hmm wait...how many 50k plus vehicles do you see on my site? i can probably count them with one hand...most are 30kish, as in Gs and Zs, and a few are sub 20k cars...

and neons and plexi? if you look through my installs, a good 70-80 percent features no neons and no plexi. maybe a piece of plexi over the amp cover...whcih is...what? under 100 bucks even for the thick stuff.

funny you should mention pittsburgh, as thats where i am from went to CMU for 5 years with a masters, worked for a few years, and had my own shop there for a coupla years...lived in oakland, regent square, sq hill and worked in south park and west mifflin

I have to say i am pretty darn famaliar with the demographics there, having been there about 10-11 years...hey, by having a ZR you are already way above my average customer back then...and i still think a 1500 dollar budget on gear is not all that outrageous for a ZR owner?

b

 

1. Depends on what I can use from my last car... I spent good money on that stuff... If I can't use some of it, I'd say $300-$500 in addition to what I've got already (Refer to #4-1), but I could spend more if I had to.
2. Umm... both? Whatever I don't have time for or would rather not do, I'll have a friend that is MECP certified do. And I'll pay him in beer.
3. My trunk space is critical... but I'm not opposed to occupying some of the useless space (back and sides). I'm definitely not squeezing a box in the trunk and not having any storage space whatsoever.
4. Double DIN: I've already got an AVIC-D3 installed with the factory Bose speakers, amp, and sub... hence the reason that I've gotten interested in upgrading those pieces.
   1. I've got 2 sets of Alpine Type R speakers (5.5" components & 6x9's that I know I can't use in the Z), an Alpine 4ch Amp, all the wiring I could ask for, and (don't laugh) an Infinity Basslink. That basslink is pretty good for what it is (a 10" free-air sub with a 200W class D amp attached to it), and I'd often get compliments on the bass response considering how little goes into installing one. I really had no other choice. All of this equipment went into an '04 Eclipse Spyder, which had about 2/3 the trunk space as the Z... and nowhere else to put a sub. Maybe just for kicks, I'll experiment with putting the basslink in place of the Blose woofer. It wouldn't cost me anything more than time, and I could have a down-firing sub as suggested by visionboy. Although the behind-the-driver location of the subwoofer is inconvenient and of poor quality to install another sub, at lease we've got options there. My Eclipse was even worse. Believe me.

 

So you have a headunit, components, and a 4ch amp.....if the amp is powerful enough all you need is a box and sub combo......so in your $300-$500 budget you could do the Nazar box and sub and bridge the rear channels of the 4ch amp to run the sub. I know you said you were looking for alternatives, but within your constraints, the nazar box might be your best bet and it even fits within your budget.

As you have already said 1 alternative, since you already have a basslink, some guys have put a basslink in the cubby behind the seat and say it doesn't sound bad (in a coupe). I have never heard a system with a basslink in the cubby so I can not vouch for the quality, but it would be no cost to you to try it out. If you don't like it, sell the basslink on ebay and put that $$ towards the sub/box purchase.

 

Well. When I got it it I wasnt Visualy impressed at all , shipping definitly took a bit off its appearance but not its sound quality.. Since it is totaly concealed I have no complaints. Sounds great no rattle nice deep sound . My installer did a great job matting the original enclosure before installing the nazar box. I have never turned it up to the MAX level because there was no reason to do so. But maybe sometime in the future when im out on the road ill test that out

Erik

 

I don't know, man... Nevermind. I'm not trying to argue. I really just skimmed through the page you sent looking for the words "Z Roadster." I thought I saw a few expensive cars, but I could have been wrong. Like I said, it was late and I was focused on finding one kind of car: mine. No biggie. Besides, you should be flattered that your installs make the cars look like they cost $20-30k more. haha.

So, you're a "yinzer," too, huh? I'm in school at a local Penn State campus, earning a graduate degree in electro-mechanical engineering. I know I'm earning a degree in "electro-" something... but it has nothing to do with audio and car electronics. I'm an automation engineer, so I make things make decisions... not noise. That's why I've enlisted the help of all the pro's on these forums.

Go Stillers!

 

You raise some good points, StreetOC. That's why I thought I'd start some dialog about this kind of stuff. When I bought the car, I thought at least some of my speakers would fit (and I didn't know what the hell to do with the basslink). Later, when an installer buddy (I have many... I worked at BestBuy through college) put in my D3, he told me that the component speakers were too big, the tweeters wouldn't fit, the sub was the weirdest thing he'd ever seen, and the rear speakers were nearly impossible to get to. He was the lowest bidder for install price, and the only one available at the time. The head unit looks perfect, but I knew from his attitude he just didn't want to work in my small car anymore. Now, I've learned that the components COULD fit with a little work and some spacers, the sub area is weird, but not impossible, and I may not even need to turn on my rear speakers to get good sound in such a small car.

I haven't had the time to get my hands dirty with it all summer, but I'm looking forward to the chance pretty soon. As much as 16psibrick will enjoy this... I will consider the Nazar box if that and a sub are all I need to expend to get this system up and running. Thanks for your input.

 

Me personally, I would forget all about rear speakers......this is personal taste, but with a properly installed front stage, you will not miss them.

Being a convertible, I would recommend (even more than in a coupe) to mount the tweeters low in the doors or in the kicks. 2 easy solutions for your ease of install of components are:
1) See about a price on custom kicks from Bing (16psibrick) for your alpine comps.
2) Zenclosures door pods.
I would also add in Nazar's pods, but I don't think his can accomodate the tweeters easily.

These 2 options will save you the work of fabricating or buying spacers for the mids and cutting holes in the doors or kicks for the tweeters.

As for the sub, you do have some options, one of which is free to you (other than time) and the couple other options require a minimum purchase of a subwoofer. What are the specs on your Alpine amp?

 

More pods and enclosures, huh? I guess I just have a thing about paying more for the mounting equipment than I do for the speakers themselves. I know they're all good pieces... It's just me being cheap, I guess.

My alpine amp is a 4ch V-Power, which I believe has 50Wx4 RMS capability. It's been a long time since I checked up on it, and it was installed as a freebie when one of the installers wired my illumination wire to ground accidentally, and I was getting static on the speakers when I turned on my headlights. They threw in the amp brand new because they couldn't isolate the problem.

 

You don't HAVE to get pods or kick panels, but it would make the install easier. You could use the oem speakers to make spacers and drill holes in the doors or kick panels to mount the tweeters. Those mods cost nothing but time.

50x4? so figure conservatively bridged it will put out about 120 into a 4 ohm load. That's enough for some modest 10" subs. You may however want to look into a more powerful amp for the sub.

 

The old saying that I hate is " You get what you pay for " but it truly applies to this car and its audio. Nissan made it extremly hard to do a simple upgrade to this car without a lot of financial pain and custom adapters. I wanted to save where i could as well but soon found out that there was a lot of extra work and there would be very little cost savings on the hard goods and my labor or my paid labor more than would offset the savings.. Thats why this is the first car that i actully had done by an installer. Any other car you could just upgrade the door speakers drop an amp in the trunk and you were off and running.

Erik

 

keep in mind this...

as with most of anyhitng in the car, the equipment itself only makes a small percentage of the difference, its hte INSTALLATION technique, method and tuning, that accounts for the vast majority of how it comes out.

meaning, a poorly installed system that involves about 5k in equipment cost, will in general sound worse, sometimes by a lot, than 1-1.5k system properly installed and tuned...

and for the Z, and the ZR, kicks/door pods, wickedcas box, are a few things that would dramatically improve your overall SQ regardless of the equipment you use. this is experience gathered by audio professionals over the last 30 yeras, and adapated by myself over the last two yeras working on over 20 350zs

just think about it another way, if someone just got the most expensive performance mods on their car, just slapped it on, poorly installed, leaking, no tuning, do you thin k it can run a road course faster than a mildly modified Z, with everyhting installed very professionally and tuned extremely well? probably not, if the first car doesnt blow up first, it still wont be able to do well performance wise if its not tuned right.

same principle applies to car audio, so my suggestion is to get over the whole thing about paying more for "mounting options" than the equipment it self, and think about hte big picture, if its sonic performance oyu desire, then you should simply pay towards that goal, and i am telling you from my experience the installation, mounting and tuning means heck of a lot more than price of equipment

yinz over at new kensington campus? had a few freinds that went there...yeah yeah the stillers, they better do something good this year...acutrally i am not home grown yinzer, so i dont usually say yinz lol

Erik! whos this installer for yours???!! sure like to meet em! glad everything is working out well...i got another ZR coming thats bsaically gonna be your car's little brother, entry level dls 5, reference series 6.5 in kicks, and same sub hehe be a neat comparison between the two