meetloaf13

Hello everyone, just reporting back. After help from many people including several here my audio rehaul is final and I'm in love. I figured I'd summarize what I ended up doing since there are several threads out there asking for similar setups.

I set out for a 7" HU with 4V output with quality Bluetooth calling and GOOD sound.

First, I'd like to say a couple things. I initially had eyes bigger than my budget. I wanted too much and wanted to spend too little. I had a budget of $700, that was sans Sub. I ended up spending ~$1,000 before the Sub. There's a chance I could have shaved $100 off that had I spent months bargain hunting, but I did a decent job of getting some good deals. What I'm saying here, is don't kid yourself thinking you're going to be satisfied with less (I did for quite some time), if you know you're going to want MORE. Save up for a little while longer and spend the extra couple hundred dollars. You're going to look at my total price and say "no way" am I spending that much...I did the same thing...but then I spent that much.

Before I tore my car apart, I had a friend who convinced me to run two battery lines and an extra set of RCA cables, "just in case" I wanted to add a Sub later...BEST, ADVICE, EVER. As the story goes, I ended up purchasing a monoblock amp, and a Sub, & box.

One bit, I had a bear of a time getting some of the box builders online responding to me in a timely manner. I didn't want a HUGE sub, I'm not willing to lose one of my back seats. I also wasn't willing to purchase a sub that would rattle my entire car. I also wanted a sub that was high on the SQ spectrum. For all those reasons I decided to go shallow and enclosed. I found a Sub whose maker optimized this sub for the above, match made in heaven. I then found a guy who custom builds nice boxes and is very affordable. A very pleasant experience. I don't think he's a member of these forums (you can find him on caraudio.com), but here's his FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cscst...996602?fref=ts

Here's my list with approx prices ~$1,400:

$150 - Amp: Eclipse EA4000 75W x 4 Amp
$340 - Deck: Pioneer AV-4600BT
$131 - Front: JBL P660C components
$106 - Rear: Infinity Kappa 682.11 coax
$171 - SubAmp: JBL MS-A5001
$125 - Sub: Sundown SD10 D-3 (bought lightly used, one of the best shallow mounts you'll find)
$140 - Box: Custom-built by CSCStang met him on caraudio.com PICTURES: http://imgur.com/a/dXdCR
$49 - Metra Axxess ASWC-1
$32 - Backup Cam: TaoTronics License plate backup Cam TT-CC17
$118 - Wiring Kits/Wire/Misc/Harnesses/Antenna adapter
$21 - Scosche Dash Kit

In the end I got everything I wanted (and double than I had originally planned ):
- 7" HU
- Backup Cam
- Bluetooth Calling
- Steering wheel controls (Sans Sync)
- Gorgeous sound
- Inconspicous sub

Thanks again to everyone here who helped me along. Glad to be done with this project.




In case there are any searchers and/or first-time installers like me, here are a few notes:
- I ended up placing my tweeters in the stock location. The JBL 660C tweeters almost fit the holes perfectly. I could position them a little better with some better backing, but I'm happy for now.
- There's little talk about finding your "Red" 'Battery +' line behind the dash. I ended up tapping into the Power+ line that powers the little instrument cluster above the HU that includes the emergency signal and passenger-side airbag light.
- When connecting and wiring my backup camera to the HU, I had to do double work. I initially wired my backup camera power + line to my backup light. But, this didn't trigger my HU to auto-switch. I ultimately I connected a line from my rear-backup light to the rear-view camera line on the HU & then then + line of my backup cam to a switched + line, coincidentally to the same battery+ line that my HU is connected to. So, when wiring for the backup camera, run the RCA video line along with 2 more lines for the rear-view trigger and the constant power (you may be able to tap into lines more conveniently than I did)
- When running your wires, leave extra foot or two of extra wiring at each end, "just in case" =]
- Be gentle when pulling the dash, the clips aren't invincible
- If you've never done this before, it WILL take more than one day. I focused on getting all the wiring run the first day, so I could put most of the car back together and drive it around the next day before I installed/wired my deck, AMPs, etc.
- I didn't do sound-deadening, but I may very well end up doing so (fatmat, etc)
- Make sure you don't run your battery lines to your amp next to RCA cablesyou run from your HU to your AMP...I didn't run into this, but it would suck to have everything back together, only to find out you've got some interference and engine whine

Sorry for the NOVEL