| DDunnMO |
After months of research here on the .org, planning, deliberating and finally purchasing, yesterday I completed phase one of my stereo upgrade. Installed a Boston Acoustics G510-44 10" sub in a custom made .5 cu. ft. sealed enclosure, driven by a Boston Acoustics GT-22 2 channel amp 500 watts @ 2ohms. Used the PAC AOEM NIS2, JL Audio XA-PCS4-2 4AWG Amp wiring kit and JL Audio RCA cable to connect.
This setup, small sealed enclosure gives me just enough rumble without being too loud and boomy.
Hopefully in the not too distant future phase 2 will bring Boston Pro60 components up front, SL or SX 65's in rear doors driven by a 4 channel Boston GT-42 amp. Yes I'm digging Boston Acoustics gear, wish they would sponser me. :2:
Will post pics soon when I get a new camera, my kids broke the old one. |
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| xconcepts |
| Nice setup so far. The Pro60's are great, I've got a set up front run by a PG 200.4 and I have another set of pro60's with a blown mid. If I decide to replace it with and add them to my rear doors to replace my diamonds. If your interested in them I'd sell them for 75 shipped. The replacement woofer would cost 120 unless you know someone, or buy a set from an authorized dealer and switch out the bad woofer. Almost free set. ;) LMK |
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| DDunnMO |
Interesting proposal, I will think about that. There was a pair on ebay with blown woof also. Getting yours and those would still have been cheaper than a new set. I'll PM you when I make up my mind.
Thanks,
DD |
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| DDunnMO |
Slight change in original plan for phase 2. I decided to go with Focal 165 V3E components for the front. I'm hoping to mount the 4" on the dash in place of the factory tweeters and place the Focal Tweets on the pillars. Anyone with any advice on fabricating brackets or other feedback on this is welcome.
Putting the Focal 165 CA1 coaxials in the rear doors. Staying with the Boston GT42 amp.
All of this is sort of in celebaration of 3 yr anniversary, 2/28 of owning MO and reaching 40k miles this past Saturday. New Aon Tech ST tires go on tomorrow.
Happy anniversary MO, you've been fantastic so far and just getting better every (s)mile :15: |
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| Livin |
quote:
Originally posted by DDunnMO
Slight change in original plan for phase 2. I decided to go with Focal 165 V3E components for the front. I'm hoping to mount the 4" on the dash in place of the factory tweeters and place the Focal Tweets on the pillars. Anyone with any advice on fabricating brackets or other feedback on this is welcome.
Putting the Focal 165 CA1 coaxials in the rear doors. Staying with the Boston GT42 amp.
Did you get the 4" in the dash? Let us know what you found... I'd like to do 3s or 4s if I can. |
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| BikerJohn |
I like your celebration idea:D -Congrats!
Have you looked into a unit called RE-Q? I installed one in my '03 to help make my bass signal linear as you turn up the volume. The MO's stock Clarion HU on the Bose system is factory equalized in such a way that when you turn up the volume; the bass signal drops to protect the woofers and also to limit distortion. The RE-Q is a "Volume sensing Bass Restorer" unit. What a difference it made in my MO after installing it. The bass is cleaner; crisper and linear when I turn up the volume. Their website is www.reqsound.com and they run about $150. Worth having a look:12: |
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| DDunnMO |
quote:
Did you get the 4" in the dash? Let us know what you found... I'd like to do 3s or 4s if I can.
Hey Livin, I did manage to fit the 4" speakers in the dash but it wasn't easy. We had to cut away areas of the dash on both sides of each opening and cut a small section of the drivers side duct out to allow the magnet to seat down enough to keep it from poking through the grill cover. No bracing or brackets were necessary, the fit was very tight and we just used the ears on the speakers and screwed into the plastic of the dash. We did goof up by cutting 4" holes in the grill cover rather than just drilling smaller holes. Now the cloth sags a bit and you can see the outline of the holes because we couldn't get the cloth to stretch tightly when it was re-glued. I am looking now for a junkyard doner pair to restore to original look. It's probably only noticable to me unless someone is really looking for flaws. The soundstage is now fantastic.
Hope this helps, I'll post some pics one of these days. |
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| DDunnMO |
BikerJohn,
I am interested in the RE-Q, what other components do you have installed and are you using a PAC AOEM or other Line Output Converter? How does the RE-Q connect, does it replace the LOC? There is a dealer in my area, I'd love to hear a demo.
Thanks for sharing that product. |
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| BikerJohn |
Were the 4" up front Focal's;co-axle?
I was pondering on how to make more room up there yesterday and had a though. I might try and use a heat-gun and heating up the ducting to re-shape them to allow room for the magnet. Have to be careful not to affect the connecting junctions where the final vent connects to. Will follow up if I go that route. I had my factory Bose tweeters up there and decided to disconnect them since they sounded too bright.
The set-up I have is: the PAC AOEM attached to the back of my HU (see photo in My Gallery) sending 4 ch RCA's back to 1 MTX 4004 4-channel amp. That amp powers my rear door components(Hertz Hi Energy 6.5" with tweeters) and my MB Quart (PCE-216) tweeters up front.
The second amp (also MTX 4004 4-ch amp - Great amp for the buck!) powers my MB Quart front 6.5" woofers and my 10" Energy Sub(see my gallery).
The RE-Q supplies the signal to my second amp. It is connected to the signal going from the HU to the Bose amp(connected before the amp). It is connected with L and R signals with a Turn-On, 12v, and ground. I will post that set-up later. I mounted the RE-Q close to the Bose amp and it's outputs are RCA (Left and Right plus SUB!). There are gain dials also on the RE-Q and frequency adjustments for more fine-tuning the signal to the amps where again, the signals can be fine tuned with amp adjustments!
The power is supplied to my system using Tsunami 4 GA cable to my Tsunami 2 Farad capacitor which feeds power to both amps. I have left the Bose amp in place to see if I can use it to power any other speakers I may install later up front on the dash(hey, it's a free amp:D )
I will post more photos in my gallery later today. I changed out my Kicker amp for the MTX. The MTX sounded much cleaner-sorry Kicker.
Here's a quote from the RE-Q customer service: If you would like to know where you can purchase a re-Q you can call 800-965-3501 for a dealer near you or click on the following links to one of our authorized internet dealers: Crutchfield, Car Domain.
Hope that gets your interest-it's made a huge difference in the punch I get from the lower frequency:2: |
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| SliderJeff |
Guys,
Can I ask where you are locating both of your new power amps in the Mo? I assume you pulled out the old Bose POS ones and stuck the new ones there? Any issues with the SIZE of the new amps vs. the old? The particular US Acoustics amp that I have and was considering using appears to be far to huge to fit in that particular part of the vehicle. I wanted to try to do as much of the work myself as possible... just not sure that that's possible based on the size issue. I really didn't want to have to buy another amp just because of size. I wanted to use the US Acoustics 2150 that I have to power a sub and then buy a new 4 channel JL Audio or something to power my Focal components up front and some not-purchased-yet coaxials for the back.
DDunnMO,
What's your thought on the CA1 coaxials you are using in the back? Right now, the audio from my factory DVD entertainment system sounds like fetid-a$$ when listening through the stock Bose crap. Intelligibility of dialogue is a key concern for me for my passengers in back. I'm STILL looking for an alternative method of getting the audio from the armrest DVD rather than continuing to use the FM transmitted audio, which sucks.
Thanks,
Jeff |
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| xconcepts |
quote:
Originally posted by SliderJeff
Guys,
Can I ask where you are locating both of your new power amps in the Mo? I assume you pulled out the old Bose POS ones and stuck the new ones there? Any issues with the SIZE of the new amps vs. the old? The particular US Acoustics amp that I have and was considering using appears to be far to huge to fit in that particular part of the vehicle. I wanted to try to do as much of the work myself as possible... just not sure that that's possible based on the size issue. I really didn't want to have to buy another amp just because of size. I wanted to use the US Acoustics 2150 that I have to power a sub and then buy a new 4 channel JL Audio or something to power my Focal components up front and some not-purchased-yet coaxials for the back.
Thanks,
Jeff
Jeff,
Both my Phoenix Gold amps are mounted under the spare tire panel. I had to remove both pieces between the spare tire and the panel, the wood thing and the black carpeted thing. My Bose amp is still there but not connected. I originally had my JL amps mounted on the back seats. The PG amps are much bigger though and fit perfectly under the panel, the 200.4 is around 22"L and 12"+W.
BTW, if you decide to get another 4 channel I would suggest something better than the JL 300/4, I had that one at first and it was grossly overrated. The Zapco I had and the current PG aare much better, but obviously it depends on what your speakers can handle. Mine are 125 rms. |
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| Tyler_Canada |
| I had a Zapco AG150 (~Reference 150.2) each for the front and rear speakers, one mounted under each front seat. My sub amp was about 2 feet long, so it was mounted to my sub box (which was 3 feet long). I tried the back of the rear seat first, but the material wouldn't hold the weight of the amp. I couldn't put it in the spare tire compartment, as I had a full size spare. |
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| xconcepts |
quote:
Originally posted by Tyler_Canada
I had a Zapco AG150 (~Reference 150.2) each for the front and rear speakers, one mounted under each front seat. My sub amp was about 2 feet long, so it was mounted to my sub box (which was 3 feet long). I tried the back of the rear seat first, but the material wouldn't hold the weight of the amp. I couldn't put it in the spare tire compartment, as I had a full size spare.
Really, the sub amp wouldn't fit on the rear seat?? I had the Zapco Reference 300.4, I think thats the model, and it fit on the pass rear seat and held the weight fine. It was pretty heavy. |
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| Tyler_Canada |
I was using a Zapco Reference 750.2 :)
Maybe they changed the material. Mine is an '03, and the seat back was like cardboard. |
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| xconcepts |
| Yah, thats a fairly big amp:4: My PG 200.4 was to heavy for it and I wanted to hide it. I have the 03 as well though and they held on the board though. Your 750 might have been a little bigger though |
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| GripperDon |
| Hybrid is not up to my standards and will be undergoing a major revamp. The Phaeton is supposedly sold and the guy from Calf picks it up tomorrow and I have a good bite on the houseboat so my "9" speaker Bose system is going to get some new speakers and an add on sub amp to try and get this system out of the Mud. The increased head room from this kind of mod on the MO seemed to be great. I am also ordering more B-Quite acoustic matt to underlay the floor and doors and trunk. All this assuming m y arm and spine will hold up. |
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| SliderJeff |
Hey Grippy,
Apologies for the slightly off topic question, but what's the "hybrid" of which you speak? I've been a little out of the loop on your current situation. I know there was some family issues that caused you to sell your original Mo and I knew you had a Phaeton, but this hybrid thing is new to me. Feel free to PM me if you want to keep the thread clean.
Regs,
Jeff
quote:
Originally posted by GripperDon
Hybrid is not up to my standards and will be undergoing a major revamp. The Phaeton is supposedly sold and the guy from Calf picks it up tomorrow and I have a good bite on the houseboat so my "9" speaker Bose system is going to get some new speakers and an add on sub amp to try and get this system out of the Mud. The increased head room from this kind of mod on the MO seemed to be great. I am also ordering more B-Quite acoustic matt to underlay the floor and doors and trunk. All this assuming m y arm and spine will hold up.
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| xconcepts |
| GDon- I have hear a few bad things about bquiet products. That at higher temps the mat comes off. Try elemental designs new product or second skin products. Which I have the eD mat and second skins sprayon dampiner. They have been tested by many people on the car audio board I'm on and are better products for normally cheaper. |
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| SliderJeff |
I seem to recall that alot of the "pro" guys were recommending an even cheaper product that you can get from Home Despot in the weather proofing section. I can't recall the name offhand, but I know there was a particular version of this product that held up to heat and cold better than things like Dynamat and such. Just a thought. I'll see if I can dig up the name.
Regs,
Jeff |
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| DDunnMO |
quote:
Were the 4" up front Focal's;co-axle?
I was pondering on how to make more room up there yesterday and had a though. I might try and use a heat-gun and heating up the ducting to re-shape them to allow room for the magnet. Have to be careful not to affect the connecting junctions where the final vent connects to.
Biker John,
The 4' Focals are mid-range drivers, seperate tweeters are mounted on the pillars. We tried a heat gun initially but the plastic is very thick maybe not patient enough but I patched in some scrap plastic that fit the contour needed for the speaker it is sealed pretty well and there are no air flow restrictions from the vent. I have the Tsunami 1.2 Farad cap waiting to be installed. I definitialy want to check out the RE-Q.
SliderJeff,
I mounted my amps on a carpeted board in the same space the factory amp occupied both amps together are about 33 1/2" wide and just under 9" deep. I had to remove the _/\_ shaped bracket in the middle for them both to fit, I like the stealthiness, so far heat hasn't been an issue, both amps have internal fans. and don't have to push them that hard to stay in my comfort level.
The rear coaxials are 1000 times better than the factory crap, way richer sound and much fuller range. I actually wound up getting the 165 HCs at a closeout price, no regrets. I don't have DVD but for music and occasional comedy dialogue is crystal clear. I seldom listen to the radio except for traffic and weather reports. 98% iPod. |
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| BikerJohn |
DDunnMO; Focal's.....very nice:29:
I just finished installing some 3.5" speakers (Energy-made by Klipsch) and have posted to photos on MY Gallery. There are other photos of where the RE-Q is mounted (on "Extreme Velcro") so there's no drilling. Cheers :7: |
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| DDunnMO |
BikerJohn,
Very nice job! :claphead: The half inch difference between the 4" & 3.5" saved you a lot of headache. You did exactly what I should have done with the grills, drilled not cut. How does it look from the top with the cloth back in place? Does the sound wrap make a difference? I have not seen that before.
You have motivated me to post some new pics on my gallery, mine are ancient. I have done a few upgrades since those were taken.
:31: |
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| BikerJohn |
DDunnMO; Thanks. With the drilled out holes; it looks like the original speaker cover. I just made sure that I pulled the material snug enough not to leave any folds. I'd love to see what you have done. Please do post some pics when you get a chance:D .
SliderJeff; my amps are mounted on two sheets of 1/4" MDF (easy to cut) ; cut and glued together for strength and mounting beef, then wrapped in interior carpet(found at my local audio shop). I used spray-on contact adhesive for both items. The backer board was then screwed into the factory backs of the rear seats using 1-1/4" #10 Round Head screws. Careful where the screws are located. I hit some spots where there were metal supports beneath the factory backers. I left out 1 layer of MDF around the wireway to create channels for the wires from my amp to run behind the backer board.
I would have liked to hide my amps, but they were too deep and hit my full size tire and the rear seats. The amps will stay cooler out in the open anyway.... |
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| BikerJohn |
I don't really know. It was a last minute thought; more of thought in stoping it sounding hollow up there. The material used was just some left over interior carpet. I was recommended by a high-end audio shop to use Cascade's Deflex: www.cascadeaudio.com/aut2_deflex.html
It's hard to know if they are trying to sell me($45 for 2 - 7" discs) or if for this app. if it would even make a diff. I think that perhaps even using Dynamat (which I used in all my doors) might even do a good job. |
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