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Install Alpine or JL Audio FiX-86?

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#21 ·
You don’t NEED just set your crossover points on the amp properly. Being JL I’m sure the markings on the cross over would be fairly accurate.
IF your using the cross over from the components I would keep the cross over in the off or through position on the amp. if you listen to bass heavy And loud music I would set the high pass on the amp above 100 for interior speakers. And low pass at 100 for the sub. Please don’t use bass boost if you absolutely must then don’t forget to adjust the gain back down to reduce distortion. “Bass boost” in my opinion just introduces distortion and kills subs.
adjust your gain with the head unit volume set at 25 and make sure your radio settings “bass and treble” are set to 0
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
Itz chucklez said:
You don’t NEED just set your crossover points on the amp properly. Being JL I’m sure the markings on the cross over would be fairly accurate.
IF your using the cross over from the components I would keep the cross over in the off or through position on the amp. if you listen to bass heavy And loud music I would set the high pass on the amp above 100 for interior speakers. And low pass at 100 for the sub. Please don’t use bass boost if you absolutely must then don’t forget to adjust the gain back down to reduce distortion. “Bass boost” in my opinion just introduces distortion and kills subs.
adjust your gain with the head unit volume set at 25 and make sure your radio settings “bass and treble” are set to 0
Click to expand...
Okay cool that’s what I thought!

Yeah I would never use bass boost. I enjoy a clear and balanced sound and mostly listen to rock, classic rock & country.

The only other question I have since I’ve never run rear fill with 6.5’s in the doors since I am powering them each with a channel off the 900/5 and without a crossover is what is the best way to control the frequency range that they play and what frequencies should I actually allow them to play? I imagine I can go as low as 100hz but how high should I allow them to play and how would I go about controlling that? Should I just run the same crossover set from the C5 component set and just not run a tweeter or can I control the playing range with the amplifier?
 
#23 ·
well there’s ways
For imaging purposes I would set them at lo pass at the highest allowable frequency to cut off the highs a little bit and drop the gain on them so they are not as loud.
If you don’t particularly care then I would just set the high pass at 100 as well but lower the gain a bit so the sound doesn’t pull towards the rear and you’ll have that touch of rear fill but not overwhelming effect.
or if you don’t care about that stuff either then adjust the gain equally set the high pass at 100 and your good.
To accurately control it you need a dsp. No way around it. Well...There’s ways.. with like in line crossovers you install and you can create a band pass effect but that’s kinda ghetto and won’t really be effective anyways. Not worth mentioning but what the hell 🤷🏾‍♂️
Just keep it simple don’t over think it because then you’ll end up getting a dsp. You seem like you care a little bit about sound and might be leaning towards convincing yourself on getting the twk 😂 but again just keep it simple and don’t over think it. It will sound great.
If your usually installing systems I would invest in a DD-1 from Steve Meade to set your gains properly and you’ll never have issues. He has a lot of products that make tuning awesome but if you don’t do it daily its hard to justify spending the bucks on all that stuff.
Oh yea if you don’t crank the volume ever you can always set your high pass at 40hz, 60hz or 80hz depending on speaker specs. OR not set a filter at all.
 
Discussion starter · #24 ·
Itz chucklez said:
well there’s ways
For imaging purposes I would set them at lo pass at the highest allowable frequency to cut off the highs a little bit and drop the gain on them so they are not as loud.
If you don’t particularly care then I would just set the high pass at 100 as well but lower the gain a bit so the sound doesn’t pull towards the rear and you’ll have that touch of rear fill but not overwhelming effect.
or if you don’t care about that stuff either then adjust the gain equally set the high pass at 100 and your good.
To accurately control it you need a dsp. No way around it. Well...There’s ways.. with like in line crossovers you install and you can create a band pass effect but that’s kinda ghetto and won’t really be effective anyways. Not worth mentioning but what the hell 🤷🏾‍♂️
Just keep it simple don’t over think it because then you’ll end up getting a dsp. You seem like you care a little bit about sound and might be leaning towards convincing yourself on getting the twk 😂 but again just keep it simple and don’t over think it. It will sound great.
If your usually installing systems I would invest in a DD-1 from Steve Meade to set your gains properly and you’ll never have issues. He has a lot of products that make tuning awesome but if you don’t do it daily its hard to justify spending the bucks on all that stuff.
Oh yea if you don’t crank the volume ever you can always set your high pass at 40hz, 60hz or 80hz depending on speaker specs. OR not set a filter at all.
Click to expand...
I was thinking setting low pass on the amplifier around 500hz to get mids and lows and have the gain set relatively low.

I do care about sound 100% and generally do listen to my music pretty loud lol that’s why I’m doing all of this.

But you’re right I don’t know if I want to spend another $500 on a TWK right now but I suppose I could always add it in if need be.

Right now my system will be as follows:

C5 components powered by front channels, C5 woofers powered by rear channels and a 10W6 sealed powered by the sub channel. Full dynamat in doors, behind speakers doubled and on the floor (and wherever else I can fit and have enough material for). Pretty straight forward and simple.

Is the FiX-86 easy to wire up and should I mount it somewhere behind the stock unit or in/under the glove box where it’s accessible?

I think I am going to put the subwoofer in the middle under the rear seat and the amplifier flat on the floor next to it on the passenger side this way I can still access it to make minor adjustments if I feel like it.
 
#25 ·
There’s some cheap really good sound deadner called noico it comes in black or the silver and it’s really good quality. I spent $60 (amazon) on a door kit and I was able to double up every where even on the plastic door panel. Well I only did front doors so you might want to get 2 kits. But even after doubling I had plenty left over that I used in the sub box. Not quite enough for all for doors though. If you have time and bored enough I would stick some in headliner.
the fix is relatively simple if you have the wiring schematics for the car and know which wires to tap into. the glove box is ideal because it’s a shorter wire run but it can potentially be annoying in there. Everyone uses the glove box differently so I guess it’s up to you. Just make sure it’s easy enough to accessso you can plug in the usb cable and connect to a pc.
I have my sub box under the rear passenger. In the middle it will just take up real estate from both sides for storage. I wanted to have space clear on one side for groceries or baby stuff. Again that also depends on how u use the truck on the daily. For me under the seat made the most sense. Not sure how big your amp is though so it might not be an option.
while you have everything apart might as well go ahead and install some foot well lighting! Lol 😂
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Itz chucklez said:
There’s some cheap really good sound deadner called noico it comes in black or the silver and it’s really good quality. I spent $60 (amazon) on a door kit and I was able to double up every where even on the plastic door panel. Well I only did front doors so you might want to get 2 kits. But even after doubling I had plenty left over that I used in the sub box. Not quite enough for all for doors though. If you have time and bored enough I would stick some in headliner.
the fix is relatively simple if you have the wiring schematics for the car and know which wires to tap into. the glove box is ideal because it’s a shorter wire run but it can potentially be annoying in there. Everyone uses the glove box differently so I guess it’s up to you. Just make sure it’s easy enough to accessso you can plug in the usb cable and connect to a pc.
I have my sub box under the rear passenger. In the middle it will just take up real estate from both sides for storage. I wanted to have space clear on one side for groceries or baby stuff. Again that also depends on how u use the truck on the daily. For me under the seat made the most sense. Not sure how big your amp is though so it might not be an option.
while you have everything apart might as well go ahead and install some foot well lighting! Lol 😂
Click to expand...
I don’t mind being without a glove box especially because the center console is so large. What do I need to connect a PC to the FiX for? Sorry, I am completely new to OEM integration.

I guess as far as sub and amp placing I can put the sub under passenger front seat and amp right next to it and still be able to lift the larger lower portion of the back seat and be able to put some things on that side.

I’ll splurge on the dynamat because you’re right... it can make shitty speakers sound good and high end speakers sound great!!
 
#28 ·
Also, I would check again on that 10w7 fitment under the seat. Unless you won’t bring seat down. That sub is 8 inches long unless it’s an older model that was shorter. But hate to see you build your box and have issues. I just don’t see how that bar under seat will clear the box
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Itz chucklez said:
Also, I would check again on that 10w7 fitment under the seat. Unless you won’t bring seat down. That sub is 8 inches long unless it’s an older model that was shorter. But hate to see you build your box and have issues. I just don’t see how that bar under seat will clear the box
Click to expand...
Is that software a one time thing to get started? I have a MacBook so will I be able to do what I have to for that?

I am running a 10W6-D4 and it clears in all three dimensions of height, width & depth. I am going to build a box 8”H, 11” to 11-1/2”W and 11”-11-1/2”D (outside dimensions- sealed). The mounting depth of a 10W6-D4 is 6.89”.
 
#30 ·
Ohhhh that’s more like it lol you said w7 and my curiosity took over.
yes it’s a one time thing it’s free very simple to use. Jl has a few videos on how to use it. You will also need to download the test tones on a usb (unless your truck came with CD player) For the auto Calibration.
 
Discussion starter · #31 ·
Haha yeah sorry I put the wrong subwoofer in the original post. I know a W7 is a much larger subwoofer... I like the W6 line better anyway because I’m after more SQ than SPL.

I may have to reach out to you more once I have the FiX and maybe you can help me out. I’m sure I can do it on my own but you seem very knowledgeable about car audio in general which I appreciate.

Most people really don’t know or care beyond just simply plug & play upgrading.
 
#32 ·
Sorry for the late reply to this. I did a set up about a year ago with my 2019 BE with your exact objectives.A DSP was the route I went. I have a Alpine PXE 850S DSP under the passenger seat and a JL XD700 pushing everything under the driver's seat. Our speaker set up is very similar other than the sub which is a JL CP110LG and I'm using all JL Audio speakers in the doors/pillars with soundproofing and rings as well. I picked the Alpine unit because it had a 31 band EQ and retained all the original steering wheel and head unit functions other than volume and tone controls on the head unit.
 
#33 ·
If you don't want to replace everything (I didn't since all the speakers are 2ohms), I added a JL MicroSub CP208LG-W3v3 Dual 8" Subwoofer with a 250w mono amp from Rockford Fosgate to my Ridgeline and it sounds great, and everything fits in the low channel under the seats, with almost no impact on storage.

All in, I think this cost about 1200 total with a remote bass knob under the dash?
406199
 
#35 ·
I looked into upgrading my 2019 Sport I bought in January. Using Crutchfield's website, I soon found out that every upgrade to my 5" head unit would take away precious functionality of the unit. So the only change I wound up changing was to add the OEM CD player.

Speakers may be next, since the CD player did reveal some serious sound issues with the system. Tweaters are way too bright, even with the treble cranked all the way down.
 
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