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C5Z Install

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Old Nov 25, 2009 | 11:32 PM
  #1  
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Default C5Z Install

First off thanks to Pentavolvo, Markcz, and kale for all their advice on the install.

I didn't take too many pictures and don't have the car completely back together yet, the sub box, and grille cover should be here by Friday from Madvette, so once it arrives i'll take pictures of the car back together (although it should look OEM)

HU - Pioneer DEH-P780MP
AMP - Power Acoustic BAMF 1600/4
Speakers - Polk MM6501 3-way Components
Sub - Polk DB1204
Wiring - KnuKonceptz

---

First time I remembered to take a picture (I got bored and want to hear some noise, so I hooked everything up in the pass floor)


Insulation/Deadening in rear:


Speaker Installed, Crossovers under the dash:


Amp completely installed (I put some effort into wire hiding):


I'll post more after the box comes and it's all buttoned up!

The setup sounds great! My only wonder though, is that I can max this head unit out as far as it goes, and I'm fairly sure the speakers are just getting started; is there any settings that can allow the speakers to push harder?

Also on the crossovers I have a 0 and -3db option, which is good for what?
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 12:08 AM
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i would set crossovers at -3 personally

turn the filters on the amp to full range, and set the high pass on headunit to 80hz, and lowpass/sub to 80hz

turn gain up half way on amp for front channels then go from there adjusting it to make it so you can turn headunit up abnout 80% of the way without the speakers distorting. then set gain for sub at about same point give or take

(note dont play sub if its not in the box)
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 12:43 AM
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 01:11 AM
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Originally Posted by pentavolvo
i would set crossovers at -3 personally

turn the filters on the amp to full range, and set the high pass on headunit to 80hz, and lowpass/sub to 80hz

turn gain up half way on amp for front channels then go from there adjusting it to make it so you can turn headunit up abnout 80% of the way without the speakers distorting. then set gain for sub at about same point give or take

(note dont play sub if its not in the box)
Will do! Also I noticed that if I set the volume all the way to "0" I can hear a noise coming from the speakers, it's not really a static noise, more like the noise you'd hear standing under a huge power tower (tower for hundreds of home power lines) just kinda a "ZZZZZZZZZ" noise.

Will the above help with this?
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 01:56 AM
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Are the crossovers near a power wire?
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 02:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Kale
Are the crossovers near a power wire?
How close is close? I ran the power down the Passenger door side by itself, and all the speaker wires are on the passenger tunnel side. I did mount the Pass crossover under the dash, but its gotta be at least 5-6" away from the power wire, I'll try to move it around tomorrow and see if it changes anything.
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 09:46 AM
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I had a crossover within about 8" of a power wire once and got a bit of a medium-pitch humm. Couldn't hurt to try moving it.
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Old Nov 26, 2009 | 11:00 AM
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ive never picked up noise in a crossover but i guess its possiable, i would look at ur rcas and if they are wrapped around power wires at all
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 12:25 AM
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Make sure all your grounds are good and tight
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 12:34 PM
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I figured it out (Well Penta figured it out for me!) Apparently the Pioneer HU's have crappy grounds on the RCA outputs, so I connected a wire from the RCA output to a factory ground and the noises are now gone!
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 09:35 PM
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glad u got it figured out, so any pics how does it all sound
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 09:51 PM
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For being 1/3 done it sounds amazing! I'm still waiting on the box from Madvette so I can install the sub, and I need to replace the rear speakers; I have to keep the Fade set all the way to the front to crank the music now or the OEM rears get crazy distorted while the Polk MM's in the front are just getting started.

I'll grab some pictures when the box arrives, but it's not gonna look to special; my goal with this was to keep the car looking as OEM as possible.

I think I need to do the RCA ground trick on the Sub channel as well, the whine was cut by like 80%, but when the volume is all the way to zero I can hear it just a bit.
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 10:03 PM
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should only need to do it on one channel in theory but try it for all of em
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 10:04 PM
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Its not crappy grounds - they have a fuse on the rca ground internally to protect the unit. It gets damaged if you connect or disconnect an rca with the head unit on. If you do the grounding trick you're jsut bypassing the fuse.
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Old Nov 29, 2009 | 11:17 PM
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im kinda confused what ya did as well. Did you just give the HU a better ground by doing the rca thing?
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 03:08 AM
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Originally Posted by HANNY
im kinda confused what ya did as well. Did you just give the HU a better ground by doing the rca thing?
The audio output has it's own tiny little fuses soldered to the internal circuit board. When they blow the output is no longer grounded, which tends to create a bit of static. The common band aide (compared to tearing it apart for a pita DIY fix or sending it in for $$$ repairs) is to just ground the (-) wire of the output.
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 07:27 PM
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So the whine has came back and I'm now considering a new HU if grounding the sub outputs doesn't fix it, and recommendations for a new HU? It would need to be:

-Single DIN
-Ipod hookup, with onscreen accessibility
-Bluetooth would be a plus (on screen calling)

And I'm curious how big the difference would be in sound quality for 2.5V vs. 5V preamp RCA outputs?

These are the two I was kinda looking at:

JVC KD-AVX77
JVC KD-AVX40
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 07:41 PM
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if u grounded em and the noise is still there personally i doubt its headunit

i would check ground again and where your rcas are ran

try diff rcas and maybe try an ipod straight into amp
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 07:48 PM
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I had to ground my RCA connections to get rid of the noise. Do you mind saying where you got the Polks and how much ?
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 08:24 PM
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Originally Posted by pentavolvo
if u grounded em and the noise is still there personally i doubt its headunit

i would check ground again and where your rcas are ran

try diff rcas and maybe try an ipod straight into amp
It seemed like on the link you gave me a lot of people said this kinda fixed the problem but a new HU completly fixed it, and that Pioneer HU's simply have garbage RCA outputs.

The RCA's are completly free of the power wire, and are ran along with the speaker wires only, and cross over the ground in one area, and I can't see anything that would be wrong with my ground, unless running the ground to the seat bolt isn't good enough?

How would I hook the ipod to the amp? and im guessing I couldn't control the HU on the screen like that right?

When the new rear speakers come I'm going to pull the HU and ground the sub woofer channel as well, and see if that changes anything.
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