King of Pain

Thanks datmrman. Nice to meet the crew from SD. You guys roll with some clean looking rides.

zax123

KOP,

I've got a ton more questions for you. This is my first complete audio install. I've done partials before but nothing as crazy as this, so I might be buggin' you a bit. Here goes my questions. I'll number them to make it easier for you. hehe. Hopefully, others can benefit from my questions.

1. Where did you get the gray carpetting? I know you got the vinyl from Joanne's...
2. Since you tapped into the speaker outputs from the stock amp, did you only three pairs of speaker wires to the stock amp and tapped into the rear speaker and sub connections from the trunk? Or did you run 6 full pairs to the stock amp and then run it all to the trunk?
3. Did you run all speaker wires on the right side of the car and power on the left side of the car?
4. Did you use a 4-gauge wire straight to the battery, and then two 8-gauge wires to the two amps?
5. Did you put an 80amp fuse in the engine compartment and two 40amps at the Audiopipe?
6. Did you buy wires and cables online? What about crimp connectors and stuff like that? If so, do you have any good sources? I find that that stuff is pretty expensive locally. Looks like you used Stinger inter-connectors.
7. When you say depth was not an issue in the front doors, would you say there was still more room behind the CDTs or were they pretty as deep as possible? They are 2.75" and I was just wondering if there was still more room (I'm assuming it's the window that limits the depth) behind the magnet?
8. Did you get the Dynamat online? Good source for it?
9. What are those metal brackets sitting on top of the siding? Does the beauty board screw into those somehow or does its own weight keep it anchored down?

Sorry for all the questions. Feel free to tell me to stop at any time. I just want to benefit from all the work and research you've done. I also don't want to hurt my car. Thanks for all the info!

King of Pain

Stop I think my head hurts

Just kidding

1. Joanne's Fabrics - I do all my shopping there
2. I could have, it would have saved on wire, now that I think about. Oh well
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No, Do you think I should before something catchs fire?
6. Wires, online at fleabay (bag boy electronics) Connectors at Radio Shack
7. Barely enough room. The window down limits the depth
8. Pretty much the same price online or around town
9. The main beauty board has pegs that fit into holes around the compartment. The side brackets are supporting the outboard pieces.

There will be a quiz on this later.

beefster86

i have a couple of question , how did you remove the front speaker. did you have to take the dash down . let me know how you removed them please

zax123

KOP,

Thank you so much for this! I will study your answers and it'll help me make decisions for my system. It'll be a fun but long project.

King of Pain

I understand there are 2 ways. Going from the bottom of the dash and pushing it out from underneath or using a trim tool (or screwdriver) to gently pull it out from the top. I pulled it out from the top, pop right out.

triggle

KOP
Good idea to fuse near the battery for long, high current DC runs.

WILLV

[FONT=Arial[/IMG][/FONT]][IMG][img]my Tl020[/img]

kalin02

kop, i have a few questions for you.

did you think of using dynomat or brown bread for the entire car including the floorboards or do you feel that treating the doors work fine?

also, would you replace the factory sub with one that is somewhat better even if it isn't a free air sub? i'm thinking of putting a 8" jl sub in that spot but wonder if i would be just spinning my wheels because it would sound terrible without an enclosure.

King of Pain

Treating the doors worked fne for me. I know some people that have done the whole car, not sure if it's worth the trouble.

Here's a link to a free air sub topic.

https://acurazine.com/forums/audio-video-electronics-navigation-22/6x9-recommendation-136567/

zax123

Hey dude,

Your first few pics got removed from the server... I'm almost ready to start "copying" you. I was wondering if you could post 'em back up or maybe send them to me? Can I give you my email address or something? Thanks!

BukvaMan

if i do a 4-channel amp with the loc and leave the center as is as i only need it for the regular stuff like the wireless phone and alike... but not for music since im not listening to any dvd audio music..... - will that work i mean will the center speaker be as it was before ... i assume yes but just wanted to make sure ...

thanks for any input

zax123

KOP,

I ordered a big part of my system today. I bought a lot of Boston Acoustics because I got it super cheap. But I was wondering if you built your own sub-enclosure. It looks like you did... I was wondering if it was hard and if you knew what your internal volume was.

Also, would you happen to know how much grey carpetting you ordered and the black vinyl? I know it comes in 54" width, but would you know how many yards you ended up needed of each? Sorry for the very specific questions.

King of Pain

The sub was a left-over from my 03 accord. It's a punch 1 10" rockford sub. I used their recommended volume, .65 I think.

I really can't remember how much I purchased of the vinyl and carpet. I did end up with extra.

zax123

OK, thank you sir! I'll head over to Joanns and splurge a bit.

zax123

KOP,

OK I'll try to make this my last question.... which wire did you use for a 12V remote turnon trigger? Or did you just power up the amps as soon as the car is on?

zax123

OK it's not my last question. I popped off the center channel speaker and realized that it's already a tight fit and I really don't see how you got a 4" speaker in there. I was just wondering if you had any pictures of the modifications you made to that grill to get your 4" to hold. Thanks!

VtecMW

A 4" speaker will fit in there.... with a lot of careful modding. I had to razor blade the inside of the dash cutout (nearest the windshield) where the center speaker goes.

I then hacked up my 4" speaker. Not for the faint of heart. But, I had already spent the money and knew I couldn't return it. I test fitted first and knew the mounts on the speaker had to be cut off.





I then hacked my center grille using a dremel tool and scissors designed to cut through lexan plastic (R/C model scissors)... I swear this stuff cant be more than $.05 plastic.

Had some extra fabric laying around from my custom audio setup. I covered the grille with it using some spray glue on the top and contact cement glue around the perimeter.

Here's the final product...





It looks great. I actually like it better than the way plastic grille looks. So, if you're considering a 4" speaker, it can be done. Just be careful when modding. I have a Focal 100CA1. It has a pretty tall tweeter. That's why I had to hack up the center grille. But, it fits in there perfectly.

zax123

Holy cow, that's amazing!!

Good job! Thanks for the info I think I might go for a 3.5", but I'll see what local stores have. Don't feel like ordering from eBay just for that one speaker...

King of Pain

I cut most of the underside of the griill, except for the mounting tabs that lock the grill to the dash. I cut the tabs of the speaker and the opening of the dash itself so I could wedge the speaker to the larger side of the opening of the dash. The modified grill then just snapped back in place.

I mounted the speaker in the dash, not to the grill

For the trigger I used the 12v line I had run from my center armerest storage compartment light to the trunk when i did my ipod aux in swicth.

zax123

KOP,

Howdy! Still waiting for components to arrive, but I had some questions. (Are you surprised?)

You mention the 12V line you used, so basically that line doesn't go high when the head unit turns on and off when it's turned off right? You select it manually?

Also, I was wondering why you used the David Navone LOCs (which I've already received) when the e6450 has speaker-level inputs.

I've ordered the 300/4 for the four speakers and an e2150 for the center, and they both have speaker-level inputs. Just wondering what happens when you skip the LOCs completely...

Thanks!

Rob

Kirk3272

iTrader: (1)

I have two of the Navone LOC's for sale if anyone is interested. One is new, never opened. One was used a short time. For 5.1 you will need two. $60 shipped in the US. Add the 3% for paypal. Also have an Audio Control LC6 with the remote bass knob. $100 shipped in the US. (Add 3% for paypal)

Kirk

King of Pain

The speaker level input for the e6450 are for discrete channels 1 through 4. Channels 5 and 6 are sum of the first 4. Since I need 5 discrete channels I cannot used the speaker level inputs on the amp.

You can use the 300/4 as a 4 channel amp if you are using 4 channels and plug directly in the amp. But, I have read that the Navones are better quality than using the speaker level inputs found on amps.

zax123

OK cool, I guess I'll have to try it both ways to see if I can tell the difference... thanks!

zax123

Question for you guys... I'm in the middle of mounting my speakers on the doors. I'm assuming you both cut away some metal where the factory speaker was and mounted the aftermarket speakers directly to the door panel right? You didn't keep that white plastic spacer/bracket thingy?

King of Pain

I did not because my new speakers did not fit in the plastic thingy. I mounted them directly to the doors

zax123

Yeah I ended up using some spacers that the Z6s came with. Worked beautifully! I'm gettin' there. This is a huge job.

zax123

KOP,

I got everything wired up to do a sound test tonight... finally... and I'm getting TONS of hiss. I was wondering if you ever encountered that and what you did to fix it. Please let me know. Thanks!

King of Pain

During my initial testing and tuning I encountered some grounding noise. I found loose wires that caused altenator noise to leak in. It took me a couple of days to track it down and correct.

jonnyn

I'm seriously starting to dislike the audio so I want to start collecting what I need.

Would you mind revealing your sources for the components? Were you able to get deals that a normal consumer might not be able to find?

I quickly priced out everything and came to over $1700 including a 3.sixty.

Thanks.

King of Pain

My sources.................ebay, home depot, and joanne's fabric. I did all the work myself which saved a ton of money.

JCR69NYC

Do you know how to get to the Sub to change it?

King of Pain

You have to remove the back seat, side pillars and rear shelf. Major pain. Here's a link. Careful when pulling the seat out out, there are some sharp edges on the mounting tabs that can do some damage.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107568

Jaa99pa

King,
I have all but my left front door speaker installed, and when testing things to this point, i'm getting the hiss from hell. The gains are set pretty low too. I have my Navone's maxed out, and i believe you do also. Any suggestions? This is going to suck if i can't lose this hiss. I'm starting to know how Zax felt.

zax123

Jaa, just a suggestion to double-check your grounds. KOP had a similar hissing and had to fix some ground wires. That didn't help me, but maybe it would help you?

Jaa99pa

Finally hooked up the last speaker the other day. My friend helped me set up the gains and now most of my hiss is gone. The only hiss is from the center channel, but the gain is too high. Once i tweak it, i might be able to bear the slight hiss that remains. My system does sound amazing now though! I'm so glad i went through with this upgrade!

zax123

Jaa,

What did you finally set your gains to approximately? High on LOCs, low on Amps? or other way around?

King of Pain

During my first try at upgrading I cut the wires to and from my amp since I bypassed the stock amp. So at my second attempt I had to resolder all those wires back in place so I could put the amp back in. This was just more opportunity for ground noise to get into the system. Major pain to find all noise and fix it. At one point I had to open the LOCs and play with the components inside to get rid of some hiss. A short inside was causing some problems.

Jaa99pa: Glad to here your audio is coming along and most of the noise is gone.

I'm starting to plan my next major mod. Car PC with touchscreen. Hopefully get it done by the end of the year. No hurry to get it done. Still doing research and learning the ins and outs

Jaa99pa

My friend was setting the gains while i had the volume at 30. First, he backed everything down, and then started with the sub. Once i liked where that was, he did the rears. Then he did the fronts and last the center. I need to back the center down some because i'm getting hiss there and it's just too loud unless i set the center volume below half. This was just one try at tuning the system right after we got the last door speaker mounted. I'd have to say the gains are barely above minimum. The Navone's are maxed, although the right front channel didn't work at first. We traced it to the Navone. The transformer is loose, but there was no way to fix it, so they're sending me another one. I never took out the factory amp, so i didn't have to worry about anything other then bringing the wires back to the new amp. Never even cut the connector off. I'll get into my install when i get some time and finish up my pics.
This was a lot of work, but i love the power and detailed sound!

joerockt

So question, do the front door speakers require modification to install aftermarkets, or are there speaker adapters out there that would work?