Killer $500 stereo install and writeup

[firemanory]

So I got a hair up my butt to get a functioning stereo in my ride after reading the “Ultimate $500 stereo thread” and hearing about the countless masses who have proclaimed this the best thing since sliced bread. I had a window of time open in my world and decided to take the plunge. I bought everything in the writeup except the head unit, I got the next Pioneer Model up, the DEH-64BT. It has a Bluetooth option to connect to your phone to stream music and to make phone calls with the optional mic. Here is a picture of the setup when it all arrived within a day of each other.


Now time for the trunk tar removal. I went with the low tech, low cost, longer time method of using the painter halogen lights facing down to heat up the trunk tar and then peel away.


There are two layers of trunk tar. The top most layer heats up quick and peels away real easy. Its the 2nd layer that can be a bitch, but no real match for the double light madness. My tools of choice ended up being a hammer, chisel, and putty knife. Let the light set for 10 minutes while I did some yard work and then came in and took out as much as I could while it was still hot. Kept doing the process until it all came out. Took about an hour and a half when it was all said and done. Mine ended up weighing 48.2 lbs with a small bit taken out for my rear sway bar reinforcement plates and bolts.




Back to the Lukebox. Here is a pic of the super stout shipping box it came in. Love the custom wrap job.

[firemanory]

Nicely wrapped....


Love the creative use of irrigation piping!


With Sub in it. I ended up using some old speaker wire from the 90's. Super heavy duty all copper stuff.


Next came running the wires. Ran from the head unit back, figuring I could hide wires easier in the trunk. Ran 3 RCA cables and sub-remote controller, even though I only used two. Luke said for future use, so I did as the godfather told me to. Ran the wires in all the stock wire holder locations. Managed to not break a single one, although some were really tight to get them to fit. For some reason I didn't run a sub-remote turn on wire because I thought the sub remote controller performed that function. I am a newbie at this so I learned the hard way on a lot of this. Luckily I had not put all the trim pieces back as I told myself I wouldn't do that until the car was done. I then performed the rear wire connections to extend the front wires and to connect the rears to the sub. It all wrapped up nicely with the RCA's to the rear and into the trunk.

[mother_russia]

This is an alright deal... Not the "killer" deal though..

[firemanory]

While I am in here.....

Decided to do the dash swap that has been sitting in my attic for almost 2 years...


Wires scare me. Lots of counseling with Jedi Master Luke. He squared me away and told me to be one with the wires.



I have a non-premium stereo with fader switch, so connections were a little different than the sticky thread. Speaker connections at the head unit ended up being as simple as the Yellow Black with Yellow Red and Blue Black and Blue Red. Magical.

[firemanory]

The sub-controller looks to be close in size to the fader switch.....





maybe if I cut it up it might fit inside.



It started with a hacksaw, but then remembered thats why I have a dremel....

[firemanory]

I installed the box last. I was uncertain if the box would fit because of my UUC sway bar kit. The bolts in the rear stick up into the trunk almost an inch, and knowing how tight the fit of the box is, I was uncertain if it would fit. Here are the pics of the culprits. See how much the box hits the metal underneath the rear speakers....







After trying for a solid 30 minutes to get it to fit with 2 people, there was just too much room to try and make up with brute force. So we tried taking out the carpet underneath the box to see how close we can get to getting it in. Using wax paper on the top, we managed to push it in without carpet underneath. Since that worked, I decided that we could make up the shortage in height by pounding the metal underneath the speakers to give us 1/4" of room. Know one would notice anyways, so a pounding I went and back went the carpet and it fit perfectly. This was the only hack part of the install, but no one but another installer would ever notice, and only if they pulled the box out. Couple of screws in the box and we were done with that.

[firemanory]

Showing wires coming in from the cabin...



Battery side.



Still need to button wires up in trunk and get rest of the trim pieces back on the interior. Will post up as soon as it is done and finish up the post shortly. In the meantime, huge thanks to Luke for his tireless assistance. I need to buy more stuff from him to make up for taking so much of his time.

[firemanory]

Here is a picture of head unit with custom sub-controller switch mounted inside of the old fader switch. Not perfect, but fit pretty well.



Closeup..

[AndrewBird]

You need to read this:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=209700&highlight=Level+Control

[StereoInstaller1]

Bumping a thread I never even saw!

Looked pretty nice from what we saw, got more pics? How do you like it?

Luke

[firemanory]

I absolutely love it. Honestly, is probably the best thing I have done to my e30. I enjoy the full sound it puts out, and love the fact that I can be driving 80+ mph with the windows down and still hear the music clearly. I also liked how the sub controller fit almost perfectly inside the old fader switch housing, a must for any other future installs with the same controller for any other customers.

Plus, I appreciated your personal service and time over a phone call to help me sort some small details out. Made a hell of a difference!!

5 stars for product, end result, and customer service.

P.S. what other pics would you like to see?

[StereoInstaller1]

Fully finished with the wiring all pretty!

Thanks for the kind words too....I posted them on our FB page. Hope it is OK.

I use that sort of thing to promote us, but the truth is it makes me feel like we are doing a good thing here.

This whole "promoting outside the E30 world" is tough, so it might seem like I am just whoring us out, but words like that really do help.

Thanks!
Luke

[Aahj]

Have a quick question. Love the install by the way. I currently have a Pioneer DEH 6300 with 4 RCA channel outputs and want to wire it to a 5 channel amp to power all 4 speakers and sub. Can I get a couple Y splitter RCA cables to do this effectively? Or should I just get a new head unit with 6 RCA outputs?

Thanks!
AJ

[StereoInstaller1]

Have a quick question. Love the install by the way. I currently have a Pioneer DEH 6300 with 4 RCA channel outputs and want to wire it to a 5 channel amp to power all 4 speakers and sub. Can I get a couple Y splitter RCA cables to do this effectively? Or should I just get a new head unit with 6 RCA outputs?

Thanks!
AJ

Depending on the amp, you likely will not need to.

Your pioneer has a trick that allows you to change the sub out to rear.

Feed a 5 channel amp set to "4 channel" mode those 4 channels and it makes its own sub channel.

Most have a level controller too, allowing for dashboard control, as shown above.

So, no worries if your amp has these features.

Luke

[Aahj]

Depending on the amp, you likely will not need to.

Your pioneer has a trick that allows you to change the sub out to rear.

Feed a 5 channel amp set to "4 channel" mode those 4 channels and it makes its own sub channel.

Most have a level controller too, allowing for dashboard control, as shown above.

So, no worries if your amp has these features.

Luke

Sweet, thanks! Gonna get that 5 channel PPI that you recommended!

AJ