quote Originally posted by multmigs: PXDPKG kit includes 3 GM harnesses, iPod holder. Is there a place online that sells this stuff?? i can't find anything at my local shop or circuit city?

There's NEW and used ones on eBay every once in a while. That's where I got mine.
http://cgi.ebay.com/iPod2ca...eZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/iPod2ca...eZWD4VQQcmdZViewItem

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 12-10-2007).]

So where can I find out if these adapters will work on several different GM radios? Examples 02 Sonoma, 97 Bonneville Bose or a new model cassette/radio GM. I did get a radio from replacement radios that was monsoon/cd changer compatable that I listen to my ipod with using the right adapters. This could be expensive installing into several vehicles.

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85 GT 3.4
14.9 @ 90 1.9 60' Old TH125/3.06
Unknown New 4T60/3.42

quote Originally posted by Lilchief: So where can I find out if these adapters will work on several different GM radios? Examples 02 Sonoma, 97 Bonneville Bose or a new model cassette/radio GM. I did get a radio from replacement radios that was monsoon/cd changer compatable that I listen to my ipod with using the right adapters. This could be expensive installing into several vehicles.

The actual box is the same for all GM vehicles but use different deck to adapter cable while dip switches are used to configure the adapter. The PXDPKG kit includes 3 GM harnesses which should cover all GM models as listed in the Application Chart on P.I.E.'s website.

The thing is, in most cars it isn't an easy "reach around back and plug in the adapter" installation. For the Fiero for example, I pulled the shifter and radio surround and pulled the deck forward a bit to install it, then placed the adapter box under the side panel where the subwoofer amplifier would be. Clearly this would not make it feasible to remove it to use in another car for a weekend.

You mentioned in the picture of the grill covering on the Sub. "The housing is slightly undersize, so loosely stuff it with poly fiberfill (cheap at Walmart) to make it work better" What do you mean by the housing? Is that the speaker housing or the housing hte speaker goes into? Where do you stuff with fiberfill?
I saw the speaker on Part Express and the OD of the speaker is 6.25. Will this be enough room to fit in the stodk speaker housing and clear the rug? I bought a speaker from sonicelectronix.com and it is a 6.25 but the problem is that the magnet part is too wide to fit up in the stock housing. Maybe I can removethe plastic that covers the magnet to gain clearance.
The site of the MA65 B speaker is http://www.sonicelectronix...._MA+Audio+MA65B.html
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Hate to pay to ship the speaker back and pay a 15% restocking fee. I got a pair for $50. They are rated at 75 watts RMS and 150 watts peak.
Thanks,
Dave

quote Originally posted by upstairsdave: What do you mean by the housing? Is that the speaker housing or the housing hte speaker goes into? Where do you stuff with fiberfill? I saw the speaker on Part Express and the OD of the speaker is 6.25. Will this be enough room to fit in the stodk speaker housing and clear the rug? I bought a speaker from sonicelectronix.com and it is a 6.25 but the problem is that the magnet part is too wide to fit up in the stock housing.

I just followed Bigfieroman's information here: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/076432.html

The housing is the black plastic subwoofer "box". Polyfill goes in there before installing the speaker.

The speaker I bought works fine. I'm not sure why you think the rug gets in the way, but the box fits the same as before. I have no idea whether the speaker you want to buy will fit. How could I?

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 12-12-2007).]

The speaker I got won't fit up in the housing. Too wide in he magnet area. I would have to make an adapter which causes the speaker to mount much lower. This is why the speaker hits the rug. I thought someone would have past experience and shed some light if this speaker might work that I bought or what they did to make it fit. I've found the forum to be a great knowledge base for helpful hints on maintaining the breed. That's why I asked the question if somone thought it might fit.

Hopefully someone may be able to answer you.

I also see that it's listed as a Mid-Bass speaker, not a sub-woofer although it's frequency range supposedly goes as low as 35hz (in the correct enclosure). The things are also 6" deep - my 10" subwoofers are less than that. I couldn't find any specs for it on enclosure size. The factory sub-box is something like 0.13 cu ft. This MA Audio mid-bass may require much more - you won't know unless you have a manual or spec sheet with the Thiele-Small parameters..
MA Audo's website http://www.maaudio.com/product.jhtm?id=32&cid=17

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 12-12-2007).]

I've got a question about the Poly fiberfill. I can't find it at Wal-mart and the staff there doesn't seem to know what poly fiberfill is.
Can someone tell me in which section of Wal-mart to find the stuff of even provide a product number.

Also, is regular wall insulation (the pink stuff) good enough or should I hold out for poly fiberfill?

Thanks!

Greetings,
I am in the process of installing a woofer in my 86. Great article on how to install the woofer. The article was written on the installation of the Parts Express Tang Band W5-1138SM 5-1/4" Neodymium Subwoofer.
Can you email me a picture of the speaker in the housing prior to the cover being installed. It seems like a great speaker. Hate to buy one from The fiero store and have problems in a short time.
Thanks,
Dave

The price for the Tang Band W5-1138SM from Parts Express just went up. I purchased two for $18 last month and they are now $33.

How did you install the Tang Bends? Did you have anyother replacement mid woofers in your system prior to the Tang Bends?
Thanks,
Dave

quote Originally posted by upstairsdave: Can you email me a picture of the speaker in the housing prior to the cover being installed.

Sorry, don't have one.

quote Originally posted by upstairsdave: How did you install the Tang Bends? Did you have anyother replacement mid woofers in your system prior to the Tang Bends?

I had Rodneys' replacement sub first. Needed something more for 100 watt amp. Here's a comparison to the larger Tang Band subwoofer


I made a mounting ring from 3/4" MFD. The edges were coated with silicone (to seal) before slipping it in and attaching it through the sides with screws.
The Tang-Band is just screwed to the front surface. Hole locations marked with black marker in picture. Pre-drill all the holes or the MDF will split.

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 12-15-2007).]

Hi,
Thanks for the input. I'll order them today.
Have a Happy Holiday
Dave

Alright, figured out what poly fiber fill is (pillow stuffing - also available at sears). I bought the stuff but now I'm just curious if the subwoofer (when working) creates enought heat to light the stuff on fire. Do I need to make sure the poly fibre fill is safely away from the back of the subwoofer or can I just loosely stuff the housing and forget about it. I have no idea how much heat a sub produces.

...if this seems like a stupid question, I appologize. I'm no stereo guru so I figure I'd better ask - just to be safe.

Still looking for the xtant 1.1i. I bid on one a few weeks ago on ebay but it went above my max - seems like those things are worth their weight in gold!

If anyone knows of an alternative to the xtant 1.1i for this application then please let us know.

Thanks!

quote Originally posted by Eau_Rouge: Alright, figured out what poly fiber fill is (pillow stuffing - also available at sears). I bought the stuff but now I'm just curious if the subwoofer (when working) creates enought heat to light the stuff on fire. Do I need to make sure the poly fibre fill is safely away from the back of the subwoofer or can I just loosely stuff the housing and forget about it. I have no idea how much heat a sub produces. Thanks!

Just loosely stuff the housing and forget about it.

Really nice set up. I prefer a stock look when it comes to audio equipment. Most wont even bother to steal stock stuff!

I have a Subaru 6 disc in dash CD player (2din) with the matching under the seat subwoofer for my next install. A guy on NASIOC makes a plug in adapter to fit this head unit into just about anything.

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2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 340whp
Nurburgring WARRIOR!!!! I survived the "Green Hell".

quote Originally posted by BV MotorSports: Really nice set up. I prefer a stock look when it comes to audio equipment. Most wont even bother to steal stock stuff!

That's what I figured too. But, there's always someone who wants something for nothing, and they'll still bust a window for a stock unit if they need one...

Originally posted by timgray:
... if you are using the Tang Band speaker as mentioned in one of the other posts, stuff it loosely with the poly fill, put a little in the port tube and cut off 3/4 of an inch to tune the box perfectly to the tang band 5.25" subwoofer driver.
I just finished tuning up one of these to match that box. using the port tube with a bit of the poly fill in the tube helps to reduce velocity in the tube and makes it possible for you to tune it tot he enclosure and get 35% more bass from it and make it sound better.
.
.
.
I did this modification and it works "as advertised". I had to readjust the amplifier gain to balance the system again. Thanks Tim...

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 05-02-2008).]

Dang... and to think that I almost threw the port tube away. I love this thread. I have bought all the stuff I need now it just needs to warm up outside. :rubs hands together:

quote Originally posted by fierosound: I did this modification and it works "as advertised". I had to readjust the amplifier gain to balance the system again. Thanks Tim...

Thanks for keeping this thread updated with your adjustments. I'm planning on replicating at least part of your setup later this year.

Fierosound
Thank you very much for this thread

Terrific post. It's so cool having a "stealth" system - potential thieves see a GM head unit and assume you have only crap - the best kind of theft deterrence. I can vouch for the P.I.E. unit - I had my doubts about those until I used one in a VW installation. You pulled a lot of really good components together. I'm glad to know that there's finally a good headrest speaker, one that should work great with any proper crossover/amp installation. I'm not even thinking about doing a headrest speaker mod any time soon, but I'm going to order a set of those for the shelf. Right now, I have original-to-the-car headrest speakers, electronically crossed over at 125 Hz w/ 24dB/octave slope, but even with that protection, they will fry someday, and they don't add much to the staging anyway. Thanks for the info.

How does cutting off 2 inches on the tube compare with the 3/4 inch you recommended earlier? Does it sound better? https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/089321.html

quote Originally posted by timgray: Yes it get's rid of some of the boomyness I found. I also added more poly fill to the box as well. I had a problem with a "boomy sound" when anything with heavy bass was played. Taking off the 2 inches made the bass response flatter across the frequencies. Don't have to take it out, take off the pass side dash speaker and you can release the tube (if you did not glue it on) to trim and replace. That's what I did to tune it further. It seems that the Tang Band speaker will get looser as it get's broken in. this raises the Q and makes it need a shorter port.

I expect to be doing this on the weekend...

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 05-28-2008).]

This tread has cost me money. First, I now have a good sounding system that set me back $400. For the sound output, I am very happy with this investment. What I was not expecting is the hit to the gas millage. With the stereo on, I get about 2 MPG less. I would like to blame this on the stereo, but the truth is I do not drive the same with the stereo off.

quote Originally posted by Brastic: This tread has cost me money. First, I now have a good sounding system that set me back $400. For the sound output, I am very happy with this investment. What I was not expecting is the hit to the gas millage. With the stereo on, I get about 2 MPG less. I would like to blame this on the stereo, but the truth is I do not drive the same with the stereo off.

You can yell at me for having a better sounding system. it's OK

Thank you for the template!! I installed my 5.25" components in the dash today. They worked great!! I had to trim the dash a bit to fit the basket of the speaker but it was well worth it. I've driven without front speakers since I got this car and the wait was well worth it.

It took the entire day to get the templates to fit perfect to the speakers and then to fit in the dash to my standards. I figured it would be a few hour job but it was much longer than that. All in all it would have been about a day each without those templates. They saved me ALOT of time. The 5.25" components are well worth the effort.

Edit, I attached my crossover to the flat surface just inside the front edge of the speaker openings. I just used double stick tape and stuck it to that front wall area. Worked great, here's a pic...

[This message has been edited by Jncomutt (edited 06-12-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Jncomutt: Thank you for the template!! I installed my 5.25" components in the dash today. Worked great, here's a pic...

What speaker sets are those? Do they sound as good as they look?

Kicker KS5.2 Component System.

They sound amazing to me but I'm not a big car stereo guy. Like I said, I'm used to only having the stock speakers in the seats. Once I put these things in the sound really filled out and the front stage is really nice to have. The speakers have a lot more midrange influence than I thought they would. I considered putting in a factory subwoofer setup that I have but I'm more than pleased with the current sound that I now have. The speakers aren't exactly top of the line, but they're more than adequate for the typical everyday usage.

I'm also using the newer Pontiac 7band eq CD player (but not the Monsoon version).

What can the maximum mounting-depth for the 5.25's be? I'm thinking of doing this as well and I don't want to order speakers that are too deep.

The passenger side is not a problem when it comes to depth. I ran into issues with the drivers side. Nothing that a rotozip bit could not fix though. I also had to move the driver side large speaker hole more to the center. Well worth the time now that I have a much better sounding stereo.

Fierosound, Just curious, did you try both lengths of the tube? 3/4 cut off and 2 inch cut off??

Which length sounded better??

The 2" cut is for when the speaker has been broken in. when I made my origional calculations I went off the factory specs. After a couple of months I was unhappy with a resonance I was getting so I pulled the speaker and used a test jig to measure the speakers QTS and found it had increased by .1 from getting "broken in" This recalculation caused me to rethink the speaker and adding a little more poly to get closer to the max volume makeup that poky can do and cutting the port a tad shorter to lower the frequency. I calculated that 1.75 would be ideal, found that 2 inches sounded better.

it is NOT a huge difference. and I used it mostly to get rid of a boomy frequency peak.

quote Originally posted by bnevets27: Fierosound, Just curious, did you try both lengths of the tube? 3/4 cut off and 2 inch cut off?? Which length sounded better??

I started with the 3/4" cut as Tim suggested, and have now cut it off another 1-1/4" to make it a 2" reduction in the port tube length. As Tim said, the difference is not 'night and day', but there's less boominess. I changed the X-over to a lower poit to reduce the mid-bass from the subwoofer. I think it sounds better with 2 inches cut off the port tube.

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 06-27-2008).]

I wanted to say thank you again. I was so happy with my stereo, I "ripped" up my mothers Mera, added sound deadening under the carpet and on the firewall, installed new front and rear speakers and the Tang Band sub. It sounds great and she is happy.

Where is a good place to mount the crossovers for the 5.25 component speakers...been looking at my car and I can't seem to find a good secure place to mount them. Those who have mounted them, what did you do?

i plan on using my monsoon 10 speaker amp as my crossover and some 2 way speakers. just separate the tweet from the speaker on a 2 way speaker and run the tweet lines from the amp to the tweets and the mids channel to the actual speaker. and for the woofer, just run that into the sub itself. im going to hafa be creative on getting the slider bar to work with this.

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1987 Fiero GT built by my brother, merlot566jka, 3500 LX9 from 06 Malibu, WOT-TECH.com 1280 grind stage 3 cam, LS6 valve springs, 1227730 ECM conversion, Darrel Morse solid aluminum cradle mounts, Truleo headers modified to fit the 3500, 36# inectors, 70mm 4.3 throttle body adapted to 3500 intake, ported heads, upper and lower intakes, lightly polished, tcemotorsports.com crank trigger wheel, CenterForce dual friction clutch, Flowtech Afterburner muffler, 2.5" piping, cat deleted, EGR deleted, SinisterPerformance tuning, C6 Corvette exhaust tips. projected to be 35 MPG with a guesstimate of 250 hp to the wheels

quote Originally posted by Eau_Rouge: Where is a good place to mount the crossovers for the 5.25 component speakers...been looking at my car and I can't seem to find a good secure place to mount them. Those who have mounted them, what did you do?

These are "install and forget" crossovers that don't need adjusting (like mine)?

Passenger side - I mounted it on top of the heater box with double-backed foam tape.
Drivers side - just foam taped them to the firewall insulation close to the speaker.

If you had adjustable ones, you'd have to pull the speakers each time you wanted to tweak them. In that case, you may want to mount them in a different location.

I'm looking at the Infinity reference which are 4 ohm and are install and forget. I want to mount the crossovers in a secure place as I plan on taking the car to a race track from time to time and want to make sure that they are securely fastened. Thinking of mouting them to the plastic piece that runs along side of the center console that is covered by the carpet (where the stock amp is located on performance sound equipped cars). What do you guys think? Is this o.k or do they need ventalation?

quote Originally posted by Eau_Rouge: Thinking of mouting them to the plastic piece that runs along side of the center console that is covered by the carpet (where the stock amp is located on performance sound equipped cars). What do you guys think? Is this o.k or do they need ventalation?

The installation instructions should tell you whether they need ventilation or not. They don't generate the heat that the sub amp would, so I think they should be OK there.