My first priority in improving my new X-copcar was to put a stereo in it. The stock AM/FM radio just didn't cut it for me. I'm a music guy and really enjoy listening to the music of my choice in my car. It transforms driving from a necessary task into an opportunity to listen to some great tunes. With that philosophy, I decided to put some money and effort into installing an upscale system. Although I've only installed a couple simple stereo's in the past, I decided to do all the work myself. This way I could put all my budget into quality equipment instead of installation. Also, though I was a novice installer, I felt more confident that the job would get done right, since it involved some semi-elaborate custom installation. I always enjoy a good creative project and learning opportunity, so I enthusiastically set off on my quest for quality auto sound!
Equipment:
Kenwood KDCS2007 CD player
Kenwood KRCS200 cassette player
MTX Road Thunder RT4180X 4 channel amplifier - 230watt RMS
CDTecnologies HD-51 5 1/4" component front speaker set
JBL GT1000 10"subwoofer
JBL LCS960 6X9 rear speakers
Installation:
This turned into a bigger project than I thought it would be. I did alot of research first into approaches and components, then alot of research to find the best prices on suitable gear. I got really good prices on everything except the CDT speakers. These I could only get direct from the company at regular price, but they're worth it. Sweet speakers! A useful book I used was The Car Stereo Cookbook by Mark Rumreich.
Both front seats, rear set bootom, front door panels and the main dash panel all had to be removed. I found a hole in the firewall that the TX DPS thoughtfully drilled for me to run the amp power cable through. By the battery, I found a neat 9C1 feature: a bolt wired directly to the + battery terminal to hook electric equipment to. I ran the power cable down the right side of the car to the trunk. I ran input and output wires down the left side of the car.
The CD and tape deck outputs run to switches to control which deck you want to use. The CD is in the dash. Since GM wants to be unique in the shape of its stereo's, it required a bit of finagling and cutting to get the deck to not stick out from the dash. The tape deck is in the custom made center console along with the previously mentioned switches.
The door speakers also took a bit of deliberate installation since the standard speakers are 4X6. A round peg/square hole issue. This isn't as bad as a square peg/round hole, so I simply mounted the speakers with 3 screws instead of 4, which so far has worked fine. I also took off the standard screens from the speaker grill and put blue uphosltery around the speaker. It looks sharp. The tweeters I mounted on the door panel just above the speaker grilles. The component set crossovers are mounted in the trunk next to the amp. The rear speakers were a simple drop in install.
The amp is mounted on a base cut to fit on the right wall of the trunk. This is covered with standard gray car-stereo-style carpet. I built a ported speaker box of the recommended size and port diameter/length for the subwoofer.
I'm very happy with the system. It's got good power, clean sound, good imaging, reasonable staging and enought bass for the music I like (mostly rock). It's front biased, which is what the experts all say is prefered. The rear speakers are straight out of the head unit just for rear fill. This has the added benefit of allowing the rear passengers not to be inordinately deafened by the rear speakers. If the front passengers can hear each other, then the rear passengers can hear the front. I also enjoy having the tape deck. Some of my older music is on tape and on long trips, I can listen to books on tape.
No quality car stereo system would be complete without an alarm system. For security reasons, I won't discuss the details here, except that it has a blinking LED light mounted to the right of the headlight switch.