on the pillars. @skrelnik convinced me from his posts to go BLAM and component up front - still a bit off on getting it completed.
@Nashville - Good on you, sounds exactly like you were dealing with a magnetic field and just changing polarization (turning the unit 90*) gets you out of coupling into that field. Install looks clean! Hope these give you that bump you're looking for in performance.
I did the Blam set up you describe also with @skrelnik ’s help. I think it turned out well. Enough power and clarity to be heard easily above the mud tires, wind and exhaust at 65+ and top off. Still not the best situation for hi fidelity given all the other noise but a large improvement. Still, if I’m doing a multiple hour highway ride (a rare event) my Bose bluetooth noise canceling headphones are way better.
Well.... Mea Culpa...
When I was trying to diagnose the tweeter whining sound least week, I pulled the Soundstream Picasso amp to check if the gain settings may have been causing the whining - they were not...
But in the process of pulling the amp - this happened:
There are three of these RCA adapters which serve as the channel inputs to the amp. I tried to repair it - but was not successful. I then looked all over to see if I could find a replacement - also not successful. I tried contacting Soundstream to see about a replacement - but gave up after not too much time spent.
So, I did the next best (read: most expensive) thing:
Yeah, I spent $175 to get a $2 adapter. But at least now I have two $2 spares...
So.... anyone interested in a Soundstream Picasso PN5.640D?
Short a few RCA adapters, of course...
When I was trying to diagnose the tweeter whining sound least week, I pulled the Soundstream Picasso amp to check if the gain settings may have been causing the whining - they were not...
But in the process of pulling the amp - this happened:
There are three of these RCA adapters which serve as the channel inputs to the amp. I tried to repair it - but was not successful. I then looked all over to see if I could find a replacement - also not successful. I tried contacting Soundstream to see about a replacement - but gave up after not too much time spent.
So, I did the next best (read: most expensive) thing:
Yeah, I spent $175 to get a $2 adapter. But at least now I have two $2 spares...
So.... anyone interested in a Soundstream Picasso PN5.640D?
Short a few RCA adapters, of course...
Well.... Mea Culpa...
When I was trying to diagnose the tweeter whining sound least week, I pulled the Soundstream Picasso amp to check if the gain settings may have been causing the whining - they were not...
But in the process of pulling the amp - this happened:
View attachment 628167
There are three of these RCA adapters which serve as the channel inputs to the amp. I tried to repair it - but was not successful. I then looked all over to see if I could find a replacement - also not successful. I tried contacting Soundstream to see about a replacement - but gave up after not too much time spent.
So, I did the next best (read: most expensive) thing:
View attachment 628169
Yeah, I spent $175 to get a $2 adapter. But at least now I have two $2 spares...
So.... anyone interested in a Soundstream Picasso PN5.640D?
View attachment 628170
Short a few RCA adapters, of course...
That's just perfect. Sorry, man.
A quick little project today - which of course means it took much longer than expected...
In the rig I run Polk DB522's in the dash and in the sound bar, backed up by a Bazooka sub in the console. All driven by a Soundstream Nano Amplifier under the steering column. It sounds fairly good, with great volume - but it's always sounded just a bit flat with the tweeters in the dash pointing at my knees. To lift the sound stage a bit, and improve the clarity, I've been giving some thought to adding some tweeters to the top of the dash.
After a bit of research here on the forum, and some DM help from @DB04RedJeep , I found that several folks here have used Kicker component speakers to pull this off. So on a whim, I picked up these:
View attachment 626754
At about $200 from Amazon, not too big of a risk.
First up - out with the old:
View attachment 626757
Here are the Kickers next to the Polks on the left. The speakers are very similar, and the exact same weight.
View attachment 626758
The main challenge was getting under the dash to mount the tweeter pods (which came with the set) and fishing the wiring. That turned out to be fairly easy with just dropping the windshield and popping out the defroster grill:
View attachment 626759
After checking the clearance above the vent, I drilled a hole, bolted down the pod, installed the tweeter...
View attachment 626760
...and repeated on the other side:
View attachment 626761
The tweeters require a crossover to separate the high frequencies, and the kit comes with one for each side. I installed it behind the speaker with some adhesive Velcro:
View attachment 626762
With everything installed and wired I tested the new setup - and quickly discovered the tweeters were making a nasty, high-pitched, noticeable whine - even with the amplifier off. Not good.
After double checking all my wiring, and checking the gain on the amp, everything seemed correct. In frustration, I pulled out the crossover - and the whining stopped. Huh. Stuck it back in, and the whine was back. Something in that area was causing the interference. Good news.
Long story short, I found that if I installed the crossover in a vertical position in the exact location - as opposed to the original horizontal position - the whine did not occur. On the passenger side I had to relocate the crossover - actually not far from my original location - the get everything working quietly. Strange - but crisis avoided.
Then I was able to button everything back up and try out the new setup.
View attachment 626764
View attachment 626765
I've not spent a lot of time in there, but my initial impression is that it does sound much more clean and crisp.
A fun project for a Thursday afternoon.
As always, nicely done!
Well.... Mea Culpa...
When I was trying to diagnose the tweeter whining sound least week, I pulled the Soundstream Picasso amp to check if the gain settings may have been causing the whining - they were not...
But in the process of pulling the amp - this happened:
View attachment 628167
There are three of these RCA adapters which serve as the channel inputs to the amp. I tried to repair it - but was not successful. I then looked all over to see if I could find a replacement - also not successful. I tried contacting Soundstream to see about a replacement - but gave up after not too much time spent.
So, I did the next best (read: most expensive) thing:
View attachment 628169
Yeah, I spent $175 to get a $2 adapter. But at least now I have two $2 spares...
So.... anyone interested in a Soundstream Picasso PN5.640D?
View attachment 628170
Short a few RCA adapters, of course...
That SUCKS! I have the same amp going in...
I recall you finding one of the adapters before. Terrible to find the solution for such a small $ parts is full replacement... Will be careful on my install.
Yeah, those adapters are really flimsy. The hard wire versions which also came with the amp are much tougher as the wires are thicker.
It did not take much to cause the damage. I missed one zip tie on that side of the harness when I dropped the amp, and just like that the wires pulled out if that plug. When I installed it this time, I secured that harness to the amp itself. That way the harness will drop with the amp and not pull away.
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This past weekend I headed over to East Tennessee to wheel Windrock with Victor.
Although Vic posted these videos over on his build thread, I wanted to post them here as well. That way when Victor's puts me on his Ignore List for giving him his new gang name "Heat Soak," I'll still have access...
This is the Gatekeeper for the Walden's Ridge trail. As Victor describes it, it really is a "Mind Freak." Off the passenger side of the rig is a 300+ foot drop - with nothing to stop you if you go over. The vegetation off to that side makes it look like there is something there - there is not. Add to that, you are very much off camber in that direction. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
This is a cool ledge somewhere along the second half of the Walden Ridge Trail. Again with a nice drop off - this time to the driver's side so you get a nice look to wake you up.
We spend two days hitting Double Black Diamon trails (As I've said before, Victor can't see the colors Blue or Green). This is the opening obstacle at the bottom of trail 90. It was a damp few days - which certainly did not help.
Although Vic posted these videos over on his build thread, I wanted to post them here as well. That way when Victor's puts me on his Ignore List for giving him his new gang name "Heat Soak," I'll still have access...
This is the Gatekeeper for the Walden's Ridge trail. As Victor describes it, it really is a "Mind Freak." Off the passenger side of the rig is a 300+ foot drop - with nothing to stop you if you go over. The vegetation off to that side makes it look like there is something there - there is not. Add to that, you are very much off camber in that direction. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
This is a cool ledge somewhere along the second half of the Walden Ridge Trail. Again with a nice drop off - this time to the driver's side so you get a nice look to wake you up.
We spend two days hitting Double Black Diamon trails (As I've said before, Victor can't see the colors Blue or Green). This is the opening obstacle at the bottom of trail 90. It was a damp few days - which certainly did not help.
This past weekend I headed over to East Tennessee to wheel Windrock with Victor.
Although Vic posted these videos over on his build thread, I wanted to post them here as well. That way when Victor's puts me on his Ignore List for giving him his new gang name "Heat Soak," I'll still have access...
This is the Gatekeeper for the Walden's Ridge trail. As Victor describes it, it really is a "Mind Freak." Off the passenger side of the rig is a 300+ foot drop - with nothing to stop you if you go over. The vegetation off to that side makes it look like there is something there - there is not. Add to that, you are very much off camber in that direction. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
This is a cool ledge somewhere along the second half of the Walden Ridge Trail. Again with a nice drop off - this time to the driver's side so you get a nice look to wake you up.
We spend two days hitting Double Black Diamon trails (As I've said before, Victor can't see the colors Blue or Green). This is the opening obstacle at the bottom of trail 90. It was a damp few days - which certainly did not help.
I thought Victor said it was 1000'+ drop?
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We're both exaggerating - it's like 4 feet...
No actual idea - just a guess on both of our parts.
Edit: I took a look at Google's terrain map for Walden's Ridge. Looks like the ridge is about 1,460', and the valley right below is about 980' - so almost a 500' drop.
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Getting around to starting up a project I mentioned a while ago. Picked up the steel and 4 1,200 pound lockable castors to build this thing:
I'm posting mainly to mention this tool:
If you cut metal and have never tried a metal cutting circular saw, you owe it to yourself to pick one up. This thing is pretty amazing. Here I'm slicing through some 1/4" cold rolled plate to make the leg mounts for the castors. Cuts quick, very cleanly, and very accurately. Not quite as fast as a plasma, won't do curves like the band saw, but leaves a perfect straight edge that requires absolutely no clean up. Zoom in on this cut and you will see what I mean.
Should be a fun project.
I'm posting mainly to mention this tool:
If you cut metal and have never tried a metal cutting circular saw, you owe it to yourself to pick one up. This thing is pretty amazing. Here I'm slicing through some 1/4" cold rolled plate to make the leg mounts for the castors. Cuts quick, very cleanly, and very accurately. Not quite as fast as a plasma, won't do curves like the band saw, but leaves a perfect straight edge that requires absolutely no clean up. Zoom in on this cut and you will see what I mean.
Should be a fun project.
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