Author Topic: System upgrade. In Detail  (Read 1480 times)

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Offline Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

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System upgrade. In Detail
« on: Jan 12, 2006, 11:12PM »
Hey guys. Just thought id tell everyone about my system upgrade and from a 1st time installers view how I installed it :)

For the past year iv been running a Pioneer DEH-P5650MP Headunit, GM-X574 520Watt 4 way amp, a set of TS-C1653 6in Splits, and a TS-W305C 800Watt 12in Subwoofer. Anyway I was getting a bit bored with my system and also 1 of my friends kept hassling me because there were no speakers in the back. So I had a few hundred dollars spare I thought id upgrade.

Anyway my upgrade consists of the following.

4 gauge wiring (to replace the 8 gauge I had)
Distribution Block
Pioneer GM-D510M 1000Watt Class D monoblock
Pioneer TS-E1695 6in 3 way coaxles
Various connections.
RCA Splitters
And new boot floor, amp rack and parcel tray I made.

Well 1st problem I had with the upgrade was I realized the headunit I have had only 2 Preouts. So my options were buy a new headunit or deal with using splitters and not being able to fade with the deck. I decided to go for the splitters so I could afford to go on a holiday. I thought the splitters would be a big problem making the sound stage uneven but I found out it was not the case ill explain later.

So to start the install I got the boot floor, Parcel Tray and Amp rack cutout from 18mm thick chipboard, the kind used for kitchen cupboards. These were cutout at my dad’s friend’s workshop and I got the materials for free by helping my dad’s friend out with his computer. Cutting out these parts were fairly straight forward, The boot floor was made by tracing around the factory piece of carpet, the parcel tray was made by tracing the original parcel tray, at the same time I popped out the plastic vents the U13 had on its parcel tray, the speaker covers were already off and had been since I had the car. Next was the amp rack I used a piece of cardboard to trace were the rack will fit behind the seat. After all were cut I put my original parcel tray back in and chucked all the new pieces in the boot waiting till I bought the rest of my stuff.

Anyway a few weeks later and a little trip to my local car audio place and I got what I needed, Amp, Rear speakers, wiring, dist block, splitters and various connections. I got home and to my extreme displeasure the amp I had purchased had been damaged, 1 of the mounting points had been broken off, so I took it back and had it exchanged, didn’t take long and the guy was very happy to replace it.

So down to the install. The way my system was previously setup it was running from 8 gauge wire which is fine with 1 amp, and properly fine with 2 amps but I thought id do the upgrade to 4 gauge just to be sure, there’s nothing wrong with a little bigger wire anyway. So I started the way everyone should when upgrading there system by disconnecting my battery and ringing a friend to come over to help me out. The next thing to do was cut a short piece of 4 gauge to run from my battery to my fuse, I measured the approximate length I needed and with extreme difficulty cut it with some nippers, it was then stripped back and 1 end was attached to a gold plated terminal and the other to the fuse. I then setout to put the 4 gauge through the firewall, I followed the existing 8 gauge to were it went through the firewall and found the installer who installed it in my car had ran it through a rubber grommet (I think that’s the correct terminology) that had other wires running through. I thought that wasn’t a bad idea that way I wouldn’t have to drill a hole and get a grommet. So I duct taped some thinner wire to the engine bay side of the 8 gauge wire and began to pull it back through the grommet from the inside, I managed this without too much trouble I then took off the duct tape that taped the wires together and taped the thin wire to the 4 gauge, the thin wire was then pulled from the engine bay side back through the firewall with the 4 gauge till the 4 gauge was back through the firewall and grommet. With that done I stripped back the end of the 4 gauge and attached it to the fuse. The rest of the 4 gauge was then run to the back of the car on the opposite side to the speaker wires in order to make sure there was no electrical noise.

Unfortunately when I went to run my 4 gauge through I found that the installer for some reason ran the RCA’s on the glove box side and the power on the drivers side even though the power wiring came through on the glove box side, NFI why so I just ended up swapping them around seeing I needed to take out the 8 gauge and replace it with 4 gauge anyway. After all that I had the wires going to the rear that were needed. I then screwed my 2 amps and dist block to my new amp rack. I then wired up the dist block to my 4 gauge and then ran 2 pieces of the old 8 gauge (which I had crimped to the necessary connectors) out of it to 1 each amp. I then made some earths from left over 8 gauge and then I wired up my front and back speakers and sub woofer.

Now was time to test out if my handy work had worked, I reconnected the battery and tested and it sounded great, although a little too much music coming from the back speakers so I set the gain a little lower on my amp for the channels for my back speakers and it made the music come more from the front and less from the back a better sound stage. That solved my problem of not being able to fade with my deck.

Anyway after I had it all sounding good I screwed my amp rack onto the back of my seat and finished up work for the day.

The next day I started again by heading to autobahn to get some speaker carpet to cover my new parcel tray. After a nice ride to autobahn in my friends s15 it was time to install the rear speakers and new parcel tray. I removed the back seat, parcel tray, break light and panels were seatbelt retractor is. Then I test fitted the new parcel tray to work out how much would have to be planed off in order to fit the tray between the window and metal. I planed and routed the parcel tray so that it fit in the space then I cut the speaker mounting holes from the template supplied, using the old parcel tray as a guide to were the speakers fit. Then I covered the new parcel tray with the speaker carpet I got from autobahn I used spray adhesive and staples to attach it to the tray. I then screwed in the new speakers and glued in the plastic vents with 2pac epoxy glue and fitted the parcel tray back in the car.

And that was it I was done, day and a halves work and I now have a really decent system, it sounds a lot better than it did before with clearer bass and its slot louder, I'm really happy with the sound. For anyone who has never installed a system before but knows the basics of electrics and isn’t afraid to get into it I would recommend strongly installing your own system its not that hard and it will save you money and you can be sure its not a dodgy job. If I can do it I’m sure most people can do it.

Anyway ill try to take some pics of what it looks like all done, I’m really happy with the parcel tray looks and now I’m thinking of putting the speaker carpet on my amp rack seeing I have left overs and my amp rack looks kind of crapy. I also have to get around to bolting my sub down, I guess ill probably do both when I come back from holiday. I’m just afraid that putting carpet on my amp rack might make the amps get a little too hot.

Ill try take some photos tomorrow.
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Offline rathies

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Re: System upgrade. In Detail
« Reply #1 on: Jan 12, 2006, 11:23PM »
good work mate. I'm interested in seeing pics of this 'amp rack.' I've mounted my amp in the side of my boot and carpeted the panel that covers it. there is air space between the top panel and the one that it is mounted on, it never goes into protection mode so i guess its all good. If you've got a high quality amp (i.e. your pioneer) you will find it will operate at a lower temperature anyway. my old pioneer amp barely ever got hot.
here is a pic of how my amp is mounted: http://cyberfreakydj.fateback.com/antrx/IMGP2637.JPG
You might want to consider doubling up your 8 gauge earthing to compliment your 4 gauge positive wires. otherwise it won't be doing much for you.
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Offline Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

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Re: System upgrade. In Detail
« Reply #2 on: Jan 12, 2006, 11:42PM »
Hey, The link dosnt work. Id like to see how you have done it, My rack isnt a fancy rack or anything its just a piece of chipboard the amps are screwed onto thats screwed onto the back of the seat because I didnt want the amps sitting directly on the metal. I might make it a little more fancy later on.

As for the wireing the 4 gauge only goes to the distrubution block from the dist block I have 2 pieces of 8 gauge 1 going to my monoblock and 1 going to my 4 channel, Thats why I only have 8 gauge earth. The 4 gauge was jsut to get enough current to the dist block so it could be split into 2.

Anyway ill try get some pics tomorrow, Thanks for the intrest in my little project  :)
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Offline Jono

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Re: System upgrade. In Detail
« Reply #3 on: Jan 13, 2006, 12:16AM »
Sounds like a good system.

And yes you are right about the power wiring, 8 gauge would have worked fine, 4ga is better and you don't need to double up on the ground wires.

Good work for taking some initiative and doing it yourself :)
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