Now for the Subwoofer setup....

MTX Thunderform for the Dakota Quad Cab:

First test to see that it fit:

MTX Sub versus the new JL Audio Sub:

Sub box, sub, & grille installed in truck (just slides right into place) & then the seat back bolts back on over it:

Amp is hidden underneath the bottom of the 40 part (of the 60/40) seat (40 seat is flipped up in pic):

 

nice setup...you got any model #'s for the amps in your system? are you running the speakers off headunit?

 

man that looks great and i bet will sound very good

 

great job with the thunderform. it took some cutting of my thunderform to fit into my 03 clubcab. even with four holes cut into it and ghetto sealed with duct tape it sounds great. not the best sub enclosure, but hands down the most practical for keeping the oem layout of the interior

 

That's where I have my amp. I have an 8 inch powered Bazooka on the tranny hump.

 

I have been wondering about that darn mtx box but didnt want to buy it to find out it didnt work. Thanks for clearing it up for me ... now the question I have for all the stereo guru's ... what is the BEST sub I can get in this box. I want the cab of my truck to shake and I want people 2 blocks away to know I am coming ... help me out here.

 

nice setup...you got any model #'s for the amps in your system? are you running the speakers off headunit?

Yep just running the door speakers off the Alpine HU

The sub provides the bass, the door speakers give the mids & highs (they lack bass response anyways--they're aftermarket Infinity), and the tweeters provide clear highs.

The door speakers should probably be amplified, but that would be A LOT of work and this truck is a lease anyways.

Just have the one amp for the subwoofer...it's a Rockford Fosgate Power 351M mono amp....rated at 390 watts @ 2ohms.
So it's putting about 195 watts to the sub, which is 4ohms

I wish I could've put a Dual Voice coil sub in the box (so it would've been a 2ohm load & louder), but the box requires a shallow mount sub do to the small depth.

Overall...sounds great....but the best part is that it doesn't take up ANY room in the truck and you can't see any of it.

 

man that looks great and i bet will sound very good

Sounds awesome for 1 10" sub...definitely!

Only complaint is some bass will rattle the back of the cab a little bit.....so it probably needs some Dynamat on the back wall of the cab to keep the sound good (less rattle at times)

Maybe in the spring/summer if I'm bored I'll do it to this truck (did it on my '04 before)

 

I have been wondering about that darn mtx box but didnt want to buy it to find out it didnt work. Thanks for clearing it up for me ... now the question I have for all the stereo guru's ... what is the BEST sub I can get in this box. I want the cab of my truck to shake and I want people 2 blocks away to know I am coming ... help me out here.

I forget the mounting depth of the box, but it's only like 4.75-5 inches to work with.
And there are very few (good) subs that have a short mounting depth under 5"

The mounting depth of the JL 10W1v2 is 4.34 inches.

I wanted a JL Audio 10W3v2-D4, but it's too big @ 5.75 inch mounting depth.

I had a JL Audio 10W0-4 in my box when I had one in my 2004 QC....the 10W1v2 sounds better though.

You're definitely not going to find a subwoofer that'll be "loud enough for people to hear you coming 2 blocks away" that'll fit in THIS box.....it just can't happen. There's no air space & no room.
Also the fact that a 10" subwoofer doesn't provide that bass response....whereas with 1 12" subwoofer you'd hear it from far away.....a 10" isn't really that loud.

I'd recommend this setup if you want some bass to your stereo and good sound. This isn't for people who want to thump their beats up and down the street all day.
You can't expect a SUPER loud system out of 1 10" subwoofer with a very small box.

If you want a super loud system.....it'd have to take up your back seat. 2 12's would do the job.

But I'm VERY happy with it and it sounds really good. It doesn't overpower the music or anything.

 

Two little notes.....

1) The box DOES fit. But to get a really tight fit & to keep it in place.....I used a couple folded towels underneath the box and that made it fit snug underneath the lip of the back wall (which holds it in). Trust me....this did the trick!!!

I also put a towel underneath the box when I had one in my '04 QC to get it to fit super tight.

2) ALSO, I recommend getting a speaker that will accept a grille...like JL Audio subs do.
That way the sub doesn't bump into the seat back.....When the sub fires/hits it could hit the metal bars in the back of the seat back which could damage the sub. The grille protects the sub & prevents that from happening.

 

so it looks great... but will this work in the standard cab? it seems like it would, but im not sure what the depth is behind the rear seats. i know our seat backs come off... any ideas?

 

I just picked up an '05 qc in december and hate the stock stereo...after owning 3 other daks before this one, it seems this truck is going to be a challenge to make it sound really good...the thunderform is a good idea, but I am stuck with deciding on whether to get an ipod interface or just upgrade to the '06 stock radio that has an aux input built in...then install a Cleansweep and then the amp and speakers...choices...

 

so it looks great... but will this work in the standard cab? it seems like it would, but im not sure what the depth is behind the rear seats. i know our seat backs come off... any ideas?

It ISN'T gonna fit on the Club Cab

For the Quad Cab only

 

I just picked up an '05 qc in december and hate the stock stereo...after owning 3 other daks before this one, it seems this truck is going to be a challenge to make it sound really good...the thunderform is a good idea, but I am stuck with deciding on whether to get an ipod interface or just upgrade to the '06 stock radio that has an aux input built in...then install a Cleansweep and then the amp and speakers...choices...

I had the same dilemma when I first got my iPod (had a different car though). I was using an FM transmitter & it got annoying to find a song on the iPod....it was seriously dangerous when driving having to click & scroll thru tons of songs for ONE song.

My suggestion.....Alpine's iPod interface. The radio was around $210 & then the iPod interface was $100....dash install kit was about $25-30.

I love Pioneer radios, but their interface was the worst thing I've every seen (didn't display a full screen) & was very hard to use.
I didn't even explore Kenwood....their radios already have too many buttons on them.

But you can control your iPod thru the radio and pick your playlist and shuffle them and such. If you have a ton of music, then the search feature kind of sucks (scroll thru everything), but it does work okay.

I haven't seen how the '06 radio works with an iPod, but it'll still cost you a little bit of $$$ since people will want those over the '04 (Durango) & '05 radio.

But if you do go that route ('06 radio)....you can still hook up a sub with a Line Output Converter (LOC) and make it all work.

But definitely think about the Thunderform box, since it takes up no room at all is the best part. Unless you don't care if a sub box takes up the backseat.

Downside is that you can only fit 1 10" sub in the box, but hey it's better than nothing was the whole reason I got it. Plus it sounds pretty good. :biggthump

 

OH yeah....here's a good location to run your power cable thru the firewall....

I've always used the big rubber grommet where the hood release latch cable goes thru the firewall, on the Dakotas.

Just look under the dash and follow the cable from the hood release lever & you'll see it.......pull the rubber grommet towards you and it slides/pops out of the firewall. Cut a very small hole for the wire (just barely big enought for the wire to slide thru--to keep a tight seal) going to the battery and feed it thru there.

It's easy to do and provides a good seal (no water or air or anything).

 

:biggthump I am going to go with Alpine HU and Ipod Interface...I also like the looks of the aluminum center dash! I am going to get Polk 6.5" for the doors since I do not have openings for tweets already in the door...also, I picked up a Dynomat kit for all 4 doors real cheap off my buddy...It was tough to decide what to do...I have never really had Alpine before...I guess I'll start inside and work my way out...thx for the advice...I'll post up pics of the progress as soon as they become available.

 

Same thing here
I'd always heard good things about Alpine, but just didn't like the looks & had never had an Alpine before.
But after I've had this deck (CDA-9851).....I really like it!

Sure the Pioneer has graphics, but like I said the iPod interface was the worst thing I'd ever seen....lol

Did you see in my pics where I mounted the iPod interface?? It'll mount in the passenger footwell without a problem. Then I ran the cable from that up to the glovebox & that's where I keep my iPod at.

My truck didn't have tweeters in it either (from the factory).....I just drilled the holes with a hole saw in the factory location & put them in. With the Infinity tweeters I have....they slide into a threaded plastic holder and then you push it in from the front and then a huge nut threads on from the back to hold it in. Really simple install. Just used some 3m line taps on the factory speaker wire and that was it (had inline crossovers).

If you have the woodgrain bezel, get rid of it....it's hideous! lol
The silver one I have comes standard in the Laramie models.

There is a black painted one coming out though (or should be available) that is on the new '06 NiteRunner edition. So if you have a black truck, it'd look sweet on the inside. Just an idea

 

red just like yours...lol

I should be getting the setup from Crutchfield by the weekend...I am going to my dealer tomorrow and looking to get the silver bezel...

 

So what all are you ordering from Crutchfield???

 

Do the rear seats in a 06 dajota quad cab fold down?
Me and my dad tried for like 5 min to get them to fold down and couldnt figure it out

 

Do the rear seats in a 06 dajota quad cab fold down?
Me and my dad tried for like 5 min to get them to fold down and couldnt figure it out

As far as I know, they do not fold down...up...but not down.

 

Sorry to pull up this post from the past but I now have an 06 Dakota quad cab and I want to upgrade the sound system. I haven't payed too much attention to my radio bezel but I believe mine is like a carbon fibre look if I remeber right. I have to look and if it is I'll post a pic. I was looking at Crutchfield.com and it doesn't look to me like they carry the sub box anymore that fits behind the seat. I would also like to know what is the deal with auto makers making the wireing different so you have to buy an expensive wireing adapter just to put in an aftermarket cd player. Crutchfield says my truck takes a 70 dollar wireing adapter to put in my aftermarket cd player. does anyone have an alternative to this?

 

I would also like to know what is the deal with auto makers making the wireing different so you have to buy an expensive wireing adapter just to put in an aftermarket cd player.

the reason for that is because the automakers don't care one bit about the aftermarket.

Crutchfield says my truck takes a 70 dollar wireing adapter to put in my aftermarket cd player. does anyone have an alternative to this?

Do you have the Alpine system?

 

I currently have an all stock system and I was planning on starting with my sony cd player I had taken out of my 04 dakota before trading it in. But if its going to be seventy dollars just to put in the cd player I can live with the factory one for now I guess. I've got the same problem with my wife's car which is an 04 grand am. The wireing harness is about seventy for it too. :cussing: I hate what they are doing with these new factory systems.

 

Nice setup, bud. Wish I had a good bass system available for my Club Cab.