Kenwood DDX7015 Install

I think a lot of you have been waiting for this, I wanted to wait until I was finished but you guys can see where I am at now.

I got the unit on Saturday, started the install on Sunday. I did a lot of research on the unit getting information where I could on the size of the unit and the features. On the other DDX7015 thread, there was an issue raised about the Eclipse unit sounding better and I completely disagree. Do not put that into consideration if you want to purchase this unit, I doubt many people can discern between a Burr-Brown D/A converter and the one used in a Kraco and do it in a car. The Kenwood is a fine unit and the deciding factor for me was two fold. It would fit tightly into the NSX so I could modify the trim panel, and it works with my MusicKeg. The MusicKeg alone is enough of a driving factor. Kenwood's the best at this MP3 thing.

I started out modifying the trim panel. To do this, I had to know where the unit was going to sit and where I should cut the trim panel. So I had to get the unit mounted. It fits really nicely between the brackets in the dash but I needed to secure it. I decided to get some brackets from Osh and modify them for my needs. To mount the brackets on the stereo, I was going to get it spot welded. But figuring an easier way out, I decided to pickup some "titanium strength" epoxy at Osh. I had to drill out the holes on the brackets. With the unit in place, centered, forward as I would like it, I put epoxy on one bracket, screwed it into the dash bracket at the bottom and pushed it up so the epoxy would adhere to the stereo. I did the same to the other bracket at the bottom.

While it dried, I cut out the separator bar on the trim panel for the cassette. When I test fit the dash trim panel back in, I noticed it was too wide at the top, too narrow at the bottom, and not low enough. So, I took my Dremel and sanded/grinded away to get the width at the bottom that I would need and also grinded the bottom so I could have space for the unit to open up. This was a lot of grinding and trial and error to the point where I was happy with the spacing.

Epoxy dried on the bottom brackets, time to put the brackets on at the top. Turns out that my brackets were too high so I took my Dremel and cut the top of the bracket off so it would fit. Epoxy on the top brackets and we're back to working on the trim panel.

The trim panel presents another problem. With the unit mounted, the panel is too thin and you will see into the dash if you don't fill in the gaps. Solution, cut strips of ABS, glue them in place along the sides and bottom. A hot melt glue gun works great for this. Another problem, with the bottom ABS piece glued in, the ashtray hits on its way up and rubs. It works but I'd rather have it not rub. So I ground away on the ABS strip at bottom of the ABS strip to where it was thin enough to clear. So now the ABS pieces are in place but there are gaps at the top of the double din hole and it doesn't look very good. So here's where the Bondo comes in. Take your time and apply a few layers of Bondo, take your Dremel and work some magic. The idea was to keep that top rounded, smooth edge so it looks factory. The sides and bottom you can have slightly rounded and it will look nice!

After I finished all this, I was pretty pissed when I put it back in place, everything fit nicely, but the trim panel was way off at the top so it could not screw in. I fixed this by moving the brackets on the stereo and making it lean up more. So when you are fitting, make sure you can screw in at the top. The top of my unit is slightly cut off by the top of double din hole. This is fine and actually works nicely, the unit never hits. The bottom is where you need a little extra clearance as well as the sides. But the hole is not nearly the size of the trim panel that comes with the Kenwood.

The trim panel is electroplated. I don't have the resources to redo the finish so I lightly sanded the trim panel with 180 grit, removed the other electroplated parts like the ashtray cover and the vent trim panel (The vent trim panel is very tricky to remove, there are some screws and you have to be very patient with the clips, take it slow and carefully!) I primered the whole panel and shot some metallic black Rustoleum. A couple coats then it was time for the flat/satin finish clear coat, UV protectant. Looks great now and it's still drying so none of my pictures have the repainted trim panel pix yet.

So, here are my lessons learned. You can use a Metra Honda/Acura harness for the wiring. I had an extra one for my 1997 Civic and used it (model 70-1720). I took Phoenix Gold RCA heads and soldered them to the Metra harness where the speaker leads go since the NSX has amps already, you don't want to wire the speaker outputs from the stereo to the amps or it sounds bad. You need to wire the amp lead to the antenna wire if you use the factory amps and speakers because with aftermarket stereos, the antenna wire is only activated when you listen to the radio. The NSX amps will turn off if you listen to a CD and the antenna wire is not energized. Take the trim panel completely apart to do your test fitting, it will make life a lot easier. NSX systems can sound much better if you install just an aftermarket unit and wire the RCAs in like I stated.

The head unit install is done as far as I'm concerned. It took about 3 days of trial and error. I have several other things lined up to get this stereo to where I want it. New speakers, subwoofer, and I still have to install the Keg. I'm not elaborating on any of this until I get it installed. How's the unit work? I love it. In bright daylight even with my tinted windows it can be hard to see. Ideally you want the unit to be more horizontal for the best viewing angle but going more horizontal makes the install a lot more difficult and was not worth it for me. Especially when you see the unit at night, it doesn't matter then... You will probably never use the other viewing angles, if only it angled the other way. MP3 management on my CDs is great.

And now, the part you've been waiting for.... I'll add more pictures when I get my other camera back. Enjoy!

Click here for the pictures

It sounds like a lot of work... but should look good in the end. Thanks for sharing your pioneering efforts with us.

I am surprised that you can't see the screen in the daytime... how bad is it? Is it a slight wash out or is the screen barely visible? Except at night, it would make the navigation addition almost useless which is a main reason for my interest in this unit.

It was a lot of work. If I knew then what I know now it would have been a piece of cake.

The screen does wash out during the day because of the angle of the dash. Basically, you can't see it if you're driving and glance at it without sitting up. I'm not using the navigation but I think if I did that, I'd add another monitor using the JDM nav pod and the video outs on the unit. Even still, you can see the unit if you looked at it head on, it's just leaning back the way I have my seat set, it's hard to see when the light hits it.

I'm still happy with the unit. Playing DVD-Rs with MP3s burned on them was a nice treat the other day. Plus the fit is really nice, looks cleaner than a single DIN unit install with flip out face. Plus it costs less, too. But single DIN is definitely easier to install. It will take a few more months of driving to see if the unit bothers me at all, I'm not ruling out a flip out unit.

I spent this weekend doing the wiring for the rest of the system. A lot of good info and some good pictures will be showing up on that same link tonight.

Ok, so I started on the driver door thinking I knew what lay ahead of me. Removing the door panel isn't exactly easy although I'm finally somewhat proficient at it. It's tricky getting it off.

I started off trying to run speaker wire through the factory harness and quickly gave up on that. D'Ecosse is the man for running it through there, I do not have the patience... So there is a little rubber grommet in the door jam and I ran my cable through there and into the door making a slice through the rubber boot to get it in. Electrical tape over the speaker wire and its well concealed against the berlina black paint.

The factory Bose enclosure and amp when removed inspired a foolhearty sense of confidence with regard to the speaker baffle to be constructed. The deep, large enclosure gave the impression of Taj Mahal sized real estate underneath the door panel. So I took apart the enclosure and removed the gasket to use as a template on the 3/4" MDF board I would implement. I figured I only need a little extra space to mount the crossover and I'll use the 3 factory screw hole locations to mount the baffle. I cut this really nice baffle out, mounted it and boy did it look good. So I primed it up, layed a nice coat of paint on it, mounted it with the crossover and things looked great.... that is until I tried to put the door panel back on. The bottom of the baffle hits the door panel. So I remove the panel, redrill the holes to raise up the baffle, and try again. Now the crossover on the 3/4" MDF is too thick and the panel will not close still. So I cut 50% of the baffle off to make room for the crossover to mount straight to the door. Doing this, I sacrificed one of the mounting screws for the bracket. So, I mount the thing baffle back in, rewire, remount, re-everything to get the panel back on... Now there is a raised section of the door panel hitting about a 1/4" square portion of my baffle. I thought I would clear this but I guess I was wrong. So now I remove everything, take the baffle out, trace a line around the edge of the speaker basket and cut pretty much just around the speaker. Now my beautiful panel looks like a trim ring with extensions. If this doesn't work, then I give up. I make the connections for the panel to go back on, stuff the panel into place, and by the grace of deities it closes. I can screw things into place.

Lessons learned from this are many. First, I saw pictures of D'Ecosse's speaker baffle and noticed the broken tab on the door panel for the screws and promised to myself I wouldn't do the same thing to my door panel. Sure enough, when I was standing up the door panel to see what a great job I did on drilling the tweeter hole, I snapped one off. Second, either buy D'Ecosse's speaker baffles or do what another NSXprimer did and construct the baffle on the door panel. I would opt for the latter myself but newbie audio installers should definitely buy the baffle. I had barely enough clearance for my 6.5" Focals even with 3/4" MDF and the trim ring that came with the speaker. Third, don't let the Bose enclosure fool you, space is tighter than you think.

I dynamatted most of the door, removed the plastic sheathing to do this. It already sounds different when I close the door. Well worth it but adds a lot of work to your install. So far, I've spent about 7 hours after work for 2 days straight just doing one door and minor install tasks. 7 hours today was almost completely wasted on getting the baffle to fit right, 1 hour was spent just looking for tools that were under my nose as usual. Let's see, 7 hours was spent trying to construct something that I could have bought for about $80 so I saved about $11 per hour... I might quit my day job. Well, things will be different come the subwoofer soon, you'll see...

I hope and believe that I can get the other door done tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy the new pictures posted on that same link. You can watch the saga of the incredible shrinking baffle. History teaches...

But you're having fun, that's the main thing!

(For the record I didn't break the tabs, previous owners installer for the old system must have)

Ok, so today I finished the amp rack. What I did for the amp rack was purchase a 1/4" piece of birch plywood. I cut out the rough shape of the spare tire well to give enough depth for my 3 channel Audison amp. Then I took masking tape and masked off the entire spare tire well area and shot minimal expansion foam in there and push the plywood base onto the foam and let it dry.

This serves 2 purposes. First, if you've ever run your car with the trunk trim pieces off and put your hand on the metal in the trunk, it gets hot. The foam will help insulate the amp. In addition, the foam molds itself to the contours of the spare tire well to a tight fit so you don't have to mount the rack with screws.

I powered everything up and was very impressed with the Focal K2 6.5" components. The amp is equally as impressive because it's tiny and puts out a good amount of power.

The pictures on the website are updated. I am still concerned with heat from the spare tire area. The amp has a built in fan that kicks in when it gets hot but I'm a little worried that I might need to add some active cooling. We'll see...

Great post! Thanks for sharing all the lessons. It seems you are installing the system I had just put together. Kenwood eceleron, 6.5" Focals, 4ch amp and 10" sub.

Are you planning on adding a 4" rear speaker?

Do you think the crossover would fit the pre-made speaker plates you mentioned buying from the other prime member?

Which Sub are you going with? I was considering the 2" thick Blaupunkt in hopes of saving space, but after reading the specs it actually requires more volume of space then the regular ones so I am not sure again.

Did you consider mounting the amp behind a seat and if so why did you choose the trunk?

How did you wire the amp around the engine and to the interior?

And finally, I am curious as to how the Focals sound?

Thanks again for pioneering the DD Kenwood install for us and giving the good honest feedback.

Hey nsxnate,

I wouldn't count on the crossover fitting D'Ecosses speaker plate although it might be possible. The crossover is about an inch high.

Regarding the subwoofer. It's one of those components I felt was critical to the system so I chose a well known and respected manufacturer that I've used in the past. The subwoofer had to be efficient and work in a .60 cubic foot box that would fit in the passenger floor. You will see next week hopefully. I would stay away from the Blaupunkt. I remember looking at the TS parameters on that sub when it first came out and was very unimpressed.

I considered mounting the amp behind the seat briefly. But I decided on the trunk because I knew that I would never use the spare tire so I could junk the tools. There would have been too much wire clutter for my tastes to mount it in the passenger compartment and it would have taken a lot of work to make it look good.

I will not be replacing the 4" speaker in the rear. I like a good front stage and I think adding that 4" speaker in there will be annoying and detract from a good front image. I almost got my MusicKeg to fit in there though. If the new 2.0 version is smaller, I'll put it in there.

The amp wiring around the engine compartment is super clean. You saw the picture of my air filter box, that's what you see when you look at the engine compartment. I removed the air filter box, ran the wires, and covered it with a piece of black convoluted tubing. It basically goes around the sides of the filter box and barely fit. Notice that the power wire went thru a separate grommet. It's one of those things you don't want running next to the signal cable.

The Focals sound great. They remind me of my B&W DM series speakers on midrange and midbass. They have very strong bass output and the midrange is very flat. The most impressive thing about the speaker set is the tweeter, it's the most perfect sounding tweeter I've ever listened to, home or car, as good as Scanspeak's revelator! Both speakers have great off axis response.

Here's what you've seen so far. The Focal K2 6.5" components, tiny little Audison 3 channel amplifier, Kenwood DDX7015 head unit. I have a subwoofer to install. I have a new battery as well (not an Optima, ask any honest audio shop about Optimas and you'll know why). The MusicKeg has yet to be mounted. I need to do some plexi work for the amp.

Malibu Rapper said:

I wouldn't count on the crossover fitting D'Ecosses speaker plate although it might be possible. The crossover is about an inch high.....

Click to expand...

I have a pic of an install using my mounting plates utilizing the same C/O as my CDT's - that is easily about 2" & they fit fine.
I won't have access to pics for another week.
A lot depends on the shape/size of the C/O, not just the thickness. A lot also depends on getting it mounted in the "sweet spot" - if you look at the pics in my ad, (second pic actually) best way to test if they will fit (& also to get it aligned correctly) is to put it in the door panel cavity upside down, then lay the speaker mounting plate over it & see how it fits - the door panel to the C/O is the critical space factor. Looking at the pics of the Focals I perceive them to look smaller than the CDT's.
I could also mill out a custom slot in the "tail" section to allow it to mount flush with the back of the mounting plate and project through the slot.

looks great so far. I'm really looking forward to complete pictures of the finished install...

D'Ecosse said:

I have a pic of an install using my mounting plates utilizing the same C/O as my CDT's - that is easily about 2" & they fit fine.

Click to expand...

Yeah if his original crossovers can fit, then definitely the Focals will fit, they have one of the smaller crossovers that are available for higher end components. Either way, if you end up with some huge x-overs, you could just chop and mount on the door. I probably had a harder time because of the 3/4" mdf I used and the location I originally tried to put them in.

I wouldn't recommend trying to build fancy fit custom baffles like D'Ecosse did if you could buy them. I learned my lesson from the first door and for the passenger door, I basically just cut a trim ring that would mount to 3 holes and covered the whole thing with Dynamat.

Ken's baffles worked great for me. I went with the 6.5 braxials.
CDT c/overs are big. We did have to take off the c/over covers, but other than that the fit was perfect. Great workmanship.
Now if I can just get my speakers rotated the correct direction!

One more pic

I'm getting close to completion. I put my trunk trim kit back in. Ok, yahoo might not link these pictures correctly not sure if it works so visit the album.



I mounted my Lightning Audio spiral cell battery with Lightning Audio battery posts and was really surprised at the results. The way the terminals are centered on the battery really hide a lot of the wires. I have the HID-Online HIDs and they wire directly to the battery so those are mostly hidden now. These use the screwn on technology so you get more contact area on your wires and it's tight as tight can be. That wire is not coming off, period. The Lightning Audio battery is made by Exide, same spiral technology as Optima. The big problem with Optimas is that they get a LOT of returns and the dealer is usually hit prorating charges and untimely replacements. Plus Optima warranties according to the manufacture date and not to date of install. The Lightning Audio battery has a longer warranty as well, 18 months and you also pay more than you would for an Optima. Clean black top, looks really nice now under the hood. See the photos.

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I made my first big mistake when I replaced the battery. I took the spare tire out and the spare tire rack. I climbed up into the attic of my garage to put these items away and as I climbed up the ladder, I knew I was being stupid and I stuffed the rack to the side near the top so I could get the spare tire up. As I placed the spared tire onto the deck, the rack came tumbling down in slow motion and landed on the NSX leaving 2 nice deep scratches. I cannot forgive myself for that one.

Anyhow, I wanted to see how the MusicKeg would work with the new deck. I had an 8017 controlling the MusicKeg before and it was like having a really big CD changer, very hard to manage. First thing I noticed is that the Keg doesn't need to go through the long recognition process by the stereo. It works really fast, almost instantly after plugging it in. The deck detects the keg as HDD External. I haven't yet read the manual for the deck but I noticed that it only displays a limited number of the first few characters of each playlist. This is not good when you have 5 Sublime CDs and a bunch of playlists called HipHop1 thru HipHop17 I have to work on renaming the playlists. It's an improvment but still kludgey. I figured out how to play a DVD in the background and listen to the Keg. So I took the top off and decided to go for a fun ride. Top down, sunny SoCal weather, and the deck gets completely washed out. You can barely read what's on the screen without sitting up at the optimal angle. It's easy if you knew where the touchscreen controls are but forget about watching a movie.

Update, I figured out how to display more characters in the directory list, it was just a Phatnoise setting.




The website now has images of the deck at angles outside the car, inside the car, etc. I tried to take pictures of the wiring through the engine bay but there is really nothing to see, I guess that's a good thing. Also in the photos is the battery install, I wish I took before pictures but I think we will all agree the now pictures are an improvement. Again, the battery terminals were very impressive and they are super tight. I made a mistake with the trim panel and I need to rebondo and paint part of it again. No biggie, I'm good at this now.

The amp is running pretty hot cuz of it's location. But I think it's well under the operating temperature that it's rated at, the fan has not kicked in yet. I need to find some lexan to keep the flip cover from touching it. No sub yet so I anticipate temperatures going up, I may have to buy some of the thermotec exhaust shield. If that doesn't work, then I will add active cooling. Checkout the pix with the trunk kit back in, It actually looks really clean.

I now have to mount the MusicKeg behind the driver seat. It will go in on the vinyl coated panel assisted by T-nuts and machine screws. Last part of the install will be the subwoofer. It won't be anything shocking but it will deliver. I hope to finish this by next weekend. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures and feel free to ask questions. I feel like I'm entertaining a party of 3, I hope the lurkers are enjoying...