# Cadillac CTS First try Build



## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Alright, so heres the deal. Bought the car about 2-3 months ago and decided it's time to finally give this whole car audio idea an attempt. I have had quite a few "systems" installed before, but I will admit that they were always just a sub box and amp kinda ghetto installs. After looking though lots of builds on this forum I have really got the "bug" to do a good job and get myself something that I can be proud of. 

Pics of the Car - Mostly stock, had the windows tinted and put some 20" MRR HR2's on it.

















Like I said, I just bought the car, so I dont have much done yet, but I have started collecting some pieces of the puzzle. What I have now:

Headunit: Pioneer AVH-P6000
Ipod control: Pioneer CD-IB100II
XM Module: Pioneer GEX-P920XM
Front Door Speakers: Infinity Kappa 52.9i 2 ways
Rear Door Speakers: Infinty Kappa 52.9i 2 ways
Amp: Infinity Kappa Five (5 channel [email protected] + [email protected])
Subs: Infinity Kappa Perfect 10 to replace the stock sub (IB) and 2 L7's


A few Pics:









































The plan is make a false floor for some amps and a false wall to hide some subs in the trunk. I have a new amp install kit coming in this week to replace the 4ga I currently have. I went with the Kicker 0/1 kit as it looks like it has everything needed.

Sorry this is a weak start, but I am hoping that by starting this build thread it will get me motivated to get this install done.

What I have plans to get and istall soon:
Controller: Pioneer DEQ-P9000
Amps: Soundstream (havent completely decided) 1 for subs, 1 for front comps
Front Comps: Alpine SPX-17PRO
Allways looking for more ideas

More to come shortly......


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Here are a few more pics. Nothing special yet. I cant wait to get all this stuff installed.










This is the differance between the stock 10" sub and the Infinity Kappa Perect 10.









Now I just need to make it fit.









The major thing I am working on right now is modding my stock radio to fit the new double din. I have a metra kit installed for the time being, but I need to make the stock radio fit back into the dash. The stock radio holds the Cadillac's "Driver Information Center" right above it. This tells me everything from "door open" to "low fuel" to "change oil". Luckily it has been done before, so I just need to follow instructions and try not to cut my finger off.

This is the stock radio. Notice there is enough room where the stock 6 disk changer sits to cut out a perfect spot for my double din to fit.


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

This is what the stock radio looks like currently. I just need to be carfull and start cutting......


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

What ever became of this install? I am considering a CTS-V if i ever get rid of my STi.


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## TREOUSAMPS_GP (Dec 24, 2009)

did he lose a finger i was interested in this


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

TREOUSAMPS_GP said:


> did he lose a finger i was interested in this


Haha... Nope, all fingers still attached. I really havent done anything as far as build goes, so I havent posted up anthing. Big plans are still in the works but right now its all talk and no walk 

I have changed up a lot of the components and still working the ideas of how to install them.

New updates would be:

-I have taken out the 4ga power and ground and replaced it with Kicker 0/1ga.
-Taken out the Kicker L7's and Infinity Perfect 10 and replaced them with a single JL Audio 12w7.
-Replaced the Infinity Kappa Five amp with a JL audio 1000/1 and 300/4.
-Replaced the Infinity Kappa 52.9i's up front with PPI 356cs comps.

I am still planning on changing some more parts out and then really need to get busy on installations.......

Here are a few pics of some of the new stuff.


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

alachua said:


> What ever became of this install? I am considering a CTS-V if i ever get rid of my STi.


If I could afford a new CTS-V, I would jump on it in a heartbeat. This is by far my favorite car ever. I love the way it looks, drives, etc. 

So far, I have zero regrets on auto choice........


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## TREOUSAMPS_GP (Dec 24, 2009)

wow very nice only bad is the carpets didnt match but easy fix when ur done or if its gonna be covered anyway


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

Nice job on behalf of a fellow CTS owner


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## ssmith100 (Jun 28, 2007)

Nice install. I miss my car everyday. It got the front end knocked off of it by an F250 truck. Here's a link to the install for it.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/17514-2004-cady-cts-v-install.html

Shane


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

ssmith100 said:


> Nice install. I miss my car everyday. It got the front end knocked off of it by an F250 truck. Here's a link to the install for it.
> 
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/17514-2004-cady-cts-v-install.html
> 
> Shane


Wow... Really nice install you did. It's installs like this that reall make me want to go to a professional lol....

I did some searches but your thread never came up before, thanks so much for posting. You have given me new ideas and made me want to get busy on this install.

Thanks all for the encouraging words, I know my car looks pretty ghetto compaired to most others on this site. This is my first go at making a full system that sounds *AND* looks good. 

More to come I promise. For now it's just real tough finding any time between work and my 7 month old little girl....









I am currently working on trying to clean up the trunk and will post up that project shortly.


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## thebigjimsho (Jan 11, 2009)

ssmith100 said:


> Nice install. I miss my car everyday. It got the front end knocked off of it by an F250 truck. Here's a link to the install for it.
> 
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/17514-2004-cady-cts-v-install.html
> 
> Shane


My '04 joined the ranks of yours, Shane. I still have it but it's going to be rebuilt with more of a track car focus so no audio upgrades on that.



But I did get an '09 CTS-V in November, so I need to see some builds on a CTS with Bose setup. It looks more complicated than our '04s ever were...


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## alachua (Jun 30, 2008)

thebigjimsho said:


> My '04 joined the ranks of yours, Shane. I still have it but it's going to be rebuilt with more of a track car focus so no audio upgrades on that.
> 
> 
> 
> But I did get an '09 CTS-V in November, so I need to see some builds on a CTS with Bose setup. It looks more complicated than our '04s ever were...


Is your bose head similar to the G35 where it has balanced outputs? 

You could do something similar to this thread:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/69123-dynaudio-zapco-g35.html

You could also do it using any amps you like but using this:
DC Reference series>DSP6-SL &DRC-SL

To handle all the processing. Its a little pricey, but just figure its in place of an expensive head and separate processor.


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## thebigjimsho (Jan 11, 2009)

alachua said:


> Is your bose head similar to the G35 where it has balanced outputs?
> 
> You could do something similar to this thread:
> 
> ...


I honestly have no idea. I don't even know the exact sizes of the speakers. I have front door speakers about 8-9" with 2.5" tweeters in the dash with 5 or 6" mids in the rear doors with 2.5" tweeters in the rear deck with a shallow 10" IB sub in the rear deck as well. 

at first I thought of ditching the rear tweeters but having listened to a couple of my DVD-A discs, I don't know if I want to ditch the 5.1 surround.

It's a much better system than my '04 but it's more complicated and I'm not sure what I want to do with it...


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Quick update: I had a flat tire this weekend and learned a very valuable lesson. The stock "donut" spare is absolutely useless to me. I learned that since I put larger rims on the car, the donut doesn't work. If I go over 30mph the traction control kicks on and doesn't let the engine get any power to the wheels. If I turn T/C off it gets really scary and I fishtail all over the place. With this new info available my plans for the truck are going out the window. I was planning on raising the floor 4" but now I don't think I need to raise it at all. Once the spare comes out I believe there is enough room to mount everything I need under there.


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Alright, So I finally found some time and was able to do something to my build  . I am nowhere near as advanced as 95% of the people on here, but I do what I can with the very little time I have.

The overall plan was to get the trunk in a better order...

Started off by taking apart the trunk lid to start deadening









After Deadening









Now for the trunk, this is a horrible mess of just crap thrown everywhere. I started by ripping everything out and starting from scratch.
This is what it looked like when I stated for the day:









After a few hours of taking parts out. (gratuitous picture of the bike I never get to ride)









Trunk looks like this: notice the great job of factory sound deadening lol….









From there I finally have some work accomplished….










Toss the Pioneer XM controller back where it will not be seen:


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Do you have the information/instructions on what you did with the information center?


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Now it comes time to put everything back. This is still a pretty noob or ghetto install for the time being, but unlike many others on here I just cant go months without tunes…. So it goes back in. This time I needed to add another JL Amp and a BitOne J The JL amp isn’t hooked up yet as it really isn’t needed until I get a mid range. Once I get this, I will hook up the 300/2 to the mid bass and the 300/4 to the mid range and tweets.

BitOne

















And what the trunk looks like today. I know it is not much of a difference, but it is major progress for me. Now I can start to construct some beauty panels to cover up and make it look better. 









I know I took pictures of the DRC, but I guess I didn’t upload them from my other laptop. I will get those up soon.

There is still a TON to do, but as I said, I am extremely happy to finally get a little progress going. 

Any comments are always welcome, I realize I have a lot to learn from the people on here.


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## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

Take your time and do it right the first time! I know it sucks not having tunes in your car, I'm going through that now for about 3 months. However, it's nothing compared to haveing to do your build over again cause you missed something or didn't do it right. Take your time and get it done! 

Besides that, you have a beautiful little girl! I have two myself and know all about time issues. You're doing good, car looks good! Good luck, I'll subscribe and watch!


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## SSSnake (Mar 8, 2007)

Looks nice! How are you venting the JL into the interior? 

I am currently working on my CTS-V and hope to get the amp rack finished this weekend. Then the real fun begins, integrating the PC. Keep up the good work.


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Niebur3 said:


> Do you have the information/instructions on what you did with the information center?


If you mean this: I haven't done it yet. For now I have no DIC (boy that sounds really bad). I actually like the way it looks now and havent missed the Info center any (other than low fuel gauge). I plan on doing what the link shows, but just havent had the time yet,


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

scooter99 said:


> Take your time and do it right the first time! I know it sucks not having tunes in your car, I'm going through that now for about 3 months. However, it's nothing compared to haveing to do your build over again cause you missed something or didn't do it right. Take your time and get it done!
> 
> Besides that, you have a beautiful little girl! I have two myself and know all about time issues. You're doing good, car looks good! Good luck, I'll subscribe and watch!


If I only had your patience I would rule the world 
Your build gives me the inspiration that one day I can be at your level. For now this is just as the title says “First try”. There will be more to follow as my little one gets bigger and hopefully I get a little more time to go outside and work on my car.

Thank you for the kind words about my daughter, always appreciated….



SSSnake said:


> Looks nice! How are you venting the JL into the interior?
> 
> I am currently working on my CTS-V and hope to get the amp rack finished this weekend. Then the real fun begins, integrating the PC. Keep up the good work.


Thanks Snake – I am looking forward to your progress as well. Right now the only “Vent” is the stock 10” sub hole. I took out the stock and just left the hole to go from the trunk into the cockpit.

I’m sure you have seen the CarPC that someone in Mexico has on his CTS, wow is it impressive….. If you get yours working have that good it will be awesome.


Thank you all for the support, I realize this is far from great, but hopefully I will get there. I have only owned this car for maybe 6 months now, there only room to improve I hope.


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## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

While I appreciate your kind words, let me tell you this is the first build of this magnitude I've ever done in my life. I've worked on car audio basics for about 16 years, well since I was 16, but it's mainly been thow a box in the trunk and throw the amps on the box. Nothing of this magnitude at all. I only learned about 3 way active and processors recently, and even then I'm still a little scared to get done and have to mess with the bit one. But I am anxious to learn and that will, obviously, lead to future ventures! But keep at it. You're doing well. The reason my build has taken so long is the same as yours, I have my 2 girls which have a nightly routine and that routine takes a crap load of time. I'm getting excited to be done with my build for two reasons, to get it playing, and to spend more time with my girls! Keep it up, you're doing well!!


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Thanks again Scooter - this pushes me to do better and strive for perfection instead of settling (which is what I am doing now of course).

All of my past system where the same as yours - throw a pair of 12's in the back with an amp mounted to the top and I'm done. Now I actually want to hear the music not just a thumping from the back. I will get there eventually with the help of all the great people on here.


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## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

Well that's what we're all here for!


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Wow.. it's been a year and a half since I last posted in here, god does time fly by...

Well, I got out of the car audio for a while as I had my little one with me 99% of the time and couldn't really turn up the volume much. I missed having good tunes so am starting up yet again. I will try and post up what I am doing even though to most of the builds on here mine is still just noobish ramblings and not worth most peoples time 

Lets see, I have changed up my wheels by going from the 20's in the first few pics over to these 22's. Personally I think it looks much better now...










Audio wise I have decided to go with as much Alpine as possible. I loved the JL audio stuff I had but it just took up wayyyyyy to much room in my trunk. New goal is to be able to still fit a large stroller (daughter is now 2) and be able to use the car for weekly groceries runs. Alpine seems to be smaller and I have always loved the old Alpine stuff I had back in my days.

Amp: I am going to run 2 PDX 1.1000 for the subs and a PDX5 for the mids/ tweets. Still undecided on which mids/tweets I will settle with but I think the 75w per channel will be enough for my needs. The 5th channel (sub) from the PDX5 will be running a 10" in the factory rear deck location. This was my very first idea back 2 years ago that I gave up on, now hopefully I will make it a reality.

I am working on the trunk (amps/subs/ etc) so pics will come pretty soon of this progress. 

HU - I went with the Alpine INA-W910 for a few reasons: Firstly, I really wanted to stick with Alpine if possible. I didn't think I wanted a NAV HU but now that I have had a few days to play with it I am so happy I did. Some really neat features is this. Second, I wanted to ditch XM radio as I have spent a fortune on them the last few years. In order to bring myself to loose XM I wanted to get Pandora. Everything I read about the w910 said that the pandora app was really good. So far it seems to do what I need. Third I really wanted bluetooth as I get a lot of work calls as I am driving around (always on call). The bluetooth on this is fantastic so far. Clear and easy to use, no need to do anything other than have the car turned on.

4th reason for the w910 is the ability to run H800 if it ever gets the bugs out. I am not 100% sure what processor I am going to run this time around and the H800 sounds like something I would jump on if I can. I loved the bit1 I had before but I really don't have anything to compare it to right now. If the H800 doesn't pan out soon I will have to decide on either the bit1 again or the MS8.



















subs - Going with 2 12" alpine type X subs. I got a great deal on a pair so I figure they are worth a shot. Following my last sub of the 12w7 is going to be hard I know, so hopefully 2 of the type X's can somewhat compare. On paper they look good. 

I threw one in a really crappy box and hooked it up to the 5th channel on the pdx5 for now just to see what it sounds like. Right now it seems okay considering its just 1 and only getting 300w. I should have a custom box ready by the end of the week so this really ghetto setup can go away....










Think that is about it for now. Stay tuned to see this progress into something worthwhile (I hope). Nothing too major coming in the next few weeks, but I should have the trunk done pretty soon and will try and get a lot more pics of the build than I got the last time.

I will try and also put up some reviews of this new stuff as I use it a little longer as well.


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

I got a little bit done recently but of course didn't take many pics until after the box was built.... go figure.

Trunk is looking much better which was the goal. I now have a bit more space 

Some pics...

Alpine type X 12"

























Box for the Cadillac CTS:

3/4" MDF - divided into 2 seperate chambers @ .94 cubic feet per chamber

cloth matched pretty good I am happy with it for now..


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

originally I was going to mount the AMP's on the back of the rear seat as I just don't have any want to "show-off" the amps on this version of the build. My entire reason for this build is to keep my trunk usable... After thinking about it I decided to just mount them on the top of the box as there is enough room to do this and it would allow me to do adjustments if needed. I'm not loosing any room in doing this, so for now it will work.


































I threw most of the stuff in just to make sure it would fit as I planned it out...


















added t-nuts and some poly..


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

and I still have room to go grocery shopping... just what I was looking for (for now).










































Tomorrow I am taking the day off work to get behind the box and re-do all the wiring. My backseat does not fold down so I need to rip out the backseat and see what damage I can do back there. Also need to take the HU back out and install the components for the new rear-view camera and PAC TR7...


























I still have so much to do and so little time and money  oh well.. that is Life I guess.


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## scooter99 (Dec 21, 2008)

:thumbsup: Wow, clapping, that looks extremely clean! Nice work buddy!


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Thanks....

I had big plans on cleaning up all the wires behind the box in between the box and seat but as life goes I got the call from daycare that my little one was sick just as soon as I pulled out the backseat.

My backseat does not fold down, only has the "ski hole" so it's a real pain to get back there. Since no one will ever see back there it really isn't that big of a deal that its messy, but I know and that just isn't going to work for me. I am a little sad as I really wanted to get this mess cleaned up today...oh well.

Yikes....









I did get it a little better in the very short time I had. Now before I get a hundred people saying "Cap's do nothing, you should take it out", I must say that my lights have been dimming like crazy with this setup so I had to at least give it a shot... I don't know if it worked as it's not dark yet, but maybe it will help a little..










Car off, been sitting all night long..









I did re-do my amp ground while I was in the area to see if maybe that could help with my dimming lights. Again, not sure it did anything but I was there so why not..


























Hopefully I can get this thing cleaned up next weekend (going out of town tomorrow).


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## Awdtalon92 (Jul 7, 2011)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread here, but I have some questions. I love the look of the Metra kit, but did you ever do anything about the missing DIC, or did you just learn to live without it?

Also, you sig mention SPX17PRO. How did you mount the tweeters, do you have pics? I got mine behind the factory Bose grills, but my initial attempt at reattaching them failed, and I am working out how to reattach them.


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## angelspeedfreak (Oct 5, 2009)

Awdtalon92 said:


> Sorry to resurrect an old thread here, but I have some questions. I love the look of the Metra kit, but did you ever do anything about the missing DIC, or did you just learn to live without it?
> 
> Also, you sig mention SPX17PRO. How did you mount the tweeters, do you have pics? I got mine behind the factory Bose grills, but my initial attempt at reattaching them failed, and I am working out how to reattach them.


I gave up on the DIC... I am sure you have seen the writeup on how to do it, but I just never really had the time so I just got use to loosing a lot of features.

I will have to see if I have any pics of the tweets.... I just popped them on there and they looked fine to me. They went into the pillars a bit but I never had anyone in my car that didn't think they were stock.


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## Awdtalon92 (Jul 7, 2011)

angelspeedfreak said:


> I gave up on the DIC... I am sure you have seen the writeup on how to do it, but I just never really had the time so I just got use to loosing a lot of features.
> 
> I will have to see if I have any pics of the tweets.... I just popped them on there and they looked fine to me. They went into the pillars a bit but I never had anyone in my car that didn't think they were stock.


Yes, I've seen the write ups, but wasn't really liking the way they came out.
Looking forward to seeing your tweet install! :thumbsup:


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## vwjmkv (Apr 23, 2011)

hey nice job so far on your build, i have a similar setup to what you had with the JLs. 2 JL 300/4 and one JL HD750/1. how much is the Bitone? or how low can i get one? i want to go fully active, 3-way upfront and rear fill. Thanks 

keep up the great work man. 

CC

Postscript: I have a 5 y.o sister LOVES when i crank thevolume to Michael Jackson's Thriller or Lady Gaga... maybe you'll turn your little one into a mini bass head.


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## stealth418 (May 8, 2012)

figuring out the dimming light issue?


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