# 2006 Mazdaspeed 6 Build Log



## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

This is my first install since I quit working as a professional installer in 2005. This has made me miss 1. working in an air conditioned shop and 2. having access to a full woodshop setup for car audio. All you professional installers out there, build as much for your car as you can while you can.

This install will be in a 2006 Mazdaspeed 6. With the exception of the audio mods, my car is stock.

Equipment will be as follows

•	Factory Bose 6 disc in dash. This is staying in place since it has low level outputs and a flat signal, aka no funky factory processing.
•	Grom usb/iPod adapter.
•	2x8 minidsp.
•	Front Tweeters – Scan Speak D3004/6020-00 
•	Front Mid/Midbass – SB Acoustics SB17NRXC35-4
•	Subs – 2x rebuilt JBL GTI1500 with CV Stroker cones
•	Amps – 2x Boston Acoustics GT42

A pair of channels will be left open on one of the GT42s for either a pair of canton 5.25” components (CS 2.13) in the rear doors or possibly a 3” or 4” midrange up front. All depends on how the mid tweet combo sounds.

An enclosure for the minidsp 2x8 either will be built out of aluminum or plastic. Depends on how well it fits under the passenger seat. Most likely it’ll be aluminum for durability and noise rejection.

Wiring is a mismatch. Main power wire will be 1/0 orange ultraflex welding wire to the distro block and monster / JL to the amps. Speaker wire is all plenum rated oxygen free 16 awg except for the subs which will get 12 awg. RCAs will be custom made from Gepco 6108 ez wire with Neutrik ends. 

Sound deadening comes in the form of 2 bulk packs of dynamat extreme that I’ve had lying around for YEARS. I also have some Ensolite for the doors and anywhere else I find rattles. 

The install was started in late September and will hopefully be complete by the end of the year. 

On to the Pics.

Day 1 was all about building the amp rack and getting the amps test fir into the car.

First and foremost, safety is huge. Don’t catch your shirt on fire cutting steel like I did. 










The amp rack of fabricated from 1”x1”x.125” angle iron because it is what I had lying around in the garage. The amp rack is attached to the factory torsional stiffening members with some speed clips and bolts I also had lying around in the garage.










Close up of the passenger side










Close up of the driver side










Amp rack painted










Holes were drilled and tapped for some 8-32 stainless socket head cap screws to mount the amps.










Amp rack mounted and amps test fit.










Close up of the passenger side










Close up of the driver side










And from the back










This concludes Day 1.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

This brings us to Day 2. Day 2 was all about getting the sub baffle fabricated.

Day two started by removing all of the trunk liner pieces and making a cardboard template for the baffle.










The cardboard template was then transferred that to a sheet of ¾” plywood. 










Holes for the subs were cut using a circle jig. 










I like to use a few brads to secure whatever I’m cutting to a piece of sacrificial wood when using the circle jig. That way the circle cut comes out just about perfect. All I do is pry the workpiece off of the sacrificial wood and pull out the brads. Also, it leaves 2 nice pieces of scrap for mixing duraglas or body filler. Those come in handy later on.










Then some 1.5” wide strips were cut to act as a frame for the baffle










Strips were glued to the baffle and fastened with a brad gun.

Layer 1










Layer 2 










After removing the factory sub, I made a filler plate from 22 gauge sheet metal that, you guessed it, I had lying around in my garage.










Next I laid on my back in the trunk and sealed as many holes in the bottom side of the rear deck as possible. 

















.

This concludes day 2.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Day 3. Day three was a short day due to a trip to Austin but it was all about getting the sub baffle test fit into the car.

Knowing where the subs were going on the baffle, the baffle and sheet metal were thru drilled then 6x 1/4-20 rivnuts installed into the sheet metal.










Close up of a rivnut










The lower section of the sheet metal was taped of, baffle bolted the baffle into the car and some duraglas laid in to fill the 1.25” void at the bottom of the baffle. Sorry no pics of this.

The speed 6 does not come with rear seat fold down levers like the regular 6 since it has so much bracing behind the back seats. Well, once the sub baffle is in place, accessing the levers to fold down the seats would be impossible. Luckily, Mazda was nice enough to install all of the provisional mounting locations same as the regular 6. So, I orders the levers, brackets and cables and installed then in the car. This has been the easiest mod so far taking only 10 minutes per side.



















This concludes day 3.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Day 4.

Day 4 was all about getting the sub baffle carpeted, gasketed and test fit in the car; and a suitable mounting location found for the distro block.

I went to a local upholstery shop and got some dark salt and pepper trunk liner and grey grill cloth (for the pillars). The trunk liner matches pretty well. 

Sub baffle was gasketed, and carpeted.




























Subs were mounted with 10-24x1.25”lg stainless button head cap screws and tee nuts. You can see the duraglas poking out.




























Then the baffle was installed into the car. View from the front










View from the back.










The gasket seals up very well and I don’t see any open voids around the baffle face.

Next up was the distro block. Oh look, this’ll do quite nicely.










Sorry for no fabrication pics but, the distro block is made from a piece of .25” thk mdf, and some backstrap I had in my toolbox. A cardboard template was first made then the shape transferred to mdf and cut. After 2 different epoxies failing to cure, most like due to their advanced age, duraglas was used to secure the backstrap to the mdf. Once that cured the piece was carpeted and installed. The thru holes you see allow me to get a socket onto the nuts securing the backstrap. 










While the duraglas was curing, some dynamat was laid into the trunk. 










And, since I had some daylight left, I went ahead and installed the gounding lug. There are no fewer than 20 of these things in my toolbox and I have been waiting for some opportunity to use one.










This concludes day 4.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Day 5.

Since my power wire arrived and I finally got a free day, I decided to run the power wire and finish up the trunk. 

I decided on 1/0 awg welding wire. This is the ultraflex welding cable available from weldingsupply.com. Installation started at the distribution block and went forward to the battery. As you can see, this cable is very flexible.




























Interior power wire run shots will be included when speaker and signal wire gets run.

Underhood, new Stinger battery terminals were used in addition to an ANL fuse holder left over from my last install. All ring terminals were crimped and ends soldered to protect the copper.










Fuse detail










Positive connection detail










Negative connection detail. I also ran new 1/0 from the terminal to the factory ground location, from which all paint was first removed.










With the power wire run I could finally reinstall all of the trunk liner pieces and finish the sub baffle cover.

Once the trunk liner pieces were installed, cardboard was used to fashion a template for the baffle cover. This was transferred to a sheet of .25” MDF and cut to shape.










The baffle cover was then carpeted and test fit without subs. 










With the fitment finalized, subs were installed and the baffle cover was again test fit. 










While it isn’t perfect, it looks pretty decent. Industrial strength Velcro was used to secure the baffle cover to the baffle.



















So far I’m happy with the overall look and I can still fit my golf clubs in my trunk!

This concludes Day 5.


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## yuri (Apr 11, 2009)

where is day 6 and day 7 ? 
love your choice of sub's  some new stickers on them would be cool ...


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Hopefully day 6 will be this Saturday. Next on my list is to ground the amps, run speaker wire and get the front doors deadened and mids installed.

I looked long and hard for a pair of these subs in good shape for a fair price. Unfortunately they were all fairly expensive but I found these in need of some love on Craigslist. I would love to get some new stickers but I highly doubt JBL has any. Might be worth contacting them though.


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## bassfromspace (Jun 28, 2016)

Great build!


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

bassfromspace said:


> Great build!


Thanks! I really wish it was moving a bit faster.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Well this weekend was a bit of a bust. Due to a back injury incurred at the gym earlier in the week, I wasn't able to get as much done as planned. 

Driver side front door is now deadened, speaker wire is run for mid and tweet, and amps are grounded.


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## thewheelman (Nov 15, 2012)

Question, how will the subs vent into the cabin? Through the gap between the seat and rear deck? Cutout behind the armrest?

I have a Speed6, and am considering doing an IB setup similar to yours. 

Sorry to hear about your injury, I wish you a speedy recovery.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

There is enough open space between the subs and cabin. Besides, nothing in between the subs and the cabin will completely dampen the bass. This is similar to any other sub bass install in a sedan or coupe. In IB, you're just isolating the front back wave off the speaker, and letting the suspension control the sub.


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

If you haven't seen this build log already I highly recommend Chuyler's log
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...887-chris-mazdaspeed6-stereo-install-log.html


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## thewheelman (Nov 15, 2012)

Notloudenuf said:


> If you haven't seen this build log already I highly recommend Chuyler's log
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...887-chris-mazdaspeed6-stereo-install-log.html


That's another one I've been following, and it's actually what led me to this site. 

I've considered emulating his install too. I have a few questions which I'll probably post about later as I don't want to jack the OP's thread.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Very nice looking work. I luv how you are improvising with bits and pieces that were laying around the garage - that is definitely the mark of somebody who knows what it's like to work in a shop.

The thing that baffles me (no pun intended) is why you ran that distro block back in the trunk like that. I would have probably mounted it up above the amps or something, so you could see/access it when you fold down the seats and save yourself some power wire. Don't get me wrong though - it does look very clean like that


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Chaos said:


> Very nice looking work. I luv how you are improvising with bits and pieces that were laying around the garage - that is definitely the mark of somebody who knows what it's like to work in a shop.
> 
> The thing that baffles me (no pun intended) is why you ran that distro block back in the trunk like that. I would have probably mounted it up above the amps or something, so you could see/access it when you fold down the seats and save yourself some power wire. Don't get me wrong though - it does look very clean like that


Thanks for the compliment.

I'm a little OCD about symmetry. I tried to find a spot to hide it so it would be closer to the amps but I just couldn't find a spot I liked. Above the amps would have been too asymmetrical. In the side panel, next to the rear seats was too tight and I didn't feel under the rear seat was a good option. I could have put it under the driver seat but I didn't have enough 4 awg to make that work. I was going to buy 1/0 anyway so I figured a few extra feet can't hurt. I'm nowhere near the current carrying capacity of any of my power wire. Plus, I shouldn't have to ever access the fuses, barring some kind of power wire failure.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Notloudenuf said:


> If you haven't seen this build log already I highly recommend Chuyler's log
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...887-chris-mazdaspeed6-stereo-install-log.html


Instrumental in not breaking the door handle release mechanism.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Days 6 and 7

I finally had time during my Christmas break to get some work done on my car. Front and rear doors are deadened, mids installed in front doors and tweeters temp installed on dash. Case for MiniDSP 2x8 is fabricated and installed.

Driver door skin removed and deadener installed. 










Next speaker adapter rinds were fabricated. These were coated in a few layers of spray plastidip leftover from another project.










Then a water shield was built from a thin cutting board and covered in deadener.










Then the mid was installed. A foam gasket was used between the speaker and rind as well as between ring and door. 










Then, the door was foamed using 2 layers of 3/8” closed cell foam










Passenger door received the same treatment.










A few pics of wiring from the driver side. Ignore the t-taps. Those are leftover from an alarm install the previous owner had. Also, yes my floors are dirty. I’m waiting until I finish the install to clean the car.




























And a few from the passenger side.



















Next I removed the passenger seat and the bose amp / processor that was living underneath it. The factory wiring harness was tapped for power, amp turn on and signal. At some point I’ll have to move the ground since I appear to be getting some noise from the MiniDSP.



















Next RCAs were made to deliver signal to the amps.




























All I had to do now was fab an enclosure for the processor. I ordered a 8” x 10” aluminum enclosure from Hammond Mfg. Unfortunately it turned out to be too small. So I built one out of polycarbonate sheet. Home Depot carries it in 10” x 8” sheets. How convenient. 

Mounting holes were marked and match drilled.










Then standoffs were inserted










Next the side pieces were cut. 










Then, the fun task of cutting and shaping holes. I didn’t take a lot of pictures here since I was covered in plastic shavings.




























And finally installed in the car.










I spent the next hour or so reinstalling the interior. It’s nice having more than one seat again. 

All I have left is pillars and tuning. Time alignment and crossovers are preliminarily set but EQ definitely needs some work. I should be getting a Dayton EMM-6 mic soon and I already have a usb interface for it (thank you craigslist!). 

Since I have tomorrow off I may get time to work on the pillars. Hopefully it won’t be too terribly cold. 

And this concludes days 6 and 7.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Pretty slick !


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

DAT said:


> Pretty slick !



Totally agree I like the case a lot.


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## eddieg (Dec 20, 2009)

Nice work done there on the plexyglass casing! 

As for RTA mics you should probably checkout new products done by MDSP nowadays.

I would like to recommend you the following: 

1. Isolator - if you had not purchased it yet, it is used to connect the MDSP to car power source as it stabilize the voltage to 12V and as well isolates noises and loops. 

miniDC Isolator | miniDSP

2. MDSP VOL-FP - volume control with a remote control - I think your board supports it and it could be a very nice feature to have in case you would wish to integrate in the future digital SPDIF or OPTICAL sources such as Apple or Android based products (pure i-20 docks or HDMI converters etc) 

VOL-FP | miniDSP

3. MDSP Digital source connectivity - 

Either the Digi-FP DIGI-FP | miniDSP

or the normal DAC - MiniDigi - miniDIGI | miniDSP

4. Edited - forgot to add the MIC it self! - You have a MDSP - why not use their own equipment for acoustic measurement?

The customized subs are awesome! simply sick! the UMK-1 http://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/umik-1




You chose wonderful tweeters but why the SB acoustics mid bass? they are rather cheap for what I know in parallel to the tweeters you chose, however how good are they as woofers and as midbasses? 

I would like your opinion about the SBs 

Thanks, 

Eddie


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## shawnk (Jan 11, 2010)

oldturd said:


> This is my first install since I quit working as a professional installer in 2005. This has made me miss 1. working in an air conditioned shop and 2. having access to a full woodshop setup for car audio. All you professional installers out there, build as much for your car as you can while you can.


^^ Reminds me of me. I know exactly how you feel here as I was an installer as well up until 07 and no longer have the luxuries of a nice shop. But good creative installers make the best of what they have as I see you have done here! 


I'd love to here those JBL's in IB!

Very nice work and really in no time at all.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

DAT said:


> Pretty slick !





Audible Physics said:


> Totally agree I like the case a lot.


Thanks. I'm not totally happy with the case. I wanted something to protect the board while it lives under the passenger seat and thus far this fits the bill. If I end up keeping the Minidsp (provided I can make the noise go away at a reasonable cost) I'll likely design and fab a sheet metal enclosure. Also, the blinking blue LED emanating from under the seat is mildly annoying.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

eddieg said:


> Nice work done there on the plexyglass casing!
> 
> As for RTA mics you should probably checkout new products done by MDSP nowadays.
> 
> ...


Well, the minidsp isolator would be a good idea if was meant for use with the 2x8 board. Sadly it doesn't have the output. But, there are enough dc-dc isolators on the market. If re=grounding doesn't help, I'll try one of those. 

As for the rest of the minidsp products you mentioned, I have no need to add another volume control nor a place to mount it. I'm not feeding the unit a digital source so thats out as well. and as far as the mic is concerned, I already have the USB sound card and all of the cables I'll need. I just the the mic. Good suggestions nonetheless. 

The SB mids were chosen for price and frequency response. They have a great motor attached to an okay cone. I really can't comment on how good or bad they sound since I haven't tried to eq the system yet. I'm breaking all of the speakers in first. Once the system is eq'd I'll let you know.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

shawnk said:


> ^^ Reminds me of me. I know exactly how you feel here as I was an installer as well up until 07 and no longer have the luxuries of a nice shop. But good creative installers make the best of what they have as I see you have done here!
> 
> 
> I'd love to here those JBL's in IB!
> ...


Thanks. I've been stalking your install. My ultimate goal was something that sounds good and is as hidden as possible with minimal modifications to the car. so far so good!

I am stupid happy with the subs. With ~ 425W on them they are stellar. More bass then I expected.


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## SmallSoldier (Aug 8, 2007)

Awesome work... Congratulations!


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## SpecV (Mar 26, 2009)

How did you like the GROM interface or have you even installed it. I am thinking about going with the same thing with my 08 Tahoe with Bose & Navigation.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

SpecV said:


> How did you like the GROM interface or have you even installed it. I am thinking about going with the same thing with my 08 Tahoe with Bose & Navigation.


It has been a bit if a mixed bag. As an iPod interface used to shuffle songs, it works great. I have found that it makes a little bit of noise from time to time but that could be from my iPod, the cable or something else. I haven't troubleshot it enough to know for sure. The line in for my phone sounds fine but the 3.5 mm end of the cable was messed up so I need to replace it. I haven't tried the usb feature yet. 

All in all I like it and would buy again.


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## SpecV (Mar 26, 2009)

did you buy the bluetooth module? Do you still use the steering wheel controls for control of the music?


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

SpecV said:


> did you buy the bluetooth module? Do you still use the steering wheel controls for control of the music?


I bought the Bluetooth module but haven't tried yet.

Yes, I still use steering wheel controls for the iPod.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Days 8, 9 and 10

After running the tweeters in PVC endcaps for a month or so I was finally happy with where they were aimed so, it was time to give them a more permanent home. They’re basically aimed just at the inboard edge of the dash and up to about the middle of the windshield.

First, the tweeters were measure and rings for the tweeters were cut from 0.25” thk MFD.










Then, masking tape was laid onto the A pillar and both were trimmed to receive the rings. Masking tape was used as a template since the pillars are symmetric. 










Next, the A pillars were mounted back into the car and the rings were aimed and CA glued into place. This step always takes longer then I think it should. 





































It was then time for some fiberglass. Grille cloth was stretched and glued to get a basic shape.



















Then a layer of kitty hair was laid and the first layer of body filler was laid once the Kitty hair had flashed. I use a sharpie to mark where I need to fill spots so when I’m sanding I know when I’m getting close to where I was.



















After another layer of body filler I was happy with the shape of each.



















Both pillars were then painted with some primer so no odd colors would show through once covered with grille cloth. Speaking of covered in grill cloth, here is the initial test fit.



















Now come the fun part … custom tweeter grilles.

First a die was made from 0.75” thk plywood. 










Then a machine screw from who know what that I have 30 of in my toolbox, was inserted into the mold. 










This assembly was then attached to a drill to be used like a lathe to shape the mold. The sharpie line is for depth reference



















Next the shaping process is started using a large C clamp. 










While the clamp gets the shape started it took some good old fashioned hammering to get the grilles to their final shape. The next time I do this I’ll cut the grille material closer to final dimensions to facilitate easier shaping.



















After a bit of trimming and tweaking the grilles were test fit on the pillars. If you look closely in the first picture, you’ll see where the grille material ripped a little.




























Once I was happy with the look, they were touched up with some black spray paint and instapped in the car. 



















Overall, I’m terrible happy with how they turned out. My stage could be a bit wider on the driver side but with minimal tuning (basic time alignment and no eq) the image is mostly centered, it wanders a bit but that’ll get fixed with eq, and the height is great. I can’t speak highly enough about these tweeters. While, this was my first time venturing away from car audio specific speakers, the results are great thus far. 

Despite regrounding the MiniDSP at the amps, I still have engine noise. Next step is to get an isolated DC to DC converter. I found the one I want to use I just need to order it and see if it helps. I’m also toying with the idea of adding a digital out of the factory deck and getting the minidigi board for the processor. That or disassembling a deck and integrating it with the factory unit. I have an old P1R from my last install I could use. Something to think about anyway…


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## shawnk (Jan 11, 2010)

Clever work on that custom grill. Looks great!


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## Hdale85 (Jan 21, 2012)

Agreed! Those grills are awesome.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks, I thought about covering them with grille cloth but I liked them too much to cover them up.


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## bfowler (Nov 25, 2009)

really excellent work. i will be referencing this a bit in the next few weeks. 

i'm shoehorning a kenwood x792 into the dash pocket area (i had to do a bit of air duct cutting and melting) and bypassing all the mazda audio completely.


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## edouble101 (Dec 9, 2010)

Nice pillars 

What glue and grill material did you use to cover the pillars?


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## Jaloosk (Jan 13, 2010)

love, love, love that grille.


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## Halthar (Nov 9, 2012)

oldturd said:


> As for the rest of the minidsp products you mentioned, I have no need to add another volume control nor a place to mount it. I'm not feeding the unit a digital source so thats out as well. and as far as the mic is concerned, I already have the USB sound card and all of the cables I'll need. I just the the mic. Good suggestions nonetheless.


Great install so far. I'll be following it, especially as a fellow Speed 6 owner. One nice thing about the Vol-FP is that the 2x8 board supports 4 memory presets, but the only way to switch them is to either connect via USB and change to preset X, or to use the Vol-FP's IR input to change using a remote.

As a side note. I have the mic MiniDSP is now selling. It works pretty well, and I say that as someone who works for an acoustics lab with access to very high dollar mics. I've taken the mic and the MiniDSP (one of the 2x4s I own) into the office and had a coworker fiddle with them. Both measured very well (He's actually now considering replacing some of the large EQs we need to truck around with us for sound insulation testing jobs with MiniDSPs as a result).


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## mammoth (Aug 1, 2005)

Love the grills and pillar work you did, looks amazing! Looking forward to seeing more.


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Excellent looking pillars, love it.


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

please please please give us some follow up on how youre liking the setup. i wish i had the patience to pull this off in my speed. ill be using the rear deck and just mounting an idmax 10 in place of the stock sub.


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## silver6 (Nov 11, 2008)

New Redesigned Mazda 6 Installation Kit Allows Double-Din Head Units | In-Car Tech

Might be of interest to you...


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