install tips
I'm using the alpine Ai net head unit I'll send you the model # later on for this and the other components. I'll get straight to the install. First thing I did was pull up the carpet and run my 4 gauge power cable from the battery to the trunk. I put an inline 30 amp fuse under the hood just after the battery. I then ran the rca and speaker cables from the trunk to the dash where the radio will go, Just a note but never run the power cable and the speaker wires/ rca cables on the same side my power was run on the passenger side and the rest on the driver side. Like I said before spend a few extra bucks and get yourself some decent speaker cables and rca's. The reason in #1 quality of the wire. TThe better the shielding the less chance of unwanted hum or noise in your system. AS for speaker placement. Here's what I did You might choose to do different. I used the boston acoustic components in my rear deck, they are a component system but came in a pre wired casing with a cover/ grill. I cut my rear dash just enough to drop in the unit and used a little Gb which is a type of body caulk to secure it in place. The unit is low profile enough to not really be noticed unless you are looking for it. 1 on the left side and 1 on the right , I put them right where the factory speakers would go. I also painted the grills to match the car color, I think it looked sharp. some prefer not seeing the speakers and mounting them underneath the rear deck this could be done also , I just choose to go this route. My front speakers I built some pods out of mdf wood And mounted them to the lower door pannels with screws from behind. I had to cut the lower pannels to allow the speaker magnets to clear the pannels and sit flush. I sanded the pods and again used paint to paint them the color on the door pannels, I kept the grills black the pods grey looked really trick. If you have concert sound lowers you wont have to cut anything, the mids will fit right in place of the originals. The front tweeters I mounted on the lower door pannel aimed center and upwards, I positioned them just in front of the power lock switch, or remote mirror switch, just had to drill a small hole th pass the wire through then screw the tweeter to the pannel. I did the same for the right and left front components. The crossovers I mounted under the dash close to the kick pannels. The wiring for the units went like this speaker wire from the amp to the crossover to the speaker, the crossover splits the speaker wire into the mid and tweetew so you have to run two wires from under the dash into the door and to each specific speaker. Sounds like alot but it's reall easy My front components are alpine dd drive series don't know if they still make then but they were top of the line competition series when I picked them up. I was lucky when I bought my stuff since a friend of mine was parting out the system in his show truck and sold everything dirt cheap. He went 3rd in the world sound off with the amps and wire's I took off him. The dd drives are not the same that he had but really sound great and are high quality. I think the trick is to take your time with the install and keep everything as clean as possible, Hide the wires as much as you can. take the extra time to pull up the carpets and to loosen the interior pannels when you do the wiring, you'll be glad you did later on, plus it cuts down on the chances of wire chafing when you pull the wiles against metal parts. My trunk was like this, Because I carry lots of musical stuff/ guitars amps exc... I had no room for a sub box. So I went with free air subs. I bought 2 12 inch sobs and mounted them to a piece of mdf wood and positioned them upright behind the back seats. I used a piece of black carpet to cover the wood and make it look nice. again I passed the wires up and above the subs and wood then down in front and around / under so the wire would not be seen. I built a amp rack and put it in front of the sup plate but layed it down. Again I drilled the holes for all the speaker wires and power wires and passed them throught the carpeted wood and to the amps. Only about 1 inch of the wires came through and they connected to the amps so it looked really clean, for the wood and carpet I think I spent 50 bucks, really cheap investment for a amp and sub rack that looks pro done almost forgot I left a 1nch or two of space between the floor of the trunk and the rack to make room for the wires that I ran earlier, this way they were tucked away nice and clean under the rack. the rack had two amps on it 1 for the speakers and 1 for the subs. I also put my fuse box, power splitter in the middle. It split the powerline from the 4 gauge wire to 4 12 or 10 gauge wires don't remember which. the fuse box also gave me extra protection against power surge. If I was to use a stiffining cap I would have also mounted it here. just never got around to it. it took me about 1 night to do everything, I had all the supplies and tools ahead of time and called a friend to help out. I'll look if I still have the pics around This was in my old regal my new t- type just needs the sound of the te-60. This system has since been switched into my s-10 truck only difference is I built a box and put in 2 12 inch rockford fosgate subs. Like I said before I have the ability to blow out windows but prefer to tune the system for maximum clairity and listening environment. Write me if any other questions good luck hope this helps.
