I took the plunge and finally gutted the Blose after almost a year of torture. The install is nothing huge and somewhat budget minded: Avic 700 running JL Audio TRs - 650 components and 525s.

The highlight is the sub setup. My goal was good sound without giving up any space in back or adding too much weight (avid AutoXer) and while many of you are probably already rolling your eyes at the impossibility of this, I’ve come as close or exceeded as can be reasonably expected. I really surprised myself (and the guys who did the install of the head unit at a high-end car audio store here in MI).

I narrowed my driver selection to a couple of choices and with the help of Madisound, settled on these: http://www.madisound.com/catalog/pro...oducts_id=1609 They are really a 7" speaker rather than 6.5" as advertised.

The cubbies make an almost ideal sealed enclosure for them. They're 8 ohms, so I'm running them in parallel off a bridged 2-channel amp making 200 watts RMS. The speakers are rated at 100 continuous, so while this setup won't rock the block, it does rock the driveway. My ear says that they begin to roll of at about 50hz, and you can hear the lows down into the 30s, just not quite like you would from a 10" or 12"... They hit the lows nicely and add some musicality on the upper end. I thought about tilting them forward, but this would have defeated my no-space goal. (Actually the grills take up 25 cu-in.)

They're behind the wheel-well humps nicely protected, out of the way physically and visually (see pics). My car is a DD, so I didn't want to have to think about being careful of stereo speakers when putting stuff into the back of the car.

Eye rollers get ready. This setup will rival the best 8" setups and would compete with many 10" setups. (And I've had a number of aftermarket systems in a number of vehicles ranging from good to very good in audiophile terms with regard to sound quality and volume.) I'd rate this overall system as good, solid sound without spending too much, with the ultimate in a stealth install. (And the sub setup out performs the rest of the setup).

If you're in the Detroit area and are interested in hearing my setup, let me know - I'd love to have someone corroborate my opinion.

Besides, for the price of the drivers, $106.00 for both, some particleboard, and a $69.00 amp ( http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=265-090 ), you truly can't go wrong. If you're after huge power and huge volume, this isn't for you... For those of you wanting to add rich bass to the stock system, or adding a modest system, this is a great option.

If you're interested in trying this, I can share some of the details & lessons learned. Feel free to PM me.

 

i post from photobucket all day

 

Is that a C5 or C6?

 

It's a C6.

 

very nice, what were ur obstacles etc

 

What he said, plus. What was the cubes in the cubbies? Do you have pics of your install?

BTW, nice install. Very clean!

 

No real obstacles. The issue that concerned me the most was that this could never be a truly sealed enclosure. I was worried about hearing the speakers huff n puff out of the leaks. When you take the cubbie doors out (carefully use a screwdriver to move the metal tab enough to free the pins), you'll see the plastic ledge doesn’t run along the back in either enclosure, so there’s no way to screw down the faceplate in back. I remedied this by getting some 2” upholstery foam and stuffing it behind the carpet in the back of the car. This makes the best “seal” with a firm fit against the back wall. You can see the bulge over the back – the speaker is centered in the faceplate but looks closer to the back. I filled in the passenger sidewall with handfuls of foam to take up space that would have allowed too much air to escape.

The driver side volume is ~ 8.5 liters. The passenger side is less; there’s a hump in there so I’d guess it’s reduced by a third. I put poly fill in about two-thirds of the passenger cubbie to address this.

I made the faceplates by tracing the cubbie doors, then cutting them 1/16” oversize all the way around (1/8” total) for a tight fit. I tapered them a bit from top to bottom on a bench sander to ease getting them in. The car audio store gave me the fabric, which was glued to the faceplates.

The most care needs to be taken when screwing the faceplate to the thin plastic ridge. I first drilled small pilots with the plates in place using the size bit that works for the screws into the plastic. Then I removed the MDF plates and drilled them larger so the screws could spin freely so I could feel the screw going into the plastic. I was very careful “feeling” the screws into place while holding the plate firmly down with my foot. You really have to put some weight on the passenger side as the hump interferes with the speaker magnet – this was the only surprise I encountered. That’s about it – pretty straightforward.

I have the amp output slightly below half. This setup is really efficient and the more I listen to my new system, the more I really like it.

P.S. I had the installer run the RCAs from the head unit to the amp (tucked nicely behind the passenger seat) and the speaker wires to the speakers. Thirty dollars well spent for me...

 

Nice!

 

Very clean installation!
I've been doing some audio upgrades myself for the last 2 1/2 weeks and I'm hoping to finally finish it tonight.
I'd love to get a chance to listen to yours sometime.
Dream cruise maybe?

Enjoy!

Dan