My vert stereo install (inc pics)

[Glyph]

Well it's finally done. I started by gutting most of the car, removing that weird plastic-y oem sound deadening and installing my own. Instead of going broke on dynamat, I found something similar in the roofing dept. at Home Depot that was a fraction of the cost. I also cut pieces of wood to cover all the large holes in the doors to try and turn them into sealed, resonant free. enclosures for my mids. I've got an Alpine CD/MP3 player for a head unit which sends three pair of rca outs to the trunk and into 2 active three-way crossovers. The highs 65hz and up are then routed to a Soundstream MC300 amp which because it's bridged sends 150watts at 4 ohms to each of my front speakers which are CDT EF61 CF's. They're installed in some custom leather covered (I actually cut up an old jacket to use lol) baffles with hand-made, brushed-metal rod grill covers. The "rear" rca's go to 2 channels of a 4-ch MTX amp and from there to some 5.25" Pioneer coaxials in the stock rear location. I have them bandpassed from 100hz to about 1000hz (I think). By attenuating their volume as well as their high frequencies I tried to get them to add a hair of volume and fullness without drawing my soundstage rearward at all. The other two channels of the mtx are used for my imaging tweeters. Because of how their crossover is set they only put out ultra high frequencies and again I've got their volume cut way back. The reason is that they're not really intended to be heard so much as they're just suppose to lift your front stage up a bit and it works. Even tho' my speakers are at ankle level, it sounds like the band is playing on my dash or on the hood of my car: beautiful. The lows run through my 2nd crossover where all the freq's from 65hz up are removed and from there they go to another oldschool amp, a Directed 400. Since my subs are wired in parrallel, it sees a 2ohm load, so it sends 800watts to both my 10" Audiobahn subs in custom built fiberglass enclosures. My electrical connections, active crossovers and passive crossovers are all contained in a rack that fits along where the top drops in. The two sub boxes sit in the rear enclosures and the three amps sit under a false floor with a plexiglass window and a couple of cold cathode lights to add a little bling.

So there you have it. All in all it took me about two weeks from start to finish. I hope you like it and if any of you have any questions or if there's anything I might be able to help you with, I'd love the opportunity to pay you back just a little for all the help you've given me.

Here you can see my fused distro block as well as my two unfused ones, my two Audiobahn active crossovers, and my two CDT passive crossovers for my components. The two holes in the floor are fans (one in and one out) to help keep the amps a bit cooler.

Pretty much the same shot from a different angle. Only now you can see one of the sub enclosures...

A side view

A close-up

A nice shot of a speaker pod with the custom grills. Notice how thetweete is right next to the mid? That's a must in my opinion. It's the only way you'll end up with proper imaging and an accurate soundstage.

The other side...

In the next shot you can see one of the imaging tweeters on the dash. Notice how it's aimed. Instead of "at" the listener, they're aimed at an angle towards the center of the windshield. It may seem odd but it really works when it comes to lifting the soundstage up from floor level.

Modified by Glyph at 9:23 PM 11/26/2006
Modified by Glyph at 12:49 AM 11/27/2006

[phuphyter]

Clean install! I like it. Audiobahn subs or are those just the grills?

[Glyph]

Yep, they're Audiobahn. I'm bumping this thread because I'm finally 100% done and I've updated the pics to reflect it. Also, it seems like there's been a lot of interest of late regarding stereo installs.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Nice job Glyph...very clean vert...

I installed Alpine speakers in mine the other day...gave me a headache.

[ishkabibble]

Nice system. I just did an install of 6.5"s all the way around in my vert this weekend.

One thing I learned from the install is that the stock vert door panels are crap!

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

One thing I learned from the install is that the stock vert door panels are crap!

I learned that this weekend.

[s13redtaz]

very clean Glyph!im liking the setup

[wirelessalpha]

ditto