I have recently began the process of upgrading the audio system in my 2004 Base that came with the Moon & Tunes amp. I do have a couple questions, hopefully those experienced can answer. But I'll also lay out my plans here. To make a long story short, a couple months ago I had a deer collision, and the insurance company wouldn't pay for repairs. They gave me a lowball salvage and a cost-to-total which wasn't that much better. After some bitching and moaning I walked away with just under $3,000 in salvage (the car was paid for with $5600 cash
). The car already had cosmectic / paint damage from a previous non-serious accident before it was purchased, so I went to a local body shop and provided the parts myself, just paid for some paint labor and frame work. I had quite a bit left over so I decided I wanted a real audio system.The first thing I did was go alternator shopping. As I am planning on running a 1000W RMS capable system and want no issues.
Upgrade Progress
Big 3 Upgraded: complete
Alternator: complete
Amplifier: planned
Speakers: planned
Sub: planned
Sound Deaden: planned for future funds permitting
I am still waffling on things like whether I want to run 2 or 4 channels, how big a subwoofer I want (small back end after all) and that kind of stuff. But right now this is what things potentially look like. Using a 12" sub (can't decide if I want a 15" or not, depends on some measurements I have to do for sealed enclosure sizes).
Setup No. 1 Front Channels only w/sub
Amplifier: Pioneer GM-D9605
Frnt Spkrs: Infinity Reference 6030cs Components
Sub: NVX VSW124v2 (VSW124 v2) (wired for 600RMS @ 2 ohms) in this enclosure
Setup No. 2 4 Channels w/sub
Amplifier: Pioneer GM-D9605
Frnt Spkrs: Autotek ATS65C
Rear Spkrs: Autotek ATS65C Crossedover woofer only (no tweets)
Sub: NVX VSW124v2 (VSW124 v2) (wired for 600RMS @ 2 ohms)
Setup No. 2 Alternate
Autoteks on the front, until I can afford a pair of Infinity 6030CS to replace them, move crossed over woofer to the rear doors.
Infinity's can be run at 90W @ 2ohms if I replace stock wiring.
I don't think I am interested in rear door speakers so much for "rear fill" as I am reinforcing low frequencies near the crossover point between the subwoofer and the components that will run up front. My plan hopefully is to set the deck High-Pass filter at 125Hz (y no 120Hz Pioneer??) and send those to the components, then set the subwoofer around the same point with the decks lowpass filter which can be set when rear-channel RCA is set to subwoofer output I believe. I can't disable the lowpass on the GM-D9605, you can only tweak its frequency and slope. So I am thinking I can set it intentionally higher than the deck crossover point, and that should give me the lowpass control I need from the head unit. I can leave the door speakers set to full-range, using the decks high-pass filter and component passive crossover to send the correct frequencies to the woofer and tweeters.
The Pioneer amplifier is capable of running off high level input and I am kind of interested in that, mainly for fader control but also I think soft-turn-on only works with the speaker level input anyway In a way I'm hoping to re-use the factory wiring that is there already to at least make those input runs to the new amp. Hoping there aren't any noise issues (I have hiss/white noise in my system but I'm hoping its just the low quality factory amp. It seems to have a high noise floor??). Plus with no dedicated subwoofer output I'd have to clone the front channel if I used 100% RCA connections. I don't want to lose fade control.
I might be interested in upgrading the ground location for the head unit. I want to make a short run, to the frame or chassis. Is there such an area behind the dash I can look for? I imagine the factory ground wire in addition to being small, makes a long inefficient run which could be another source of noise introduction. I'm unsure if I want to attempt running a new power lead from the battery, or even just soldering a capacitor inline (to filter noise?). I don't want to wreck anything.
On the door speaker wiring I'm not so sure. Does anyone have experience with the door boots? Is it hard to run new cables through them? Like do they have stupid plastic connectors and stuff in there or anything? If I can just fish new wiring through the boots it would be ideal. But if I do re-wire the doors it is going to be thick like 12 gauge so it needs to be able to fit... Depending on how big the crossovers are I might like to try mounting them behind the door panels as well, to keep the amp area under the seat relatively uncluttered (and only have to run 1 set of wires). Mind you I am also planning on removing the seats when I do this, and pulling up the carpet to hopefully use the factory loom and run things along with it. At any rate if I get a set of those Infinity components, I have to run thicker gauge wire to the doors if I want to get max power out of them and run them @ 2ohms. Otherwise the smaller gauge wiring will trigger it to run 4ohm only.
What are peoples opinions on subwoofer size for this car? I'm not expecting to blow out windows or anything @ 600W RMS... But Space is still a premium. I use the car for work and carry a toolbox/footsool in the back hatch area so I need to be able to fit it in there with the sub. Right now I have a Dual 12" enclosure from a previous system. I haven't installed it yet as I have no hardware to power it, but I did some test fitting thinking I might use it as a temporary sub if I want to save up separately after doing the new amp & speakers. I have no idea how it sounds, but it is an old Magnum Bass package (MTX?) it came with a 350W monoblock or w/e. However I never liked it because it always ran hot and I had to toss it after taking everything out of my old car, which had extensive water retention in the trunk and mold issues beginning to show. I'm actually afraid to even use this sub enclosure temporarily in my Vibe, even though I sprayed it heavily with lysol a couple times, and then hit it with some carpet cleaner the other day. I am paranoid of introducing mold into my new baby
But I also would like to see how they sound in the Vibe because I have never owned a hatchback. They're rated at 250W RMS each sub wired at a 4ohm impedance (so 500W RMS)If I am gonna downgrade to a single sealed enclosure I want to get it right. The prospect of a 15" is nice, for really low frequencies, but it may be just slightly too big for the back.. I'm not sure. Either way I would hope a 12" sealed @ 600W sounds a bit better than a dual 12" running only 250W to each woofer.
I listen to a lot of electronic music. Psytrance, old school Rave tracks, Chiptunes from consoles and computers. But I also like Classic Rock, some Metal, and as a bass-head I do have an affinity for older hip-hop from the 80's - 90's so low frequency is very important to me. That's why I'm considering a 15" heavily. I think a sealed enclosure is going to give me the best overall response curve vs a muddy port as well as save space. Admittedly my very first el cheapo walmart subwoofer kit had a 10" ported sub which you could "feel" but I'm not sure I need / want a port. I want tight, responsive bass and at 600W and a decent sensitivity sub I'm sure I'll get some volume level out of it anyway without needing a port to boost output.
