My Stagea Stereo Install

[rb26stagea]

So, I've had the stag just over 3 years now, having bought it from my old man's estate. When I got it sent up here, it had been sitting in Sydney for a couple of months during some pretty significant rainstorms, and the air vents had been left on 'outside air', leaving the whole interior pretty clammy and humid.

Subsequently, the existing audio system didn't really like to work so well: at leat, not regularly... For the first few weeks it would work for a few minutes then cut out....then cut in....then out again, until finally it lost the battle, and remained silent: leaving me with nothing but the sweet sweet sounds of a cammed RB26, and a bunch of interior rattles for company.

Well, I've finally had enough! With the rest of the car getting close to completion (interior trimming thread to follow next month!), I finally bit the bullet and decided that I need some tunes (helped in part by Petie's (my wife's) new car, which I just put a basic, but waaaay better stereo into). I set myself a budget, and promptly blew that out of the water, as you do. The car went in almost 2 weeks ago, and I have a few teaser shots, which will be followed shortly by the finished product. Enjoy!

[rb26stagea]

Crap! ran out of time for editing! Anyway, here goes:

I already had a set of Alpine SPX-177A (the original, "Hand-made in Denmark") reference series front speakers sitting around, brand new in the box from about 7 years ago, so I will be using them for the front stage. I also had an Alpine 9887 headunit that I bought about a year ago, to which I have added full ipod integration, Alpine Bluetooth kit, and the Alpine ipod drawer (for neatness). I have since purchased a newer pair of Alpine X-series splits forn the rear doors, Alpine 1000w Monoblock amp, Alpine 4 x (150w?) amp, a 2 - farad capacitor, and a Dynomat "Ultimate" kit. For Sub bass, I purchased a pair of Alpine type R 12" subwoofers, which are pre-mounted in Alpine slot-ported boxes for ease of remaoval (for track days, etc).

My brief was simple: I wanted a neat system with an emphasis on sound quality, rather than big bass, but it had to look integrated, like it was supposed to be there, and not an afterthought. So far, this is what I have:

The dynamat kit is great: it get full coverage of both front doors, most of the rear doors, and most of the rear hatch area:

I insisted on having the Subwoofers removable, but given how small the current crop of amplifiers are, I decided to build a false floor, and flush mount the amps, with custom covers/lids made for them for when I want to put something in the back (unlikely, but just in case...):

Now to the exciting part: when I purchased my manual centre console, I had to cull a lot of the accessories like cup holders and ashtrays, so as to keep the costs down. This left me with some pretty big gaps at the rear of the centre console, and behind the gear shifter. I was also unhappy with the mounting of my boos controller, in front of the froint cup holders, as it was messy, and rendered the cup holders unusable.

So... I decided that some moulding was in order: I had them integrate the boost controller (AVC-R) into the dash, where the front cup holders normally are. I also had the Apexi Power FC hand controller integrated into the centre console, as I had a huge hole there where the manual console had space for cup holders. I had an Apexi RSM (Rev-Speed Meter) sitting around unused, and since there was a huge void in the rear of the centre console, I thought it might be a bit of fun to mount it there for the rear seat passengers to see... I have the g-force sensor sitting around for this somewhere, so when hooked up, it will allow the rear seat passengers to play around with things like 0-100kph times, 1/4 mile times, cornering G's, etc.... It's all just a bit of fun! :

That's all I have for the moment: I'll update as I get more pics, or the car is (finally) finished... I hope you like it!

[SCHSLYF]

hi hows it going? your install is looking great, i just ahve a small favour to ask/question to ask...........

can you please measure the speaker mounting depth, will save me pulling it all apart just to mesure to see if my splits will fit in. if you can give the depth of both front and rear i can work out what speakers to buy to meet my needs (although i already have a fair idea what ill buy if i have to buy new ones)

[nickcorr]

and any pics of the subs?

[rb26stagea]

SCHSLYF: Sorry mate, the doors have been butchered already, and the factory speakers are long gone... I do know I needed spacers made for the new fronts, but I've also moulded them into the door trims, so it may have been just to get them to sit nicely, rather than for clearance in the door...

nickcorr: Still waiting for sub pics to come: I get teaser shots every couple of days, so they shouldn't be too far away... It's just hit the 2 week mark today, so it's officially a week overdue, not that I'm bothered: I'm just keen to see the finished result!

[SCHSLYF]

SCHSLYF: Sorry mate, the doors have been butchered already, and the factory speakers are long gone... I do know I needed spacers made for the new fronts, but I've also moulded them into the door trims, so it may have been just to get them to sit nicely, rather than for clearance in the door...

nickcorr: Still waiting for sub pics to come: I get teaser shots every couple of days, so they shouldn't be too far away... It's just hit the 2 week mark today, so it's officially a week overdue, not that I'm bothered: I'm just keen to see the finished result!

you saying you have put the door trims back on or thata all the original speaker mounts are gone? im not interested in the factory speakers, to work out mounting depth would basically be from the mounting position to any object inside the door itself that is likely to hit -> 99% of cars this is the window or window rails.

so basically i want to know how much room is from the window/window rail to the where the speakers would mount, if that makes sense. otherwise ill just have to go to my old work and get the installer to pop of the door trims and measure it up, nothing to hard, just requires time.

[rb26stagea]

you saying you have put the door trims back on or thata all the original speaker mounts are gone?

Both: the door trims have been chopped and modified, and the original speaker mounts have been binned in favour of custom items... The car is at a workshop, as I don't have the time to undertake the amount of work required to get the car how I want. I'll see if they still have the trims off the doors, but I would hope it's mostly back together at this stage... That said, the trims will all come off again when the car gets retrimmed, which will commence on the 24th of this month, if you can wait: I'll go and measure it myself...

[SCHSLYF]

Both: the door trims have been chopped and modified, and the original speaker mounts have been binned in favour of custom items... The car is at a workshop, as I don't have the time to undertake the amount of work required to get the car how I want. I'll see if they still have the trims off the doors, but I would hope it's mostly back together at this stage... That said, the trims will all come off again when the car gets retrimmed, which will commence on the 24th of this month, if you can wait: I'll go and measure it myself...

at this stage i have plenty of time, but in a few days the car is going in to get the alarm installed, i will get him to have a look at it all then, as he will do the stereo install when i get around to it, so it isnt much of an issue. also if im required to buy new speakers the ones ill be buying have a shallow mount of about 53mm so they should fit in easy with a spacer if needed. (i went and looked at the speakers yesterday i knew they were shallow mounted, just not that shallow)

[rb26stagea]

Excitement!!! The car s ready to pick up! I'm just trying to organise a lift down there... Apparently they have a whole cd of photos of the build, which I'll add when I get back!

[SCHSLYF]

Excitement!!! The car s ready to pick up! I'm just trying to organise a lift down there... Apparently they have a whole cd of photos of the build, which I'll add when I get back!

sweet as enjoy, i love being able to jump into the car and have good tunes going (unfortunatly i have to do it in the wifes car)

[DAYZ]

Sorry to revive an older thread, but is there any update on how everything went rb26stagea??

Im looking at doing an install in the next month or two and just wondering how it all worked out.

Also are you happy with the alpine subs etc?

[kidafa]

Sarah,

Speak to Ben from tonkins (grim on here)

He's got 3 stageas (2 Autechs!) and works at tonkins. Top bloke and knows his shit!

[DAYZ]

Sarah,

Speak to Ben from tonkins (grim on here)

He's got 3 stageas (2 Autechs!) and works at tonkins. Top bloke and knows his shit!

Fantastic!! Thanks for your help Chris.

Should I ask why he owns 3 Stageas. lol

Appreciate the advice

Cheers

[kidafa]

Why doesnt need an explanation clearly cos hes a mad kent! haha

PS he might not be at work as him and his missus have had a bub in the past week. You would be aware of this if you follow the sa section