Soundsystem is in (pics)

Pieoter · 20-02-2005, 03:57 PM

After spending the good part of 2 days with the people at the lifestyle in Parramatta my little Fiesta was finally back in my hands last yesterday with a few minor changes. The headunit and speaker were replaced by muhc much better aftermarket units.

The headunit I went after was the Alpine CDA-9827 mp3 unit. These have amazing sound quality with 3 4v preouts. The reason for the gap on the left is that the stock ford unit is slightly wider than a normal headunit.

The front splits are MbQuart Reference RCE216 6.5inch splits. Amazingly the splits manage to fit in the whole left by the stock speakers giving it a nice stock look. The tweeters are mounted on the A-pillar and again look 100% stock.

In the back are MbQuart Reference RCE269 6x9's. These are easily the best sounding 6x9's i have ever heard. I had a reinforcing MDF panel put in on the top of the parcel shelf to hold the extra weight of the speakers and cross overs.

Finally the amp. I have a RockFord Fosgate p4004 powering all the speakers with a tested 89W RMS. Nothing much to say other than I need to set the Filters as the bass cutoff from the front is set way too high and the back can do with an adjustment.

I bought everything from the lifestyle store in Parramatta and had them do the installing aswell. I would very much recommend these guys, they may charge abit extra but they do an excelent job and they even do small things like add a special pouch in the glovebox to hold the headunit face box when not used.

fordel · 20-02-2005, 04:09 PM

Nice install there !

Chris

Timmeh · 20-02-2005, 04:21 PM

All looks like top quality gear, I can't wait to hear it and see how it all runs!

It's been a little while in the making but looks to have all come together how you wanted it, well done!

As I said, look forward to hearing it next cruise!

Tim!

mitch_lx · 20-02-2005, 10:25 PM

Veery nice!! gota be happy with that!

One question.. do the 6.5 need any sort of bracket made up.. or do the holes in the 6.5 speaker match up perfectly with the holes of the stocko 5x7?!?!?!

this might mean im in luck, good 6.5 seem to be alot cheaper than good 5x7

Pieoter · 20-02-2005, 11:01 PM

I have no idea how the holes line up. If you get 6.5inch splits your not going to be able to run much bass through them the way mine are mounted. I tried lowering the filter frequency on the amp but when bass came on it was almost like the cone was hitting the door so I very quicky turned it back up.

Lucky I increased the rear gain and now the sound is amazing everywhere inside the car, and with much less rattling at high volume. The rear speakers are in a very back position and they cause the most rattles so I would move them to the parcel shelf.

The only issue with my system is a lack of bass from the front splits but in not too woried right now as the sound is amazing anyway. If I don't like it when I get a sub ill start thinking about custom fibreglass door pods.

fordel · 20-02-2005, 11:07 PM

If they fit in without neding a bracket, we will all be in luck

Chris

mitch_lx · 21-02-2005, 11:17 PM

u can say that again

but apparently JBL make 5x7 for like 130 bucks, available from strathfield.. unsure of their quality though :S

WASACL · 21-02-2005, 11:33 PM

Very nice man... Good to see someone spending some cash on their sound! *HINT* *HINT*

Once i get my head unit and speakers i cant wait to have a good old sound off!

Russ

svo347 · 21-02-2005, 11:40 PM

JBL are of good quality
what was the damage $$??

Pieoter · 22-02-2005, 05:54 PM

My friend has a set of JBL 6x9 and even running off a stock cassete player they sound very nice. The stock ford units are rated to 25W so most decent aftermarket speakers will sound nicer.

Im gonna have a closer look at the doors on the weekend in order to find out whats causing the poor bass performance in the front. While im at it, ill take a few photos showing how they are mounted.

The damage was $2900 including install, RCA's and all new wiring to speakers. It took 2 full days of work to finsih the car. I put her in a 8:30 Friday and get her 5:30 Saturday.

piez · 19-06-2006, 10:35 AM

i like wat u have done. its startin to give me ideas about my fiesta now and what i can do to it.

Scareybear · 19-06-2006, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitch_lx

Veery nice!! gota be happy with that!

One question.. do the 6.5 need any sort of bracket made up.. or do the holes in the 6.5 speaker match up perfectly with the holes of the stocko 5x7?!?!?!

this might mean im in luck, good 6.5 seem to be alot cheaper than good 5x7

I had to make up a small bracket to fit my speakers in, just cut a bit of MDF the same sie as the old speaker, then cut out my holes for the new 6.5's.
The old screw holes weren't even close.

Very nice install pietor, excellent choices.

Swaytan · 19-06-2006, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scareybear

I had to make up a small bracket to fit my speakers in, just cut a bit of MDF the same sie as the old speaker, then cut out my holes for the new 6.5's.
The old screw holes weren't even close.

Very nice install pietor, excellent choices.

Agreed, nice one Pieoter, I bet those sound awesome!

robjh80 · 19-06-2006, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pieoter

The headunit I went after was the Alpine CDA-9827 mp3 unit. These have amazing sound quality with 3 4v preouts.

I had the Alpine CDA-9827 in my last car with 4 Eclipse 3 Way 6" speakers, it sounded absolutely fantastic, I was going to go with an Eclipse head unit as well but after seeing what extra control the Alpine unit had over the Eclipse I opted to go with the Alpine, was so glad I did, it really is a terrific head unit, I'm sure you'll be pleased with it Pieoter......dont forget to turn the "MediaXpander" feature onto level 2 to get the best out of it, I always found that was the best setting to truly get the most out of the unit and then of course just tinker with the band settings to suit your personal taste.

Swaytan · 19-06-2006, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robjh80

I had the Alpine CDA-9827 in my last car with 4 Eclipse 3 Way 6" speakers, it sounded absolutely fantastic, I was going to go with an Eclipse head unit as well but after seeing what extra control the Alpine unit had over the Eclipse I opted to go with the Alpine, was so glad I did, it really is a terrific head unit, I'm sure you'll be pleased with it Pieoter......dont forget to turn the "MediaXpander" feature onto level 2 to get the best out of it, I always found that was the best setting to truly get the most out of the unit and then of course just tinker with the band settings to suit your personal taste.

Well I've just found out that most amplifiers have high & low pass filters on them. I was unaware of this when I ordered the stuff, but now am totally stoked, being a muso & all.

I drop my car off to Ryda first thing tomorrow morning... YAY!

Pieoter · 19-06-2006, 08:54 PM

Yeh, I love the head unit but i never use the MX feature.

Yeh sway most if not all amps will have filters on them, setting them correctly is one of the more annoying parts of calibrating the system.

Swaytan · 19-06-2006, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pieoter

setting them correctly is one of the more annoying parts of calibrating the system.

Knobs & buttons to a muso = magic!

Ahaha, but I know what you mean. I pretty much know off the top of my head what filtering to apply, don't really have to look at it.