[IMG][/IMG]

now make sure you do the inner part of the speaker hole, not the outer part. [IMG][/IMG]

 

[IMG][/IMG

I obviously am not an artist.

now I checked to make sure the speaker fits in the hole I just made. I used a file to smoothen the edges to make sure it fits nicely all the way in for a nice seal.

After that I cut out the rest.

[IMG][/IMG]

 

The fit is great although ugly! I used the same bolts for the spacer as what was on the stock woofer.

The first dynamat application was overzealous, I had to do smaller sheets to get around the parts sticking out or the door panel won't go back on correctly. What is shown is before I fixed it. [IMG][/IMG]

 

in this shot I show only one tool, but really I used two of the trim tools to "reset" the poppers. It was easy. Refer to the door panel links I have above for better pictures. [IMG][/IMG]

 

I used the router to cut a small indentation behind the spacer to run the stock speaker wires. If you do new wires you will not need to do this. I sealed up nicely afterward with a little bit of silicon. [IMG][/IMG]

 

not so pretty but works great. I painted the spacers black so you wouldn't see it through the speaker grills. Kind of funny that it still says bose, but it's not anymore! Yay![IMG][/IMG]

 

I'll post more pictures soon with the final shots of the headunit, and the subwoofer. I have to go back to work now but pictures pending.

overall the job took me longer than an installer would, of course, but all of it was easy provided you aren't drunk and don't have a ton of interruptions.

 

Great work! Looking forward to more pics!

 

I finally got some time to fool with the jbl ms-8 again. Previously I couldn't get past the "no signal". I figured out the solution from researching online at the diymobileaudio site. You have to change the volume on the headunit up and down until the jbl recognizes the right level which is NOT supposed to be heard, just sent through the line. Strange, but that's how it works. Once got that it was a snap to set up. My headunit volume setting that works fluctuates between -25 to -30.

The first few attempts sounded great with the major exception that my tweeters sounded like complete crap, as if they were completely blown but they weren't blown. I added the passive crossover to the line in the frunk, and solved that problem. The processed signal sounds ok, but when I disable the processing it sounds phenomenal. From what I read the jbl unit still keeps in place the crossover selections and such but stops other processing. I have no idea why it sounds better with processing off, but it does. I left the surround 7 on because it did sound a bit better than if off.
But overall it sounds so much better that I finally happy with my investment, so so so so so so so so so much better than stock bose!
The good thing about the jbl unit is that I can tweak it as much as I want. I bypassed the headunit settings and just ran with the jbl settings.

 

still working on the calibration. Covered the tweeters and turned the subwoofer gain way down, calibrated, then raised sub gain a bit, tweeters much better. Now the processing is a bit better than processing off, but sometimes the tweeters sound hollow but the sound stage awesome.

 

The system should sound WAY better with calibration ON. If it doesn't, your setup is incorrect prior to calibration. A very common cause is the volume is too high when you play the MS-8 test tones (while wearing the mic headphones). You should just barely be able to hear the tones. They should be pretty soft. The other problem occurs when the gain on one or more of your channels is a lot higher than the others. This makes it difficult/impossible for the MS-8 to balance the other channel levels within its digital headroom, and it can't flatten your response.

Also, what are your crossover frequencies and slopes set to?

Awesome to hear your system is coming along so well!

 

I have a question - I didn't catch what your final setup was on the 3-way front stage. Did you end up running an independent wire for your tweeters, or did you place an inline passive crossover on the shared signal from the 4" mid wiring?

I'm in the middle of this setup right now, terrible piecemeal: Seas Lotus Reference 6.5, JL XR 4", and Hertz 24.3 tweeters.

Thanks!

John

 

Are you changing the amp as well?

 

This is really nice work. I wish I had the time and ability to do something like this.

Since I do not, who can I pay to do this?? lol!

 

I will try to recalibrate at the lower level. How low should the head unit volume go, and how low for the jblms8?

I skipped the midrange now as I don't have the matching focal one but plan on getting it later and feeding it's own wiring. For now the tweeters have their own dedicated wire channel from the amp, the midwoofer has it's own dedicated channel too, and the subwoofer has it's own dedicated channel but using a separate amp.