Well I've had the car about 2 weeks it's time to tear it apart and install a stereo. Today I got my box filled with 80sqft of second skin sound dampening. Today in about 1.5 hours I took the interior apart to the point you see in the photos.

The plan:
JVC KD-R900 CD player
Alpine PDX-5 5 channel class D amp
Focal Polyglass 165VR component speakers
Alpine Type S sub (considering 2 of these) in a sealed box


Here are some photos of tear down day 1.

 

Second skin going in.

 

An update pic. I did some fab and got my box adn amp rack partially done. It's coming along. The last of my items should be delivered today or tomorrow. I cannot wait.

 

Lookin good so far. I plan to use the same amp and comps...very interested in hearing your take on those Focals. Keep us posted.

 

Will do

 

 

You are doing a super job. I will be tackling something very similar soon. I built a very similar sub / amp box like you - for a 2004 MCS. I found that unless you cover it in carpet or something on the bottom and sides, it can be a very annoying source of squeaks as the box shifts.

 

Last night I got the passengers door wired. What a PITA. If I get enough pics today I will try to do a DIY on getting stereo wire into the door. Geez I hate those quick release plastic door connectors the factories use. I understand it helps quickly assemble a car with a pre-wired door though.

 

Agreed! It took me 3-4 hours to wire both doors, and that was using electrical wiring lube and some tricks. It's not a job for the easily frustrated. One trick that helps is, after you snake one wire, tape your other wires (one at a time) to the midsection of the already-snaked-wire and you can just pull it through. Pretty much the only easy part of that project. I have some pics of that rubber snake and plastic connector if you're interested.

 

did you relocate the battery or is the box sitting on top?

 

Box over the battery. I put down a few layers of second skin so the box does not hit the battery posts.

 

It's alive. I got it going last night and got it kinda tuned. I love it. I still have finish work to do but it's working. This JVC has a external mic that is for the bluetooth phone use. I ran the wire up the A pillar and stuck it on the very top of the A pillar next to the headliner pointing it me. I have not matched the phone to my JVC yet but I'm eager to try it out. I love the bass output from the Focals so far. I turn the sub off and blay some stuff like Black Eyed Peas or Panzer Ag and they get it done. I ended up not hooking up the rear speakers at all at this time. I am considering another set of the Focals for the rear 6x9 holes to really take it all over the top. LOL

The sub sounds good but last night I realized I didn't put any poly fill in the box. When I pull the sub to carpet the box I'll do the fill then. It sounds pretty good for .8 cuft. and no fill. I love that tiny amp and the very short power run with the battery below the box. I'm having to troubles with things shifting around because with all the trim panels in place the box is in there so tight it cannot shift. I need to do some more modding and trimming to get everything fitting the way I want then I will build finished coverboards to trim it all out for a nice finished look.

Many pics were taken yesterday includeing enough for a good Door speaker wiring DIY. Stay tuned.

 

That's good news to me. I'd heard mixed reviews about the 165VRs, particularly its excursion limitations compared to the Power series, but if they can pass as a sub for you I'm sure they'll handle my midbass duties just fine.

 

Looks good. I've been through the same thing with mine and doing an audio install is easier said than done. Are you doing anything where the rear seats are or are they going back in? Keep us updated with more pics.

 

Rear seats are back in the car. Spent too much time at the gym and then cleaning my place for the weekend to mess with the pics. Sorry for the delay. Yeah my plan is a box that is almost level with the back lip in the boot and still keeps the back seats. I listened to the doors again today and do think I am going to add some rear focals to fill the whole system out on midbass/midrange. That TypeS sub and my amp in there are just too much for the one set of doors. LOL I know I could turn it down some but why would I want to do that.

Today I found where the hidden custom eq settings were on my headunit. Time to tweak my system more when I get some free time.

 

Hey Swank, I'm considering the same head unit for my Mini. Mind if I pick your brain a bit about it? I can't find a retailer locally that has one for me to try out.

My main concern is the user interface. When flipping through files on a USB drive or iPod, is it easy to use? easy to find the file/track you want?

How many lines display on the screen? It looks like a three line screen, but I'm not sure it uses them to display the folders and lets you scroll through them.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your opinion/experience with the JVC KD-R900. Pics would be awesome! I'm about to pull the trigger on one but I want to be sure.

 

3 lines on the screen. To naviagate the Ipod interface you hit the menu button and it brings up the selections like genre, artist, album, etc then I always pick artist. Then you have the whole list of artists which can be long and take a little while to scroll through. I don't like that you cannot scroll backwards from Z-A to get to bands like Tool or Violent Femmes quickly you always have to go A-Z. When you get the the artist you push the **** and your in the artist list. It shows all the albums and at the top says all songs, then you select one and pick a song and push the **** to play.

The phone interface even with the mic hooked up doesn't work all that great. People complain about not being able to hear me well but I can hear them perfectly.

The audio performance of the unit is great and the color match is flawless. The remote is too small. It feels like Ben Stiller's phone on Zoolander. LOL

I'd rate it like this.
Audio:9
Look:10
Functions:10 (cannot beat front and rear USB, Aux input, bluetooth, and more)
Interface:8

 

Excellent! Thanks Swank. I think I like the Pioneer interface a little better, but I'm willing to take a minor interface hit to have it match my interior and look stock.