# 2009 Maxima SV Sport Install - Alpine, Hertz, JL, etc



## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

So here's the story. In Oct of 08 I bought an 09 Maxima SV Sport. Love the car, hate the stock sound system. I've always had an aftermarket stereo and have never driven a vehicle without one for more than a few months. At first I thought I was content with the Maxima and I liked the integrated features of the system, but now I've given up hope of ever liking that pile of crap Bose setup and decided to totally rip and replace the stock audio system! Apparently some things are still the same in this industry. Bose still stands for "Buy Other Stereo Equipment". :laugh: 

My first thought was to recycle all of the audio equipment out of my last car. My last equipment list consisted of an old Alpine CVA-1005, 4 CHA-1214 changers, speakers from Diamond Audio (the original HEX series), Kicker Solobaric sub (the original SoloBaric L7), and Kicker ZR amplifiers. I've had most of this equipment since it came out, so it's pretty old! The amps and sub were the newest parts of the system, and I got them in 2001.

Well all of those ideas died and I sold almost all of my old gear. I wanted a new head unit and wanted to focus more on sound quality and audio playback instead of multimedia/video. I wanted an iPod interface and Bluetooth. The other thing was that I wanted to try and move to D class amplifiers to save some space and power requirements. I love a good Zed AB as much as the next guy, but I figured I'll check out the new stuff and if it's garbage I can always pick up some older gear. (I've already got dibs on a pair of HiFonics Series VIII Olympus' just in case.) So without further ado, here we go!

First off, the equipment list.
_Source_
Alpine CDA-117 CD Player
Alpine PXA-H100 IMPRINT Processor
Alpine KTX-H100 Tuning Kit
Alpine KCE-400BT Bluetooth module

_Speakers_
Hertz HSK-165XL component set (front stage)
Kicker 12" Solo-Baric L7 (2001 model)

_Amplifiers_
JL Audio HD600/4
JL Audio HD750/1

_Extras_
Phoenix Gold Powercore (original 15 farad AlumaPro model)
Racingline Grounding Kit
2 boxes of Stinger Roadkill Expert
JL & Stinger HPM 4awg power/ground wire.
JL 12awg speaker wire.
JL Fuse Holder (hood)
Memphis Fuse Holders (amps)

*And now for some pictures!*

Here's some of the equipment

























































And my faithful sidekick.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

And here's a few shots of the car


























A shot of the speakers. I had originally purchased the HD Radio module for my Alpine but decided against it and returned it.









Power wire through the firewall









Ground wire is under the back seat.









Here's my hood work coming together. BTW, the grounding kit wires are the same colors as the power wire so it's a bit confusing at first.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Hood work ready









Power wire down the driver's side and heading for the trunk.

















Cables to be pulled from front to back. Speaker wire, remote turn on, AI-NET, and a few extra pieces of primary wire, just in case. 









Pulling the cables for the dash under the seat. I used the factory conuits that run under the seat. No chance of pinching the wires there when the power seat moves. Thanks for that Nissan. :laugh:

























Power / ground wires run and in the trunk


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Sound deadening time!

The beginnings of the sound deadening in the trunk


















Back doors.

































Front doors

























And here's that ugly fake carbon fiber crap that they use in the dash. I'm going to have to recover this...


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

More sound deadening in the trunk!

































I even did the back wall of the trunk.









Now on to the dash work!

Stock radio









Here's the plastic festival that Metra wants you to use to mount the radio. An ISO mount that attaches to the kit like an old school cage mount... Can't say I get this one. Needless to say, I ripped this out about 30 seconds after I took this picture.









This looks *HORRIBLE*. Shame on you Metra. Who'd want a radio that looks like this?









I remounted the radio in the factory ISO brackets and trashed everything but the Metra faceplace. Still ugly though. Look at how the lower piece is fake CF and doesn't match at all!









Fortunately, God created vinyl.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Now that the dash kit is ready, time for some wiring. Here's the harness and steering wheel radio controls interface

















And the radio all powered up and ready to go!









Now on to the sub box! I headed over to a friends' house to borrow his table saw. First off, the standard "trunk full of gear" shot. 









And now the box. A 1.5 cu ft sealed enclosure designed to let me keep my spare tire access and fire forward through the ski port in my back seat.

































The test fit!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

And now for the mounting of the sub! T-nuts and bolts were used to secure the Solo-Baric in place. Hopefully these won't back out as fast as wood screws and it should allow me to remove the woofer without damaging the box if I ever need to do so.

Test fit of the woofer









T-nuts, Speaker wire, sound deadening, and Dynaxorb squares









































Ready to go!









And a shot of what it looks like from the car. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to move up another inch so it's not perfect, but I'm cool with it.









The final box dimensions and airspace specs


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Now it's time for the amp rack!

Here's the first cut and the test fit

















Attaching the side pieces to the box that hold the amp rack in place. The amp rack is attached with 4 5" bolts and T-nuts. This allows me to remove the amp rack if I have to but it's still very strong. :laugh:

















Here's a shot from the back so you can see the t-nuts. Unfortunately I did get a little bowing when I anchored the t-nuts, but it should be fine.









And the test fit...









Now it's time to put the equipment down and drill some holes for wire.

















And now some carpet.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Now it's time to start getting the equipment mounted. The bolts that hold the amp rack on are under the amps. The amps are spaced off of the rack by 1/4" spacers. Not enough that you can tell once everything is in place, but it lets me hide the bolts and the amps don't touch carpet so heat shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully it will also cut down on the amount of vibration they receive from the box.









The PXA-H100's brain is stashed on the side of the box. It's easy enough to get to when I have to connect the mic/USB, but that's not very often at all so I'd rather hide it.










Starting to come together...

























All cleaned up and ready. The HD750/1 isn't here yet. Fortunately it's the same size as the HD600/1 so I was able to pull wire, mount the stand offs, etc.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Now it's time for the front doors. The factory size is 6x9, that just won't do! How about a nice Hertz HV 165XL driver in there? 

Passenger's side

















Driver's side

















And some tweeters. I'm not ecstatic about this tweeter mounting location, but it'll do for now. If I hate it i'm going to fabricate some pods to go here instead. The good part of this is that I didn't have to cut the actual door panel so worst case I can just replace these small finishing pieces and put the tweeters somewhere else!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

And now it's time for the Bluetooth module. They were back ordered when I started and I finally got tired of waiting so now I have to rip the dash apart and add the BT module in.

Alpine KCE-400BT









Thanks to Nissan for this nice plastic thing to mount my aftermarket accessors too. :laugh:









The good part of using a single DIN radio in a double DIN hole is that you have plenty of space to install your wires and keep things all nicely wrapped.









And here's where I stashed the Bluetooth mic. In the map light!









The stock BT mic is here. It's the square piece with the Blue/Yellow wires going to it.









I've relocated the stock mic over to the other side and place my Alpine mic in it's place. For these pictures I just put things in place and didn't secure it. After the test calls were made and my new mounting location was set, I removed the map light assembly again and secured everything with wraps, tape, etc.












The next part of the install to come up is the rear door speakers. I was originally going to re-use my old Diamond Audio HEX drivers but somebody offered me a good price for them so I sold them and decided to go new. Now I'm just making up my mind on what to get and then I'll install the new rear speakers. Here are the speaker rings. I have some cut for 5.5" mounting and 5 7/8" mounting so I should be ready for anything.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Here's what is left ... I'm sure I'm forgetting some things but I'm tired so this list will have to do for now. 


Rear speaker selection, purchase, and installation
JL HD750/1 purchase and installation. I'm already wired for this I just have to place the amp, drop in the fuse and connect the speaker/RCAs. I should be getting this amp this month so hopefully there will be more pictures available soon!
TUNING! Lots and lots of tuning!

More to come!


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

When you say grounding kit, do you mean big 3 or a true grounding kit. If so, did you see any mileage or performance changes after doing so? I had a guy on NICO that was doing a grounding kit for my Path and he stopped emailing me back.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Looks good. I'm a Nissan man, I have an 08 Altima and the Maxima will probably be my next car. Looking forward to the future upgrades.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Jroo said:


> When you say grounding kit, do you mean big 3 or a true grounding kit. If so, did you see any mileage or performance changes after doing so? I had a guy on NICO that was doing a grounding kit for my Path and he stopped emailing me back.


It's a real grounding kit from Racingline Performance up in Canada. 7 or 8 wires, I can't remember the exact count. Let's see, changes I've noticed. The windows are a little faster. The throttle response is slightly improved. I drive a lot in town so I can't say I've noticed a good increase in fuel mileage. I'm currently looking at about 0.75mpg if my calculations are right. Not sure if that's the climate change or the kit, but either way it's an increase so i'll take it. One of the supposed claims was shifting smoothness but I can't quite see how that applies to a CVT setup. I'd do it again though.



wdemetrius1 said:


> Looks good. I'm a Nissan man, I have an 08 Altima and the Maxima will probably be my next car. Looking forward to the future upgrades.


My ex girlfriend had an 08 Altima. Nice car. It's what got me started on Nissans. I liked her car so much I bought the Maxima. I have to be honest though, the Maxima is a nicer car, but the Altima is a lot more nimble so if you like that smaller, lighter feel, you probably won't like the Maxima very much. It's quite a sled sometimes, even in the "Sport" setup. Road trips in it rock though. Very comfortable.


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## bimmerman11 (Aug 27, 2009)

Very detailed work. Nice.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Time for another update!

I got my JL HD750/1 in and wired up tonight. Here's a few pictures of the amp...

























This one is my favorite for some reason









And the installation. I'll get a better shot of it all installed tomorrow once I clean the trunk up and vacuum in there.


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## Shelbrain (Mar 1, 2008)

Looks great...I think the Maximas are sexy looking


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## Vital (Feb 23, 2010)

Looking at all your "under the carpet" pics i realized how similar Altimas and Maximas are. If i didn't know im looking at Max's pics i'd be sure it's 2007+ Altima lol.
Nice job man.

Can u post a few more pics of RacingLine's grounding kit??
Especially interested to see how and where they are connected.
They use 4 gauge wire, right?

And damn good job man!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

bimmerman11 said:


> Very detailed work. Nice.





Shelbrain said:


> Looks great...I think the Maximas are sexy looking


Thanks for the compliments!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Vital said:


> Looking at all your "under the carpet" pics i realized how similar Altimas and Maximas are. If i didn't know im looking at Max's pics i'd be sure it's 2007+ Altima lol.
> Nice job man.


Yeah. It's especially scary when you see that the Racingline kit for the Maxima is the same as the V6 Altima. 



> Can u post a few more pics of RacingLine's grounding kit??
> Especially interested to see how and where they are connected.
> They use 4 gauge wire, right?


Go to their site and look it up. They have a PDF of the instruction manual which shows you close ups of everywhere on the engine they connect to. If you were trying to build your own kit, these instructions are good enough that you could replicate the kit. They even tell you what sizes the bolts are! 

Here's the link for the Altima kit. Download the manual for your engine model and check out the pictures. And yes, it's 4awg, 100% Pure OFC, 2058 strand count.
2007+ Nissan Altima Grounding kit - Racingline Performance

BTW, these guys have great tech support and I highly recommend buying from them to support a good vendor. I'm not sure you could build it much cheaper on your own considering the amount of terminals, heat shrink, and wire it takes to do this. (Not to mention the time to terminate everything properly) 

If you do this on your own, just make sure not to use CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) wiring. In this case resistance is the key to making the electrical system use your grounds, so you want to use good wire and ensure that you are indeed better than the factory. 



> And damn good job man!


Thanks!


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## cirodias (Dec 12, 2008)

Nice build!

Nice equips!

Congratz


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

cirodias said:


> Nice build!
> 
> Nice equips!
> 
> Congratz


Thanks! Although I'd kill to have some of the equipment in your sig.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

So today I broke out the CleanSweep CD and a Fluke meter and went to town on setting the gains. Props to JL for including proper output voltages in the manual. Everything is dialed in and volume levels are great. Now I just need to drop in the rear speakers and start setting up the H100 IMPRINT processor. I also think I'm going to build some custom pods for my tweeters and angle them in a little. I mounted them where they are because it was easy, the pieces I cut are cheap to replace, and it was worth a shot. Now I've gotten a taste and I want more. Those Hertz components are absolutely amazing. 

Speaking of more, I had to throw in some more sound deadening today. Once I got some juice on my Solo-Baric it made my map light assembly rattle so I added some sound deadening to the roof and secured my bluetooth mic in with a little foam so it wouldn't rattle. Problem solved. 

Here are a few pictures I snapped. Fortunately the map light hole is big enough to get some deadening material in. I even managed to get under the visors and such because there was enough gap to slide in the material. If I decide to do any more I'll have to drop the headliner.


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## cnut334 (Oct 17, 2009)

Nice system! Good work btw.


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## bmwproboi05 (May 3, 2009)

nice built i almost bought one


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

You've got some really nice gear going in a great car! 

Really diggin the shop mascot... Looking forward to 
your build


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

cnut334 said:


> Nice system! Good work btw.





bmwproboi05 said:


> nice built i almost bought one





FLYONWALL9 said:


> You've got some really nice gear going in a great car!
> 
> Really diggin the shop mascot... Looking forward to
> your build


Thank you. I appreciate the compliments. So does the shop mascot.  He's crashed out and snoring away in the recliner right now after an afternoon trip to the dog park and a bath. :laugh:


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

QUOTE:
My ex girlfriend had an 08 Altima. Nice car. It's what got me started on Nissans. I liked her car so much I bought the Maxima. I have to be honest though, the Maxima is a nicer car, but the Altima is a lot more nimble so if you like that smaller, lighter feel, you probably won't like the Maxima very much. It's quite a sled sometimes, even in the "Sport" setup. Road trips in it rock though. Very comfortable. 

Thanks for the heads up. I love how nimble and quick the Altima is, I think that I might test drive one to see how they differ.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

wdemetrius1 said:


> QUOTE:
> I have to be honest though, the Maxima is a nicer car, but the Altima is a lot more nimble so if you like that smaller, lighter feel, you probably won't like the Maxima very much. It's quite a sled sometimes, even in the "Sport" setup. Road trips in it rock though. Very comfortable. .



I gotta agree. HOWEVER, HOWEVER, they can be made to 
haul the mail! I cant for the life of me remember who made
it but a few years ago I saw one with a supercharger with
very modest boost. That thing was SICK! It was on a stock
motor, so you gotta know it wasn't much over or even up
to say 12-15lbs. Prolly more around 8 if I had to guess. It
also had a pretty nice set of wheels and coil overs. For the
most part the car was sleeper, all the eye candy wasn't 
all that blingish. BUT when ole dude stabbed it you could 
NOT mistake that anger under the hood. I owned to me 
the best Maxima made the 89se box style. I did a 300zx
turbo swap on it, now this was around 1992 or 3 when I
was in the AF. That thing would roll pretty good also for
'back in the day'

Also, the new Altima 2 door REALLY looks shap. I would 
love to have one!

Sorry Krunch, not meant to derail at all! I just like those
cars!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

FLYONWALL9 said:


> I gotta agree. HOWEVER, HOWEVER, they can be made to
> haul the mail! I cant for the life of me remember who made
> it but a few years ago I saw one with a supercharger with
> very modest boost. That thing was SICK! It was on a stock
> ...


I do love the Max and it's definitely a lot stronger on the launch than the 4 banger Altima is. My problem is that I went from an 05 Evo MR Edition to an 09 Maxima so my perception of nimble is a little skewed. I went from 70+ mph turns and 150+ mph top ends to ... a Maxima.  I had a friend with a 98 (or somewhere around there) Maxima. Total sleeper, super charged and a slew of other bolt on mods. Zero exterior mods except for some wheels and some coil overs. That car was lots of fun to drive. It wasn't a beast but it would totally tear up the neighborhood ricer crew. :laugh: 

As much as I toyed around with the idea of it, I won't be putting any major performance modifications on this Maxima. It's my "daily driver" and I need it to last a long time. That's also the reason it has 1 12 in the trunk and not 4. :lol: I'm saving the speed mods for the project car that I'm thinking about doing next summer. I think I need a 350z with a small 5 channel amp, some nice speakers, a single 10", and a BIG HONKING SUPER CHARGER. :evil3:


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## cowboyfan22 (Oct 31, 2010)

Great work. I just bought an 09 maxima myself and Im having a tough time getting the amp power wire through the firewall. I tried to sneak it through a rubber grommet behind the e-brake but couldnt find the wire under the hood. Any tips?
Thanks


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## Afronaut (Apr 27, 2010)

Great choice of equip & a really sweet car...


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

cowboyfan22 said:


> Great work. I just bought an 09 maxima myself and Im having a tough time getting the amp power wire through the firewall. I tried to sneak it through a rubber grommet behind the e-brake but couldnt find the wire under the hood. Any tips?
> Thanks


Here's the thread I used for power wire running.
Infinity Basslink II Self Powered Sub Installation - Maxima Forums

I went in from under the hood. I pulled the airbox out and the grommet is behind the drivers side strut tower. There's plenty of room on the left side to get a 4 awg in there but it's DIFFICULT. That grommet is thick. I reached in and cut it on the left side with a box knife (careful not to cut your factory wires). Even though the knife won't cut all the way through the grommet, the cut will allow you to get the wire into the grommet. I then used a coat hanger, taped the wire to it, pushed the coat hanger through and grabbed it from the inside with a pair of pliers and pulled it the rest of the way. Not the most elegant way but it did the job. 



Afronaut said:


> Great choice of equip & a really sweet car...


Thanks! I'm loving it so far, and I really do love the car. Although I'm thinking my front stage needs another midrange.


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## cowboyfan22 (Oct 31, 2010)

Thanks for the feedback. Thats the grommet I was trying to get it through but was having a hard time with it. Gonna take a crack at it again this weeked. Thanks a million!


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## internationlriders (Nov 7, 2009)

Nice work from one Nissan fan to another! Maxima's are so roomy inside, I think more roomy than almost any other mid-size car out there.


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## Heath (May 3, 2009)

Very Nice. Great detail.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

cowboyfan22 said:


> Thanks for the feedback. Thats the grommet I was trying to get it through but was having a hard time with it. Gonna take a crack at it again this weeked. Thanks a million!


Yeah man, it's a rough one. I did it from the engine compartment side because I couldn't quite find the right entry point from inside of the car. That and it was easier to work in the engine compartment instead of trying to shove myself under the dash.

Good luck though. The rest of the car is *easy* to run wires in. About the only problem is the speaker wire through the door gaskets, but it's manageable with a cheap wooden chopstick and some tape. 



internationlriders said:


> Nice work from one Nissan fan to another! Maxima's are so roomy inside, I think more roomy than almost any other mid-size car out there.





Heath said:


> Very Nice. Great detail.


Thanks guys!


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## BlueAc (May 19, 2007)

Everything looks good man... what's your take on the XL's???


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

BlueAc said:


> Everything looks good man... what's your take on the XL's???


They're absolutely amazing. I'm more than impressed and would highly recommend them. They definitely love power but the output levels are great, the tweeter is smooth, and the midbass is crazy. Off-axis tweeter response leaves a little bit to be desired, but that's well noted on the review sites and in the manual. A little fiberglass and I'll fix that problem. 

I'm strongly considering a second set of them up front in kick panels. I mean after all, I've got that extra set of channels on my HD600/4 just doing nothing right now.


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## BlueAc (May 19, 2007)

ekrunch said:


> They're absolutely amazing. I'm more than impressed and would highly recommend them. They definitely love power but the output levels are great, the tweeter is smooth, and the midbass is crazy. Off-axis tweeter response leaves a little bit to be desired, but that's well noted on the review sites and in the manual. A little fiberglass and I'll fix that problem.
> 
> I'm strongly considering a second set of them up front in kick panels. I mean after all, I've got that extra set of channels on my HD600/4 just doing nothing right now.


That's good the hear... I just picked up a set and can't wait to get them in. I will be powering them with a JL HD 900/5, I think I'm gonna bridge the front and rear channels to give them 150x2. Eventually I'd like to add a 600/4 to run my system active, but that's way down the line.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Well guys, looks like some things never change. I just get things settled in and I decide to change things around! I thought this time was going to be different, but I guess I'll always be a car audio nut who can't pass up a deal!

I got a smokin' deal on a PXA-H701 processor and an even better deal on an IXA-W407 double DIN head unit and a DHA-S690 DVD changer.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

If anybody is interested in my CDA-117, PXA-H100, KCE-400BT, etc. They're up for sale in the classifieds forums.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Here's the latest update.

- The PXA-H100 has been swapped for a PXA-H701/RUX-C701 combination. Couldn't pass up the deal!
- The CDA-117/KCE-400BT has been swapped for an IXA-W407. I got an AMAZING deal from my local car audio shop so I definitely had to jump on it. (Thanks again to Tito and Ray over at Ray's Audio)
- The dash kit had to be changed so I've decided to cover the new kit using vinyl cloth instead of stick on vinyl.
- I was out of room in the dash for the RUX-C701 so I had to fabricate a custom holder for it.

And so begins the next chapter in the quest...

Here's the frame that will hold the RUX-C701. I'm testing the width using a thin piece of birch and the back part of the flush mount kit.









Here's the lower dash piece. I had to cut it but it should be relatively easy to replace when it's time to sell the car.









The frame is coming together

















Now a little fabric to put the fiberglass resin on









My best friend House did all of the glass work. This was the first time either of us ever worked with fiberglass so it's been a learning experience!

















And here's the piece after the first layer of glass is on it


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Now on to the good part, the new head unit! It's an Alpine IXA-W407 with Bluetooth. I've also got a DHA-S690 DVD changer that's going in here as well.

Here it is, all mounted up and working. It was switched off when I did this photo, I'll get some action shots later.









And here I am, doing a little sanding on that first coat of fiberglass.









The test fit! This plate will hold my RUX-C701 controller so that I can watch the spectrum analyser. :laugh:









This is after it's been sanded and had a few of the edges trimmed. The mounting holes are straight now and the flush mount kit fits properly.

















Fiberglass coat #2 has been applied.









My friend House after his first fiberglass job.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Looks Great. Keep up the good work!!!


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

House looks like he passed his first Fiberglass test.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, the finished product! Well, as finished as a car audio system really ever gets. 

So here's the lead up to the install. More fiberglass, grinding, and then test fitting. Here's me going to work with the dremel and sand paper.

























Success! It fits. Time to wrap it.

























Here's House finishing up the wrap









Now it's time to trim it.









Trimmed and ready.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Done!









Now to install it.









Of course I dropped a screw...









Mounted and ready









Done!









And here's a few shots of it in action. The last time I installed a DVD player in a car, it was around 2001. The Fast and the Furious had just come out and I had the DVD in the car so it was what I decided to use again. Have to keep with tradition.


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## Vital (Feb 23, 2010)

How did u match your modded piece to oem interior so nice??? Not talking about color since that's obvious, talking about texture. it's not 100% oem but not "flat" either. Def great work!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Vital said:


> How did u match your modded piece to oem interior so nice??? Not talking about color since that's obvious, talking about texture. it's not 100% oem but not "flat" either. Def great work!


I got really lucky! Made a trip down to JoAnn fabrics and found that stuff. It worked out really well considering that I was just a random walk in customer!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

wdemetrius1 said:


> Looks Great. Keep up the good work!!!





wdemetrius1 said:


> House looks like he passed his first Fiberglass test.


Thank you, I'll pass the word on. House definitely had a good time doing the fiberglass work!


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

No problem. Looks great again.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

And now for the next installment in this build... Tweeter pods! I decided to go for the gusto and build some tweeter pods to more properly angle my tweeters into place. My best friend House is in town for a few more days so I figured I'd put him to work! We started wrapping and fiberglassing last night and installed them this afternoon. Here's the build.

First off, we used the angled mounting cups that Hertz provided. They were the perfect angle for my car excecpt they were too deep. A little work with the dremel and that's fixed.

























After I was done with that, House wrapped the existing panels with cloth to do the fiberglass work.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

After that was done, I built some blanks to insert into the tweeter holes. This will keep the fabric tight while we fiberglass.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Now it's time to apply the fiberglass. House broke out a fresh pair of gloves, new mixing cup, etc and away we went!

































This morning it was my turn. Time to sand and test fit


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

After that they were wrapped in the same vinyl I used for the radio setup and installed into the Maxima

































And we're done! One thing to note, the drivers side on the Maxima has a much smaller area by the a-pillar. Once you're in the car, you'll barely notice that the panels are a different size. The tweeters still maintain the proper angle and such, it's really more of an optical illusion due to the taller door panel on the drivers side. If anybody is attempting this, make sure you account for that!


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

I managed to borrow a heated garage so I decided to do the last of my sound deadening. I saved the floor boards for last as I wanted to do the trunk and doors first and use whatever I had left for the floorboards. Fortually it worked out. I had just enough to do the floorboards and back seats.









































After all of that was done, it was time to install the DHA-S690 DVD changer and properly mount the brain of the PXA-H701.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Here's the current status of the trunk. The wiring is done but I need to clean it up and properly hide it. The power/ground for the processor need to be run behind the amp rack as well.

























Tomorrow's project is to straighten the wires and then finally call the trunk "done". I'm also going to bi-amp the front stage and ditch the Hertz passive crossovers in favor of the active crossover in my PXA-H701. This will also give me 600 watts RMS going to my front doors. Should be pretty awesome.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

More work today! I think I'm finally done with the installation, at least until the winter is over.

To start off the festivities today, I had a dead battery. My stock battery was a little low on water and of course it didn't hold a charge so a little testing of the system today killed the battery. Oh well, it seems fine now after a refill on water and a good run on the charger. I'm going to take it and have it tested tomorrow and possibly replace it.









The next objective was to remove the passive crossovers. Now I've got the full 600 watts of my HD600/4 feeding my Hertz HSK-165XL component set. 

















And now for some tie wraps to clean this mess up. I'm buttoning everything up now so I want it to all be showable if the need arises.

















Pulling those last few wires so I can neaten up the trunk!

















House was kind enough to clean up my nasty tape job. :laugh:


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Alpine's AI-Net needs an update in a bad way. In the old days it was one cable to hook up an AI-Net changer. Those days are certainly over! The only wire I didn't have to hook up for my DVD changer was the ignition wire. What a joke.









Neatening up these trunk wires. Lots of tie wraps and loom!

















I used the screw down tie wraps to hold the wire in place behind the changer. Then I loomed it so even if you look back there, it's neat and orderly. OCD really pays off sometimes.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

And here are some parting shots for this installation.









































This concludes the visual part of the program for now. I hope everyone has enjoyed the build. Maybe after winter I'll change it up a little, but I can't really think of anything I would want to do right now!

Now I get to spend the next week or two setting everything up properly. Sounds great so far but as every good audio enthusiast knows, there's always room for improvement.


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## Blancolex300 (Dec 9, 2009)

Great job man. How's it sound so far? Did you get the fine tuning done with the processor yet?


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## Vital (Feb 23, 2010)

Please dont take it the wrong way.

After all the hard work (and $$$ lol) u've put in this build IMHO you should also work a bit more on the trunk's amp rack. As of right now it looks ok BUT if you build an amprack of some kind or even just place plexiglass in front of your current rack/gear i think i'll be on a different level.
You have a lots of nice eqipment and lots of work done, going that extra step in the trunk is pretty much a must at this point.
Again, don't take it the wrong way. I'm not talking about making your trunk a "show trunk" but simple stuff to protect your gear (plexi) and make it look even better then it does now (leds) will really set it off 

IMHO


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Blancolex300 said:


> Great job man. How's it sound so far? Did you get the fine tuning done with the processor yet?


Not hardly. I'm still working on the ins and outs of setup. Crossovers are all set, gains are set, etc. No EQ yet. Right now it sounds really good IMHO, even with a flat EQ curve. It's got a few harsh points but I'm sure I can EQ those down as needed. My only problem right now is that if I play a DVD through the changer and it doesn't have the LFE encoding present, I get no subwoofer! All of those video DVDs that come with some audio CDs are basically useless to me because I get no sub. If I play an Audio CD or 5.1 DVD then I get subwoofer output as expected. It's got to be some setting I missed in the DVD changer menus. I'll have to break out all of the manuals again. 

I'm also talking to Matt R about doing his famous mods on my H701 so I might wait until that's done before I start really tuning it up. Seems pointless to tune if I'm going to modify the processor in a way that affects the output quality.


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## ekrunch (Oct 2, 2010)

Vital said:


> Please dont take it the wrong way.
> 
> After all the hard work (and $$$ lol) u've put in this build IMHO you should also work a bit more on the trunk's amp rack. As of right now it looks ok BUT if you build an amprack of some kind or even just place plexiglass in front of your current rack/gear i think i'll be on a different level.
> You have a lots of nice eqipment and lots of work done, going that extra step in the trunk is pretty much a must at this point.
> ...


I didn't take it wrong at all. I appreciate the constructive criticism without insulting what I've done, regardless of how much it needs to be insulted. :laugh: But you're absolutely right, the trunk is "just okay" when compared to everything else.

When I started this project I was going for simple, and I accomplished it. Standard dash kit with a little vinyl to make it look more uniform. Standard trunk setup with box + amp rack and carpet that mostly matches, etc. Simple. Then the PXA-H100 was replaced with the PXA-H701, then I got a smokin' deal on the IXA-W407. Then my friend House came into town for a few weeks and said "Hey Ed, let's fiberglass those tweeter pods and rebuild your dash". 

So now, looking at what's been done, I'm already planning a rebuild of the trunk.  I've got some feelers out and I'll be meeting up with a fiberglass guy out of Indiana soon. I'm feeling like the inside of the car is all done but the trunk needs some serious love. Nothing too crazy and I do have to keep the spare, but I definitely think a nicer trunk build is in order.


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

I'm looking forward to the updates in the build. I enjoyed everything so far.


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## Petter (Jul 5, 2010)

Nice install. 

I have the w407 myself but I have a hard time deciding on getting the bitone or a H701 with it. As of now I'm running Focal polyglass coax both front and rear but as I'm planning on going fully active front 3-way but keep coax rear I wonder how you solved that with the H701?
Can you still fade between front and rear groups?
How much of the 701 can you control from the W407 A.Processor menu?
Do you use the optical from the s690 to the 701 or are you using line or ainet?
How have you set up the ai-net system?


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

Have you started on the trunk yet?


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## 3cyltrbo (Apr 11, 2011)

old thread, but..........................aren't 12" solobarics recommended for only .88 cu-ft sealed???

W


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## wannabesq (Apr 13, 2011)

What did you need 4 12 disc changers for? Did you hate changing magazines or something? I'm guessing that was in the pre iPod days? 

Love the build.


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## aporozco (Apr 6, 2011)

nice build, nice car. I love Nissan's. 

What program did you use to determine you box volume?


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## solidcrowd (Jun 9, 2011)

nice, keep up the good work


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## cnut334 (Oct 17, 2009)

I enjoyed the detailed writeup and build. How are you liking the Hertz?


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## Xandr (Jan 17, 2011)

took a closer look to your tweeters in post #57, and it seems to me that tweeter's direction is to low, and tweeters are directed somewhere between lower part of front seat back, maybe I'm wrong. I think it could be better if they were directed for example between headrests, or maybe direct them right in the earth of the listener.
What do you say?


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## Alejandro (Dec 2, 2010)

Hate to try and revive an old thread, but I just recently purchased a 2012 Special Edition Maxima and am looking to drastically improve the sound system... My question to you is, how did you go about mounting those 6.5's? I was so let down to find out that my car had those wretched 6x9's in the fronts and in order to stay in compliance with my 100,000 mile warranty- wanted to make this as stealth as humanly possible. Did you use the stock mounting brackets or did you fabricate it in a manner to accommodate the 6.5? Thanks for the help!


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## mmoo1630 (Apr 17, 2015)

Hello, my name is miguel and i have a 2014 nissan maxima but my a/c is different as your, i can get the same ac controler but by any change do you know where can i get the harness for the climate control?, please let me know,
Thanks.


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## MrGreen83 (Jun 11, 2015)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## AVICJR (Dec 24, 2007)

Very nice Mr. Green! My sail panel tweeter pods look very similar to yours.


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