I finally got my hands on my new Kenwood 8120 last week so this past weekend was solely dedicated to installing everything. Took me all day Sat. and Sun to get it in and Monday was the detail day.
I wont go into too much crazy detail with this write up since alot of guys/gals have already charted these waters many times before me on previous post, but I'll be happy to answer any questions thrown my way.
A quick preface, this system began its life in Sept. of 07 when I ordered my first Sub, and took a whole 7 months to complete. In the end I think it was well worth the wait of the Kenwood 8120, but I have to admit I nearly bailed on it a few times when Kenwood was holding the release date.
First thing first, truck is gutted and covered wall to wall with Dynamat Extreme, followed by a layer of Ensolite.
With the truck apart, the signal, power and speaker wires are run
A 120 amp breaker is installed in the engine bay. I chose this set up over an ANL fuse, but either way is fine. The 4 awg main power line is run thru the boot on the drivers side firewall.
I spent many nights up, thinking what the best way would be to mount an amp rack without doing permanent damage to the truck, like drilling thru the back wall. This is what I came up with, its not the end all be all amp rack, but its solid as a rock as doesnt flinch a bit.
The rack was measured and cut out of 1/2" MDF. Slots were cut out for the seat brackets. It was carpeted in the same carpet as the sub box.
Next came the problem of keeping the rack solid on the back wall and still able to support the weight of the amps and wiring. I found a good solution at Home Depot with these metal straps.
I found 3 evenly spaced 12mm screws on the upper part of the back wall holding in the child restraint straps. Since my wife and I dont have kids they would never be missed if I used them for my anchor points. I took the straps one by one and pounded them out on the vise to follow the bends of the back wall.
It took some time but the fit on all three were perfect.
While I was back there I took some time to carpet the upper part of the back wall. I'm glad I did this because it really gives it a nice finished look.
The straps were trimmed up and painted black, mounted on the rack and the rack was test fit..... everything fit nice and tight.
I laid out the amps outside the truck to make sure I got them perfectly level. Once I had the rough set, they were screwed in.
Next step was to put them in their new home. The rack fit like a glove.
The Clark Griswold birds nest of wires had to be rough set to get my general layout, but once that was established it wasnt too bad.
In the end I used the seat belt bracket next to the jack as my grounding point. I used the Dremel to sand down the paint to bare metal.
The end result:
The tweeters were placed in the factory Limited sail panels. I used a 1 3/4" hole saw bit to make the hole as required for these particular tweeters.
The tweeters were placed in and secured in from the rear with the included fasteners.
And the install. The gap on the bottom is from me not having pushed it in all the way at the time I took the picture, but the fit is perfect.
In go the stars of the show, the Boston Pro 60's. I made the brackets out of 3/4" and 1/2" MDF.
Off with the JBL logos.
And on with the Boston's.
For the time being, the Nav. antenna was placed in the center speaker hole since its no longer in use for now. I used some more metal strap and held it in place with double sided 3M tape. Reception is about 100 % in this location.
Also installed was the Pac-SWI-JACK steering wheel interface. Just like Rage did, I had to install a 560 ohm resistor in series with wires 7 and 8 going to the white wire on the PAC. Install of the unit was fairly simple.
By the end of Monday night I was exhausted and just anxious to get the Kenwood in and make sure everything was working. A quick connection to the battery, and a turn of the key and the system took its first breath.
Sound quality right out of the gate was less than expected. All the default settings on the Kenwood are set to "flat", and the instruction book is like a small phone book. The amp gains need to be set properly and tuned to the right Hz, and the speakers all need to be adjusted in the headunit itself. There is a ton of tuning left to do but the system has HUGE potential and unfortunately I had to work the next day so I had to get to bed. I read alot of the manual today and just as I suspected I havent even scratched the surface of what the 8120 can do.
My new Sirius cable showed up today so I'll pull the 8120 back out this weekend, hook it up and program the PAC steering wheel adapter.
By the way, I remember reading that a few people with the Metra kit had some problem with it not fitting tight on the right corner. its not too bad, but a little off. Somebody had a mod for it but I cant remember who or what it was.
FANTASTIC job Mark, I can't believe how good that looks. My hat's off to you; you're a man amongst boys. I can't wait to see more! Mods, please take my install thread off, it pales in comparison to this one
__________________ 2007 CrewMax SR5 4x4 5.7Nautical Blue My Pictures
TRD Rear Sway Bar, Pioneer FH-P8000BT w/ Sirius, Carriage Works Black Replacement Grille + Top Insert, Color Matched Sequoia Door Handles, Bench Seat, Dual Headrest DVD, back up camera w/monitor, Nüvi 660, Line-x, undercover, Tekonsha P3, debadged, enjoyed since 7/20/2007
FUTURE MODS -
25-30 ft Travel Trailer....... bye bye Pop-Up
Nice setup...can you post some pics of the 8120 in the dash with the metra kit? I thought the fit problems were with the scosche kit?
I have a Metra High Gloss kit and it fits like a glove
__________________ 2007 CrewMax SR5 4x4 5.7Nautical Blue My Pictures
TRD Rear Sway Bar, Pioneer FH-P8000BT w/ Sirius, Carriage Works Black Replacement Grille + Top Insert, Color Matched Sequoia Door Handles, Bench Seat, Dual Headrest DVD, back up camera w/monitor, Nüvi 660, Line-x, undercover, Tekonsha P3, debadged, enjoyed since 7/20/2007
FUTURE MODS -
25-30 ft Travel Trailer....... bye bye Pop-Up
I have a Metra High Gloss kit and it fits like a glove
I too have the Metra high gloss dash kit and there is definitely a problem with the top right corner. It doesn't seat all the way in that corner. I would definitely like to find that mod. I searched.
Looks great. Thanks for sharing the pics. Good job.
PS - What length RCA's did you need to get to the back wall, and did you run them down the middle or down one side?
Thanks.
My signal cables are 15 footers by Monster. I think its the third picture down, but they are the red cables running down the middle of the truck.
I saw your post this morning before you edited it, but the reason I made the straps for the amp rack was to keep the truck as stock as possible. If I had to, all that I'll have to do to remove it would be unhook the wires, unscrew the three bolts and it lifts right out.
Jumbo Jet, very nice and clean... All your mods in this section and others areas in the forum are so well thought out. Good stuff man!!!
Have you thought about having a center dash speaker? I have have a 5" speaker in the there with a lot of dynamat and it sounds killer, plus the Kenwood 8120 can do 5.1. It adds a lot to the frontstage. Good job on the amprack and those Alpine amps are great... Underrated, clean, blue lights and a sweet price!!!
Jumbo Jet, very nice and clean... All your mods in this section and others areas in the forum are so well thought out. Good stuff man!!!
Have you thought about having a center dash speaker? I have have a 5" speaker in the there with a lot of dynamat and it sounds killer, plus the Kenwood 8120 can do 5.1. It adds a lot to the frontstage. Good job on the amprack and those Alpine amps are great... Underrated, clean, blue lights and a sweet price!!!
So are you happy with it? Any more mods coming?
The problem with me is I have the upgrade bug...
Thanks man, but to be honest, I havent had the time to sit out there and fine tune everything yet. The 8120 is amazing but the sound I'm getting right now isnt making me grin from ear to ear just yet. The amps gains are set pretty low right now, but the Bass EQ and Hz levels are'nt adjusted yet. The EQ in the headunit is gonna take some time to get figured out, along with all the other tedious settings.
I've thought about the center channel, but for now I just wanna concentrate on getting the sound right. Its in there, I just have to find it. My Sirius cable showed up today so this weekend I'll put that in and program the PAC controller, then try and work on the sound settings.
My signal cables are 15 footers by Monster. I think its the third picture down, but they are the red cables running down the middle of the truck.
I saw your post this morning before you edited it, but the reason I made the straps for the amp rack was to keep the truck as stock as possible. If I had to, all that I'll have to do to remove it would be unhook the wires, unscrew the three bolts and it lifts right out.
Yeah, I went back and read again and saw where you indicated that in your post, so that's why I edited.... LOL
duh.... read much....... LOL
Sorry for the dumb question, and thanks for the length info. I am looking at some 4 meter wires that are 13 feet and was thinking they would be enough most likely on an 06 DC.
Yeah, I went back and read again and saw where you indicated that in your post, so that's why I edited.... LOL
duh.... read much....... LOL
Sorry for the dumb question, and thanks for the length info. I am looking at some 4 meter wires that are 13 feet and was thinking they would be enough most likely on an 06 DC.
yeah, if you go straight down the middle then 13 feet should be plenty. On my last truck I ran them down the pass. door sills and the length got sucked up pretty quickly as they got routed around everything.
Fantastic install Jumbo! I know the feeling of having the daunting task of tuning. I hate hate hate tuning stereos, but once its done it's great lol.
Do you tune using a DC meter?
Hey Brandon,
I dont know what I'm gonna tune it with yet. I tried the ol' trial and error by ear and got it close last night. It sounds alot better than the first fire up, but I can still hear room for improvement. I have a couple friends that are engineers that can help me thru thru the tuning and my father in law is a radio engineer, so between the 4 of us we should be able to get this thing cranking. It is loud though...... I'll give it that.
Kenwood/Boston install complete----- Pics.
FANTASTIC job Mark, I can't believe how good that looks. My hat's off to you; you're a man amongst boys. I can't wait to see more! Mods, please take my install thread off, it pales in comparison to this one 
and a sweet price!!!
Linear Mode
