I'm going to be slowly putting together my audio system, and figured I'd start a thread to keep track of it.

My goal is to get a decent sounding system that looks fairly stock, and no obvious signs of being anything other than stock. Fancy looking systems are all fine and good till someone smashes out your windows to try and get it, don't feel like having that happen again.

I am not going for a competition sound system, just something that sounds better than the stock system.

Here's the headunit, a late model Pontiac CD Player. You may recognize the speakers from my Speaker install video, I will be replacing them but that will come later. The harness in the middle is the high-level input harness for my amplifier.



So, in keeping with my intentions to stay close to stock in form and function, I bought some connectors at RadioShack I'll be using as well as red/black speaker wiring matching the factory speaker connector. Nevermind the blue splices, I had those in but couldn't bring myself to leave it like that, they're going in the trash.



First off I added a 4-pin connector onto the high-level amp adapter, you can see my home-made wire holder



Here's the connector assembled, as you may notice I have the wrong pins in there, reason being I accidentally used the wrong connector the first time, so I just changed the connector and left those pins. The other connector isolates each pin, which I wanted to make sure I had on the power end, since this is the receiving connector I'm not concerned about it.



Next off I'll be installing 2-pin connectors on the speaker harnesses. From what I've been told it is fine to splice in the Amp input harness and continue to use the speakers. I stripped open a short section of each wire and soldered leads onto them:



Here's the add-on 2-pin connector and the factory connector. Now I can use the stock wiring harness, and have the plug to connect the amplifier too.



When I have the amplifier in the car again, I'll measure out the wire I need, and connect the remaining 4-pin connector for the Amp input and the 2-pin connectors for the speaker wires.



The amp will be going behind the passenger seat, I'll be modifying the rear "batwing" carpet piece to conceal the amp and all wiring. I have one of these amplifiers: http://www.sonicelectronix...._Kicker+KX150.2.html


At the moment I have a factory subwoofer housing, with what I think is a Rodney Dickman speaker, the magnet on it is huge. I'm planning on doing a 8" under dash sub.

Also, I will be working on modifiying a Performance Sound light housing to control the amp, probably by adding a volume control of some sort to the high-level inputs.

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"If any car is both the parade and the rain, it is the Fiero"

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[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 01-20-2008).]

Not sure if that units comes with it or not, but a lot of the Kicker amps come with a remote mount sub knob. If you dont mind a round knob instead of a slider you should be able to connect a Sub control to the amp and install it anywhere in the car for controlling your sub output.

Unfortunately this unit doesn't have the remote option, I was considering it but decided I will be modifying the input to the amp, so I can use the Performance Sound overhead piece.

Okay, here is the amp location in the car, you can see the harness I made hanging off the bottom:


Here I have the harnesses I made to connect the speaker harnesses to the amp harness:


Routing the harness from the Driver side speaker, I re-used the factory clip that was there, and added in my wire in keeping with my factory-esque designs:


Modifications to the clip to make it work.
Original:


Modified to fit:


Same deal as the wire reaches the driver's side, re-use factory clip and routing:


Finally connecting to the speaker:

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 01-26-2008).]

What are you doing with the upper cover for the sheetmetal back there? Are you going to use it to hide the amp or are you going to mount the amp over it?

The upper cover will be modified and reinforced to cover/secure the amp. I have it installed right now temporarily, actually works quite well. I'll have some pics of it up soon.

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 01-26-2008).]

Any comments or suggestions are of course welcome

------------------
www.FieroDomain.com
"If any car is both the parade and the rain, it is the Fiero"

Upload and Share Fiero Photos! http://Gallery.FieroDomain.com

Looks great, where was the stock amp located or is there even a stock amp? I plan on hooking my amp up to the Performance Sound switch, so I will come back for info, when I get ready to do it.

[This message has been edited by craigsfiero2007 (edited 01-27-2008).]

I didn't read everything [I just looked at the pics ] and you probably already know this, but make sure your amp has ventillation to take away the heat .. Looks GOOD !

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: Looks great, where was the stock amp located or is there even a stock amp? I plan on hooking my amp up to the Performance Sound switch, so I will come back for info, when I get ready to do it.

I honestly don't know where the stock amp goes, there is a slot in the plastic panel by the center hump that may hold it. I only bought the stock housing and performance sound overhead piece, decided to use an aftermarket amp. Hooking up the overhead piece will be a bit of a trick, I haven't looked at it in detail yet. I'm planning on making it control the high-level inputs, basically controlling the volume of what is going into the amp.

quote Originally posted by PaulJK: I didn't read everything [I just looked at the pics ] and you probably already know this, but make sure your amp has ventillation to take away the heat .. Looks GOOD !

I will be making sure the amp can ventilate, whats nice is with this sub I have the gain on 0 and still provide plenty of bass, a continuous hour of use produced very little heat.

You can't really see it in the pic, but part of the reason I installed the amp sideways is now the heatsinks are on the left and right, running up and down. This way air will naturally be drawn in the bottom and vent out the top. When the rear panel is finished there will be mesh to allow heat out and cooler air in.

quote Originally posted by Xanth: I will be making sure the amp can ventilate, whats nice is with this sub I have the gain on 0 and still provide plenty of bass, a continuous hour of use produced very little heat. You can't really see it in the pic, but part of the reason I installed the amp sideways is now the heatsinks are on the left and right, running up and down. This way air will naturally be drawn in the bottom and vent out the top. When the rear panel is finished there will be mesh to allow heat out and cooler air in.

Cool I plan on seeing how you hook it up, so I can do the same.

The basic rule is to stuff sealed boxes and line ported boxes. The stock subwoofer enclosure is ported. So you don't want to completely fill it. But it wouldn't hurt to line the inside walls. If you do use stuffing, make sure the air can flow freely between the speaker and the port.

Just curious but isn't that amp going to over power that 5" subwoofer or are you planning on using a bigger subwoofer such as an 8" sub??

Nice setup!

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: The basic rule is to stuff sealed boxes and line ported boxes. The stock subwoofer enclosure is ported. So you don't want to completely fill it. But it wouldn't hurt to line the inside walls. If you do use stuffing, make sure the air can flow freely between the speaker and the port.

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try when I have the box out again What is a good material to use?

quote Originally posted by Eau_Rouge: Just curious but isn't that amp going to over power that 5" subwoofer or are you planning on using a bigger subwoofer such as an 8" sub?? Nice setup!

The amp is a bit much, I have the gain on "0" right now and it is plenty. I was actually planning to do an 8" under-dash sub like a few people here have done. I may not bother to do so now, after hearing how this one sounds, it is surprisingly powerful. One nice side-effect is the amp produces very little heat, since its barely even trying to drive this sub.

Just about anything soft and fluffy should work. Some common things to use for stuffing are pillow stuffing, cotton balls, and fiberglass insulation. (Although, I wouldn't suggest using fiberglass insulation. That stuff is evil!) Some common things to use for lining the walls are foam rubber, shaggy carpet, and blankets.

BTW, I really like your attention to detail. Keep up the good work!

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 01-27-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: Just about anything soft and fluffy should work.

Try the fabrics section at WalMart; they have batting, stuffing, and all kinds of stuff like this cheap

Hey guy's, sorry but I've got what might be a stupid question to ask so I appologize ahead of time.
My question is - does adjusting the gain on an amplifier reduce the watts RMS that is sent to the subwoofer. I've also got a similar set up to Xanth's in my car with the exception of the amplifier as I'm afraid to use my current amp which is rated at 170 watts RMS x 1 channel. If reducing the gain to minimum will reduce the RMS watts then that will save me from getting another amplifier. Can someone confirm whether adjusting the gain does anything to the RMS watts sent to the sub. I've got a sub that's rated at 50 watts RMS and I don't want to over power it and blow it up.

Thanks!

As long as the signal isn't clipped, you can run 500+ rms to any sub, and it won't blow it.

Yes, turning down the gain does reduce power output.

Custom2M4 has a point. The main enemy of speakers is clipping. However, running the speaker way above its rated power will make the voice coil get hot. If it gets hot enough, the heat will damage the voice coil.

Mine will be getting 500+RMS, but then again I have a 12...

In theory, the max output of mine is 203 watts bridged the way I have it. It is more than enough for the small sub I have now, and should have no trouble with an 8inch should I choose to upgrade.

I'm waiting on the part now that I'm going to try and modify so I can control the amp volume using the performance sound overhead, I'll get some pictures of it and what I'm doing once it arrives.

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 01-28-2008).]

Here's the toy that arrived today, PAC LC2 RCA Line converter and level control. This unit converts high-level inputs into low-level RCA outputs:



Knob that controls the volume of the RCA outputs:



High-level Inputs and the low-level RCA outputs:



Next step will be to pull it apart. The unit itself will mount by the amp, where the speaker connections are at the moment. The speaker harnesses will now connect to this unit, and I will make short RCA cables to go to the amp.

The knob will be removed, I will be determining how I can modify my performance sound overhead to control this unit. Easiest thing would be to mount the knob, but I am determined to retain the factory style slider.

One idea I had was replacing the knob with a small gear driven by the slider, would work but not very pretty.

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 01-30-2008).]

You might be able to wire in the slidder in place of the knob, they are both probably variable potentiometers. You just need to see if they are in the same range.

Possibly, I don't want to get my hopes up yet though. My multimeter and overhead unit aren't with me, so I can't check into it yet. Would be great if they were close. I could probably find another slider potentiometer that would meet my needs though. All RadioShack has is rotary pots, guess I'd have to snoop around online to find what I need.

Well, here's the LC2 pulled apart:


And here's what I was worried about:


Hard to see in the picture, but the POT has two sets of three terminals. I was concerned it may be like this. One layer for left channel, one layer for right. I don't know the technical term for this type.

So what I'm thinking ill do, since I'm fairly certain the performance sound is only a single unit as it controls the amp gain, I'll replace the performance sound POT with two slider pots mounted together.

So sliding the performance sound knob will move the two slider pots, controlling this unit. Where the knob is currently mounted on the unit I'll have a connector for the wiring harness.

Edit: I'm seeing something called "Stereo" pots here, maybe that will do what I need?
http://www.labelec.be/products.aspx?sid=181

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 01-31-2008).]

The non-linear stereo slide pot is what you're looking for. If you can find one with the right resistance range, you're set.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 01-31-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: The stereo slide pot is what you're looking for. If you can find one with the right resistance range, you're set.

Excellent, that is what I was hoping

With luck I'll find one that will fit well in the overhead.

quote Originally posted by Eau_Rouge: Hey guy's, sorry but I've got what might be a stupid question to ask so I appologize ahead of time. My question is - does adjusting the gain on an amplifier reduce the watts RMS that is sent to the subwoofer. I've also got a similar set up to Xanth's in my car with the exception of the amplifier as I'm afraid to use my current amp which is rated at 170 watts RMS x 1 channel. If reducing the gain to minimum will reduce the RMS watts then that will save me from getting another amplifier. Can someone confirm whether adjusting the gain does anything to the RMS watts sent to the sub. I've got a sub that's rated at 50 watts RMS and I don't want to over power it and blow it up. Thanks!

Bringing down the gain just drops the strength of the signal contained in the current. It does not change the current. You can ramp down an amplifier pretty easily. What you do is change the ohms of the speakers upward. In other words, if the amp operates at 500w @ 4 ohms, put it into a 16 ohm speaker system and the wattage effectively drops down to possibly as low as 100 watts. (more heat though) Also, the maximum wattage is at maximum volume. Run your volume at 1 or 2 and you are also effectively reducing your wattage. Hope this helps.

Also, check the wattage rating. Is it maximum wattage or RMS wattage? Huge difference.

Arn

First failure: the sub gave out rather suddenly. Everything was good, then like flipping a switch its rattling. Cant afford to replace it, just continue with what i have for now.

Browsing through subs, I'll probably either grab this one:
http://www.partsexpress.com...?&Partnumber=264-826

Or this one, same one FieroSound used in his Fool Everybody thread:
http://www.partsexpress.com...?&Partnumber=264-831

The first one is rated for higher watts and at 8ohms, so may be the better match for my amp, going by what Arns85GT is saying.

The second one though is highly recommended, but is rated for less watts at 4ohms, I may just ruin that one as well.

[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 02-01-2008).]

After months of trying to get an Xtant 1.1i as recommended in the other threads and having no luck, I found an older kenwood KAC 33 amp on ebay that is rated at 30 watts RMS x 1 channel. I ended up buying it for a little over $20 plus shipping. I have the recommended 5 inch subwoofer and hopefully the amp that I bought will be a good match for it. When I get it and set it up I'll post my opinion on it.

...just a suggestion, keep an eye out for low power amps on ebay. It may be a better alternative.

If this continues to be a problem I will give a lower rated amp a try, or go ahead with my ideas on installing an 8inch sub under the dash.

I believe though that first sub should be able to handle my amp.

Well, my Tang Band sub is on the way
http://www.partsexpress.com...?&Partnumber=264-831

Also on the way are the slide resistors I need to modify the overhead console. With any luck by this weekend I'll have the sub in and the overhead volume control working.

Okay, here goes my modification of the Performance Sound overhead unit.

Quick reminder, I'm using the PAC LC2 line converter, which has a volume control on it. It uses a Stereo 50kohm rotary resistor:


Here is the stock unit, you can see the variable resistor in the center, used to control the gain on the stock system:


I removed the bracket and buttons, leaving just the variable resistor:


One of the new variable resistors, a single 50 kohm audio taper slide resistor with 30mm of travel:


Testing the fit of the new resistor in the assembly, this resistor will be the one the slide knob fits onto: