Audio upgrades to my 2021 Force Gurkha

hard to find heavy, rigid chassis with excellent shell sheet metal thickness for the size these days.

BHPian PhantomLord recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I think Gurkha makes a good vehicle for Audio setup for both SQ and Bass heads. It is hard to find heavy, rigid chassis with excellent shell(see my later post) sheet metal thickness for the size these days. To boot stock speaker sizes are 6.5"

Setup:

1) Front Speaker - POLK DB6502 DB+

2) Rear Speaker - JBL STADIUMGTO620

3) Woofer - Infinity BASSLINK SM2 8" UNDERSEAT (Under driver seat)

4) Amplifier - JBL CLUB704 4-Channel Amplifier (Under passenger seat)

5) Wiring only - Only added Power and RCA, for speaker used stock wiring.

Infinity BASSLINK is press fit for driver seat, its about 1mm larger than seat support, you can just press it in.

Infinity BASSLINK is press fit for driver seat, its about 1mm larger than seat support, you can just press it in.

Speaker at front are very busy, I am glad Force did not exclude it. To remove left speaker ideally you need to pull the ECU and may be blower assembly.

Right side speaker area too is very busy, you need to pull the pedal assembly for proper access.

Front speaker, Stock vs Polk

Front Speaker installation you can't use normal screw driver unless you dismantle the dash, looks like speaker is the first part to be assembled in dash :-). There is about 1" gap to get the screws in and out + stock screws can be used for aftermarket speakers due to different mount points. I planned to use only 2 screws and use double sided tape for sealing, used one stock screw and had to cross drill hole for another.

Rear Speaker is walk in the park, STADIUMGTO620 is press fit (rarely I get this lucky), but stock screws can't be used. Also made improved fitting for forced ventilation vent, still using double sided tape since tabs are broken from factory.

Tweeter: I planned to cover the coin hole and mount tweeter into it, but it sounded fine in current location and mostly is closer to recommended 12" from woofer.

Damping: Damping plan was to inspect existing damping and damp wherever needed, just converted all 1 KG plastics to 10 KG. Gurkha plastic trims have good clearance unlike 124, so made it heavy and tight.

Lead jacket for transmission tunnel, for damping I used Texsa Tecsound MLV, 5.2mm thick sheet gives ~1kg per square feet and extremely flexible.

Dash area is well damped inside out from factory, only weak point is cable entry hole from engine bay, its just thin rubber sheet, lead wrap is the fix.

Audio work done ready for assembly.

Center trim fixed, added edge binding to mask sharp edges and blend with carpet.

Music play for this setup is brilliant even with windows rolled down, unless you rev it to the limit.

Got a set of matt from CoverWell Nexus, it is well made, but needs improvement. Noodle overlay is press fit and removable for cleaning.

Passenger side fits well and I could tuck it under console trim.

Driver side, noodle patch needs to extend till under pedal to properly collect dust and easy cleaning. Also it kinks with foot when releasing clutch

Rear needs noodle patch for walking area.

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