Blueptie's Audio Install

[chithead]

I jokingly refer to our Mustang as, "Blueptie" - combination (or abomination) of the words blue and hooptie. Anywho, thought I'd start a separate thread here for the audio adventures already installed and planned for in the car.

Started with replacing the radio. My wife teases that the radio is nicer than the whole car. Ouch.

What a mess. This is what was inside the dash:

Just a garbled bundle of wires all over. And this is how I found out it's the, "Premium" option - with a separate Tape player/Radio, CD Player below, and a small amp mounted to the floor in front of the shifter:

But... based on what I saw here, looked like there is a possibility I could remove most of that harness, and pieces for a much cleaner install:

And yup, turns out that worked quite well. With a few snips... we don't even have to buy adapters. Can make our own from what was pulled out:

Metra makes a dash kit for these cars too (Metra part number 95-5703B) that allows mounting a double din with just a few snips of two brackets, and relocating the vents to the new kit. Fit quite well actually:

The head unit I decided on is a Kenwood DMX706S - this was mostly chosen due to cost, and I do like Kenwood, but also the 3-way active crossover capability. Pioneer had this option as well, and it is a really nice feature to have even if it the tuning is kind of basic. But since a simple tweeter, woofer, subwoofer setup would be the best way for me in this car, this Kenwood DMX706S should work nicely.

 

[chithead]

The 12v cig plug thingies, yanked both out. There was one by the E-brake below the armrest, and one below the radio in front of the shifter. Pulled those, plucked the wiring, tossed em.

Decided to replace them with USB ports. The radio has a cable attached to it with a single USB input. Kenwood recommends not using any extenders or other ports or whatnot, so I'm thinking it's best to try and use that cable input directly for the best usability. But how... about... a bottlecap? Hey, that's what I was thinking too. Found one that fits right around the cutout. Few minutes with a razor blade and some JB Plasticwelder, and voila:

Pretty cool that I can flip the cover and hide the USB port if desired. The other 12V plug location, will just be installing a charging port, as the Kenwood didn't have a 2nd USB input. No biggie, at least we'll have an additional port to charge phones or tablets or whatever:

 

[chithead]

Already picked out the speakers - Image Dynamics XS57 components:



Used Image Dynamics XS speakers before, and REALLY like them. They should fit right into the doors with no problems, but would have to modify the sail panels if deciding to put the tweeters there:





Hoped I could just cut a hole and flush mount the XS28 tweeters, but uhhhh... no:







Thought about attaching PVC end caps to these and mold them to look really nice and custom:





That would require a ton of work though, and gobs of filler.

 

[chithead]

My parts guy sourced a set of those Mach 460 sail panel speaker pods. Will definitely make installing those tweeters a lot easier. Plus more factory appearing too:



Took them all apart to see how exactly would we make those XS28 tweeters fit:



Fabbing a flush mount baffle was my immediate idea, but that means the domes would touch the stock grille:



Thought about using one of those PVC caps or something similar that recesses the tweeter further into the sail panel pod, but while messing around with the pieces... discovered this:



The XS28 mounting rings just barely fit inside the factory cutout. I mean, almost perfectly. Enough for some Plasticwelder on the backside to secure them. Let's try it!



Doubled up on the frontside after the backside adhesive cured:



Tweeters fit right in there!

 

[chithead]

Some quick tidying of the wires and added connectors:



They bolted right to the factory location:



Obligatory door panel removed shot:



Should be fairly easy to dampen that door. Went ahead and installed the woofers. Shouldn't have any clearance issues with them:



Had to trim the door panel though in order to fit the pods. It isn't as clean as I hoped, but will fix it when rewrapping the upper panel later on:



And here we go:

 

[chithead]

Picked up a decent size power wire because the amplifier choice is a bit, unorthodox. Originally planned to go active with the 5x7 speakers (meaning no passive crossover) - so I wanted something with pretty good quality, and power. But those plans have changed. More on that later:



The amplifiers - a four channel Soundqubed Q4.150 and an Audioque 3500.1:











They're a bit, sizable though - still working out where to mount them:

 

[chithead]

Thinking Infinite Baffle mounting on the subwoofers for simplicity and some weight savings. Mostly simplicity:



And like they say, it ain't your beauty, it's your booty:

 

[badass98svt]

Oh wow. Bye bye rear seat

I have a pair of Mach 1000 sub boxes laying around, but those look like 12s not 10s.

 

[OpalFrostGT]

I jokingly refer to our Mustang as, "Blueptie" - combination (or abomination) of the words blue and hooptie. Anywho, thought I'd start a separate thread here for the audio adventures already installed and planned for in the car.

Started with replacing the radio. My wife teases that the radio is nicer than the whole car. Ouch.

What a mess. This is what was inside the dash:

Just a garbled bundle of wires all over. And this is how I found out it's the, "Premium" option - with a separate Tape player/Radio, CD Player below, and a small amp mounted to the floor in front of the shifter:

But... based on what I saw here, looked like there is a possibility I could remove most of that harness, and pieces for a much cleaner install:

And yup, turns out that worked quite well. With a few snips... we don't even have to buy adapters. Can make our own from what was pulled out:

Metra makes a dash kit for these cars too (Metra part number 95-5703B) that allows mounting a double din with just a few snips of two brackets, and relocating the vents to the new kit. Fit quite well actually:

The head unit I decided on is a Kenwood DMX706S - this was mostly chosen due to cost, and I do like Kenwood, but also the 3-way active crossover capability. Pioneer had this option as well, and it is a really nice feature to have even if it the tuning is kind of basic. But since a simple tweeter, woofer, subwoofer setup would be the best way for me in this car, this Kenwood DMX706S should work nicely.

looks like a fire hazard!

 

[chithead]

Oh wow. Bye bye rear seat

I have a pair of Mach 1000 sub boxes laying around, but those look like 12s not 10s.

Heh, yeah. Was planning to recess them enough to keep the seat, but pretty sure the amps are going there now. Really don't want to put them in the trunk, and it's not like anyone can squeeze back there anyways.

 

[chithead]

Replaced the battery terminals to prepare for some upgrading wiring:



Ran new speaker wire into the doors, separate wire for the tweeter and for the 5x7:



Tweeter wire:



5x7 wire:



And with everything connected up, with the NVX silicone baffles installed for the 5x7 as well:



After some listening tests, have determined that these XS57 do sound amazingly excellent. Very clear, clean, precise, enjoyable... but the midbass output I'd hoped for isn't quite up to par. Soooooo... instead of running them active, have decided to try just keeping them passive... but adding a speaker to compensate for that missing midbass. Ordered these to either squeeze under the seats, or into the kick panels:





No replacement for displacement... unless you boost. And I like both.

 

[joemomma]

Not a whole lot of room in the front kick panels, unless you fab something up. Mine are extremely tight, I was barely able to get my crossover boxes for the front components stuffed in there.

 

[ttocs]

I am not sure I have ever thought that IB was easier after you take the time needed to seal the trunk from the cabin properly. Gotta love ID subs, just great sounding all around.

 

[chithead]

Not a whole lot of room in the front kick panels, unless you fab something up. Mine are extremely tight, I was barely able to get my crossover boxes for the front components stuffed in there.

No doubt - a friend of mine had some really trick kicks fabbed up one time for Illusion Audio 10" subs, but it was a pretty pricey endeavor. Picked those ID8 subs because of their super small volume requirements, and low FS - hoping they'll fit under the seat before attempting a kick panel setup.

I am not sure I have ever thought that IB was easier after you take the time needed to seal the trunk from the cabin properly. Gotta love ID subs, just great sounding all around.

I've never tried IB before, but it seemed like the easiest option this time with how flat the opening is behind the rear seat. Thought about upfiring into the rear deck to get a surface loading effect, but that would require more fabrication, and now they don't fit after installing that rear shock tower brace. Worst case I end up building a ported enclosure that extends above and below the brace.

 

[badass98svt]

I have no idea where you are going to fit any 8" woofer in the kick panel or under any seat. I'm grabbing my popcorn.