Well, finally finished the system in the Z. It is an all Clarion system, with a custom amp rack and sub box. The box was designed to fit under the strut bar, and is .55 cubic feet. The subs are designed to play into this small enclosure, ,and the sound is tight, accuate and very musical. Overall I am very happy with the way the system turned out. It sounds great, and is one of the few 5.1 surround systems in a 350Z to date (except for the Clarion 350Z demo car, of course).

Here are some pics of the system:


this is the sub box and subs

[IMG]www.myredgtp.addr.com/finished amp rack.jpg[/IMG]

This is the amp rack. the amps are on clear plexi with red neon under. They appear to float is space in a pool of red light.



Clarion VRX935VD and center channel speaker

You can check out more pics on my website:
http://www.myredgtp.addr.com

 

lets try the amp rack again...

 

wheres the center speaker? Can't be 5.1 surround sound if theres no center speaker. (oh, maybe its under the nav compartment )

 

I'm pretty sure that his center channel speaker is in the second "din" space. This is a pretty cool little speaker that I believe fires down. That's a really nice setup

As far as surround sound (DD 5.1 or DTS) "requiring" a center channel, from what I have learned after a lot of research, this is not necessarily true or realistic in a car's interior as compared to a home theatre. The "center" channel's signal is the separate signal that is "different" from all of the other signals going to the other speakers. This signal, which normally carries most of the mono "dialogue" of the DVD, can easily be fed to the other speakers. Obviously it would be great to have a center channel speaker, but again, it's not really realistic or necessary in a car. Almost all of the DVDs I will be playing in my car (when Alpine sends me my damn processor!) will be "music" dvds (taking advantage of the "surround sound"), not movies with dialogue that you actually watch like you do sitting on your couch with a bowl of popcorn. Attempting to watch a movie while driving would be suicide.