PDA

View Full Version : finished stereo install



Phorte
20-10-2003, 12:24 PM
just spent almost a total of 24hrs (almost to the hour) working on my car's install. i got a 95 integra vti-r..

started yesterday, saturday, from 8:30am till 2:30am that evening, then today, sunday, from 10:30am till 4:30pm.

what we did?

my car came with a stereo install already which was quite shit. the deck's wiring loom had been spliced multiple times and all colours changed and pieces hanging everywhere. there was bundles n bundles of cabling everywhere, a lot weren't even used anymore. most of the wiring went through the door frame (along the bottom) into the boot where it all was. there was cables n cables n cables all in the boot, a lot of which had ends that weren't even connected anywhere. it was a mess!!

in total the system was a broken Pioneer deck, no front stage, and in the rear was Pioneer 6x9's, two Pioneer 2way GMX722 amps, and two 12" Pioneer Bullet/Premier series subs in a ported box.

so for saturday morning till around lunch time, we stripped out the interior of the car, firstly taking out both seats, then unplugged the equipment in the boot and taking out the rear seats. When we started untangling the cables we realised how much of a ****ed up job the previous owner had done. it was atrocious!!! at this stage we had removed the entire centre console and most of the front dash too and also the door lining.

my friend then began the process of resouldering all the ends of the wiring loom for the deck and also the one into the car, then soldered on little gold connectors that then went into those big white connectors so that both ends of the loom simply just click in via big white connectors.

i proceeded to clean out the doors. one door had a midbass driver and nothing else, the other door had half a tweeter and a crossover. interesting front stage hey? =) What we then realised was that only one door had a mount for the midbass driver.. by this time it was around 4pm.. we didnt have time to make up a custom mount out of MDF so i quickly went by to a local car audio store and purchased a premade MDF bracket whcih then bolted in perfectly, both for the hole in the door, and also providing sufficient depth for the driver without hitting the window when its rolled down..

we then used the new speaker cable to run underneath the carpet down the centre console from the front to the back. then we spent a total of 2.5hrs (yes............) having a huge problem of running the speaker cable into the doors. it was almost impossible.. we did this in the end using coathangers to guide the cables through and by the end of it was able to wire up the new splits into the doors, applied new plastic wrapping to protect the speakers/crossover from water inside the door, and just cable tied everything together.

that was the end of day 1.

then today we woke up and continued with the wiring of the amps and subs in the boot. we wired it all up and did a test run. the system sure did sound beautiful at this stage as we just spent over 15hrs just mucking with wire placement.

our boot install ended up being just the two amps on one side of the boot in the middle, screwed into the carpet/floor and the sub box on the right of it all up against the back seat in its box.

then it was the process of putting all seats back in, vacuum'ed like mad, cable tied absolutely everything (cable ties were our best friend all day long), and front bucket seats back in and voila!!

im still tuning the system but it sounds beautiful. the splits are absolutely supreme. the sub meets my previous 2x 12" Pioneer's and its just a single 12"!!!

apart from this though in a week's time we will have to out the interior again as my processor/equaliser will be arriving too and once this is in, i'll use the aux-in on it to run in my dvd/mp3/svcd/vcd player + 7.2" widescreen whcih i've had sitting here for over a fortnight now.

equipment now in my car:

Deck:
- Alpine 7876RB headunit

Front Stage:
- Dynaudio System 240 MKII 2-way component speakers
- powered by Audison LRx2.250 amplifier

Rear Stage:
- Pioneer 6x9's (from previous setup just for a little fill.. dunno model)
- this is running off the headunit

Bassy gutwrenching goodness:
- Infinity Kappa Perfect 12 subwoofer
- powered by Alpine MRV T757 amplifier

And to be installed in the next fortnight:
- Alpine ERA G320 processor/equaliser
- incar DVD/MP3/SVCD/VCD player + 7.2" widescreen LCD monitor.

pics to follow soon of final install.. we decided against taking pics of the process because we encountered so many hiccups that it was a nightmare and didnt really want pics to remind us of the troubles.. hehehe

Phorte
20-10-2003, 12:26 PM
ok sorry the pics are atrocious.. was trying to get my hand as steady as possible but it was no go.................. and i hate the flash on my camera, dont know how to change exposure, and am pretty ****ed overall with the settings on my camera.. =)

http://phorte.customer.netspace.net.au/031019_stereo_install_01.jpg
http://phorte.customer.netspace.net.au/031019_stereo_install_02.jpg
http://phorte.customer.netspace.net.au/031019_stereo_install_03.jpg

overall the install isnt anything spectacular, but if you see it in person, its just really clean and subtle.. plus its a huge difference from how it was before hehehe

plus its my first real try at an install and im happy with the results.. great learning process especially if you have someone experienced showing you the way.

Weq
20-10-2003, 01:41 PM
Yer nice work dude, i'm not one for showy install, just a nice clean look.
My car was kinda simliar in the way the previous owner left it, but just the front midbass drivers had been replaced with shitty broken coax's, rca's cuttoff, power wires left under the rear seat etc. Clean it up real well when i did mine..
Getting the cabling into the front doors +drommets is abitch eh, i remmber the 'fun' i had doing mine at 3am inthe morning, its even worse then u finally get em all in and u realise they have become tangled in the door hinge and u have to redo em! That some quality gear also, would be nice, u got any sound deadending planned?

Phorte
20-10-2003, 01:50 PM
hahaha the doors are a bitch hey? on my car there's the rubber tubing where the existing cables go through for the central locking/power windows/etc etc.. we were going to attempt to SPLICE into this and run the speaker cables through them as well but we couldnt do this in the end becaues we couldnt get the doors off..

but throughout the whole install, cable ties were our best friend.. we used them on EVERYTHING haha

yeah i also have plans for some sound deadening in the future. after i get the rest of my system put in (the processor and the tv), i'm going to look at doing a little extra for the boot install.. like both a false floor and also a trap door sort of setup. trap door so i can gain access to the spare without having to take out the sub, and a false floor so that the amps look a little more flushed..

LUD02C
20-10-2003, 06:11 PM
Nice install...
Looks nice and neat, plus you used nice gear!
How do the Dynaudio's sound?

Phorte
20-10-2003, 06:35 PM
thanks!

the dynaudio's sound superb!! they're a TOUCH on the bright side BUT thats only a tiny amount. my ears are picky becuase im a musician and i have high audio gear at home for my entertainment centre and also for my home studio..

but i guess im not used to hearing any form of GOOD front stage in my car before so anything sounds good eitherway =)

but nah they're really good. i'd highly recommend them to anyone! there's a set of dynaudio 240gt's for sale on caraudioaustralia forums for ~$550. they're basically the same as what i have except the midbass driver is 6.5'" whereas mine is 7". grab em asap if you can!!

Calvo
20-10-2003, 09:32 PM
sounds like a pretty sweet setup man.
looks alrite aswell :D

toE
20-10-2003, 11:29 PM
im impressed for a first timer w/ help but still...

:thumbsup:

but dude..ya gusta practise ur photo-skhillz!! :shock:

aheha..all good!! did u happen to take some pics of what u were doing while u were doing it??

vti-2
20-10-2003, 11:32 PM
Hope you enjoy the system now!

What bucket seats are those by the way? PM me as to how you put them in...

thanks.

Phorte
21-10-2003, 01:13 AM
they're just el cheapo OBX monaco's... they bolted straight into the stock rails.. nothing too out of the ordinary there =)

oh, and i WOULDNT recommend OBX seats either... they're too rigid... nothing like recaro's, or if anyone has tried, mugen bucketseats... mugen ones are some of the most comfiest seats ive ever parked my big fat ass in!! :P

A'PEXi
21-10-2003, 09:06 AM
nice install, looks good as well....

Fhrx
27-10-2003, 04:43 PM
I cannot see the images. Is anyone else having issues?

toE
27-10-2003, 04:49 PM
yer..same ere..he musta taken it off the site or sumtin.


ps. Welcome Marty! :)

Phorte
27-10-2003, 07:23 PM
sorry took pics down =) will be updated in a bit when i have my alpine processor and dvd player and 7.2" screen installed..

A'PEXi
27-10-2003, 07:45 PM
cant wait Linh :)