vanwinkl

I've been lurking on this site for several months and have enjoyed the discussions and advice given. I want to upgrade my stereo. I want to keep my stock (non-Bose) headunit and have settled on these components for the upgrade:

Front speakers - Alpine SPR-176A 6-1/2 Components
Rear Speakers - Alpine SPR-174A 6-1/2 Coax
Subwoofer - Alpine SWR-1041D 10", 4ohm
Amplifier - Alpine MRV-F450 5-channel amp

I know that I will also need the following items:
2 line output converters
1 amp wiring kit (8ga)
1 subwoofer bracket (the 10" Nissan one for the Bose sub)
1 subwoofer cover
misc speaker wire
misc RCA cables

Since so much will be pulled apart anyway, I'll also put Dynamat in the doors and in the area under the hatch in back.

So, here are my questions to the audio experts in the crowd -

1. Am I crazy to try and install this upgrade by myself? Skillwise, I'm a moderate tinkerer with cars (routine maintenance, replace brake pads, etc), but haven't done anything with car stereos in 15 years and that was on a '67 Mustang that you could take apart with just a screwdriver and a crescent wrench!

2. Am I forgetting anything in this list? I had good experience with Alpine back in high school, but it's been a while.

3. Any tricks to setting up the amp? I haven't ever set one up or 'tuned' one of these things with so many controls.

4. Any time estimates on how long this would take? I'm figuring 2 full days over a weekend b/c of my lack of experience.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Z_Coaster

2. inline fuse for amp
3. Careful with how you route your wires. Try not to run the RCA/Speaker wires in parallel with power lines (or use high quality shielded lines). Also make sure to use a good ground for the amp.


Misc but very important: You will need to seal the stock sub speaker location.

Good luck. I have the same amp, but connected to an Alpine 7995.

My .02 cents.

HokieZ

iTrader: (1)

Good luck with it. Sounds like we're in the same boat. I have about the same familiarity with cars and am looking to do an almost identical setup (different components, but same idea). Maybe we can walk each other through as we do portions of it.....

mgk65

iTrader: (1)

Me 3.

If you're mechanically inclined, go for it.

I'm going to be doing mine in the next few weeks when it starts warming up.

Read, read, read. Mark and print important threads.

I've already purchased my hardware:
* Infinity Kappa 63.5i for the front
* US Acoustics 2100 amp
* Infinity Basslink Sub to go in Stock sub location.
* Amp Wiring kit from Schoshe at http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...3A3947%3A96490
* Speaker wire
* other install items from www.sounddomain.com

I decided not to get any rear speakers. General concensus is to avoid them.

Still deciding on sound deadener. Probably go with FatMat or www.secondskin.com

I would also consider not using the line converters. There can be some degradation when using them. The best ones are made by http://www.davidnavone.com/index.htm

My amplifier has high level inputs, so I'm going to try that first.

Good luck!

350ed

iTrader: (17)

Um, your secondskin link is a **** site

mgk65

iTrader: (1)

Oops, www.secondskinaudio.com

He offers special deals for www.caraudio.com members.

HokieZ

iTrader: (1)

Ah Huntington, I'd have driven down to see the outcome/get help if I still lived in Parkersburg where I grew up. Good luck, hopefully we can all provide some guidance to each other.

mgk65

iTrader: (1)

That's funny, I lived in Richmond for 3 years. One in the Fan and two in the West End. I was a programmer/analyst for Circuit City Corporate.

vanwinkl

Thanks for the encouraging words - I've ordered the components so looks like this will be next weekend's project!

Z-Noob

I'm getting the exact same set up as you except that I am getting a HU too. I will bridging the the amp in 2 +1 so I can drive the components better and power the coax with the alpine HU for fill. Haven't decided what I'm going to do about the sub. It's a nighmare from what I've read trying to deaden the rattling in the stock location. I may just build a custom box for inside the sub location and hope that works better. Any thoughts?

HokieZ

iTrader: (1)

Heh, I'm down in Chester now (cheaper housing) but lived in the west end (Short Pump) for a year before moving down here.

Vanwinkl: If you can take some pictures/notes throughout it would be of great help to numerous people I'm sure. This April I'll likely be taking the plunge and putting in my new system if your feedback is nominally positive. I'm pretty sure I can do all the actual installing stuff pretty easily, it's the wiring that I haven't done before and knowing what to connect to what is my main obstacle.....

Good Luck!

vanwinkl

Quick update -

I completed the front door speaker install today. Took me about 5 hours but I didn't break anything and I didn't have any pieces left over. Here are a few comments:

1. The speaker panels in the front doors are almost half blocked off. I don't know why Nissan did this - so an hour and a half of my install time was spent drilling out most of the covered up holes.

2. There is a stock connector that splits the signal between the tweeter and the woofer. It was just taped up into the wiring. I didn't look very closely at it after I pulled it out and I trashed it - could it be some type of rudimentary crossover or does it just split the cable?

3. The stock speakers are of amazing bad quality. Even though I have read as much on this forum before, I was still surprised. I think the magnets were 1/4 of the size of the Alpines that I put in and the cones are paper!

4. The crossover that came with the Alpines had three settings - 0 ohm, 3 ohm, and 6 ohm. I have no idea what setting I should use so I picked 3 ohm since it was in the middle. Any advice?

The rest of my stuff came via UPS today, so I'll get started on the rest tomorrow.

808_FairladyZ

Installing car audio can be a little difficult but just remember to be very PATIENT!!! I can't stress this enough. Also, it's very important to be orginized with parts and screws. Lastly, be clean. Run all of your wire clean and out of the way. Avoid running wires near moving part as it my severe and cause alot of damage and or headaches. Run your power cables and signal wire seperate. DO NOT over look this part of the install because improper instillation of your wires can result in nasty alternator wine. Oh yah, also if your planning on removeing alot of panels and trims from your car, run down to your local dealer and ask them for a box of new clips. It's not that expensive so use them to replace all your clips. If you need tach info. check out the "How To's" post on this forum for information. They have tons of excellent advice on there. Well good luck and be PATIENT!

vanwinkl

I got the new install completed this weekend. It took me about 14 hours in total which included figuring out the wiring from the headunit (I didn't have a wiring diagram so it took a while to figure out which wire was which; I have a Performance with Navi so if anyone needs the wiring info, let me know) and Dynamat-ing the doors, under the seats and around the back speaker area. The only thing that I really screwed up on was the Sub. The Alpine just won't work in that screwy space behind the seat as there is just no way I have the patience to seal it off properly and it would take about 50 lbs of Dynamat to do it anyway. So, I ordered a JL Audio sub from Tweeter that they said would fit in and work so right now I just have the 4 speakers wired up and it sounds great.

Anyway, I'm excited about the new system - and even more excited that everything worked correctly the first time I turned it on (except the sub, of course). All of the how-to's and other discussion threads on this board were a great help and couldn't have done it with the info. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about doing a system upgrade to give it a shot. The 350z is a very easy car to take apart (even with the Navigation system, it only took about 30 minutes to completely remove the console and the covers behind the seats; everything just pulls apart) and it has plenty of room for running wiring and mounting components.

Now, I'll be figuring out which headunit to go to in a few months. I'm a bit leary of messing with the headunit because of integration with the Nav, but I really like the looks of the new Kenwood 6.5 doubleDIN touchscreen...