Changed the factory stereo/speakers and added a subwoofer

[markskyline]

Once of the first things I wanted to do when I got the box was to rip out the factory stereo. I had the tape player/cd changer combo. I dont have rear speakers and the dash speakers sounded terrible.

Put an Alpine head unit. Picked this one as it can switch the lights to orange.


Swapped out the dash speakers for 4" JL Audio C2's and the doors with 6 1/2" JL's as well. I used the factory door enclosure. Had to dremmel out a bit to make the bigger speaker fit. Depth was no problem.



Installed the amps where the CD changer would go. Reused the factory bracket to mount the amps. I tapped into the factory wiring for the door/dash speakers. Ran 3 pairs of RCA's back to the head unit.




Made a fiberglass mold of the passengers kick area. Most of the time I'm driving solo but I left a bit of space on the left side to stretch your legs. Was able to fit a JL Audio 10tw3 shallow subwoofer in about half a cubic foot of space. Sounds pretty good! Totally recommend the sub. I've seen people install an 8" sub but wanted to go bigger so glad I did. I knew I was going to swap the interior color so I haven't carpeted the enclosure yet. I also used quick disconnects on the wires so I can remove the sub enclosure if I needed the room.





Overall I'm pretty happy with the sound. The sub makes a world of difference. I used to install stereos for several years and found installing in the box pretty straight forward.

If anyone has any questions about installing a stereo in the car just shoot me a message. There's lots of threads in this forum that was totally helpful.

[dghii]

Nice job. When you tapped into the stock speaker wiring did you tap into the wires or cut and splice.

I recently replaced the head unit and dash speakers in my 2000S. I had a ton of ignition noise when I use the Metra kit to connect the new hu to the amp. After many failed attempts to get rid of the noise (new ground/power connections, ground loop isolators), I decided to bypass the factory amp all together.
I disconnected the main connector that ran to the factory amp and found some pins that could (kind of) slide into the connector. It seems to work. I was planning to add an aftermarket amp but now I plan to sell the car soon so I may leave as is.

[BruceH]

What amps did you end up with?

[markskyline]

Originally Posted by dghii

Nice job. When you tapped into the stock speaker wiring did you tap into the wires or cut and splice.

I used wiring harness' so I could put the factory one back in if I sell the car. Never had any issues with noise.

Originally Posted by BruceH

What amps did you end up with?

I used an Alpine MRV-M500 mono block amp for the sub as the JL 10tw3-d4 is a dual 4ohm and it's stable at 2ohms mono. Used an Alpine MRV-F300 4 channel amp for the dash/door speakers. The Alpine CDE-HD149BT head unit I used has time correction so I wanted dedicated channels for each of the speakers. Works well as I like the sound stage high and not too wide.

[arnold33]

Her nice stereo ....

[dghii]

I was very dissapointed in all the electrical noise I had in the car. Even with the car off, I was hearing popping and clicking. Start the car and add alternator noise!

The head unit was an JVC unit. My son has a JVC head unit in his BMW so we swapped them, knowing wiring would be the same and my HU was silent in his car and his popped and whined in mine.

I tried everything I could think of including running the speaker level outputs from the HU to the amp (as is done with the Becker 220). No change.

I ran dedicated temporary power and ground from the HU to the battery without improvement.
Tried two different ground loop isolators. No joy. Finally connected HU speaker outputs directly to dash speakers and there was no noise.

I run my dash speakers (Polk 4") as fronts and the door "woofers" as rears. Using the fader just a bit I'm satisified with the sound. I'll wire in the back speakers at some point but they contribute so little that I'm really not missing them at all.

[markskyline]

There's a ground loop from your head unit and the factory amp. 4 or 2 channel amps that could drive your front speakers aren't that expensive if you're not happy with deck power. My Alpine has 4x50watt output but knew that a small 4ch external amp would sound better.

[dghii]

You may be correct about the ground loop but after trying two ground loop isolators and running dedicated peer and ground to both the HU and amp (experimenting, ran both components directly to the battery) without improvement, I decided to punt.

[markskyline]

It was getting warmer so finally spent some time in the garage to finish sanding down the sub box. Added another layer of fiberglass and then it was bondo and spot filler. I was going to carpet the box but decided to paint/clear instead. Put some poly fill inside and it sounds great!

[chipmunk]

How did you mount your dash speakers? I have seen other posts say you need an adapter plate to mount onto the original speaker covers.

[markskyline]

I didn't need adapter plates. The 4" JL's have bendable tabs that I bent around the factory plate. Secured with screws.

[jtmarlinceo]

Nice work! How does the deck look with the orange lights on the display? Does it blend well with the orange lights on the climate control etc? (Pics would be fantastic.) I am in the middle of my project. I was going to go with Focals all around. How are those JL Audio speakers?