magnetik

iTrader: (1)

I posted this already on the subforum I moderate on HardOCP.com but figure it's
more appropriate here..

What a nightmare putting deadener at 2am in freezing temps. I had to use a
heatgun since it wouldn't even stick to the paper it was mounted to. That
worked GREAT. I probably ordered too much (200sqf) I had to get
something in before it got even colder.. otherwise I would have had to wait
and I was tired of all the crap I ordered sitting in my room.

Was worth it? regardless of the crammed garage, gas heaters that burnt up
my coat, trying to help my buddy change a flat on his truck at 4am so he
could work the next day, driving 2.5 hours to use a garage and get a hand,
ripping up my hands laying deadener, somehow ending up with more screws
when I finished, having to miss a day of work to finish and make it back for a
weeklong trip to Atlanta the next morning, and having to wear
camo overalls (I am never making fun of people in camo overalls ever again.
them things saved my ***.) Yes it's was still worth it in the end.

this is just the first stage which was to get all my sound deadening done,
headunit, speakers, and wiring completed. still have to add 2 IDMax's and
build a box, etc. next stage is carputer. fully loaded.

as you can see I was stupid and pulled the seat belt mechanism completely
out. I had to get the pins from the airbag back in but since it was
disconnected while I tried out the stereo now I got an airbag light. I have to
do the AB / TC trick when I get a chance. I did the other side right. I felt
stupid when I found out how easy it is to get the seat out. pop the square
of the side of the seat and use a long socket wrench to pull out the seatbelt
bolt. take out the 4 bolts on the seat bracket, then tip over and
unplug.

Here are the components so far...
Pioneer DEH-P880PRS head unit w/ ipod and bt interface
Focal 165KF 6.5" in front
Focal 130KP 5 1/4" for rear (I have a 4 door GS400 and drive clients around so I need em)
Batcap 800
200sqf of deadener
2 x Image Dynamics IDMax 12D4v3
Memphis Belle 5 Channel ST1300D
1 x 1100W @ 1 ohm (subwoofer channel)


planned upgrades:

Odyssey 1500DT
Carputer
custom box / amp rack
lay some damplifier in cabin
dual analog VU meters under radio
I bought a voltage meter but found out my radio had one. heh

also.. a good friend of mine offered to trade me his Phoenix Gold TI Comp 6
components for mine. I have read that they were produced by Morel from a
few different places online. Very tempting.. I really like the sound of my
Focals after breakin though. the 2.5 hour drive home through the twistys was nice.

some pics so far. hope to start the next stage in a couple weeks.

FormosaSC

no offence but thats not how it should be done... specially the door panel.. it shouldnt be 100 pieces.

But im sure that is sounds better now. I thought about doing it on my sc300 but i dont htink it is worth all the weight.

magnetik

iTrader: (1)

umm.. I know how it should be done. there are 3 layers on there.. and not all are small pieces. I don't feel it would make a bit of difference using pieces. just used it to cover all the tight spots

I ain't racing no one.. don't care about the added weight for my car. thanks for the constructive criticism though.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

1 piece of 2,000 pieces...it should be fine.

the deadener is a mass-loading product. Your door can't tell a difference if you're using one or many pieces. If anything, overlapping is good

Caoboy

iTrader: (2)

If you don't think it's worth all the weight, you should try weighing your door, and see how heavy it already is. I don't think a few more pounds would hurt it. lol.

88supramki

looks good. good choice of speakers, damn i thought I was running thick wire to my speakers with JL 12 awg it was such a pita to run three sets of wires into the doors.

i just don't get why people get these nice setups and then run them with crappy headunits. Pioneer and Alpine have the worst SQ of most mainstream brands. the resistance on the RCA outputs is ridiculously high.

vboy418

very nice choice!

IS_250

iTrader: (2)

Dude, get a clue.. This is one of Pioneer's flagship models and has plenty of good reviews. Just because its Pioneer doesn't mean its crap.

88supramki

it may have 5v outputs, but Pioneers are NOTORIOUS for extremly high resistance ratings through their RCAs, which hinders the sound quality. And since the OP is working with good speakers and subs, figured he might go with something different. Not attacking him personally, just stating an observation that occurs many times because people look for flashing lights and cool displays most of the time.

And for the record a good majority of Pioneers do suck big time, but everyone once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

just cause it has flashing lights and graphics doesn't make it a good SQ deck.


-Your resident Pioneer hater

magnetik

iTrader: (1)

FWIW, I have absolutely no problems with sound quality with this deck. No audible noise at all with the engine on either. heh My first pioneer deck and I love it. So many options. I heard of issues with "pico fuses" blowing when people ground their RCAs. If you aren't a dumbass.. then you aren't going to have probs. And here I thought I considered this deck because I "wasn't" looking for "flashing lights and cool displays" hmph. The new 800PRS in black is nice too. FWIW also, I had an Eclipse deck in a previous car and had nothing but issues with CD's skipping and vowed never to own another fujistu-ten product (even though I had no probs with the SQ).... but to each his own.

Just curious... who do you think has the best SQ among "mainstream" brands? I am going to go out on a limb and say that with all things equal, in a double blind test, I bet most people wouldn't be able to hear much difference between two quality decks.

88supramki

with the quality of equipment you are using you will hear a difference. I am not a big fan of a lot of the decks that are out at the moment. I would go back to like the older clarion or eclipse days with brass chassis and 8v preouts. now those were some nice sq decks.

i think if you compare those to the one you have, you will hear a big difference. I made the comment because you are running Focals off of memphis' higher end amp, even though i'm not a memphis fan i still respect that amp.

pioneer has a reputation and they're gonna have to work hard to break that reputation. hope they're doing it with that deck because a lot of them are pure crap.

LexFather

Wow, you got courage!

Billy305

iTrader: (2)

my alpine has better sq than most head units you have heard and all that weight from the sound deadener is worth it just from the difference in road noise ect.

Nice setup btw. I had a ID 15 but had problems with it rubbing.

Seize

Looks like it's coming along quite nicely

wowitztai

iTrader: (1)

Yup looks good..