Alton's 2010 Chevy Traverse build log

[altoncustomtech 773]

Okay, we were finally able to get the vehicle that will be replacing the van as our daily driver.  I found a nice 2010 Traverse AWD with everything the wife wanted in it and a little more with decent miles on it and I even got a decent deal on it.  Now, the wife realized before we even got serious about shopping for one that we should probably tone down the size of the install in the new vehicle.  While she was/is still wanting some good sounding speakers and some bump going to the the size and extent of the build in the van was more than we need for this one.  One of the biggest reasons for that was simply because of the damage the Q's caused the van.  Before I installed them it was QUIET, not one interior panel rattled or made noise, not hardly a hint of sheet metal rattling could be heard.  At this point now not only is there a great deal of noise coming from the interior panels (particularly in the rear) but the Q's even managed to tear a spot welded seam in the floor of the van loose.  We simply don't want to repeat that in the new one.  

 

For this build we're looking at something smaller, possibly along the lines of a pair of 10's if the space is right, single 12, etc.  Something like the DCON, GCON or ICON come to mind, SSD's, possibly even IA or something else I've not got a chance to try yet as well.  We'll be running 1,000 to 1,500 watts on the subs and no more than that at all.  What goes in will depend completely upon the space available and which sub choice will work best with that space.  I'm going to try to keep the rear of the vehicle as usable as possible so I'm probably going to be building an enclosure with the subs firing downward and the port to the side.  The enclosure will likely consume all the space available on the width and depth behind the 3rd row seat and my limiting factor will be that we're trying to keep the enclosure height to about half the total height of the 3rd row seat.

 

The wife wants another Kenwood HU so we'll likely be ordering a DDX491HD and a Maestro RR integration unit this weekend for the source and to keep all the factory wheel functions and such.  I'm looking to use a PPI P900.4 for the highs and a similarly sized subwoofer amp to run the subs and those will be tucked away in the storage compartment under the floor in the rear with added ventilation if necessary.

 

That brings me to my biggest frustration with this build, lol.  Before we got serious about shopping for a vehicle the wife was COMPLETELY on board for me doing whatever was necessary to install the Bravox 603's.  Fiberglassed custom door panels were in the plans for whatever that vehicle was going to be, uh, well, right up until we picked up the Travy.  Now it's, "You aren't really going to cut it up and put holes in the doors are you?"    and "There's already places for tweeters, you can just use those right?"  then finally "You can just use the factory places for now, I want it to have a good sounding stereo but not know it until you hear it, as in can't see nothin'."    

 

 

 

 

So, there goes anything remotely close to what I was wanting to do.  I thought if the Bravox's wouldn't work out I might do a dedicated full range/midbass setup, or maybe even the equivalent of the Arc Audio Black 6.2 speakers in the SB Acoustic's mid and tweeter that Arc is using, or something really and truly worth a damn to do.  Nope.  She gave me a pretty much open budget for speakers but I don't see the point in spending any kind of good money on a set of components that cannot be optimally installed.  So I'm not completely sure where I'm going to go with the highs.  I have found a hell of a deal (<$250)on a new set of Kicker QS65.2 components which I'm leaning toward but I have to verify if there's any possibility of getting that tweeter behind the A pillar.  I've also looked at the MB Quart QC216 set which has a nice looking large format tweeter but since Maxxsonics has their nasty hands in MBQ now I'm kind of shying away from them as well.  As soon as I can figure out what the hell to do (still need to verify some measurements) I'll pull the trigger on equipment and get it coming.

 

Although the Travy is pretty quiet from the factory I'm still going to be ordering some SDS to treat the doors and all of the rear to start with.  I'll work on the floor and roof after we've had it a little while.  It has the sun roofs so I'm not in a real hurry to tear all that interior off the roof, nor am I in a hurry to figure out how to tear all the seats, center console, and carpeting out to treat those areas just yet.  I also have to pull the door panels off to see what kind of baffles I'll need to construct for it.  Luckily with the lower power I'm looking at running and the 170A factory alternator I shouldn't be looking at having to do anything too major on the electrical side of things.  Probably just the BIG 3 in 1/0 with Knu Kolossus.

 

So, that's the, um, kind of the plan, for what little plan there is.  The more I can verify as far as fit in this thing the better the direction for what/where it will go is going to look.  I hope to have all that figured out and to be ordering equipment and supplies this weekend.

 

 

 

Here's a quick shot of the Travy.  I just grabbed it to show to a co-worker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any input is welcome, especially from anyone who's done some install work in one of these as the entire Lambda platform is completely new to me.

[frogcase2002 393]

Tuned in!

[frogcase2002 393]

What about making some kind of pods that you can mount instead of cutting into any of the panels

[altoncustomtech 773]

What about making some kind of pods that you can mount instead of cutting into any of the panels

 

Already thought about that.  Unfortunately she's decided she wants it as stealth as possible and shot down the idea of pods when I brought it up.  She said she doesn't want to be able to see anything but the HU.

[Dexter Chaos 14]

_{Hey alton I have a 12" gcon used only 2 maybe 3 month sealed. Donnie has it right now but not in use. If you wanted to go that route maybe we could work something out.}

[pmureika 31]

This should be a great build!!!

[Randal Johnson 544]

Nice Ride Alton.

 

I'm thinking that I got to demo one similar with 8" drivers in the factory door locations. I thinkng there is plenty of room behind the door pannels to make brackets and what not to work behind the origional door pannels and keep the stock apearance. You should know more when you get the door pannels off. Then maybe you can build or order kick pannel pods for your midrange drivers. All you would have to do is replace the stock kicks with new pods and you can reinstall the factory pannels if you ever need to. Thinking this would make a really nice 3 way setup !!!

 

Please keep in mind that these are only suggestions and I have not actually seen what's behind the door pannels of those cars, just some similar.

Best of luck with this one bro !!! I'm tuned in !!!

[Quentin Jarrell 671]

Tell her she won't be able to see it...from the driver's seat

[altoncustomtech 773]

_{Hey alton I have a 12" gcon used only 2 maybe 3 month sealed. Donnie has it right now but not in use. If you wanted to go that route maybe we could work something out.}

 

Thanks bro, I'll keep that in mind.

 

 

This should be a great build!!!

 

Thanks, I hope it turns out decent.

 

 

Nice Ride Alton.

 

I'm thinking that I got to demo one similar with 8" drivers in the factory door locations. I thinkng there is plenty of room behind the door pannels to make brackets and what not to work behind the origional door pannels and keep the stock apearance. You should know more when you get the door pannels off. Then maybe you can build or order kick pannel pods for your midrange drivers. All you would have to do is replace the stock kicks with new pods and you can reinstall the factory pannels if you ever need to. Thinking this would make a really nice 3 way setup !!!

 

Please keep in mind that these are only suggestions and I have not actually seen what's behind the door pannels of those cars, just some similar.

Best of luck with this one bro !!! I'm tuned in !!!

 

Thanks man.  I've looked at a few pics from other's install work on the same platform and it does indeed look as though there's a bunch of room behind the door panel.  I'm already working on what I can do/find in kick panels for this thing.  Still just not sure exactly where to go with it but it's an option I'm currently looking at.  

 

 

Tell her she won't be able to see it...from the driver's seat

 

LOL, if only that would work!

[hondakilla98 29]

Looking forward to this. Your van box is one of my favorites.

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

You haven't even finished the Jimmy install yet!? jk

As always brother looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Looking forward to this. Your van box is one of my favorites.

 

Thanks man, very much appreciated.

 

 

You haven't even finished the Jimmy install yet!? jk

As always brother looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

LOL, that doesn't matter to the wife!!  She wants her tunes back NOW!  lmao...  She's gotten so used to having a decent stereo and the factory system REALLY does suck something horrible.  I can't really blame her for wanting this thing done quickly.

 

Thanks bro, although this time around it's going to be more focused on stealth and function than anything else.  I took some preliminary measurements and it looks like I could get a pair of a choice few 10's ported such as the DCON, ICON, the Ev3, and the SSD in the space that we're willing to give up this time around.  Or it's a single 12 ported for which I'm looking at the GCON, ICON, Flatlyne, Lethal Injection, SSD, Q, and BL.  Also possible is a single 15 sealed and the GCON, ICON, XCON, SSD, Q, Flatlyne, and Lethal Injection are the contenders in that idea.

 

It's going to boil down to whatever she wants to do.  I've not modeled any of them in any alignment yet so I've only begun to work this all out but they're all .  I've come to a complete and total mental road block on the highs as well.  I'd like to get a good set of components as my budget is pretty much whatever I want to get.  My problem is that since I can ONLY use the factory locations I don't want to waste money on a really good set like the JBL 660's or the Kicker QSS series and not have the installation be optimal.  I also don't want to just get whatever and have some cheap ass speakers with horrendous naturally inherent frequency response either.  I've just never been in this situation before, lol.

 

I've also been eyeballing the Zapco ST-D series amps to use as well.  Mainly because I've always wanted to use some Zapco amps and the prices on them aren't COMPLETELY insane.  Though I'll probably still end up using the PPI's.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Well, this show is on the road, so to speak.  I placed the order for a Kenwood DDX-771 HU and Maestro RR integration unit earlier to get the crappy factory HU out of there.  I also placed the order for a pair of SSA DCON 10's to go in the back of this thing.  While I'm still hammering out the details on the enclosure I feel the DCON's are the best fit for the power range I'm going with/for and the space I have to work with.  I also found a hell of a deal on a Zapco ST-4D 4 channel and ST-1K subwoofer amp to power things in this build.  I will most likely be ordering a set of components for it as soon as I get a chance to pop an A-Pillar cover off and see what kind of room (if any) exists behind the panel so I know what is possible to even be used there without making it too noticeable.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Here's the first of several box designs that's finally worked out.  Comes out to 2.35 cu.ft. NET tuned to 30hz with a pretty dismal ~37 sq.in. of port area.  The size restriction is really kicking my ass on this enclosure design.  Enough so that I've considered just building a new, sealed enclosure for the Q's.  This one here has the sub's firing forward with the port to the drivers side with the subs recessed a bit to keep the subs from striking the back of the seat.  I'm looking at doing a down firing design as well but with every idea I have to get past an obstacle two new ones pop up.

 

The entire idea is to not consume the entire rear with the subwoofer enclosure.  We'll see how well that will really work out soon I guess.

 

 

Anyway, comments and criticisms are welcome as always.

 

 

 

 

[Sencheezy 689]

[antoinez28 62]

Nice

[jcarter1885 995]

[Randal Johnson 544]

Anyway, comments and criticisms are welcome as always.

Any chance for a stealth enclosure on each side of the vehicle with one sub in each rear quarter pannel ??

now this pic is for an amplifier rack option, not the sub enclosure ... So please, no jestures about the drivers used.

It is not my vehicle, but I really dig this amplifier rack idea !!!

I'm thinking a section was cut out of the seat to fit the amplifier rack. I will ask Jimmy if you are interested.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Randal Johnson

[altoncustomtech 773]

 

Anyway, comments and criticisms are welcome as always.

Any chance for a stealth enclosure on each side of the vehicle with one sub in each rear quarter pannel ??

now this pic is for an amplifier rack option, not the sub enclosure ... So please, no jestures about the drivers used.

It is not my vehicle, but I really dig this amplifier rack idea !!!

I'm thinking a section was cut out of the seat to fit the amplifier rack. I will ask Jimmy if you are interested.

 

 

 

Thank you for the ideas Randall.  Unfortunately it's a no-go on the rear quarters as they were the very first locations/idea I had for the subs.  There's an unreal amount of electronics on the drivers side behind that panel and the fan for the rear heat/AC on the passenger side.  I think it's too much of an issue to try to utilize the space on either side.

 

You won't find me dissing anyone's equipment so don't worry about that.  That is a beautiful idea for the amps for sure!  I don't think I'm going to need anything quite that elaborate for this build tho.  I'm going to be using Zapco Studio D series amps and with their super tiny footprint and reportedly very cool running attribute I shouldn't have any problems with the sub amp under the rear cargo cover/false floor and the amp for the components inside the front center console.  They'll be very hidden and shouldn't have any issues with heat in those locations.

[lithium 358]

Here's the first of several box designs that's finally worked out.  Comes out to 2.35 cu.ft. NET tuned to 30hz with a pretty dismal ~37 sq.in. of port area.  The size restriction is really kicking my ass on this enclosure design.  Enough so that I've considered just building a new, sealed enclosure for the Q's.  This one here has the sub's firing forward with the port to the drivers side with the subs recessed a bit to keep the subs from striking the back of the seat.  I'm looking at doing a down firing design as well but with every idea I have to get past an obstacle two new ones pop up.

 

The entire idea is to not consume the entire rear with the subwoofer enclosure.  We'll see how well that will really work out soon I guess.

 

 

Anyway, comments and criticisms are welcome as always.

 

 

 

 

isn't the sub on the left too close to the port? 

[altoncustomtech 773]

 

Here's the first of several box designs that's finally worked out.  Comes out to 2.35 cu.ft. NET tuned to 30hz with a pretty dismal ~37 sq.in. of port area.  The size restriction is really kicking my ass on this enclosure design.  Enough so that I've considered just building a new, sealed enclosure for the Q's.  This one here has the sub's firing forward with the port to the drivers side with the subs recessed a bit to keep the subs from striking the back of the seat.  I'm looking at doing a down firing design as well but with every idea I have to get past an obstacle two new ones pop up.

 

The entire idea is to not consume the entire rear with the subwoofer enclosure.  We'll see how well that will really work out soon I guess.

 

 

Anyway, comments and criticisms are welcome as always.

 

isn't the sub on the left too close to the port? 

 

 

LOL, probably.  I planned on moving it around a little to get the port mouth more centered between them and it's by no means a final draft of any design I plan to use.  I just posted it up to show some of the thoughts and design limitations I have going on.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Here's another design I'm kicking around.  This one is 2.2 cu.ft. NET tuned to 32hz with a pair of 3" Precision Ports.  I was working this design originally with a pair of 4" ports however I just couldn't work out stuffing the length into the enclosure.  As you can see the enclosure is quite compact and with trying to make it so that groceries, kid stuffs, etc. can be piled on top of it I can't have the subs or ports firing upward.  That leaves me with forward, downward, and side firing options.  The maximum dimensions I've measured are 40" wide and 18" deep with a height of 12".  Depth goes down the taller the enclosure is due to the lean of the back seat and at 40" wide the corners will have to be shaved/modified because the rear quarter panels curve down and around to the back of the vehicle.

 

It's really quite challenging and it's been awhile since I worked on something quite this difficult.

 

 

Anyway, here's a few pics of the down firing, ports to the side design that I'm trying to work out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lee Carter 150]

That looks pretty cool!  I am looking at doing down fire in my Burb to protect the woofer from all the gear we haul around when offroading.

[altoncustomtech 773]

That looks pretty cool!  I am looking at doing down fire in my Burb to protect the woofer from all the gear we haul around when offroading.

 

Thanks, I just wish I could give it more port area.

 

I don't see anything wrong with downfiring at all as long as there's enough room for excursion.

[altoncustomtech 773]

So here's another one I drew up, which I kinda like the best out of the bunch, I think.  It's 2.23 cu.ft. NET tuned to 32hz with the same 36.75 sq.in. of port area as the other one.  Physical size is slightly reduced down to 38" W x 17" D since there's no recesses in it to protect the subs from striking anything during high excursion peaks.  I may redesign it out to 40" wide and that would make the enclosure 2.6cuft NET but I'll have to model the subs in the two designs and see if the difference one way or the other has any advantages.  I'm also probably going to mock up an enclosure out of 3/4" thick blue insulation board to verify the fitment of everything too.  Mainly so I can be sure that modifying the corners on the 40" width won't hurt anything structurally.  Pictures of that process will show just how aggravating the rear of this vehicle is for this hobby, lol.