# 2006 Civic Si - Keepin it Simple



## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Hey Guys,

This is my first serious install, with my previous experience being limited to swapping head units and speakers, and throwing a box in the trunk.

The car is a 2006 Civic Si with factory nav. I really wanted the factory nav for reasons of stealth/theft, and I love it. It can play 4gb CF or SD cards full of MP3's (my music collection is in MP3 format, sue me), it looks slick, and the nav is sweet. 

So the theme of my install is factory integration and stealth. I wanted the interior of the car to appear 100% stock. I'm also on a tight budget, and I don't want to add a lot of weight, so the acoustic treatments are limited to where they are most important.

Lucky for me, the factory source unit outputs a flat, balanced signal out to the factory outboard amp, which performs the task of screwing up the EQ and freq response. So if I can tap into the signal before that, and run it to an amp with balanced inputs, I am golden. There is a dude (mercman) on the Honda and Acura boards that makes a harness just for this purpose.

I listen to a fairly wide variety of rock and rap, but my goal is simply good SQ. If I had a really good-sounding system I would probably listen to other kinds of music too.

I don't plan to compete, so this is just for my personal enjoyment. After fawning over all the beautiful installations on here, though, I tried to pay as much attention to detail as possible to clean wiring, proper termination, etc. So, by all means, I am open to constructive criticism. But FWIW, I'm not losing sleep if my zip ties are more than 6" apart.

Thanks to everyone!!! She wouldn't be close to what she is if it weren't for this place.

*The gear:*
Power wire: Kicker 4ga
Signal cable: mercman's harness
Amp: JL 500/5
Front stage: PG RSD65cs run actively off the 500/5 in tri-amp mode
Sub: my brother's old 12W0 in a pre-made box that I found in my parents' garage (temporary, but I'm diggin it right now).

and a roll of Raammat + Ensolite.

I still need to figure out how to finish off the trunk. I don't really have any woodworking or fiberglassing tools or experience.

Here she is:









And here we go. I re-used the factory firewall grommet and cut a hole for my 4-gauge Kicker power wire:


















Wrapped with electrical tape so that I can pull it snug from the inside of the car:









From the engine compartment:









Where the wire enters the cabin, above the accelerator:









Running down the center console:









The factory outboard amp for the "premium sound system" is located under the center console in front of the shifter. I don't need it, so I removed it:









Output from factory source:









Here's the signal harness I bought from mercman on AcuraZine. It plugs into the factory plug above, and sends the balanced signals back to the amp. I added the Techflex.









Plugged in:









Power, signal, and speaker bundles all running down the center console. That's right, my power run is 4" away from my signal run here.  But the signal is balanced.









Running up the back seat:









And into trunk:


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Amp mounted to plywood behind factory carpet:









I can still fold down the seats:









Finished signal and speaker wire runs, looking at where the factory amp used to be.









Finished center console wiring. I cleaned up my old radar detector hardwire job while I was in there:









With the center console reinstalled:









This is the R speaker wire bundle, anchored to factory looming behind glovebox:









I loomed the mid and tweet together, and split them up here. The tweet wire runs up to the top corner of the dash, and the mid goes down into the hole that leads to the door:









Which brings me to my absolute favorite part of the installation: running Techflexed 16-gauge Kicker speaker wire into the doors through the factory rubber tubing.









Top of grommet (leads into cabin). Most of this plug is occupied by molex plugs, but at the bottom there is a snug hole in the rubber.









Bottom of grommet (leads into door). There's no molex on this side, and plenty of extra room for more wires:









Voila! Heatshrinked and properly crimped:









Just like factory:









Same treatment for the tweet:


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## ron2002si (Dec 4, 2007)

LOOK GREAT! Another FG getting the work over!


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Raammat on outer skin:



















I fabbed up some Coroplast (bought from a sign shop) covers for the access holes:









It was a very scientific process:









Finished w/ the Raammat:









Mounting MDF speaker ring to door with countersunk sheetmetal screws.









The small terminals I bought from Parts Express fit extra snug:









Finished passenger door:









On to the driver's side:







































Tweet superglued into factory mount. I wrapped the bare terminals in electrical tape after I took the picture:


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

And that pretty much brings me to where I am today.

I also dremeled a 1/4" ring of plastic off of the door card to clear the MDF speaker ring.

I should have taken some pics of the buttoned up interior, but it just looks like a stock Civic with nav. 

And I am a little embarrassed to post pics of the sub in the trunk right now. That will be my next project, along with Raammatting the rear deck and trunk lid.

I have never heard a real SQ car, but it sounds GREAT to me so far. Right now I have the tweets highpassed at ~2.5kHz 24db slope, the mids playing down to ~75Hz, and the sub playing from ~70Hz or so down. I tried all the different combinations of polarity on the mids/tweets, and decided that reversing the polarity on the tweets gave me the best image/stage. I guess T/A would be nice, but I am a minimalist and love the simplicity of the system right now. And it sounds good.


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## dogstar (Jan 31, 2007)

Looks like a nice clean, thorough job.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Ha! Another Si with a 500/5 

Any noise issues running down the center of the car?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Very nice looking !


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

chad said:


> Ha! Another Si with a 500/5
> 
> Any noise issues running down the center of the car?



Nope, or I wouldn't have gloated about it. 

I'm assuming it's due to the fact that the signal run is balanced from the factory source (which is an Alpine, fwiw). I can't hear a noise floor unless it's in the recording, and there are no signs of any alt whine or anything.

It was your posts about the silly Honda ELD system that got me wanting an amp with a regulated power supply  (not that that was your point). The 500/5 also accepts the balanced inputs that I need, takes care of bandpassing my mids, and powers the whole system from one chassis, so I couldn't be happier with it. Got a good deal from a member on here, too.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Damn good amp, love mine! Now explain this balanced out thing, what level is it running at output wise? Is Honda sending that down twisted pair?


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## lashlee (Aug 16, 2007)

Looks great!! I like the simplicity.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

chad said:


> Damn good amp, love mine! Now explain this balanced out thing, what level is it running at output wise? Is Honda sending that down twisted pair?


I haven't measured, but it's perfect low line-level. The amp's set to low and I don't need the gains up much.

I think it must be twisted pair up to the factory amp (where we tapped in). And mercman's harness is from there. Out of the DIY spirit I was tempted to make my own twisted pair harness, but honestly, the only way I learned enough to be able to do that was from reading mercman's posts on AcuraZine. He has clearly done the research and engineered a good solution, so I was happy to the pay the man for my time saved. And because the plug for the factory harness is super cool (and needs to be custom made, since it can't be bought from Honda).

I think there might even be a 3rd drain wire in the factory harness, but I'm not sure about that.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I am in debt to you all for the result I got.


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## flomofo (Apr 30, 2008)

I did most everything about the same as you other than going with an 8120, x4r&x10d amp dsp setup, so I could just post the direction I went with the trunk in this thread if you don't mind.

Might provide ideas for your future box as it was really lightweight which I think was one of your requirements as well.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

capnxtreme said:


> line-level. The amp's set to low and I don't need the gains up much.
> 
> I think it must be twisted pair up to the factory amp (where we tapped in). And mercman's harness is from there. Out of the DIY spirit I was tempted to make my own twisted pair harness, but honestly, the only way I learned enough to be able to do that was from reading mercman's posts on AcuraZine. He has clearly done the research and engineered a good solution, so I was happy to the pay the man for my time saved. And because the plug for the factory harness is super cool (and needs to be custom made, since it can't be bought from Honda).
> 
> I think there might even be a 3rd drain wire in the factory harness, but I'm not sure about that.



Oh there is absolutely NO DOUBT that that harness and it's abilities are just titties and beer! if every auto maker did this we'd be set!

Now, let's see pics of the sub and stuff, there is no shame in DIY, you gotta test things somehow right?


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

chad said:


> Any noise issues running down the center of the car?


FWIW, I have my ai-net cable and speaker wires running down the center w/no issues. These Civics are nice. 



Capn, nice job. I would like to suggest that you try (at least) those tweeters in a different location. I had mine there for a long time and swore that it was a fine location, until I realized that it wasn't. :blush:


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

The speaker lines won't pick up noise but I chose to run those down the sides just for ease and not wantign to clutter up the underside of an already PACKED dash area (remember I have more than audio in there) but even balanced (yes I tried it) down the center I was getting RF hash from that damn fuel pump, ran them under the pass seat and problems gone... unbalanced. Maybe they got it figured out after '05, dunno but it's a common issue in the EP3 and I even researched it with a gauss meter and RF feild strength meter (because I was under the influence, and it was driving me batty)


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

"titties and beer"... Chad you kill me!  bwahahahaha

Excellent write-up.. Thank you!!!

I've been hoping for someone to do a diy with Mercman's kit with the civic oem balanced outs. I'm considering his kit and possibly the balun to have the option to run out to stuff that doesn't necessarily have diff balanced inputs.

I'd love to have active x-over, ta and eq processing.

Considered possibilities:

3sixty.2:
haven't read too many happy campers running oem diff outs into it yet.
mercman himself tells me he's seen a few guys that didn't have good results with it.

PXE-H650:
I have NO idea if that thing would be happy with the balanced lines.

Another potential would be to use mercman's harness with his balanced to unbalanced converter to run to a KAC-X4R kenwood amp. This might be cool as all that juicy processing power is built into the amp. I wish there were more 1-box solutions like that.. Man if JL built such a thing, THAT would truly be "titties and beer".


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

nice clean job with the wiring install. Looks good.
well done Cap'n


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Babs said:


> "titties and beer"... Chad you kill me!  bwahahahaha
> 
> Excellent write-up.. Thank you!!!
> 
> ...


You are overlooking the Behringer DCX2496 with the PS mods! They have balanced IO already! Sittin on XLR connectors!

Chad


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

flomo,

Feel free. I remember your pics from 8th and your trunk looks great. That's exactly the kind of look I'm going for. At this point I'm leaning towards leaving the amp where it is, and putting a fiberglass sub box in the passenger corner.

bikini,

Good suggestion. I just love the stealth. Can you explain what you didn't like about the sound?

Babs,

If you need to integrate with the factory head unit, the harness is what you need, period. I believe the PPI DCX-730 accepts balanced inputs.

Chad,

You reminded me, you're right about the RFI. So I guess the harness is, in fact, doing more than just sending a balanced signal.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

capnxtreme said:


> bikini,
> 
> Good suggestion. I just love the stealth. Can you explain what you didn't like about the sound?


One word: Scattered. The direct placement toward the windshield was wrecking havoc on the staging.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

capnxtreme said:


> Chad,
> 
> You reminded me, you're right about the RFI. So I guess the harness is, in fact, doing more than just sending a balanced signal.


Mine was the fuel pump creating havoc that I snubbed with a Pi network right close to the pump. Problem was that not only did it jack witht he audio but It also wiped out the entire 2M ham radio spectrum from radiation and there's no cure for that other than going to the source. Those bastards.


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## flomofo (Apr 30, 2008)

The sub and box together weigh about as much or probably less than the two amps and rack.

The sub box I think weighs around 5 to 8 pounds from what they told me, they said it might have even only been 4 pounds actually but that just seems crazy. Fiberglass is the only way to go to save room and especially weight over board

edit: I pile the trunk beyond full sometimes so figured this would be the simplest and best option for me and ended up looking all right too without atrracting a lot of attention when I pop the trunk open as a lot of stuff gets stolen here from trunk systems to now gps systems in dash or portable and cat converters.


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## john3x714 (May 12, 2008)

nice clean setup


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks for the comments.

As I mentioned, it looks like just a stock Civic with nav, but here are some quick shots of the finished product anyways, since I never posted any:

Buttoned up door:









Factory nav:









My cockpit and my one visible piece of ICE :


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## Fran82 (Jul 30, 2007)

Babs said:


> I've been hoping for someone to do a diy with Mercman's kit with the civic oem balanced outs. I'm considering his kit and possibly the balun to have the option to run out to stuff that doesn't necessarily have diff balanced inputs.
> 
> I'd love to have active x-over, ta and eq processing.Another potential would be to use mercman's harness with his balanced to unbalanced converter to run to a KAC-X4R kenwood amp. This might be cool as all that juicy processing power is built into the amp. I wish there were more 1-box solutions like that.. Man if JL built such a thing, THAT would truly be "titties and beer".


Zapco offers those features, among others, right?


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Yeah, I'm afraid sticker shock is the only issue with the Zapco. One DC amp is more than my whole system.


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## Fran82 (Jul 30, 2007)

capnxtreme said:


> Yeah, I'm afraid sticker shock is the only issue with the Zapco. One DC amp is more than my whole system.


Tell me about it. I'm still using an Eclipse CD player from 96.
Sure is nice stuff though.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hey big guy - very nice simple install. I like people who take the time to do their small jobs well - and that you have done!

As for the noise issue....hmm... I'm not using anyone's harness or a stock head unit, but I do have an odd and very intermittent issue with noise that seems to be related to my signal wiring and its route. If I tie everything down tightly, I can set the wires up so that no noise is ever present... but like now, where I am redoing some things with my wiring... when the signal baring cables aren't tighly bundled and routed, I get an amazingly loud noise! 

Naturally, I will tie the wiring back down again soon and the issue won't exist, but when it does happen - its pretty stout! Oddly, if I reach inside the console and move the signal cables the tineist bit, the sound most often goes totally away. In fact, at one point I could just tap on the side of my console and it would disappear.

I'd just like to determine what specifically my signal wires are touching or getting near too that is creating this issue, so I can try and route as far around them as possible. If you've seen my install, you'lle know that I did my best to keep the signal cables well away from anything that would cause noise, but I am still using the center route for them and some parts of the main harness run through that area. Sadly, I don't have enough length on them to route out to the middle of the passenger section - but again - I can fix it quite easily so its just a matter of curiousity. I can turn it to -0db on the knob and get zero noise on a zero bit track... but the thought of it being so close to some major noise source is just annoying.

Oh and for whatever its worth - I've done a complete big 3 (4 in my case) with 2 and 0 gauge... not sure it helped the noise since it was already neglible, but it was the best performance/battery saving upgrade I could have imagined. EVerything seemed to work better after the change - I mean the car even seems to run better lol! I was very impressed and think I'll do this to any car I drive in the future - system or no system.

Any Honda owners have a clue of anything in the console/center area beneath the dash that is a noise source to avoid??

Had I known my Civvy had a balanced output without EQ (bought my 2006 Coupe in October of 2005 when no one knew anything really about them), I might just have kept the bugger for the stock look, but mine still looks pretty low key and doesn't seem to attract much attention... plus my Shepard/Chow/Collie mix travelling companion seems to intimidate most anyone that gets overly interested =)

Toodles,
Less


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Sweet, I'll put upgrading at least the "big 1" (battery ground) onto my to-do list, especially after hearing your experience. Thanks for the suggestion.

As a counterpoint to your "I might just have kept the bugger for the stock look" thought--sometimes I think "aaah, why did I drop the $2k on the factory nav"--when I could have something badass like yours, and have T/A and EQ at my fingertips. I don't regret it at all, because I was pretty serious about my 100%-stealth look, and I lucked out w/ the balanced outs. But, the grass is always greener, and you are way ahead of my game with the processing you have on tap. As well as straight up coolness factor. 

I believe chad's rockin the EP3, but it sounds like he's had similar issues? Maybe he can provide some more insight, or maybe he has old posts on the issue?

I just plugged the mf'er in and it worked, and you saw ^ exactly what I did. I would say just run it down the side sill, but that's not an option cause of length? There are some cheap spools of wire for DIY RCA's in the Hot Deals section.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

Fran82 said:


> Zapco offers those features, among others, right?


Sure.. and I'd love to have some zapco gear running, but the X4R amp can be had for less than $250.. DSP inside amp.. all one box from a 1000 different ebay dealers. It's truly mid-fi in comparison to zapco hi-fi I'm sure, but within the point of diminishing returns.. The rest of the budget can go into better drivers etc.


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## Fran82 (Jul 30, 2007)

less said:


> As for the noise issue....hmm... I'm not using anyone's harness or a stock head unit, but I do have an odd and very intermittent issue with noise that seems to be related to my signal wiring and its route. If I tie everything down tightly, I can set the wires up so that no noise is ever present... but like now, where I am redoing some things with my wiring... when the signal baring cables aren't tighly bundled and routed, I get an amazingly loud noise!
> 
> Naturally, I will tie the wiring back down again soon and the issue won't exist, but when it does happen - its pretty stout! Oddly, if I reach inside the console and move the signal cables the tineist bit, the sound most often goes totally away. In fact, at one point I could just tap on the side of my console and it would disappear.
> 
> I'd just like to determine what specifically my signal wires are touching or getting near too that is creating this issue, so I can try and route as far around them as possible. If you've seen my install, you'lle know that I did my best to keep the signal cables well away from anything that would cause noise, but I am still using the center route for them and some parts of the main harness run through that area. Sadly, I don't have enough length on them to route out to the middle of the passenger section - but again - I can fix it quite easily so its just a matter of curiousity. I can turn it to -0db on the knob and get zero noise on a zero bit track... but the thought of it being so close to some major noise source is just annoying.


If you can move the wire a bit and the noise goes away you might also have a bad cable in the bundle. Do you get the noise on all channels? Was thinking you might have a strand from the shielding that broke free and is intermittently poking into the signal wire. Weird stuff. Noise issues can be a pain.


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## Sideshow (Mar 6, 2007)

Is it really necessary to get the wiring harness to tap into the stock deck? Couldn't I just find which wires are which and cut them and connect them straight into a pair of RCA's?

Everything looks great by the way.


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## Nathan P (Jun 9, 2007)

it's generally a bad idea to go cutting up your car's wiring if you ever want to sell it, or just in general. I made an exception for my signal wire and tapped into the powered antenna signal (Same output on the HU) but it's an old car that's not worth much and it's just one wire...


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## Sideshow (Mar 6, 2007)

Nathan P said:


> it's generally a bad idea to go cutting up your car's wiring if you ever want to sell it, or just in general. I made an exception for my signal wire and tapped into the powered antenna signal (Same output on the HU) but it's an old car that's not worth much and it's just one wire...


Well, if it's only the cable going into the stock amp, so there's little chance of messing anything else up, and as long as you know ahead of time which wires your cutting, and if what you are installing is going to be a permanent fixture (not removed before it's sold), it seems like I should be able to just tap into the deck signal by turning those wires into RCA ends. Maybe I could even find some female ends to put on them so I don't need to put a barrel on there to make it a female connection.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Search for posts by mercman on 8thcivic and acurazine. You WILL get noise if you use regular RCA's, as the -/cold/shield will pick up more noise than the +/hot/center. You should be able to do it with twisted pair RCA's, but you might still be risking noise issues, as many people have mentioned. It obviously CAN be done (mercman does it), but the headaches and time saved (not to mention leaving my factory wiring pristine) were EASILY worth the $ to me.


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## Sideshow (Mar 6, 2007)

What did that thing cost anyway?


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## PLuch (Jun 17, 2008)

Very nice job, and I like all the documentation. Just a quick question. I'm looking at using mercman's harness, but I've been trying to determine if it connects to the back of the factory head unit, or to the factory amp end of the factory wiring harness. From your photos, it looks like the latter. Could you confirm this? Thanks!


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

That's correct. I unplugged the factory signal harness from the factory amp, and then plugged it into mercman's harness.


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

I was thinking.. I'm sure mercman doesn't mind selling a bunch of these, but he might be swimming in orders for the thing.. If a guy had the pinouts of that plug (post head unit) and the opposite connector (where you'd find one of those who knows) and some skills with crimping end connectors onto wires (ain't no sweat if you've got the right tool), then building your own proprietary plug to RCA's shouldn't be bad at all. 

It's just 4 channels to go to twisted pair RCA line I guess. How hard can it be?


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Yeah believe me, I thought about it a lot.

I think he also incorporates a noise filter, though. And you can't buy the plug; he custom makes those. The pinouts are definitely available.


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## Kai Winters (Apr 28, 2007)

capnxtreme that is one clean install.
It looks great!


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## Duce2k (Mar 18, 2008)

Great install man, I also have merc's harness and will be doing my install soon


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

I'm loving this... I now have a car that other folks have... I guess being a member of the civic herd isn't so bad.  (08 Si Sedan non-nav premium)

So for processing opportunities with the balanced lines... Bikinpunk and I were discussing the possibilities of going straight to an uber-processor such as the PXA-H701 even or the PXE-H650. 

With the H650 Imprint unit... anyone know if it has diff-balanced ins? (either auto-sensing or other)

With the H701 unit... anyone see a potential issue with the head unit if you took mercman's kit, Y'd the four channels down to just a single pair left/right to feed the processor? (it only has a single L/R RCA input, and I'm going on assumption that input is balanced).

flomofo??? 
Are you also the same guy on 8thcivic that had the noise issues running to your KAC unit? How are you running to that amp... I'd love to run it as a 1-box processor amp... sweet budget solution.

.... waiting currently on mercman's kit as well.. may go also with one of his balun's in which case the diff-balanced issue would be a NON-issue.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Babs, you might be better off asking this in the Technical section as there are likely to be more looks there.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks gentlemen.

I have high expectations for you other 8th gen owners!


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## [email protected] (Aug 30, 2006)

Nice work.


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## mojako (May 27, 2005)

capn,
any plans of moving the tweets in the a-pillar? or adding a processor?


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## Powers (Apr 10, 2008)

With the insulation in the doors, did you notice a major difference?


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

It's more damping than insulation,  but it's an absolute requirement if you want any kind of decent midbass. You can just rap on the outside of the door to get an idea of how paper-thin that metal is. After I had added amplification, but hadn't yet deadened the doors, the doors would ring and resonate like CRAZY when I turned it up. Now, there's no ringing and my midbass is great.

To answer the previous questions, honestly, I have no plans to move the tweeters. I know this probably offends some of the sensibilities here, but audio is not the #1 priority when it comes to my baby--it's just a bonus. This is a car after all, so I'm not questing for ultimate sonic nirvana, and stealth/factory appearance is very important to me. Besides, I've never heard them mounted any other way, so I don't know what I'm missing.  They sound great to me now.

Everything is a set of compromises, and I'm pretty happy with mine. I finally got my sub in (Infinity Perfect 12), and the system sounds awesome, so I'm going to leave it alone for a while. Maybe I'll add a PXE-H650 or MS8 down the line.

I'll have some pics of my new sub and enclosure and finished trunk this weekend.


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## MaXaZoR (Apr 1, 2007)

Looking forward to seeing the sub installed.  I'm still upset that partexpress sent me the wrong type of gray carpet. I guess that's all they had in stock. I finished another enclosure yesterday I'll be posting on 8thcivic.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

*Subwoofer, w00t*

OK, made some serious progress the last couple weekends, and the trunk is finally about done.

I had done a lousy job mounting the amp to the back seat on my first couple of tries. It's just a heavy mofo to hang from the seat like that. I finally redid it to where it ain't moving, now, and is attached with security screws.

More importantly, I got my sub and enclosure installed. I wasn't quite ready to DIY my own fiberglass... so I commissioned fellow member Maxazor (who has the same car) to make an enclosure to my specs. It's loaded with an Infinity Perfect 12 which I figured would do well off my measly 250w of sub power.

The box fits snug and sounds great. I bolted it to the sheetmetal to make sure it won't budge, even with my driving.  It's also sturdy as hell. The carpet match is as good as I was hoping for, considering that it's not literally factory material.










































So a big thanks to Maxazor for hookin it up and helping me finish off my project!


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

*Re: Subwoofer, w00t*

Same thing happened to me in a similar way. The lighter fabric looks great if you upholster your spare tire well in it.


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## Duce2k (Mar 18, 2008)

That looks great man, nice and neat


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## FunkPnut (May 16, 2008)

YES! That trunk looks stellar. I'm jealous


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## 8tz (Mar 6, 2008)

nice clean look. gonna put a grill on that sub or what?


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks guys.

Whiterabbit, coincidentally enough, I actually got the idea for the amp mount from one of your posts on a Civic forum. I drilled holes through plywood, wrapped it in ensolite so that it won't rattle, and zip tied it to the "metal mesh" under the carpet w/ 10 diesel zip ties. Then the amp is screwed into T-nuts in the plywood.

I drilled a small hole through the back of the enclosure, and bolted it to the sheetmetal through a factory hole. It's sooooo nice to no longer worry about anything moving in my trunk when I hit an onramp hard. Also, I can't decide if it's psychoacoustics or not, but I swear the sub hits a bit harder after I bolted it down.



> gonna put a grill on that sub or what?


Eh, groceries can go in the back seat.  If I can figure out a good solution for the grill that doesn't bastardize Maxazor's work, I'd like to do it. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any.


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## Duce2k (Mar 18, 2008)

Capn I used merc's harness also and I'm getting alternator whine in my system, I might have to reroute the harness. Do you get any whine in your system at all?


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

Thanks dude, this was an excellent thread.

I have an '08 Si and I'm in the final stages of designing my build. I've got the same goals as you, the best SQ for the least amount of weight added, so I'm trying to plan out everything in advance with surgical precision. It's also my first serious install, I've swapped out components before, ran power wire to the trunk for a sub, ect... but this is my first serious wiring attempt.

I probably would've had things installed weeks ago if it wasn't for this site... keep on finding stuff that I hadn't thought about or planned for so my design keeps "evolving" with everything I'm learning... if I'm lucky... I might have everything installed by Christmas.

RF off the fuel pump wasn't something that I'd even considered.

I think I need to just start reading everyone's build threads until the accumulated knowledge sinks in. 

Excellent thread clarified a few more things for me to consider with my own build.


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## roysav (May 21, 2008)

really cool build there mate,very neat n tidy.


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## MaXaZoR (Apr 1, 2007)

> If I can figure out a good solution for the grill that doesn't bastardize Maxazor's work, I'd like to do it. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any.


Hey, You can get the chrome grills on PartsExpress. You will just have to modify them to a bit to fit.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

I recognize your s/n from 8th, I'm that ******* "toxin" over there btw.


WolfSong said:


> Thanks dude, this was an excellent thread.
> 
> I have an '08 Si and I'm in the final stages of designing my build. I've got the same goals as you, the best SQ for the least amount of weight added, so I'm trying to plan out everything in advance with surgical precision. It's also my first serious install, I've swapped out components before, ran power wire to the trunk for a sub, ect... but this is my first serious wiring attempt.
> 
> ...


That's what I did, and I'm glad I did. You would laugh at how long I planned out such a simple system. At some point I had to just say "F it, I gotta stop planning and start collecting gear," or I never would have stopped planning.

There are always going to be things you don't expect. I had to redo my amp rack 3 times. :blush: There was a cool thread in one of the other sections (http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46469), especially if this is your first serious install (as mine was).

I'm glad the thread could be of use. That was my hope.



> really cool build there mate,very neat n tidy.


Thanks! It is very humble compared to most, but I tried to do things right.



MaXaZoR said:


> Hey, You can get the chrome grills on PartsExpress. You will just have to modify them to a bit to fit.


These ones like you're rockin, right? http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=260-442 It looked to me like your personal box had more of a lip outside the speaker ring, to mount the rings to than mine does? What do you have to modify, just bending em?

Do you have anything new in store for your build log any time soon?


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

That explains it... knew everything sounded familiar... nice to be able to put a car to the name now. 

Thanks for the link... it was an enjoyable read.

It seems like I'm waiting forever for things... and it's mostly my fault because it's little stuff that now that I'm down to working out the details, that I should have ordered in the first place while I still had a bunch of money in hand. Things like Techflex, shrink wrap, wiring supplies, better wire, fasteners... it just goes on and on it seems  

Love your sub enclosure... I've got a small box now with that old RF 10" in it that I'm using for the time being... but I'm planning on picking up a new sub in the near future and trying my hand at FG as well.

Trying not to get caught up in endless planning... but I've been modifying cars for years and the one thing that I've learned is that without the proper prep and planning... too many things can go wrong. My wife and child ride in this car... so I can't afford to try to get by on some half-a$$ed BS... it needs to be safe and right.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

This just keeps getting better! Nice work buddy! I like the new sub box and trunk work! I've started my second fiberglass project and its a fiberglass sub box for that same corner. I'll probably tinker with it throughout the winter and see what I come up with - but mine has to rise over the side of my false floor and I also want it to point toward the drivers seat more.

I'm afraid I have to join the others on the issue of the tweeter mounting location though... I really think you would enjoy either a kick or an Apillar mount so that you weren't bouncing it off the windshield. I tried Apillar mounts for the longest time but there was so much glass up front the sound was just never right... when I build the fiberglass kicks (pics coming soon) it really made quite a difference... and for the better!

After I get the kicks done completely though (including threading the 45ish wires I extended that were mounted behind the drivers side kick panel through the kicks up into the under dash area, I am going to go through and neaten up everything in the install ... and STEAM CLEAN the whole damned mess haha.

Keep up the good work!

Less


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

less said:


> This just keeps getting better! Nice work buddy! I like the new sub box and trunk work! I've started my second fiberglass project and its a fiberglass sub box for that same corner. I'll probably tinker with it throughout the winter and see what I come up with - but mine has to rise over the side of my false floor and I also want it to point toward the drivers seat more.
> 
> I'm afraid I have to join the others on the issue of the tweeter mounting location though... I really think you would enjoy either a kick or an Apillar mount so that you weren't bouncing it off the windshield. I tried Apillar mounts for the longest time but there was so much glass up front the sound was just never right... when I build the fiberglass kicks (pics coming soon) it really made quite a difference... and for the better!
> 
> ...


Yeah, that's my winter project as well, learning to fabricate a molded fiberglass sub enclosure for my trunk as well. That's going to be my first or second upgrade once I get my install finished.

As far as the tweets go, one of the locations I'm going to try when I'm testing mine in various locations is down in the kicks. On 8th Civic, Gas_Is_Expensive posted his pics of his install and he had them in the upper half of the factory kick panels. I'm going to give them a try there and see how they sound... 

I'm also going to try the A pillars. and maybe a couple of locations on the doors. The only problem with doing the door panels is that they're quite expensive compared to either the A pillars or the kicks to replace if you screw them up.


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## MaXaZoR (Apr 1, 2007)

> These ones like you're rockin, right? http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=260-442 It looked to me like your personal box had more of a lip outside the speaker ring, to mount the rings to than mine does? What do you have to modify, just bending em?


Yes those are the ones, if you notice I only have 2 bars instead of 4, You should have any issues, I just used the smaller bars to get it to fit perfect, no bending needed.



> Do you have anything new in store for your build log any time soon?


Oh ya, I have some pictures, but I have been too lazy to put them up. Right now I'm tuning, starting on new door pods, and just cleaning up to rear. I'll have pictures up in the next few weeks.


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## MaXaZoR (Apr 1, 2007)

WolfSong

I'm selling one of my mold FG sub enclosures with Infinity Kappa Perfect 12" included if looking for one.

Check out my install thread, I have Fiberglass Kick panels for my mids.
I also did sail panel tweeter pods (no longer in use), and I just finished another set of tweeter pods in the A pillars. Both locations are great, I would not stick anything less than a mid into the kickpanels. The drivers side doesn't have much room down there and you'll have a lot of reflections.


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## jdc753 (Nov 14, 2007)

Capn I know its been installed for a while but it looks great. Love it being done right the first time. 

I am totally in the same boat as you on planning and planning and planning and then just having to start getting gear otherwise nothing would be accomplished lol.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Capitan, I see you are going with the Zapco DC amps. I'm curious on how they will connect to the Honda head unit. I'm familiar with how the special hardness you have works and what inputs it is compatible with but I've never seen it connected to a Zapco type balanced input.

Do you need a balun and then connect to the symbilink transmitter input or can you remove the symbilink transmitter and connect the balanced out straight into a Zapco female RCA to din plug and go straight into the amp?


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

t3sn4f2 said:


> or can you remove the symbilink transmitter and connect the balanced out straight into a Zapco female RCA to din plug and go straight into the amp?


Yup, this exactly.

Don't need to do anything to the signal, just need to get the existing signal into the symbilink plug.

I'm tempted to simply chop off the RCA ends, and solder on DIN plugs instead, but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment, so for now I'm using the female RCA -> symbilink adapters.










EDIT: For future readers, this ^ didn't actually work like I thought it would, so please don't follow my example... keep reading...


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Are the RCA's differential? They just MAY be


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

chad said:


> Are the RCA's differential? They just MAY be


On his harness or the rca to din plug?


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

RCA plug on the amp, it may be diff and not noted, why would they not do it that way if the provisions are there within the amp?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

chad said:


> RCA plug on the amp, it may be diff and not noted, why would they not do it that way if the provisions are there within the amp?


Dunno, that goes beyond my level of knowledge on the subject so I though that "balanced" and "diff balanced" would work differently and have different pinning orientation.

Which leads me to the next question. 

Since the symbi adapter is used for the unbalanced input side would the RCA plug contacts go to the pins they need to go to if the adapter plug is used as an RCA to balanced DIN plug.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

There are no RCA plugs whatsoever on the Zapcos. Mildly annoying, I must admit.



> Since the symbi adapter is used for the unbalanced input side would the RCA plug contacts go to the pins they need to go to if the adapter plug is used as an RCA to balanced DIN plug.


I think this could certainly be possible, and might explain the "halfway" fading behavior I'm seeing. :blush:

I might even pull a bikini and reslang the DC1000.4. Already miss the JL.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

capnxtreme said:


> There are no RCA plugs whatsoever on the Zapcos. Mildly annoying, I must admit.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You can always check to see which pin is which on that cable with a DMM. 

Here is a good post and and thread about connecting it like you said. There seems to be a debate on what to do with the shield of the symbi cable and something about resistors needed in series of the balanced line for hot days so the head on bmw's doesn't shut down. I didn't read to closely, dunno if hondas might need something like this.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/554543-post31.html
Zapco DC Reference Amp does NOT need another brand Line Output Converter !!! - BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum - E90Post.com


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Yeah basically it's just a question of whether the barrel of the RCA connects to ground or signal - on the female adapter piece. It hadn't occurred to me to check w/ DMM. Will go do that now.

I don't think I need any resistors, because it's not speaker-level output, though it is balanced. I'm sure I could be wrong though.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Sho nuff...

Based on the pinout on pg. 10 of http://www.zapco.com/prod/pdf/z300c2slx.pdf, I'm seeing nothing on -, but + is hot.

So basically, I need to either hack up the symblink cables so that the barrel of the female RCA connector connects to signal -, or I need to chop the RCA ends off my mercman cable, and solder some symbilinks on there.

Or I can pull a bikini and just get a ****in Kenwood KAC-X4R with a JL CL-RLC functioning as a BALUN.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

capnxtreme said:


> Sho nuff...
> 
> Based on the pinout on pg. 10 of http://www.zapco.com/prod/pdf/z300c2slx.pdf, I'm seeing nothing on -, but + is hot.
> 
> ...


Waow. We might have it figured out then. Now I wonder if the shield that goes connected to the factory shield cable should go on that now open shield of the symb cable or should they both be connected however they go on both of their ends and left without touching on the hack connection part. 

Also if we go by what merman said about the twisted wire being needed for equal noise pickup then it would not be a good idea to use a computer din cable sinceit might not be twisted pair or whatever needed like the zapco cable would be (hhhmmm?)


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

not sure if this helps at all but found it in another thread while trying to figure out which cables I need for my amps.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks t3sn4f2 for pointing out my short sightedness.

And thanks bikini. That will be helpful when it's time to start hacking up the cables.


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## GSlider (Jun 11, 2009)

Nice job. Def very detail oriented about everything.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks. New setup coming soon: Factory nav -> Alpine PXE-H650 -> PDX-5 -> new front stage, plus maybe some sound barriers.


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## bigaudiofanatic (Mar 1, 2009)

Sideshow said:


> Is it really necessary to get the wiring harness to tap into the stock deck? Couldn't I just find which wires are which and cut them and connect them straight into a pair of RCA's?
> 
> Everything looks great by the way.


I did an install on a 08 honda accord and the guy just wanted the system installed of cores we took an extra step and used the jl clean sweep to make sure everything was flat. You can do it I have done it to that car and a saab 900se turbo because the guy was to cheap to get the harness. Can you do it yes is it the biggest pain in the ass YES.


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## freesole (Jul 8, 2009)

Great job with the sub box, it looks like it was even meant to be there. I guess that was your intention since you wanted a simple system though  That's what I want to have built for my Accord.


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## drewpage55 (Aug 3, 2008)

good thread...


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## x97chevy (Dec 18, 2009)

How do those mids/Highs sound ??


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

very well dynamat job


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks, guys. The setup is still pretty much the same, with the exception of a PDX-5 in place of the 500/5 now. I have an H650 and new speakers sitting around, waiting to be installed.

The RSD's are great for the money. With the doors all sealed up and deadened, and with a good amount of power on them, the midbass is pretty rockin. Drums sound awesome.

Overall, though, they are pretty mediocre, with the midrange the most lacking, IMHO. Even the tweeters, I think, are pretty good. But the upper midrange is not very refined or detailed.

I've been planning to upgrade them for a while now, but have just been too busy/lazy/broke. As an entry-point and learning experience in getting into the hobby for me, though, I definitely have no regrets, and feel I have gotten great value out of them. I still rock out to them every day.


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