Aftermarket Stereo Install - DONE !

[SVTCannuck]

Okay - here's the update on my aftermarket stereo install - it's done! Here's what I did.

I went with the Alpine 9805 in dash CD. This deck allowed me to hook up my dension DMP3 (hard disk) player, which I placed under the passenger seat. The Alpine deck also has 3 RCA pre-amp outs.

I went with THREE Pioneer GM-x372 2chan amp (50watts@4ohmRMS). These amps offer good performance, at a great price (75 bucks each at etronics.com), and most importantly, the smallest package available - critical for my install.

The first amp I put in the back above the subwoofer. I took out the old factory amp and replaced it with the Pioneer. I also changed the subwoofer with a Rockford Fosgate. I ran a 15 foot lowpriceds monster RCA cable from the deck along the side of the car under the carpet. I used a solid 10gauge copper cable for power.

The second amp amp (which powers the rear two speakers) I put under the driver seat. Speaker and power wires I ran undet the middle console from the dash.

The third amp I put in behind the glove box. It fits so nicely in there you don't even notice it when you oben the glove box. Why did I go with two separate amps for the main speakers? Because I couldn't fit a 4channel amp under the drivers seat. There is a silly little bar which hangs under the drvie seat and it would prevent a 4 channel amp for fitting well. The pioneer GMX372 also is the only amp I could find which would fit in behind the glove box.

For the speakers, I replaced all for factory speakers with Kenwoods Excelon 688s. They are 6x8 and the fit well into the factory spot. For the rear speakers, I carefully stuffed some fiberglass pink insulation into the body panels to dampen the reverb and noise. I also put down some dynamats. They soud great!!!

I front speakers were a little bit more difficult. The factory speakers used a plastic "box" to protect the speakers from the "weather and elements" inside the door. The excelons fit okay but they had to extend about 1/2 an inch more than than the factory speakers. I used silcone sealant to seal them up. I also had to drill a coupld 3/8" holes in the lower side of the factory boxes so that the new 6x8 could equalize. I stuffed some fiberglass pink in to the boxes too to help dampen reverb an noise.

When I powered them up, I was really impressed with the sound. They sounded better than I had hoped for.

The Dension DMP3 is great. The Alpine deck has an Aux RCA input so I can hook up the Dension. The DMP3 has a 120gb hard disk and I have over 1200 CDs on the player. All CD are accessible under a Genre/Artist/Album/Song directory, so it is really easy to play any music, anytime.

If anybody wants to see some pcitures let me know...

Ragards
JWB





:tmb:

[imajsdaddy]

well thats kind of a silly questions! Of course post some pictures!

[swimmernate]

Yeah dude, post pics and a price list. Your system sounds awesome!

[SVTCannuck]

Pictures coming up - I have taken them but need to mak'em smaller to fit on this site. I typed a whole long summary and then the website rejected the pics and lost the blurb. ****. hang on!

[SVTCannuck]

This is bull**** - 550x600 and less than 50kb!

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the Alpine CDA-9805 with the Dension DMP3 satellite console. The Alpine is inexpensive (200 bucks) but sounds awesome and allows you to have an aux RCA input (for my DMP3). The DMP3 is a hard disk Mp3 player - I have installed a 120gb hard drive and it has over 1200 Cds on it! It uses a Genre / Artist / Album /Track directory structure so it is really fast and easy to find songs.

If you don't plan on installing a hard disk Mp3, I would go with the Alpine 9807 which can play MP3 Cds instead ($280).

I bought the Alpine from Crutchfields because they provide all adaptors and conectors needed (included in $200 price) - including the dash adaptor shown here.

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the amp for the rear two speakers, mounted under the dirver's seat (looking at it with the seat forward). It is a Pioneer GM-X372 two channel amp which is a low cost, good quality amp. It puts out 50w RMS per channel at 4ohms. There are two more of these amps (one for front speakers (no pictures shown), and one for subwoofer).

These were the smallest amps I could find which would fit for the factory location of the subwoofer amp. Also, this amp was small enough to fit in behind the glove box for the front speakers. In both cases (front and sub), there is now way you can tell that the amps are there, even if you open the glove box!!! Also, it may look like there is more room under the driver's seat for a much larger amp, but it's not really the case because a metal bar protrudes down from the seat preventing an amp taller than 2 inches from fitting.

These cost $75 each at www.etronics.com

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the Dension DMP3 looking at it from the back seat (with seat folded forward). You can't really see it from the back seat, which means no one in the back seat can kick it. I mounted it inside a hardboard box which is suspended from the underside of the seat. The DMP3 is also mounted on foam so that and road bumps won't affect the player. The DMP3 requires: a power lead, RCA lead and satellite display lead which all go up the middle console (where stick shift is).

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the DMP3, looking at it from the frontside of the passenger seat. You can see the box it is mounted in. Since it is suspended off the floor, under the seat, you can move the seat back and forth and it is not at all affected. The picture shows the main DMP3 display. There is a second "satellite" display which mounts on main dash.

The DMP3 uses a "switched 12V" lead to automatically power down when you turn of the car or the main Alpine deck. I added two extra mini cooling fans on top of the DMP3 using the 12V switched. These fans will therefore turn on and off with the car or Alpline deck.

The DMP3 will easily remove (in 5 seconds) from this box / car host frame. You can then mount it in you PC to update the MP3 files.

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the rear Rockford Fosgate Punch 3408 8 inch subwoofer. It fits well into the factory sub box, though I did have to cut back the plastic of the box to fit the new sub. The factory sub uses a bolt which screws into the rear of the sub magnet. The plastic where this bolt attaches to the box, is the plastic I had to cut back. I made sure to seal up the box, where the cut was (used a Dremel), so that the box reamined sealed - important for good acoustics.

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the sub assembly (pardon the pun). Notice that the Pioneer GM-x372 fits nicely in the factory amp mount. Any amp larger than this Pioneer, won't fit. I did have to make a couple little cuts with the Dremel so that I could get all the cables to attach.

I bridged the Pioneer to give 120 w RMS mono at 4 ohms. This set-up gives good bass, but it won't rattle your trunk (so if you want LOUD bass, you will need an external set-up).

I like this set-up because there is "no junk in the trunk". There are no bass boxes sitting around in the trunk, taking up room. Furthermore, and would-be-thief can't see the unit. (He can't see the DMP3 either - in fact the passenger can't see it either!).

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the 10-3 (orange sheathed) power cable coming in from the engine compartment, under the dash on the driver's side. I carefully drilled a hole, after removing the front left wheel, and plastic wheel well splash guard.

From this location, I ran two of the leads up into the dash through to both the glove box, and down the middle to the amp under the driver's seat. The third cable I ran down the side of the car to the sub amp in the back.

[SVTCannuck]

This is a picture of the 10-3 cable attached to the car battery. It is hard to see, but each cable has a 25 amp fuse near the battery (lots of room in the battery box). The 10-3 (orange sheathe) then runs up the side of the engine compartment, down into the wheel well (under the splash guard!!!).

I prefer the 10-3 cable (buy 50 ft at home depot for 20 bucks), because it allows you to use one cable and one fuse per amp. Using a single 60 amp fuse with 4 gauge, in my IEEE opinion, is a stupid idea because one amp could presumably pull 60 amps before the fuse blows. Also, the 10-3 removes the need for splices or power boxes. Not to mention the 4 guage wire sold by the Crutchfields is a total rip-off!!!

Once the 10-3 enters the passenger cabin, you can remove the orange sheathe and run each cable independently.

[SVTCannuck]

I wasn't going to show it, but I ran outside and took a final picture. This picture shows the front speaker amp mounted in behind the glove box. The glove box pops forward and allows you to get in behind.

I had to make a small cut / notch in the plastic so that I could slide the amp in. This notch is not even noticeable once the glove box is popped back into place. Again, this Pioneer is the only 50 watt RMS amp that I could find which would fit in this spot (and the sub).

Hope you like these postings - comments welcome!

[swimmernate]

Wow dude, wow. That's all I can say about your awesome work you put into your car. I especially like how you didn't really change the look of your car, not by much at least. Congradulations.

[SVTCannuck]

Thanks. System is running great.

cheers
jwb

[SOBESVT]

Question: Do your stereo secondary controls in the steering column work with this new setting or you just wont use them anymore?

[SVTCannuck]

Unfortunately, the steering column controls don't work with the aftermarket stereo. Hoever, I am not at all bothered by that - I found that I never used it once with the factory stereo.

Cheers
jwb

[SVTCannuck]

Here's an update with my Dension DMP3 install in my Focus SVT 2002.

IT SMOKES!!!

I installed my DMP3 player last fall. Please read the attached thread - it's got pictures and details of all components.

I drove over 1000 miles last weekend and I never ran out of music. That's because my DMP3 has over 1200 CDs @256 kbps on IT !!! (using a standard 160gb PC hard disk. Unlike the iPod which is limited to an unchangeable 40 gb drive. ya - iPods suck in comparison !)

It can also do playlists if you like. Furthermore, it's really easy to navigate to using a genre/aritist/album/song file structure.

Please check out the install pictures and let me know what you think!

Jay

[JZRGARZA]

Alpine rules!!
Ill be sure to post the pictures of my install as soon as I get the time to get started on it. Those da*n slavedrivers @ work need to give me some time off! :upst:
---------------------------

[JZRGARZA]

done!
alpine cda9813
mtx thunder81000d
mtx thunder4244
m/p 1 farad cap
rockford power 6x8's

[JZRGARZA]

right now im pushin a mtx 8000 series 12" that i had sitting in my garage. its only temporary until i figure out what type of woofers to buy. sounds clean right now with this setup. much better than i expected.any suggestions? i can get a custom box fabricated but i want to gain the least amount of weight as possible.

[SVT ZX3]

Sleeper (stereo) at a glance you would only notice the deck. Hell a real good look around an you would still only see the deck. Nicely done. :allhail:

[Anthochoritis]

I noticed you have the same dash kit issue I have, which is the middle of the bottom part sags down below the head unit. I think it had to do with the head units weight pulling down on the kit. Does anyone have any ideas for fixing this. Maybe a way to stabalize the head unit from the back?