My Stereo Install! LOTS of pics. 56k death.

[KenC]

I did a ton of stereo rewiring over the weekend.
Enjoy!

Before


Install Chaos
Removing all of the seats made it much easier to work in there.



After
(It's not as pretty as I'd like it to be, but I have a fully functionaly trunk)
Trunk: Amps and Crossovers
The Alpine is bridged to power my RF Fanatic X 5.25" mids in the front and the Blaupunkt tweeters through the RF x-overs. The RF Punch 75.2 runs the MB Quart 6.5"s in the rear deck.
I'm running a 4-gauge PG power and ground cables coming out of both distribution blocks.




Tweeters:
My friend Brian was able to chisel out the stock premium (and I use that term very loosely.. there is NOTHING 'premium' about them - they were litterally pieces of plastic). Then he epoxied a pair of Blaupunkt tweeters behind them - you can see the blue dot on the grill if you look closely. They're pretty damn nice - 100 watts RMS power handling.


Fronts:
I've got the Fanatic X 5.25" mids behind the covers.
Although the plastic kickpanel covers don't match the color perfectly (I'm in the market for some that do, by the way), I think that they look much better than the shitty carpet ones that I had before.
Compare:
before

after



Rears:
I had to get creative to fit my 6.5" MB Quart Mids back there. So I used some old 5.25" speaker grilles and did some cutting and made a shim to fit under them.
Keep in mind that I still need to locate some grilles for them (I bought them used from a friend). They're running on the high-pass xover from the RF amp right now, but soon I'm hoping to locate some matching tweeters and x-overs for them. I was really surprised how loud they get from that RF amp which is rated at 37.5x2 rms into 4 ohms. But any one who knows RFs older amps well, knows that they're underrated (the birth-certificate that came with the amp said that under testing at the factory it put out 382 watts peak into 2 ohms).





PM or post any questions and I'll be happy to answer them!



Just for kicks, here is a picture of my original spare tire. I've driven on it once for about 1.5 miles to a shop to repair the flat that I had. The wheel has NO curbrash or anything. The original Continental tire still has the little rubber 'whiskers' on it. The tread pattern is way old-school.

[LikeCDoos]

looks good, any plans for a sub? i've got 1 10" in mine and it makes a huge difference. looks like your carpets need a good rub down too.

[KenC]

I'm considering a sub. I wouldn't go any bigger than a single 10", probably an a/d/s/. I have another amp at my house that my friend is going to fix for me.

I actually steam cleaned the carpets before I put the seats back in. The before ones are NASTY. The after ones look a little better, and more importantly they smell much better. I'm trying to find a good deal on some tan rubber mats.

[LikeCDoos]

ya i need to build a new box for mine, it takes up too much room in my trunk as is. but ya 10" is perfect, thats what i got...a single one not double.

[Rob]

ken, where did you run the speaker and rca wires? I'm doing this pretty soon...

[KenC]

ken, where did you run the speaker and rca wires? I'm doing this pretty soon...

I ran the RCAs down the driver's side and the power cable and left speaker cables down the left side. Make sure you run them on opposite sides so you don't get alternator whine.
You'll have to pry off the black door trim panel, which is a total bitch to get off.
Then just peel the carpet away from the body and run the wires down there.
RCAs:
Run them out of the deck and under the knee bolster. keep them away from the pedals. Then take the kick panels off and run the wires down there and through the channel next to the body behind the carpet.

I drilled a hole through the sheet metal behind the back seat at the bottom and used a rubber gromet, but there is a factory gromet up top if you want to use it. The left side (where I ran one speaker wire and the 4-guage power cable has a little access hole at the bottomw.

If you check out Ryan Stewart's website there is some good info on there.

http://www.archercc.net/acc.htm

[BMW BMXER]

I ran my RCA's down the center console. It was my dads Idea and worked out great.

After awhile the plain Jane install will bother you. Good work tho.

[KenC]

I ran my RCA's down the center console. It was my dads Idea and worked out great.

After awhile the plain Jane install will bother you. Good work tho.

Good idea. I guess I never figured I could pull the center console out. It might be a better idea because pulling those door sills off is a bitch.

Rob,
Is your battery in the trunk? (Mine is under the hood). You'll save yourself a LOT of work (and $$$) if you can run a short power cable to the amps in the rear.

[Rob]

trunk battery equipped y0

[MattE30]

Is that Alpine V-Power actually pumping out enough juice to suit your system?

[BMW BMXER]

Mines in the trunck as well.

[KenC]

Is that Alpine V-Power actually pumping out enough juice to suit your system?

I have it bridged to power a set of 5.25" components. It's 80x2 rms into 4 ohms bridged... so yeah, it's enough.

[bimmerphile]

Nice dude! That is a clean install. Are you thinking of adding a sub onto that at all, or are you going to see what kind of bass you can pull off those woofers?


BTW, my car came with Pirellis :-)

[KenC]

Nice dude! That is a clean install. Are you thinking of adding a sub onto that at all, or are you going to see what kind of bass you can pull off those woofers?


BTW, my car came with Pirellis :-)

Thanks. The wire management was the best I could do at the time. I have a wire stapler that works really well. Next time I go home I'll do some work on it and make it look better. I *might* add a sub later. I'm looking into an a/d/s 10" in a small sealed enclosure... but that wouldn't be until Summer. With all of the power that the mids are getting, especially those 6.5" MBs, I'm getting a ton of midbass. I was really surprised what they could put out with some power.

[EtaSport]

I ran wires for sub amp down the center console.. Wasnt my original intention, but i would do it on every e30 i work on. I have trunk mounted battery which was really nice. I was dreading the install, but it went very well, probably one of the smoothest ive ever done, and ive worked on quite a few different cars.

Props for the Rockford equpt, the Alpine equipt, and the MB Quarts. Get yourself a 4 channel alpine to power all of your speakers, and use that Fosgate for your sub. You are right about the power rating. Every rockford amp is different. A friend of mine had a 500a2 which put out about 750ish watts when it left rockford. He ran two HE2 subs off of it and it sounded great. Another guy I know is using a 250a2 to push two alpine type s 12s.. It sounds phenonmenal.. I cant believe how much power those things can dish out.