My Audio Install

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Neil Trowbridge

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Hi,
Just thought I would post a couple of pics of my install that is nearing completion. I have got some build pics so if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post more up.

The system consists of Focal 165 K2P 6.5" mids and Tweeters up front in custom door builds. These are run actively from a Genesis Dual Mono (mids) and a Genesis Stereo 60 (Tweeters). There is a third Genesis amp, a Mini-Block to run two 12" JL Audio W3v3 Subs. I also have an Audio Control Epicenter to enhance the bass.

Up front, I will be having an Alpine IXA-W507BT connected to a USB laptop hard drive which will be located in the front centre arm rest. I also have an Alpine 6 disc CD changer in the glove box as this head unit does not have a CD or DVD drive in it.

All the boot has been sound deadened with 10 sheets of Dynamat so it hopefully won't rattle too much.

On to the pics...

Custom Tweeter Pods:
1.jpg


Door Builds Being Built:
2.jpg


Door Card Completed:
I must sort out my silver trim panels. They are really badly scratched!
3.jpg


Dash Out:
My car came with a single DIN Concert II head unit, and my wife has bought me an Alpine IXA-W507BT double DIN head unit for Christmas :yahoo: so I have had to take all the dash apart to replace the single DIN housing with the Double DIN housng. This is what it was like with it all apart:
4.jpg


Boot Build:
I have done a rather nifty build here! I wanted to be able to open the boot when I park up without all my amps and subs on show. To facilitate this, my install can be in two modes, either open or closed. In "open" mode, the floor is flat and the amps and subs are visable (below):
5.jpg


The amps are in front of the subs. Some of it still needs to be trimmed:
6.jpg


In "closed" mode, the amp lid lifts up as shown above, then the larger panel nearer the back of the car lifts up and locks into place to hide the install and make the boot appear "normal" to anyone looking in. There will be a cover over the epicenter eventually:
7.jpg


Below this panel that has lifted up is enough space to store bits like my laptop. The floor of this section also lifts out to facilitate access to the spare wheel:
8.jpg



Hope this has been of interest to someone! :music:

Neil
 
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Thanks. I tried posting pics from twitpic as I have already posted them there, but for some reason Twitter do something funky to make the pics not visable.
Anyway, I've hosted them myself now so should be ok now.
 
That's a really clever way of doing it Neil!

Might have to come and take a look myself one day, you not being too far from me
 
Trimmed the passenger door pod for the mid today...

Need to screw it to the door card then put the mid into the pod.

9.jpg
 
Subscribed to this thread
 
Nice one, get yourself over to talkaudio. Are you looking to compete in anything?

You looking for SQ judging by the looks, well done
 
Neil do you get your Dynamat cheap? if so where?
 
Byzan A4 said:
Nice one, get yourself over to talkaudio. Are you looking to compete in anything?

You looking for SQ judging by the looks, well done
Click to expand...

I'm a member on Talk Audio, but I rarely post. Once I have completed my install, I may think about competing depending on how it sounds!

rasA4 said:
Neil do you get your Dynamat cheap? if so where?
Click to expand...

A mate of mine used to own a car audio shop, so I used to get stuff at trade price which was nice. I bought 3 bulk packs some time ago from him, but never used them so I had plenty available for this install.

When lookng recently, I found ebay to be one of the best options believe it or not.
 
So, this evenings work...

A few days ago, my brother gave me some carbon fibre looking vinyl. As my trim is badly scratched, I tried covering my gear surround with it. I'm open to opinions on this as I havn't made up my mind if I like it or not yet.
11.jpg


I bought a CD changer to co with my new Alpine head unit. When I got the changer, the front was badly scratched, so I removed the front panel, took the sliding door apart, sanded and filled the scratches and re-sprayed the front panel in matt black to match the tweeters. I also put some of the carbon look trim on the front to match what th rest of the interior might look like.
I then had to cut the back of the glove box out using a jig-saw and push (hard) the changer into the space at the top of the glove box. It's a VERY tight fit and quite a bit of shoving was required! No screws will be needed to hold that bad boy in place!
10.jpg
 
yea been looking on eBay for dynamat or similar,
very neat so far what HU you using?
 
I'm going to be using an Alpine iXA-W407BT
http://www.alpine-electronics.co.uk/products/details/digital-media-station/ixa-w407bt-1.html

It doesn't have a CD or DVD drive in it. It is designed to play from an iPod or USB hard drive. As I have all my music converted to MP3, I don't really have a need for a CD player. The only reason I added a changer is because I bought it cheap and thought it was worth having in case a passenger says "put this CD on", or if I buy a new CD.

Whilst on the subject of the USB devices...
My car didn't come with an armrest. I bought a new armrest and whilst fitting it, I fed through a USB cable and the iPod video cable into the storage compartment. Here is the USB hard drive and iPod in the armrest (yes I know it's an old iPod, but I hate the things and it probably won't be used anyway!):
12.jpg
 
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It's not playing yet as I still need to get the head unit in, but should only be a couple of days now.
 
Finally got the stereo playing in the last few days. It's gonna take a while for the new speakers to run in properly and loosen up, but it is sounding better each day at the moment.

Thinking about adding an Audio Conrol DQX - this is a 30 band EQ and 3 way crossover. With this I can RTA the car and get it sounding even better.

I made a custom panel for the gain controls for the Epicentre and the Miniblock amp (near the cigarette lighter) and trimmed it the same as the gear leaver surround. I'm happy with the result. Picture below shows the head unit in and running. Happy days!

14.jpg
 
WOW Looks really good that HU looks almost OEM from here, would love to hear this in the flesh!
The CF looks good also. are you going to have grilles or cloth over the door speakers?
keep it up whats next?
 
Thanks!

I am probably going to leave the speakers uncovered. I have found in the past that grilles make a difference to the sound, and as I am the only one that uses the car, I am not too worried about them getting knocked. We have an S-MAX that the wife and kid trash this is my "keep nice" car!

Starting to sound better and better now, although I have not been able to take the car out recently due to the snow. The snow has built up against my garage door and I can't be bothered to clear it. I have sat in the car for a listen a few times though (how sad am I !)
 
not sad, just a pefectionsist mate.
i prefer the stealth look myself however i have to suffer poor sound out of mine though
 
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