Billisme

Hey everyone,

Well it's my turn to share my audio upgrades. The goals were simple: upgrade the sound while taking up zero cargo room, and make it removable. The hatch is small enough without me adding a subwoofer box and amplifiers that take up valuable space. I plan to add a 10" subwoofer in a ported box and two amplfiers; one for the sub and the other for the mids/highs, and replace all the speakers. Since everything in life is a compromise, and car audio is no exception, I had to make my first decision: where is this stuff going to go?

So the spare tire gets removed:


I added some Ballistic Sound Suppressor to the well to reduce any noise from the cables.


now the fun of building the sub box and amp rack as one piece that fits into the spare tire opening. Since the sub I was using (Vibe Audio Slick 10") sounds better in a ported box I new I was going to be tight on space. After all is said and done I squeezed about 1.3 cubic feet for the sub box and had enough room for the amp rack.


Since the floor wasn't flat and I need to maximize the space, I took strips of wood and laid them down in the bottom of the sub box to contour the floor. I glued the wood pieces in place then too the box out of the car and fiberglassed the bottom of the sub box so the bottom would be strong. The reason I wanted this box/amp rack removable is so I could do the fiberglassing on my workbench and not stink up the car.

After the box was dry I put the face on it and covered it with blue comfort suede from the Install Bay (a division of Metra Electronics) and put the sub and port in.


To make the sub box/amp rack removable I added Anderson 4 gauge quick connectors, rca's were barrel connected together, and the speaker wires were put in a quick disconnect harness.


I ended up putting black carpet in the area with the amps, added a 4" fan, and blue led's then covered them with a piece of clear plexiglass. I made a trim panel that sits flush with the surrounding panels in the hatch area and has cut outs for the subwoofer, port, and amp rack. The panel over the sub and port has expanded metal protecting them so if I place something in the hatch I don't have to worry about the sub getting damaged.

So this is what the hatch looks like normally:


Take the Lexus cover off and you see this:


and take the covers off the sub and amp rack and it looks like this (with the stereo on):


I added a subwoofer adjustment **** where the cig lighter socket was in the center console. I had to grind down the **** a little so the cover would still close.


I connected the rca's to the radio via a 4 channel line level convertor with built in turn on. (AX-ADCT4 from the Axxess Interface line from Metra).

As for the rear speakers, I made my own speaker adapters:


Installed the adapters:


and covered the door with more Ballistic Sound Suppressor:


then install a set of 6.5" Vibe Audio Slick coax speakers.
The front doors was the same; I made my own speaker adapters, installed the adapters, and covered the door with the Ballistic Sound Suppressor:


A set of 6x9 Vibe Audio Slick 3-ways went in the doors.

The dash speakers were a bit of a challange, I wanted to use 4" speakers instead of the 3.5". I had to do some trimming of plastic in the dash and cut the tabs off the 4" speakers so they would fit. Overall it's a tight fit and not a pretty one, but thank goodnedd it is covered up by the grill.


so that's it so far, it sounds so much better then stock but I still have some tweaking to do to get that sound I am looking for.
Bill

IS_250

iTrader: (2)

Nice work. did you have the base audio system or the premium?

Billisme

Thank you. I had the base audio system. It wasn't that bad of a factory sound system, but it could always be improved upon....

Voracious

Nice work as always bill. I wish i was brave and as technical as you to do those sorts of mods for car lol.

truciet

iTrader: (5)

please keep us updated on your source for a radio installation kit! we're all dying for one...

corradoMR2

Wow, impressive mod. Truly customized build at its best. Would be interesting to have a youtube or some sort of sound posting with the new system!

aznbo187

Bill, where did you tap into for the signal to feed the amps?

Billisme

I tapped in at the radio harness itself. I got a harness from my work that has the male and female connectors for the radio (60-1761 is the part number), cut the harness in half and the front speaker leads coming from the radio went to the loc (line output converter) and the other speaker leads went to the amplifier.

Wesley430

What happened to all the pictures? This is the very thing iv been looking for...