The "Simple" System

[kri$han]

Hey guys - first thanks to all the major contributors on this forum - Google search after google search consistently led me here, cuz the members seem to keep it thorough! #respect

So, I have a few items torn out of my old Honda Prelude that I plan on re-using with the stock (touchscreen, non-navi) HU in our Scion FR-S:

- Infinity reference 6030cs 2-way components
- a 12" RF T1 subwoofer in a home-made sealed box
- two RF amps; one 600W for the sub and another 4-channel that I will bridge to two for the component set
- ~6 feet of "brown bread" (Dynamatt) that I've had for about a decade in my basement

I've already ordered a Metra 70-1761 and will re-pin it according to RandomHero's instructions to replace the OEM amplifier, using the high-level inputs from the stock HU (see Q1). Metra 72-8104 for the door speakers, some door speaker adapters and foam baffles from Amazon.

Questions:
1) Can anyone confirm the RCA outputs on the Canadian Scion FR-S touch screen HU? I saw one picture with three outputs on the back, but no one in that thread could confirm if there were indeed subwoofer, front and rear RCA's...
2) The front component amp will put out roughly 65W RMS - should I run new wires for the door speakers, or can I re-use the factory harness as planned? and,
3) How difficult is it to run speaker wire into the doors? For the Prelude I had to drill out some empty pins in the connectors...not fun.
4) I'd like the mids in the dash and rear speakers to run off the HU, and only replace the tweeters in the dash (I can run new wires for those) - is this possible? I understand they are on the same harness, and possibly wired together in series ?

In terms of using Dynamatt; I'll basically put as much of it as I can, depending on how many interior metal surfaces I expose during my install... thinking rear-deck, doors, trunk at minimum, maybe behind rear panels too.

5) What can I combine with dynamatt for further sound deadening? Perhaps a foam to line the door cards? To give you an idea of my "hacking" comfort level: I don't want to remove the plastic liner behind the door panel, as I think it's there for a good reason; I'll probably peel it back to install dynamatt, then put it back...

I can post pics if anyone is interested, but for the audio guys that just wanna wade in the shallow end of upgrades, this thread is for you.

[Chimera]

2) The front component amp will put out roughly 65W RMS - should I run new wires for the door speakers, or can I re-use the factory harness as planned? and,
3) How difficult is it to run speaker wire into the doors? For the Prelude I had to drill out some empty pins in the connectors...not fun.
--I'm running 90W RMS on the stock wires
--medium, the curve takes some finesse.. and potentially lube.


4) I'd like the mids in the dash and rear speakers to run off the HU, and only replace the tweeters in the dash (I can run new wires for those) - is this possible? I understand they are on the same harness, and possibly wired together in series ?
the tweeter wiring is easy enough to bypass but I think the 3.5 in the dash will get different impedance load which will change its output characteristics. I have a 3.5 infinity set in my dash run off the HU. the stock tweeter and 3.5 in the dash are wired in parallel logically, but the connector for the 3.5 is daisy chained from the tweeters harness.

[kri$han]

Originally Posted by Chimera

--I'm running 90W RMS on the stock wires
--medium, the curve takes some finesse.. and potentially lube.


the tweeter wiring is easy enough to bypass but I think the 3.5 in the dash will get different impedance load which will change its output characteristics. I have a 3.5 infinity set in my dash run off the HU. the stock tweeter and 3.5 in the dash are wired in parallel logically, but the connector for the 3.5 is daisy chained from the tweeters harness.

Excellent - stock door wiring it is! (fingers crossed for no noticeable interference)

Hmmm, I assume the stock speakers are 4ohm, which would mean the stock HU outputs are 2ohm stable then? So if I get rid of the tweeter from the stock harness, I'd have to either; buy a 4ohm 3.5" to be run off the HU, or get a resistor to replace the OEM tweeter... does that sound right?

Tell me more about your infinity set: is it a 2-way 3.5" set with a crossover? what/how did you replace the OEM setup with?

Thanks!

[Chimera]

I have the coax REF-3002cfx, which I actually wired a 1ohm resistor in line with. I used mostly stock wiring, I got a harness adapter for the 3.5 stock adapter, which I do not recall the part number on atm, however to make it work you also need to wire 2 small jumpers into the tweeters harness to jump the signal over. so if the tweeter harness looks like 4 pins straight across jump 1 to 2 and 3 to 4.
found the post where I got the idea:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15565
anyways, Im also running alpine spr-60c with the tweeter mounted in the stock location, so i had to run a wire from the door to the cabin for that.

[kri$han]

Originally Posted by Chimera

I have the coax REF-3002cfx, which I actually wired a 1ohm resistor in line with. I used mostly stock wiring, I got a harness adapter for the 3.5 stock adapter, which I do not recall the part number on atm, however to make it work you also need to wire 2 small jumpers into the tweeters harness to jump the signal over. so if the tweeter harness looks like 4 pins straight across jump 1 to 2 and 3 to 4.
found the post where I got the idea:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15565
anyways, Im also running alpine spr-60c with the tweeter mounted in the stock location, so i had to run a wire from the door to the cabin for that.

Cuz the Infinity has a 3ohm resistance, yes? Geez this is unnecessarily complicated lol...

If the two speakers were wired in parallel, then they would still work if one or the other was removed (albeit, with different overall impedance), so I guess they are indeed wired in series...

[Chimera]

the harnesses are wired in series, however the logical wiring is a parallel load circuit, the tweeter itself literally jumps the pos and ground on 2 and 3 to pins 1 and 4, which makes it logically parallel.

[TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL]

I must urge you to ditch the brown bread. I don't mean this as an insult, but it truly is a junk product. I can go in much further detail tomorrow when my work load is much lighter, but my most important bit of advice is to ditch the brown bread. Search for a thread called CLD Testing on this forum for my reasoning.

[kri$han]

Originally Posted by TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL

I must urge you to ditch the brown bread. I don't mean this as an insult, but it truly is a junk product. I can go in much further detail tomorrow when my work load is much lighter, but my most important bit of advice is to ditch the brown bread. Search for a thread called CLD Testing on this forum for my reasoning.

I think I saw that thread - much testing and a lot of analysis was done, kudos!

I will say that I used this stuff in my last car, and aside from discovering its incompatibility with rustproofing (OMG the worst), it really did make a world of difference, and was in there for over 10 years...

I'm also on a pretty tight budget and reading countless recommendations from all the US-based posters here is extremely frustrating, given that half of the companies recommended don't ship to Canada, and if they do, I'll need to sell a kidney to get it here. Locally, we're limited to big-box stores, and I don't even know if Best Buy sells any sound-deadening...

I went to sounddeadenershowdown to price out 25sqft of MLV and CCF to do the doors, rear quarters and some of the trunk, and I can't even get a Canadian shipping quote, ugh.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by kri$han

I think I saw that thread - much testing and a lot of analysis was done, kudos!

I will say that I used this stuff in my last car, and aside from discovering its incompatibility with rustproofing (OMG the worst), it really did make a world of difference, and was in there for over 10 years...

I'm also on a pretty tight budget and reading countless recommendations from all the US-based posters here is extremely frustrating, given that half of the companies recommended don't ship to Canada, and if they do, I'll need to sell a kidney to get it here. Locally, we're limited to big-box stores, and I don't even know if Best Buy sells any sound-deadening...

I went to sounddeadenershowdown to price out 25sqft of MLV and CCF to do the doors, rear quarters and some of the trunk, and I can't even get a Canadian shipping quote, ugh.

Have you tried the Quebec FR-S forums? Even as a U.S. based English only speaker, I've managed to get some pretty good info from this board just by using a translate tool and some patience. Sorry man, but there are A LOT more 86's sold in the U.S. than in Canada, so the recommendations on this board are mostly going to be U.S. based. Still I have found some really good Canadian resources here including my Supercharger, and 2.75" Overpipe & Frontpipe.