[renzovc16]

whats up brodas finally after a lot research i went ahead and did my first amp installation with a line out converter to keep my factory radio , i still have to organize the wires but pretty much its all done !:thmsup:
not bad for a first time installer
a few issues i get some speaker noise when i accelerate ( probably ground issue)
and also i have to set the gains properly but here are the pics
everything bought from ebay !!!

front components installation with crossovers

my rears

this is when my wife freaked out on me lol

i bought an aftermarket harness to avoid cutting my stock radio harness but i would give up on my steering wheels volume controls so thats the downside but overall it doesnt bother me , it was so much easier to make my own harness connection with this one

i use my glove box compartment to place my line out converter i figured it was easy for me to access to it when i tune it !

run my 0 gauge power wire tru the firewall this is where i broke my friggin nail lol

sub in the back i have to figure out the best location yet

i mounted my amps on the back seat and the other one below my rear speakers panel , but it need to organize all the wiring

and kept my stock radio

few things to consider its
Patience, enough lenght of wires !
speaker brackets and harness this was HUGE to make life easier
and also i need to find a good ground
i run my power wire on the driver side and my rcas and speaker wire on the opposite side
:thumbsup:

 

[michaellowrider]

Good grounds are everywhere, any metal part on the car pretty much. Nice work.

 

[jimnfor]

Good work for the first time. Great feeling of satisfaction.

 

[DOOM]

not to sound overly harsh but here we go... i'm not sure how you lost wheel controls if you're still using the factory stereo. the sub box is far too large for your application and will consume most of your trunk since it can't be pushed back against the seats. also, the wiring is a horrible mess. i always address a clean install during the installation itself to avoid double work in the end. that would help keep your signal and power wires as separate as possible and potentially prevent your interference issues. ...did the rear grilles fit back on?

it's good to DIY but a clean install that looks like a non-install is always the way to go. this setup looks like you've effectively lost a glove box, wheel controls, and 75% of your trunk space for an average quality system. last, and while you obviously love ebay, buying electronic components there is generally not a good idea since you will usually have zero warranty and/or customer support. i'd have probably drawn up what it was that i wanted/expected and my budget and shopped around locally. being that you're in a highly competitive metro market you probably could have gotten the same (if not better) components and a more tailored install within your budget.

 

[renzovc16]

thanks for the comments i appreciated them !!
its a nice feeling lol, and yeah im gonna sand it down to make a good ground connection

and yeah doom i still have no idea how i lost my wheel controls since the aftermarket radio harness had 12 pin and the stock has 15 so i guess one of those wires was the wheel control ... i guess im stock with my big sub box lol, ill figure something out and i will try to relocate the lc6i as well if i find a better spot what would you recommend !

 

[DOOM]

thanks for the comments i appreciated them !!
its a nice feeling lol, and yeah im gonna sand it down to make a good ground connection

and yeah doom i still have no idea how i lost my wheel controls since the aftermarket radio harness had 12 pin and the stock has 15 so i guess one of those wires was the wheel control ... i guess im stock with my big sub box lol, ill figure something out and i will try to relocate the lc6i as well if i find a better spot what would you recommend !

i'd get a better designed box that follows the contours of the trunk and either mount the components on the seat facing side or even better, make a flush mount wall on the visible side of the trunk. if the amps are shallow enough the ideal setup is to install them under the seats. my idea of an install is to have nothing immediately visible except the subs.

 

[Stu71584]

agreed with Doom. Not sure why you're using an aftermarket harness while keeping the stock radio. The ground noise could be coming from any number of things. Most likely culprit are bad grounding for the amps/LC6i or cheap RCA cables (or both). Why didn't you mount the second amp to the back of the rear seat like the first? Most amps are not designed to be mounted directly to a metal surface which may be causing your interference also. They should always be mounted to an insulated surface. Also noticed you mounted your crossover for the front components inside the door cavity. Not a great idea as it gets wet in there when it rains not to mention i don't know how you would have mounted them securely in there. To give you some ideas, i have mounted my 5ch amp and my signal processor under my front seats so that all you see in the trunk is the sub box. My goal was a completely stealth install (other than the sub). You could maybe move the LC6i to under the passenger seat to at least get your glove box back.

All that said, nothing you've done looks unfixable. its not terrible for a first timer, but there are something you should improve to help your sound and keep the car safe.

 

[renzovc16]

Thanks for the input and will keep in mind ,, also how can i sucessfully set up my amps do yous guys have a step by step method

 

[korrupt3dazn]

thanks for the comments i appreciated them !!
its a nice feeling lol, and yeah im gonna sand it down to make a good ground connection

and yeah doom i still have no idea how i lost my wheel controls since the aftermarket radio harness had 12 pin and the stock has 15 so i guess one of those wires was the wheel control ... i guess im stock with my big sub box lol, ill figure something out and i will try to relocate the lc6i as well if i find a better spot what would you recommend !

I had similar issues with my 7th gen, What I ended up doing was buying another set of wire harness and extracting the wires then insert them into the first set of harness. That way you convert the 12 pin harness into a full 15 pin harness.

 

[renzovc16]

Thats awesome ! How did you end up doing it ? did it work ? Please explain thanks

 

[Primal]

It has been a long time since I built a custom system for a car so I may be wrong on some things as my memory is fading.

You can get the amp off the metal with some plastic washers or some other substitute. You never ever want mount an amp directly on metal. That is amp install 101. Also run the RCA cables, shielded or not, on the opposite side of the car from the power wire or least somewhere that has a decent amount of space between them (if you didn't already) to minimize noise. I would also try running separate grounds for each amp because it looks like you are sharing the same ground. This can generate unwanted noise. Guage of the ground should match the power wire gauge going into the amp. Never go smaller.

A distribution block would might also be a good idea imo to use going from 0 gauge to the smaller gauge and should make life easier organizing the wires in the tight spaces cars provide. FYI, The size of the power wire will not matter when coming from the distribution block as long as it is mounted close enough to the amps. Distance is the enemy and why bigger gauges are used. Larger gauges are only necessary because of the distance between the amps and the power source. You might have been able to get away with smaller with this setup imo. Plus dealing with the smaller gauge wires allows you more options for wire management. To clean up the rats nest you have currently, the easiest way is building a false wall to mount your amps on. It is very easy to get matching carpet to wrap it in. You can then hide all the wires behind it which in turn helps make it look a lot more professional.

I would also add a 1/2 farad to 1 farad capacitor too so you don't starve the power to the amps when you have the volume high. Also, it is important to note that a car's power available is generally not enough to handle what you want out of it. Especially with the subs, as they tend to pull a lot of power the lower the bass gets and the louder you have it. Your number one enemy is distortion and want to minimize it going to the speakers as much as possible. Otherwise, you will have to replace speakers a lot more than you would like. Capacitors can help prevent this and improve your sound quality at the same time.

With all that said, you should expect some noise coming through the speakers as the source you are amplifying is not clean. Thats the advantage of aftermarket radios and buying one that has RCA outputs for front/rear/sub which bypass's the radio built in power. Something the stock radio can not do. Using the stock radio can not only create background noise, but decrease your sound quality and further increase the dreaded distortion you want to avoid.

Another thing I want to add is the common mistake or trap that people fall into. People tend to concentrate too much on their speakers and divert more money to them rather than the quality of the amps. It should always be the opposite. Buying quality amps are the base of any sound system. If you need to wait on buying the speaker you want then so be it. Affordable speakers would sound better with the right amps than the other way around. Speaker upgrades can be done later when you have the money available to get what you want.

Other things to think about are upgrades to a higher power battery and alternators. Any extra juice you can provide to the amps the better you will be. There is a lot more things you can do to, but i will end with this.

 

[renzovc16]

Great info thanks a lot !

 

[mikeyd914]

I just don't know why you couldn't get this professionally installed this looks like a mess

 

[DOOM]

I just don't know why you couldn't get this professionally installed this looks like a mess

Like I said earlier, DIY is great but I'd look at the cost of my time to do it once, then again, and potentially yet again and ultimately the quality won't be as good as a pro's touch. The mess of wires and the unknown source of noise are scary... There is a LOT left to do.

 

[mikeyd914]

Like I said earlier, DIY is great but I'd look at the cost of my time to do it once, then again, and potentially yet again and ultimately the quality won't be as good as a pro's touch. The mess of wires and the unknown source of noise are scary... There is a LOT left to do.

i know. my first installtion not as bad as this lol i did a lot of research than tackled the job. now im a pro at this stuff and if i get stuck i head over to caraudio.com diymobileaudio.com 2 best resources for car audio

 

[renzovc16]

Im thinking about returning my two 10'' for a single 10" that way i dont lose as much as space

 

[Markus]

Like I said earlier, DIY is great but I'd look at the cost of my time to do it once, then again, and potentially yet again and ultimately the quality won't be as good as a pro's touch. The mess of wires and the unknown source of noise are scary... There is a LOT left to do.

But did we really expect any different? I remember the lousy wiring he did for his HIDs and LEDs and silly white rear turn signals. He did wiring on his motorcycle and it was no different.

My vote his he either leaves the wiring as is or tries to clean it up just a little bit and then tells us "jaja brodas thanks". Hope his car doesn't burn to the ground due to his wiring, though.

 

[LB8G]

I understand people like projects, experimenting, learning things. But unless I knew how to do these installs well, I love my car waaaay too much to put it through that much pain. Id rather have a Pro do it and save the headache and time. Like they say "Do it right the first time".

 

[renzovc16]

Thanks brodas jajajaja

 

[Markus]

But did we really expect any different? I remember the lousy wiring he did for his HIDs and LEDs and silly white rear turn signals. He did wiring on his motorcycle and it was no different.

My vote his he either leaves the wiring as is or tries to clean it up just a little bit and then tells us "jaja brodas thanks". Hope his car doesn't burn to the ground due to his wiring, though.

So I got the words out of order:

Thanks brodas jajajaja

:lmao: