Over the weekend I was in Porsche mechanic heaven..lol...replaced the parking brake sensor, replaced the lip spoiler on my TT bumper and then I decided to jump into my Audison/Focal stereo upgrade. I have the Kenwood DDX7015 touchscreen double DIN head unit with Nav/iPod/Sirius/etc...I love it and it sounds great too....Problem, stock speakers and amp are the achilles heal of the system. After being in a Hyundai Sonata rental with a decent system, my car sounded like crap. So I pulled out my upper center console, to make running wires easier, and started running wires from the trunk to the dash. Monster RCA cables, Monstar speaker cables for the dash seperates...2 sets. I used the existing wiring for the rear speakers and the door subs. I pulled the dash pods out and looked at the Focal 165 V3E 3 way seperates and saw it was going to need some work to fit....I actually had to cut the old speacker and use it to make a custom holder for the new mid driver as its slightly smaller than the factory one...sealed it with silicone...Same with the tweeters, dremel tool to cut the underside of the grill and notched it so the new tweeter fit flust and then sealed it in place with silicone. Yanked out the 6x40 watt amp, and used that location for my crossovers. Then used the Monster amp wiring kit with 8 gauge power cables, fuses, ground cables and remote line. Put all this is the trunk area. I wired up the Focals in the dash to the crossovers, then to the Audison LRX 4.300. I used the factory door subs for now...running out of time...Wired the rear speakers directly to the head unit, using its 50x4 power. Tested it out..had HORRIBLE engine whine throught the front system...checked all grounds, all power cables....BAD AMP....ugh....I could test it all with the car off....I swapped the amp this morning and all was good...I have a slight whine every now and then, which is the head unit ground which I think is suspect....but the sound is AMAZING....The crispness and imaging is awesome. Even with the stock door subs, the low end is MUCH better than before. This weekend I'll go in the doors and work on getting the 6.5" speakers in there. That will most definately sound MUCH better than the stock speakers, and then my footwell sub which wil round off the bottom end. I am hearing things in songs I have never heard before and these are songs I have listened to for years....very happy with this mod...and from the inside, its invisible. Nothing changed. In my trunk, is an amp. Other than that all the speakers are in the stock location.

 

A lot of work or what? How do you think it is gonna be to pull the door panals?

 

Yes its alot of work....but it was nice to do it....I enjoy working on this beauty...door panels will be pretty easy, there are lots of DIY instructions. The hard part is modifying the door pod for a 6.5" speaker.

 

I think that if you had the bose system, the 6.5 should fit.

 

From what I've heard from many installers is that a good number of 6.5's can be worked into the factory door and covered with the stock grill.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard that the Focal's 6.5's can be done this way...

 

Actually AI Design in NY State makes a custom baffle for this exact speaker. This will fit it into the door and in the stock grill. Thats why I did these 3 ways instead of the 2 ways and seperate 5.25" mid bass speakers. If that doesnt work the shop I bought them from has done 996s with the Focal 6.5" in the door.

 

how do u like the audison amps??

 

Peeksures?

 

I LOVE the Audison amp.....its buttery smooth with the Focals.....Plenty of headroom, and NICE crisp highs....I find myself listening to music I have not heard in a while to see what it sounds like....Cant wait to get the Sub and Focal mid bass speakers in. That will REALLY be nice.

 

Where are the INSTALL PICS for a new DIY??

 

pics or ban ....

 

Sorry guys, I was cocentrating so much on the install, I didnt take any pics.....when its all done, I'll post some....