Ian's car sound install

AVForums

Help Support AVForums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JimGore

AVForums Grandmaster
*
Joined
Jul 8, 2005
Messages
4,488
Reaction score
32
Location
Jhb
About 2 weeks ago I decided to trade in my car on a new one... 

I wanted to buy a bakkie (pick-up), but wasn't really in the mood to give up the creature comforts and power of my Audi A3 3.2 quattro for a 1.6 Nissan NP200 bakkie.  This made me procrastinate on the issue for just about a full year.  Finally I found what I was looking for - 2009 Chev lumina SS UTE 6.0 V8 with low mileage.  The previous owner did the wheels and the exhaust, leaving me with only the sound to do - what a bargain!

So, the first weekend I had it, I stipped the dash out in order to remove the centre speaker.  For some unknown reason the clever people at the factory decided to put a centre speaker in the middle of the dashboard.  Not that there is much in terms of stereo imaging in a car, but let me tell you - that R 7.29 centre speaker they have in there messes things up more than you can imagine.  While stripping out everything to get to that speaker, I discover that there are some pretty decent Rockford Fosgate splits in the car already.  Things are looking better and better - I now only need to get an amplifier and a small subwoofer to finish things up.

I need 3 channels amplification: one channel each for the RF splits, and another for the sub.  Now I don't need massive power from the amp because I actually care about my hearing, so I decide to spend the money on a better quality amplifier with lower power.  Same for the sub.  10" is good enoug, so let's spend the money to get better quality, not higher SPL.  After much deliberation, I decided to go with some Focal goodies. 

The subwoofer I decide to go with is a Focal Polyglass 27V1:
27%20V1.jpg


And the amplifier is a Focal Solid 4.  It has 4 channels, and allows me to bridge two of those for use on the sub:
h091SLiD4B-f.jpeg


As for the installation itself, I don't want flash and bling - I want subtle and unobtrusive.  I don't want to advertise that I have aftermarket sound in my car, so I need to do the install as "factory" looking as possible while still getting good sound out of it.

Picked them both up from a place near where I live on Friday afternoon.  With the long weekend ahead of me, you know there is only one thing I will be concentrating on  ;D

I forget to mention: I used to do car sound installs for many years in my youth, so this is not my first time taking a panel or two out of a car.

Onto some pictures then:

1.  This is the inside of the cab with all the panels and carpets, etc, etc removed.  I also took the passanger side seat out to make things easier.
2.  This is where the subwoofer will go.  There is a deep recess which was covered by the back panel which I am using to get some volume for the enclosure.
3.  Some pieces of wood which I will use to fasten the new panels onto.  Also note the "poor man's dynamat" on the back wall.
4.  Test fit first back panel.

...continued below...
 

Attachments

  • DSC01397.JPG
    DSC01397.JPG
    58.8 KB · Views: 155
  • DSC01398.JPG
    DSC01398.JPG
    41.9 KB · Views: 156
  • DSC01402.JPG
    DSC01402.JPG
    67.9 KB · Views: 155
  • DSC01406.JPG
    DSC01406.JPG
    49.3 KB · Views: 155
Top