# 96 Accord Infinite Baffe install



## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Hello all

This would be my first major install. I debated posting, but I continued with the hopes that it might help someone else, like many of the installs I read through here that helped me out tremendously. So, the equipment:

Alpine MRV-T420 amp
Knukonceptz 4 gauge wiring kit
PAC SNI-35 LOC
Fi IB3 15" infinite baffle sub
Alpine MRX-M50 amp


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

The Car


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Okay, had to figure out how to post pics :laugh:

So the night before I crimped the power wire and ground wire connections. Here's the power wire crimped. I used a big vice and just went around a bunch of times. The connections are very tight (that's what she said:laugh and aren't going anywhere









So here is the wire and LOC to be installed









I cleaned off the battery terminals with baking soda and a wire brush









the rubber grommet in the firewall where I'll put the power wire through









Removed the front seats to mount the amp and distribution block later









Removed the HU and Glove Box to access my wiring. I have an Alpine power pack that was power the speakers. I put it in the glove box for convenience









View of the glove box









LOC to be wired


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Okay so 10 pics per post? This is gonna take a while :/


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

I poked a screw driver through the rubber grommet on the driver's side under the steering wheel.









View of the screw driver on the engine compartment side









I flipped the screw driver around and taped the power wire onto it









Power wire pulled through









Power wire connected to the battery terminal and split loom applied









I ran the power wire along the back (cabin side) of the engine compartment









Power wire run along the driver side under the carpet









I mounted the distribution block under the drivers seat and used the carpet openings for the power seat wire to run the power wire through









Power wire run to the trunk. Removed the back seat and back rest. the folding seat is connected by two bolts, one on each side. The seat is connected in the front by two curved metal hinges that slide out. To remove, lift up the back (trunk side) and it will slide right out.









Distribution block and all connections made


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Removed the door panels to get to the speakers. They're held on by two screws, one at the door handle, and one in the plastic cup (where you pull the door closed) Then just pry off.









Here's where the build got most difficult.. Running the speaker wire through the door. Instead of just a normal pass-through, my accord has a 3 inch drop to the door.. Just made things more fun 









On the passenger side, the plastic housing where the wire enters the door is only half occupied, so I figured I would put the wire through here... Somehow lol









I decided to come back to the door problem later. The only way to do it was to remove the door :worried: So the project just got a lot more involved. But I liked the challenge. I moved to grounding the speaker amp. I drilled a hole through the metal and removed the paint with a screw driver









The driver side was more difficult because the plastic housing was completely filled









So, with my brother's help I removed the door. Thank GOD he was home this particular weekend. Lucky considering he is only home like 20 days out of the year  To remove the door I hammered out the pin (image above) and my brother then removed the four bolts on the door side while I held the door









I drilled a hole in the plastic housing on the passenger side for the wire. The hole is big because the wire is 12 gauge. I know this is waaaay overkill, but the amp kit came with it, so why buy more wire when i could just use what I had?


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

I removed this plastic arm that connected the glove box to see the opening to the plastic grommet connecting the door









Here I took a hanger, cut it and formed it into two long sections with a small hook on one end of each. I ran one up the rubber grommet, then used the other side to hook onto the first part and pull it into the cabin to connect the speaker wire to pull back through the grommet. Took a while to wrestle with it, but it worked

























Ran the speaker wire under the carpet to underneath the passenger seat, same as the power wire, but other side









On the driver side, I filed away the top corner to fit the wire. The wire still fit into the rubber grommet opening so not such a terrible idea :blush:









Here is the driver side door speaker wire into the cabin









I ran the driver side speaker wire behind the HU and under the carpet


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Here I ran out of twist on connecters, so I used crimp style connecters.. I should've soldered them but I didn't know how at this point in the build. Didn't even know my dad had a solder gun!









here are the RCA's to be installed. One to the HU, and the other to the LOC









put on spade terminals to the end of the speaker wires. Again, crimped using pliers. All the terminals (ring and spade) that came with the kit had a split down the middle which allowed me to bend one side down, then push it as far as I could towards the other side, then bend over the other side so they overlapped









I put the powerpack and LOC in the glove box. The wires are run through an opening in the side towards the HU. I filed the opening out to accommodate all the wires.









The wire is run here into the HU area









Connections made to the speaker amp. Excuse the turn on lead since they were too small to fit any terminals I had. I used the built in turn on lead wires of the RCA cable









My brother :laugh: My best friend for life









Reinstalled the glove box, HU, and center console









And so ends the first part of the install. It took me a day and a half, but it was worth it. I'll post the trunk part later. That's where I had the most fun. After talking with my cousin just now, I've discovered this hobby is my heroin. The creativity and hands on-ness is just so much fun! Don't mean to sound like a little girl, but I get giddy thinking about stuff I can do next.. teehee


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Okay so next I moved on to putting in the Fi IB sub in with the amp. First I removed the back seat and trunk liner. Here's a bunch of photos of what the trunk bed looks like with all its contours. The liner is held in place by 4 retaining clips and one plastic screw-thing . The plastic wings are held in place by two more plastic clips.

































And just when I needed a boost to the day, the subwoofer arrived! I shall omit the picture of myself in an excited pose since it makes me like a clown :laugh:









So I began making a template out of cardboard. I used 3 pieces to make the middle, the wings, and the bottom curve


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

I then traced the cardboard onto the wood. I decided to go with a triple 1/2 in baffle. Best bang for the money.









I don't have any fancy woodworking stuff sooo I used two big packs of water as my wood-working table









First cutout 









I scraped the paint off of the areas where I put the 4 L braces









here I used JB weld to cold weld the L braces on

















And here's where I came back the following morning to find that I could pry it off. I didn't wait the full 24 hours to let it cure, so I payed the price









I went ahead and continued to fit the baffle without the two









Next go around with the braces, I used duck tape to keep the braces from sliding around while the epoxy cured


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## adamand (Apr 19, 2009)

Nice work so far, keep it up! 

Sub'd.


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

adamand said:


> Nice work so far, keep it up!
> 
> Sub'd.


Thanks adamand!


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

alrighty, here i finished the 3 baffles, each I tried to cut them to fit the contours of the trunk









Later that night I finally finished the cutout. I ended up cutting in my driveway after dark :laugh:. Worst part was I broke my wood jig saw blade with a quarter circle left . So I said screw it and used the metal one lol.









Glued and screwed together the baffle, using a bunch of mismatching clamps









Here I got a bit ambitious. Since the top of the baffle would rest against a rather flat piece of metal, I decided to try and put some screws through the metal and try and "pull" the wood towards the cabin. The worst that would happen is nothing... Every project has at least one bad idea :laugh:









Cut the trunk liner to accommodate the baffle and try and keep the stock look









Good thing my brother is in fashion, he helped me out with carpeting the baffle. he let me borrow his all purpose cement and told me what to do. I got the carpet at walmart. Isn't a perfect match, but works well enough.


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## perfecxionx (Sep 4, 2009)

whats the plan for front stage and processing


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

perfecxionx said:


> whats the plan for front stage and processing


At this point it will be left as is. I don't wanna do much more with the front since the car isn't officially in my name. So when I get *MY* car I'll go into processing and the whole works. I still have to do *a lot* of learning and researching in that department. That's all uncharted water for me . But I'm running an Alpine CDE 121 HU, and type S components.

I'm from Indianapolis btw! My cousin in visiting currently.


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Here I finished the carpet and shaved it down (hehehe :wiseguy









I went ahead and added weather stripping to baffle for additional sealing

















alpine amp









I lucked out and had just enough room to mount it on the trunk side of the baffle. I ended up remounting it more towards the sub because I ran into wiring issues.









I saw a couple of threads on here that showed the total weight of their setup, so I went ahead and weighed the sub and 1.5" thick baffle. The sub, according to UPS, weighed ~30 lbs, so altogether:









here is the amp remounted towards the sub and the baffle finally mounted into the car. I dropped in the sub and dotted holes with a sharpie, I then drilled the holes and dropped in some nails so I wouldn't lose the holes with the carpet on. It was the "light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel" moment :laugh4:


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

Looks good. Is it functional right now or are you taking pictures as you go? That Fi subs weighs a lot, nearly as much as two of mine. I'm interested in your review.


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

BuickGN said:


> Looks good. Is it functional right now or are you taking pictures as you go? That Fi subs weighs a lot, nearly as much as two of mine. I'm interested in your review.


Yup, I took all these pics last week when I did it, I'm just now getting to posting it all. My tuning ability is pretty limited since I'm not into processing yet, and my HU is about as basic as it gets lol. And to honest, I'm not sure how valid my review would be. I've only heard one other setup in my brothers car. He had 2 JL 10w0's in a ported box. This was nearly 4 years ago so I don't even remember what they sounded like . This is the first setup I've had lol, so I don't really have anything as a baseline to compare to. I decided to jump right to what the sq guys had, make it unique from my friends who buy a box and call it a day. I actually used your setup as a reference :blush: with a few other guys. My dad has an '04 tl so I'm trying to push for his to get upgraded


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

I had to employ my pops to help me drill in the screws for the sub. I laid in the trunk and held the sub up while he used the nails as a guide and put in the screws. As he drilled, I would pull out the nails. I would feel the nail twisting and it would be a confirmation that he was in the right spot. I then wired it up and tested it. First go round, nothing because in my excitement I forgot to ground the amp :bucktooth:... dummy









Last thing I did before I shut down for the night. Great foamed all around. On the trunk side, I did the wings. From the driver side, I did the top, bottom and sides. 









Following morning, I had to snap a pic of my "working area" lol. There was crap everywhere :laugh:









For my own personal satisfaction, I shaved down the foam a bit to at least have a flat-ish appearance


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

AND finally what it looked like when I put things back together in the car









I might as well throw this in there. i think this is the vent some of you IB guys talk about in the trunk. If I had two of these subs, I figure I would try and do something with it, expand it or something, but since not I just thought I'd show it for anyone else with a similar car.









Also I decided to use some scrap wood blocks, carpet them, and mount the speaker amp on them to allow for some additional air flow. I used heavy duty velcro to attach the blocks to the carpet. It's pretty darn secure









And then the final trunk and cabin view


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

and that's that. Thanks for browsing through. Now I can't wait until the next step. BUT I need my money tree to grow some more before I do ANYTHING lol. Just want to thank this forum and the folks on it for helping me and being an inspiration to actually get up and *DO IT*


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## damonryoung (Mar 23, 2012)

Now, how does it sound??


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

DRTHJTA said:


> Now, how does it sound??


Bear with me, since I don't have much to go on. But to me, It sounds great. The bass is crisp, not too boomy. It hits pretty hard, at moderate levels the cone is barely moving. When I have it up to higher levels, it gets to moving especially on some of the deeper bass rap songs, but for the house and dubstep music, it moves maybe a half inch each way. My cousin has more experience with car audio. He installed for a while in the past, and just took a ride with me in it. He said for a small car is sounds good. I think he might have been trying to be nice and not tell me straight that it isn't nearly as loud as his, he has 2 15s ported, but he gave it a good review. He said that it could be tuned more, but in that regard, I am very limited with my HU and have no processor. I was very uneducated when I bought the HU last year.

Sorry for the sketchy review. Wish I could explain more


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Kangaroo said:


> Okay so 10 pics per post? This is gonna take a while :/


The more pics ....the better.


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Kangaroo said:


> I think he might have been trying to be nice and not tell me straight that it isn't nearly as loud as his, he has 2 15s ported, but he gave it a good review.
> Sorry for the sketchy review. Wish I could explain more



Well if he's a boomer than take what he says with a grain of salt. It isn't all about _*LOUD*_.

Did you ever think about moving the amp off of the baffle board?

I know it might be solid but that not a good place for an amp.

It looks like you have space in front of the baffle on the trunk floor.


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## for2nato (Apr 3, 2012)

It looks nice. But I guarantee your losing some by having those passive radiators in the rear deck. At least that's what they become when that sub gets low. 



Sent from your moms bedroom using TapaTalk Pro


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Not too bad. Especially for not having all the proper tools.

Some suggestions for next time:

1) Twist on connectors are typically designed for solid core home wire. Invest in some decent wire crimpers. Kleins (at Home Depot), Channellock (Lowes) or even Harbor Freight have some for cheap...I think mine were like $23. I install for a living and these have held up well. The HF ones I think were like $10. HD also now has some neat looking Dewalt ones I haven't tried yet.

2) For your main power leads (especially under the hood) I'd recommend soldering them. HF has a cheapo little butane torch for under $10 on sale that works great. I use mine frequently.

Don't worry about what someone else says about it. All that matters is if you are happy with it.

Are you running the powerpack AND a 4 channel?

Jay


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

All things considered, I think you did a great job installing the baffle.


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## John Reid (Jun 6, 2008)

Yup, you need to ditch those rear deck speakers... to get as much out of an IB install as possible, you need to make the ENTIRE trunk essentially a tightly sealed box.

I ran an IB setup for 15 years hard daily in my old '93 Civic sedan .. 4 10"s w/ 250 watts to each sub... and it made the steering wheel flex while being a very good player when it came to SQ.










But I spent a lot of time going nuts with spay foam, closed cell foam, deadening, etc.

Put a little more time into sealing *any* hole that you can think of in the trunk to completely seperate it from the cabin of the car, and I bet you'll feel more output.


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

GlasSman said:


> Well if he's a boomer than take what he says with a grain of salt. It isn't all about _*LOUD*_.
> 
> Did you ever think about moving the amp off of the baffle board?
> 
> ...


Besides possible heating problems what else would be the benefits of moving the amp? I placed it there for a bit of show-i-ness


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

for2nato said:


> It looks nice. But I guarantee your losing some by having those passive radiators in the rear deck. At least that's what they become when that sub gets low.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from your moms bedroom using TapaTalk Pro


I agree 100% that those speakers are another weak spot in the setup :/. I'm not quite ready to ditch them. By the end of the summer I might, but I just started up my new job (gotta make that money) and it's taking all my time. A couple ideas I've been thinking about are doubling up on speakers in the front door, maybe putting a pair in the rear door. I've heard talk about 3 way active setups, and they sound pretty cool, so I might look into that to find out what they are and the steps I would need to take to do it, but again, that gets into processing and fully going active (forgive any ignorance in the statement).


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

JayinMI said:


> Not too bad. Especially for not having all the proper tools.
> 
> Some suggestions for next time:
> 
> ...


Thank you for the suggestions Jay  will definitely remember that for the next touch-up/install. The powerpack is running to the rear speakers, and the one under the seat is a 2 channel for the front speakers/tweeters


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

Chaos said:


> All things considered, I think you did a great job installing the baffle.


Thanks! :nice:


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## Kangaroo (May 11, 2012)

John Reid said:


> Yup, you need to ditch those rear deck speakers... to get as much out of an IB install as possible, you need to make the ENTIRE trunk essentially a tightly sealed box.
> 
> I ran an IB setup for 15 years hard daily in my old '93 Civic sedan .. 4 10"s w/ 250 watts to each sub... and it made the steering wheel flex while being a very good player when it came to SQ.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply. I've got to pull off the rear deck covering and really get in there. Those speakers are definitely on death row, but when to, erhem, :rifle: , remove them has yet to be determined lol.


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