My VXR8 Stereo upgrade
Discussion
I actually did 
TBH I thought how much difference is it really going to make 1830KG and nigh on 600 Hoss. This isn't a stripped out track car or quarter miler. It's a bloody fast large saloon.
The answer is just under 18KG all in- The weight of the deadening panels was significant the foam/underlay not so much. The speakers are heavier but overall not my much in fact the fronts are lighter. The AMps/processors also add a few KG
If I ditched the spare wheel and carried a compressor and can of Monkey spunk I'd be lighter overall.
If I added a cam,manifolds and Cats I'd be significantly quicker overall
TBH I thought how much difference is it really going to make 1830KG and nigh on 600 Hoss. This isn't a stripped out track car or quarter miler. It's a bloody fast large saloon.
The answer is just under 18KG all in- The weight of the deadening panels was significant the foam/underlay not so much. The speakers are heavier but overall not my much in fact the fronts are lighter. The AMps/processors also add a few KG
If I ditched the spare wheel and carried a compressor and can of Monkey spunk I'd be lighter overall.
If I added a cam,manifolds and Cats I'd be significantly quicker overall
Gary H 2008 said:
I actually did
TBH I thought how much difference is it really going to make 1830KG and nigh on 600 Hoss. This isn't a stripped out track car or quarter miler. It's a bloody fast large saloon.
The answer is just under 18KG all in- The weight of the deadening panels was significant the foam/underlay not so much. The speakers are heavier but overall not my much in fact the fronts are lighter. The AMps/processors also add a few KG
Good man TBH I thought how much difference is it really going to make 1830KG and nigh on 600 Hoss. This isn't a stripped out track car or quarter miler. It's a bloody fast large saloon.
The answer is just under 18KG all in- The weight of the deadening panels was significant the foam/underlay not so much. The speakers are heavier but overall not my much in fact the fronts are lighter. The AMps/processors also add a few KG
liam1986 said:
10 out of 10 for effort, but my idea of making the sound system better is taking the silencers out of the exhaust
I do like the sound of my car but also like a good sound system in a car, one of the upgrades I have always wanted to do in the R8 I done a complete refit in the 4x4 changed everything at a small fortune, would love to upgrade the R8 one day, but would not want to do it myself, it takes ages to do lolIt's frustrating because it's 3 weeks without sound and 2 weeks without an interior...not stopping me drive it though 
It's all about choices Liam - I want to be in the lucky position of being able to lose myself completely in the music...or the 122 whine..or the Bimodal - even more so when I fit the cut-outs - that reminds me Mick, swap you listens
It's all about choices Liam - I want to be in the lucky position of being able to lose myself completely in the music...or the 122 whine..or the Bimodal
- even more so when I fit the cut-outs - that reminds me Mick, swap you listens Gary H 2008 said:
It's frustrating because it's 3 weeks without sound and 2 weeks without an interior...not stopping me drive it though
It's all about choices Liam - I want to be in the lucky position of being able to lose myself completely in the music...or the 122 whine..or the Bimodal - even more so when I fit the cut-outs - that reminds me Mick, swap you listens
Definitely a sound listen is in order both ways It's all about choices Liam - I want to be in the lucky position of being able to lose myself completely in the music...or the 122 whine..or the Bimodal
- even more so when I fit the cut-outs - that reminds me Mick, swap you listens I am off all next week and if weather ok could meet up and swap sounds and a food at same time even if it's just a burger lol
snowwolf said:
I do like the sound of my car but also like a good sound system in a car
Same here, have always enjoyed decent sounds in the car, kept the standard headunit in mine but changed the front speakers, rear shelf subs which wasn't enough for me so got a 15" sub instead and a amp for the sub, not high high end quality but still better than standard Quite a lot accomplished over the weekend, but it's getting to the point now that I'm doing more now...to make it look like I've not done anything
Running the speaker cables into the doors required using a staightened out coat hanger to push the cable through - and also ran some additional power cable into the door for under door 'puddle' lighting.
Because the grommets on the rear doors were further down, I discovered they'd been filled with this incredibly slippy red grease-like spray gunk shit (I think that's the technical term) I presume for water-proofing.
The centre console was removed and surrounding area deadened. In fact any parts of the centre console that I could get to had strips of deadening applied to them from behind - actually changing the 'feel' of the plastic from something scratchy to something more substantial.
and the crappy 4" speaker replaced with a slightly less crappy 4" speaker
- although this will not be connected to the Stereo - My Sat Nav has an audio Out...
The centre console and trim panels that sit just under the windscreen have gone off to get flocked
Top tip when taking your car apart. Do not end up with a pile like this:
- Arrange them how they came out of the car,so they'll be a lot easier to put back
So on to the Amp Rack. It will be hidden behind a false wall, so no need to be pretty, just neat, easily accessible and safe by placing it on the back of the back of the back seats I'm actually making work for myself (instead of a conventional false floor) but should be able to do most of the wiring out of the car and then just wire in a few cables once in situ.
It sill amazes me that despite the hi-tech Components, I'm still stripping cables, using in-line fused distribution blocks etc. etc.
So a basic shape is cut out of MDF
and the components spread out
By moving the Line Driver and the DAB tuner under the back seat, it's freed up enough space on the rack to get the amps, the TA processor and power distribution where I want it.
Speaking of DAB, I needed to change the Ariel so had to drop the headlining and run a DAB lead straight down and an FM lead to the front.
Such a large expanse of single skinned panel couldn't be left as is so of course had to be sound deadened
and is now totally dead.
Finished result, looks stock:
Last thing I managed today (shit was it cold) was take apart the Time Alignment unit. This sits in the ashtray and it would have bugged me that the illumination was green and the main illuminated switches are white and red. Luckily the the green lighting is done by little rubber caps - pop them off and you have 'factory' white.
As I said it's now getting to that tedious stage where a lot of work doesn't appear to be doing much. Bored now
Running the speaker cables into the doors required using a staightened out coat hanger to push the cable through - and also ran some additional power cable into the door for under door 'puddle' lighting.
Because the grommets on the rear doors were further down, I discovered they'd been filled with this incredibly slippy red grease-like spray gunk shit (I think that's the technical term) I presume for water-proofing.
The centre console was removed and surrounding area deadened. In fact any parts of the centre console that I could get to had strips of deadening applied to them from behind - actually changing the 'feel' of the plastic from something scratchy to something more substantial.
and the crappy 4" speaker replaced with a slightly less crappy 4" speaker
- although this will not be connected to the Stereo - My Sat Nav has an audio Out...
The centre console and trim panels that sit just under the windscreen have gone off to get flocked
Top tip when taking your car apart. Do not end up with a pile like this:
- Arrange them how they came out of the car,so they'll be a lot easier to put back
So on to the Amp Rack. It will be hidden behind a false wall, so no need to be pretty, just neat, easily accessible and safe by placing it on the back of the back of the back seats I'm actually making work for myself (instead of a conventional false floor) but should be able to do most of the wiring out of the car and then just wire in a few cables once in situ.
It sill amazes me that despite the hi-tech Components, I'm still stripping cables, using in-line fused distribution blocks etc. etc.
So a basic shape is cut out of MDF
and the components spread out
By moving the Line Driver and the DAB tuner under the back seat, it's freed up enough space on the rack to get the amps, the TA processor and power distribution where I want it.
Speaking of DAB, I needed to change the Ariel so had to drop the headlining and run a DAB lead straight down and an FM lead to the front.
Such a large expanse of single skinned panel couldn't be left as is so of course had to be sound deadened
and is now totally dead.
Finished result, looks stock:
Last thing I managed today (shit was it cold) was take apart the Time Alignment unit. This sits in the ashtray and it would have bugged me that the illumination was green and the main illuminated switches are white and red. Luckily the the green lighting is done by little rubber caps - pop them off and you have 'factory' white.
As I said it's now getting to that tedious stage where a lot of work doesn't appear to be doing much. Bored now
Edited by Gary H 2008 on Monday 16th January 23:41
king s
So quite a productive weekend (after a Baby false alarm )
Managed to squeeze the PXA Controller into the ashtray - it wouldn't fit flush but by cutting away thin strips of the rubber in the wall of the ashtray liner, it now looks like it belongs there.
Speakers fitted back in
and I made some brackets to fit the new tweeters
As a finishing touch, I prised the badges off the grills of the speakers and stuck them on to the door card speaker grills, continuing the 'OEM' theme
I'd also run some power cable to fit strip LEDs under the doors for puddle lights - really chuffed with the outcome:
The cross-overs for the front speakers (passive filters to split the frequencies between the mids and the tweeters) were chuffing huge
so made a bracket and attached them up under the front kick panels
whereas the rear x-overs sit neatly under the rear bench seat (shown hear next to the DAB Tuner and Line Driver)
I also took the opportunity to fit my auto-dimming Monaro mirror
and tidy up the amp rack a bit
Before finally starting on the big job: The Ipod interface.
Brave Pill time and hope I understood the instructions
...and then went for a first fire up a few hours ago:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mEFMTtveo&feature=g-upl&context=G259ecd3AUAAAAAAAAAA
It works!!
The whole system needs to be set up, there is some Engine noise which I'll sort this week and then finally it can be put back together and I'll have my car back. Getting there
) Managed to squeeze the PXA Controller into the ashtray - it wouldn't fit flush but by cutting away thin strips of the rubber in the wall of the ashtray liner, it now looks like it belongs there.
Speakers fitted back in
and I made some brackets to fit the new tweeters
As a finishing touch, I prised the badges off the grills of the speakers and stuck them on to the door card speaker grills, continuing the 'OEM' theme
I'd also run some power cable to fit strip LEDs under the doors for puddle lights - really chuffed with the outcome:
The cross-overs for the front speakers (passive filters to split the frequencies between the mids and the tweeters) were chuffing huge
so made a bracket and attached them up under the front kick panels
whereas the rear x-overs sit neatly under the rear bench seat (shown hear next to the DAB Tuner and Line Driver)
I also took the opportunity to fit my auto-dimming Monaro mirror
and tidy up the amp rack a bit
Before finally starting on the big job: The Ipod interface.
Brave Pill time and hope I understood the instructions
...and then went for a first fire up a few hours ago:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mEFMTtveo&feature=g-upl&context=G259ecd3AUAAAAAAAAAA
It works!!
The whole system needs to be set up, there is some Engine noise which I'll sort this week and then finally it can be put back together and I'll have my car back. Getting there
Edited by Gary H 2008 on Monday 23 January 23:43
Thanks Matt - not sure I understand the question:
By pressing the Aux button it switches over to the IPod Interface. That itself has has an Aux In (red/white/yellow) which is switched by pressing the Mute button on the steering wheel for 2 seconds to activate.
In my case I have a hideaway DAB tuner linked to it with a display which appears on the screen, but in theory you could connect anything with a composite video out.
By pressing the Aux button it switches over to the IPod Interface. That itself has has an Aux In (red/white/yellow) which is switched by pressing the Mute button on the steering wheel for 2 seconds to activate.
In my case I have a hideaway DAB tuner linked to it with a display which appears on the screen, but in theory you could connect anything with a composite video out.
Yup- Good question. did think about that too.
My first concern was to check all the doors thoroughly before adding anything, for any form of water ingress. All 4 doors were bone dry, but despite this I only used sound proofing and deadening that was made from water-repellant material (Silentcoat product). Finally the original moisture Barrier was also put back - causing a bit of hassle re-installing the door cards, but at least it was solid.
In the larger areas where I used underlay, under the carpet, back seat and boot, there was layer of sound deadening under the underlay too - and my thinking is if the underlay (which is made from recylced rubber rather than foam) gets wet, that'll be the least of my problems
Noise wise I do have a couple of issues which should be easily sortable tomorrow. The Ipod Hub is picking up system noise so have been asked to check the Earth, ensure the control box is nowhere near an electrical source (I suspect it is at the moment, being right behind the HVAC controls) and for good measure I've bought an in-line power filter.
The system itself also has some Alternator whine, but as it's only coming through the front speakers and is audible when the system is off, I'm pretty sure I know what it is: teh front passive cross-overs are huge and contain huge copper coils - effectively aeriels that'll pick up any electrical noise and feed them straight to the speakers. The x-over on the passenger side is mounted right above the fusebox and main power cable...D'oh!
So a strip-down tomorrow to cure these two before the arduous job of setting up can begin:
There is a gain control on the line driver, which feeds the time alignment unit - which has it's own gain settings, then on to two amplifiers with their own gains and then finally the head units own Volume control... then I've only got the cut-offs, Parametric EQ, Time-alignment, Phase....
My first concern was to check all the doors thoroughly before adding anything, for any form of water ingress. All 4 doors were bone dry, but despite this I only used sound proofing and deadening that was made from water-repellant material (Silentcoat product). Finally the original moisture Barrier was also put back - causing a bit of hassle re-installing the door cards, but at least it was solid.
In the larger areas where I used underlay, under the carpet, back seat and boot, there was layer of sound deadening under the underlay too - and my thinking is if the underlay (which is made from recylced rubber rather than foam) gets wet, that'll be the least of my problems
Noise wise I do have a couple of issues which should be easily sortable tomorrow. The Ipod Hub is picking up system noise so have been asked to check the Earth, ensure the control box is nowhere near an electrical source (I suspect it is at the moment, being right behind the HVAC controls) and for good measure I've bought an in-line power filter.
The system itself also has some Alternator whine, but as it's only coming through the front speakers and is audible when the system is off, I'm pretty sure I know what it is: teh front passive cross-overs are huge and contain huge copper coils - effectively aeriels that'll pick up any electrical noise and feed them straight to the speakers. The x-over on the passenger side is mounted right above the fusebox and main power cable...D'oh!
So a strip-down tomorrow to cure these two before the arduous job of setting up can begin:
There is a gain control on the line driver, which feeds the time alignment unit - which has it's own gain settings, then on to two amplifiers with their own gains and then finally the head units own Volume control... then I've only got the cut-offs, Parametric EQ, Time-alignment, Phase....
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