My 350z Audio Thread, advice, opinions welcome.

[Chromatic]

Hi guys, and ladies. I have done a ton of homework and research over the past 3 ish weeks and this is what I ended up ordering to upgrade my factory stereo (I have the base model stereo):

 

Headunit: Kenwood DDX-470 - http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/Mobile_Video_n_Navigation/Mobile_Video/DDX470

 

Amplifier: PPI 900.5 (5 Channel Amp) - 70Watts RMS x 4 + 270Watts RMS x 1 (Sub) - Precision Power PPI P900.5 (p9005) 5-Channel Phantom Car Amplifier

 

Front Components: JBL MS-62C 6.5" Mids with 1" Tweeters (80 Watts RMS) - JBL MS-62C (MS62C) 6-1/2" 2-Way MS Component Car Speakers System

 

Rear Speakers: MB-Quart QM-160 KX 6.5" Mids with 1" Tweeters (Coaxial) (70 Watts RMS) - No link for these as these are from the 90's, and I had them stored. These are when MB Quarts were made in Germany. Purchased them in 1997 for $400-500.

 

Sub Woofer: JL Audio 10" w0v3-4 (300 watts RMS) - JL Audio 10W0v3-4 W0v3 Series 10" 4-ohm subwoofer at Crutchfield.com

 

Custom SRQ Sub Enclosure for the 350z: (10" Enclosure with .66 cu. ft of airspace, covered in Black textured finish, built to order, with Spring-loaded Terminal Cup.) - Nissan 350z Vehicle Specific Sub Enclosure 1-10"

 

Sound Dampening Material: (Versa Kit - 4 Square Feet of Sound Dampening Material) - I decided to get a little Sound material for the doors, as you guys told me it would help with sound quality. --

NVX SDVK4 Versa Kit, 4 Sq Ft of Sound Dampening (1 18"x32" Piece)

 

Wiring: 4 Gauge KCA Power Wire, 4 Gauge KCA Ground Wire, Inline Fuse Holder, with 80Amp AGU Fuse, 17 Foot Bassik RCA Cable with Remote Wire built in, 20 Feet TCA 14 Gauge Tinned CCA Speaker Wire (Gold plated Ring Terminals, and Spade Terminals). -

KnuKonceptz KCA 4 Gauge True 4 Gauge Amp Kit Installation Wiring Kit | eBay

 

2 More RCA Twisted Pair RCA Cables (Total of 6 RCA's) that are 18 Feet.

KnuKonceptz Twisted Pair 4 Channel Smoke RCA Cable 20ft | eBay

 

50 Feet of Kord Kable 14 Gauge Speaker Wire, Polarity Marked -

KnuKonceptz Kord Speaker Wire Ultra Flex Blue OFC 14 Gauge Cable 50' True AWG | eBay

 

Any thoughts are appreciated,..

 

But I have a few questions you could help with.

 

1) I've SINCE ordering, (figures lol), read that putting rear speakers in the 350Z messes up the sound, and you should only put front speakers in and a sub and that's it.

 

Well, I ordered that 5 Channel PPI amp because I have the pair of 6.5" MB Quart Coaxials from a previous audio system in my 300ZX. I wanted to take advantage of these great coaxial speakers and put them in the rear.

 

Do you think I should just not install the rear speakers? Or do you think I should go ahead and install them as planned and then keep dialing them down as needed. Maybe keeping fronts at 100 percent, and dialing these rears down to like 20-25% ? What would you do? Is it an *absolute* that putting rear speakers in is a dumb idea?

 

The basic of this stereo is front components 6.5" and separate 1" tweeters. Rear 6.5" Mbquart coaxial rears,.. and a JL 10" Sub in a custom sealed .66 Cu Ft. box.

 

2) I get A LOT of flack for this.. (So please don't bow beat me here ) -- But I'm going to bypass the factory door boots and molex,.. and drill a small hole in each door in the door jams just under the factory door boot, and run tubing and lock nuts to keep it secured and sealed,.. and run my front speaker new 14gauge wire through this.. Which will save me a ton of headache,.. and the main reason, believe it or not, isn't due to laziness but because I just don't want to touch that factory molex as I've read some bad stories about people who've damaged it and ended up with power this and that not working. I have zero problems drilling small holes and then grommetting and tubing them for the speaker run from kick panels to doors through this area. I know it's always best to go through factory boots, but I've made my mind up on this part.

 

But, if anyone has done this before, or has any tips on parts, or ideas on how to best do this. Even just tips on how to easily drill the hole, what tubing to use, or anything else I'll really appreciate the ideas or experience. I figured I would use my dremel and a flex attachment to drill the small hole and enlarge it just enough for the 2 wires per side.. put grommets in,.. then tubing longer than needed (so it doesn't pull when door is fully opened.. Run wires easily through this new location and make a frustrating job a 30 minute job. (I'm making it clean looking, and sealed.)

 

3) General install bits and pieces. Is there a kit of connectors, female quick connects, screws, ground bolts/nuts/lock washers, shrink tubing, splicing pieces and so on that you could link to me, or even suggest so I'll have all the "accessories" while wiring this up. (As above you see I have the wiring covered, but you always need odds and ends to splice wiring and such.)

 

I've heard the best way is to solder the wire.. I have some soldering experience,.. and tons of solder. I need to go buy a new Soldering iron, mine died. Should I go with a cheap $10 plug in unit, or is there some mid range iron that makes the job easier for soldering connections? I Need a new iron anyways. I've heard crimp connectors are the "Devil".. thoughts on that?

 

That's about all I can think of now..

 

Thanks!

Edited March 17, 2014 by Chromatic

[Chromatic]

lol.. *Hears crickets* -- Either no one wants to read that wall of text.. Or no one is big on Audio installs.

 

I've got it about 99% figured out.

 

If anyone bothers to read this though..

 

Few questions:

 

1) I have base model.. (no power seats.. nothing extra).. Which I like actually, especially when removing seats. But, I hear there's a plug under the passenger seat for the airbag. And if you have the battery connected and remove this plug if screws up the airbag sensor.. and such. First is this true? If it is.. What is the recommended way about going about this.. cause seats are coming out!

 

I thought well.. unplug battery terminal,.. then disconnect seat.. leave battery unplugged until I plug the seat BACK in.. But there's always a chance I'll forget about it -- case in example, invariably I'll need something during the install and throw my drivers seat back in.. connect battery and start the car. OOPS.. what happens with that passenger seat airbag plug unconnected with the passenger seat out?

 

Is it no big deal? Or am I going to screw something up in the computer?

 

2) I was doing to drill small holes under the factory door boot in the door jams to run new speaker wire -- but people have all told me this is unecessary over and over. Now I'm NOT going to run through the factory molex (you know drill it out, file it.. and all that headache.) -- BUT,.. what about running my new speaker wire up to the kick panels and splicing into the factory speaker wiring to the doors at that point.. leaving a few foot of factory speaker wire in the "line" so to speak. Will this be fine powering 100watt RMS per speaker up front? People say yes.. just getting your opinion.

 

3) You guys know this car.. so I don't need to post pictures. But The amp I bought is the PPI 900.5.

 

 

Dimensions: 11-1/2"L x 6-1/2"W x 2"H

 

More specs: http://www.sonicelec...PPI-P900.5.html

 

I haven't thought through mounting the amp. I'm putting it in the glove box behind passenger seat. I purposely found a Smaller Class D amp so I'd have plenty of space for fitment and wiring/adjustment. But, can't mount it DOWN in that glovebox cause the gas tank is under there. So,.. You guys have mounted amps plenty of times.. Ideas on how best to mount it in that glove box, while still retaining glove box use?

 

Only thing I can think of is to get like a 1" piece of wood.. cut it to fit.. Somehow (need help here) mount that wood to bottom of glovebox (again not downwards) then I can mount the amp to the wood. And, should I put something on top of the amp so I'm not putting my crap directly on top of the amp itself? Like another piece of quarter inch plywood? (Maybe get fancy with it and put a hinge on the back of it so it can lift up and down to adjust the amp?) -- I could grab some 3M adhesive and carpet the wood , if that's a good idea to use.. Can I find carpet locally from hardware stores.. or is that something I'll need to order online?

 

That's just off the top of my head.. and still don't know how to best mount the bottom piece of wood if I do go that route. Only thing I can think of is brackets on the sides of wood drilled sideways into the glovebox. That seems sort of ghetto though.

 

So any ideas on mounting, screw type.. what to use, etc. Will be super appreciated.

 

That's all for now

 

Thanks

Edited January 8, 2014 by Chromatic

[Chromatic]

Did the Complete Install (Took about 5 days):

 

Well.. you've probably run across one of my posts in the last month or so while I was researching and asking questions.

 

I've been trying to keep everything in a single thread,.. but since this is the actual build process with pictures I thought it would be appropriate to put this JUST build log into this section,.. could benefit others down the road.

 

I've been working since Friday on this car,.. don't even know how many hours I've put in now, lost count.

 

Anyhow,.. Here's some pics of the car:

 

Car interior stripped 90%:

 

 

 

 

JL 10" sub wired, and mounted into Custom Box:

 

 

Factory Mids pulled out (Wow, these are terrible!) -- Had to cut them out of their spacer to reuse it with the new Components I bought.

 

 

New JBL Components successfully in factory spacers (one heck of a job fabricating those spacers to put these JBL mids!) -- And put the 1" tweeter in stock location (had to cut/fab behind that sail panel quite a bit to get them to fit.. but they fit perfect)

 

 

I Used Rattle Trap Extreme to deaden doors -- Am running out of deadener, and the doors were A LOT better sealed by factory than I anticipated.

 

If you have some recommendations of where else to put the deadener on these doors let me know.. I have a little left.

 

 

 

Slot where the Custom stealth Sub box is going,.. Used a ton of sound deadener in this spot.. picture just shows bottom, but it's done up top, sides , etc. Plus there is a 1" rubber mat that is on top of this material, not shown in pic.

 

 

Rear 6.5" (Late 90's German) MB Quarts installed with X-overs. [i used 5+ sq ft. of sound deadener just up in this area.. that stuff goes fast!]

 

 

Yes,.. I opted to wire and install a Bass Knob. I KNOW many of you go against the notion of using one,.. but I plan on adjusting it on the fly quite often. So here it is mounted in a discreet "Invisible" location in the center console pop up box (top comes down and covers this). Used Industrial Velcro to mount it (worked fantastic!).. and dremeled below it for the phone cord to come through properly. I think it turned out pretty good:

 

 

The Custom Sub Box installed (It's downward firing). [This thing was a beast to get installed,.. 3 of the 12 bolts lined up .. So more dremel work with a light sanding bit being very careful with that MDF.] Turned out well though.

 

 

I'd say I'm 90% done now.

 

I have (not pictured) a carpeted amp rack built to go in the left "glove box" behind passenger seat (which when closed won't be seen).. that's drying right now.

 

Tomorrow I wire the amp up,.. plug in the headunit,.. and pray. If all works, I dial in the amp, then start re-assembling the vehicle.

 

Wish me luck!

[Chromatic]

Today was the big day to see if all my hard work .. well ... worked!

 

First I decided I should put more sound deadener in the car.. I deadened this entire area and bulk heads.. Plus other areas I didn't bother to take pictures of.

 

 

 

And.. it's ALIVE! -- Setting Gains!

 

 

And.. only other shot I took was of the headunit,.. as I tuned the system in after Gains were set properly.

 

 

 

Fired right up! Everything worked flawlessly.. I couldn't believe it

 

It sounds phenomenal,.. way better than anticipated.

 

To get proper voltages for speakers,.. I ended up at 50% on gains for front,.. 50% on gains for rear.. and 60% on gain for Sub. Not too bad.

 

One thing I DID notice was not only did my 90's MB Quarts work,.. but they sounded at least 5 times better than the JBL's. This isn't knocking the JBL components I put up front,.. but Germany did something right with this old set of MB Quarts I have. WOW! To adjust for the MB Quarts being a greater SQ and tone.. I faded to front about 50%.. thus dropping the quarts down about half way,.. this set things up very well for sound positioning.

 

For ME,.. Putting rears in the car does sound better. I dropped the rears, then added them.. over an over..

 

The sub is absolutely DEAD on perfect,.. It's not too much.. but if I WANT it to be ridiculous .. It's right there,.. with my Bass knob next to me.

 

All in all, I couldn't have done a better job myself... oh wait. -- I'm just being a smart a.ss.. Seriously, I'm a very happy guy right now.

 

Tomorrow is put the interior back in day,.. no more worries of if all my work is going to work! Straight forward job on panels, trim, et al. Wonder what it's going to sound like with the interior back in?

[Chromatic]

Update on Install Log:

 

Fabricated an Amp "mount" from Plywood,.. carpeted it,.. put 1/4" spacers under it,.. and screwed amp into the Fabricated amp "rack" if you will. Have industrial velcro around the lip of the "hole" (where that little box goes, that comes out) inside the glove box.. and on bottom of plywood amp rack.. It holds amp in place VERY VERY well,.. And the upside is any adjustments to the amp are a snap.. I just pull up on it and it comes right off to adjust without removing any panels, screws etc. Plus the industrial velcro is so strong that amp isn't moving even if I slammed on my brakes. I like this solution, it's simple. (I'm going to add a carpeted piece on top of it later today to give me roughly half of my glove box space back, and to protect the amp if I put anything in there.

 

Also got half the car back together.. As you can see from this picture it's very much a "stealth" install.. not one thing shows this has high end speakers, a sub, amp etc..

 

 

 

Here is the Amp on the rack I built, carpeted,.. and tidy'd up -- It's simple, but I think it looks great imho. (Under that amp is a HUGE square hole.. I didn't just screw the amp down to that.. I had to make that (First time doing something like this,.. What do you think?)

 

 

Broke a few clips on the LAST panel I put in .. glad it's in the rear.. so ordered them off Ebay for cheap for a 25 pack.. Will replace those (and have plenty extras for the future) as I will be removing panels again to add more sound deadener/closed cell foam, etc.

 

Just taking a little break.. Next is the door panels.

[Chromatic]

Finished! -- Went and bought the Kenwood DDX470 and BestBuy couldn't install today.. So I just brought it home and installed it.

 

Here she is done:

 

 

 

I really like this headunit.. It has more features for Audio.. Built in Front, Rear, and Sub crossovers active -- Very handy.

 

I love the actual volume knob, attenuate button,.. Phone button etc.. Where I don't have to look away from the road. Still a 6.1" touchscreen and DVD player.. best of both worlds.

 

Bluetooth works excellent,.. It's new for me to have it in my vehicle, so it will get a lot of use.

 

There is a difference in this HU and the Pioneer one though.

 

To get the proper voltages when retuning the amp.. I had to bump the gains higher using this Headunit.. Despite it having 4V pre-outs as the Pioneer had.

 

Particularly the Sub channel.. Sub channel is probably 85% or so now to get it to the level needed. (That's at a 79hz tone.. at 40hz.. the voltage is WAY higher.)

 

The fronts/rears didn't need much of a bump.. about 10% compared to the Pioneer.

 

Sounds great though!

 

And.... she's done! My hands can heal.

[Chromatic]

Well,.. The amp was getting too hot for my comfort in that Glove Box due to not having any air to circulate. So given the prospect of not being able to really utilize any of the space for anything other than the amp (box is smaller than it seems). I decided to go ahead and drill holes and put an Intake Fan to draw in cool cabin air to rectify the issue.

 

Intake Holes (Not perfection here.. but not finished):

 

Fan Wired via Relay - mounted on spacers Pulling Cabin Air:

 

The holes aren't perfect,.. but I am not finished with it. I am going to get a vent and essentially cut a box out from the edge of the outer holes,.. and then place a vent so the outside looks better, and the airflow should be a bit better as well. It's not absolutely hideous though,.. Even if it is covered by the passenger seat.

 

Amp runs considerably cooler now.

 

I decided to wire the Fan up "properly" so if anything did occur with the electrical system it wouldn't have a chance to mess up the Head unit, as the Remote isn't meant to power anything and is around 250mA give or take. (Yes, I know many people just power stuff off their remote wire,.. but doing things right is worth it in the long run.)

 

So I wired the fan up off a SPST Relay,.. and Fused the power going to the relay with a 3amp Fuse in-line.

 

 

Essentially it's wired,..

 

Terminal 85 --> Ground.

 

Terminal 86 --> Remote from Head-unit

 

Terminal 30 --> In-line 3amp Fuse from Power

 

Terminal 87 --> To Positive of Fan

 

The Ground of the fan is wired into the Ground with the other grounds.

 

Didn't anticipate thermal issues with the amp in that location, and even with the Amp getting hotter than it should being Class D,.. it most likely would have been ok in there without this addition, but might as well do something since it's relatively simple.

[Chromatic]

Added a Reverse Camera to the Vehicle.

 

Ran a Dedicated ground to the factory wiring harness, so the Headunit would have a proper ground (It was grounding through the Antenna,.. which also had a side effect of giving me a shock randomly when I touched the car (ie: opening the door). )

 

Plus I removed the Pioneer Sirius XM boxes, magnetic antenna, and all wires - And did a slew of wire cleanup behind the headunit and wired in other things that I didn't do the first go around; to name a few : Ran power to the Antenna Amplifier (so FM signal was clear again),.. Wired in the Illumination Wire, .. and other small things like that.

 

To keep it brief, here is the Reverse Camera:

 

Put the Reverse Camera on the Driver side -- It's super "stealth" ... I like it, really no need for brighter tag lights, but I have them on the way anyways.

 

 

Then here's the image from the $24 Camera -- (Keep in mind it's at night)

 

[glrnet]

That's some write up buddy, doesn't look like you need any advice, well not from my uneducated eye

[GMballistic]

That's some write up buddy, doesn't look like you need any advice, well not from my uneducated eye

What glrnet said.

 

Great pictures and very interesting write up. Well done.

[ZEUS]

Great work

[Chromatic]

That's some write up buddy, doesn't look like you need any advice, well not from my uneducated eye

 

Thanks. Now I can give advice,.. but to be fair I got plenty of advice (some of it bad.. lol) -- from 2 other forums I visit (car audio forums).. And did a ridiculous amount of research/reading on the subject (even took an online video course on electronics and how headunits, amplifiers, etc really work on a mathematical level lol..) -- Since I tend to write very long posts people equate that to "over-thinking" things.. but it's just the way I work, always have.. (long in text, to the point in one on one conversations in person.) Point is I did about 4-5 weeks of homework before I started ordering parts and then disassembling the entire interior of the car.

 

So I felt fairly comfortable making it all work, and doing it all the "right" way, I don't half-ass things If I can help it. (Sometimes you can't help it lol.. )

 

That's some write up buddy, doesn't look like you need any advice, well not from my uneducated eye

What glrnet said.

 

Great pictures and very interesting write up. Well done.

 

Thanks.. I could have taken SO many more pictures,.. but when you have a task that big and somewhat daunting (especially after you get it all apart then step back and take a look at your car and it looks like it is midway on the assembly line lol.. you get a little knot in your stomach like.. (Hrmm.. Did I just do Undo something I won't get back together?) -- But that's the challenge I guess.

 

I tried to keep the "install pictures and descriptions" uncharacteristically brief. At the very least it may give some other people some "ideas" on their own installs,.. and gives them an idea of how the car looks apart.

Great work

 

Thanks. I've just about exhausted everything I can do inside the car in regards to gadgets/electronics/stereo/speakers/amps etc.. I have every single input on the back of that headunit with something , well, plugged into it .. IE: The addition of the rear/reverse camera for example. Not a necessity, but since the headunit supported it ,.. and They are on Ebay for $25 -- There really isn't any excuse not to do it if your headunit will support it,.. other than really being a novice at taking some panels off, (and the hardest part imho, taking the gauge pod off and entire stereo/headunit out and dealing with getting it BACK IN.

 

(Piece of advice on that.:: I highly recommend undoing all the screws,.. even pulling the gauge pod unit out a few inches,.. but NOT pulling the cage that holds the headunit in out. -- It is NOT necessary whatsoever. And getting that cage back in (which is the whole gauge pod/center console thing.. with the long legs on bottom can be extremely frustrating (especially as those legs get in the way.) -- Get everything loose (all screws out.. every one of them) -- and pull the head unit out from the cage from the front. Then work on the wiring from that point.

 

Tip 2: If it's super tight when getting your headunit out the first time because the wires are super short.. spend the time cutting them all (noting with camera/picture,.. marking them , etc.. before cutting) and then lengthening them. It makes it all so much easier. If you only plan on taking the headunit out one time .. Then maybe not. But a little wiring cleanup goes a long way.)

 

Off my "advice soapbox".

 

I'm going to do some more DIY writeups like my Shock DIY.. This car has SO MUCH you can do.. nearly endless, especially if you are doing it bit by bit yourself (and don't have loads of money for some shop to do it all while you chill out) -- And some things just don't have the "proper" write-ups on them. I give people who take the extra time to take pictures, and especially those who make videos (of any quality) during a writeup so much credit because you know when working on new projects you've never done before it already takes most of your concentration as you are figuring it out, and making sure you don't screw anything up, scratch your baby, etc. -- Adding in another element of taking pictures and video of each step eats a lot of time and can be a distraction.

 

So to all you people who make guides.. I Salute you!

[GMballistic]

Think everyone that uses the forum really appreciates members like you Chromatic who take the time to write DIY guides & advice that helps the greater community. Well done.

[Chromatic]

Think everyone that uses the forum really appreciates members like you Chromatic who take the time to write DIY guides & advice that helps the greater community. Well done.

 

Thanks,.. and I agree -- Everyone who contributes with full on DIY's, or even helps others with some knowledge to any degree with projects are kick ass!

 

Hrmm.. I'm about to install some Reverse Lights and Tag lights.. lol,.. I know it's a "fairly" simple process but don't think I've come across any DIY's with a slew of pictures on it yet. As it can be described in a few sentences fairly well. But, I've read of a few people who actually removed their bumpers to put in new reverse light bulbs.. doh! So I may snap some pics when I do it , even though it rates a 1 out of 10 on the difficulty scale.

[Chromatic]

Well' date='.. The amp was getting too hot for my comfort in that Glove Box due to not having any air to circulate. So given the prospect of not being able to really utilize any of the space for anything other than the amp (box is smaller than it seems). I decided to go ahead and drill holes and put an Intake Fan to draw in cool cabin air to rectify the issue.

 

[b']Intake Holes (Not perfection here.. but not finished):[/b]

 

Fan Wired via Relay - mounted on spacers Pulling Cabin Air:

 

The holes aren't perfect,.. but I am not finished with it. I am going to get a vent and essentially cut a box out from the edge of the outer holes,.. and then place a vent so the outside looks better, and the airflow should be a bit better as well.

 

Cleaned up the Fabrication work -- It's finito now.

 

[GMballistic]

^^ Look's much better. Great job.

[Chromatic]

^^ Look's much better. Great job.

 

Yeah,.. I said I wasn't done lol. -- I wasn't worried with the original holes.... I drilled them randomly without thought to how they looked as the whole square was going to be cut out anyways. I was very impressed with how well the piece I ordered matched the interior.. Looks like it literally came built that way. I guess that's the goal.

 

Thanks

Edited February 2, 2014 by Chromatic

[Rocky4510]

Amazing set up, i wish i had the patience to do this! Well done

[Chromatic]

Amazing set up, i wish i had the patience to do this! Well done

 

TL;DR (At bottom)

 

Thanks -- The inspiration was a new Zed,.. that the had two speakers working (the front doors) factory (non bose system) that sounded SOOOO bad.. the worst sounding speakers I've ever had in a car hands down. I normally can live with the factory setup in vehicles.. but this was SO bad.. I had to improve it.

 

I could have just bought some low wattage aftermarket speakers and let them run off the headunit and it would have sounded much better -- But... this Zed is my baby now.. and it's as much a constant project as it is my daily driver. So I started doing some research on car audio.. and also went to some local car audio shops.. and asked the local shops what would it cost for just 2 new front speakers, and a SMALL sub in the factory sub location behind the seat. The lowest price quote I got was $1500.. and some shops wanted $2000 for 3 speakers and an amp.

 

Those quotes are what led me to do a TON of research on speakers, amps,.. wiring,.. and the Zed itself regarding wiring, speaker setups etc. -- I figured it I was going to put a single subwoofer in and that would need an Amplifier.. that I MIGHT as well just put all 4 aftermarket speakers in and run an Amp that would power all speakers .. Front mids, Front tweeters, Rear Mids, Rear Tweeters, and the 10" JL Sub I ended up with.

 

And.. I'm one to sort of "over-do" things.. overkill if you will.. I was like.. well if I'm going to have to pull the seats, door panels, and rear panels for the sub.. I might as well pull ALL the panels and run ALL new wiring for everything in the car. -- So I ended up for less than $900 getting all the speakers, amp, wiring, custom Sub box that fits in that factory location -- and the rest was just my time (and research/learning as I went).

 

I knew it would be a monumental task.. but I was NOT prepared for just HOW much TIME it was going to take me. It took me a solid week of work -- I am self-employed and luckily was somewhat slow that week.. so I had plenty of time to work on the car.. I put in 12-24+ hour days depending.. The first day I spent over 24 hours (taking a few breaks) on the car.. And that was primarily getting it all apart.. sizing up and planning how I was going to run all the wiring.. and I *may* have run the main 4 gauge power wire that day.. You should have seen my garage (the pictures above only tell part of the story).. Most people would have been like "*gasp* what did you just do to your pretty NEW car??" lol.. And I'd be lying if I didn't have a little anxiety about getting it all back together in one piece lol.

 

But .. while I ended up tired,.. hands annihilated (you wouldn't believe how beat up and painful your hands get doing this kind of work for days on end).. The end result is a car that you look inside and there is ZERO evidence that it has anything but factory speakers in it (My goal was 100% stealth.. for 1) Not advertising what was in it.. IE: Keeping it from getting stolen.. and 2) I'm more of a "clean" look type of person.. No stickers on the car, just really classy looks.. so I didn't want big boxes in the trunk/hatch with amps and subs like many people DO want to show off what they have.. etc. ---

 

And the sound.. wow! I expected it to sound much better than those pitiful 10watt factory non premium Clarion speakers pictured above.. but my research and work paid off.. This thing sound SO amazing.

 

It's not overbearing on the bass (while I do have the adjustment bass knob I installed that I can turn up to make it sound like the people who go "boom boom boom" down the road a mile away..) -- I keep it about half way.. and with all the mids and highs I put in it's just a phenomenal sound quality with so much more "volume" than I would ever need. It's just what I wanted X 10 .. A super clean , super high quality mid and high speaker sound.. with the Bass handled by a legitimate Subwoofer that would be Quick/tight punchy bass for the mostly "rock" genre I listen to.

 

The DVD player of the headunit was just an afterthought.. but I put in a DVD to test it.. and it sounded SO good (better than good home theatre setups you hear) in that car.. That I ended up watching a 2+ hour movie with the car off IN my garage lol.

 

But,.. I've rambled on enough about it.

 

Yes, it requires patience -- But really,.. the biggest thing is doing your homework/research on what to buy -- pre-planning the wiring/design of the car.. and learning as much as you can about sound/amplifiers and so on to properly set them up.. (IE: Clipping, amplifier gain setup, amp crossover setup.. using DMM's to set gains.. where to set your subsonic frquency, low pass and high pass to keep the bass with the sub and OUT of the mid and tweeters (to keep the mids and highs from blowing).. and keep the HIGHs out of the Subwoofer..

 

I personally find my best sound for "my" ear is to let them overlap a bit on the crossovers. If you know anything about active crossover settings that will make sense.

 

If you don't have the patience or willingness to teach yourself this stuff -- Then, I'll be honest,.. This setup I have is about a 3000-4000$ sound system -- and a solid 2-3k of that is installation and fabrication time/work. -- If you can find a good reputable shop that does good work.. It's worth every penny of the what may 'seem' initially outrageous cost of say $1000 in speakers, but $1000-$2000 of install cost,.. as I just went through it.

 

I put an easy 100 hours of my own hard work installing this.. And even at $20 an hour.. that 2 grand.. And I was extra careful, and was constantly cutting panels with my dremel and fabricating the car to make it all fit properly in the factory areas. If I had to do this again,.. and I had a shop that did good work (treated your car like their own) I would gladly pay 2-4k for this kind of setup and installation.

 

But in the end.. for $900 and my time I got an amazing sound system that only enhances the experience of the Zed. Though with my new exhaust I , more often than not,.. have the music OFF and am listening to the exhaust .. ironic considering all the work I put into the sound system. -- But I think as the exhaust sound novelty wears off a bit.. I'll go back to listening to the music a bit more.

 

TL;DR -- Thanks! Now that it's done,.. I am absolutely floored with the way it turned out!

 

P.S. -- If anyone needs any advice, help, tips etc on their own Zed sound setups.. or has questions -- Feel free to PM, or drop a line in this or another thread.. I'll do my best to answer.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Chromatic