New sounds install

[dom]

Getting a bit sick of the sounds situation in my chaser as the previous owner done some funky stuff.

Im looking at replacing front and rear door speakers and making a custom sub box inside one of the rear guards.

Also looking at getting a double din head unit with a blingin' touch screen.

What do you guys in the way of sounds in your cars?
How easy is it to replace the factory speakers, from memory they have some wierd shaped mounting brackets?
Any reccomendations on speakers etc?

[scotty_ish]

Speakers are pretty easy to replace, from memory you have to make an MDF spacer and screw that to the plastic mounting brackets, then whack your chosen speaker into that.

As for brands, alot depends on budget. Definitely look at getting component speakers (with separate tweeters) as opposed to coaxial's. Brands such as Pioneer, DLS, Rainbow, Kicker all have good reputations, I'd try and avoid "repco" brands such as Fusion and Sony, but at the end of the day it comes down to what you are willing to pay.

Will have a look for photo's of my install and create a thread.

[PowderJZX]

there are a few people who does customizing newr sunny brae - you might wanna check it out.. ask them to only do the wood bit or fiberglass or whatever you want it.. then just cover it with carpet to make it look factory.. do not look at mine coz its not practical.. still changing mine to perspex , removing subs from the box so its upside down and adding curves to make it more modern.. and this time speakers will be bolted onto the wood.. +1 more capacitor.. (will post it when its finished! right now its temporary for drafts:P

front door speakers have 77mm mounting depth if mounted without the mounting but that means drilling a hole through your door frame.. the x90's have 5,1/4 front and 4" rear.. i think newer ones have 6" but if your upgrading i suggest you get a 6.5" speaker set (wooffer with twitters) in that way you get full sound..- i'll take a photo of my car(hat to drill a hole though door car for twitters but you get 3 different angle options for it tho) and my brothers car (factory twitters)

Note* make sure you look at the depth of the speakers first.. no more than 77

speakers that you should get? soundstream - the cost about 200 but they are the best sounding speakers.. if you have a low power amp - get pioneer or alpine.. they're pretty good.. as for subs - it all depends on your amp when it comes to the sounds being really clear (soundstream!!)

if you want a really slim one that fits under your seats get a pioneer slimsub.. also good if you wanna save space in your boot.. i'll draw one for you:P and post it here on monday:) big subs are ok but they weigh like 10-20kgs depending on its magnet..


if you don't want the slimsub or if you want the subs to remain in the trunk, and if you want to get the full sound, you can cut a hole on the board just behind the seat thats what people are recomending but i didn't do it because i wanted to keep it original..

if your changing subs, make sure it uses the power of the amp..
e.g. 1000w 350wrms amp(mono is for sub) if u want 2 subs - sub has to be at least 150wrms to maximize power.. if 1 sub - 300-400wrms..
e.g. if you've got 200wrms amps.. there is no point on getting a 1000rms subs.. its gonna be just like using a 200wrms amp..

bigger amp means thicker wires and bigger fuse depending on the draw of your amp.


for DVD players - im not sure aye.. i'll usually go with those well known ones like jvc, sony, boss etc..mines a flip up for safety reasons.. haha so it doesnt get stolen.. (you can rewire it so that you can watch movies when you're driving but i dont recommend this.. its only good for passengers)


hope this helps!

[PowderJZX]

Here it is:) with a slim sub for ur car - is this what you wanted? this will make it look like its factory



Carpeted

The disadvantage of a fibre glass is that you may not be able to remove it.. haha but its light

slim sub - but i think soundstream makes them as well

Check out mine! have added a new plan:P see what you think
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=20

[Alex]

what i have done with mine, and it sounds great for little $$ is Amp the factory fronts.
buy a decent four channel thats two ohm stable with bridged. something that will do around 150 rms per channel
use the front two channels for factory fronts and bridge the rears for the factory sub.

I have owned some decent component sets over the years and the factory fronts actually sound really nice!
it actually surprised me how good they were..

[PowderJZX]

you can do what he did? he bridged it.. still the same as 4 chanel except that a 4 chanel amp is more controllable in terms of shifting sounds front to rear and left to right.. same quality in sounds.. no one shifts them anyway..haha

[Alex]

you can do what he did? he bridged it.. still the same as 4 chanel except that a 4 chanel amp is more controllable in terms of shifting sounds front to rear and left to right.. same quality in sounds.. no one shifts them anyway..haha

what does this mean? your confusing me here

[lofreq]

ive been racking my brains about the ICE situation in my jzx100 - having come from a 150db civic as a previous build i had not anticipated how hard it would be to fit things into the sedan without hacking things up too much, in order to obtain similar levels of performance...

my learnings so far

- headunit is an easy swap, its simple enough to find all the front and rear speaker wires, power connections and so on. however i do not have the top spec chaser model so i didnt have the seperate amp or parcel tray mounted sub to worry about.

- front speakers are custom made 5 1/4" craptastic speakers, which have the speaker mounts and surround all custom fit into one piece that bolts into the hole in the door. either you bin these and make up some custom MDF spacers to fill the gap, or what i did was take to the stock speakers with a knife and hack out the centers of them so that all thats left is a nice plastic ring, then screw in your 6" replacement speakers into the plastic ring - i did this to allow a maximum seal around the speaker into the door cavity, in the interest of maximum midbass response. the stock tweeters are easily removed and thrown out, and you can use the stock hole to flushmount some new tweeters of your choice. i intend to replace both front and rear doors with 6.5" speakers, ive only replaced the fronts so far

- subwoofers are a complete pain in the arse due to 1) fuel tank in gay position behind seats 2) solid steel firewall seperating fuel tank/boot area from cabin. i can understand the safety aspect of this, but when it comes to sound, there is no way for the air to travel from the boot into the cabin. all you hear are harmonic vibrations from the steel and seats and everything vibrating like crazy. my sub sounds better with boot open than closed. there is huge pressure built up in the boot as well with the sub going, everything flexes hard which is stupid because you end up winding the sub up real high just to get any kind of volume in the cabin. its fine for when the car is off and parked, but when driving at motorway speeds the bass all but dies out unless you have it cranked.
my solution is going to be cutting ports thru the rear tray steel and sliding plastic ports into the holes to allow the boot to breathe into the cabin. the more airflow the better, so my intent is for 2 or 3 4" ports to allow bass to get thru. downsides to this 1) holes are extremely hard to cut due to the tight angles you have to work with 2) expect fuel pump noise to get thru when things are quiet with the car on 3) not so important but if there is a fire i guess it can enter the cabin easier, but if there is a fire you probably have bigger problems

i currently run a JBL 12" bandpass enclosure with a JBL GTO amp, which sounds great for moderate listening but is nowhere near competitive - for most people it should be ok tho. but id say for anyone in an x90/x100, the challenge will be venting the boot into the cabin...

this sounds upgrade is part of my summer upgrade list of things to do so ill be happy to document my progress and success here if it helps anyone

[PowderJZX]

but id say for anyone in an x90/x100, the challenge will be venting the boot into the cabin...

if you look closer - there are 2 more holes in the thingy above the gas tank.. its for 4x7 or 6" speakers + another one for subs..take the covers of.. and if i can remember.. i think if you can cut the board inside just the board/plastic thingy and somehow redesign that hole, put a mesh to make it look factory - it should be ok.. its the only way to vent it to the cabin..



i have circled the location where you can cut them (please ignore the 6x9 mountings.. was meant to put 6x9s but i've to cut the metal apparently.. so nevermind.. under that panel (you can see them above the gas tank) there are 3 caps.. you can take them off and then vent it by attatching a cylinder shaped vent underneath - will add photos tomorrow

[PowderJZX]

you can do what he did? he bridged it.. still the same as 4 chanel except that a 4 chanel amp is more controllable in terms of shifting sounds front to rear and left to right.. same quality in sounds.. no one shifts them anyway..haha

what does this mean? your confusing me here

4 chanels have 4 controls i think . .. not sure about 2 channeld amp.. but i sugested 2ch to dom because people dont usually shift sounds like increase the volume of the rear and decrease the front or increase the volume on the left and decrease the volume on the right.. it doesn;t usually happen..