Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

Well, I have begun the project. Started purchasing the parts slowly. Already have my head unit. Factory 6-disc started having some issues.

Have already purchased my amp, front separates, rear fill, the 4 amp wiring kit, some of the wiring hardware, etc.

Need to decide on the rear sub. Will not be doing some trunk killing box, more likely a bazooka 8 inch passive tube. Easly removable.

Went with a 5 channel JL Audio amp, Focal's for the front and rear drivers, and stil have the kenwood head.

Kenwood I have only has 4 pre-amp outs, so I have my y-adapters already sourced. Just cannot justify additional cost of a new head unit when there is nothing wrong with the existing one.

Been doing a lot of research on the mach 460 system.

Only things left to decide.

1.) will I run all new speaker wire, or integrate into the factory wiring?
2.) What sub I will use
3.) What sound deadening material to use
4.) which level of replacement carpet will I get from LMR.
5.) will i replace the factory steering wheel or wrap it...
6.) will i Wuss out and have the system installed professionally.

I also have a local trim shop that will fix the driver seat for me for $250.00

not a bad deal.

Gotta love 1st world problems...
Anyway, assuming i don't wimp out and actually complete the install myself I will post up details and if I can remember, any pictures...

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

What's up with your factory unit? Disc changer not changing? If that's the case, it's and easy fix and there are places that will fix them for you. I did mine myself and its usually a jack screw that works itself loose. There's even vidoes on you tube on how to repair them. (Note: when taking it apart, do not let the jack screw get away from you, and it will try!) Whatever you do, be careful with the IP center stack trim. It cracks easily and the replacement is out there, but the IUP paint being offered doesn't match. I'm working on a fix for that myself.

:borg:

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

I replaced it years back. in all truthfulness I don't fully recall the actual hiccup. Fairy sure the changer would not go back and forth between discs and had trouble selecting. It was enough to prompt me to make the change.

It was also @ the time of my Divorce and the Mach was thrust into daily driver status. Life was a little topsy-turvy back then... I am the primary with the kids (all 3) , so i decided to take the opportunity to put a DVD player in for those longer drives. Kids were still in car boosters in the back too. Being able to play a DVD made the kids happy...

I have always been something of an audiophile, and as good as this factory system is and was for its day, I have always wanted to do more.

Finally have the opportunity. Figure since I need to do carpet anyway, and I will have the interior basically apart, now is as good a time as any.

Trick will be to not cut anything from the factory and to avoid drilling any holes if possible. I have managed thus far in the cars life to never take a single drill bit to any location on the car. (unlike my poor departed FOX)

Every modification I have done to this car can be put right back to stock. or stock appearing. I Still have my 3.55's and my stock wheels are on a friends 2002 v-6 car. have my factory mid pipe still, air box, etc. Even have the factory head unit which if there is a fix, I can then look at that if needed.

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

Cool, there's so much in the way of adapters plugs and face plates they make it kinda easy. Good luck and make it somethign you enjoy!

:borg:

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

I left all the factory wiring intact and ran new wiring to everything, trying to re-use the factory stuff seemed to be more trouble than it was worth and it wasn't that difficult.

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Thinking the same thing. I am mounting the amp between the two rear speakers on the rear deck anyway, so the rear hook up will be stupid simple. really only running wire to the doors.

How did you mount your amp fuse block in the engine compartment. I am looking at options. Number one consideration is I am not drilling into the car. just want to use an existing hole or stud...

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

I mounted a circuit breaker to the firewall, I think I screwed it into part of the plastic cowl assembly there. I ran the power wire back under the rear seat to a fused distribution box. My amps wouldn't fit over top of the sub boxes (2 single 12" sealed sub boxes) so mine are mounted to the backs of the seats

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

Made my tweeter mounts...1/4 abs
And the dremel
Used the factory speaker as a template
Came out pretty good

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

looks good! pretty sure we made my tweeter mounts out of some paint trays from HD lol

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Amp is mocked up...working on rear speaker mounting next

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

Thought I would update
So far have probably 25 hours into this thing. May sound crazy but I got everything fired up finally. Spent a lot of my time on wiring and making clean harnesses. Everything soldered, no crimps. Shink wrap. Tessa tape, wire ferrals at every plug in connection etc.

Rewarded with zero noise and everything is working as designed. Have a lot of small detail work to complete on re-assembly.

Spent today on finishing the wiring. Pretty happy with the way it turned out so far. I’m beat

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Some pics. And yes that’s how the car looked when I took the carpet out...before I vacuumed

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Nice work Jb. Very sanitary. And in this heat, you deserve a medal.

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put 9 hours in friday. still not 100% recovered yet LOL


i opted to replace the head unit so i could get all 6 low level outputs, vs using y-adapters off the old head unit. it only had 4 preamp-outs. old unit was 8 years old so a nice upgrade either way. may put the old unit in my fathers 2003 v-6 car. that way he could have bluetooth...

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looking good!

Im so happy with my new double din, having car play just changes everything

LOL I understand this. I’m wanting to replace my brake fluid and I’m not looking forward to working in the garage.

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

I’ve been upgrading (and fixing) mine little by little since February-ish. I have a Kicker S12 L5 Solo Baric (powered by an ancient old Performance Teknique 1200 watt monoblock amp). I installed back in ‘08 or so. I did one of the WORST Mickey Mouse jobs ever!! LOL I was young, dumb, inpatient and wanted to bump lol I had that, “I’ll clean it up and make it look pretty later when I have more time” mentality....and 12 years later I finally got around to doing so LOL Anyway, I replaced the stock HU with an old Pioneer double din I found on Offer Up back in 2016 and was super happy to finally have a touch screen, play a CD, and hook my phone up to it so that I could listen to Pandora or Spotify! (HU was soo old that I had to use a headphone jack wire just to listen to music off my phone...but I LOVED it anyway! Hahaha). Seemed like shortly after that my speakers started sounding horrible....and the front tweeters stopped working altogether, so you know that sounded BAD! Time went on and I finally got bit by “mod bug” and it was all down hill from there!

I bought 2 pairs of 6x8” Alpine Type R coax’s and a pair of Type R tweeters...all off Offer Up. Installed them knowing they were going to sound bad because they were being powered by the Mach 460 system. I started doing some homework (YouTube became my best friend!) and came across Mark from Car Audio Fabrication! I was instantly hooked and learned as much as I could from him, Steve Meade (SMD), the guys from Sonic Electronix, the guys from 5 Star, and the guys from Quality Mobile Video to name a few. I bought my wiring little by little all from KnuKonceptz. I left the stock harness in place and ran KnuKonceptz Karma SS 12 gauge bi-wire to the front and rear (I swapped the front coax’s out for a pair of Alpine Type R component 6x8s and plan on doing the same to the rear when I find another pair of component 6x8s). While I was at it, I bought 3 sets of KnuKonceptz Krystal RCA cables. Somewhere in that timeline I cracked the screen on my radio and replaced it with a Pioneer AVH-2330 and absolutely LOVE IT!! I finally have a mic, real touchscreen (7” of it lol), Bluetooth, etc. I also bought a 2nd amp (Performance Teknique icbm 774 1000watts 4 channel) to power the speakers, which I recently replaced with a Skar Audio SKV2 4 channel amp. All I have left to do is install the Big 3 upgrade and buy a 0 gauge amp installation kit from KnuKonceptz (I’m currently running a 4 gauge from the battery to a capacitor, and powering both amps and digital bass processor from there). Oh, and I also need to buy some power and ground distribution blocks to finish it all up!

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Oh yeah, and I’m also thinking of swapping out all four Type R 6x8s for (possibly) two pairs of B2 Audio ISX 6.5s or Deaf Bonce Apocalypse (Arnolds)! But, if I go Deaf Bonce, I’m torn between which ones to get lol I’m looking at the AP-M65AN, the AP-M67AN and possibly the AP-M60 (I believe the M61AL is the newer version). Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!! LoL

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

the speakers are very much a personal preference type thing. I debated staying with the 5x7/6x8 for the doors as the 5.25 round is the only real option for the doors. there is more cone surface area to the 5x7/6x8 driver but i prefer the sound of the round cone. nothing wrong with the oval cone. Went with focal all the way around with a 6.5 co-ax for rear fill and a bazooka 8 inch passive tube for the sub. I have always preferred 8 inch subs as I like more of a fast attack bass. waiting on some dyna mat to be delivered to finish the back deck, a little wiring clean up and start putting the carpet in and re-assemble...

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As far as “performance,” the industry seems to only make 6x9 or round speakers and very little for 5x7/6x8s. So yeah, if I swap my set up out again, I’ll be getting some 6x8 to 6.5” adapters for the front and rear. Then after that, the next thing to ponder is, do I stick with the Alpine Type R tweeters (I picked up a 2nd pair for the rear a couple weeks ago), or go with matching tweeters from B2 Audio or Deaf Bonce?! (We need a shrugging emoji lol)

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Its there :OUCH:

Re: Stereo Upgrade Journey Begins
 

Good to know! LOL Guess I’m used to phone emojis, too bad you can’t use them here!

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Where did you guys mount your fuse holder and how did you mount it? I’m looking for a better location to mount mine, looking for ideas :thumbsup:

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I used 3m double sided tape. Tessa tape for the wire, ferrules at each connection and heat shrink

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Mine wasn’t “mounted” per say, but it rested on the fuse cover. And well, the fuse holder melted, and the heat generated was so hot that it melted part of that cover onto one of the (car) fuses. I’ll take a pic tomorrow and post it