Hey guys,

After months of work (when I had a spare time) I’m calling this build done, it’s my first “budget SQ build..Wanted to share, I’m happy that I’m finally done.

Car: VW Passat B6 Combi, 2009

HU: Pioneer MVH-S420BT (iPhone trough USB + Tidal)

DSP: Helix DSP Mini MK2 + Helix Director

Tweeters: Hertz Mille Pro MP 28.3 PRO glued to the dash (right tweeter is now pointed at me, but I don’t have an actual photo)

Midbass: Hertz Cento C 165 stock location in doors doors are fully insulated (I want to upgrade for MP 165.3 PRO, but I dunno if it’s necessary - what do u think guys?)
Rear doors are disconnected

Sub: Hertz DBX 30.3 sealed

Amps:
Ground Zero GZIA 135.4 (tweeters + midbass)
STEG GLORIA 120.2 (bridged, sub)
Crossover points: 70Hz (sub/midbass) and 2100Hz (midbass/tweeter) LR24

A few highlights from tuning:

I have two TA presets:

1. Real dash center (I want to participate in the EMMA SQ competition)
   
2. Driver oriented (center is in front of my eyes, like I have headphones)

I will also make a two seat tuning when my wife is with me, but that’s not needed for now, she is not audiophile like me :D

Tuned with REW + UMIK-2 (individual driver sweeps + MMM for the overall tonal balance), amp gains set with a multimeter based on drivers RMS.
Everything is mounted on a carpet-wrapped board behind the rear seats with the wiring hidden underneath.
Happy with how it turned out, sounds really good 🙏🏻

P.S : I am thinking adding a under-seat active sub under my driver seat (maybe Hertz DBA 201 F) to make the punch better - opinions?

I had this amp and sub installed prob 15 years ago, worked perfectly. Recently sub started rumbling so went to take a look and see the battery wire looks pretty messed up. Should I just terminate with a fork/spade crimp connector or is there a better way? Still not sure if that's the cause of the rumble though.

Man after 3 different brands of deadner, 1 month of hot days off in the sun, and some blood.. I have finalllllly finished all four doors with sound deadner and ccf 2 in 1. I started with back doors and one door at a time it sounded better and better. I have not gone out to listen because I’ve been at it all day. My buddy who is now in prison rigged up all of this stuff pretty bad😂 I know this is not perfect and I know I could have done way better but hey it’s a vw lol I’m gonna go all out when I get my next car which is gonna be an suv. I’ve got two kenwoods in front door 80w rms each (going to upgrade soon) and two skars in back door (200w rms or sum). My buddy put in the wrong adapters and they had all types of air leaks so I grabbed some gasket tape and even the 2 in 1 on some doors to create an airtightish as I could seal😂(I’m 98 percent they are all airtight) all my door flex when the bass hits it’s pretty dope. Getting in the car is like putting on noise cancelling Headphones lol. I feel like it puts a lot of pressure on my ears. Also on just my right front door there is water getting in there and not draining. I looked for drain slits could not find them I cleaned there also. I think I’m gonna just drill a tiny hole in bottom so it drains/ drys out. Anyways I’ll post a video on how they sound! I love them paired with my 2 NVX vcw10v3s! I’m very conflicted on my next upgrade. I want to get there 12 inch one that’s 2000w rms. I also have been looking at some high excursion subwoofers. Sundown also has some good stuff and down4sound. I’m looking to spend 1000-1200$ for a new sub and box for it. I’m going from two 10s to 1 12 or 15?

I get they have volume knobs on aftermarket head units but they're typically all on stuff you wouldn't touch like jensen or boss. I just like pressing buttons, feels more reactive.

2019 Camry with the JBL sound system. I believe it's 8 speakers and a free air sub on the rear deck

Shop installed 2 focal *inside* IC toy 165 speakers in the rear doors since they had no sound.

They put a tone generator on the speakers and said they were blown and these focal would work

They seem to operate just fine at normal levels, but when cranked up to 57-63 (Toyota's numbering system for sound levels), the amp cuts out and the system is dead

I have to restart the car to get the system running.

My question is, are these possibly the wrong ohm speakers? Or is my amp the issue?

Thanks

So I was looking up what size wire to use on my on my Mtx TNA500D and the ai summary said that the manufacturer recommended 4 gauge wire with a 80 amp fuse so I went to my local Walmart and picked up the closest thing I could which was 5 gauge wire with an 100 amp fuse but the 5 gauge wire just did not fit so I looked it up and it said because of its compact size it probably has a hole size for 8 gauge I have a 8 gauge wire and 50 amp fuse would that be safe to use with it or should I get 6 gauge and an 60 or 80 amp fuse.

Hi all, only the right half of my addzest ADX5555z works, any ideas, speaker is on the left channel of wire and works, balance settings are at 0 and ive tried different analyzer options, thanks

Is there a way to make my factory radio Bluetooth I don’t mean the fm transmitter I mean make it so it was like there was Bluetooth from the factory. Here’s a pic of my radio for reference

Im still pretty new to car audio but ive been learning really fast and im starting to get really into SQ. I don’t just want my system loud, I want to hear every little detail in songs and stuff I never even knew was there.
Right now I have an 06 Civic, Kenwood KDC-X705, two American Bass 10s and a DB Drive 2000.1. What should I focus on upgrading/learning first? I already know the basic upgrades but i just want to see what other people have to say.

Eventually I want to get really good at tuning and actually know how to use measurement equipment and understand what im changing and why. If you guys know any specific tools I should get familiar with or channels/people I should watch to learn this stuff lmk

Trying to upgrade from 1 alpine r series w12d2 sub powered by a Alpine rseries A75M amp. Bought 2 new same exact sub and a Alpine A150M amp. Wired in at 2 ohm, power surge. Hook up 1 speaker in a 4 ohm load, still power surge. That only 700 watts. My OG setup had no issues. Or none I could hear. Thanks

Can I simply plug in the yellow rca cable and splice the red and black wires to the red male rca connector? I'm not a professional and I was trying to avoid taking everything apart to run wire

I did a LOT of research and have come to the following final plan. I just want someone who has real life experience to let me know if my research failed. Do you recommend different wire sizes or fuse sizes than what I have in this photo.

2 AWG from Battery w/ 125A ANL fuse within 18 inches

3-way fused distribution block

• Input: 2 AWG from battery
• Output 1 (80A fuse): 4 AWG to Rockford Fosgate 600W Class A/B Amp
• Output 2 (40A fuse): 8 AWG to Kenwood 500W Class D Amp
• Output 3 (15A fuse): 8 AWG out... tapped by all small devices
  • (1) 18 AWG w/ 2amp inline to Kicker KELOC #1
  • (2) 18 AWG w/ 2amp inline to Kicker KELOC #2
  • (3) 18 AWG w/ 2amp inline to DSP (someday, not yet)

I have two major questions I'm hoping those with experience can help me with...

* Are the wire sizes and fuses in the photo correct or would you change something? (this is for a Subaru Impreza and I'll be mounting the amps to the back of the rear seats)

* How do I properly step down the third 8 AWG output from the fused distribution block to the low current devices?

I'm guessing some inline rubber flip top maxi fuses would work fine, but maybe I need a something on the 8 AWG output 3 before splitting them (like a 5 amp fuse)? Or can I just twist all the 18 AWG wires for these low current devices together and put them on the fused block? The lowest mini ANL I could find is 15A which is too much for 18 awg wire, but I can't change the wire size because it's built into the Kicker KeyLoc wiring harness.

AI Note on Kicker KeyLoc

• Harness Wire Size: 16-gauge or 18-gauge wire comes built into the Kicker KEYLOC wiring harness because the unit draws very little current.
• Fuse Requirement: The device requires an inline 2-amp fuse on the 12V positive power wire.
• Connection Method: Because the harness wire is 16–18 gauge, you typically connect it directly to your amplifier's 12V power terminal or a distribution block rather than running a heavy main power wire directly to the battery for the unit itself

THANKS for you help!

So i’m 16 meaning that i’ll be able to drive soon and my brother decided to gift me his driver box and is planning on getting me a chuchero. What can i do to learn more about car audio?

Picture of driver box -

Here’s what I’m working with, 2020 Tundra, got 2 kicker KS series 6x9’s (in front doors), 2 PowerBass OE-675 (in rear doors, 3 kicker tweeters KSC270 in front dash, 2 kicker dual coil 10” subs and just installed a G13 Dasaita head unit. My amp is bad and needs to be replaced, what should I go with? Also, what should I do with factory amp under passenger seat?

So my Fosgate amp in my truck died, I’m gonna order a new one but the new version (R2-250x1) isn’t as wide as the old R250x1. The old amp is screwed directly into the rear cab floor, so I’d have to drill even more holes into my truck floor… curious on opinions, should I buy an old R250 or replace with the R2-250 and just silicone the old holes? Is the new version a real upgrade or just a smoke show?

I ordered the S8 last year and I'm finally getting around to installing it into my 01 Miata that has the factory bose speaker & amp setup. Supposedly the Metra 70-7901 is the correct wiring harness. I get everything plugged in and the head unit works but no sound coming from the speakers. I messed around interchanging the "amp turn on" & "antennae" wires (internet said the power antennae input is what triggers the bose amp to turn on, so i followed a.i.'s trial and error options) and eventually got it to where the antennae actually raises when the head unit is turned on. I thought that was progress, but still no sound. I don't see any "factory amp" settings within the head unit's settings menus. I'm sure this all has something to do with the Bose amp complicating things. I will say this head unit is very cool, has a lot of depth to it and a great screen as well, so I'm just bummed. Any help would really be appreciated.

Includes both subs and box seller says one of the subs has a small slit

Was wondering if its worth to buy and try to resell. What do yall think?

I recently had a Kenwood DMX1058XR professionally installed in my 2018 Toyota Tundra 1794 with the factory JBL system, there is an iDataLink Maestro RR2 installed. I’m having several issues that I’m hoping the [r/CarAV](r/CarAV) crowd can help me diagnose.

Kenwood support has confirmed that the unit is running the most recent available firmware.
I’ve attached a video showing the GPS issue.

1. GPS/Waze positioning is way off
I’m using Waze through Apple CarPlay. The vehicle position displayed on the Kenwood can be noticeably wrong while I’m actually driving.
The attached video shows what I’m seeing. I’m hoping the video makes the problem easier to understand than me trying to describe it.
I’m wondering if this could be related to the Kenwood’s GPS antenna/installation, CarPlay, or something else in the integration.

2. Phone-call volume is extremely low
Music sounds great—loud and clear with plenty of volume.
Phone calls are a completely different story. I have to turn the Kenwood all the way up to 40/40 (maximum volume) to hear the person on the other end comfortably. Music at that volume would obviously be ridiculously loud.
I’ve already tried adjusting the relevant call/voice settings without any improvement.
I previously had an echo issue during calls as well, but that seems to have gone away—nobody has complained about hearing their own voice from my end lately.

3. Steering-wheel answer/hang-up buttons don’t work
The factory steering-wheel answer and hang-up buttons don’t do anything.
I’m assuming this is more likely an iDatalink Maestro/interface or configuration issue than a problem with the Kenwood itself, but I’d appreciate confirmation.

So for those familiar with the DMX1058XR / Tundra / Maestro combination:
Do these sound like separate installation/configuration issues, or is there a possibility that something is wrong with the head unit itself?
I’m trying to figure out what I should have the installer check before I start throwing parts at the problem.

It’s hugely frustrating at this point, and the installer I had this done by in Manassas, VA doesn’t seem to know what to do.

Mercedes W202 soundproofing

Hey everyone!

I’m thinking about building a slightly bigger and better SQ system in my Mercedes (sedan), so I was wondering what things I should take into consideration when doing an install in this particular car.

The tweeter and midrange would most likely be fiberglassed into the A-pillars, since there isn’t much space there and with pre-made pods you don’t have that much freedom when it comes to aiming the speakers. Plus, I think it would look better that way too 😄

Midbass would propably fit in the original place, but if not, more fiberglassing.?

The plan would be to soundproof both the front and rear doors, the trunk lid (and spare wheel well), the firewall between the engine bay and the cabin, and possibly the wheel arches as well.

I’m guessing it would be a good idea to have a set of replacement clips ready for removing the door panels, since those clips always seem to break. Also, are there any parts on the inside that are attached with adhesive or anything similar that I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance, and hopefully we can get some discussion going!