CCColtsicehockey

Well I am posting this in the tsx section as well but I am sure a lot of those that post in the audio section don't follow that and figured I would post the audio portion of my build here as well.

I am going to be removing my current setup which is just one amp and one sub and replacing all the factory speakers and going to two subs and a five channel amp with balanced inputs. The subs will be installed on each side of the trunk in two fiberglass boxes. The amp I am not sure where it will be mounted as of yet. I am also installing a carbing rear trunk brace which the system will be designed around which is one of the reasons I am installing a new system in the car. So with out any more talk really here are some pictures of the progress so far and then some pictures of the equipment I will be using.


First Layer


Second Layer




My Drying System due to 32 degree weather


Had to cut all the tape to get it out




After all tape remove and another layer of resin applied










Trimmed down to size and ready for next step





With replacing the entire factory stereo besides the headunit I also wanted to redo my trunk setup. Nothing extremely fancy and it hasn't even been started but I will try to explain it. The one thing I wanted to be able to put in the trunk was the Carbing Trunk Brace so the stereo will be designed around allowing that fit in the trunk.

Now onto the audio equipment. I am using all Memphis Audio gear. Since I am using the factory radio still I was going to be using Memphis's OEM called the 6ix interface device that give you a clean signal from the factory headunit however after doing lots of reading on mermans thread about his harness I decided to make one of those. I am using their 6.5" MClass Components up front and their 6.5" MClass Synchronous Components in the rear. The amp I am using is the Memphis Big Belle which is a 5 channel amp putting out 4 x 75 watts @ 4 ohms and 1 x 1100 watts @ 1 ohm. The 1100 watts from the sub channel will be split to two Memphis M3 subwoofers. The Memphis Big Belle is a massive amp as well and 30in wide. I am going to try to figure out some way to mount it raised about 3-5 in above the Carbing Trunk Brace along the back of the rear seat at an angle. Obviously though I will not even consider mounting it to the Carbing brace. There will be one sub in each corner of the trunk in fiberglass enclosures facing the opening of the trunk. This is all going to take a long time to install so hopefully in a month or so I will have some pics of the beginning of the install. Until then the pictures of all the gear are below.


The entire conglomerate



Carbing Trunk Brace



Memphis Audio 6ix Interface







Memphis Audio 6.5" MClass Synchronous Components






Memphis Audio 6.5" MClass Components (cast baskets are hot I almost want to reverse mount them so they show)











Memphis Audio M3 Subs









Memphis Audio Big Belle (It evens tests to put out more output than it claims, also uses an external fuse rather than an internal fuse 200amps)





















Memphis OAWG Amp Kit (Crazy how much stuff comes with it)











One four channel and One two channel RCA set



One Battery Terminal, One fuse holder with 250amp fuse, Two distribution blocks (Most likely wont use the terminal and keep using my stinger ones with displays)


























PnP Merman Harness and Speaker Wire Harness


Well thats all for now. Will be taking out my current setup this weekend and laying the large amp in the trunk to see size wise where it is even able to fit at all. The next work will begin over spring break from the Feb 27th till March 7th. Hopefully I will get a good portion of the work done then.

mattastick

Very nice... The big belle is a huge amp... I might be hitting you up for some info when I go to do my amp racks. I'm going to be putting my amps where your subs are, so I'll have a similar bit of work to do.

Keep up the good work, and I can't wait to see more updates...

IamHimeros

iTrader: (1)

Nice setup!

eleventure

very nice and clean. Looks like you know what you're doing! Cant wait to see the end product.

Props for using all Memphis Audio equipment.

Costco

man, everything you do to your TSX is super clean. I like how everything is all Memphis!

CCColtsicehockey

Yeah the belle is definitely huge. Hopefully I will get some pics of it sitting in the trunk later on today.

CCColtsicehockey

Yeah that is always my goal to keep everything super clean looking.

feuss2

iTrader: (1)

Nice work! Can't wait to see how the fibreglass enclosure turns out and how you place the amps!

mitch14

that setup looks really good, can't wait to see it all finished
and i love the idea of putting the subs in the corners

CCColtsicehockey

Ok so this past week over spring break I began my system install. One of the main reasons I am redoing my system is I obviously want to replace the rest of the speakers for better sound but the main reason of redesigning my trunk setup is to make room for the Carbing trunk brace. Here the brace laid in place and also the remains after the removal of the old system.






It was cold out so I used my parents porch heater to heat the garage up. Worked very well and kept the garage nice and warm during the days it was around 20 degrees out.




I removed a portion of the interior panels and the front and rear seats along with my old setup in the trunk as well. I then taped off the entire rear of the car as to not scratch anything while working on it. I began the mold for the second sub enclosure first so that it would have time to dry while I wired the car. I did three coats of mat and resin for the new mold and still need to add a coat or two of just resin to add some thickness to the box and strengthen it.


























I then ran the custom plug and play harnesses down the middle of the car and left them at the rear seat.














I also had to drop the rear diffuser so that I could install the Progress and got the Progress rear sway bar installed with the help of my friend Brent (MemphisTSX).












I dynamatted each door lightly before installing each speaker then. The specs for the size speakers that could be used in the tsx were far from right from metra. The specs were clearly measured with the windows up. Also the tsx speakers are so small the holes need to be severely enlarged to accommodate the new speakers. I enlarged the holes using tin snips as I did not want to use a dremel and end up with lots of metal filings in the doors. I also needed to use spacers to prevent contact with the window. This was accomplished using generic speaker spacers by metra that I had to custom modify to fit the speakers that were even to large for the 6.5” speaker spacers. I used metra Honda connector adapters so I did not have to cut any of the factory wiring. I installed the front woofers in the doors, the rear woofer and tweeter combo component along with the rear crossovers in each rear door. The front tweeters I had glued into the factory grills. My local shop suggested that if I didn’t plan to ever put the factory tweeters back in to cut the connectors off them so that I could make a plug and play harness for the new tweeters as well since one is not available. This also helps cause there is like no slack in the OEM tweeter wires. Since I had the speaker harness adapter from a civic run to the trunk, the front crossovers were then mounted in the trunk instead of the front door.

Dynamat









Speaker Comparison






















Custom Speaker Spacers




Custom MDF Spacer Cause I miss placed the other plastic 1in spacer and didn’t want to keep looking for it. I have since found the other plastic spacer though.




Installing Door Speakers










Had to cut a little bit of the plastic around the speaker grill away to allow for the door panel to fit back on since using the speaker spacer.














Custom Tweeter Install and Harnesses

































For the amp rack design I decided to do something simple so not to take away from the Carbing brace. I decided to mount it in front of where the Carbing trunk brace will be mounted. I didn’t want to just mount it flat so I decided to mount it at a 15 degree angle instead. I am using the OEM trunk carpet for the false floor so that it has perfect fitment with the floor. I designed a base inside the spare tire compartment and then created vertical supports to support the weight of the amp. I then reinforced the OEM insert with a 1/2in thick piece of MDF. I made 4 sloped 2 inch risers to support the amp that lined up with the reinforcement board. I then cut 3 ovals to run the wires up bellow the amp between each of the four slopped supports. I mounted the front crossovers and the amp external fuse on the hidden floor under the false floor. The amp is currently mounted on a 1/2 in piece of MDF which will be replaced with a 1/2 in piece of frosted plexi that will be lighted up in either blue or whilte LEDs. The ground wire in the picture was not long enough for the install so it is currently routed incorrectly in the pictures for test purposes. The power wire is correctly run under the false floor but the wire to the battery was run outside the car for test purposes as well. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures while making the amp mount but will take pictures of it when I install the plexi piece instead.

Panel Under False Floor


False Floor


Wiring Below




On the top of this picture you can see the holes for the wires that were cut in the false floor below the amp rack.


















Lights on the Amp



The plug and play harness did not work correctly and I believe there are issues in the RCA connectors so I will be ordering new one to try again cause I believe they are touching as they tripped my amp into safety mode. I tested the system using my iPod directly connected to the amp and putting the amp in 2ch input mode. All speakers play perfectly and the sound quality is amazing without even having tuned the system yet. Hopefully in the next month I will get some more of the system completed.

vthree

iTrader: (1)

good stuff!! looking great, i'm going to install my second amp tomorrow; but its nothing compared to your setup, thanks for the advice on the dash i got it out and back in; along with fixing my issue! keep up all the good work, cant wait to see your next post!

wong05tsx

iTrader: (6)

great work colts
wish i had a garage as big as that! aha

feuss2

iTrader: (1)

+1

Are the subs finished yet?

spdy0001

Ummm yeah so when you are you going to work on my car

CCColtsicehockey

Stage 11 – Phase 2 Primary Install
Well I went home again this weekend and got another day worth of work done on the car. I figured out what was wrong with the RCA plug and play cable and now I have sound from the factory head unit. I tested it again with the power wire run outside the car and I have no signal noise. I then proceed to run the power wire through the firewall through a large grommet in the middle of the firewall for the primary harness to the interior. I had to make a slit in the grommet and then fed the 0 gauge wire through and into the interior. It comes out near the back of the radio and then was run down the passenger side.

In through the firewall


Most likely path to battery










Here you can see better the design of the amp rack and how the wires are run to the amp








Amp wiring finished in the trunk


Engine portion covered in wire loom and zip tied to factory harness to blend in
















I then realized that the amp which I would be running in the end at 1ohm to output 1100 watts to two subs could run at 2ohms and output 550watts. This is only 50 watts more than my old amp output at 2ohms so I installed my old sub box for now so I could have a complete sounds system for the time being till I finish the fiberglass boxes.


After the sub was installed I took the car for a spin and noticed I have a terrible engine whine which I did not when testing the car with the power wire ran outside of the car. This is an issue to be cause the purpose of using the harness design I made was to eliminate the engine whine

Once the wiring was done I could finally install the Carbing floor brace since I was done working on the interior. Even with the brace set at the smallest setting it is still a very tight fit to get past the plastic B pillar panels. The way the bar fits though it would be extremely hard to put the panels back in after the bar was installed. I unfortunately scraped the one new side panel during the install but it should always hopefully be covered by the seat. I tightened the bar till it was extremely tight against the sides of the car. I have no idea whether it is over tightened or if that Is possible.













The euro r floormats still fit in under the bar but just barely.





My Dad wanted the rest of his garage back so he didn’t have to worry about possibly knocking something over and denting the car or scratching the car. I had to put the car away because of this so not sure when I will get to work on the car next. I decided since I was pulling it out of the garage to snap a few quick pics for the heck of it.








I hate having to put it away in the trailer cause when I come home from school on weekends I normally don’t bother getting it out since I am only home for about 48 hours at a time. Car needs long gradual ramps and a blanket incase the front lip does touch it at least wont scrape then.

CCColtsicehockey

Your local what do you want done?

spdy0001

Ideally I would do something small (10") in the trunk that won't take up to much space. I had my fun years ago with the trunk full of speakers and my ears can't take that anymore.