help solicitation
 

hey y'all

i just went to the custom sound shop in the madison area today... they're quoting me 600+ to get my system installed....

so... i guess i would like to go the Do it Yourself route and try to install this thing by myself.

problem: i've never worked on the sound system of a car before... and don't know if i have the right tools, enough wiring... blah blah to get it done....

so, i'm soliciting help from the members from this network with stereo know hows.... to come by and help me install... although i don't know much about sound installation, i do know how a screw driver work and is a fast learner....

what i have to intall: speakers, amp, sub, lcd screen, dvd player...
indiglo guages, side markers...

please help!!

oh, and if anyone can find the guide to speakers installation, please post? i'm searching threads but i can't find it...

thanks

Hmm... Check the links page and the how-to locker. It's all there. ;)

I know the trick to taking out the 6x9's. The how-to is kind of confusing so i can explain how to do it. After lots of man hours of sitting in the most uncomfortable positions in my back seat and bugging Mike a lot (thanks mike!:D )I figured it out.

Before I begin, DO NOT TRY PRYING OFF THE GRILLES. It is held down on the bottom by like 10 screws and the entire thing will break if you try!

You have to fold down the rear seat, and then it allows you to get access to the screws holding on the side interior panels of the car.

Unscrew the screws and take out the plastic piece that is on the screw as well.

There are two tabs under the front of the rear seats, you need to push them down and pull the seat cushion up and it will come out, revealing the bottom floor pans. (You need to fold the top of the seat back up)

The side interior panel is held on by another screw attached to the bottom floor pan. Unscrew that screw and you can pop off the entire side panel of the car, but make sure you unplug the power window switch before you walk away with the panel.

Once both side panels are off you can pull off the rear dash board. Fold the rear seats down again. and right above the trunkspace opening you will see theres another board layer on top. Pull the board layer back, you will need to tug a bit, that is normal, and the entire thing will slide off revealing the speakers.

There are 4 screws holding each speaker, and for the speakers closest to the glass you will need a ratchet screw driver because there is very little clearance.

So far I've only done my back speakers (yesterday as a matter of fact), and I still havent installed an amp yet.


Does the stock headunit have preouts for an amplifier?

Anyways, good luck with your project! :)

If you'v never installed a system before, the SVX is not a good learner. It's definatlly wise to seek help, or maybe just pay the stereo shop, altho I'v heard bad storys about some of them too.
If you do it yourself just give yourself alot of time you don't want to end up with a bunch of broken interior panels and wires running thru the door jams. Just have patiance.

Took me 7 hours for the rear deck, with no wiring replacement.

But then again, this was my first time learning how to do it as I went along. I didnt have the service manual and took many frequent "frustration breaks" I followed the how-to and bugged mike a lot. Hehehe.

The only thing I ended up with was a scratched interior panel and a few more creases in my leather seats.

If you want to come down, I can help you out tomorrow (Sunday) Perhaps have a mini - meet but it's too damn cold.

I can do all the speakers in about 1.5 hour and stereo and LCD in another hour or an hour and half. My place is a mess and we need a garage so if anyone wants to learn and offer a garage, that would be better.

OH and I don't do amps.

Lwin

Re: help solicitation
 

So I get to charge you a small fee right? :D

What do you have against amp?

Amps might require rewiring i think, which means a lot more difficult work than just changing the speakers and head unit

lwin...
you know what, i might just drive down to arlington heights tomorrow and bug you =) even tho, if there's someone in between madison and chicago who's willing to let us use the garage for a day, that'll be cool no?

so are there people out there who would donate a garage and help me out??

seriously lwin, if you'll help i might just go down tmr... if we can get the screen and the speakers done, it'll be cheaper for me to get the shop to just install the amp separately...

actually...

are you going to have some free time the weekend of the 22nd? i'm planning to go down to chicago to catch the auto show.... maybe we can work on my car then??

let me know!! (then i'll call best buys to set up a time to get the amp in after i get everything else done at your place...)

oow hoo!! finally a foreseeable day to completing the sound system

TO AMP OR NOT ?
 

My SVX had a bad SONY (I guess there are good ones?) DIN receiver when I bought it 1 1/2 years ago. It had a "cubby" space below the receiver to fill the original space for the stock Suby stereo/CD player.

I decided to upgrade the sound >> Purchased a Pioneer DOUBLE DIN (double size stereo) which has Radio/CD/Tape/connection for CD changer and a Pioneer 12 CD changer (positioned just behind back seats (not bolted - works fine). If you don't have your head unit yet, I"M VERY PLEASED WITH THIS SET-UP!

After a short while, I decided I couldn't stand the poor quality speakers, so I went back to my local independent audio shop to see what he would recommend. I was hesitant, because he deals with alot of younger "kids" who like (what I call harsh) highs like MB Quart (sp?). BUT, I had bought a subwoofer from him when I was doing (over and over to get it OK) my Ferrari system. You may find one as good, but not better! > JL AUDIO.

Well, he recommended JL Audio for full range speakers, so I took a look at their new (extended frequency) line. I bought their cheaper ($100) tweeters (the dash is pre-wired >> just pop up the covers >> I "JB Weld"-ed the tweeters to the "covers"). I do not like these tweeters, but put some in!!!

I bought their 6X9 high watt speakers for the rear (VR690-CX)THEY ARE EXCELLENT, PERIOD!. . . . . (with or without an amp!!!)

I mounted their VR650-CX 6 1/2 inch speakers in the door. I'm not happy with the volume of sound from them (that's why I added the tweeters!). However, I think the problem is that I didn't put a spacer behind them (3/4 to 7/8 inch) which they need after removing stock mounting bracket/speaker. They would probably perform well with an amp.

If you can find a good place for one, an amp always sounds better, especially if you like louder music. [There are times I wish I had one, but in my old age I don't like it as loud as often.]

The rear speakers aren't all that hard with the guidance you're being given. It's much harder to use an amp, because you have to have RCA cables connecting the head unit to the amp (and then run new wires [if you do this, use larger 14 or 16 or larger gauge wires] to the speakers).

My radio mounting shelf was broken out (I assume by thieves), so I had to rebuild a custum one with scrap plastic and JB Weld. What a job. Hope you don't have that type of problem!

Whether you use an amp or not, it will sound good to great because there is so much good to great stereo equipment available now (esp. compared to this stock junk).

Good Luck!! :)

back to the drawing board
 

ok back to the drawing board...
after being pushed for like an hour on buying an equalizer, i began to rethink my proposed set up to see if there's anything wrong... and i come up with some questions after trying to understand the installation manuals of the tings i bought

so, i only want to have one 'head unit' which would be the boss dvd 6000... problem: this thing has one set of rca output and a coxial cord that can be connected to the amp?

from there, the video out would go to the lcd monitor, and i'm sure i can get enough advice from lwin on how to set that up...

back to the audio, so i'm wondering if i can just use the rca from the dvd player to plug into my 5 ch. amp (leaving three ch. of rca input empty?) and still somehow power the four main speakers in the car? [is this making any sense at all?]
the amp has crossovers on it, which means i would be able to put it in the levels i want and just leave it there? adjusting the volume from the remote control on the dvd player? the sub level will be controlled by the wired bazooka remote?


the proposed sub is a self-amplified bazooka tube, which should hook up to the back speakers according to the installation manual?

i realize this post has lots of ?s, but that's because i've never set up an car stereo system before... does any of this sound plausible??

please help

Re: back to the drawing board
 

can't help much with the car video, but if possible, run an RCA cable from an output on your head unit ("sub out", if yours has it) to the Bazooka sub. using preamp outputs will sound MUCH better than sending a speaker level signal to it.

hmm... does anyone have a picture of what the back of a aftermarket head unit looks like? cuz the dvd player i have basically has outputs like a regular vcr... one simple set of rca.... and one other thing called coaxial out (supposedly to connect to the amps...?) so would it be possible to split the rca out into two sets so i can run one set to the amp and the other set to the sub? i realize that these may be really elementry questions... but i really appreciate any and all help in checking if this set up would work before i get started....

thanks