sixbanger

Been awhile since I posted, but haven't done much new.

I did finally find a used set of the Mark Levinson? grills on ebay though ($25 ea. ebay)($63 ea. on lexuspartsnow). I think these are standard if you have the Mark Levinson option, but for us Non-MLers, this is an upgrade in my opinion.

Notice how you can see through the upgraded ML metal center grill and on the non-ML grill you see all the plastic in the way. This is not going to make a world of difference, but every little bit helps.


They are a little wet in the pic and they will need a fresh coat of paint, but you get the idea.

part numbers are 55410-53030 for the center, 55409-53020 passenger, 55408-53020 Driver

sixbanger

This week I unplugged the 8" sub temporarily. Since it is now running off the factory amp again, I can't control the crossover or gain and it is distorting before my 12" sub is.

So far I like it better and will continue to play with the amp settings to see if I can get even more out of my 12" sub.

I'll also see if flipping down the armrest in the back, removing the spare tire cover and trunk carpet make any difference in output.

I am driving the car so much less now. I had a 40 mile per day commute for the first 8 months of the year and I am working from home now and lucky to drive 40 miles a month. Just a little less tuning time, that's all.

atomic300

I just purchased a KICKER 44CWCD84 sub. How did everyone mount their sub at the factory location?

Thanks

sixbanger

I couldn't bring myself to drill extra holes in my rear deck, so I used some leftover butyl rubber around the edge to essentially "glue" it down and then fashioned little L brackets/tabs using the factory sub mount bolts to hold it down like little fingers.

CASeoul

Really appreciate the detailed thread sixbanger, it's getting me itching to switch out that terrible excuse for a sub to start.
I'm a bit lost on the actual mounting options though, was hoping to use a bracket of some sort to raise it so I wouldn't need to cut or remove my trunk cover?
Any advice?

sixbanger

you can get a variety of MDF 8" speaker rings from ebay. I believe i ordered one, but never used it. I can't remember how much room there was to space it up, its been 2 years since I put that 8" in. I never did put that piece back in the trunk because I didnt want to cut mine either.

Mattarcher

Kicker 43CWR84 CompR 8 Inch 4 Ohm 300 Watt RMS Power and 600 Watts Peak Power Dual Voice Coil Car Audio Sub Subwoofer, Black
I bought this sub and hooked it up to the factory amp using the metra 72-8104 adapter. I ran it in parallel (or at least I believe I did). I connected the negative to the negative and the positive to the positive on the sub and then attached the adapter to the negative and positive on one side. The sub sounds really weak and I expected to get more out of it. It’s barely noticeable unless the volume is 30+ and even then the bass needs to be all the way up on the head unit. Any ideas as to why it’s so weak?

sixbanger

Hi, Your choice of sub seems to be right. dual 4ohm voicecoils.

Is it wired like the below pic? it sounds like that is way you did it.

my only suggestion is to try unplugging one voice coil to see if output increases, or you could try changing the phase of the input on the speaker (so if you are using the white from the adapter as positve to the speaker, try using it as negative and black as positive or vice versa)

Mattarcher

Thanks for those suggestions, I’m going to give them a try. I’ve never run a single speaker in parallel before so the wiring is new to me and I wanted to make sure there wasn’t an issue there. Doesn’t appear to be as my setup matches your diagram. I’ll be sure to update you when I get back in town next week. Thanks again!

CASeoul

Back with another question, how did you get a single 4" focal speaker? looks like they're sold in pairs.

sixbanger

Yep, I bought a pair. Donated the extra one back to my car audio friend that got me the speakers for his cost. Might be able to find a single one on ebay, but crapshoot on condition, etc...

failure

Those tweeter pods are interesting. You have a pic from further back showing what they look like?
Did you nix the center speaker and factory sub?


Is it worth it to upgrade the rear door speakers? Can you hear them from the front?

HallaF

The detail on this thread going above and beyond in audio haha nice job mate! I wanted to ask you I got a original Mark Levinson in my 3IS would it be worth it to wrap the grills with the material like you did cause that looks way nicer then just the grille originally there I'm not going to fiddle with the audio components cause it sounds amazing everyone always asks whether I got custom sound system or what not I'm like nah it's factory Mark Levinson i just wanted to make it more luxurious by maybe adding the material on top if the grills. What glue you used or how you bonded them together? Thanks man I will keep track of this build for sure! Wondering if you going to do any visual mods. Also if you don't want to spend money if you have like faded antiglare you can just wipe it off with alcohol screen cloth so ot looks neat and uniform I did on mine cause previous owner did removed it partially when cleaning. Now I want yo order a new antiglare panel to see how it looks original.

sixbanger

I am still using the center speaker location, but still not using the 8" currently. I will if I ever invest in another amplifier, but I like how it sounds for now.

My rear speakers sound great, but are a little too loud. I wish I had a dedicated amplifier channel for them too. I really need like a 12 channel amplifier to have control of everything.

sixbanger

The wrapped grills look great at first, but then pick up a lot of lint, etc.... I wouldnt do it, but I do like how it looks on my tweeters only.

the new screen display I bought was one of the best investments under $100. it looks brand new still. the old one was all smeared and scratched.

I still haven't done anything with the sub box, but maybe when I get caught up with my other car projects.