Post by lawdog on Jun 14, 2009 19:40:31 GMT -6
So those of you who followed my previous thread know I finally finished installing subs in the back deck. All I can say is wow does it hit hard. I never expected to get much SPL out of a free-air setup but I am very impressed. Here is what I did.
Front speakers- aurorah.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Audio&action=display&thread=16873
For my rear deck setup I went with an Alpine MRP-500 and 2 Kicker Comp 10, rated for free-air use. The subs are rated for 300w combined at 2 ohms and the amp puts out 500w RMS at 2 ohm. Plenty of headroom and the speakers are the weak point. Just need to keep the gain turned down and it is fine.
I started by accessing the rear deck. Remove the rear seat bottom, Pull up on the front and it slides out. The rear seat back needs to be unbolted from the seat belts then it lifts up and out. Next pull the rear sail panels off. They are held in place by clips. Finally lift off the rear deck carpet and pull it out.
Inside the trunk remove the rear speakers, 2 7mm nuts each side. Very easy. You will notice the rear deck is flimsy and fiberglass, needs much reinforcing. So I first made a template out of cardboard for the rear deck. Then I made it out of 3/4 MDF that sits on top of the deck to go under the carpet. Mounted the subs on the wood then put the wood on the deck. I had to cut out openings for each sub in the fiberglass deck using a dremel. Next I climbed back in the trunk and screwed the wood to the rear deck and the surrounding metal. This took a while and I probably used 20 or so screws. The wood sits under the carpet and the carpet remains in the stock location. Hides it perfectly.
To be successful in a free-air / infinite baffle setup you want to isolate the front and rear of the speakers as much as possible. To do this I used plastic and caulked in a sheet of plastic between the wood and rear deck and between the rear seat back and trunk. I left the ski hole open but caulked the sheet down everywhere else.
Next run the wiring. For the amp I ran 8ga with a 60 amp fuse as recommended by Alpine. I cut the speaker leads off and ran the wires to the amp since it has speaker level inputs. Darker colored wires are positive. For the turn on lead I spliced into the power antenna. All the wires I tucked into looms and ran them neatly for a factory look. The amp is mounted to the underside of the package tray tucked up inside the trunk.
For the CHMSL, center third brake light, I upgraded to LED since the wood prevents me from changing the bulb. To do that I removed the CHMSL from the carpet then used a demel to removed the light buckets. Then I bought an red LED from Harbor Freight ( www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98408 ) and caulked it to the red lense. Looks good and will never need replacing.
After its all said and done I have about 8 hours in the install. It wasn’t hard just time consuming. Trial fitting the wood and trimming it took the longest.
A couple common questions. SQ, sound quality is awesome. Sounds great. It hits hard when I turn it up… rattle the mirror, vibrate the trunk, etc. Annoying but I keep it down since I have gotten older. I am more into SQ then SPL.
Having no rear fill I don’t miss it. The stock 6x9’s are crappy and rear fill is overrated. With good quality front speakers you don’t noticed there is none in the back. In my opinion it is the way to go.
Things I would do different. If I were to do it over again I would add another piece of 3/4 MDF under the trunk too. With only 1 piece on top I can get the whole back tray rattling pretty easy. Gets annoying. Although the car has good insulation and is quiet everything still rattles when you turn it up.
I have about $400 in my system and I am very happy. It looks stock, sounds great, and thumps if I want it to. I also didn’t lose any trunk space!
As soon as I get time I will get some pics up. I didn’t take any pics during the install.
Front speakers- aurorah.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Audio&action=display&thread=16873
For my rear deck setup I went with an Alpine MRP-500 and 2 Kicker Comp 10, rated for free-air use. The subs are rated for 300w combined at 2 ohms and the amp puts out 500w RMS at 2 ohm. Plenty of headroom and the speakers are the weak point. Just need to keep the gain turned down and it is fine.
I started by accessing the rear deck. Remove the rear seat bottom, Pull up on the front and it slides out. The rear seat back needs to be unbolted from the seat belts then it lifts up and out. Next pull the rear sail panels off. They are held in place by clips. Finally lift off the rear deck carpet and pull it out.
Inside the trunk remove the rear speakers, 2 7mm nuts each side. Very easy. You will notice the rear deck is flimsy and fiberglass, needs much reinforcing. So I first made a template out of cardboard for the rear deck. Then I made it out of 3/4 MDF that sits on top of the deck to go under the carpet. Mounted the subs on the wood then put the wood on the deck. I had to cut out openings for each sub in the fiberglass deck using a dremel. Next I climbed back in the trunk and screwed the wood to the rear deck and the surrounding metal. This took a while and I probably used 20 or so screws. The wood sits under the carpet and the carpet remains in the stock location. Hides it perfectly.
To be successful in a free-air / infinite baffle setup you want to isolate the front and rear of the speakers as much as possible. To do this I used plastic and caulked in a sheet of plastic between the wood and rear deck and between the rear seat back and trunk. I left the ski hole open but caulked the sheet down everywhere else.
Next run the wiring. For the amp I ran 8ga with a 60 amp fuse as recommended by Alpine. I cut the speaker leads off and ran the wires to the amp since it has speaker level inputs. Darker colored wires are positive. For the turn on lead I spliced into the power antenna. All the wires I tucked into looms and ran them neatly for a factory look. The amp is mounted to the underside of the package tray tucked up inside the trunk.
For the CHMSL, center third brake light, I upgraded to LED since the wood prevents me from changing the bulb. To do that I removed the CHMSL from the carpet then used a demel to removed the light buckets. Then I bought an red LED from Harbor Freight ( www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98408 ) and caulked it to the red lense. Looks good and will never need replacing.
After its all said and done I have about 8 hours in the install. It wasn’t hard just time consuming. Trial fitting the wood and trimming it took the longest.
A couple common questions. SQ, sound quality is awesome. Sounds great. It hits hard when I turn it up… rattle the mirror, vibrate the trunk, etc. Annoying but I keep it down since I have gotten older. I am more into SQ then SPL.
Having no rear fill I don’t miss it. The stock 6x9’s are crappy and rear fill is overrated. With good quality front speakers you don’t noticed there is none in the back. In my opinion it is the way to go.
Things I would do different. If I were to do it over again I would add another piece of 3/4 MDF under the trunk too. With only 1 piece on top I can get the whole back tray rattling pretty easy. Gets annoying. Although the car has good insulation and is quiet everything still rattles when you turn it up.
I have about $400 in my system and I am very happy. It looks stock, sounds great, and thumps if I want it to. I also didn’t lose any trunk space!
As soon as I get time I will get some pics up. I didn’t take any pics during the install.
