Well, I started my install today. Actually, I had already started looking for a way through my firewall last week and got thoroughly disgusted. I finally drilled through the firewall, which wasn't my first choice, but I've done it before with other vehicles. I just wish Nissan would have made it a little easier by having some pre-drilled holes already there to use!!

If you look above the brake pedal and to the left, where the floor is covered by that rubber-stuff (or whatever it is) you will see a perforated hunk of rubber that you can pull out (it's in the shape of a slanted rectangle) which reveals a flat peice of metal underneath. There's absolutely nothing on the other side in the engine compartment to get in the way. I drilled two 1/2-inch holes there and my 4-guage power wires fit through there very easily.

I am absolutely ecstatic about my choice of speakers. I've only had the front passenger-side door off so far, but I'm hoping the other 3 doors are similar. I bought Focal 165 HC 6-1/2 inch coaxials. They fit in the stock Bose white plastic speaker baffles that were already there. Since the Focals were about 1/2-inch deeper than the Bose woofers, I had to cut the back of the baffle off. This was very easy and doesn't change a thing, other than letting the Focals mount in the stock baffles with ease. I installed one and tested the windows and there is still enough clearance behind the speaker for the window to not rub. I was anticipating having to make my own baffles and this nice surprise just cut my install time considerably.

I bought some aftermarket interfaces made by PAC that allow me to use the Bose head unit with my Phoenix Gold amps and Focal speakers. However, after taking out the stereo I am having second thoughts about installing an aftermarket head. I have an Eclipse 5303R head unit and I'm leaning towards dropping that into the dash. My question is that a long time ago I read that you can buy a GXE stereo trimplate w/ a pocket and a DIN-sized opening for a stereo. If I were to buy this for my Eclipse, would I need any other kits to get it to fit? Or is the trimplate "stereo-ready"?

Anyway, I'll keep posting as I go along. I hope that whatever I learn during the process I can share with everyone else.

Tony

 

cool.. sounds like its going well. about the baffle. what is the purpose of it?? is it to reproduce a sort of sealed enclosure??

 

It's just a piece of plastic used to (I assume) bring the rear of the speaker away from the window so it doesn't hit. The rear of the baffle only covers the top of the back of the speaker. I guess it's just to keep water from falling on it? What's funny is that the stock stereo wire comes OUT of the door and goes back INTO the door through a small hole in the plastic baffle and then attaches to the speaker leads. WTF???

Tony

 

More advances:

1. The speakers in the rear doors are NOT...I repeat NOT 6-1/2 inch speakers. I don't know why people have posted otherwise, because I have read countless times how all 4 speakers are 6.5s. The rear door speakers are 5-1/4 inch speakers. I guarantee it.

2. There is no frickin' place to feed speaker wire from inside the car to the front doors. What was Nissan thinking? I'm gonna have to drill a hole near where the factory wiring harness comes out of the car into the door. I don't see any other way to do this. I was going to use the factory speaker wires, but they run from the dash to the Bose amplifier in the trunk and then out to the speakers. So much for that idea!

Because of all the difficulties I've had with Bose, and trying to eliminate the Bose, I am never again buying any Bose product again. I called them up personally and emailed their mobile electronics dept. many times with questions and have gotten back extremely limited information.

Well, I vented. I feel better!

Tony

 

Pull the kick panel out, look for a hole there ya go.

 

There's no hole, sorry!

Tony

 

There is trust me...its the hole that that ran the factory wireing through it may have a gromet around it and loom covering them, if you look inbetween the door when you open it, you see that loom? Well thats where the wires come through you just have to find it up in the kick, turn into a pretzel and keep looking its there.

 

I thought the same thing. The day before yesterday, I took that loom "cover" off (oh and believe me it was NOT EASY) and the only thing under there is a hard-wired multi-pin connector. There is no way to run any wires through there at all.

Repeat...those reading this thread for info...you will have to drill a hole in the side of your door jambs way behind your kick panels if you want to run your own wires into the doors. Once you drill the hole you can run your speaker wire through it and then into the lower part (where it actually goes into the door) of the rubber loom and then inside the door.

Tony

 

doesn't sound fun. i had a hard time getting myself putting a hole in the engine bay for the cold air intake. i guess this is one more reason to make kickpanels.

 

Yeah...I've had kick panels in two of my other vehicles. The imaging sure was nice but I couldn't stand always having to tell your passengers not to hit them with their feet when getting in/out of the car. Over time they started looking all beat up. The Focals I'm installing in the doors have excellent off-axis response so I'm fairly certain I'll be happy with the sound. But I will miss having kicks.

Tony

 

i don't like making hole in the car, that's my problem. lol. and on top of that the Digital Design mids i plan on using won't fit in the door panels anyways.

 

why arent you taping into the bose amp wiring in the back? all the wires are there. you could just drop your amp where the old one was. no drilling..

 

No one that I know of makes a wiring harness for the connectors in the back by the amp. I thought about tapping into the wiring, but I would have to splice into the wires by hand. Although I know I can feasably do that, I want to make it very simple when it comes time to sell the car and put all the Bose stuff back in. Additionally, since I'm going through all this trouble I thought it would be better to upgrade the speaker wiring anyway.

Also, my amplifiers (Phoenix Gold ZX450 and ZX475ti) are way too big to mount where the Bose amp is. They actually fit perfectly under the front seats.

Tony

 

Okay...I'm mostly finished!!!

This was definitely the most difficult install I've ever done! Not enough space...car was too low to the ground to lean inside confortably, etc... But, even though I ran into some obstacles, everything went together quite nicely. This is what I ended up with:

Eclipse 5442 CD head unit. I've noticed with Eclipse that for the most part, their lower-end units have the same SQ as their uper-end ones. Which is nice, b/c it lets you decide on features and still have great sound. The 5442 is not their top-of-the-line, but man it sounds good. It only has 5-volt pre-outs, but I've never had any more than that and I don't see a reason to start unless you have any unwanted noise in your system. If you do the intsall right, you shouldn't have to worry. I love the way the display matches my car's dash lights. And it has more features than I have been able to figure out thus far. I'm very happy. I paid $450 at my local stereo shop.

I bought a 5th gen Maxima single-size DIN trimplate with a pocket. It fit in perfect where the Bose unit was looks very nice. It was made by American International, part number ND-K778.

I have a Phoenix Gold ZX500 amp under the driver seat and a ZX475ti under the passenger seat. They both fit under there perfectly and I only think there's a slight chance any rear passengers might bump them with their feet. It literally took me about 2 hours to get each one attatched and all the wires hooked up and ran to their places. This was probably one of the hardest parts of the install. Trying to get my hands under the carpet and run 4-guage power and ground wires, RCA cords, speaker wires, and remote turn-on leads was....A PAIN IN THE A**!!! I grounded them to the inside lower seat mounts. I grinded the paint away from the body and then attached the cables to the bolts that held the seats to the inside of the hump that runs down the middle of the car. Little things like having to drill out the centers of the grounding rings b/c the seat bolts were too big and trying to get zip-cords through the carpeting to attach the amps to the floor made a what looked like something simple into a BIG, FAT headache.

Focal coaxials, front and rear doors. I put 165HC 6.5s in the front and 130HC 5.25s in the back. I used silicone to seal the speakers to the stock baffles. I will seal the doors with LOTS of dynamat later. I'm finished cussing at my car for awhile! I had my local install shop drill holes behind the kick panels and then into the front doors so I could run my speaker wire through them. They did an awesome job and it saved me some more cuss words!! The rear doors were easy to get wires through. I just pulled both ends off the rubber boot, used a long, skinny screwdriver to push through from one end to the other, and then used electrical tape to tape the speaker wire to the end of the screw driver and pulled it back through. Voila!

I bought a JL Audio 10W6 and a pre-made speaker box for the trunk. The box fit perfectly in the driver-side rear-corner of the trunk facing inwards. It doesn't take up a lot of trunk space and the carpeting is a close match to the trunk carpeting. I removed the stock Bose sub from the package shelf and kept the grill there for cosmetics. Man that sub is sorry looking!! The hole left in it's place seems to do an adequate job of letting the sub vent into the passenger compartment. I will HAVE to dynamat the trunk b/c it rattles like a beeoch!! It's so bad that it makes the sub sound like there's something wrong with it. However, it sounds great at low to moderate volume levels and doesn't start to really buzz until the volme is up LOUD, so I'm happy about that!

Let's see....I used Streetwires & Soundquest 4-guage power and ground cables for the amps, 16-guage Phoenix Gold speaker wire for the Focals, 12-guage Monster cable for the sub, a single-stand of the speaker wire for the remote amp turn-ons, and PG Zero-Point true-balanced RCA cords. The power, speaker, and RCA cords were all run separately and as far away from eachother as possible. If their paths had to cross, they were done so at right angles to eachother. I used tons of zip ties, electrical tape, and duct tape to secure wires to the body, panels, etc. to keep them in place. I used two 60-amp fuses with clear plastic holders on the power cords close to the battery and used split-loom tubing from the battery to the firewall.

Both seats, the rear seat, the center console, the entire center-dash console, and all trim pieces were pulled out of the car for this install. I heard a rumor that if you disconnect the seats and turn on the ingition you run the chance of pulling up the SRS light (I have side impact airbags) and then you have to pay Nissan big $$ to reset it. Well, I turned the ignition switch to accessory and it was fine, so there you have it. I couldn't have possiblly installed everything without testing it first before putting the whole car back together and THEN realized I screwed up somewhere.

Well, I borrowed a digital camera and have lots of install pics to share, but I don't know how to host them, if that's what you call it.
Anyway, if anyone has some pointers in this area, let me know.

Tony

 

I installed a a steering wheel remote interface today. It's called a SWI-X, made by P.A.C., sold at Crutchfield for $70.

The instructions were a little overwhelming so I called PAC tech support. A guy named Carl, who was a little impatient with me, answered all my questions after I persisted.

Anyway, you use it to patch into the stock Bose pin-connector that supplies signals from the steering wheel controls to the Bose stereo. You use 5 resistors and connect the wires to the SWI-X along with power and ground wires. Then you program it with the IR remote from your aftermarket HU. I mounted the IR emitter to the front of the HU adapter and it works great! An added bonus: Before, with the steering wheel buttons on the Bose system, you could only search for specific tracks when listening to a CD. Now, I can briefly press a button & search for tracks, but if I hold it down I can scan forward and backwards within songs.

Also, you can program any button with any function that your IR remote supports with the HU. So, you can have the MODE button on your steering wheel now act as a pause if you wanted.

Very nice.

Tony

 

Well I don't have the bose system in my car, but I am also in the process of intalling my component set and I don't seem to have baffles like you do. However i was wondering if your speakers (Bose) look like the ones on this link: http://www.punkdork.net/max/speakers.htm

If they do did you have to do what punkdork did to his speakers? Do you have any before and after pics of the speakers or pics of the baffles? If you do can you e-mail them to OctoMan77@hotmail.com Thanks.

 

My stock speakers looked fairly similar. They don't have the whizzer in the middle of the cone, and they are not integrated into the baffle like punkdork's were.

I have pics and I'm working on getting them posted. Does anyone know how I can arrange to have a website that hosts them so I can post a link?

I'll email some pics to you, I hope it works.

Tony

 

Thank you Tony, got your e-mail and it looks a little diffrent like you said. pardon me for asking this put are the speakers screwed in the baffle?

 

Yes, they are screwed in. I sent you two emails each with a pic. One got returned, I'm not sure why (too big for hotmail?)

Which one did you get? I'll try and send you the other in a smaller version if you want.

Tony

 

Don't go through more trouble. The one you sent me was good. The one you sent me was install 15.jpg. I couldn't really tell whether they were screwed in but now I see that it looks as if 3 screws hole it in black. Thank you.

 

I've posted all the pictures I've taken thus far. The install pics start on page 5, but please check 'em all out!! Just click on my homepage.

Thanks,

Tony

 

Wow a merlot SE AE. NICE! I've only seen one merlot around here where I live. Nice color. Nice install as well. How long did it take you?

 

Thanks for the compliment!

It took me about 40 hours, including breaks, trips to the store b/c I forgot something, etc...

Tony

 

After adding the Eclipse HU, my radio reception really sucked. I left it this way for almost 2 months until Igor911 told me the secret:

Connect the blue power antenna wire from the aftermarket HU to the blue power antenna wire from the stock Bose harness. I didn't think that wire needed to be hooked up because our 5th gens don't have power antennas, but it WORKED! My radio reception is now back to normal.

Thanks Igor911!!

Tony

 

I just finished soundproofing the front passenger door. It took about 8 hours total. I will do the other next week. I have updated pictures on my home page, starting on page 5. Your comments are welcome!!!

I used some high-temp mastic sheets from www.mcmaster.com. It's basically the same thing as Dynamat but a lot cheaper. I also used Cascade Audio Engineering visco-elastic spray.

I removed the plastic sheets from underneath the door panel. I then cleaned the entire door surface (including inside the door cavity) with some heavy-duty chemical cleaner. You have to do this pretty thoroughly in order for your damping materials to adhere to the surfaces. The plasic you remove will leave behind some tar-like stuff on your door. Just use your fingers to pick it off and once you get a small amount in your fingers just use it to dab the remaining tar off. If you use the cleaner it will smear and take FOREVER.

I applied the damping sheets to the outside skin of the door. You'll have to be a contortionist to get the sheets inside the door cavity through the access holes. Use a heat gun to heat up the sheets so they will be more pliable and the adhesive works better when it's hot anyway. Cover as much surface area as you can or want. The more the better. If you get really inspired you can use two layers. Use some sort of wood or rubber roller to press the sheets down. Pay particular attention to the edges, since that's where they will peel away over time.

The next step involves spraying the visco-elastic spray into the door cavity. I therefore covered everything I didn't want sprayed with aluminum foil. The window tracks, power window motor, door handle, linkages, etc. all needed to be covered. I also shoved a bunch up into the top of the cavity (from the bottom) where it meets with the bottom of the window so any spray didn't get on the glass.

I used a couple of plastic lawn & garden garbage bags to cover the window and the opening into the passenger compartment to prevent any spray from getting on them. It should be noted that the can warns against getting this stuff anywhere you don't want it to be! I should know, I have a bunch of drops still on my left knee that won't come off. I should've gotten creative and made a tattoo!

Then I sprayed everywhere I could reach inside the door cavity. I used one can for the entire door. It coated everything inside fairly well. This stuff pretty much solidifies like rubber, and once it does, it's there FOR GOOD. If one wanted, you could let it dry overnight and then apply another can. Make sure you use some eye protection when doing this. Once it dries you can remove the aluminum foil. The more splatter you have on the foil when you take it out the better job you've done. Also, it helps to have an area where you can park your car overnight with the doors/windows open. The stuff smells pretty bad, but most of it goes away after 2-3 days.

Make sure you clean any over spray off of the outside of the door. The damping sheets won't adhere to it very well. Don't wait too long to do this...the longer you wait the harder it is to get off.

The next step is to use large sections of damping sheets to cover the outside of the door paneling. Use the heat gun a LOT, because it needs to be very pliable if you're going to effectively adhere the sheets to the irregular surfaces of the door. Each piece should be almost too hot to touch when you position it over the spot and install it. Cut holes in the sheets for screws, bolts, wires, access holes, etc. They can be filled over later, see below. This step is very time consuming. I can't really describe how to effectively apply the sheets...you basically need to sit there and scratch your head and plan ahead and take your time. Use your fingers to press the sheets into the grooves and curves. Remember, the sheets need to be heated VERY hot so don't burn your fingers. If there's a small hole or screw underneath make sure you mark it with a pen on the sheet itself so you can cut it away later. Once again, pay special attention to the edges. Use the roller and press down HARD. Make sure you do a test-fit with the door panel to make sure none of your damping sheets interfere with it going back on properly.

At this point I had every piece of metal covered on the door with the exception of the access holes and other protrusions. The reason I leave the access holes open is that I will now cover them with slightly-larger sections of sheets so if I ever need to get into the door cavity I can peel away the top layer over the holes and not touch the inner layer which should be firmly attached to the door! I then used clear silicone to coat the edges and corners so they don't peel away over time. I also siliconed the overlapping layers of sheets, and every bolt & screw (they should be exposed, remember?) so they don't rattle. The only part I couldn't effectively cover is the hole where the door handle/lock linkages come out from insdie the cavity and attach to the door's inner handle. Oh well. This door is about as dead as it can possibly get. It's also as close to being a sealed enclosure as a car door can be. I guess if you were good with fiberglass...

Before I put the door panel back on I had to remove the styrofoam chunk that sticks out from the lower left-hand corner. Since I've covered the access hole with a damping sheet, it won't fit any more.

Well, I hope this helps someone out there. Don't forget to check out my homepage. The pictures there help make sense of all this.

My next project will to install my 3-way Dynaudio component set. I'll be mounting woofers in the doors and using kick panels for the mids and tweets. I'll also be making a baffle out of MDF for the woofers.

Dont' forget to comment or ask questions on any or all of this...your words of praise or criticism makes all this worth my while (besides having a sweet-sounding stereo to listen to)!!!

Tony

 

Just replaced my Eclipse 5442 with a Sony CDX-C90. Well, DUH...it sounds soooo much better. I used to own a C90 in the past but didn't like the ergonomics, display, etc. After owning several other head units, I learned to appreciate the SQ of this particular unit. I really love the way its 4 Burr-Brown DA convertors sound. Wow.

Anyway...I'll be selling my 5442 soon, if anyone's interested.

Pictures to come soon.

Tony

 

Question for you:
I have the pac control unit and it is working with only two resistors hooked to it/that is all I got from the revised instruction on pac's site. What is your wiring on this unit? What size resistor to to which factory harness wire? I assume u are using the white control wire from the interface.
I have an alpine flip up monitor and dvd player in the dash and am also curious if your factory remote allows for the dual modes on its fwd and rev keys or is this a PAC function. Sure wish I had more buttons on the steering wheel with all the dvd menu cursor controls and junk. Would be cool if the 3 resistor difference between us is some kind of way to do dual mode steering buttons.
Also, I have 110 watts feeding each of my 4 6.5 in speakers, but have not had time to add my sub and amp. Would like to take the less is better way out to preserve trunk room. Was this a premade box? Does it sound ok? Was thinking about making the sub and amp a module that could be removed when I travel if I could not make it unobtrusive. If unobtrusive and sounds good , i could leave it in for my travels.
Also if anyone is reading this and has figured out or seen how the crazy window modules that are factory in the 2002 (auto up and down) work, I would really love that info too. I realize that there is a serial communication between the doors for door locks and window controls are probably integrated into the same communication. Haven't had the time to fool around with it really yet.
I did notice that a wire for heated mirrors(which I did not get) does go thru the integrated door gromet. Would be nice to make a serial interface of my own that would allow Window vent,Auto up, Auto down, door lock, and trunk release (I realize that trunk release wire is available in the cabin but I was on a roll) and use this wire as the data wire between door and cabin.
Just ideas that I am hoping someone else will take care of and iron all the bugs out by the time I get around to doing it myself.
As for the bose thing, I am with you but could not get the factory moon roof without the darn thing. Gotta love that age old bose motto: "No highs, no lows, Must be BOSE". It will have good company with the bugs and dust out in my barn until one day it gets called to use again so I can sell my car. The dang thing would make and interesting paper weight but it dont even sit up straight when it is not mounted!
Take Care

 

I used all my resistors if I remember correctly. I don't have my instructions readily available, but I believe I spliced one end of all of them together to form one big lead. Yes, I believe I used the white wire. If you want to wait, I can look up the instructions later...I'm in the process of moving and have all my owners manuals packed already.

Both my Eclipse and Sony players had remotes that used the principle of quickly pressing the button to advance tracks and to hold it down to scan within a track. I suspect that a remote that does not do this means that your steering wheel controls via a PAC adapter won't do it either.

The box was pre-made. It sounds great. I still get a lot of rattling from the rear deck lid, which adds some "bad" sound to the overall SQ of the system. I'll fix it eventually.

Mounting the amp to the sub box is a great idea. I've done that in other vehicles where trunk space was needed, and all you had to do was lose you sub for a few days or however long if you needed to haul something large around. Make sure you check with the amp manufacturer that it can handle the vibrations coming from the box. I believe most respectable companies make their amps with that in mind, but you never know.

Tony

 

Man I am real mad. I bought the swi-x b4 I investigated thoroughly! Turns out pac makes an swi-v that is for after market video, it turns steering wheel controls into dual mode controls for audio and video.
take care

 

Hey Tony who made the sub enclosure for your 10w6?

 

never mind about the swi-v it seems as if it is designed to use on factory radios. You select a button to me used as a mode button. This button operates the factory unit still but after a 1.5 second delay. All the other buttons work normally unless the mode button is pressed b4 it. For example, if the mode button (say we assigned the am/fm button to be the mode button) is pressed b4 the volume up button the repeater could be programmed to ffwd the video player. If the mode button (am/fm) is not pressed b4 the vol up button, the vol up button functions normally.
The swi-v might be able to be used in conjunction with the swi-x but it could get confusing. By the way, I paid 59.99 at best buy for the swi-x if that helps anyone.
Again, Take care

 

I'm not sure who made it. My local retailer had it for sale along with the sub. It's made out of very dense MDF and seemed pretty sturdy. I used silicone to seal up the entire inside, filled it about 3/4 full with polyfill, and cut the carpeting away around the outside edge of the woofer hole so the W6 made an air-tight seal. It's nothing special...it works and it fits!

Tony

 

Tony, or anyone really ,question for you. I have fat mat extreme, which is identical to dynamat extreme, but I've done the trunk and it works great. Problem is, I can smell the asphalt in the trunk and I'm worried about dropping it all over the inside of the car. Did the smell go away after a few days? It's not bad, but long term it might not be so hot.

Tony, your mat install is incredible, I am not nearly that proficient with the stuff thus far....

 

The smell should go away after a while. It'll probably take more than a few days, though. If you have a garage I suggest you park your car in it overnight as many times as you can with the trunk open to let it air out. That'll help for the immediate time being and get rid of the majority of the smell. I can smell my doors every once in a while, especially when it's hot, and I did them months ago. But it continues to get less noticable as time goes by.

Tony

 

Just completed my next major project: An aperiodic sub enslosure. For those of you that don't know what this is I'll briefly explain. AP boxes use an aperiodic membrane on the back of the box that acts to damp the woofer cone movement. Basically, you have to mount the box like you would in an infinite baffle application; sealing the front of the box from the rear to prevent cancellation. You buiild the smallest box possible (I mean SMALLL...just large enough to clear the sides and backs of the woofers) and then on the back you attach the membrane. The results are a very extended, flat frequency response...down to 20Hz. By varying the thickness of the membrane you can "tune" the box to flatten the response curve. The drawback to all this is decreased output. In short, AP boxes give you all the benefits of sounding like a very large box, but in a very small box. AP enclosures are very SQ oriented...not SPL. So this box isn't for everyone.

Only certain woofers work with AP boxes. I chose two Soundstream EXACT 10s. They are an SQ woofer. Powering them is a Phoenix Gold ZX500. I wired them in parallel so the peak output will be 600W.

I made my own membranes. You can purchase them pre-made for around $100 each (one for each woofer) from USD audio, but I found a really good DIY write-up on Carsound by Chris K. I used R11 fiberglass insulation sandwiched in between two speaker grills I cut up to fit in 5-inch holes.

I made my box to fire into the rear seats. The baffle bolts into the metal framework behind the seats. The entire finished box with the two 10s took up less space than my single JL10W6 I was previously using in a small, sealed box in the corner of the trunk. Each chamber was less than 1/3 cubic foot. The hardest and most time-consuming part of the install was sealing off the trunk. I took out the rear seats and all the surrounding panelling, the entire trunk liner, the parcel shelf, and the rear window pillar covers. I used tons of damping sheets, silicone, and foam stuffing to seal the trunk off. I killed two birds with one stone on the parcel shelf: By using damping sheets to help seal it, I also effectively ended all my rattling problems I previously had. Very nice bonus!

The entire project took me about two weeks. Of course, this was during the holidays, so I was always finding other things to keep me busy. All in all I probably spent close to 40 hours on the entire install.

The results? Holy crap! Amazaing front soundstage presence (I would go as far to say it's perfect), quick attack, no overhang, amazing detail and articulation, and very, very tight. I am so happy with the results I can't stop thinking about it. Every type of music I've played sounds soooo good. Definitely worth the effort. I measured the frequency response and found it was almost perfectly flat down to about 32 Hz. At 20Hz, the response only dropped by 3dB.

Here are some pics of the finished project. For install pics, see page 7 of my homepage.

Tony

 

Tony,

Very good write-up. Glad it has turned out better than you invisioned. Taking your time and coming up with some creative ways to improve the SQ has worked out really well. Nice work.

-Tim

 

that looks sweet!

 

Thanks, guys!!

Tony

 

Okay. Next project. I just finished squeezing a Dynaudio system 360 into my front doors. It consists of two MD170 8" midwoofers, MD140 3" midranges, and MD100 1" tweeters. I was surprised to find that the midwoofers fit PERFECTLY into the doors behind the stock door panels. FYI the mounting depth of the midwoofer was 3-1/16". This barely allowed the back of the basket to clear the window while in the down position and the front of the surround to clear the stock grill in the door panel.

The kickpanels I installed were Q-Logics, part number QL-K8002. It fits all 5th gens.

First of all, nothing in the instructions that came with the panels mentioned anything at all about there being the ABS computer behind the driver side kick panel area. I'm not sure if all 5th gens have this mounted here, but you absolutley have to relocate it in order to put any actual speakers in the kick panels. I suppose if you want to look cool and have aftermarket kick panels without speakers installed in your car then you can leave the computer there! Luckily, the thick wiring harness that leads to the computer was long enough that I was able to move it up under the dash. I used zip ties to firmly mount it in place where it was out of the way and unable to jostle around.

Also, you have to modify the stock lower thresholds for the kick panels. These are the plastic panels that run along the bottom of the door thresholds just above the door sills. You have to measure approximately 24" from the back and make a cut. A hacksaw worked great. Then I used a die grinder and 600 grit sandpaper to make it look nice. I was very skeptical to the idea of cutting these since they are not hidden from view. But after everything was put back together it looked like it was meant to be that way.

My main installation concern was whether or not I have enough room in the door itself and behind the stock grills in the door panels to fit the 8s inside. I began by measuring the midwoofer and comparing it to several different areas: How much space there was inside the door with the window down, how much room there was inside the door panel to accomodate a custom-made MDF baffle that would be slightly larger in diameter than the midwoofer, and how much clearnace there would be behind the stock grill for the midwoofer's surround during maximum excursion. I learned the latter the hard way on my last vehicle's install. I had the speaker mounted nicely behind the stock door panel...until I actually turned the system on and the speaker's surround started slapping against the backside of the grill. Not cool. Anyway, once I measured everything I felt pretty comfortable this would work out.

First, I had to trim the ring that sits on the back side of the stock grill. This was raised up from the grill at least a half inch. This would give the midwoofer's surround more clearance during excursion. Then, I had to completely cut the plastic door-snap anchor located directly under the grill (the anchors that hold the door panels to the door). The baffle I was going to make would never fit inside the panel with this snap in the way. There were enough other anchors on the panel to hold it in place.

Then I started making the baffles. I calculated that in order for there to be enough clearance behind and in front of the woofer I needed a 1-1/4" baffle. This worked out great because all I had to do was use two pieces of MDF; one 3/4" and the other 1/2". I made the baffle approximately one inch larger in diameter than the actual midwoofer. This gave the baffle enough mass to be sturdy, yet small enough to clear the inside of the door panel. I cut the baffles and then glued the two pieces together for a 1-1/4" thick piece. Then I used my fingers to force the midwoofer's cone upwards to simulate maximum excursion. The thickness of the speaker's mouting plate plus the excursion was about 1/2". So I just used a piece of 1/2" plywood and cut it into a circle to fit over the baffle. Using the baffle with the plywood I was then able to use duct tape to temporarily hold it in place while I put the door panel back on. I could then reposition it until it was in a position where it cleared all sides of the inside of the door panel. Plus, I noticed that the plywood was well behind the grill. Enough clearance all the way around. Then I traced the inside diameter of the baffle as a guide to cut the hole in the door large enough for the midwoofer basket.

Then I carefully used a jigsaw (BTW...always use eye protection) to cut the sheet metal where I had previously traced. Then it was just a matter of attaching the midwoofer and baffle to the door with screws. I used clear silicone to seal the baffle to the door. It is important to not have any leaks around the baffle to prevent cancellation from the front and the back of the speaker. Also note that I had previously gone to great lenghts to seal the door cavity with tons of damping sheets (generic Dynamat), silicone, and viscoelastic spray. This way, the speaker is truly using the door cavity as an enclosure. Plus, it helps reduce the vibrations and resonances that will undoubtedly ocur.

Cutting the kick panels can be very tricky or extremely easy if you have the right tools. The larger hole I cut for the 3" midranges wasn't too hard. I just used a multi-cutting tool with a special drill bit that acts like a saw (I'm sure this bit has a name but I can't think of it). Then I smoothed it out with a die grinder. It didn't have to look perfect since it will be under a grill for the majority of the time. I attached the midrange from the back because the midrange's grill stuck out so far that the kick panel grill wouldn't stay on. I may make my own kick panel grills later in which case I will re-mount the midrange from the front because it looks nicer if you want to remove the grill to show people. Speaking of which, the grills that came with the kick panels are cheap. They will eventually break from peoples' feet when they get in/out of your car, so making your own might not be a bad idea.

The tweeter hole was so small and hard to reach I just used a small drill bit to drill tiny holes all the way around where I wanted to cut. Then I just used a utility knife to "connect the dots" and finished it off with the die grinder. If I would have had the proper sized hole saw it would have been a lot easier.

The rest was wiring everything up and putting it all together. Pretty straight forward. I put the Dynaudio crossovers up under the dash with the ABS computer. Eventually I will eliminate the crossovers altogether and run the speakers actively using the built-in electronic crossovers in my amps.

Well, they sound AWESOME. Not for everyone, though. They are EXTREMELY revealing. Meaning if the rest of your system is not up to the challenge, then these speakers will reveal every flaw. I'm VERY happy with the results.

Here is a pic of the final install. More detailed pictures can be found on my homepage.

Tony