For the novice who wants an above average sounding car sound system.
Forget about the head unit, speakers, sub, amp, etc.
I'm interested in the final bit at the moment - the install.

By the way, I will NOT be doing the install - I'll leave that to the pro's.

But when I talk to the Pro's I like to at least know some info and what I want.

Is there anything you would recommend?
eg, type of wiring, sound deadening, connections etc.

I jumped onto a couple of sound deadening sites (gotta love google).
They talked about deadening in the doors, under the carpet, even in the wheel wells. What have people done & where?

Thanks for any hints, tips and advice.


P.S. I have a wagon (if that makes a difference).

Deadening and door prep:
I've deadened my doors fully. Outside and inside layer with roadkill expert, Inside trim with sound off paint
Diffusers behind drivers, Service holes sealed with mdf and covered with deadener All other small holes sealed up.
Angled baffles to raise stage height and provide better imaging.
MDF baffles (Plastic are crap with over 50 w going into them)
Speakers sealed with speaker sealant
Door rods and lock rods taped up to reduce resonance (Still get a bit from locking mechanism but working on solving that)
Cables taped up to reduce resonance
rewired doors through ploom, ran extra wiring for possibility of tweeters in doors.

Layer of fleece between trim and door to stop rattles. Foam in a few spots to stop contact rattles between trim.
Trim taken apart (the material parts on the trim rattle against the trim) Deadened in here, and placed some foam to separate.

Modified window (Took out the plastic holder behind the speaker to give me a bit more room here so you can get more angle on the driver (which is pretty big)

Blutacked inside window winder (still rattles though) only an elastic band can stop rattles short of gluing the mofo.

Onto the rest of the car:
Deadened Rear seat (from cabin), rear parcel shelf (from Cabin), bootlid all over. (all the underside and the part in between the garnish area and the boot from the outside. Number plate etc too)

Wiring:
0 gauge from battery
100 amp anl fuseholder at the battery(conservative)
Split at boot through distro block to 2x 2 gauge lengths to run sub and mid amps. 4 gauge for tweeter amp.
3 runs of Stinger helix RCAs for tweets sub and mids (active off headunit)
Wiring: Streetwires 16 gauge I think. Audison 16 gauge
ISO plugs used for headunit connections

Mount your tweeters down low. near the woofer, either on the base of the door or preferably in the kickpanels for good path length difference

Peace

Tim

:shock:
WOW!

I had some hope I would get some feedback - but you have far exceeded my expectations. You have done a lot to your car and taken the time to write it all down for me - I appreciate that. Thanks :bowdown:

np's just ask if you need anything more specific...

Called around a few Car Audio Shops.

I thought it was interesting to see the mixed responses to sound deadening.
One shop said - nah not needed.
One shop said - depends on the car.
One shop said - we do the install then see how it sounds, if it needs something then bring it back.
One shop said - Yes definately! When doing a home theatre system, we place the speakers in nice wooden boxes, not tin boxes. But when pepole do speaker installs in a car, many seem to forget that doors are just that (tin). They need deadening to get the true sound out of the speakers. How much will depend on the car, the speakers and your wallet.

I know which place I'm going to (last one) :) (oh and they have a good rep. as well)

oh, and for those interested, my quotes (for HeadUnit and front & back speakers) were between $195 and $250 (+ parts).
The place I'm going with is $205.

i hav actually heard of people lining the inside of there wheel arches with carpet for sound deadining purposes

Instead of starting a new thread...

I figured out how to stop window handle rattles without gluing them :) Has been pissin me off for some time now

Filled up the entire back of the winder handle with sound off deadening... The handle still spins on midbass/subbass notes, but there is no resonance = more solid midbass and less rattles.

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/8254/doorhandlesoundoff5vu.jpg

Peace

Tim