[16psibrick]

after ths how car, i got a dramatic change in installation style with a very basic system set up for a 2003 yukon denali.

so i guess perhaps i will use this opportunity to show how i run wires and other stuff even on the very basic installs, things that i see a lot of installers and people do wrong, things that can easily be fixed with time and paitience.

first , the battery, remember alwasy to loom every inch of the power cable in the engine bay, and to securely fasten the fuse holder



an AvicZ1 was installed into the dash, this was acutrally very challenging, since the on star module, door chime module, and steering wheel control module were all stuffed back there, along wtih wires for the xm live traffic module...took a lot of effort but finally got it in

the Ed bass control module was installed into the little storage bin, with gps antennas on the dash and voice mic on the A pillar










in the front doors went a set of DLS ultimate UP6 comp set and in the rear door a set of JL TR coaxials





and here is the amp rack under the seat. one of my biggest peeves is loose and stray wiring. i have seen countless installs, whether they are done by a shop or a DIYer, where everyhting is installed fine, but the wires are all over hte place.

I say take your time, cut wires to lengths, use plenty of zipties and cable tie downs so everything is neat and tidy and not everywhere, not only is it more pleasing to the eye, its also less likely to case a short or cut a wire

this rack has a lot of gear and a ton of wires, nine1, nine2x, xm module, and two crossovesr for the front stage






and finally the sub box, this is what i call "wouldnt you rather have this than a simple pre-fab square box?" kind of install

ust a simple carpted box with black trimming and cut out to match the curves...anyone with a jig saw can do




anyway, overall, sounds pretty decent

[Mandos]

I post first, I post first.

[Curry]

very nice install, everything is so... clean!

[soundoff]

what kind of drivers are those...kv2's or ov2's?

[Miles]

clean as always.

[notacop]

Is the contoured piece is an additional coverboard on top of a simple rectangle box, right? or is it part of of the baffle itself.

[16psibrick]

13ov2s

its just a normal box in there, front covered in suede, the top and front contoured things are just cover pieces covered in carpet

b

[Sublime ZTS]

Looks good. I, too, like clean and neat cabling. I am obsessive about it though and often cover everything in PET sleeving;.

[Spyder Z 15]

What do you do about RCA cables that are to long?

[black300zx]

Originally Posted by Spyder Z 15

What do you do about RCA cables that are to long?

in this install, tye them up neatly. In a higher end install, make custom rca's.

[alienmeatsack]

I am definately your nitemare 'installer'. I am the subpar avg joe who really does want things to be all neat and tidy, BUT just doesn't have the patience to do so.

I did really try to be more tidy with this last install in my car but honestly I am not a tidy person. My house is also reflects this. So please don't look at any pics of my car that I may have posted for your own sanity.

What is 'looming the power cable? What does it do? Why is it important?

I didn't do that with mine, since i had no idea what it was. Hell, this was the first time EVER that I even ran power to the battery and used a decent guage wire! Previously I had used 12+ guage and usually ran it off the fuse box. Don't laugh, I never had 2+ amps or nicer stuff before and always used the HU's amp to run the speakers which ran off stock wiring in the doors etc. And my previous sub amps were always small in power and worked perfectly fine off the 12v off the car itself. I know, laugh point fingers, thats fine, but I didn't know any better and like I said it all sounded fine to me.

WHen I finish up my trunk I plan on trying to make it neater and ziptied etc. Honestly I do.

But I dont see that stuff in the door panel. Or under the dash. Or in the trunk. All I do is hear the sound it makes. And isnt that what is important for a sub avg joe?

[16psibrick]

looming the power cable helps it reject heat int he engine bay, i have seen quite a few systems shorted out beucae melted power cable came into contact with something metal.

as for neatness, i am NOT a neat person normally, hehe my wife cleans up after me all the time and complains

but when it comes to cabling, other than good looking, it helps a lot.

imagine trying to diagnose a problem with one of the cables, you can search through wire after wire until you find it, or, if you bundle say speaker wire with sepaker wire, power with power, rca with rca, its easy to find the wire. also stray wires makes i tmuch easier to catch a foot, object or any random thing on, tearing it out of the terminal.

been there, done that on all this stuff hehe

b

[alienmeatsack]

the looming thing makes sense. maybe I should investigate it. dont want to frell up my system due to some stupid wire stuff happening under there.

[black300zx]

the loom also helps protect from a short between the fuse and battery. If for some reason the power wire shorts out between the battery and the fuse holder, it has nothing to protect it. Electrical fires are bad. That section of wire between the battery and fuse needs as much protection as it can get. keeping it away from sharp and/or hot objects is a good start. Wrapping it in loom is just another step to keep it protected.

[alienmeatsack]

Engine fire = bad.

I will investigate. I don't want an engine fire when my car is almost paid off!

[Spyder Z 15]

I had some loom before and would it be wise to put it on for daily driving and say take it off for shows to show the color underneath?

BTW-Don do you have a write up on your custom RCA's?

Nice Bing

[wyant]

That cabling makes me envious, but I have one question. Assuming the blue cable is RCA interconnects and the Red is powerwire, what's keeping the bundled up cable next to the powerwire from picking up massive alt whine? I would assume it would sound better if you cut the interconnects and reterminated them. And yes Don does have a pretty good RCA guide, but for real overkill try this:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=52044

And some rediculous examples of DIY cables:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72860

[16psibrick]

good question.

the bundle of blue rca you see next to the power wire is the one going from the OUTPUT of the nine2x to the INPUT of the NINE1, meaning sub channel rca only, hence all the noise gets filtered out

b