Installing Amp and Sub-DIY ?

[ToyzR]

Hi guys,

Im thinking of installing Amp and Sub into my ZR6. Used to have a tech coming around to do all my car audio work, just found out that he pass away last year in a car accident. :(

I dont really want to have guys from Strathfield Radio or other ppl that i havent had experience with working on the car.

Any tips on DIY ? or any tech that you guys may have used that is worth recommending it to me? ( inner west Sydney)??

Thanks a million.

[Brad!]

Lifestyle store at parramatta did my sub and amp.

Are you running it off the stock head unit?

If your running it off an after market one, its pretty straight forward, read up about it, and try to run power down one side of the car, RCA's down the other.

Lifestyle Store North parramatta.

Its at the 'Junction'

[ToyzR]

Lifestyle store at parramatta did my sub and amp.

Are you running it off the stock head unit?

If your running it off an after market one, its pretty straight forward, read up about it, and try to run power down one side of the car, RCA's down the other.

Lifestyle Store North parramatta.

Its at the 'Junction'

Thanks for that. Yeah im trying to run it off the stock head unit.

Did u get a new unit?

Thanks

[sx6er]

i havent had a look yet but how did you guys run the power cable through the firewall, or did you take another route. i remember installing the power cable on my magna and there wasnt a single hole to get it from the bay into the car, had to pierce through rubber on steering column (outer edge)

thanks fellas

[Mr De Angelo]

I've had Lifestyle store install a headunit which was fine (bit expensive though) and I had my amp + sub installed recently at Soundmaster down at Granville. Soundmaster were cheap, installing it for about $125 I think it was, but they were clumsy too, they ended up breaking the rear seat, but it was just a $5 piece of plastic and a bent hook so I fixed that up myself, though everything else was fine but you might want to steer clear of them unless you're looking for a really cheap deal.

[Foss]

I installed my sub and amp a few weeks ago. Fairly straightforward job, if you have a HU with RCAs. Personally I recommend upgrading your HU too because the sound from the stock unit is pretty woeful IMO.

I can't really give any DIY advice on wiring your amp to your stock unit, but there are devices (I think Aerpro make one) that allow you to wire a sub amp to your speaker outs or something.

As for the rest of the wiring, I just ran my RCAs and control wire up the drivers side under the scuff plates and cable-tied it to the existing wiring there, then dropped down the plate under the steering column and ran the wires across there to the head unit, coiled up the remainder on top of aforementioned plate and clipped that back in place.

The power wire I ran up the passenger side in the same fashion as the RCAs, except that when it comes out past the front door scuff plate, you run it under the carpet up the firewall. There is a big rubber bung (at least 2 inches in diameter) in the firewall, up behine the glove box. It has a bunch of wiring running through the middle into the engine bay. If you pop your bonnet and look in the engine bay, you can see the this bung and wiring coming through. Its on the passenger side, below what I assume is the ECU. I stuck an extra hole in that bung and poked my wire through there. I run 4 guage wire, so poking it through was no easy feat. Though it would probably be easier with 8 guage wire, and/or if you can be ****d dropping the glove box out. There are a couple of threaded holes in the wheel well in the engine bay, which don't appear to serve any real purpose. I just happened to have a bolt that fitted one of those holes, so I used that to screw down the fuse holder.

The actual connecting up of stuff is fairly simple. Just follow your instruction books to the letter.

[sx6er]

Paradigm

thank you so much, thats was the perfect answer i have been looking for. thanks again, and i shall give it a go soon

cheers,

Thim

[yoz-r6]

Hi there,

I just had all the speakers upgraded, and installed twin subs in the boot. the guys at alberts car stereo helped me out by using a HILO converter, which essentially takes your existing signal from you factory head unit (mine is the GPS unit, 4 disc stacker with NO iPod integration Grr!) , and converts them to RCA for amplification, subs included. i wasn't happy with the quality of the audio coming from the HILO converter (i think a Stinger/DNA product) so i spent another $400 and upgraded to a Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1

This unit blew the other unit away, as it upgrades your factory signals, to give 6V pre-outs as opposed to the 3V pre-outs that the HILO converter does. the difference is absolutely amazing!! more information can be found by googling Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty.1 there are two models of this product, the other is the 3Sixty.2

The difference is that the 3Sixty.2 has a 32 band equalizer as opposed to the 16 band eq on the 3Sixty.1 and the 3Sixty.2 has a time correction function that the 3Sixty.1 doesn't. I spent much time tossing and turning between the two, and the team at Alberts and i came to the conclusion that i didn't need the time correction, or that big a band of EQ for what i was wanting from the system.

So, IMO, don't go for the $150 HILO converter, spend the extra bucks, and go with the RF 3Sixty.1

It also has a Bluetooth interface, which allows you to directly connect to the unit using a computer, or suitable PDA and make adjustmnents to your EQ. its awesome! also comes with a remote bass level adjuster, that doubles as your auxillary input volume control for an ipod or mp3 player, perfect for the unit that i have, not having an aux input/ipod function.

and if some of you are wondering, no i don't sell this item, i just sampled what there is out there and went with the best, and was very impressed with the quality of audio now coming from the RF product. now i know why they are the leaders in car audio technology!

good luck!