I'm still here ... I'm driving a Jeep with no stereo or speakers (and half a dash), but I'm still here. I'm heading out to LA for the week, so shouldn't be too bad though.

As Charles mentioned, I didn't get started until yesterday afternoon. I was somewhat disorganized as well, so it took me longer than it probably should have.

Here's an update for anyone interested:

The PPI amp did not fit in the stock location - I probably could have made it work, but it was definitely a tight fit and would've required fabricating a custom bracket to move it up higher. The amp was rubbing against the brake, so I wasn't comfortable.

I ended up installing the amp in the storage location in the trunk. I ran the power cable under driver's side carpet and trim and punched it through the firewall where the clutch would be (I taped the LOC power cable to the amp cable and ran them at the same time to make it easier). I grounded the amp to the driver's side cargo tie down right when you open the tailgate.

I decided to install the LOC/equalizer in the glove box for easier access, so I ran the RCA cables on the passenger side, similar to how I ran the power cables. It's really easy to get under the plastic trim pieces.

Also, I got the speaker boxes out and installed in the new speakers in the boxes along with polyfil and new wiring. I had to drill the rubber stoppers to fit in the new wiring. Lube also helped to feed the wires through.

That's about as far as I got on Sunday.


Things I still need to complete:

1. Run the new speaker wire
2. Ground for the LOC
3. Create a wire harness to connect the factory head unit to the LOC
4. Connect everything and put it back together
5. Enjoy it

I'll be out of town this week, but I'll try and get some pic's up this weekend.

Also, I confirmed that the wire scheme on page 1 of this thread is correct.

 

Here's an update for anyone interested:

It's been going slower than I would like; still no sound in the Jeep. I was wiped out from the redeye back from LAX, so Saturday was shot.

I didn't get started til about noon and Sunday and had to stop around 4 to start the bbq for the Super Bowl.

I did get the tweeters in yesterday - I underestimated how much larger I had to make the cut outs to fit the new ones in.

Also, I made the wiring harness to connect the head unit to the LOC. A couple of notes regarding the factory wiring (non-infinity system):

• The wiring coming out of the harness does not match the wiring going to the speakers - the colors change for the rear speakers.
• If you look back far enough, you can see pairs of wires bundled together with electrical tape - I'm assuming these correspond to the speakers since the front left and front right wires were each bundled with the + and - wires.
• As far as the rear speakers, I'm going to have to test to see which is right and which is left - I'm assuming that + and - wires follow a similar convention to the front wiring.

I also ran the speaker wire for the front two speakers, so now I just need to put the front back together and everything should be good to go.

As far as the rear speakers, I was looking at running new wiring, but it looks like I may have to drill into the sound bar to get the new wiring in there. The factory wiring has a clip on the passenger side of the bar where the wiring goes inside the bar. I may just follow that wiring in and seal the whole with liquid gasket material.

Unfortunately, this process is dragging out, but I'm slowly making progress.

 

didn't wana post yet cus I figured an update was coming

good to know you are making progress even if its slow...

How much bigger did you have to make the tweeter hole?

and any photos of that process ?

what tools did you use ?

I am basically on standby for the following set up...

MM651's
MM6501's
Alpine PDX-4F

Installing it all (stock amp locations, and using stock wiring I think....)
I might run all new wiring but I don't really really know if I want to...
I have seen the PDX put in the same spot as the stock amp on another build but I do not know how easy its going to be... I might need to get help putting a sort of shelf system in to hold it steady...

Thank you for following up on your progress again man...

 

I used a drill (with a tungsten carbide Dremel bit) to make the holes larger. The drill worked, but I would recommend a Dremel if you have one. There was a couple times when I got too close to the dash with the drill and it left a mark. I would say that I took the holes almost to the edges of the tombstone - I will try to get some pic's of the holes this week.

I wanted to put my amp in the stock location as well, but I couldn't make it work. I've seen photos of a PDX in there, though, so hopefully you'll have better luck with that. You may have to fabricate a shelf to put the amp one - my Jeep didn't have anything to rest the amp on.

Running new wiring has actually been the easiest part of the whole process, aside from getting it up into the sound bar.

I'm not sure if you're planning on replacing your head unit or not, but if you need to splice into the factory wiring, I found wire crimps with heat shrink at Home Depot that actually worked really well - would've taken a lot longer if I had to solder everything.

 

I have a aftermarket head unit already, with the PAC harness thingy already in play... running new speaker wire would be even simpler I guess... I could run some really quality audio stuff that we get here at work, but I don't know how honestly worth it that would be...

 

I ran the 2 signal wires(from rear channels of my JL G6600 to the JL Crossovers double stick taped inside sound bar) from the amp in the rear trunk, and under the sub enclosure, through the roll bar padding starting at sub, then into the sound bar through the stock wiring hole and rubber grommet. It was a little pain to get wiring through the grommet but otherwise all was easy.

 

Did you just force it through the grommet or did you have to make the hole bigger?

 

I forced them through, you can make it easier by lubing the wires like with soapy water then after working them through cut a couple inches off the ends.

 

I did the same, no need to drill a hole. I would very much recommend running new wires, you will spend more time figuring positive and negative.

I learned a trick a few years ago, ditch the liquid gasket or silicone. I only use hot glue now. Flexible, seal, and the best part it dries quick. No mess. great for sealing speaker wire holes.

 

Humphh... I guess I could see the whole wiring pain in the ass thing with whats positive and whats negative... to be honest I think because I am going to be running RCA out of the HU to the amp, using stock wiring wouldn't really work anyway unless the amp does fit in the stock amp location (with out too much work) and even then, if the stock amp is labled clearly enough to know which wire is for what or I have some tools that can aid in the process...

Any suggestion on type of stereo wire?

the Price on the MM's is dropping by the way... even Crutchfield has a huge price break on them... all good news