# No Frills SQ Install in a 2009 Civic Si Sedan - Illusion Audio, Mosconi, Arc Audio



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Just got done with this lil guy  One of the more basic SQ builds i have done.

Car is a 2009 Civic Si sedan, and some of you may know, the civic, though being a really popular car, isnt quite the easiest to work on sometimes...

Goals:

1. Achieve a decent level of SQ through utilization of OEM locations and a modest budget

2. Take up as little room in the trunk as possible, preferably NONE.

3. Durability is number 1 priority, all carpet, no vinyl or suede

lets get started.

The signal starts with a Kenwood X995 single din unit, installed here with the best kits dash kit:










I located the BT mic here, from experience giving the best reception:










I used a clarion USB port and installed it into the panel beneath the headunit, it is hooked up to the USB input on the kenwood, so the customer easily access the function by plugging in his USB cable:



















As the car runs a Mosconi 6to8DSP, all tuning can be performed from the front seat with a laptop:










The front stages consists of a set of Illusion Audio Carbon C6 component set, the shallow midbass makes for a pretty easy fit, but first things first, new speaker wires were run into the door:










the outter door skin received some Focal Blackhole Tile for resonance killing:










then the inner door is sound proofed with a layer of Focal's new BAM XXXL combo foil/foam damper:










As with many hondas, i like to use these OEM matching 6.5" spacer rings:










this was then bolted to the door with oem mounting points after the hole was widened a little bit on the bottom to accomodate the new speaker:










the Illusion midbass was then installed:



















the same procedure was repeated on the passenger side:























































For the tweeter, as mentioned, they went into the stock location, due to the overside chamber of the illusion tweets, i couldnt fit them beneath the grille, without some serious hacking, but even then depths maybe an issue, so installed, i simply flush mounted them into the stock grille:



















here is the stock grilles with integrated tweeters next to the Illusion Carbon tweets:










the oem tweeters were then popped out, and mounting holes cut for the illusion tweets:



















and finally, the illusion tweeters mounted and wired up:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

next comes a series of pics that shows the wiring bundles as it traveles from the front to the rear of the car...knowing that the civic has virtually no room in the door sills, i chose to run 2 x 4 gauge cable instead of a single 0 gauge. the power and driver side speaker wires went down the driver side, while the RCAs and passenger side speaker wires went down the other. the bundles are zipted every few inches and secured to factory looms where possible. they entire the trunk via stock points, and is routed all the way to the back of the trunk:






















































































































i also removed the factory sub and rear deck speakers to allow better bass in the cabin, and sound proofed the rear deck with a layer of BAM XXXL:



















so thats it for the interior moving to the trunk. so the idea was simple, to keep the trunk totally stock and totally usable. So here is the view with everything closed, a new fake floor portion replaced the old lift up board...not a single ounce of trunk space was lost:




























pop off the center grille and here is what you see, two arc audio KS series amps are at the front, powering the entire system. a KS300.4 sends 90 watts to the tweeters, and 350 to the sub, while the 300.2 sends 180 watts to the midbass. the sub is a single arc audio black series 10 dual 2ohm. as you can see, the equipment is also trimmed int he same carpet. the customer requested this specifically for maximum durability:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

now comes some quick build pics of the trunk. I started by laying down some STP gold cld damper cross the entire well:










then i installed four 1/4" rivet nuts to secure the foundation platform board:



















In order to get the right amount of airspace, orientation and depth for the sub woofer, i had to build a hybrid MDF/fiberglass enclosure of about .65 cubic foot, with the bottom of it out of glass to get us the extra depth:










and here is the box sealed up and out of the car:




























wired up and top carpeted:










and it is secured with two of its own rivet nuts:










here is the middle trim piece before and after carpeting:



















here is the main fake floor panel, it is a two layer board with 1/8" mdf on top to maintain stock height versus the rest of the floor carpeting, and a 3/8" middle to provide strengths and clearance:




























and here is the vented grille before and after carpeting:



















and finally, a few shots of the wiring pics, with the little 6to8 hidden next to the subbox:




























so thats it...for such a basic sq install, the car sounds quite good, with the oem locations, the stage is VERY deep, well beyond the drastically sloping windshield, width is just inside the pillars, and heigh is half way up the windshield. center image is decent, though not as small and exact as other locations. midbass, as usual with these Illusions, is OUTSTANDING, effortless output, punchiness and extension without distortion. the subbass does a decent job at rounding out the spectrum.

overall, for this type of build, i think it is quite excellent.

i also want to mention that now i have just about put the illusion audio carbon tweeter in just about every angle and orientation, and to be honest, i have yet to find a fault with it. each time, revealing, detailed, airy yet NEVER HARSH...incredible...i know i sound like a gushing lil girl, but i am really really happy about these, time and again. 

until next time.

cheerio!

Bing


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## henrymo2 (Feb 19, 2011)

awesome build as always Bing! I want to do something like this in my e46, but with a wall/floor. Already have the wall build and looking good, just need to mock up some trim pieces


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Nice. I like it. I like how you say budget, and then throw out a 6to8, 2 ARC KS amps, Illusion comps and a Black 10. lol

Around my area, budget would have stopped us at the 6to8. lol

One question...have you seen any problems with the Black 10's? One of our sales guys got one a while back and on one of the voice coils, the wires broke at the cone where the tinsels appear to be glued to the spider....And the Touareg came back in to trouble shoot a problem and take care of some rattles, and the sub sounded funny, so I pulled it out and had the same problem. Another friend of mine has 1 he is using (and 1 as a backup) so I hope he doesn't have that problem too.

Jay


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Lol, ok let's define a "budget" system. The price of all of this not including the install must be in the thousands. I guess when I think budget system, I'm thinking under $1000.00 for equipment. Either way I know that everyone has a different view as far what they consider budget. Also as usual Bing, clean and precise as all your installs are. I still say you should take a massive pay cut and come back to New Jersey.


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## tintbox (Oct 25, 2008)

As always. Excellent work work!


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## nucci (Mar 29, 2012)

Are there any places to buy this Focal insulation? Quick Google search produces a lot of India/China bad websites.


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

Well done!!


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

JayinMI said:


> Nice. I like it. I like how you say budget, and then throw out a 6to8, 2 ARC KS amps, Illusion comps and a Black 10. lol
> 
> Around my area, budget would have stopped us at the 6to8. lol
> 
> ...


this was the 5th or 6th black i have done, so far no issues, maybe its the mild climate out here...but we will see.

b


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Coppertone said:


> Lol, ok let's define a "budget" system. The price of all of this not including the install must be in the thousands. I guess when I think budget system, I'm thinking under $1000.00 for equipment. Either way I know that everyone has a different view as far what they consider budget. Also as usual Bing, clean and precise as all your installs are. I still say you should take a massive pay cut and come back to New Jersey.


oh trust me i know, when i was in pittsburgh, budget system meant 500 bucks total lol

but its a different world out here, and i am not saying the definition by norcal this is a budget system, but i guess this is one of the more modestly budgeted system i have built in the past few years 

though i have to say, an install like this in NJ NYC area wouldnt be at all cheaper if it done properly by a good shop


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

nucci said:


> Are there any places to buy this Focal insulation? Quick Google search produces a lot of India/China bad websites.


go your nearest focal dealer, tell them to order a roll of BAM XXXL, if they give you a blank stare, tell them to just call focal and ask to order a roll of that, and then say "you will thank me later"


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


> this was the 5th or 6th black i have done, so far no issues, maybe its the mild climate out here...but we will see.
> 
> b


That's one of the theories I was told, was that in the cold climate the tinsel leads don't flex enough where the connect at the cone/spider. I really like this sub, I'd like to find some definite answers so they can fix the problem, if there is one.

Jay


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## ib2ez2 (Apr 7, 2012)

Very nice build Bing!


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## robert_wrath (Apr 24, 2011)

Coppertone said:


> Lol, ok let's define a "budget" system. *The price of all of this not including the install must be in the thousands. I guess when I think budget system, I'm thinking under $1000.00 for equipment. Either way I know that everyone has a different view as far what they consider budget*. Also as usual Bing, clean and precise as all your installs are. I still say you should take a massive pay cut and come back to New Jersey.





simplicityinsound said:


> *oh trust me i know, when i was in pittsburgh, budget system meant 500 bucks total lol
> 
> but its a different world out here, and i am not saying the definition by norcal this is a budget system, but i guess this is one of the more modestly budgeted system i have built in the past few years * *
> 
> though i have to say, an install like this in NJ NYC area wouldnt be at all cheaper if it done properly by a good shop *


Believe me, I know what Bing is referring to when classifying this as a "Budget System". The companies which employed my services in the past would agree with the class indefinitely. Archive Bing's 6-7 previous installs & compare them to this vehicle. It'll be quite apparent that his client's budget for both the equipment + installation does indeed have limitations.

Brilliant job as always, truly maximize the extent of your abilities upon clients opening his/her wallet with your trust.


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## papasin (Jan 24, 2011)

You should have told me you were working on this, a car I know quite well and we could have compared them side by side . Just looking at some of the build pics, I can pretty much pinpoint every clip, screw, bolt, etc. 

One thing I did differently is I decided to run a single 0. What I found is that there is a channel behind the driver's seat under the oem amp that is ideal for running a 0 to the trunk. I first ran the 0 gauge along the driver side under the gas tank/trunk release lever, then through the beam in the middle, and over towards that channel. The 0 then can be zip tied parallel to a giant split loom bundle that contains a set of wires about as thick as a half dollar. I'll see if I have a pic for it, but otherwise, I know what you mean as probably would not be able to close up the sill plates or the carpet would be bulging with the 0 if run on driver's side all the way to the trunk.

Also, when I had tweeters in the stock location, even the MS-8 struggled trying to get a center image. My guess, it's due to that giant hump with the speedo. But when I moved to the AP drivers in the little windows, that helped quite a bit.

Looks good as always. You should post this build or link this on 8th as well as I'm sure those guys would like it


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

The trunk and doors look fantastic, but the tweeters bother me. I know you said no vinyl, but if the stock grill was wrapped with vinyl matching the dash I think it would look much better with the new tweeter on top.


Also, I'm with Jay on this one. That may be a modest system by your standards/location - and bless you for it - but around here almost nobody would be willing to pay what a build like that is worth.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

papasin said:


> You should have told me you were working on this, a car I know quite well and we could have compared them side by side . Just looking at some of the build pics, I can pretty much pinpoint every clip, screw, bolt, etc.
> 
> One thing I did differently is I decided to run a single 0. What I found is that there is a channel behind the driver's seat under the oem amp that is ideal for running a 0 to the trunk. I first ran the 0 gauge along the driver side under the gas tank/trunk release lever, then through the beam in the middle, and over towards that channel. The 0 then can be zip tied parallel to a giant split loom bundle that contains a set of wires about as thick as a half dollar. I'll see if I have a pic for it, but otherwise, I know what you mean as probably would not be able to close up the sill plates or the carpet would be bulging with the 0 if run on driver's side all the way to the trunk.
> 
> ...


hehe, you know what, i thought about that and was gonna call you when its done, but then i had to run out all day after tuning it and when i got back, the customer was already picking it up. but i am sure we will find some time.

yeah the stock locations biggest hinderance is that hump, this is why i said i cant get a very precise center image in the car, it wonders a lil.

as for the zero gauge, i think i saw it in your pic, but one thing i am kinda anal about is alwasys run my wire bundles as close to the door sills as possible, meaning i can easy reach the cables by taking the sill plate off, without needing to remove anything else, or tug at it endlessly. this is to make servicing easier incase of a bad cable. is the chance really small? yes, but i have had it before where a cable somehow got cut somewhere. 

b


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Chaos said:


> The trunk and doors look fantastic, but the tweeters bother me. I know you said no vinyl, but if the stock grill was wrapped with vinyl matching the dash I think it would look much better with the new tweeter on top.
> 
> 
> Also, I'm with Jay on this one. That may be a modest system by your standards/location - and bless you for it - but around here almost nobody would be willing to pay what a build like that is worth.



i am fairly sure if i wrapped the grille with vinyl, the grille would no longer fit anymore.  it would have been great if i could have fitted the tweeter under the grille, but after two hours of try various things, including cutting apart and sacrificing a carbon tweeter (not an inexpenive piece lol), i gave up on it. too deep and a lil too big and i dint want to hack up his dash.

as for the cost thing, this is why i love living out here...is the living expenses high? of course, but i also get to do the kind of work i truly want in return. 

b


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## papasin (Jan 24, 2011)

Yep, we have "no frills budget homes" that folks anywhere else would freak out about . Bing has seen my house and it qualifies as no frills.


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## rain27 (Jan 15, 2009)

Are the spacer rings off the shelf types? Which brand?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

i ordered those from best kits, i think they are American International ones.

i am sure all the major manufactueres sells them

b


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## watts (Oct 11, 2012)

Can you provide some details on how you make the outer grill shape match the cutout on the fake floor. I always seem to struggle getting a perfect fit and end up spending a lot of time on this. Hoping there is an easier way. Thanks in advance.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

watts said:


> Can you provide some details on how you make the outer grill shape match the cutout on the fake floor. I always seem to struggle getting a perfect fit and end up spending a lot of time on this. Hoping there is an easier way. Thanks in advance.


i cut the shape with a jigsaw out of the floor piece, by plunging the jigsaw blade into the wood, and then i reduce it by around 1/8" all around with a router 

b


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## 98koukile (Nov 3, 2008)

If you had a choice where would you put the tweeters in a car like this? I have a coupe without the a pillar windows and I'm very interested in moving them from the stock location to either the kicks or the pillars. I've been looking at your threads for ideas for years and now I'm finally pulling the trigger with my new car.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

98koukile said:


> If you had a choice where would you put the tweeters in a car like this? I have a coupe without the a pillar windows and I'm very interested in moving them from the stock location to either the kicks or the pillars. I've been looking at your threads for ideas for years and now I'm finally pulling the trigger with my new car.


In the a pillars for sure

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2


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## 2000LaDe (Apr 30, 2011)

simple and clean i like it.


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## rdubbs (Sep 26, 2012)

Bing, this looks fantastic! thanks for the post! The only question I have is how the plastic speaker adapters are set in there to prevent vibrations? I see a lot of guys here complaining about the plastic brackets, and I know in my own car the Scosche brackets I have, the mounting screw is rubbing against the top of the speaker, are there any of these issues with the BestKit's brackets? 

Again awesome install on another 8th Civic.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

rdubbs said:


> Bing, this looks fantastic! thanks for the post! The only question I have is how the plastic speaker adapters are set in there to prevent vibrations? I see a lot of guys here complaining about the plastic brackets, and I know in my own car the Scosche brackets I have, the mounting screw is rubbing against the top of the speaker, are there any of these issues with the BestKit's brackets?
> 
> Again awesome install on another 8th Civic.


that sucker is wedged really tight against the foam on the BAM XXL, no vibrations going on as far as i can tell 

b


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## Audio Options (Aug 28, 2008)

hey bing where are you getting the metal grill for the trunk? I need a new source


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

mcmaster  been using it for about 7-8 years now, perforated metal, you can choose different material, percentage open and different gauge. i think i am using 20-22 ga.

b


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## Audio Options (Aug 28, 2008)

dont they ship from back east? how long does it take to get it


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

they are all over the place, mine ships from fresno or sac i think, also sometimes socal.

b


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## Audio Options (Aug 28, 2008)

can you send me their number and a contact 

thanks


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Mcmaster.com 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

Just tossing this out there- the German Maestro epic tweeters are almost a perfect fit under the stock grill (a dab of ca glue and away you go) the coupes can sound pretty darn good with the stock locations. Great install as usual bing.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

turbo5upra said:


> Just tossing this out there- the German Maestro epic tweeters are almost a perfect fit under the stock grill (a dab of ca glue and away you go) the coupes can sound pretty darn good with the stock locations. Great install as usual bing.


there are prolly a few others tweeters that fit  the GM set is a great speaker, but just not 100 percent my cup of tea hehe. 

i'd say the main limitation of this car with the stock location is secondary reflections off the upper shroud. other than that is quite nice.

b


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## turbo5upra (Oct 3, 2008)

the tweeters are nice... so is the midrange- imo they trade that for any midbass output. (can't win em all in a 2way lol)


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## WrenchGuy (Jun 10, 2007)

Hows that BAM? What did it run you? I checked my area for dealers and they arent really Car Audio shops that show up on their network so Im kinda interested in it.


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## papasin (Jan 24, 2011)

simplicityinsound said:


> hehe, you know what, i thought about that and was gonna call you when its done, but then i had to run out all day after tuning it and when i got back, the customer was already picking it up. but i am sure we will find some time.
> 
> yeah the stock locations biggest hinderance is that hump, this is why i said i cant get a very precise center image in the car, it wonders a lil.


Met up with your customer and got a chance to listen to the car. Overall, it's actually quite good for stock locations, better than I was able to get with mine...but yeah, center image is not as focused but more obvious I think when you know the car and have had experience trying various spots with the tweeters...and especially if you do a side by side .

I heard you had a lot of fun on the install due to the battery re-location . He listened to my car as well, and he may ask you about something about the imaging besides the centered focus as a heads up.

But as we've gotten to be quite spoiled by your work and continually impressed, craftsmanship and build quality solid as always. :thumbsup:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

yeah i didnt realize the battery location was what it was until i took a gander at it and was like oh crap...

his listen taste is also quite different than mine, i had to turn up the tweeter gain A LOT beyond what my daily driving preference is hehe, i would say in excess of 3db  hehe

b


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## Babs (Jul 6, 2007)

simplicityinsound said:


> next comes a series of pics that shows the wiring bundles as it traveles from the front to the rear of the car...knowing that the civic has virtually no room in the door sills, i chose to run 2 x 4 gauge cable instead of a single 0 gauge. the power and driver side speaker wires went down the driver side, while the RCAs and passenger side speaker wires went down the other. the bundles are zipted every few inches and secured to factory looms where possible. they entire the trunk via stock points, and is routed all the way to the back of the trunk:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thread resurrection if I may, Bing. 
Question on wire running, since I'm staring at my wiring now (see my humble build log). You ran speaker wiring and the power line(s) down the driver side together, utilizing the driver door loom cubby. Is there any concern there for speaker wiring and power running right with all that and together? Noise etc? If not I'm certainly going to copy it because it's definitely the most logical solution for easy and neatness.


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