phenryiv1 325ic Stereo Install & Interior Thread

[phenryiv1]

So here is my not-so-solid temporary connection:



As luck woudl have it I was selling wheels yesterday and I happened to mention my antenna situation to the buyer and he gave me his antenna cable end to use to splice together. After cutting it open the center lead looks like a single filiment. Is that correct?

Suggestions on how to splice the 2 parts together? Best I could find is this, which tells me nothing...

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=221053

I do have a new cable but for now I want to have this until I do the whole re-wire for the amps and additional signal cables.

Not to spam the forum but I will be posting the question out in the open as well but I will also capture the answer here for posterity.

[DRTSRFR]

These splicing kits make it pretty easy...

http://www.grainger.com/search?searchQuery=Coax+Splice+Kit&cm_mmc=PPC:+MSN+Main+4-_-Electrical%3EWire%20Connectors-_-Splice%20Kits%3ECoax%20Splice%20Kit%3EBroad-_-Coax%20Splice%20Kit&adgrpID=1091425696&kwdID=20238653938&ef_id=VGL2pAAABW3IRQZI:20150626143851:s

[phenryiv1]

^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks.

[phenryiv1]

Some potential progress today (untested, so it may have been a waste) was to splice my antenna cable back together.

I connected the single center lead, re-sheathed it, and taped over it.



Next I pulled the braided layer as tightly as I could and augmented it with aluminum foil:



I taped the crap out of it:



And reconnected it:



Fingers crossed that is works.

[phenryiv1]

I'm curious as to how you fit those Dayton midbass drivers. They look like they will stick out and hit the kick panel, unless you use some sort of spacer.

The surrounds do have quite a bit of protrusion to fit behind the kick panels but i picked those based on a GAS recommendation (the thread is in here somewhere). I should have done e34 premium mids but I got impatient.

So some clarification on the Dayton ND140-4 midbass drivers that are in Clay's car. I shot him a PM and here was his response:

So my previous speakers were already mounted over/through the grills, and my new Daytons are the same. My glove box opens fine currently, just need to find a good grill to protect them still. I surface-mounted mine using my old "step-up" rings from previous speakers.

I wanted to post this for anyone else considering the same route. While fabricating rings is child's play for me (I run a speaker adapter fabrication business) I don't want any more interference in the kickpanel area since the deadpedal on convertibles is tight as it is. Even my size 9 shoes don't have extra real estate. Add in ~1/2" for adapters and ~1/2" for domed grilles and I lose the deadpedal function.

This changes my approach somewhat, in that I will now seek some of the 65 13 8 370 935 midranges from an e34, at least for the front. I will test-fit the Daytons in the rear location to try to salvage some of the money invested but if they don't fit there I'll just call them a loss.

I SHOULD be able to cobble something together with them in the rear with maybe the OEM e30 premium tweeters. I was going to just run coaxials back there but I hate to waste a good pair of speakers. I'll likely mimic the rear setup concept shown here: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=329887

[phenryiv1]

So...small update.

I found a guy parting out some e34s over on Bimmerforums. He had some 608 front speakers (from different cars but similar condition) and several sets of e34 tweeters and rear speakers. he also had a cool leather owners manual case so I snagged that as well. All told, $70 shipped for all 6 drivers.

I will use the Dayton tweeters up front with the local crossovers from Luke, then the e34 or Dayton rears with e34 front tweeters in a quasi-coaxial mount with some universal crossovers.

Any suggestions on budget-friendly off-the-shelf crossovers for the rear setup?

[phenryiv1]

Good news: I got my e34 speakers last night.



Bad news: 1 F and 1 R were damaged. Seller was responsive and we are working on a solution now.

Hopefully I can get this sorted and get them installed soon. Actually, I am just hoping to get my car back after the body shop session that is going on day 18 (after a 10-day estimate).

[exhaust]

Subbed as I'm doing an audio job in my vert at the moment as well.

When you get more into speaker install, could you post a picture of the hardware for the rear speakers? My car came with both rear speakers uninstalled and no hardware in sight. I'd like to see what was used originally.

[phenryiv1]

Subbed as I'm doing an audio job in my vert at the moment as well.

When you get more into speaker install, could you post a picture of the hardware for the rear speakers? My car came with both rear speakers uninstalled and no hardware in sight. I'd like to see what was used originally.

I can do that, and 1 better...

In the next week or so I am getting a 318ic parts car. I can pull the hardware for the rear speakers if you want/need it.

[exhaust]

That would be great!

[phenryiv1]

Subbed as I'm doing an audio job in my vert at the moment as well.

When you get more into speaker install, could you post a picture of the hardware for the rear speakers? My car came with both rear speakers uninstalled and no hardware in sight. I'd like to see what was used originally.

Here is the rear speaker mounting configuration:





Looks like 1 point attaches to the bracket on the inside of the body and the rest of the mounting points are just a part of the interior panel. I may employ some bracing to augment that.

Also, the rest of my e34 midrange speakers arrived:



These all seem to be 547 models. Passenger side front and rear.

I am so confused now about what the "good" e34 drivers are that I can't think straight. Luke noted them to be large magnet SVC but the part number that he posted (935, which superseded the 608s) is a large magnet with DVC. The location that was posted is actually a small magnet SVC, or at least it was in every e34 (with premium) that the seller was parting- and he had 4 of them.

[phenryiv1]

Nothing major here but I finally got tired of the glare on my Pioneer HU. My daily WRX has a double DIM touch screen Pioneer with an anti-glare screen but this single DIN has really bad glare.

Amazon and other sites had glare shields for $10-15 but I went to WalMart and got some phone screen protectors from discontinued model phones for $1. Not that I need that much coverage but $1 got me enough for 8 screen covers.

I did a quick test and it works well. Now I will take some of the remaining material and do a more precise cut and coverage job.



Additionally, I got tired of the ashtray (which I use for storage) having those metal tabs to tamp and hold a cigarette. They got in the way and stuff got lost under them so 30 seconds with a pair of pliers and I removed them, converting my ashtray to a storage tray.

[robrez]

I believe I was able to install the large magnet front e34 speaker in my vert's rear speaker location. It was tight but it fit. I'll doublecheck the part number when I'm home.

[phenryiv1]

I have been sitting on the stereo install for a while, doing a little bit at a time. I have the GAS enclosure for my 'vert but with 2 little kids I just don't know if it is the right way to go. I drive with the top down 98% of the time (I drive my WRX if it is supposed to rain) and even with the GAS setup I lose nearly all of the SPL to the open cabin. With the top up it will be different but I don't put the top up unless I am stuck in an unexpected storm.

This got me thinking, which can be dangerous. I started researching other convertibles- Miatas, S2000s, etc. Several use (from the factory or recommended in aftermarket installs) some variation of a tactile transducer. Some Miatas even came with them. So I looked at the various options from AuraSound, ButtKicker, Clark Synthesis, Dayton, and ADX. After much research, I settled on the Clark models, specifically the TST209 or TST329.

http://www.parts-express.com/clark-synthesis-tst209-tactile-transducer-bass-shaker--300-861

http://www.parts-express.com/clark-synthesis-tst329-gold-tactile-transducer-bass-shaker--300-862

I talked to the engineers from Clark about mounting, powering, and other technical tomfoolery and decided on a single TST329 under my seat (I rarely run the stereo with passengers) for the time being. The 329 is about 180% as powerful as the 209, given the same input.

After a mockup using the finest quality cardboard and running the seat through all possible positions to be certain that there was no interference, I was ready to order.



Powering this is tricky, as they have a narrow band of acceptable power - basically 75W (minimum) to 150W (max). Rated max is actually 135W but ~10% over is not an issue unless I am cranking it. I was all set to buy a small Alpine amp that put 150W mono into a 4 ohm load when I decided to check my storage cabinet in the shop. I found this little beauty from a past install:



Typically they were under-rated so while the specs are 2x25 @ 4 ohms or 1x100 @ 2 ohms (into a 4 ohm load) my guess is that this will push closer to 125-135...pretty much perfect for the TST329. If I don't like it I still have the GAS enclosure and subs and can buy a bigger amp. The return policy on the TST329 is pretty liberal for the first 45 days.

[phenryiv1]

Frustrating night in terms of the stereo install.

So a month or so back I got a set of the Premium E34 speakers - front, rear, tweeters. Unfortunately, one of the fronts had some shipping damage so the seller said he would send me a replacement...but it was all rear speakers.

I decided last night to try to install them anyway but the process was a failure.

Removed the existing Pioneer coaxials. Not bad speakers, in terms of cost : performance ratio. Pioneer TS-A speakers are far from the worst option in the cheap coaxial category.



Wired up the GAS passive crossover network (PCN) and installed it in the kick panel:



Installed the (damaged) E34 woofer:



Fired it up and the speaker was damaged beyond just visual issues. It huffed and chuffed and sounded generally horrible. Having only 1 other in the pair (the rest are all rears) I decided to go with something new rather than searching for a "mate" to the remaining 608 that was undamaged.

I nearly ordered a set of the Pioneer TS-D1320C or TS-D1330C but I decided to stick with Luke's recommendation of the E34 Premium woofers and ordered a new set of the 65138370935 woofers from ECS Tuning. I hate paying ~$85 for a pair of stock midranges (the TS-D sets can be had - complete- for about the same price) but if they sound best, I guess that is the way to go.

http://www.ecstuning.com/ES181850/

Now I wait.