# My first install - 2009 Mazdaspeed 3



## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

Greetings,
Thought I'd post up my build log, as I'm pretty much finished (for now).

Car is an '09 MS3, my new daily driver. I drive just over an hour each way to work, 50% of the time (other 50% I work from home). This car is really fun and hard to beat for the price, however in stock form it is quite loud, especially from the wheel wells and exhaust.

Initially, I was just going to upgrade the speakers in the car. In GT trim, this car comes with a Bose system which I figured would tide me over at least for a while, however this was not the case. Anyway, during my research I came across this site and sounddeadenershowdown.com, and it became obvious to me that it was going to be a major bonus to make the car quieter as part of my upgrade.

First problem: I've never installed audio anything in a car before
Second problem: I've never intentionally pulled a panel off a car before

I decided to hell with it and I'd figure it out as I went. I have a truck I can drive to work, so it wasnt going to be a big deal if the car was out of comission for a little while. Decided to just take my time and do it "right". I put "right" in quotations because there were definitly some points in this project where my patience was tested. I'm sure I'll get some criticism here, but thats okay, it was my first time doing it and I learned a ton. I certainly accomplished my goals with the project, so for now I'm happy.

Enough with all that, on to the build. My equipment list was as follows:
Amp: Cadence TXA-3004
Component set: Precision Power 356CS
Sub: Kenwood KFC-W3011
50 sq. feet Damplifier
Mass loaded vinyl (forget exactly how much)
9 yards Ensolite

First step is the scary one... strip the car.

































This is the point in the story where my Dad starts shaking his head and wondering about how this affects my warranty. Don't worry Dad I know where all this **** goes:










It really suprised me how easily the interior came out. If there are any other first timers reading this, I'd suggest you take your time but once you get the hang of it its really quite easy.

Deadener application... Don at sounddeadenershowdown is right... no need to coat everything in layers of the shiny stuff. The wheel wells were quite prone to resonance but pretty much everything else was easy to quiet down. Quick note about damplifier, peel the aluminum side from the paper side. I was trying to peel the paper off from the aluminum / butyl layer and all I was accomplishing was getting butyl stuck under my fingernails. Bend the aluminum layer back and the paper will unstick.


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

After that, I put a layer of Ensolite in the headliner and put that back up so I wouldnt be walking all over Ensolite / MLV while I put the
headliner back in, and I could get a feel for what it would be like to put stuff back IN the car. Sorry no pictures of this step. The most frustrating part of the whole project happened here... putting the stupid ass dome light back in. Such a silly little thing and it took me probably 45 minutes to figure out how the hell to get it back in securely.

Next was the layer of MLV. At first, it was very hard to work with. I thought I was just going to be able to put down big swaths of it, sort of like the Ensolite. For those of you who have not done it, know this: its not going to happen. MLV is tough stuff and it doesnt go around corners so well. I'm sure folks who do this a lot have the technique down (I improved greatly from the start of the project to the end), but on the first go plan on spending some time on this step.










































I did my best to overlap everything and have no gaps, keeping in mind that I was going to have to put most of what I had taken out back in (and how that was going to fit was a big unknown at this point). I did the whole floor, trunk, etc. Up the firewall as far as I could feasably get, and 3 layers on the rear wheel wells. Everything else was pretty much one layer.

At this point, I had been going straight for days... I was trying to decide if it was going to be my back muscles or my knees that were going to tell me to go **** myself. So now we get to START installing actual audio stuff! I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

Power cable









Doors with new speakers installed









I didn't take pictures of the Molex connectors you have to run through to get speaker wire through the door. It was a royal *****, and probably the scariest single part of the install. For your power windows / mirrors sake, watch that drill. I wish I had advice I could give, but its really just a question of being careful. There are probably a number of different ways you could do it, just pick one and prepare to mangle some plastic. I read a thing on some messageboard that said if you had a molex with holes in the side, that you could run wires through without cutting / drilling. As far as I could tell, thats not true, FYI. Its form-fit into the door in my car... the holes are helpful but its not going to keep you from drilling.

My speaker adapters are dishwasher safe and will not dull your knives. These cheapo cutting boards from walmart worked great and won't react to water badly like MDF. You can see where I got impatient with the mounting tabs for the aftermarket grill. I somehow managed to mount the thing just right so it interfered with the mounting screws for the speaker. I'll use the stock grilles, and off with your head on the mounting bracket tabs.









Power / remote turn on / speaker / signal wire all run









PPI crossover next to the stock Bose "amp". You think they could make these crossovers any bigger? They'll go under the seat.


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

Like an idiot, on one of my Lowe's trips I bought a piece of sheet steel to seal up the door cavity, but must have left it on the rolley-cart because I was so concerned with securing the MDF sheet in my truck. I'm not going back to Lowe's at this point... so.... I hope nobody is terribly attached to this aluminum dustpan:









Test fitting stuff... I tried a couple different ideas back here. I build a couple shelves for the sub / amp. The idea is to eventually hide as much as the sub as possible, and put the amp under the false floor which I'll figure out later. Its obvious I have no frigging idea what I'm doing:









Ok, jump forward a bit... here is the top of the false floor. I really wanted to do something that hinged, so you didnt have to take it all the way out to reach the spare (which was another requirement of mine... I live out in the country and I don't want to be without the spare) but since there didn't appear to be an easy way to do that I just made it one piece for now:









The simple bracing / strut configuration I decided on for the moment. I'm well aware its not up to the standards set on this site, this is not my proudest achievement, but for right now it does what it needs to:









You put the top on and you get this:









You can see the crossover peeking out here:









All back together:









Review?
The car is WAY quieter now. Like, I took my wife for a ride and she noticed immediately... she is my test dummy for this stuff because she doesnt give a crap about any of it so she doesn't really pay attention. Its a much nicer ride. I put about 200 lbs of stuff in, and you can definitely tell. The car is still plenty fast though.

Speakers are great (for 120 bucks)... are they "super duper"? No. Way better than the Bose junk though. I'm still experimenting with levels etc.

Sub is also just okay... I mean its good and all... I have it in a box thats a little smaller than reccomended so thats probably part of the issue. Minimum reccomended size is .8 cu/ft with optimal being 1.25. Mine is .88 stuffed with 1 lb of polyfill (which made a noticeable difference, by the way). Extension is a little "meh"... though I'm using my home theater setup (Paradigm Reference studio 100s w/ HSU sub) as a reference point so its probably not fair to compare less than 200$ worth of equipment with stuff that costs well over 10X more.

Time for me to cut this off for now... there is a ton more "story" but this is getting very very long. It was a lot of work. My car was parked sideways in the garage for 2 weeks, of which I worked at least 10 hours / day on the weekends and every night after regular work. I can see why when you go to get stuff installed at an audio place, you pay big $$$ for them to do it. I'm not really whiney about physical labor, and this was hard work (it didnt help much that I'm in Southern MO and its frigging hot as hell).

I'd like to say special thanks to Fourthmeal, Rudeboy, and VP Electricity for their help in my project. I'm sure that after looking at my pictures they don't want anything to do with any kind of responsibility for the work I've done, but the help I got was fantastic. Thanks
guys.


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## chadillac3 (Feb 3, 2006)

It does get easier the more you do it.  With that said, ALWAYS plan on whatever you're doing taking 2x as long as you think it will. The easy **** is always what kills you, not the stuff you research and think will be hard.

If you're ever up in Iowa, give me a shout...I've never actually had a ride in a Speed3 and it would be fun to feel what the extra power would compare to the regular 3 hatch I used to have.


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

great job+nice pics.
if i were you , i'd avoid calling the wife a test ''dummy''...


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## AdamTaylor (Sep 7, 2008)

looks good man, how attached are you to your spare?


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

Did I say "dummy"? I meant "subject"

thx


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## syd-monster (Jan 7, 2008)

Cool little install. Nice work.

Tip for the MLV, a roller a heat gun can shape it pretty well (use gloves). So if you do want to put down large areas you can shape it to fit, but it takes time and a firm hand.


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## AdamTaylor (Sep 7, 2008)

where did you get the MLV?


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

Got the MLV from Super Soundproofing:
Mass loade vinyl

While the website is kind of rinky-dink (heh, note the spelling error), they shipped my order on the same day I placed it. I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere so I wasn't going to bother going around explaining what I was looking for. Shipping was 51$ and the roll weighed like 92 lbs.

I've never had a flat before, but my drive to work includes some spots that barely even have cell service. I know a lot of people are satisfied with a can of fix-a-flat, but for right now I just didn't feel like it was worth the risk. There is a ton of room back there when you take everything out though. The lip of the hatch is relatively high, so depending on how high you put the floor, you can really get a lot of volume underneath...


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

chadillac3 said:


> If you're ever up in Iowa, give me a shout...I've never actually had a ride in a Speed3 and it would be fun to feel what the extra power would compare to the regular 3 hatch I used to have.


I've never driven a regular 3, but I can tell you that the power is surprising. It makes something like 280 ft/lbs right around 3000 RPMs... there is quite a surge when the turbo spools up. I looked at a bunch of more expensive / more powerful cars, but at the end of the day I just couldnt justify spending the extra cash. Heck I had a Toyota Celica GTS that I bought new in 2000 and I paid more for that than I did for this car... and the MS3 has 90 HP on it!


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## AdamTaylor (Sep 7, 2008)

i was just gonna say put the enclosure in the wheel well


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## Deton Nation (Jul 3, 2009)

Nice work. I have the same car. Silver. Im about to do the doors... Was thinking Second Skin stuff. Is there enough space by the front door speaker to put in a wood backing instead of the cutting board idea. MAybe the plastic cutting board works better ..idk. What size wood? like 1/2 think or 3/4 particle board?
Thanks. 
Mike
And the car is like Jeckyll & Hide. You can drive it like a granny no turbo, but when you put your foot down the car flies, scary torque!


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

For the trunk floor, I used 1/2" MDF. If you're going to put really heavy stuff in your trunk, you probably want to do 3/4".

If you mean space between the inner door skin and the door panel, I think you should have plenty of space for any reasonable size adapter / baffle. The door panel has some plastic you'll want to trim off the back of the speaker grill, you'll see it when you pull the panel off. The reason I didn't use MDF in the doors is that I've seen stories where it was used and was rotting. I don't know if the cutting boards are the best option in terms of SQ, but they are quite stiff, easy to work with, and won't rot.


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## Deton Nation (Jul 3, 2009)

OK Thanks. I think I will try the cutting board idea. Does a lot of water get into that area of the door? And I have a Dremmel, cuts everything. Nice little tool for shaving off plastic parts..
Mike


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

I dont think a lot of water gets in, but there will be some amount of moisture because the seal where your window exits the door is never going to be completely airtight.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Really nice job, esp. on the sound deadening treatment and the molex wiring.


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## eXcelon969 (Jul 6, 2009)

looks good. going to be doing my 1st false floor too


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## el_chupo_ (May 27, 2007)

Looks nice OP... As to the subwoofer, there are a lot of options that will work in there, especially since its a hatch. I had a Protege5, the 3's predecessor, and I was running a single 8 ported and loving it. Check out Chad's install for a false floor ported 10 while retaining spare!!


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## bm150280 (Aug 5, 2009)

Sweet build!


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

very nice build. i am going to try and apply some of the stuff i read in this thread to my own build


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## Digital 300 (Aug 10, 2009)

Very nice job, congratulations!


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

Oppenheimer said:


> My speaker adapters are dishwasher safe and will not dull your knives. These cheapo cutting boards from walmart worked great and won't react to water badly like MDF.


Mine are too. AND they have a lifetime warranty.


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## juujai (Apr 29, 2009)

Looks like it'll be quiet


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## billbillw (Aug 25, 2009)

This was a nice read. I have a red MS3 that I just picked up a week ago. I'm looking at audio upgrade options. There is no way I can do a sound deadening job like you did since this car is my daily driver. I'd be lucky to get one solid weekend to work on it. 

Nice to see someone using the PPI component set. I couldn't find anyone over at the various Mazda forums that have used them. Those are one of my top choices for upgrading the door speakers. 

Did you put them in the front and back, or just the front? Could you provide some details on how the tweeter install was? I am assuming you put them in the sail panels. If so, did you buy blank sail panels or were you able to fit them in the stock panels?


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

I just replaced the front speakers, didn't touch the rears so they're just sitting back there not doing anything.

For the tweeter install, I just drilled out the stock panels. If you have the GT, the PPI tweeters are the same size as the stock bose ones. The grills though are integrated into the sail panel so you have to cut / drill if you want to use it. I drilled holes around the stock grill cover (carefully!), removed the grill mesh, and then used a file to smooth it all out so the new tweet would fit.

Good luck and enjoy the car =]


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## billbillw (Aug 25, 2009)

Oppenheimer said:


> I just replaced the front speakers, didn't touch the rears so they're just sitting back there not doing anything.
> 
> For the tweeter install, I just drilled out the stock panels. If you have the GT, the PPI tweeters are the same size as the stock bose ones. The grills though are integrated into the sail panel so you have to cut / drill if you want to use it. I drilled holes around the stock grill cover (carefully!), removed the grill mesh, and then used a file to smooth it all out so the new tweet would fit.
> 
> Good luck and enjoy the car =]


Pretty easy fit then I guess.


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## billbillw (Aug 25, 2009)

I had another question. Did you keep the stock headunit? If so, what interface did you use? I've been looking at that PAC-OEM unit, but I haven't found anyone who can confirm whether they will work with the newer (08.5-09) HUs which are supposedly different in some ways.


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

Yep, I used the stock HU... I am using a navone LOC (David Navone - Car Audio Engineering) tapped into the wiring harness under the driver's seat.


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## billbillw (Aug 25, 2009)

Oppenheimer said:


> Yep, I used the stock HU... I am using a navone LOC (David Navone - Car Audio Engineering) tapped into the wiring harness under the driver's seat.


Ok. I don't have the Bose, so no wiring under the seats. Its all up behind the HU.


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

Nice! Build log. I also have a Speed 3 and did something similar.
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/58725-2008-mazda-speed-3-gt-built-log.html


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

snaimpally, I pretty much used your build log as motivation for mine (yours and fourthmeal's)... thanks for that =]

Also, acting on a tip from billbillw, I uninstalled the LOC entirely and soldered some female RCA ends straight to the HU outs under the seat. The LOC was definitely cutting out some of the lows to the amp. What I thought was just a semi-crummy sub in a too-small box was really a partially missing signal. Bass extension is much better, and where there used to be a "sweet spot" frequency where the bass was really loud, its much more evenly spread now.

So thanks to billbillw as well

=]


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## 2StepsAhead (Dec 26, 2009)

Bumping this up a little, which mlv did you go with? Something like from a flooring site or did you go with ll or llp?


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## Oppenheimer (Jun 22, 2009)

I got my MLV from soundproofing.org, after shipping they were the cheapest I could find.


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## ThreeMan (May 11, 2009)

Great work! Nice and Clean. I just did that to my Tacoma and I have to agree that the ceiling was the ***** of it as well, the visors and the hanger hooks took forever. The sub box and rack are bare still and need to be cleaned up, so I haven't gotten to the finish line yet. I am still taking in ideas.


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