I just ordered my first audio upgrade components and absolutely can't wait to get my hands on them.

BTW, the wealth of knowledge and experienced shared on this forum is outstanding and its great to see folks share the same excitement and passion for great audio in the greatest sportscar.

With that being said, I have plenty of info/pics/step-by-step.. on removing the door panels, console, etc. but I still have a couple of basic questions which hopefully someone can share ideas on.

First, considering level of diffuculty in addition to sound quality (interference, etc.), where is the best wire run locations for
a) 4ga power cable (front to rear area)
b) 3 pair of line-level cables (HU to rear area)
c) 1 set of speaker cables (doors to rear area)

Don't know what I can reasonable run through the center console area vs. under the seats vs. door sill area.

Second question is for securing my amps in the rear area. The two amps will not mount vertically on the back wall so I'm going to build a rack. My question is what is the best way to secure the rack. Are folks bolting them down? Are there ideal anchor spots in certain locations, etc.

Here are the components I just ordered:
HU: Alpine CDA-7897
Amps: JL Audio 300.1 and 500.1
Spkrs: MB Quart QM218.61Q (door) and JL Audio 12W3v2 (sub)
I wanted the 165Ws but couldn't squeeze enough $, I want to stay married. Also, I don't have any rear-fills ordered yet.

Thanks for the help. Hope to jammin' soon. :D

 

Sounds like a very nice system, although I would have opted for 2 10" subs instead of one 12.

I can answer a couple of your questions based on what I did.
I ran the 4gauge power wire down the passenger side of the car. The battery is on this side, and there is a bundle of wires that goes through the firewall behind the glovebox. You will have to remove the battery and the trim pieces under the glovebox to get at it.

To avoid interference, I ran the RCA patch cable down the center of the car under the console and under the carpet.

I think the best place for an amp rack is in the hatch area, pushed all the way towards the front of the car. I have seen amps installed behind the seats as well, but I think there would be clearance issues and you will need to come up with a way to mount them.

I am running a single mono sub amp that fit beautifully under my passenger seat. Since the car is my daily driver, I wanted my install to be as stealth as possible.

 

Thanks. I guess one of the goals is to separate the power from the pwrd-spkr cables from the patch cables. I'll look into running the patch cables down the console and the power and spkr cables on either side, at this point.

I had planned on the amp rack position, like you mentioned, far up front in the cargo area. I still need usable space in the far rear area.

 

TTT

What's the best way to secure an amp rack in the cargo area? Some type of custom brackets bolted to the side walls or to screw down straight through the bottom of the cargo area flooring? Don't want to sound stupid but I don't want to screw through something important underneath. ...and I sure want to avoid 'flying' missle amps if I was ever in a wreck.

 

Sounds like a cool system. I haven't installed a custom system so I can't add any input, but hopefully there are more members that can help answer the rest of your questions. :thumbs:

 

Bolts and locknuts. Add a tack weld to make the amp thief-proof.

BTW, what the f*** does "TTT" mean?

 

if they can't steal it, they'll break it.

 

TTT is short for To The Top ...

 

ttt :steering:

 

The trunk floor is a tricky area to drill into because you've got fuel tanks on both sides right underneath. What I've done was to epoxy 4 small 3/4 hardwood blocks to the floor and then mounted the amp to these with wood screws.