2019 RAM 1500 Laramie Crew Cab System Build Project

[Sonnie Parker]

You would think I would eventually grow out of this crazy hobby of car audio, but I love it so much that I just can't shake it.

Here's what we have... and it was really hard finding the right spot to take a pic of my truck...

The first thing I did was have it treated with Ceramic Pro... and XPEL PRIME XR PLUS window tint installed, including the front windshield... along with a spray-in bedliner. So I was without the truck for a full week right after I purchased it.

As of the creation of this thread... I am now over a week with the truck broken down for installing the audio system.

The RAM comes with the 9-speaker Alpine system and the 8.4" display. I will admit that it sounds pretty good... although the sound stage and imaging are lacking, it does a good job of producing an above the dash image. The small 7-8" subwoofer does a remarkable job and has about the lowest extension I've heard in a factory system, yet it still lacks that lowest octave. I could actually live with the factory system, but then it wouldn't be any fun tearing the truck apart.

My goal is to keep it as factory looking as possible. The only noticeable addition will the be subwoofer enclosure underneath the rear seat, although it will blend in rather well, as you will see later on when I post the final install pics.

The 8.4" display will obviously stay... door speakers and dash speakers will be replaced... and a sub enclosure added with dual 10" subs. I'll use a miniDSP processor and two aftermarket amps.

The front center will be disconnected... the rear doors will remain and can be faded in if needed for rear seat passengers, which will only be on rare occasions. The rear headliner speakers will be used in a rear differential setup for rear fill.

New equipment is as follows:

miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL Processor
The brains of the unit with the full works... active crossovers, delay, PEQ and of course... Dirac Live

PAC AmpPRO 4 (AP4-CH41 with APA-TOS1)
Installed inline behind the factory headunit to enable a flat low level signal sent via an Optical Digital Toslink cable to the miniDSP processor.

Hybrid Audio Technologies Unity U5A 5-Channel Amp
75 watts x 4 powering the door and dash speakers + 600 watts x 1 powering the subs.

JL Audio MX280/4
50 watts x 2 (with 2 spare channels) powering the rear headliner factory 3.5" speakers... located just above the rear window.
The rear speakers will be setup as a differential rear fill running from approximately 350-3000Hz with a 15-20ms delay.

Hybrid Audio Technologies Legatia Special Edition 3.7" Wide-Bandwidth Driver (L3SE)
These will replace the 3.5" dash speakers and no tweeter will be required.
113 Hz - 18 kHz ... I plan to try to cross these over at about 350Hz.
A fellow who competes won his category with these in his dash in a 2019 RAM 2500 with 6x9's in the doors... no sub and no tweeters.

Hybrid Audio Technologies Unity 6x9 Shallow Depth Midbass Driver (U69-S)
These will replace the door speakers and handle the frequencies in the 80-350Hz range.

Hybrid Audio Technologies Clarus 10" Long Throw Subwoofer
These will be mounted in an MTI Acoustics custom built enclosure underneath the rear seats.

ResoNix
For treating the doors and rear wall.

Here are a couple of pics of the MTI Acoustics enclosure with the Unity amp and Clarus subs installed.

Install pics will follow.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Making progress...

Dash speakers installed... although a little larger than the factory speakers, they dropped right in and fit really snug.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Dampening material in a few places... not really a lot needed as RAM did pretty well with it from the factory. I added some, whether it needed it or not. The ResoNix foam material is to help resolve rattles from loose items, so I added it to the doors and inside of the door panel as well.

I also had to modify the speaker opening trimming about 1/8" to 3/16" off the top and bottom so the HAT speaker would fit. It was supposed to be a drop in replacement, but apparently MTI Acoustics nor HAT actually ever installed any in the 2019, otherwise they would have known they are anything but drop in. It took me an hour with my Dremel tool carving these out... they were difficult to trim too, being the way they were made... not your typical door speaker baffle. Ultimately they fit and I sealed them off really well with dampening material, then wrapped them in cloth tape to help eliminate any shiny material being seen thru the door panel grille.

Below it the rear door with the factory speaker.

Rear wall with the rear seats out and the panel off the rear wall. Here is some of the dampening material... and I also installed ResoNix foam on the back of the factory panel.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Battery rigged up...

Install is finished... almost... still need to wrap the wires and make them look nice, but I will wait on my new amp from Hybrid. They are in the middle of upgrading the U5A and sent me a demo unit of the old model temporarily, so once I get the new one in and replaced, then I'll tidy up the wiring and make it look nice.

Here is the JL Audio amp mounted to the back side of the box...

 

[Sonnie Parker]

More pics of the install...

 

[Sonnie Parker]

While Dirac Live in the vehicle is not what it is in the home... it will give you the best experience you will likely ever accomplish... even from the professionals. My truck sounds better than the install Steve Cook did in my wife's Lexus, and Steve is one of the best in the USA at tuning a vehicle. Granted... I did a little bit of tweaking, but it DL in itself is absolutely incredible. miniDSP did a great job of getting it implemented in the C-DSP with practically endless tweaking options.

 

[LayinLo]

Good seeing you here and the other forum. Nice upgrades! The sub enclosure is very elegant IMHO. I bet your truck sounds great with that front stage!

Ugh...You reminded me that I still need order some damping material that will hold well to the roof of my F-150.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Thanks... it's gotten me more active at least. I had been working on our cabin for 2.5 years and hadn't had time for anything... now I'm doing what I like again... playing with audio.

Yeah... MTI did a really good job on the enclosure... and the front stage is indeed awesome. This is by far the best sounding system I have ever had. A combination to all the right components, but no doubt the C-DSP and Dirac Live is doing the real magic on it.

 

[feeshta]

Oops, goofed up the quote somehow

 

[feeshta]

Thanks... it's gotten me more active at least. I had been working on our cabin for 2.5 years and hadn't had time for anything... now I'm doing what I like again... playing with audio.

Yeah... MTI did a really good job on the enclosure... and the front stage is indeed awesome. This is by far the best sounding system I have ever had. A combination to all the right components, but no doubt the C-DSP and Dirac Live is doing the real magic on it.

Lovely install, and I have heard great things about HAT products, but never gotten to see or hear them myself. I had a question about the MiniDSP though.

I am familiar with their products, having owned 2 of them so far. I have a Nano AVR-HDA, which was quite nice but is unfortunately basically useless at this point due to the fact that is cannot handle 4K video, and a 2x4HD, which I just recently purchased and am thinking about upgrading to Dirac Live.

My question with the miniDSP is more about end functionality. What does the remote look like? Size? Installation methodology? They have no photos of that on their website, and I have not been able to find any at all anywhere else.

The reason this is important to me is that as I am sure you are well aware, cars tuned for the driver tend to sound horrific from the passenger seat, especially when time alignment is applied. I currently have a Zapco Z8 IV DSP in my car, but it has been problematic and I have been thinking about replacing it for a while now. The MiniDSP looks like a great option, but I really need to be able to change between presets easily, and if the remote is some clunky behemoth, that's not going to work. I've also considered some other products that allow tuning and preset adjustment via smartphone, as that would be a very convenient option. I know Minidsp does have an app available, but have no idea if it can be applied to this product or not. Guessing tome sort of additional hardware might be required for that to be the case.

Any insight you could offer would be appreciated, Sir

 

[dengland]

I saw in the MiniDSP tuning thread that you traded the 2019 in and now have the 12" HU in a 2020. I let my 2014 Limited with an 8.4 go with everything in it (Helix Pro based.) and bought 2020 Limited with the 12". I have not attempted another build but I am starting to get the bug again. The miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL Processor seems to make the most sense to start over with. I bought a 2x4HD recently for the home theater. No sense going back to Helix.

If you do another build thread on the 2020, please make a cross post here.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I don't have time right now, but I will tell you about it later. We are about to leave for a short road trip and won't be home until later tonight.

If you want a miniDSP and anything I had in my previous build, it will be for sale. The amp I had in that build was a demo amp until HAT could send me their new updated model, which I just recently received. It is still in the box and never has been taken out of the box. I still have the old amp that is boxed up in my office waiting on them to send me a label back for it. I never got a chance to replace the old amp for the new one before I traded. Either way, I'm not going to mess with this system short of putting a JL Stealhbox in the back with a JL amp (since it has TuN)... that way I won't have to connect up the miniDSP just for the sub.

I'll do a thread on my 2020 and what I'm doing there a bit later.

 

[grandpixel]

Dude!!! So excited that I found your thread on this truck, as well as the tuning with MiniDSP DL thread! I have a 2019 RAM Laramie. I purchased Hybrid Audio speakers for the front stage: the U3 (HAT said that the dust cap will do better off the windshield for phase response) as well as the U69S. I don't have subs or sub enclosure yet. I do have some IDQ 12's that have been sitting around for a long time that I may well use. But thinking about using an MTI enclosure as well. I just ordered a Helix DSP Mini from Austria for $399 shipping included, but also been looking at the MiniDSP DL. (I have an old MiniDSP 6x8 but I think the processor will only allow for like 8 filters.) Thing is, I don't know enough about phase response, etc and not much experience with manual tuning. The DL would take care of all of that for me.

Anyway, I have been looking for resources and your system is almost identical to what I'm trying to do. I even started a Facebook group yesterday, specifically for 5th gen RAM 1500 owners who want to build an SQ system. If you're interested, I would love to chat about what you've done with your truck, both for my sake and also so that I can eventually be equipped to help other RAM owner's do the same. It really is an incredible truck in many respects.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Welcome to the forum grandpixel... glad to have you with us.

No doubt you will enjoy the truck and the new system. HAT has some amazing sounding speakers, that is for sure.

Without question, I would go the miniDSP route and let Dirac Live take care of the processing for you. It is truly amazing.

 

[grandpixel]

Thanks Sonnie. I sent you a message on Facebook as well. I live just a couple of hours away. I'd love to come see your truck and talk audio for a bit, and see your gun shop as well. Been wanting to buy an AR for a long time. Maybe you could hook me up.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Most definitely... we need to do that. My wife is still a bit reluctant to do much with the virus spiking like it has around us, but maybe that will clear on up soon and we can arrange something.

AR's are hard to come by right now. We have several hundred on order, but have no idea when we'll see them. It has been insane, that is for sure.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Hey Austin... have you made anymore headway on your truck?

You won't believe it, but I ordered more HAT speakers and a miniDSP... lol. Should have kept them I guess. However, I opted for the Legatia 3X-P this time around... but going with the same U69S in the doors.

I missed the miniDSP so much that I just couldn't stand not having it.

 

[grandpixel]

haha, I believe it

I basically have ordered and received all the stuff I needed for the install from Amazon, and gotten one door treated. Other than that it's been raining a lot here and I don't have a garage to work in. It's also hard for me to find motivation to work on it because I hate running into snags and not knowing how or what to do. And there are always snags.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

lol... I know that feeling.

FYI... I am not going to run my speaker wires thru the door jam this time around, as that was probably the biggest headache on the last install. I'm going to tap into the front door wires, and the dash wires at the amp. The middle plug on the amp under the driver's seat has the 4 green w/ colored stripes and 4 gray w/ colored stripes that match up to those four speakers. I plan to cut the wires, leaving the plug in the amp so that it doesn't get lost, then connect the the wires there.

 

[grandpixel]

Awesome. Great info. I was wondering how I was going to run those wires into the doors. It looked really difficult since there is a connector in the dash next to the door, and I don’t even know how access the connector from inside the truck.

I was looking at maybe T connectors to tap in at the speaker locations (to minimize the smaller wire runs, but seems more convenient to do them all at the amp. Do you know what gauge the factory speaker wire is?

Also tapping in would still leave them connected to the factory amp, which would probably be better to avoid, and if I ever go back to the factory system to sell the truck, I’d have to patch where I tapped in anyway, so might as well just cut the wire as you are doing.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yes... be sure to cut the wire and don't allow the factory amp to be connected, that will create an issue for sure. I'm going to leave my rear door speakers connected to the factory amp, but I'll keep everything faded to the front. I'll cut the wires for the rear headliners speakers in the rear driver's side corner where I did last time. I ordered a refurbished JL Audio XD 6-channel amp to power the dash, doors and rear headliner. I'll just disconnect the center channel at the speaker.

I decided I wasn't going to fight passing thru the side wall and door jam again, as it took a while to make that happen last time.

The factory speaker wires are probably 18 gauge at best, but these are really short runs and should be fine. I've seen 20-24 gauge wire inside some seriously high dollar home speakers.

 

[grandpixel]

So there’s 4 bolts here of interest. I took out the two matching 15mm nuts on each side, and the 20mm holding the seatbelt on the left. The seat won’t come out. Is it because there’s still springs and stuff connecting the seat to the slide rail?

I’m thinking I may need to just take out both 20 mm bolts and both of the odd shaped star bolts and remove the rails with the seat. Do you know what those star bolts are?

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Oh no... you only need to remove the large bolts in the back and the the small torx head bolts inside the rails in the front. Make sure the seats are not reclined any... or you won't see them, but I can see them in your image.