My system upgrade is finally done! For those who are interested, I added the following to the base system included with the Enthusiast model:

Infinity Reference 6002i 6 1/2" Speakers (2 Pairs @ $89)
Infinity Basslink ($269)

This is all running off the stock deck. I did all the installation work myself thanks to the many excellent HOWTOs on this forum!

Sunday: Installed the door speakers. It took about 3 hours. This went smooth and easy and had the biggest bang for the buck - if you only want to do one thing, do this! No damage or problems during this install. Something to watch out for: don't use power tools when reassembling - you will strip the screws if you do.

Monday Night: Disassembled the back and installed the rear speakers. This took 1.5 hours. They sounded like crap when I was done, very tinny and bad. I had some damage during this install...perhaps I was rushing too much to try and beat the sun, but a lot of things went wrong during this phase:

• I made a small dent in the body plastic below the trim line by kneeing it while leaning into the car. Only a tiny ripple, but it still sucks. Be careful not to do this!
• Ripped the surround foam on one of the rear speakers while screwing it in - I used the factory screws and they were a little too large and "grabbed" the foam. It didn't seem to have an appreciable affect on the sound, the rears are super tinny anyway.
• Lost a clip that secures the bottom part of the "back speaker hump" area. Note to others who perform this disassembly - don't pull from the bottom! The bottom half does *NOT* need to come off. Pull at the mid-seam!
• Broke one of the snaps that holds the plastic trim ring that surrounds the glove box and sub area. Fortunately there are many snaps and it is still nice and secure, so no worries.

This sounds like a lot, but fortunately it is all minor and only the dent is actually visible. I'm willing to be that worse things than this happen when your car is at a pro shop - but you never hear about it!

Tuesday: Installed the basslink sub into the sub area, ran the amp lead from the battery to the sub area and reassembled all the parts I disassembled Monday. This took about 4 hours. The sub was mounted with two screws hanging from the top and the ***-end was nestled into the back of the sub well. I ran my basslink speaker leads from the sub well to the center console. This was an encouraging day because the car was back in one piece. No damage.

Wednesday: Removed the dash and spliced in the basslink speaker outputs using crimp-style wire taps. This took about 1 hour. Replaced the sub well cover with the Bose cover ($5.36 from Courtesy Nissan, woot!), attached the power and ground to the sub. SUCCESS!! No damage.

A few notes...the system sounds great, but the rear speakers were disappointing. If I had it to do over again, I would simply omit that step and fade the deck forward. As it stands now I listen with fader on +3 or +4 depending on how much midrange I want.

The sub is VERY powerful. It has been said many times that the Basslink is not for you if you listen to rap or want to blow out the neighborhood - I respectfully disagree. This puppy is LOUD. I have it crossed over at around 80hz and the gain is set to roughly 1/3. When you crank it up on some good loud "rolling" bass rap music, you can get every part of the car shaking and resonating quite loudly.

I run the deck at 0 treble and -2 bass, occasionally bumping it up depending on the song. I may install the wired bass gain control in the coin box to give myself a little more control, as I found that my desired levels of bass vary a lot depending on the music. I'm still fiddling with the bass levels - I am currently pretty bass-heavy but may back it down a bit more once I get used to having it.

Overall, this is a great upgrade for a pretty cheap price (and a lot of sweat.) I've had expensive systems in the past and this is pretty darn comparable.

Future upgrades: None planned, this is just enough and makes me quite happy. The only thing I might do is try to make the sub more secure, but I am loathe to do that since it requires disassembly of the rear again.

If anyone has any questions let me know, I am happy to answer them if I can!

Zaph

 

Zaph-

Congrats on your install! I read your thread with interest as I had a similar project. I went with MB Quart Discus 6.5" separates up front and gave them lots of pure, clean power with a US Acoustics USX2100 2-channel amp (100 watts X 2 at 12.3 volts). Including some additional high-quality ancillary parts, the entire kit cost about $250.

I tried doing what you accomplished, but elected to take it to a pro installer instead. Install was $185 and well worthwhile. The sound is great- of course, minus the subwoofer- and I'm well-pleased for under $500.

I agree with your comment on the rear speakers. I kept the stock ones and use it for rear fill only. Doubt I'll really want to replace them at this point.

Have fun listening to your tunes!

 

I'm thinking more and more about getting a basslink in the factory bose location, where only my jl amp is mounted now... think there is enough room for both? btw the amp is a jl 300/4

 

Just had the Infinity reference 6002i speakers installed in place of both my front and rear speakers (stock radio). Incredible - what a difference! I actually like my stereo system again. Now, if I only had an aux input for my iPod...

Have only had these speakers for a short time but after reading reviews on here and listening with my own ears, I'd highly recommend this upgrade for any stock radio owners before doing anything else.

I might still get a sub and upgrade the HU, but for now, I'm satisfied.

(Those in Houston area - Circuity City on San Felipe at 610 did the install. Great job, very careful with my car, and decent prices for speakers and install. $85.00/pair and $65.00 for install).

Ken

 

Ken,

Did you find that the rears sounded pretty disappointing compared to the fronts?

Now you need the basslink, man!

PS - $65 install for *all four?* That's a steal. It would have been well worth that to avoid the hell I went through. I was leery about having some Circuit City high school kid working on the car but I am glad it went well for you. Now I feel dumb for killing myself in the garage all week!

 

When I did my "cheap" upgrade >$700 (kept stock head unit, installed Boss 935 amp, Alpine fronts, Pioneer backs, Infinity Perfect 10.1D sub) I also noticed how the back speakers were tinny. This is due to the head unit - it feeds little or no base to the rear.

Recenty, I added a cheapo legacy leq-12 to the system to add a bit more control over the midrange. Since the eg only has one set of line inputs, all 4 speakers are now getting the full range of sound via the front outputs on a line level converter. What a difference. The rear's really came to life. Since the LEQ has seperate EQ controls for the front and rear, I has able to tune them so that they really compliment the fronts - the sound stage is very nice now.

Two notes about the LEQ - they decided to put more EQ setting for the rear than the fronts - so I reversed it. I would rather have the major control over the primary sound speakers in the Z - which are the fronts. The second is the LEQ introduced a sub "pop" now on initial start-up. The way I got rid of it is by putting a time on delay for the amp - I wait for the EQ to stablize, then the amp comes on. Got the delay at http://www.davidnavone.com

 

Sorry, guess I didn't post that correctly. It was $65.00 for each pair so total install was $130. But still, not bad and it took him over 4 hours to carefully do the install.

The assistant mgr did the install - he wouldn't let his younger employees near my car.

So far, I am impressed with how good the rears sound. Then again, I'm comparing them to the crappy stock speakers that Nissan used. I think they'll really shine when I upgrade the HU - the stock HU is way underpowered!

Ken