# '02 Kia Optima 3-way install



## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

Well, I finally got around to doing a 3-way with peerless drivers and going IB with my sub. 

I was always reluctant to do anything because I knew I would have to start messing with fiberglass and I had absolutely no experience or even knowledge of how to do such. After much research and a visit over to fiberglassforums.com I decided to attempt some kicks and tweeter pods. 

Equipment:

HU: Alpine IVA-W505 
Processor: H701
Amps: 2 x PDX 4.150, 1 x PDX 1.1000

Tweeters: Peerless HDS 
Midrange: Peerless Exclusive 831882 
Midbass: Peerless 8" SLS 830667 
Subwoofer: 2 x IDMAX 12" V3 

Here is my trunk before: 

















I decided to make a false floor to hide wires, but still make the spare tire accessible so I cut some plywood into three sections and raised it up with a few 2x4's









Then test fitted the baffle for the subs:









Dont have any other pictures of the rest of the process but here is the mostly finished trunk:









Obviously I need to rerun the wires for the sub, but this is just temporary til I can get some more 12 gauge wire. 









And stupid me didnt take any pictures of the whole glassing process so I only have pictures of the "finished" product, but as you can see I still have to finish the doors, but the kicks and tweeters are pretty much done. 

Driver side kicks:









Driver side tweeter:









passenger kicks:









Full front:









For my first FG job I dont think they are that bad, certainly no where near perfect but acceptable enough to me


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## jonnyanalog (Nov 14, 2007)

Most of your pics are red Xs to me but what I can see looks pretty good. How's visibility with those huge tweeter pods?


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## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

jonnyanalog said:


> Most of your pics are red Xs to me but what I can see looks pretty good. How's visibility with those huge tweeter pods?


Might just be cause they are bigger, you can just go to Index of /pictures/carinstall12-08 and view them each there too. 

Visibility is actually pretty good, they are a little intrusive as you can tell, but not as much as you might think.


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## Vestax (Aug 16, 2005)

Lookin' good. How does it sound?


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## jayhawkblk (May 29, 2007)

how does it sound that is the question of the hour?


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## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

Vestax said:


> Lookin' good. How does it sound?


Sounds great so far, I had to mess a little with the stuffing in each of the kicks, but havent had much chance to do any EQ or TA work yet. I am very impressed with the SLS 8's. I havent even fully sealed the baffle to the door panel yet either and they are giving some great output at moderate levels. 

So far I definitely like the sound better than the HDS/revelator 2-way I had before. The subs on the other hand will require some more work compared to the single 12" in the ported box I had.


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

Lookin' good! And you found the key to making IDMax's sound good. An IB'd IDMax is a beautiful thing IMHO. 

How are you planning to finish off the door panels? I can't wait to see how this install ends up, I bet it will look great.

Zach


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## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

Boostedrex said:


> Lookin' good! And you found the key to making IDMax's sound good. An IB'd IDMax is a beautiful thing IMHO.
> 
> How are you planning to finish off the door panels? I can't wait to see how this install ends up, I bet it will look great.
> 
> Zach


I am probably going to just use the stock panels and fiberglass the gap to the door, its really only like a inch at the top and two inches at the bottom so I figure might as well use them rather than fabricating a whole bottom part of the door. 

And not only do the subs sound great, but I got my trunk back! which was the main reason for going IB.


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## syd-monster (Jan 7, 2008)

Cool, can i ask for the a pic of the whole vehicle. Never seen one of those, I think....


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## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

syd-monster said:


> Cool, can i ask for the a pic of the whole vehicle. Never seen one of those, I think....


I am sure you have seen em before, I see them all over the road now, when I got it I didnt see any, lol.


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## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

Oh yeah, just an update, did some EQ and TA work via RTA strictly and had a listen for a few songs, it sounds great! Still need to tweak a bit more but thats typically a ongoing process anyway. when I finish the doors I will post more pics.

Oh yeah one thing I was worried about was the stage height which is part reason why I wanted the tweeters on the dash to raise it some and it does the job, stage height is right about neck level give or take.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

imo the kicks are aimed way too high. but you can always rebuild them. im sure it was one of your first times glassing. next time they will turn out better.

otherwise, it looks like you are on the right course to a good sounding stereo. theres lots of work involved in this crap - i hope you are never satisfied, because you never will be from here on out lol.


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## The Drake (Apr 3, 2007)

req said:


> imo the kicks are aimed way too high. but you can always rebuild them. im sure it was one of your first times glassing. next time they will turn out better.
> 
> otherwise, it looks like you are on the right course to a good sounding stereo. theres lots of work involved in this crap - i hope you are never satisfied, because you never will be from here on out lol.


actually I wanted to aim the driver side exactly the way it is, up and slightly off-axis. Its what sounded best to me when I was test aiming them, the passenger is aiming a little bit high and thats just cause I pulled the fabric too much and moved the ring, but I gotta be honest, it really didn't affect the sound at all from where I had planned to aim it (I tested it out). So aesthetically the aiming is off a bit, but SQ wise its perfect to me  

In the future I certainly wouldn't mind making some new pods for the fun of it, possibly when/if I switch to a small format tweeter.


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## my89_928gt (Aug 22, 2006)

Looking good.
we have the same car btw. Giving me the urge to try kicks. I'm 2 way and just can't get it to sound right. Tweets I put at eye level in the A pillars firing across. Very wide high detailed and airy sound stage. But, over all it just dose not sound right. I first thought it was the tweeters but now I think it is the mids. Why do they have to be angled down??? Just way off axis on the mids and that door panel it a pain. So, either kicks or tear it up and rebuild it, lol. Do you think 2 way with a 6 1/2 mid in the kicks would work well in our cars?


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## my89_928gt (Aug 22, 2006)

duplicate post


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I really like the way this looks, but I know you are in the middle of changing up many things in the install - can't wait to see the updates, and more importantly, to hear the updates!


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