Nothing fancy but it sure is sweet!

[Inexcess]

I've finished most of my install of a new set of door speakers and amp. (Infinity Kappa's component, Hifonics 4400). I used D'Ecosse's speaker plates which work out great.

I'm using the stock head unit and the 804/805 connector harness that I fabricated.

I ran the speaker wires on the left side of the engine bay to the center firewall boot. I ran the low level audio on the right hand side. Power from the engine bay jump start connector. Amp turn on from the antenna controller. I put the bass remote control where the old tweeter used to be.

Still waiting on the Buzz subwoofer which hopefully will be here shortly. (UPDATE 5/28). Sub has arrived a little worse for wear but fixable. Finished tha installation and the bass notes are pounding!

Fired it up and it worked the first time (ok the input channels were reversed left/right!).

The sound is sooooo much better than the Bose even without the sub.

Updated now with the subwoofer, see link below for installation pictures.

New sound system

 

[NetViper]

Looks sweet. Are you still using the stock radio in there? or did you replace all of that too. Couldn't tell from the pix.

 

[Inexcess]

Stock radio for now.

 

[donwon]

You are hardcore.. I would never have tried to do that myself. Ever

 

[D'Ecosse]

Hey! Congrats Tom! Well done!

 

[racerX]

Excellent job. I am having close to the same thing done as we speak. Stock head and da man's custom made door plates. 804/805, amp in the trunk. Don't tell me this is your first stereo install? It looks great.

I will post pictures of mine as soon as it is done. Tell me how you like being able to control the base with the knob as appose to head unit only. I am having the wiring done for a sub but, have not made a decision on final placement and size. Also let me know how it goes with the buzz box.

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I sure would like your input. Enjoy your new system! Your post could not have come at a better time.

 

[D'Ecosse]

Tell me how you like being able to control the base with the knob as appose to head unit only. ...

I was going to offer a minor critique on Tom's wiring, in that he used just one pair of RCA o/p's from the fronts (doors) only rather than using two pairs with a dedicated rear o/p for the sub -however, then I realized after researching some old stock head pics (been a while since I saw a stock head!) that there is no fader control on the stock head, therfor no direct gain control for the sub! This makes the application of a remote bass control almost essential. A nice feature to have if you're using a stock head, to be able to control the bass independently from the master volume. (Of course many after-market heads have direct sub o/p control) So 10/10 for Tom on that one

In your case John, since you're going with the EQ, this is not quite same case - well, at least not essential anyway. You can just adjust the sub volume using your EQ gain at the appropriate frequency. If your amp has provision for it however, again, nice feature to include the bass remote.

OK - now one real minor constructive critique Tom - it looks like you are using the stock signal wiring to the speakers from the head harness connector - very clean cosmetically but for best performance from your speakers, you might want to upgrade to running speaker wire directly to the crossovers rather than utilizing the OEM signal wiring, which is not really up to running that much current (especialy as you crank up the volume!)

Very creative on the tweeter placement by the way!

 

[Inexcess]

You passed the test

Ken,

I was wondering when you would notice my "shortcut"

I know I should run the final couple of feet into to the doors but I'll leave that for a future day.

As for the bass eq control I'll let you know how it works when I get the sub. It just replicates the same control on the amp an should allow for tuning the crossover level between the sub and the mid range speakers. Anyhow I wanted to put something where the center speaker was

This is the second install of this type that I've done. The first was in my Insight with a John Wayland designed subwoofer and amp carrier that fits under the passenger seat.

Once again the improvement over the stock speakers and amps is well worth the effort.

 

[D'Ecosse]

Re: You passed the test

.... As for the bass eq control I'll let you know how it works when I get the sub. It just replicates the same control on the amp an should allow for tuning the crossover level between the sub and the mid range speakers. ....

It's not really an EQ control Tom - it is purely a gain control on the low frequency. So doesn't actually tune the frequency crossover between the doors to sub, or even adjust the frequency response of the sub itself - it just raises the amplitude (volume) of the bass to the sub centered at 45hz frequency typically. When the control is in db it is related to amplitude (or volume) - if in Hz, it is frequency realted.

You have decent speakers so the rich sound even without the sub yet is to be expected - I had the same thoughts on my own system re the quality of the sound even without my sub, but wait till you get that in there too - you should definitely be even more impressed by the overall compliment when it all comes together.

 

[Inexcess]

Sorry, I misspoke, Yes its a gain control. What I meant is that you need to tune the low pass filter cutoff frequency on the amp in concert with the filter gain control which is available on the amp as well as via the remote. You tune to get a smooth transition from the mid range to the sub at the crossover frequency.

 

[racerX]

add the sub yet?

 

[Inexcess]

add the sub yet?

Just got a look at it today. It was damaged in shipment and I decided to fix it myself. The mounting ring made of MDF that attaches the sub to the box at the front/top made a clean break all around. It did not separate from the fiberglass, the MDF separated from itself. Must of been quite a box drop at UPS. The shipping box itself did not look damaged. I reglued and through bolted with a re-enforcing ring. That should probably work.

However I'm now staring at how to get it in the car. Turns out you have to cut off the stock sub mounting points that are welded to the floorboard and "relocate" the power steering control unit. I'm still trying to figure out where to relocate it to.

Probably going to take a few days to figure out.

 

[donwon]

I had to move mine to underneath the passenger seat.

 

[Inexcess]

I had to move mine to underneath the passenger seat.

Did that mean extending the harness? Or did it fit just in front of the seat on the floor?

 

[donwon]

Extend the harness you cant see unless you look under the seat. Even then, Unless you are upside down and have a very low profile forehead, not easily seen.

 

[donwon]

Oh yeah, seat moves without issue.

 

[Inexcess]

Did you extend it with plugs to the factory harness or solder in wire by wire extensions to the factory harness, in other words the factory wires were cut and extended? If it uses plugs do you have the part numbers?

 

[donwon]

Sent you a PM

 

[Inexcess]

I won!

Just finished the sub installation after fixing the broken mounting ring and reenforcing with bolts.

Tore out the original mounting points on the floor board,

Relocated the keyless module to be above another module to the front/center.

Relocated the PS module to just under the glove box, fits great.

Trimmed the plastic trim panel that goes under that to just behind the mount for the OBD-II connector (everything forward of that is removed.)

Everything went back in without a hitch, Bass notes sound great. Tuned the crossover freqs a bit and played with the levels.

Sounds REALLY GREAT now!

See my pictures that I've updated.

Sub installation pictures

 

[Inexcess]

Nothing like a spectrum analyzer

I finally got a chance to take a pink noise disk with a spectrum analyzer (dbx 20/20) and balance the whole system. As typical the ear is a bad instrument for setting levels. For my system by ear the subwoofer level was too high and the mids high-pass setting too low (too much low frequency input to the mids). After setting the sub levels with a bandpass limited pink noise tone to match the mids I found that flat bass required about +3 db bass equalization input using the Hifonics amp.

One important discovery is that the stock head unit tone controls in the center position are not flat. The flat position for the low and high is in the 9 o'clock position. In the noon position the lows are boosted by 6db and the highs as well.

Now I measure fairly flat across the board 20 to 20 within 2 db. Not bad without an equalizer.

Now the system sounds totally fully really wow........

 

[Malibu Rapper]

Just wanted to say thanks for the updates on your system. They were very insightful and informative to say the very least. I will have a little more to add in a soon to be future post.