16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

Just had hte pleasure to do a simple little install on a my350z forum member's car, not a Z but a first gen GS300 lexus

the goals:

1. good sound quality on a relatively tight budget
2. utilize existing gear customer already had
3. clean and fully stealth, with as little room taken up as possible.

lets get started:

upfront, a csutomer supplied Premier 690UB headunit resides in the stock location, note the USB cable coming out of hte pocket:



the stock location for the front speakres is pretty bad, i believe 4" stock sizing with not much room. plus its middle of hte door...so basically, if you are looking for good SQ, we should perhaps move away from that location.

The customer already had a set of old school sound stream exact 5.25" component sets, these were very very nice sounidng comp setes back in the day, better IMo than anyhting SS has made in a long long time. anyway, i complimented the set by switching to a set of DLS UR5i 5.25" midbasses, and built simple little kicks for them. the driver side was specially tricky since the parking break pedal still needs to come down











note also the phoenix gold LPL remote bass control **** between the tw ofactory switches on the left end of hte dash

the back door speakres, i ran new wires from the headunit to the output side of the stock amp in the trunk, to run them as well. while also removing hte stock subwoofer on the rear deck for better venting into the cabin:



moving on to the trunk...the first gen GS has a very short, albveit wide and deep trunk (gas tanks takes up the frnt half ot he trunk area)...so its tailor fit for a spare tire well enclosure type of stealth install.

here is the view with the carpet in place, as you can see, floor wasnt raised an inch



once oyu pull the carpet off, you can see a whole new fake floor trimmed in grey carpeting, w tih a big cutout in the middle. I also built a side rack on the passenger side, with two additional covers





and here is what it looks like with all the covers off. two Nine.2s flank a single image dynamics IDQ10 Version 3 10" sub. with all three under a white vinyl and routed top cover. on the side rack, facing sideways into the trunk, is a Pioneer 12 disc cd changer, while on top, a phoenix gold EQ215ix EQ/xover resides. both were supplied by the customer. this way, everything can be hidden yet easily accessed for tuning or cd insertion with the removal of a cover.













and one last pic showing the wiring and assembly behind the floor and covers



honetsly, this car suprised even myself with how good it sounds...esepcially considering i have done cars that feature much more high end gear and much higher budgets. but overall the combination works very well...the UR5 does a remarkable job of conveying midbass, more so than i could have possibly imagined from a 5.25" speaker

hes on his way back down to San Diego, i will let him chime in on his impressions after he gets home

zxe010

Nice job Bing. That is another clean install you go there!

Spike100

Bing,

Looks great as usual. You continue "raising the bar."

Question: Kicks get "kicked." The ones in your pics are where clumsy people stretch and push their feet. Do any of your customers have problems with/when passengers push hard against the kicks?

--Spike

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

i have built over 150 pairs of kicks over the years, the worst that ever happened was a guys foot went through a dls tweeter, whcih i replaced immedatiely, thast it one damaged tweeter out of well over 150 pairs of kicks hehe..

its very sturdy but i never stop answering the same questions about their durability

b

usmanasif

iTrader: (4)

^ But with the parking brake you mentioned, there seems little to no room for the driver's heel when he/she pushes down on it. Seems too easy to bash in the speaker grill!



Installation is top notch as usual in all other aspects.

danny8ng

iTrader: (3)

Hello Everyone!

Hope your Thanksgiving day was pleasant and an enjoyable one!

I just got back from San Jose as Bing has mentioned in his post, the drive back would have been much lesser time if it wasn't for an accident on fwy 5 tonight. Anyway, the Lexus GS300 is my new daily driver after I had sold my Z. When I've decided to upgrade the sound system in this car, the one place which I feel most comfortable for this project is none other than Simplicity in Sound in San Jose, CA. I'm sure you all would have agreed with me that Bing has always surprised us with his amazing skills and talents through many of his top notch custom sound system installations. Bing went above and beyond when he accepted to work on my car during the Thanksgiving week from his busy schedule. I dropped off the car on Sat 11/17 and he completed the car by Friday 11/23 ( not counting the Thanksgiving Day.) Not only he is super fast but very thorough and attention to detail with the work he did on my car, the pictures in his post speak for themselves. My wife thinks I'm nuts when I traveled hundreds of miles to get my sound system installed. But when I let her listened to a track "Hotel California" by the Eagles, the expression on her face -- was priceless!! By the way Bing, I think this track is kinda worn out a bit after I listened over and over and over and over.....well, you get the idea. I was totally blown and overwhelmed, the sound imaging was dead on, the tweeters are crisp but not harsh, the mids sound awesome, the bass is really tight and solid. This is by far the best sound and installations compare to those I had in my previous cars. All in all, the road trip was tiresome but the end result is well worth it. Much props to Bing, once again, for his outstanding workmanship and dedication in setting up an awesome sound system for my car.

Danny

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

hehe its all part of the compromise i suppose, in the past, the driver got used to pushing it down with the toes of his foot pretty quickly...but even if oyu hit it with your shoe, your heel would acutally hit the solid fiberglass part first before the grille

but yeha, cars with emergency brake pedals are sucky sometimes

thanks Danny for hte kind words, it was a pleasure working wtih you as well, and thanks for breakfaster that day at my favorite joint

b

Spike100

Danny… Thanks for posting, and providing more detail with your experience. Obviously and certainly Bing is the best “eva.” It’s just great to see an installer who respects “old-fashioned” service with contemporary expertise.

--Spike

danny8ng

iTrader: (3)

Message deleted by the original poster.

danny8ng

iTrader: (3)

Message deleted by the original poster.

deezz

iTrader: (7)

Probably should have PM'ed with this. Also, no need to quote all PICS.

Clean install though. I need to add some better sound to my Z.

danny8ng

iTrader: (3)

After I replied the thread, I then realized why I did that instead of just PM Bing.


Mods -- please feel free to delete my posts, I've already sent a PM to Bing. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Spike100

You don’t need to wait for a moderator to remove your message.

If you want to remove the message, simply select all of the text in your message and hit your delete or backspace key. In the now clear message area just type “Message deleted by original poster.”

You can go to the advanced section and put an explanation in the “Reason for editing” field if you want to make your intention more clear.

Spike

danny8ng

iTrader: (3)

Got it.....thanks Spike !

Spike100

^^ You did good.

Now and hopefully, Member deezz will extend the same courtesy (doing the same thing to his message #11 so as to eliminate the Quoted Message you originally posted).

--Spike

pony_killer

iTrader: (23)

awesome work as always bing