Christ what a day...
As you may of seen, i bought some pimpmeister audio gear.
First of all, I bought a USB Kenwood headunit. USB because i'm getting bored with "only" 700 MB of music on an MP3 CD, and Kenwood so it works straight away with my steering wheel controls. Ended up getting a Kenwood KDC-W7534U second hand.
Secondly, I retro-fitted the Harmon Kardon audio system in June... well in that time i've had two of the (£40 each) HK amps break, and suspect my Bluetooth kit is at fault (both end up with a dodgy F/L channel which is the speaker my Bluetooth kit outputs two). As I needed a new amp anyway, I had a look on eBay to see what I could get for ~£40, and ended up with a shiny JBL GTO4000 600w 4-channel amp for the princely sum of £43.
I then had to wire all this up - my existing amp was wired up using 10AWG cable, which frankly was not going to be enough for the current draw of 2 amps. I bought a 4AWG wiring kit, and then a fused distribution block, and a small run of 8AWG cable. The idea was to run the 4AWG cable to the distribution block, power the JBL with the 8AWG and then run the SPLX amp off the old 10AWG that was running down the car.
I also decided that I would wire the HK amp to the SPLX amp, leaving the JBL just for the speakers and tweeters.
I originally planned on putting the amp's under the seats, but unfortunately the JBL is just far too big for that, so instead I mounted the JBL to the back of the rear seat and then the SPLX amp under the drivers seat.
Another little project was clearing the boot - my boot has a false floor, and with the wiring going to the amp, which was screwed to the sub, meant I couldn't actually move it to get the spare wheel out. The amp has moved, and i've put in a speakon connector to the sub so that to unplug it, remove it and get to the spare wheel takes ~30 seconds. Also means I can make my boot larger for big hauls without the worry of shorting cables etc...
Another advantage of the new headunit was that of connectivity - I chose it so that all of the inputs were at the back. This means that no longer must cables run though my interior - now I have a USB and 3.5mm input in my glovebox stealthed away, and the CD Changer now also works again. What I didn't realise, however, was that it's a lot more hi-end than I thought... for a start it's got a motorised face. This was great for 5 minutes of button pushing, however it sticks out a bit further which means I have to leave it angled so that the steering controls work (they are IR based).
Weirdly, it also worked first time when I put it together (or at least, it did once I plugged the rear lights ground back in and made sure the remote was plugged into the headunit...)
Unfortunately in the process of putting the seat back in the height adjuster broke... which gives me a pretty much undrivably-high position. "Luckily" I have the seats the car already came with, but changing them is a job I don't enjoy, and I only bought the seats in June...
Still need to sort out a poor ground, though.
In short, i've spent the last 2 days dicking around with wires and bolts and it's not even bloody finished yet.
As you may of seen, i bought some pimpmeister audio gear.
First of all, I bought a USB Kenwood headunit. USB because i'm getting bored with "only" 700 MB of music on an MP3 CD, and Kenwood so it works straight away with my steering wheel controls. Ended up getting a Kenwood KDC-W7534U second hand.
Secondly, I retro-fitted the Harmon Kardon audio system in June... well in that time i've had two of the (£40 each) HK amps break, and suspect my Bluetooth kit is at fault (both end up with a dodgy F/L channel which is the speaker my Bluetooth kit outputs two). As I needed a new amp anyway, I had a look on eBay to see what I could get for ~£40, and ended up with a shiny JBL GTO4000 600w 4-channel amp for the princely sum of £43.
I then had to wire all this up - my existing amp was wired up using 10AWG cable, which frankly was not going to be enough for the current draw of 2 amps. I bought a 4AWG wiring kit, and then a fused distribution block, and a small run of 8AWG cable. The idea was to run the 4AWG cable to the distribution block, power the JBL with the 8AWG and then run the SPLX amp off the old 10AWG that was running down the car.
I also decided that I would wire the HK amp to the SPLX amp, leaving the JBL just for the speakers and tweeters.
I originally planned on putting the amp's under the seats, but unfortunately the JBL is just far too big for that, so instead I mounted the JBL to the back of the rear seat and then the SPLX amp under the drivers seat.
Another little project was clearing the boot - my boot has a false floor, and with the wiring going to the amp, which was screwed to the sub, meant I couldn't actually move it to get the spare wheel out. The amp has moved, and i've put in a speakon connector to the sub so that to unplug it, remove it and get to the spare wheel takes ~30 seconds. Also means I can make my boot larger for big hauls without the worry of shorting cables etc...
Another advantage of the new headunit was that of connectivity - I chose it so that all of the inputs were at the back. This means that no longer must cables run though my interior - now I have a USB and 3.5mm input in my glovebox stealthed away, and the CD Changer now also works again. What I didn't realise, however, was that it's a lot more hi-end than I thought... for a start it's got a motorised face. This was great for 5 minutes of button pushing, however it sticks out a bit further which means I have to leave it angled so that the steering controls work (they are IR based).
Weirdly, it also worked first time when I put it together (or at least, it did once I plugged the rear lights ground back in and made sure the remote was plugged into the headunit...)
Unfortunately in the process of putting the seat back in the height adjuster broke... which gives me a pretty much undrivably-high position. "Luckily" I have the seats the car already came with, but changing them is a job I don't enjoy, and I only bought the seats in June...
Still need to sort out a poor ground, though.
In short, i've spent the last 2 days dicking around with wires and bolts and it's not even bloody finished yet.