[tshrey]

The stock tweeter location is fine for imaging if you put the tweets out of phase with the woofers. I just installed a pair of Polk MM 6.5" components in the car today - the tweets fit into the stock location after some serious modification to their casing and a decent amount of epoxy. I completely covered the outer door skin with Raamat, covered most of the inner metal with raamat and loaded up the speaker mounting point with it as well. I used the large plastic piece that is in the door itself, ground out the plastic matrix in it and mounted the crossovers there - that way I can leave all the wiring connected when I remove the door panel. I'll take pics the next time the door skin is off.

I ran a white noise test with an NTI audio analyzer and got a surprisingly flat response using the factory non-nav head unit, a David Navone line level converter going into a McIntosh MCC404M amplifier. Imaging was fantastic with the tweets out of phase on most of my reference CD's, but there was a funny hollowness on an acoustic guitar track on one of the disks that I attribute to a phasing problem. I'm going to switch to an Alpine iPod-only head unit and will probably invest in their sound analyzer as well, so I expect that to take care of any phasing issues.

On the engine whine issue, disconnect the ground from the headunit and run a wire back to the amp. Grounding the headunit and amp at the same point should resolve most problems; occasionally even with this step you can still get a ground loop through the shield on the antenna, but most modern head units have decent antenna isolation.

Techmaster PEB brings back some memories - in college I worked as the installer in a local audio shop. They used my car as the show car so I got most of my components for free; I had a pair of 12" soundstream subs in an isobaric enclosure that took up the entire trunk of my 88 RX7 convertible. I had that disk cranking at a car show one time and the SPL was so high it split one of the seams on my convertible top...

[bklynpanman]

why did you put the crossover in the door ? Why not use the existing wire and catch the wire under the dash and put the crossover there? So you don't have to make a hole through the grommet

[tshrey]

Originally Posted by bklynpanman

why did you put the crossover in the door ? Why not use the existing wire and catch the wire under the dash and put the crossover there? So you don't have to make a hole through the grommet

I'm not going to run a McIntosh amplifier through the crap 24 gauge oxygenated copper wire that is used in the factory wiring.

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by bklynpanman

why did you put the crossover in the door ? Why not use the existing wire and catch the wire under the dash and put the crossover there? So you don't have to make a hole through the grommet

Ya what he said. Clearly you havent seen the gauge of the stock wiring. its pathetic. I learned a long time to not do this. Its a lazy car audio shop shortcut and not appropriate for aftermarket amps.

Originally Posted by bigJP

looks good and all, but i think you should cut a hole for the tweeter to sit flush in the door, that would make it just that much better

I thought about doing that bit the Dynaudio tweeter is large enough that it wouldnt sit flat. If you read my post it states that I am having pods made, so I will only have to make a small hole in that area to mount the pod. The pod will be low profile, and twistable so I can play with aiming. Later when I sell the car, I can just put little STI logo or something over the small hole instead of trying to find a way to cover a large gaping 2" hole.

TSHREY, you're the first one on this forum that I've read has the same jive/outlook as I do with car audio. Let me know how your system turns out.. pics?! I havent played much with phase on the tweeters. I swapped it once quick while installing but it sounded better in phase. I'm pretty happy with the imaging, but maybe I should play with that again when I get some time.

I hadnt thought about bringing a ground wire from the deck back - I've never done that. In the past I could ususally solve this issue by using a ground closer to heavy metal of the car (ie. near the rails, or where the metal is "thick"). In this car, after three ground points, its a mystery though. Can you tell me, where did you ground your amp, is yours in the trunk?


BTW, what deck are you considering? This one was tempting, the display looks awesome in person and I love the dial. Would I miss CD's though?!:
Alpine iDA-X001

My friend bought it and loves it.

[tshrey]

Given your tweeter location I would imagine in phase is best. I have to admit that I didn't even think to put them there - I did that in my 02 WRX and had a weird problem with sound fluctuations based on where I had my left arm while driving. I saw the high stock mount and went with it.

That Alpine unit is the one I'm getting. If I find I can't live without CD's I'll add a six disk changer.

The theory on the grounding location is that no matter how thick the metal, there can still be some voltage difference between the ground point of the headunit and the ground point of the amp. When you have that you get a loop because the shield on the interconnects see the head unit ground on one end and the amp ground on the other and current flows to the lowest ground. More than likely your ground point for your amp is better than the head unit. I have my amp grounded under the passenger seat right next to the amp. Grind to bare metal, use a star washer, ground the amp(s) and head unit to the same point and then hit the spot with some lacquer to seal it and prevent rust.

[hef]

hey subw00er, where did you tap for remote turn on lead?

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by hef

hey subw00er, where did you tap for remote turn on lead?

This comes from the head unit.

You can tap off of the switched power for the remote if your head unit doesnt have one for some reason, but then the amp will be on even if your head unit is not.

Just look for a blue wire coming off of your aftermarket deck - 90% chance its remote, and you can test it with a meter (if you get 12V when you turn the head unit on, thats it!).

BTW, if you are using the oem head unit, see the pinouts here: Subaru WRX radio harness pin-out
I forget now, but I think the power antenna lead can work as a remote wire, can anyone verify this?

[tshrey]

In general that is not the case - most head units only power the antenna when in Radio mode.

[hef]

okay. no problem. i will tap a fuse in the fuse box unless someone has a better solution. i am using the OEM headunit, and don't plan to upgrade anytime soon.

[hef]

wow, what a difference an aftermarket sub makes. took about 3 hours total time. glad i took the time. did the power wire through the same grommet as Subw00er. differences between our sub installs:

1- i stayed with the OEM headunit and tapped the speaker wires for sound (i must have screwed up tapping the one rear speaker because i am only getting sound from the right side for the sub. fortunately, bass almost always comes out of both speakers instead of panned like guitars or vocals. i have a multimeter, can someone tell me how to test the signal? maybe it is my amp and not my wiring job because the amp is way old.) had to use a line out converter to step the signal down.
2- hit the mirror (7.5 v) fuse for my remote turn on.
3- grounded at the middle child safety seat hook which sits right under the hatch latch. no paint stripping was necessary.

i found out that the wire pinout is different from that as linked to above. colors are the same for the rear speakers except for one. right rear pos is grey/green.

[Subw00er]

Originally Posted by hef

3- grounded at the middle child safety seat hook which sits right under the hatch latch. no paint stripping was necessary.

Can you take a picture please? I still have engine whine and its pissing me off. Do you have any engine whine?

[hef]

Originally Posted by Subw00er

Can you take a picture please? I still have engine whine and its pissing me off. Do you have any engine whine?

no whine that i can tell.

i don't currently have a working digital camera. i'll try to talk you through it. open the rear hatch. lean forward into the car and look near the latch. there is a small (2 inches wide) plastic piece that can be removed on the inside of the car. remove it, and be careful to not pull too hard. there is a small tab that prevents it from coming all the way out. once you have that off, you can see the child seat center latch/hook. there is a bolt holding it in. just remove it, place your ground terminal ring over the bolt, and reattach the bolt. to remove the bolt you need to pull the plastic piece away from you(towards the inside of the car) to get your ratchet in there. i hope this helps. if not, i am sure that child seat center latch must be in the owner's manual somewhere.