turbo pete
13-10-2002, 00:15
Still haven't got round to doing my stereo install what with work and my exhaust manifold gaskets blowing etc….
Anyway. I thought I might do the stereo install in parts now and replace some of the existing stuff along the way. I thought I would outline my plans again in the form of an FAQ and then I can see if any of you can spot any mistakes or suggest better ways of doing it. Depending on cash flow I may get all or part of this install done in my next holiday. Half term is rapidly approaching.
So here goes.
Speakers. Initially I thought I would replace all the speakers in the car with standard replacements. The rear speakers I think I will take Steve Carters advice and go for some straight swap coaxial replacements. At the front I am going to stick in some components. I thought the tweeters would go best on the top of the door cards where they will be at shoulder height and pointing towards the centre of the cabin area. I have yet to purchase these but since they will come with crossovers. I imagine I will have to find somewhere to fit the crossover units. Or are they built into the speakers.
1. What do you reckon to the placement of the tweeters. Do you reckon it might be better to go onto the A frame or o the top of the dash? Has anyone else experimented with this?
2. Do crossovers come as separate units and if they do where have you installed them? Any suggestions. Would the inside of the door be suitable or should I try and get them under the dash?
3. I have been reading about fitting an enclosure behind the speakers. Has anyone else done this? How do you do it. So far I have been told to spray some of that cavity wall filler in and someone else suggested a large drain pipe cross section with an MDF end plate to cap the pipe and then sela it onto the back of the baffle where the speaker fits. I assume the spray method would be easy but wouldn't it trap moisture?
Speaker cable.
I thought I might mount the amp in the boot so I was going to run speaker cables from the boot to both the rears and to the front via the passenger side carpet and sills. (I am running the power lead up the driver side).
4. I got some 12gauge cable from Mappins. Is this good enough or should I have gone thicker?
5. Can I just tack the cable under thew carpets using duck tape?
6. How do you attach the speaker cables to the speakers. Do they come with spades or what?
CD changer. I wanted to keep the boot as free as possible so I thought the cd changer might go under the passenger seat.
7. Has anyone else done this?
8. I assume I can just drill straight through the floor and use self tappers to fit the unit to the floor. The wiring can then be dropped from the centre console along the underside of the carpet and down to the floor under the passenger seat? Dya reckon this would work?
Head unit and DSP.
My idea here was to do a straight swap of the new for old unit. I assume the wiring will all be present and just be a straight swap. The old unit doesn't have any fancy headlight coordinated illumination so it should have the same setup. (live, ign live, ground and antennae power).
9. The dsp unit has a yellow lead labelled "to lighting switch terminal". Is this supposed to go to a live feed from my headlight circuit? Could I just wire it into the ign feed live so it illuminates all the time? I don't have a wire tapped into the lighting circuit on the old system so I would have to locate the relevant circuit if this is the case?
10. The hideaway DSP unit appears to be switched on by the antennae power lead. I was going to switch the antenna in order to control the use of the electric aeriel. Is it still okay to tap into the antennae feed for a live feed whilst still putting it through a fused 3amp switch to control the electric aeriel?
11. I read somewhere that I might encounter problems if too much kit was being turned on by a remote power lead and that I might need a relay or something??? Something to do with too much current being drawn???? If I am remote switching a dsp face and hide away and two amps will I be ok with this circuit diagram setup?
The amps and subs.
My idea was to have a four channel amp running the two coaxials and the two components in the front. As well as another two channel amp running two 12"subs in the boot. I was going to fit the four channel amp in the boot. But I'm stuck with regard where to put it. My aim is to house the two subs and the dedicated 2 channel sub amp in a cabinet which is removable so that I can use the boot if needed. So fitting the four channel amp on the back of the rear seat is out of the equation since I wanted to fit the sub box with two 12" subs facing the rear seat.
12. Where could I fit the four channel amp? Under the parcel shelf (or will that cause heat transfer problems)? On the floor where it might get bashed or damaged? On the RHS of the boot where there is hardly any room for a long flat amp which most of the 4 channels seem to be? Under the spare wheel (which would require me getting a space saver wheel. Any ideas here would be great.
I am going to mount the subs in a sealed box. Thought I might use MDF and screw+glue it together. Seal the joints with bath sealer, cover with carpet and mount it with the use of some studs and wing nuts for quick removal attaching the box to the rear seats. I was also going to have a double compartment an fit the amp on the back of the box as well as partition off the two subs from one another. So in effect I would have a cabinet with two chambers side by side holding the subs and one chamber at the box housing the amp with a removable perspex back for access to the amp. Oh and plenty of air holes at the back for amp cooling.
13. Is it best to pack the box with some wadding or leave it empty. How do you stop the wadding touching the back of the subs? Not sure how to do this?
14. In order to remove the sub box easily to allow me to use the boot space I am going to use some studs and wingnuts to hold the box in place against the back of the rear seats. However, I will still need to disconnect the amp live feed, the amp remote live switch and the RCA signal leads. I have bought a four post fixing plate and some banana plugs. If I wire the live feed and earth into a banana plug each will this be safe? The banana plugs will take 4mm cable. I could then just pull the live and earth out. I was then going to remove the remaining two posts from the fixing plate and replace them with some RCA type sockets for the speakers and drill another hole for the remote switch live and use another banana plug and socket.
15. It just occurred to me that I would have to cap the loose leads to stop them shorting out wouldn't I?
16. I also wanted the option to switch the subs off if I wished. Thought I might stick a switch on the dash for this. What is the best way to do this? Would it be best to switch the remote live lead by running a wire from the sub amp back to the dash and then back to the sub amp? That would mean I had a blue antennae lead going from the head to the DSp (not forgetting the spur off via a switch to the antennae), then daisy chained off to the four channel amp daisy chained off to the two channel amp via a length of wire running from the boot to the dash switch and back to the two channel amp?
Phew. Only a few questions. I appreciate any input. Reckon I am just about ready to do the job now. It has seemed a bit daunting. I hadn't realised how complex stereo fitting was when you start reading about it.
Anyway. I thought I might do the stereo install in parts now and replace some of the existing stuff along the way. I thought I would outline my plans again in the form of an FAQ and then I can see if any of you can spot any mistakes or suggest better ways of doing it. Depending on cash flow I may get all or part of this install done in my next holiday. Half term is rapidly approaching.
So here goes.
Speakers. Initially I thought I would replace all the speakers in the car with standard replacements. The rear speakers I think I will take Steve Carters advice and go for some straight swap coaxial replacements. At the front I am going to stick in some components. I thought the tweeters would go best on the top of the door cards where they will be at shoulder height and pointing towards the centre of the cabin area. I have yet to purchase these but since they will come with crossovers. I imagine I will have to find somewhere to fit the crossover units. Or are they built into the speakers.
1. What do you reckon to the placement of the tweeters. Do you reckon it might be better to go onto the A frame or o the top of the dash? Has anyone else experimented with this?
2. Do crossovers come as separate units and if they do where have you installed them? Any suggestions. Would the inside of the door be suitable or should I try and get them under the dash?
3. I have been reading about fitting an enclosure behind the speakers. Has anyone else done this? How do you do it. So far I have been told to spray some of that cavity wall filler in and someone else suggested a large drain pipe cross section with an MDF end plate to cap the pipe and then sela it onto the back of the baffle where the speaker fits. I assume the spray method would be easy but wouldn't it trap moisture?
Speaker cable.
I thought I might mount the amp in the boot so I was going to run speaker cables from the boot to both the rears and to the front via the passenger side carpet and sills. (I am running the power lead up the driver side).
4. I got some 12gauge cable from Mappins. Is this good enough or should I have gone thicker?
5. Can I just tack the cable under thew carpets using duck tape?
6. How do you attach the speaker cables to the speakers. Do they come with spades or what?
CD changer. I wanted to keep the boot as free as possible so I thought the cd changer might go under the passenger seat.
7. Has anyone else done this?
8. I assume I can just drill straight through the floor and use self tappers to fit the unit to the floor. The wiring can then be dropped from the centre console along the underside of the carpet and down to the floor under the passenger seat? Dya reckon this would work?
Head unit and DSP.
My idea here was to do a straight swap of the new for old unit. I assume the wiring will all be present and just be a straight swap. The old unit doesn't have any fancy headlight coordinated illumination so it should have the same setup. (live, ign live, ground and antennae power).
9. The dsp unit has a yellow lead labelled "to lighting switch terminal". Is this supposed to go to a live feed from my headlight circuit? Could I just wire it into the ign feed live so it illuminates all the time? I don't have a wire tapped into the lighting circuit on the old system so I would have to locate the relevant circuit if this is the case?
10. The hideaway DSP unit appears to be switched on by the antennae power lead. I was going to switch the antenna in order to control the use of the electric aeriel. Is it still okay to tap into the antennae feed for a live feed whilst still putting it through a fused 3amp switch to control the electric aeriel?
11. I read somewhere that I might encounter problems if too much kit was being turned on by a remote power lead and that I might need a relay or something??? Something to do with too much current being drawn???? If I am remote switching a dsp face and hide away and two amps will I be ok with this circuit diagram setup?
The amps and subs.
My idea was to have a four channel amp running the two coaxials and the two components in the front. As well as another two channel amp running two 12"subs in the boot. I was going to fit the four channel amp in the boot. But I'm stuck with regard where to put it. My aim is to house the two subs and the dedicated 2 channel sub amp in a cabinet which is removable so that I can use the boot if needed. So fitting the four channel amp on the back of the rear seat is out of the equation since I wanted to fit the sub box with two 12" subs facing the rear seat.
12. Where could I fit the four channel amp? Under the parcel shelf (or will that cause heat transfer problems)? On the floor where it might get bashed or damaged? On the RHS of the boot where there is hardly any room for a long flat amp which most of the 4 channels seem to be? Under the spare wheel (which would require me getting a space saver wheel. Any ideas here would be great.
I am going to mount the subs in a sealed box. Thought I might use MDF and screw+glue it together. Seal the joints with bath sealer, cover with carpet and mount it with the use of some studs and wing nuts for quick removal attaching the box to the rear seats. I was also going to have a double compartment an fit the amp on the back of the box as well as partition off the two subs from one another. So in effect I would have a cabinet with two chambers side by side holding the subs and one chamber at the box housing the amp with a removable perspex back for access to the amp. Oh and plenty of air holes at the back for amp cooling.
13. Is it best to pack the box with some wadding or leave it empty. How do you stop the wadding touching the back of the subs? Not sure how to do this?
14. In order to remove the sub box easily to allow me to use the boot space I am going to use some studs and wingnuts to hold the box in place against the back of the rear seats. However, I will still need to disconnect the amp live feed, the amp remote live switch and the RCA signal leads. I have bought a four post fixing plate and some banana plugs. If I wire the live feed and earth into a banana plug each will this be safe? The banana plugs will take 4mm cable. I could then just pull the live and earth out. I was then going to remove the remaining two posts from the fixing plate and replace them with some RCA type sockets for the speakers and drill another hole for the remote switch live and use another banana plug and socket.
15. It just occurred to me that I would have to cap the loose leads to stop them shorting out wouldn't I?
16. I also wanted the option to switch the subs off if I wished. Thought I might stick a switch on the dash for this. What is the best way to do this? Would it be best to switch the remote live lead by running a wire from the sub amp back to the dash and then back to the sub amp? That would mean I had a blue antennae lead going from the head to the DSp (not forgetting the spur off via a switch to the antennae), then daisy chained off to the four channel amp daisy chained off to the two channel amp via a length of wire running from the boot to the dash switch and back to the two channel amp?
Phew. Only a few questions. I appreciate any input. Reckon I am just about ready to do the job now. It has seemed a bit daunting. I hadn't realised how complex stereo fitting was when you start reading about it.