System install with pics

[PLAN_B]

Recently I installed a system in my gf's '00 Tdi. Because of the great fuel mileage we tend to drive it a lot more than my Audi and we’re taking it on at least 2 major road trips in the near future so the stock system just wasn’t going to cut it.

The goal: no compromises; great sound, full function, minimal intrusion (with both space and security in mind), and minimal cost. No problem, right??

With the exception of the headunit, the amp and the power wire, everything was either leftovers or part of my “inventory,” so that took care of keeping costs low. In the interest of inspiration, here’s a few pics:


Signals come from a Jensen VM9512 with the navigation add-on:


VERY full functioned, and it looks good out or in:




Matches the factory illumination well too!


4 gauge power wire follows factory wiring into the car, so no drilling through the firewall:




All covered up:


Into the dash through the sealed wire harness junction box:












Arriving in the back:

[PLAN_B]

Deadening the doors with Raammat:








Ensolite:

[PLAN_B]

Rear-fill is no good, let’s use the space for something else:




Raammat, then Ensolite:


Then take these:


And you get this:


Final resting place:


The amp is an a/d/s/ 630x, 6 channel, running active and powering the whole system.

[PLAN_B]

Alpine XT19 ring radiators quickly installed off-axis just to get by:




Black Ultrasuede on dash panels to help with tweeter reflections:




Deflex panels behind mids:


Mids from an MB Quart 218.61 Q set:


To decouple: driver>ensolite>ring 1>ensolite>ring 2>ensolite>door panel. Good midbass without a single resonance!


And bringing up the rear, an Image Dynamics IDQ10 in a .5 cu ft sealed enclosure; I love this sub!

[PLAN_B]

Since the Alpine tweets aren’t designed for off-axis listening, a change was in order:




View from the driver’s seat:




Only thing left is final smoothing of the tweeter pods and then covering the a-pillars in grey Ultrasuede.

[pdoel]

Very nice!!!

[FineExampl]

Holy crap dude.

[Crazy_MoFo]

+1
nice indeed

just out of curiousity, wont the amp overheat due to no ventilation?

[LadybugEwa]

[iScott]

HELL yeah, dude! Great work.
I'm priting these pictures out because I've been meaning to mount my amp somewhere better.

[PLAN_B]

Thanks for the compliments! Actually, despite the Phoenix heat, the amp doesn't overheat no matter what I ask of it. Although I am considering installing an ultra quiet cpu fan to pull air in the speaker grill and out to the trunk/hatch just for piece of mind and amp longevity. A/D/S amps are pretty bulletproof though, so I'm not worried.

My only other plans are to put a fiberglass enclosure for a 10" shallow sub behind the passenger side panel. Then the entire system will take up zero usable space!

[hockeythug]

what kind and size of screws did you use to secure the metal straps for the amp? Think I will attempt this and dont want to screw through the side of my car.

[PLAN_B]

Originally Posted by hockeythug

what kind and size of screws did you use...

IIRC they are 5/8 pan head cabinet screws. Nothing special, I just made sure to use something with wide threads because the aluminum straps that I used to make the supports for the amp are pretty soft and I didn't want the screws to strip.

There's about 2 inches of depth from the panel they're screwed into to the outside panel of the car so it won't take too much precision.

Overall there's about 4.5" max usable depth so it's not too hard to fit an amp back there; the problem is finding one with the right height and width dimensions because of the wheel well.

I looked at A/D/S amps because I knew they made a lot of multi-channel old school amps that had simple, effective verticle heatsinks that allow the air to circulate even when placed as I have it.

To anyone considering installing an amp like this: I'd recommend looking for one with a similar heatsink design unless you plan to use a fan.

[hockeythug]

Originally Posted by PLAN_B

IIRC they are 5/8 pan head cabinet screws. Nothing special, I just made sure to use something with wide threads because the aluminum straps that I used to make the supports for the amp are pretty soft and I didn't want the screws to strip.

There's about 2 inches of depth from the panel they're screwed into to the outside panel of the car so it won't take too much precision.

Overall there's about 4.5" max usable depth so it's not too hard to fit an amp back there; the problem is finding one with the right height and width dimensions because of the wheel well.

I looked at A/D/S amps because I knew they made a lot of multi-channel old school amps that had simple, effective verticle heatsinks that allow the air to circulate even when placed as I have it.

To anyone considering installing an amp like this: I'd recommend looking for one with a similar heatsink design unless you plan to use a fan.

Yeah, Im just trying to stick my Kicker ZX150.2 for my tweets somewhere. Only does 75 watts x 2. I run a two-way active along with a Cerwin Vega EXL 400.4 for my mids and have a Kicker 750.1 for my sub. Only have space on my back seat for the mid amp and my sub amp. Should have more than enough space for it in that space.

[PLAN_B]

Yep, looking at the dimensions, you should have no problem fitting that amp back there.

[iScott]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but what are you doing for rear speakers? Since you took out at least one of them?

[hockeythug]

Originally Posted by iScott

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but what are you doing for rear speakers? Since you took out at least one of them?

He isnt gonna run any rears. Most of the people that run nice components dont run rear fill. Can mess with the front soundstage.

[PLAN_B]

Originally Posted by hockeythug

Can mess with the front soundstage.

Exactly! This system is mainly for music and navigation, if movies become a priority I may fit a pair of these behind each rear grill, as the headunit does have surround sound capability, time delay, etc.:

It's a 2" Aurasound driver that has usuable frequency response from about 200hz to 10,000hz; just about perfect for a surround speaker.

For now though, no rears. As I mentioned, the passenger side will have a sub in it at some point. I'm anxious for that, but don't have any time to do anything about it right now.