jmecbr900

Howdy folks,

As some of you guys know, I've been working on a little project for the last 3 weeks. It wasn't too hard to figure out that it was my stereo install. I had been planning for it for about a month, exchanging ideas, and drawing up plans. I still have some things that have not been finished yet. There's a plexi cover that is being etched and it should be finished in a week or so. I also had a mishap with some of the LED lighting (it arrived broken, so we're waiting on the replacements). We also are prepped the car for future shows by obviously installing some permanent connections for external power supplies.

I was trying to maintain the whole "sleeper" theme of the car, so I didn't want to go nutty with a wall of spkrs or a ton of amps. I am going after SQ instead of SPL, so I chose the speakers, amps, and HU based on that idea. We also did certain pieces of the install with the idea that I would add monitors later (next project) to the entire system to round it out. I also wanted to keep additional weight to a minimum since I like performance too. We left the doors stock looking, except for the wood grain inserts which were painted at the body shop to match the car. We also only added minimal dynamat material in key places since the car is very well insulated oem anyway.

Well enough blabbing. Here are some links to a few snap shots I did this morning. Excuse the quality of the shots, but I had to keep resolution down to it's minimum to be able to upload them easily.

Here are the subs from the side:
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=1

Here is the trunk from further back: (its missing the plexi and other pieces on the side)
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=1

Here is the logo on the box: (this we're going to redo a different color to stand out better)
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=1

Here's the rear deck:
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=1

Here's the dash: (it's really not that dirty, it's a reflection of the flash)
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=2

https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=2

Here's the door panel: (we just painted the wooden inserts to match)
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=2

Here's the amps: (the shot looks dark because if I used a flash, you wouldn't be able to see it at all)
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=1

Here's the trunk lid: (the spots are from wiping with a dirty rag. Can't see them until I took the pic.)
https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...cat=500&page=2


OK, that's enough for now. As I said, it is a work in progress and I'll post better pics when I'm finished. I also will try and take pics at night to show the lighting. I have some subtle neon behind the amps that makes them appear to glow at night. I'll have some LED's and indirect lighting going in next week too. Some of the LED's are going to be used to light the etching being done now on the plexi covers. After that's done correctly, I will be able to use the trunk just as before because the stock pull out carpet will go right back in. I also used circuit breakers, hidden kill switches (which are located where I can lock them when I want so unauthorized use is kept out), and aftermarket alarm. I'm also going to eventually add two monitors inside the car and two in the trunk lid for visual displays. I added a custom made 200 amp alternator, 0 gauge cable, the previously mentioned power supply connector, yellow top Optima battery, and flush mounted the gauges and AFC on the dash.

What do you guys think so far???? BE NICE.

jmecbr900

My bad guys. Here's the list of the equipment for those interested:

Eclipse 8053 HU
Diamond Audio D7 401 & 054 amps
Diamond Audio TDX10 DVC subs
Diamond Audio Hex 600's components @ all 4 doors
Hooker Audio 0 gauge cable
Hooker Audio interconnects
Hooker 150A fuses
Hooker breakers
Street glow neons
Whelen strobes (coming)
Yellow Top Optima battery
Custom 200amp alternator
Alarm
Snap on tool kit (coming)
LED's (coming)

Max4Speed

Very Slick Jaime. No TVs :-( I like the idea of painting the wood. If it was black then I would paint the wood silver. Very Slick again!

jmecbr900

Thanks bud.

The monitors are coming eventually. I'm trying to do something a little different on the headrests that IF it works will look pretty cool. Even if that doesn't work, I'll eventually put 1 or 2 on the underside of the trunk lid.

koreanpers

Hi! that is really cool! BTW, what paint did you use to paint over the wood? How hard was it to do?

How do the subs sound? They look like they have a very deep mounting depth. I have 2 JL 12w7's and they are beggin to be put in the car. I also have 2 JL 500.1 amps also ready as well. I am going to have the rear deck redone to accomodate either 1 or both of the 12w7's. They will basically sitting like the existing factory 10 inch...not sure if i will do 1 or 2. 1 is loud enough i suppose.

jmecbr900

Thank you.

We prepped them just like any body part for painting. Sanding with different grits of paper until smooth and then took all the pieces to a body shop to paint in a booth. We used the exact color match as the car and painted it with car paint.

The subs sound incredible. They do have a deep mounting depth because of the magnet structure. The w7's are very comparable to the TDX's. They hit solid, not boomy and they can take a ton of power and abuse if needed. They are DVC's and have a super stiff kevlar sandwich cone. The suspension is very very rigid too. The enclosure was built to maximize trunk space use but still be w/i specs. This is one of the reasons I opted for 10's instead of 12's.

I haven't began to tune the sound because I'm not familiar with the detailed functions of the HU. I was just reading the manual and it has tons of possible configurations to fine tune the sound. The manual alone is over 120 pgs long! I'm working on it.

koreanpers

i like the head unit, it looks very good w/ the sfc controller up there

jmecbr900

Thanks.

I wanted to have a finished look with a little bit of flash. That's why I decide to paint the wood grain pieces instead of accenting them some other way. I wanted to keep a matching black and silver color scheme look. The gauges kinda messed that up a little, but I had to use what I had on hand. Greddy are the only other ones that have silver faces, but they are slightly bigger and wouldn't fit there.

retrodrive

Nice!

TwentyTen

Love those subs and the port to the cabin. Great work Jaime!

Richie

Looks really nice dude, congrats!

Hameed

Whoa Jaime!!!!!

That system must ROCK big time!!!! Congrats!!! I guess I have my answer regarding the component speakers!

Are these the same speakers you got for the doors
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=18800

Is that a good price?

jmecbr900

thanks.

jmecbr900

Thanks.

I love the subs so far. They're still in the "breaking-in" stage, so I haven't really pushed them hard. They do sound very very tight. I've listened to a few things like country, pop, rap, and even salsa music. The front stage sounds really really good. I'm very impressed with the HEX components. They are very sharp.

I thought about all the deadening material between the trunk and the cabin. I figured the rear deck was gonna be dead space after all this anyway, so I had the shop build the "tunnel" to get better sound inside the car plus have a little more "showy" look too.

jmecbr900

Thanks.