Upgrading 2008 Versa audio system

[Turdferguson]

So I traded in my truck for an 08 Versa last week. It's the SL four door sedan model. It has the six cd changer with four 6.5" speakers in the doors with tweeters up front however, it is not the Rockford system with the amp/sub combo.

I want to replace all the door speakers/tweeters with aftermarket stuff like alpine or infinity and then amp them without replacing the stock head unit. Something like 50 to 75 RMS per speaker with a 200-300 RMS subwoofer. I am looking to make this installation as painless as possible as I am not overly educated on how to properly go about doing this. I figured this was a great place to post this since there are others on this forum who have done something similar and can chime in so I don't repeat common mistakes.

Is the easiest way to do this to simply purchase a five channel amp? Does the stock head unit have any RCA outputs, since the system has the capability of running the Rockford upgrade? Am I going to need a 4 channel line output converter? How hard is it to get to the tweeters, door speakers, and head unit? Any idea what special tools would be needed like some kind of panel tool? Are there any resources available for wiring options or advice that would help me out? I have looked all over the internet for similar information and found it to be sorely lacking or people posting fifteen ways to do the same thing (confusing!).

I live on an island so having a professional install is not possible. Thanks in advance if anyone can help me out.

[jltibbs]

1. 2008 Versa FSM ( Click then bookmark ) This is your Factory Service Manual. It will help you out a lot. "ei" section is "exterior interior", ei-32 shows you door panel removal.

2. Start with a budget. Then decide what toys you're going to play with. I say, either get an OEM integration box if you want to keep your OEM head unit, or start looking at what may interest you in the aftermarket head unit world.

3. 5 channel would be ideal, but not always the answer. You're looking to go in the right direction though. 50 watts rms for the front/rear speakers is perfect, no more than 300 in the trunk/hatch. That will make for a nice clean system. So, a 200w 4 channel and a 150-300w 1-2 channel amp matched with speakers, and you're set.

4. Welcome to NICOclub.

[williamk10]

Co Axial or Component speakers? Since you want to replace the tweeters, I would imagine component. However, you may run into problems retrofitting a new tweeter into the OEM tweeter location. I am using this set and it sounds great.



http://www.woofersetc.com/p-6952-rsd65c ... ystem.aspx

As for amps, I recommend a 4 channel for your door speakers and a mono amp for your sub, rather than a 5 channel. It gives you more flexibility and will most likely perform better than typical "all in one" amps.

[Turdferguson]

1. 2008 Versa FSM ( Click then bookmark ) This is your Factory Service Manual. It will help you out a lot. "ei" section is "exterior interior", ei-32 shows you door panel removal.

2. Start with a budget. Then decide what toys you're going to play with. I say, either get an OEM integration box if you want to keep your OEM head unit, or start looking at what may interest you in the aftermarket head unit world.

3. 5 channel would be ideal, but not always the answer. You're looking to go in the right direction though. 50 watts rms for the front/rear speakers is perfect, no more than 300 in the trunk/hatch. That will make for a nice clean system. So, a 200w 4 channel and a 150-300w 1-2 channel amp matched with speakers, and you're set.

4. Welcome to NICOclub.

1. Thanks
2. I'm probably only looking to spend 500 dollars. From what I've figured that will get me a decent 5 channel amp and components + door speakers with the option to run a boxed sub later on when I save up more cash. For money reasons and to keep a clean look I want to retain the factory stereo which is why I'm curious if it has RCA preouts or if I'll need to get a LOC of some sort.
3. I was looking at one of the Infinity 5 channel amps in the low to mid 200$ range. I've enjoyed their speakers and figured the amps would be quality as well.
4. Thanks

[Turdferguson]

Co Axial or Component speakers? Since you want to replace the tweeters, I would imagine component. However, you may run into problems retrofitting a new tweeter into the OEM tweeter location. I am using this set and it sounds great.



http://www.woofersetc.com/p-6952-rsd65c ... ystem.aspx

As for amps, I recommend a 4 channel for your door speakers and a mono amp for your sub, rather than a 5 channel. It gives you more flexibility and will most likely perform better than typical "all in one" amps.

Components for up front with co axial in the back doors. If I had the money, I'd disable the backdoors speakers and mount 6x9's in the back window.

For components (and co-axial) I'm thinking something like kicker, infinity, or alpine based on reviews and prices. I'm probably shooting around the 50 watts RMS range as anything louder would require at least a 300-400$ amp if I don't want it to be an overheating piece of crap. Here is one of the amps I'm looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-KAPPAFIV ... 009&sr=8-6

I also have an old jensen two channel amp that could be bridged into about 250 RMS by one channel which would be perfect to drive a sub however, since I plan on keeping the stock head unit, I am unsure of how two amps would hook up correctly. This is the main source of my confusion. One bonus of going the two amp route is purchasing one 4 channel amp is cheaper than a five channel one. I would say the draw of two amps would be a long term concern on my alternator but I suppose if the wattage were the same on one amp it makes no difference.

So yeah, hooking up the amp to the head unit is what confuses me. Even if I hookup one 5 channel amp, where does the RCA for the subwoofer come from? I believe the four door speakers can be hit up with a 4 channel LOC (or speaker level inputs on an amp)then converted to RCA's for the amp but what about the subwoofer input? I'm somewhat apprehensive to do this because I'll probably get the doors off and head unit out then scratch my head when it comes to the connections from the head unit to the amp. I'm also not thrilled about running speaker wires from the trunk back to the door speakers.

[Turdferguson]

Posting an update that can possibly answer some questions for others. I finished the majority of my install and lastly want to replace the back door speakers and possibly use some dynamat in the trunk.

For around 400 dollars I managed to install two amplifiers, an aftermarket head unit, buy a 12" subwoofer with a box, buy two wiring kits for the amps, a wiring harness, antenna adaptor, head unit kit, power distribution block, and front door component speakers. One of the amplifiers was ten years old and laying around, so I put it to use. Everything else was purchased brand new through combinations of ebay and amazon. This was also all shipped to an island, so I had to get creative with finding the right opportunities.

A few tips for anyone else doing a similar installation.

If you don't have an old school iron coat hanger to push the speaker wiring through the door grommets, there is room to pop the grommets off the door and car base and encoat the wire in a black plastic sheathe so that it appears professional. Then simply pop the grommets back in using a butter knife or similar tool.

All four door speaker sizes are 6.5 inches and my versa had tweeters in the front pillars. I bought Alpine components and wired them according to the instructions and DID NOT USE FACTORY WIRING FOR THE TWEETERS. I liked the Alpine ones because they had crossovers built in and I didn't need to mount more crap...plus they are high quality for an affordable price. I wired the tweeters directly to the 6.5" door subwoofers and the woofers went to the amp in the trunk via the original wiring, which I joined up behind the head unit. I ran speaker wire from the amp up the right side of the car along with the amp remote wire and both amp preouts. The power is the only wire that went up the driver side of the car.

There is a link to instuctions a few posts above this one that tell exactly how to take your doors apart. I used a butter knife and a spoon because I'm cheap and didn't want to purchase a 12 dollar tool set. Your first door will take awhile but every door after that goes much faster. A butter knife takes off the front pillars extremely well in order to reach the tweeters. You may have to measure the space available for tweeter room, but my set fit in there perfectly.

I drilled a hole just above and to the right of where the clutch would be if I had a manual vehicle. I couldn't fit 4 gauge wire for the amps through the factory grommet. I ran 4 gauge wire from the battery to a power distribution block in the back and then split off two 8 gauge wires to each amplifier. I ran remote wire to one of the amps and simply daisey chained it to the other amp. To my knowledge, it is not worth running a relay for just two amps and this process is faster. My setup works fantastic!

There are plenty of spots in the trunk to find a good place to ground the amps however, for me, the headunit was a nightmare. I have big hands and scraped them up to a bloody pulp finding a ground for the deck. I managed to find one on the left middle portion somewhere and screwed it in. This was one of the most frustrating and difficult parts of the installation and I wished I took a picture of it to show others.

I used black electrical tape for all wire joining with the head unit, speakers, etc... You don't need to use anything fancy but it may be more electrically sound to use fasteners or sodder. I simply don't care and was going for cheapness and speed of install.

I believe I have the SL model of Versa and it came with the 6 cd changer as well as Blaupunkt 2 ohm speakers. This version of cd changer DOES NOT HAVE ANY AMP PREOUTS!!!

And that's about it. The audio is incredibly loud at high volume. The highs make my ears bleed and the mids are screaming. The bass isn't earth shattering like some of the other sound systems I've thrown together but for the price, it's very decent. I also have a huge car child seat in the middle of the back seat ,which may contribute to some rattling or dampening of the bass.

I am running 75 watts rms to each front component set from a Jensen and 150 watts rms off a Kenwood to one Kicker 12" svc in the trunk off of a two amp preout JVC cd/aux head unit. The subwoofer box is probably insufficiently sized for that subwoofer but I'm a family man and need the room. To complete my install, I will replace the back door 6.5" speakers at some point with 2 ohm Infinity's and put some sound deadening in the trunk to help with trunk rattling. Total cost will be below 500 dollars and the overall sound will be pretty close to systems I've spent four times as much money on.

The overall volume gets so loud up front that it makes it very difficult to adjust the gain levels on the amp because I almost have to plug my ears before I hear any distortion. And I'm someone with significant hearing damage from playing sound systems in vehicles for well over a decade. 50 watts rms is probably plenty for upfront speakers and if you have more money to burn, I would recommend using that on more trunk bass, as the backseat seems to absorb a good portion of it.