Just some info. that might be useful to someone. I wanted to run new speaker wire to the door speakers (putting in new speakers, might as well do it right). I was apprehensive as it was a total bitch in my previous car, but after a few minutes poking around on the passengers side, it turns out to be trivial, so long as you "grease" the wire (I used liquid soap). However, when I got to the driver's side, it's was a different story. There is a large plastic connector at the door frame (same as I've encountered in the past) and there is nowhere else to put a wire through. Kinda bugs me as one, I'm very, very remotely concerned (almost not concerned) about the voltage drop through that 18ga wire - I doubt it can be heard - but two, design aesthetics, that 2-3 feet of stock wire just should not be there. Anyway, anyone know what the pros do when they encounter these connectors?

Also, if anyone notices an occasional buzz from the front door panels or if you want to look for it, maybe I'm the only one with the problem, try a 100 Hz sine wave. There are two relatively large and flat (thin) areas of the panel that can be damped and the difference is dramatic, especially since I only did one panel so far. I used VMAX on the area behind the pocket and where the panel meets the side of the dash. The material is applied to the back of the panel; that should be obvious, but you never know... If I remember I'll post pics of exactly where when I do the other door.

Third item of the day, replaced the stock battery negative cable with a bigger gauge wire. Can't describe it, so maybe it's bullshit, but while there was no perceptible difference in audio quality, the car just seems to drive better, smoother. Maybe there is something to those grounding kits... Stock battery BTW.

 

bump

 

Wow....Are you planning to put it in sound competitions? If not, most of what you did is somewhat of a waiste of time. All that stuff is more along the lines of getting that extra .5% over optimal sound quality once you have maxed out everything else and have nothing else to do.

Don't know about the connectors...sorry.

 

Nah, no competitions. New door wire is just a matter of preference, and I would have preferred to have been able to get it to the driver's door. The larger gauge (-) battery cable has made a drivability difference, I didn't conduct a double blind study, but I'll say it has an impact. I don't think there is any reason to change the alternator wiring with the stock alt. that would be a waste. As for dampening the panels, that is by no means a waste, they buzz. Maybe it depends on the type of music, how long it's normally played at, and maybe it is just mine, but that was something that definitely need to be done.

 

What do you mean by buzz? Wouldn't that be an amplification issue? I don't understand.

 

Take a 100 Hz tone 0 dB (full scale) play at moderate volume - the panel should buzz. My did in any even. Different from a rattle - the plastic isn't hitting metal, the plastic is vibrating - like a sail in the wind.

 

ah ha!

 

let me say this, i gave up on getting speaker wire through the door, was told its not worth the time and $ unless your pushing major wattage. I have 5.25 polk momo componets in each door, using stock wiring to the polk crossover, infinity 10" sub, 420 watts to the sub, 70watts to each door, i have dynomatted the trunk for the most part, nothing done to the doors other than what Acura has there, and i have no buzzing, vibration from bass, nothing, clean as a whistle sound from rap, rock, yadda yadda. Still need to break in the speakers more and fine tune the sound, but it sounds damn good in my opinion.

 

Take some pics of the boot your talking about.

 

There is no acoustic benefit to running new speaker wire thru the door, like I said it was really for design aesthetics, and I was already changing the speakers... The voltage drop given the length, gauge, and power is so minimal as to not be audible - and even then, it's just a power issue, it would only "sound" quieter. As for it not being the time and money, there is no money involved and on the passengers side, it took literally three minutes, all you do is push. I'm still curious as to what professional installers do when they intend to run new wire and encounter a connector blocking the path. Drill a new hole? I would like to hear from a pro or someone who's had professional work done.

My car seems to have a few rattles, way it goes. I've got most of them; need to tackle that third seat belt housing... When I get around to the passenger door, I'll take pics where I reinforced it, maybe it will benefit someone, maybe not. I'll try and remember to take a pic of the boot too.

 

okay, say for instance I'm running some Diamond Audio S600s speakers, would you recommend new wires coming from the deck or no?

 

Eh, I'm no expert, so I wouldn't want to make any recommendations. I will say this though, I ran new wire from my amp to the passenger door speaker 'cause it was easy. The drivers side has a plastic connector blocking the path, so I just tapped the wires at the stock amp location. I shouldn't be able to hear a difference as the voltage drop differential should be inaudible, and I don't hear a difference. So, make of it what you will.

You have or will have the S600s? I've had them for about two weeks and I like them, seem to require quite a bit of power to get going though. If you already have them, how many watts do you have on tap for 'em?

 

Personally, I like to run new wire to all new speakers when I do an install. While I will not claim to hear a difference, I do it to leave all (or much) of the stock wiring intact. This is very helpful in removal and reinstallation of the stock equipment. Makes it faster and removes the "What does that wire do and why did I cut it???" question years later when you try to reinstall the stock gear.

On the vehicle I traded in for the TSX, I had an aftermarket head unit, xm-direct unit for alpine, infinity kappa components in front, kappa co-ax's in the rear, 4 channel amp, sub amp, and 1 12" Image Dynamics sub. I did not modify one stock wire when installing. My 13 year old son and I were able to remove the entire system and have all of the sock gear back in the car in just over an hour. I would not have been able to accomplish this in such a short amount of time had I modified any stock wiring.

Just my .02.

 

Put a system in your TSX? If so, how did you go thru the driver's door?

 

I have yet to get an amp to hook em up to, they sittin in my closet waitin until I get my XXX 10" to get installed

 

No, not yet, have only had it for just over a week. Am tossing around some ideas though. Defintalely plan to remove the 6x9's and replace with a real sub an amplification of some sort. I don't imagine new speakers and amp(s) will be too far behind.

 

new wire is a worthwhile improvement - not all 18 guage wire or whatever is stock is even made of copper - you get new 16 guage copper wire and you will be good to go. You dont see people running quality home systems with crappy 18 guage wire. Wire is what links your components together - dont be lazy and use thin stock wires.

it is kinda a pain to get wire through some of those boots - but it is possible, just use some sort of lube to get it through. What I did was wrap the wire a few times with duct tape to get it more stiff (ya I know haha...anyway), then it was much easier to force through the opening.

 

You aren't going to be able to tell a difference between 16ga (or larger) and the stock 18ga, the runs are too short for the voltage drop to be noticable. The voice coil of a speaker is thin gauge wire and far longer than any run in a car or most home setups, so the gauge of the hook-up wire isn't going to make a difference in damn near all cases. And the stock wire is copper. There isn't going to be a problem tapping the stock wires. I prefer to run new cable, but it doesn't really matter.

Yeah, if you're gonna run it thru a boot it helps to grease the wire, but not every boot is passable - TSX driver door for instance.

 

The way people do it is to cut the connector off copletely and solder all the wires togeter. That's very permanent though.

 

Got around to doing the passengers door, so here are some pics. Oh, and before anyone say, "that's unnecessary" - which is really the last phrase that should appear on a car audio forum being that car audio tweaking is inherently unnecessary - it was needed in this instance, it might not be necessary for anyone else. Both panels (driver/pass) would buzz under certain types of music at higher volumes, it was annoying. The two spots I highlighted are thin plastic, flatish areas with little reinforcement. They no longer buzz. I used cascade VMAX, two layers, they no longer buzz.

Area where door meets dash:



Area behind pocket door:



And for kicks:

 

Just an update in the event the rattle from the middle seat belt annoys anyone enough to try and do something about it. The rattle from the seat belt housing can't be fixed directly as it has to do with the catch/release mechanism. There is actually a small metal ball that rolls against a plastic lever and depending on it's position either the belt can be pull or it locks. The rattle is the ball bouncing around in the housing. All three rear seat belts have the same mechanism, the difference is that the middle one is mounted on the deck, which flexes, whereas the other two have a much sturdier mounts. Anyway, I added one to two layers (depending on the spot) of VMAX (any damping material would work) which reduced the deck vibration and also, the rattle is gone (so far in any event). Here are some crappy in-process pics with too much sun (the foam is for the brake light):

 

I had a 2000 Integra that had the connectors at the door. There was a lot of space in there and I just drilled a hole through the connector next to the pins and pulled the wire through. I haven't looked at the TSX to see if it has any space for that same thing.

Also, Home Depot sells a great wire pulling lube that dries.

Look at the Yellow 77
http://www.idealindustries.com/wi/Wi...Lubricants.nsf

 

Did you put back the vapor barrier?

 

Nah, it also takes the place of the barrier. Actually the most time consuming part of the whole op was removing the caulk that holds the water shield in place. Complete pain in the ass; soap&water, 409, alcohol, nothing I did made it any easier, just took a bunch of paper towels and a lot of rubbing. Have to say though, the improvement in midbass response is quite pronounced. I ran out of time and couldn't do the driver's door (hopefully tomorrow), but driving around for like a week I have not yet failed to notice the difference in sound between the two sides of the car.

 

Looking good. I used the liquid version of vmax on mine. I dont blame you for putting it on the door panels. It made a huge difference in my car to.

 

Yeah, I saw your pics a little bit back and my thoughts were, "looks cool, but that's gotta be overkill". Now however, it seems that the more dampening material I use, the more I need...somewhat envious that you just did the whole damn car in one shot.