Here's a few pics of my baby....









Doors with skin off prior to Dynamat



...and after.











Back of amp rack...






Front of amp rack...






Subwoofer enclosure....





Mercman's harness...






Running the wires....

 

Finished install.....


Looks stock,





Not stock..

Sub in trunk....I went with the type R Alpine due to 1) It required a smaller sealed enclosure than the Type X, and 2) I couldn't get the type X from Alpine anyway..they told me that the new model type X is not shipping yet...whatever. The type R sounds great anyway!










I can still easily access my spare and tools....

 

Dynamat on the trunk lid....



We dynamated the whole rear deck also. None of the dynamat is visible after the install.

Amp rack....










AudioControl Four.1 (must have item for anyone wanting great SQ!)

Mounted in center console...





Another pic of the trunk...

 

Dash is stock...





I found a pic of the rear deck with the dynamat installed...

No 6x9's anymore...it allows the sound into the cabin better, also it lets air flow to the amps when the rear seat is up.

 

how the hell did you get that rear deck cover back on after removing it. that thing is a pain in the ass.

 

So...what do you guys think? We had to change some of the products mid-install. I waited as long as I could for the Type X components to arrive. I gave up on them Wed. and went with 6.5" Memphis MSQ's in the front, and 6.5" Memphis MSYNCS in the rear. I don't regret it one bit....these MSQ's sound awesome! The tweeter from the front component set is mounted in the stock locations...fit perfectly under the factory grill. We had to tone them down a bit to keep the imaging correct.

Like I said above...the new Type X subs were supposed to be shipped last month. Per Alpine, they're unavailable at this time. I down graded from the PDX 1.1000 to the 1.600 and had them install a Type R instead....no regret there either... excellent SQ and takes up a little less space in the trunk.

System layout...

(1) Alpine PDX 4.100 (400 watt four channel amp)
(1) Alpine PDX 1.600 (600 watt mono amp)
(1) Alpine SWR-1242D Type R 12" Woofer
(1) Set Memphis 15-MSQ6 6.5" components
(1) Set Memphis 15-MSYNC6 6.5" Coaxial
(1) AudioControl Four.1 EQ

A butt load of Dynamat, and several hundred dollars worth of labor...

 

I didn't...that's what I paid the installer for!

 

Whoever it was that told me to go with a sealed enclosure...THANK YOU!! I have never heard such great SQ in any of my past cars. I can not stress enough how clean this system sounds. Perfection!!!

About the only thing I can think of that would make any difference at all replacing the stock HU...which I might just do soon. It's bound to give me an even cleaner signal. I'd like to add navi and add some head rest monitors in the seats. (There's always something else to do)

I damn near teared up when I played my favorite CD this afternoon and heard parts of the music that I've never heard before. Every aspect of the sound is completely balanced and without distortion...even at very high volume. The finest detail in the recording is now audible. I can even hear the musician blowing across the top of her flute!....I can hear her take a breath between notes now! I've never been able to hear this much detail before. The base is perfect...I can play is loud and deep, damn near shake my rear view mirror off, but at the same time it's CLEAN.

Not pinching pennies when it came to the install made all the difference in the world. I asked the guys to use nothing but the best available for the install. It cost, but it was worth it.

Thanks to everyone on this site that helped me in the planning stage of the install. I know it wouldn't have turned out near as nice without your input. Special thanks to mercman....again, anyone thinking of upgrading their car should talk to him first.

 

Very nice man. How is the Audiocontrol put in place? Did you use velcro or screw the unit into the console? Thanks.

 

It comes with brackets. They're screwed in.

 

Did they cut the door speaker opening to get the front component speakers to fit? I can't tell from the pics ...

 

Sweet, looks like your guys knew what they were doing. Congrats on the nice install.

 

Nope, they fabricated the mounting ring and they fit nicely. No cutting at all.

 

Thanks Reach.

 

That is a sweet install, very nice work indeed.

jeff

 

Anyone have a recommendation where I should tap into to get the +12V to the AudioControl EQ if installing it in the center console? Thanks!

 

that is SOOOO clean.

 

Whoa ...

Do you know how thick the mounting ring is? My experience has been that the ring has to be 3/4" max, or else the inner plastic door panel has to be cut.

 

thats a clean ass install....you did all the boxes yourself...

 

Damn! Very Clean!!

 

Thanks guys. Two hundred miles of driving today...I didn't want to stop....

Again, I didn't do the install myself. A friend named Blake at Suncoast Sound in Monroe, LA did everything from start to finish. This is the third vehicle that Blake has done for me, and I've never been disappointed. Kieth, the owner, is a great guy to deal with also.

If I replace the HU, Blake will do the fiberglass work on the dash. I'm pretty satisfied with the way it is right now, so it might be a while before I go down that road.

Thanks again guys.



LOL...I had to Dynamat my license plate. The dang thing was bouncing all over the place.

 

Eyeball estimate, I'd say it's about 3/4" (give or take an 1/8"). If it were any less, given the mounting depth, it would hit the window glass or rather, the glass would hit it.

 

It just blows my mind that the top-of-the-line Memphis components fit using a 3/4" spacer and without cutting. This has been my experience with recent Honda/Acura vehicles:



I guess I'll drop by the nearby Memphis dealer to take a look tomorrow.

 

I've been thinking about it...and I think Blake might have said he trimmed the the inside of the door panel...not just for the MSQ's up front, but for the MSYNC's in the back also. I'll talk to him today and find out for sure...but, yes, I think you are correct. You would have to trim the door panels some to fit the Memphis speakers. My bad.

 

Congrats. Your installers do good work. Has me all excited to finish mine now.

 

No worries. That's a beautiful install, and I only hope that if I upgrade the gf's TSX, it turns out as well as yours.

 

thats one awesome set up

 

Looks like money well spent!

couple ?'s
1) is your road noise down after all the dynamat? Is it a large difference? Was dynamat installed under the seats and carpet? Wheel wells? I'm applying a dynamat-like material to the doors now and i'm curious what other locations you found critical?

2) What eq changes did you need to make with your system?What freq's did you boost or lower?

Thanks!

 

Road noise is all but gone...at least what's there is not noticeable. I only had them do the doors (inside and outside parts of the interior), rear deck (top only), and trunk. There is hardly any rattle from the trunk, but plenty of flex. I would estimate that the road noise has been reduced by more than half....it wasn't too bad to begin with.

I haven't made a lot of EQ changes. I've played with the gains on the four.1 a little, but that's about it. My installer tuned my amps, so I'm not sure what he did there. I told him how I wanted it to sound, and that's what he tuned them for. The EQ I used gives you a great deal of play, so you can adjust the sound to suit your needs.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I guess I should post my installers cell phone number so you guess can get some answers to your questions.

 

Road noise is all but gone...at least what's there is not noticeable. I only had them do the doors (inside and outside parts of the interior), rear deck (top only), and trunk. There is hardly any rattle from the trunk, but plenty of flex. I would estimate that the road noise has been reduced by more than half....it wasn't too bad to begin with.

I haven't made a lot of EQ changes. I've played with the gains on the four.1 a little, but that's about it. My installer tuned my amps, so I'm not sure what he did there. I told him how I wanted it to sound, and that's what he tuned them for. The EQ I used gives you a great deal of play, so you can adjust the sound to suit your needs.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I guess I should post my installers cell phone number so you guys can get some answers to your questions. :thumbsup

 

Nice diagram.

 

nice and clean

 

you have a stock head unit, so i am assuming you used a high low converter for the rca. have you experience any noises or delays when turning the system on or off?

 

No converter. We used mercmans harness (see one of the many threads discussing his harness). No converter needed. Absolutely no noise or delay when turning the system on or off.

 

wow ill defenitely look into that. not familiar with it at all. how much did it cost?

 

The harness? I'll let you discuss that with mercman.

 

No “hi low” or speaker level converter needed because the harness taps into the balanced audio signals from the factory HU. You do need to convert the balanced signals to line level un-balanced if you are using an amp other then the new JLs or Rockfords. Saltyone used an EQ that had the correct type inputs to accept the HU signals. All others will have to use a BALUN to convert.


jeff

 

any more pics of the creation of the amp rack and sub enclosure and face plate panels. I really like this design as its similar to my setup but a little cleaner and its time to redo mine anyways as some of the carpet is getting worn out after 2 years.

 

There are many more. I'll try to remember to have the shop email them to me.

 

How did you get that board to fit so perfectly around the curves in your trunk? Is there any trick to doing it well?