Double Din System Upgrade

[soobyLIB]

Hey all,

A few weeks back my "mcintoss" (love the term you guys use haha) decided to jam, what a joy.

I researched going down the standard liberty AUX in route, read too much about average sound, then also looked into a Grom, and was turned off by too many mismatched reports about how well it worked. So anyway, long story sort, i've decided to head down the full upgrade route. I'm not looking to spend massive $$$, i've done heaps of research on both here and legacygt, and have mocked up a system, but i have a few questions for those with audio know how, so here goes:

So i know i need a double din facia from avojdm or japanparts:

http://www.avojdm.com/product_info.php? ... cts_id=123 (just want to confirm it is correct, i have a 2008 spec B with dual zone, but on japanparts they have a model version that is dual zone but instead on being coded D-F it's called SI cruise? https://www.japanparts.com/parts/detail/14777 i obviously have SI and cruise so i'm confused, because they recommned D-F)

Headunit:

http://www.soundmaster.com.au/Kenwood-D ... DDX3035BT/ already have nav etc, plus i used it in autobarn and liked it's interface, curious as to quality if anyone has one themselves? and the ISO harness from autobarn (AP090 or something)

Amplifier:

http://www.soundmaster.com.au/Kenwood-K ... r/KAC9405/

I want to run a 4 channel, 2 for the fronts and the sub bridged on 3 and 4 (i'm forgetting about the rears) now, this is another thing i need help with, the amp puts out 60w x4 at 4ohm, and 180w x2 bridged, now, does that mean i get 60wx2 for the ftonts, and 180w for the sub? As well as that, the headunit has 3 RCA pre outs, front/rear/sub, do i use the sub RCA out and then frun it to the amp for chan 3/4? if that makes sense.

speakers:

http://www.soundmaster.com.au/Polk-Audi ... ne/db6501/ and, are these brackets a straight up perfect mount: http://car-speaker-adapters.com/items.php?id=SAK065 ??

Sub:

http://www.soundmaster.com.au/Polk-Audi ... /MM840SVC/ i know it will be slightly under powered, but if people are running these off the stock amp i cant see an issue...

I'll be deadening the front doors and parcel shelf, probably going with Stinger roadkill at this stage.

As for wiring, i'll just grab a stinger amp kit, they do 8guage kits rated to 800w, but am i better off going 4guage anyway? just to be safe. I'll also grab 2 stinger RCA's. Now, speaker wiring, can i just tap into the existing speaker wiring, or am i better off replacing it all with some decent 16guage, if so, is there a massive benefit vs time/effort to do so?

That's all i can think of right now, but appreciate any help regarding this, i'll be accumilating bits and pieces over the coming months (joys of being a student )

Cheers.

[soobyLIB]

Did I post this in the wrong section/ask the wrong questions? :/

[mihai]

Headunit's are personal preference. I personally haven't used Kenwood's before, always stuck by Alpine or Pioneer in terms of headunits. Although Alpine are expensive when you want good audio + BT + Nav as the Nav is almost always an addon which costs $$$

The part number you gave for the Aerpro wiring harness sounds about right. Some people buy that and then they buy the headunit specific 'ISO' adaptor, which would make it all plug and play, however I've had experiences in the past where some of the wires don't match up to what they should, so I've always cut off the ISO connector and soldered the wires directly. Thus giving me a short fly lead with the headunit connector on one end, and a factory connector on the other end. Simply plugs into headunit and car harness and done.

The amp is OK for what you need I guess. There are others out there, if you don't mind going second hand you can always find a good deal on amps over at http://www.caraudio.com.au in their forums.

In terms of the power output of the amp you suggested, you are correct. It will output 60W on channel 1, 60W on channel 2 and 180W on channel 3+4 bridged. However, you must use 4 ohm speakers for those power figures. Don't even try to use a 2ohm sub bridged across channels 3+4 as the amp is not stable at 2 ohm bridged.

RCA's, you would connect the front RCA outs from headunit to channels 1+2 and Sub RCA outs from headunit to channels 3+4. This will allow you to use the sub level control on the headunit.

Speakers are personal preference. Best way to buy speakers is to take an ipod or cd with you to car audio shops and hear the speaker in person. Just because they may have good specs, doesn't mean that they will sound good to you.

Underpowering sub's isn't that bad, its clipping that causes subs to blow. Just make sure the gains on the amp are set properly and you'll be ok. What do you actually want from the sub? Do you want an easy replacement for the McIntoss one that will sit in the parcel shelf? Or do you want it to play lower than what the McIntoss currently plays? I'd suggest as a compromise to get a 10" and have it in a sealed box in the boot. A 10" won't take up that much boot space and it will play lower than the McIntoss while still being accurate too.

Deadening is a good idea, but what most people don't realise is that you need to add weight to panels that vibrate easily. The parcel shelf is pretty solid to be honest, not much deadening required there, however the trim that sits above it does vibrate very easily. Especially the high mount brake light up against the back window, get a foam strip and put it between the edge of the high mount brake light and the window and it will stop the rattle.

I'd go with 4ga cabling over the 8ga. Look at the following table and determine roughly how long your power run will be from battery to amp. You have 300W RMS on that amp, so I'd be looking along the 25 or 30 Amp row's and determining what gauge cable you need.



Use the existing wiring for speakers, there isn't much benefit of running new cable its more a convenience thing. I had 125W RMS speakers connected to the factory wiring and they ran fine.

Are you going to be doing the install yourself or getting a place to install it all for you? And where are you located?

[soobyLIB]

Hey mate, cheers for all the info!

As for the amp : i'm happy to take in any recommendations for a better quality one, without breaking the bank, say around ~$300. I'm considering shooting off an email to FHRX to discuss a package with them based off their "templates" with a few tweaks obviously, but i feel like i might be wasting their time, considering i'm not purchasing immediately.

And thanks for clearing up the power output question.

Speakers : I'm looking at heading down to tonkins when i get a spare few hours to try have a listen, but their range isn't as big as i'd hoped...

I hadn't actually consider a 10" in a box, i'd just seen plenty of people going with the mm840. I'll look into that, will also make it less work...

I'll be having a go at the install myself, i like trying things like this, and will be taking my time to not do a full hack job, i'm situated in SA.


Only thing left is the Facia kit, i've seen people buy both models, either D-F or SI cruise. I might just bite the bullet and go the H6217AG911 as it's the only dually AVO sell..

EDIT: I assumed this facia kit was plug and play, but everyone is mentioning an i88 harness or something on the legacy forums, does this apply to aussie cars or only the american ones

[mihai]

Fascia kit is plug and play.

Find yourself a set of speakers and sub that you like. Once you find those, then look for an amp that will supply enough power for those speakers/sub. If you can find an Alpine PDX-5 or PDX-V9 at around $300 I'd pick one of those up. Chances are you wont be able to find them new at that price, but second hand maybe. The PDX-5 does 75Wx4 + 300W @ 2 or 4 ohm.

People go for the MM840 as they want to replace their blown 8" McIntoss without having to swap the amp.

Installing yourself is the way to go to save $$$, there is a walkthrough on how to install an amp to the stock headunit in the walkthrough sections. It will pretty much be the same thing, except the remote wire for your amp will go to the remote output from the headunit you buy and obviously RCA's from headunit to amps