• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

Finally got my Sound System together the way I wanted it!!!

GeddyLee

GeddyLee

New member
Man what a day, started at 9am and finished a little after 11pm. I took my time on the electrical stuff, I didnt want to ruin any of my amps or stuff. But I think it came out quite well. Kevin stopped by for a little to help with the initial stuff and then had to leave on account his father was admitted to the hosiptal.

Anyways I think it came out quite well. Unfortuately on one of my ground 4ga cables I had to use a red power one cause I didnt have sufficent length of silver cable to complete the job, so it worked in a pinch. I just wanted everything color coordinated.

The SoundStream PowerPlant is a neat unit, I ran my 1/0ga wire from the batter to the unit. And it has 4 80amp fuses on it, my Power Distribution Block is a Kanutz Concepts 3 fused relay, it holds 3 40amp fuses as the main breaking point in the power chain. The design is suppose to allow for better and more equal current to pass through the line. And then PowerPlant just distributes the power evenly across all amps. Plus its 80amp fuses act as a backup incase something bad happens.

I have now two Kenwood Amps, KAC-X4C and the X1R. The X1R, the bass amp, is running at 2ohms for 1,200 watts between my two Power Acountics, which splits even around 600rms each sub, and then X4C is pushing 75watts x4 at 4ohms.

Enough jabbering...........Here are some of the pictures I took during the installation.

Tore out the chair and the carpet to lay the new Monster Performance RCA cables, I love those things!!

The Specs....

Head Unit
Pioneer 6000ub HU w/ 16gb SanDisc MicroCruiser Thumbdrive (soon to be expanded)

RCA Cables
Monster Performance RCA wires 1 4ch 1 2ch cables

Speaker wire
Rockford Fosgate for the inside speakers
Stinger 8ga for subs

Speakers and Subs
Memphis Audio MClass 6.5" front door speakers
Memphis Audio MClass 6x9 rear deck mount speakers
Power Acoustics FUBAR 10's

Amps
Kenwood KAC-X4R 4ch amp
Kenwood KAC-X1R Mono amp w/ Wired Remote Control

I/R Remote Stuff
PAC SWI-X Steering Wheel Controls Interface

Sub Box
Audio Dynamics Ported dual 10" sub box

Power and Ground wiring...
SoundStream PowerPlant
Monster Cable 1/0ga Power wire
StreetWire 1/0ga Ground wire
StreetWire 4ga Power and Ground wires to the amps
KnuKonceptz High Current In Line 0 Gauge Fuse Holder

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And YES I did clean up that major Coke spill that was since I first got the car. Cleaned up rather ok, given its had two years to set in.

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That stuff worked wonders!!

I made a mess :)

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This is the Kenwood 4 Channel Amp

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This is the Kenwood Sub Amp

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I was very anal about getting the wiring setup very nicely to make it look pretty clean :)

Now for the final masterpiece, the completed trunk with all subs, amps and cabling down.

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More pictures in the next post. Stupid 10 picture limit.
 
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Next up is the SoundStream Power Plant. This thing is made super heavy duty!

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This was the mock up I did for the pass thru section of the rear seat. I cut a 15x13 1/4" piece of MDF board and attached it to the bottom section of the upper deck, there were three holes in the sheet metal I was able to put three screws through to secure MDF board in place. I think it worked out. I have to still take some pictures with the seat back in place to show you how it looks.

And you see my location I made for my 1/0ga ground wire. I used an adjusting drill bit, cause you are drilling right near the gas tank. I then sanded away all the paint to expose the bare metal beneath, I think would qualify as a good ground :)

I really loved how the whole pass thru and PowerPlant worked out.

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Needless to say its bright, it lights up the inside of the car pretty good, I almost have to keep the rear middle pass thru closed at night :)

Here are some other pictures of the trunk area.

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I highly reccomend getting a batcap, stinger, or xtatic battery, a good 160 amp alt or higher and ditching the capacitor. I used to run 10,000 watt Ma Audio Amp and 2 12inch Ma Audio Hard Kore subs off 2 stingers and a 180 amp alt. no electrical issues ever after then batterys!
 


I have yet to retune the HU after it lost power, I can never remember the clicks I have to do when the HU starts up to get into the real controls of the unit. But so far even with base settings it sounds great!

As for the cap, I dont really need that, the total wattage/amps used so far has not made the lights dim or anything. I added the PowerPlant cause I simply wanted a bit better power management for my amps. I have considered upgrading my amp in the near future, but that is about it.

I also LOVE my SXI* component that allows me to use the wheel controls again. I even setup play a source selector, and the AM/FM scroll through my MP3 albums. And most importanly my MUTE and Volume work perfectly! Now I just have find a nice location to route the I/R for the unit.
 
how does that steering wheel adapter work? does it have an IR blaster that sticks onto the front of the HU? i want my controls back but i dont wanna comprimse how my HU looks
 
Stunt0Rider said:
Geddy any info on that frame you built for your sub box?
Click to expand...

It was built by me :) It was rather simple actually. I just went to Home Deopt and bought a huge piece of 1/4" MDF board and laid the Sub Box down on it and measured around it to get the initial cut size for the box, then I measured the lengths between the rear of the fender wells and the height from the trunk floor to the top of the bottom rear deck. It took a couple tries to get the sizing and the rounding off of the corners, its not 100% perfect, but for functional use it looks great :)

I can always go back and make another one, but I really dont want to :p

But if you want me to give you the sizes of the frame, I can gladly get them. Of course the center cut out for the sub box will vary depending on what you have for your system.

I hope that helps? :)
 


I800C0LLECT said:
A simple way to tune courtesy of cmusic....... - DIY Mobile Audio


This has already helped me a lot for tuning

Here's links to more methods...

DIY Mobile Audio - View Single Post - Important Technical Threads List
Click to expand...

Thanks 800!!! I am a member of that site too, its a great place, but some of the people can be kinda prickish at times I have to say. I am almost afraid to post my work up there given how some people just love trash midline products, I know my Power Acoustics are not TOP OF THE LINE stuff, but they are a good inbetween spending 200-400 per sub and spending 50-100 for craptastic subs.

They hold true to their 600rms rating. They hooked up for 2ohm operation and the Kenwood X1R puts out 1200rms at 2ohms. Of course I have not truly tested if their power rating is exact, but given my little bit of tuning I did today, I would say its pretty close!!!
 
Mad Monkey said:
how does that steering wheel adapter work? does it have an IR blaster that sticks onto the front of the HU? i want my controls back but i dont wanna comprimse how my HU looks
Click to expand...

The IR remote wire has to be in eye shot of the HU. Currently I have it tucked between the piece of plastic seperating the HU from the AC controls. I am going to try and set it up sit right at the end of the leather boot on the shifter. I have tested that location by holding it there and it works great, my only concern is with direct sun light, but I dont forsee that being a problem.

I would recommend to anyone that has an Aftermarket HU installed in their car to get one of those puppies!!! I am sure glad I did! They are well worth the money!!!
 
James is that the same thing as the PAC SWI-X Steering Wheel Controls Interface that you can buy from ZZPerformance? jw...I'm not big into stereo stuff but if I can get my H.U. to work with my stereo controls then I will be one happy camper :D


























Oh...btw...














Stereo setup looks sexy ;)
 
GeddyLee said:
The IR remote wire has to be in eye shot of the HU. Currently I have it tucked between the piece of plastic seperating the HU from the AC controls. I am going to try and set it up sit right at the end of the leather boot on the shifter. I have tested that location by holding it there and it works great, my only concern is with direct sun light, but I dont forsee that being a problem.

I would recommend to anyone that has an Aftermarket HU installed in their car to get one of those puppies!!! I am sure glad I did! They are well worth the money!!!
Click to expand...


hmm interesting, i dont have a sunroof... i wonder if i culd mount it in the roof console that is utterly useless to me...
 
bluegtp91 said:
James is that the same thing as the PAC SWI-X Steering Wheel Controls Interface that you can buy from ZZPerformance? jw..
Click to expand...

Yeah that is the same thing, I kept forgetting the stupid name of the unit, but yes it is the one and same thing :)

You just have to check the site for PAC to make sure your stereo is compatible with the unit before purchasing it. Most units are, but there is a fair list of units that dont.

Just wanted to warn ya :)
 


GeddyLee said:
Thanks 800!!! I am a member of that site too, its a great place, but some of the people can be kinda prickish at times I have to say. I am almost afraid to post my work up there given how some people just love trash midline products, I know my Power Acoustics are not TOP OF THE LINE stuff, but they are a good inbetween spending 200-400 per sub and spending 50-100 for craptastic subs.

They hold true to their 600rms rating. They hooked up for 2ohm operation and the Kenwood X1R puts out 1200rms at 2ohms. Of course I have not truly tested if their power rating is exact, but given my little bit of tuning I did today, I would say its pretty close!!!
Click to expand...



They're definitely not fans of people who embrace the "ignorance is bliss" mentality. Those guys are very researched and intelligent. They love to help and hold the hands of new guys so long as you're willing to work pretty hard to understand.

I agree...they can come off as jerks to new people who don't understand their perspective but I understand why it pushes their buttons. They don't want to become a forum that authors best buy retail mentalities about products. They actually have no issues with low end gear so long as you don't pretend it'll beat out $1k equipment. Just be frank about design and goals and they're pretty friendly. ESPECIALLY the ones who ARE knowledgeable.


First DIY -- 04 Grand Prix -- product selection - DIY Mobile Audio


2004 Grand Prix GTP -- Rookie Install - DIY Mobile Audio


Step side Camaro? - DIY Mobile Audio



Those kenwoods look really nice. I've wanted to try a small 2 channel with T/A for rear fill application...still trying to iron out specifics for that. The diymobileaudio members seem to have a lot of great things to say about those amps you chose. What are you using up front?
 
I am running a Pioneer 6000UB with all Memphis MClass speakers, 6x9 MClass rears, and MClass 6.5's in the front. Mine are the old school Memphis that still had the swivel tweeter head on them :D

I actually found my Infinity 4" speakers in my 6x9 box when I was looking for wire caps. I was half tempted to install them :)

Also I wish I had known a bit more about Pioneer's Premiere line of HU's. I actually thought those were a lessor product back in the day until recently I discovered the exact opposite of that.

I think I will throw my setup on their site to see what they say. Should be interesting :)
 
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