Ok, so I finally have time to do this write up about my sound upgrade. I have to say, car audio was a journey I never expected and never want to experience again. I owned a recording studio, and have built studios for other people, and can say without a question car audio installation is a hell of a lot more annoying and tedious even though it is way less components. Pretty much because you have to adjust and work with your environment instead of being able to control your environment.

It's no secret that I think (know ) the bose system in this car is $#!T, but ill just stick with the facts of what I did and my findings.

Alpine pdx-v9 5ch amp.
What I needed above all was a small form factor amp that delivered considerably more power than its size would normally allow and not get hot...while still providing clean power. This amp allows me to keep everything hidden and provide more than enough power to my system. Here is the thing I love about this amp, on the really hot days when you want to blast your system while you are washing your car for an extended amount of time and your trunk is getting hot, this amp won't clip or shut down. It starts to slowly turn down the volume/power automatically to a manageable level to reduce the heat being generated, and then once it is clear, it turns the volume/power back up. The sound is crisp, especially the power delivered to the sub. On point and very responsive.

Rockford fosgate 360.3
This IS the crown jewel of my setup. This is a parametric 248 band eq that allows me to manipulate the eq curve of each individual speaker vs the eq of the whole set up or front and back. Why? Every speaker will sound different between different cars based on space, material, placement. Plus I can control the eq and delay through my carputer. Whats delay? If you turn your music down low and have a song that has a quick solid base hit, you'll notice the audio coming from the sub is delayed due to where its placed in reference to the other speakers. Also cutoffs and shelves to me are not very good with most crossovers. With this I am able to make brick wall freq cutoffs and shelves to carve out specific freq I want specific speakers to play more. Four eq presets, and quick source change. Plus Bluetooth to my phone or portable MP3 player. I took the optical out of the carputer and fed this directly for a nice crisp digital quality audio.

I went through a couple sets of speakers and subs. A lot of people who do this upgrade tend to go with the infinity kappa. I heard them, they are all right but I just wasn't all that impressed. They were slightly better than the Polk audio IMO.

Round 1 system.
Focal 165 A1 Component: front stage
GREAT speakers, especially the tweeter. They are astoundingly great sounding. I listened to the high end version of focal, and although better sounding (slightly in my opinion) they don't justify the price difference on the higher freq. They sound better on the bottom end, but I cut that end out on my front stage so it didn't matter. Some may say its harsh, that may be if you just throw them in without setting them up. I say it's perfect if you know how to tune your system and balance the frequencies. They made sounds and tones stand out that I never heard in the car before. They sounded brilliant in and out of the car. The only problem with them, due to the specific concave design of the tweeters, they have poor off axis frequency response. If you keep your head in one spot and tune the system based off that position, you'll live in a dream, or if you build the tweeters into the pillars and set them on a proper axis pointing towards you, they'll be great. The woofer has a great smooth tone (the way i tuned my system i cant really go more in depth with this, which ill explain later). I ended up blowing the tweeters because I was pushing them more than they could handle. The place where I bought them was nice enough to replace them for $20 even though it was my fault. I would rate them an 7.5/10. The only reason it's not a 9 is because they can't handle the amount of power I want to push to them and the off axis tone issues.

Polk Audio Coaxial: rear stage
Nothing to write home about. They sound decent and can take loads of power. They seem to be built to be work horses vs being sonically tops. That's not to say they sound bad, because they do sound better than the stocks. 5/10.

So I got

Focal 165 CA1 coax: rear stage
Great improvement over the polks by far. The really great thing is you can direct the tweeter when mounting the speaker, so you can better design your rear stage and not worry too much about placement. 7/10.

Boston Acoustic g310: subwoofer
excellent and very under rated sub in terms of quality. I went with these because i wanted a great sub for a sealed box to conserve space and provide the best base response. They provide a great round solid boom instead of a brrrrrr. The response was on point. The really good thing is it maintains its freq response at loud volumes. My only issue with it was my fault. I wasn't paying attention to my amp ratings when I bought these, so I wanted to push them more than I could. 7/10. I needed an upgrade, so a ran them hard and burnt them out.

Round 2 system: knock out.
Hertz HSK 165 component: front stage
unbelievable components. At first I wasn't impressed, but that was because I still had the Bose feeding them. Once I bypassed the Bose these things shined like nothing I've heard as a whole. Yes, the tweeters TO ME sounds better in the focals, but that is more because the focals sounded "sparkly", exaggerated a little without being harsh or tinny. These were an "accurate" reflection of what things were supposed to sound like. Especially when combined with the woofer. Again, even though I don't have the woofer running as low as they can go, for those that would, these sound AMAZING. The woofers tone is solid and flat. No discernible bump in any point of the lower frequencies. The best way I can describe this set vs the focal is the focal are perfectly engineered to have the freq stand out and hit you without being harsh; with these it sounds like a woman singing to you acapella in a dead silent room...a very smooth and accurate tone and feel...sexy lol. The off axis freq response is excellent in these vs the focals. You can move around, adjust your seat and everything will sound the same. I give these a 9/10. Highly recommended.

CDT hd6-EX coaxial: rear stage
Since i was bumping up the front stage to handle the power of the amp, i decided to do the same for the rear...and i wasn't disappointed. This thing runs like a champ, very good set for rear fills. The balance between the tweeter and woofer is great. Sonically they are very good. I really didn't pay as much attention to them as I did with the front stage and subs, but the time I did give them a close listen I was very pleased. One of the reasons I didn't give it that much attention over all is because of the eq curve I'm giving it. I just needed it to perform well within the eq curve I needed and accept the power I was giving it, and that it does very well. They far outdo the Polk Audio and focal coax. 8/10.

Image Dynamic IDQ V3: subwoofer
I love this sub. It is not meant for rocking the block, especially one. If you have a 3 or 4 sub set up, you could probably do it. If rocking the block with a great sound is your route I would go with a Sundown sub. This sub is excellent for a small form factor box which was my goal to conserve space. Even with a small box, this sub gets pretty loud. Great thing is the voice coil is very responsive and practically instant, with great extension. Meaning it gets loud (relatively) and is still accurate in base reproduction. I really can't find any faults with this sub. I mean it is really pristine. 9.5/10.

I ended up blowing the IDs because I forgot I added a lot of base to my subs eq graph 25-45hz @ +10db and forgot. I shouldnt have been going below 35hz. It took three months of HARD playing for extended periods...a couple trips back and forth to Canada none stop playing and they up and stopped. I melted the spider.

Sundown SA10 D2 or D4 (I don't remember which version I have): subwoofer
I went with the IDQ first because I didn't think a performance sub would play as clean. Boy was I wrong. These subs hit harder than the IDQ, can take more power, and play as pretty much as clean. Best of all, I'm now playing a ported box so I have 3db more, and not noticing any quality difference. My only issue is I have to redo my sound conditioning of the car because these are hitting harder than my previous setups and I'm noticing new faults(mostly around the attachments on the trunk). 9/10.

The setup:
I drilled a hole just above the glove compartment to run a 4 gauge line to the trunk.

I put an 80amp blowable fuse in the engine bay, and then put an 80amp fuse switch in the trunk. From there fed a 4 port distribution block to feed the amp, processor, carputer, and regulator. Then a 4 port distribution block for grounding which is grounded behind the seat. I spliced the audio wires feeding the speakers from the factory amp and fed them to the Rockford 360 which flat lines the signal and then does its magic (ill get back to this), then over to the Alpine. I also fed the optical out of the carputer to the processor. This way I can play my music through the carputer, and if I need switch, over to the cars audio system. My audio system is a true 32bit 48khz digital system now, higher fidelity than the Bose.

The speakers have a specially bought mount for them (anyone planning on doing this and come across a set of mdf mounts being sold on ebay and said to fit, DO NOT BUY THOSE) and foam backing cover to prevent dust and water from dripping on the magnet as well as reflections on the door interior. I wrapped the surface part f the speaker mount with thick vinyl and sealed it with silicone to get the best sound. When mounting it on the door, I put dynomat on the door surface behind it and weather seal on the mount. The sound is soooooo tight .


I left the factory speaker wiring because although a lot of people recommend changing them to thicker gauge (car audio enthusiasts) I knew the freq I was planning on sending to them (at least the front stage), the distance and power, I really didn't need a thicker gauge.

Next I dynomatted the back seat area, portions of the outer door (mostly by the handle) and inner door frame (not that necessary), trunk lid, inside the trunk area, and the inside rear quarter panel, on the plastics, and behind the speaker mounts.



Point to note, a lot of people are under the impression that these deadening materials are meant for sound proofing, THEY ARE NOT. They are also really not meant to coat the entire surface unless you have an older car or major rattling problems. I used way more than i needed because i just happened to have a lot, so just fyi, dont buy with the thought of coating an entire area in this particular car. Just meant to stop vibration, and a byproduct to the thicker ones they can HELP in sound proofing in a limited way. So for "sound proofing" I coated the door, back seat, back floor, and passenger floor, with mass load vinyl.





I then used some closed cell foam to put between the rear deck and the metal below it, and anywhere where plastic was touching metal or other plastic.





Then I built my sub box. Simple box with bracing on all four sides from the bottom and double baffling for the sub mount. Inside I coated it with closed cell foam to prevent bouncing waves to give a solid dead base with no reflections.



The first two boxes I built were perfect, but after analyzing the cost and time to build the box, I decided I might as well pay someone $80-$100 more and call it a day. And that's what I did for the ported box for the Sundown. I had it built to the perfect size and shape to maximize space in the trunk. It fits snug against the back wall and right under the rear deck. It's actually a good thing I paid someone, because I would have built it with a port instead of a slot and probably ended up with port noise. From what I understand, it's a big folly of first time port builders.



It really looks much bigger than it is in the trunk.

Back to splicing the wires and feeding the amp. When first entering the car audio situation with this car, I was under the impression that it was only the speakers in this car that sounded poor. So I figured that having the factory amp feed the aftermarket amp to then feed the new speakers would make things sound better (even though logic and experience would dictate one amp feeding another will never be a good thing, but whatever) since everyone here seemed to be doing that. Once I swapped the speakers it sounded better. But, it sounded brittle, border line slight distortion (even though the focals shined through like a champ). Unacceptable. I didn't spend all this money to end up with this. I ended up bypassing the Bose all together and listening to music through the carputer through optical cables and using the feed from the Bose for the phone and navigation. Eureka, I have a sound system that is amazing and still have the functionality of the cars audio stuff.

I fed the 360.3 remote to inside the arm rest.


Then I tuned the car. I got test tones, pink noise, a tuning mic, pre amp, frequency analyzer software, and an oscilloscope and went to work. I won't get deep into this, but suffice it to say the car sounds like a dream. And watching movies is crazy! Since the 360 has four presets, I have one set to the clean flat tune, outside car bumping, by myself, and with passengers. Great overall setup.

This is before I tightened everything up.

Well,I think that's it.

amazing job man. truly amazing. this car was not designed to be easy to upgrade in this manner which is what makes this all the more stunning to me. I was quoted somewhere upwards of 10k to replace the audio system like this at a pro shop near me and ~700 + tax for JUST adding a sub, so I had a skilled friend do the labor and paid him.

Wow 700 to add a sub?

I have 10" sub (alpine type R) and an alpine amp that sounds great and lots of power. Just what I wanted. I went to Best buy and bought a $99 amp kit and then paid best buy another $99 to install the stuff to the car. I waited and saw this very skilled young man install this in my car for 6 hours! ($99 for 6 hours of work). It was extremely clean. I gave him a 60 dollar tip. Could not be happier.

TDot....thats alot of work. Must be nice to have the skill to do this stuff yourself or else all of that work would be very expenisve....good stuff. What did you do with the speakers on the seats (if you have them)?

Thanks.

No speakers in the seats. If I had those I'd cut the feed to them anyway...or make them dedicated to the nav and phone. To me those mess up the sound stage of music. Great if you're watching a DVD where the audio was engineered to take advantage of true surround sound, but not two track stereo music.

Does anyone know what these are for? I took them out my doors when I was doing my install, and I'm about to throw them out. Just want to know if they serve a specific purpose and I could use it for something else, or may need to put them back for any reason

FYI...my suggestion..., if you use a large fuse 60+ amps, DO NOT use AGU type fuses. They will be faulty over time based on your use. The fuse will not blow, but melt in the end caps over time causing a short.

I have an 80amp fuse and my amp recently stopped working. I checked the fuses, they looked great, shook them around, no rattling. I swore the amp simply went. Something told me to take the amp home and test it on my work bench and everything lit up. So it occurred it must simply not be getting the proper voltage. Took it back to the car and checked the voltage passing through my distribution block on the amp leg and it was only passing 9-10V. Tapped the fuse, shook it, wiggled it, now it's working again. Still not passing through the 14V the other legs are, but enough for now until I switch.

This doesn't necessarily mean the fuse won't blow with a surge, but if everything is good and it just works hard over time it could become faulty. After this happened I did some research and found out this is not a unique situation. My recommendation from my research is an ANL type fuse.

How much would it take for you to redo my system? lol

Lol, I told my girl she couldn't afford my price. Telling me I'm wasting my time and it's all unnecessary, then when it's done and she hears it she wants me to do hers. Ha!

I'm serious. Unless someone can do a writeup of how to remove the panels. No way in hell I'm tearing my door panels off without knowing how they come off first.

Oh, ok. I'll do a quick write up for you later. I could have sworn you changed your speakers before. The doors are actually very easy. Two screws under a removable panel right under the door bar handle, and then clips right around the side and bottom half of the door. Start from the outer lower side of the door and just pull towards you. When you have the right, bottom, and left side of the door all loose you lift up to unhook the door panel. I'll upload a couple pics later.

Following the previous post, these images map out what you need to do. Everything I'm saying is from memory. The points circled in blue are the screws you need to take out FIRST. The points circled in green are the plugs where you need to simply pull the door panels out. The point circled in red on the front door I'm not 100% sure if a plug was there. After screws and plugs are loose, simply lift door up and out, lift from outer part of the door towards the hinge. Don't yank the panel away from the door yet, because now you need to unplug all the wire harnesses back there. I think there are about five. Don't worry too much about remembering where they all go because they are all different sizes. Then those two metal tentacles need to be removed. Those control the lock and handle. You twist it to the left and out if I remember correctly. You'll clearly see how to remove it once you are looking directly at it. And that's all.

Thanks. Maybe I'll tackle this myself now. I did the system in my Maxima, I just didn't like the idea of not knowing what was holding the panel as I tried to take it off and possibly breaking something which is why I wanted a howto lol. Thanks.

Hey TDot, my passenger side small door speaker(tweeter?) is blown and I wanted to just unplug it for now until I decide if I will just replace OEM or redo all the door speakers. Any recommendations or just door speakers? 08 m35 by the way


Also don't you have to remove the bolt inside the cover in the door handle to get the door panel off ??

I really don't have any recommendations besides what I used in my trials. A lot of people used infinitY speakers to match the two ohm oem amp. I wasn't impressed when I heard them but they are better than stock and people here swear by them. If you decide to stick with stock I'll look if I still have mine and send them, you just pay for shipping.

pharaohEG08 wrote:Also don't you have to remove the bolt inside the cover in the door handle to get the door panel off ??

I believe you're right, I just can't remember removing that bolt. Here is someone else's pic.

Hey man thanks! PM me if you ever find the oem one and still willing to send me. I'd rather pay shipping than buy one.

Yeah thats the bolt I was talking about. I'm pretty sure you have to take that off in order to get the panel off. I didn't mess with it though, I just reached back and unplugged the speaker.

TDot that looks amazing! Dude I wish you were in jersey so I could pick your brain on my car. My wife thinks I'm crazy, I don't wanna fully replace the system just either okay movies off my iPhone 6 via cable or Bluetooth. I can't do anything other than rica wires and there isn't one for the 6. I tried using the rca wires for 4 then 6 adapter but didn't work. You got any ideas?

Thanks, I replied on your thread.

How did you bypass the bose amp. When i disconnect the amp the radio volume stop working.

The radio is not going to work if you bypass the amp. I essentially have two amps running with an A/B switch. The A/B switch is the fosgate processor, "A" is my computer with my aftermarket amp, and "B" is the factory headunit and amp. The factory amp continuously feeds the center speaker regardless of the position of the "A/B" so I always have nav/phone. And then the volume from the steering wheel controls both systems with a multi point relay dependant on the "A/B" position.

The question is, what is your end goal? Did what I state help you?

I'm trying to get as clear as possible with what it have. I've read in one of your earlier post that (you ended up bypassing the Bose all together and listening to music through the carputer through optical cables and using the feed from the Bose for the phone and navigation) then you said it was clearer. Now I planned on using a PAC LP7-4 and a PAC LP2 feeding from the Bose amp. So I believe my question is where did you the signal to feed your amp? I looked at the fsm p.277 are these are the wire you use the get the best sound? Also, did you have to rewire anything to have the phone and navigation to still work?

I looked at the fsm p.277 LH 64-63 and RH 66-65 are these are the wire you use the get the best sound? Also, did you have to rewire anything to have the phone and navigation to still work?

Disclaimer, i didn't do any of this, but the schematics show that this will work, and I'd do this if I didn't have the computer.

63-66 are the best to use for your MUSIC. Those are the inputs FROM the headunit TO the amp/processor. The problem if you do that is you will effectively disconnect your phone/nav. Not because you cut those wires, but because what you are going to have to do after that is take the output wires FROM the amp and attach it to your new amp. Your phone/nav audio come out 58/59 and 71/72 along with your music which are the lines to your front speakers which you have to tie to your aftermarket amp output.

Heres what I think you can do if you want to go that route.
1/ Take 63-66 and attach them to your amp input.
2/ Take 58/59, 71/72, 54/49, 68/55, 45/46 and attach them to your amp output.
(THIS IS KEY, do not cut the wire too close to the amp with 58/59 and 71/72 because you need a piece of the actual output wire for the next step.)
3/ 58/59 and 71/72 is the front left/right speaker and also the phone/nav output. So once you cut those wires and attach speaker side to the amp, you now need to take the remaining wire that is sticking out the factory amp and tie that to 69/70 which is the center speaker. What you are doing here is redirecting the left or right output to the center speaker so you still have phone/nav. You don't have to worry about the music coming out there because the music is no longer going into the amp remember.

You now have all audio from your music/phone/nav. Your music coming out your aftermarket amp and your car voice stuff coming out your factory amp. Now your issue is going to be you MAY not be able to control the volume for the music. I don't know if thats processor controlled or headunit controlled. What definitely wont happen is the music turn down or off when the car speaks or phone comes on.

What you can do to control the volume for the music (if you've lost control) is get an amp with a remote volume knob, OR attach an aftermarket volume control on the line inputs to the amp. Then run the controller to the front somewhere.

What you can do to mute the music when the car speaks is get an audio detector which is sort of like a relay that will mute one source when it detects audio from another source.

You'll need some type of processor before the amp to split the signal and balance out.

Just test 63/64 and see what comes out it before you get deep into this. Make sure when you cut it, you cut it in a way that you can splice it back.

Hopefully this answers all your questions.

Now for total simplicity and the way most do it is to take the outputs from 58/59, 71/72, 54/49, 68/55, 45/46 and feed the PAC. Unless you do it the way I explained in the previous post, you can't bypass the bose and have nav/phone without using a secondary source for your music like I am currently doing.

Well I finally got around to hook everything up. I don't sound bad but should sound a lot ( clearer )better. I'm going to change out the speakers, not sure what brand I'm going to go with. Seems like they're getting too much power. Just wondering, Is their anything I can use the make it sound more clearer and still keep my nav/bluetooth/volume control?

Great write up. I'm planning on re-doing all my speakers this summer. Ive had 2 sets of Polk Audio speakers and an amp sitting in my garage for over a year. I did a sub 2 days after I bought my car. lol.

Finally got around to hook everything up and notice that I lose bass when I turn it up. As far as the high and mids it don't sound bad( at 1/3 volume) but it could be a lot better. I'm lying, it sounds like S**T compared to my last system. I bought a LC7i cause they said it has ACCU BASS and would correct my bass issues. NOT!!! Now I'm deciding to get a Rockford 3Sixty.3. As far as your setup, do you have any lose of bass of any sort from your 360? I know if i bypass the bose amp I would lose volume control but the 360 can control that. I know you mention rerouting the left/right front speaker from the bose to the center speaker, would i be able to control the volume from the steering wheel? I know its a lot of questions(LOL) need so more input before I dish out $550 on this 360. I notice you said you can control both your carputer and your HU from your steering or did I read that wrong. At the end of the day, I want the best sound I can get out of my car possible and I'm willing to buy the 360 to get it.

Sorry, just seeing this.

If you are "loosing" bass as you turn things up one of/or all three things are happening to you. A/ your amp is too weak for what you are trying accomplish, B/ your sub can't handle the power your amp is feeding it, C/ you're experiencing harmonic distortion on your sub, amp, or both. Upgrade them and you'll be fine. Also...I don't know if this is the case with Infiniti...some car manufacturers have been known to adjust the bass in there amp/processor based on how loud you turn it up in order to protect the system. So no, I don't have a loss in my bass. And just in case you are doing this, if you are actually eqing your bass so you get more, you are going to experience issues even worse because you are making the amp work even harder and distorting things more.

With that said, there is psychoacoustic things happening here as well that you should have an understanding about where certain frequencies are perceived to be lower/higher based on the spl. Your ear will tend to flatline frequencies the closer you are to the source the louder you go. Also, bass is not simply bass. Don't believe all you hear. 1/ you may simply say the bass isn't hitting hard enough, but the specific frequency of that bass and your build play hand in hand. The way one songs bass hits which was engineered at 40hz will not be the same way another song's bass hits which was engineered at 60hz, which plays hand in hand with your sub set up. 2/ The longer the bass tone, the louder it will sound. So heavy instant bass hits at high volumes may seem like nothing compared to longer tones. That's just fyi though, you can google that info (don't read forums for that, read papers), your main issue is the setup.

Anything still connected to the factory amp should still be able to be controlled from the knob and the steering wheel.

As far as me controlling my carputer and HU, I have a very different set up than you are going for and you will not be able to accomplish that with what I've used (a resistance output to USB HID converter), and I wouldn't be able to tell you how to accomplish it any other way with the direction you're going in your build.

Just to be clear, you don't NEED the 360 for a better sound, you just need to get all of Infiniti's grubby little fingerprints off of anything to do with the sound. So a good amp and eq/processor, and speakers. I needed it for my setup in all that I was doing. I dont want you to buy that thinking it's a magic cure all, there is still much more to do, and if you don't have experience in tuning...not eqing...or ready to get into it, it's probably not the way you need to go. It can make the process easy and seemless, but again, it wont fix the SPECIFIC problem you're having.

....D/ you dont have your gains set correctly on your amp between your channels.

I am currently obtaining parts to complete an audio upgrade, as well. I bought an LC6I, which takes speaker level inputs, so I was going to just go from the output side of the car's OEM amplifier for my front and rear sources to the LC6i. This shouldn't interfere with the OEM volume or phone functionality because I am not cutting any inputs from the factory system to the factory amp. My only concern is that the car's OEM amplifier will have screwed up the input signal from the stereo so badly that I will have horrible sound. Is that why you are saying to cut the wires that go from the output of the OEM head unit to the input of the OEM amplifier?

Hello,

I checked the FSM wiring for the audio system and see that the head unit only outputs 2 channels for most audio processing. The exception is DVD audio playback in which case up to 5.1 is sent to the amp on different wires.

While I haven’t tested this it looks like the HU sends just left and right channels and all processing is done by the amp. A proprietary/serial data line between the HU and Amp appears to control the audio interrupt for Nav/Phone as well as things like front/rear fade. I can only assume this also means the amp controls volume and left/right balance via that communication line.

This would explain why feeding a processor or amp the left/right input signals stop volume controls, ect.

Can anyone confirm volume control does not change the line level inputs coming out of the head unit?

Does anyone have any information on what data is being sent over the data communication lines between head unit and amp? I could only hope it was something basic line serial/unencrypted data which could be intercepted or replaced.

Based on the complexity and integration with the Bose amp, it seems to be a better option to replace the head unit entirely with something that can do nav/sat, phone/Bluetooth, and audio independently.