Another random kids pointless VR6 thread

[ryana89]

Look forward to seeing it.
Will you be wiring it yourself? If so PLEASE solder and shrinkwrap connections!....it saves puppies and kittens
Nice to see that your going for sound quality too, I prefer to listen to my music, Not have it hammered in my back with a massive sub!

[Ben J]

Haha yea all wired up myself, still waiting for the sub and amp to make there way from the states, got screwed around a bit but whatever, should hopefully be here monday or tuesday.

Wasnt planning on updating this till my stuff got in, but as its been bumped up anyway, I ran all the wires last weekend (well im going to have to take off half the panels again when my order arives as the rca cables are coming with the sub and amp, but that shouldnt take nearly as long as the first time) which actually took me most of the weekend.

Previously they were running a small, useless, 4 channel amp, wired up with a mess of electric tape, connected to like 5 different harnesses before reaching the headunit. Removing all the useless, dodgy wiring took a while but my headunit is now soldered (and shrinkwrapped, omgawsh) straight to the original wires. Since I'm running a 4 channel amp I also had to run speaker wire from the front speakers to the back where the amp will be, and also since the speakers in the rear parcell shelf had no wires to the front, I had to run new wires from the back to the headunit. Also had to find the wires from the front speakers to the head unit to hook up for the time being.

Power wire was easier then I was expecting once I found the mythical unused grommet in the vr6 engine bay. Anyway everything is now cable-tied up and completely hidden inside the car, until you reach the boot.

Anyway some boring pics of some boring wires, to summarize the boring text noone will have read, haha.

"this is going to get worese before it gets better" (note: I'd alerady chopped a bunch of useless wires etc. when i put the head unit in, but didnt find all of this stuff hidden away till after it was all soldered)

almost done


"hektik" 4 guage, ready for an amp to molest


Anyway that was a lot of blabbing on about nothing, i apologize. haha

[ryana89]

Not babbling, your learning
Your also going to give me idea's on how Im gonna wire up my 'mess' once I can affort it (as you finish this build)
I'm watching.

[G_1991]

dude get the pioneer 4-way 6 & 1/2" splits for the front bout $190
and pioneer 4way 6" inchs for the rear round $140

they fit in perfectly you dont have to take and door lining off just pop the mess covers off easiest audio install i've ever done,

watch the front tweeter wholes though they run a double wire to the tweeters so you will need to put in new crossovers if you take the original tweeters out, also they run backwire to the front speakers from the tweeters so you will have to t-joint to bypass this, easiest way is to grab a AA-battery and press individual wires until you get a little crackle noice in the front speaker, from memory the front left bypass was t-jointing the two pink cables.

Also u will have a uber whole sitting where the originals are if you take them out, sure u could whip up a bracket to each side or just screw to the top of the mesh, up to you.

if you had a non standard head deck at purchase, u may be in luck and not have to re-wire cables running to the head deck,
mine had a sanyo heap of ****, and used the same plug as my now 2010 sony so, u may get lucky.

Also a good choice in sub if your going that way would be a slimline 12" they arnt as bigger kick in the chest as a regular 12 but, give u a bit more than a 10" in half the size or so, up to your liking tho.

[G_1991]

* if you do change tweeters and dont t-joint the wires running back, your front speaker wont work no matter how hard you try.

[Ben J]

Thanks for the advice. I spent a fair while figuring out how the fronts were wired up the other day as i had to run new wires to them.

When it comes time for new speakers (I'm hoping to score some for christmas) I'll be looking at some more "top end" stuff, some really good front 6.5 splits, and decent 5 inch coaxial's to put in the parcel-shelf support things for a bit of rear fill. I'll figure out a way to mount the new tweeters in the place of the original ones are and hide the crossovers away somewhere. Will probably also add a bit of dynamat here and there and seal the door pods up or something.

As for the sub I alerady have a 10 inch ordered which will hopefully be in my hands tonight

[G_1991]

Yeh fair enough but for 6 1/2"spits I havnt heard many better than the 4-way pioneers. Also if yourgoing to pull out the tweeters you will have a massive whole under the mesh so it's easiest to put the crossovers on the shelf underneath the whole

Also are you running cable to the rear doors that's what I meant when I said rear speakers. Cause if your getting a sub the 5"x7" arnt necessary and 6" in the back doors produce better sound than coaxial speakers.

[G_1991]

Just a question what brand sub u get?

And how it sound when u put it in? Think of getting a new one.

[Ben J]

Theres heaps of stuff much better then a $190 set of pioneers, but it isnt cheap. I find i can get a really high end pair of splits from the US for about the same price as you can get some average ones around here, and if the economy stays good I'll be looking into a heap of options.

Anyway the sub and amp did arrive yesterday much to my delight, ran the rca's and soldered up the front speakers last night just to get it going, and finished it all up and tweaked the settings on the amp/headunit today and what can I say... wow. The thing hits so hard for a little 10 inch, can feel it through your body, makes the mirrors shake and the numberplates rattle. Very pleased with it.

Sub is a JL 10W0v2 4 ohm - rated at 300W RMS
Amp is a MB Quart DSC480, 4 channel amp, Which puts out:
4x 160W RMS @ 2 Ohm, 4x 80W RMS @ 4 Ohm, and Bridged will make 2x 320W RMS @4 Ohm, so a fairly powerfull little 4 channel haha.

The stock VW front speakers seem to be handling almost 80 RMS suprisingly well, which is a crazy amount of power for speakers really, although I'm probably not even feeding them half of it, still they go crazy loud with no distortion.

Not happy with the finish on the box really, its already chipped/worn off a bit on corners and isnt the satin I was going for, spose thats why you dont buy cheap spray paint haha. Might redo it in carpet or something further down the track. The box is sealed perfectly, braced nicely and the recommended dimensions for the sub though so it sounds nice

[ryana89]

Looks and sounds like a good set-up.
Parts always seem so much cheaper oversea's and with the Aussie $ so strong, can't pick a better time to buy!
If you don't like the finish on the box, could you perhaps carpet it?

[Ben J]

yea it will get some carpet, although right now I'm still owing dad $100 for the sound, which I would have had days after placing the order, but I caught glandular fever and havent been able to work in a while :/

Not sure where to buy carpet for a subbox though? Jaycar have it for like $30 which seems a bit steep, and then theres cheap stuff from china or something on ebay for next too nothing. Might have to look into it further haha.

But yea not buying from OS doesnt really make sence to me haha, I've seen the same sub around here for around $220, and never seen the amp around here, but the RRP listed on the site I bought all this from (which is normally about what all the audio gear around here is sold for) is like $450, I got both of them and a really high quality set of rca cords (probably atleast another $80 worth around here) shipped to my door for $370, and got the 4 guage wiring kit and a reel of good speaker wire for $80 from ryda. So all up a saving of like 350, makes the 3 week wait worth it really.

[ryana89]

You could drop into Bunnings and buy some of the carpet from there by the metre. I'd think they'd be cheaper... maybe.

I'll be making my Amp/speaker wiring up myself as I can buy all the stuff needed from Jaycar for about a third of the price.
A bit more mucking around but everything will be of a custom length to the car then.

Prices are stupid in Australia, even with my discount at work I can still buy higher quality parts from oversea's and install them for less.

[Ben J]

Yea I had actually planned on buying the wires I needed from Jaycar, but then I found the 4 guage aerpro wiring kit on ryda which I've read decent things about, and it came out a fair bit cheaper then the 4 gauge power cable I was going to need from jaycar, then it came with the right fuse and fuse holder and all and worked out much more convienient and a fair bit cheaper then piecing it togethor myself. Not to mention the cables looks sweet compared to the plain jaycar ones haha.

Then I got 39m of 16 gauge speaker wire from ryda as well, which in hindsight wasn't probably the best, but still a fair bit cheaper then buying per the meter, even though i barely used half of it.

[ryana89]

Ill have to look into this Aerpro kit.
I was originally planning on using 8gauge wire (only a baby amp).
But if Aerpro has a good deal on an 4 gauge or even 8 guage kit I might just go to them.

[Ben J]

yea have a look through the wiring kits on ryda.com.au theres a heap of 8 gauge ones some with rca's and all. Ryda Car Audio - Aerpro BSX008 450W Amp Power Wiring Kit 8GA($19.35) that ones only $20, postage would probably be 10 or 15, still, cheap stuff.