View Poll Results: Which HU/NAV?
Eclipse AVN6600
38
28.15%
Eclipse AVN5495
11
8.15%
Pioneer Z1
58
42.96%
Other
28
20.74%
Voters: 135. You may not vote on this poll
It Has To Be The Best!!!!!!!!!
06-19-06, 07:59 PM
#33
Originally Posted by TLW
damn Jerry really...ok, well, SOUNDSTREAM here I come 
I change headunit and speakers and then it's straight forward..you know I always like to try and DIM(do-it-myself)
I change headunit and speakers and then it's straight forward..you know I always like to try and DIM(do-it-myself)
You want easy? Get a dash kit, install nav unit and antennas, plop a JL 500/5 in the trunk, run power/ground for it, tap into the stock speaker wiring (or run your own new wiring into the doors), swap out the factory speakers (check Crutchfield.com for info on what might fit), add a sub box (JLW6V2 or JLW3V2). Done. If you are reasonably handy with wiring, you can do it yourself for what you'd pay some schmoe to install just the Nav unit with the Bose system.
And the kicker is: (kinda like the top answer on the Letterman Top 10)
You can ask Hameed for advice!
Jerry
06-20-06, 07:36 AM
#35
EV ftw!!!
I haven't yet done a write-up on my audio install. I need to take a couple more pics and then will do the write-up.
Anyway, now when I look back a couple of weeks ago when I started this project, I was like new born baby - I didn't know jack**** about this stuff. I still don't know half as much as most people on here like engin_ear and others, but I managed to get through my audio install doing about 95% of the work myself.
If I can do it, then any other person who is not necessarily DIY inclined can do it with some research and a little bit of patience.
Jonny, if I were you I would get rid of the stock speakers (both front and back and sub), stock amp and ofcourse you have already decided to get rid of the HU.
Your choice of the AVIC-Z1 is a fantastic choice!
Make sure you also buy a dash kit for the GS. Hit up Lexis11 for that. The dash kit makes the nav integrate into the GS dash and it looks like a factory HU. I will post pics of my install this weekend and you can see for yourself.
Hooking up the navigation system may seem daunting at first, but with some patience, it is actually a painless operation. As a matter of fact, I am now so confident of this install, if you lived close to me, I would install it for you for free and it would not take more than a couple of hours tops.
You need to hook up the speed sensor wire (this is the green wire in the gauge cluster), reverse signal wire to one of the reverse bulbs, run the gps antenna all the way to the back or the front of the car. I ran mine to the back of my car - see pic below.
I also installed a rear view camera - this was also easy as it goes into the trunk keyhole. I bought a very good camera off ebay for $140.00 + shipping. I can pm you the sellers name if you are interested. It's lens is 1/3 inch and it is a CCD camera.
Basically I replaced the front speaker/tweeter combo with an Focal K165K2P mid range and tweeter set. I replaced the stock sub with a single Focal Utopia 27WX 11 inch sub. I ran the power wire for the amps along the left hand side of the car and all the speaker wire from the HU to the amps in the rear above the transmission tunnel. I also ran the speaker wires from the amps above the transmission tunnel.
You will need to make baffles for the front speaker mounts - these pics are the ones Jerry made for his car. Mine are exactly the same, I just have not had a chance to upload the pics yet. I made my baffles from 1/2 inch MDF board.
You will also need to make an amp rack from MDF to mount your amps - here is pic of Jerry's again: (this is the back of it)
Here is the amp rack installed behind the rear seats:
I did not install speakers in the rear doors as I want to maintain the sound stage at the front of the car. Typical SQ systems are deliberately set up this way to keep the sound stage at the front of the car.
The only reason to install speakers at the rear is if you are watching a surround sound video. I won't be doing that in my car. If I ever run video in my car, it will be strictly for the rear passengers and I will use wireless headsets for that.
The wiring for the amps was not that bad once I got into it. I called up Zapco (both of my amps are Zapco's) and spent about 1 hour on the phone asking them questions regarding the various settings of the crossover frequencies (I used the active crossovers in the amps to split the high frequencies between the tweeters and mid range speakers). Whatever amps you buy, all you need to do is to call the manufacturer and you will get any questions answered regarding the wiring.
I then bought a sub box from Car Domain and installed my sub in the box and just hooked that up to the sub amp.
As far as the wires going from the pre-amp RCA outs from the HU, I did not run RCA cables to my amps. Depending on what amp you get - you will probably just need to run regular RCA cables to your amps. In my case, I bought special SymbiLink cables that are specific to Zapco amps and ran those cables to my amps. These cables are special because unlike regular RCA cables, they run at a very high voltage 12 volts (compared to RCA cables which run at less than 5V) - which means that there is very little to no signal loss from the HU to the amps. Result - cleaner and purer sound quality from the source to amp.
On other very important thing I forgot to mention is that you need to buy lots of very good sound deadening. I installed sound deadening in the doors (both inner skin and outer skins), top of rear parcel shelf, back of rear seats, trunk lid, trunk quarter panels.
The damn trunk lid is now so heavy that if you are shutting it and you bring it past the center line at the top and let it go, it will decapitate you if your head is in the way.
My car is now so damn quiet from the inside, it is just plain incredible. When I put on the sound deadening behind the rear seats, the drone from the exhaust at low speeds is now almost gone. I think I will put on another layer of sound deadening and I am pretty sure I will get rid of what is left completely.
My story is kinda short considering that I spent 6 days doing this (three weekends). Yes that sounds like a heck of a lot of time, but it was so worth it and I learned so much about audio systems and taking my car apart!
Ask lots of questions and we will help you out as much as possible.
Anyway, now when I look back a couple of weeks ago when I started this project, I was like new born baby - I didn't know jack**** about this stuff. I still don't know half as much as most people on here like engin_ear and others, but I managed to get through my audio install doing about 95% of the work myself.
If I can do it, then any other person who is not necessarily DIY inclined can do it with some research and a little bit of patience.
Jonny, if I were you I would get rid of the stock speakers (both front and back and sub), stock amp and ofcourse you have already decided to get rid of the HU.
Your choice of the AVIC-Z1 is a fantastic choice!
Make sure you also buy a dash kit for the GS. Hit up Lexis11 for that. The dash kit makes the nav integrate into the GS dash and it looks like a factory HU. I will post pics of my install this weekend and you can see for yourself.
Hooking up the navigation system may seem daunting at first, but with some patience, it is actually a painless operation. As a matter of fact, I am now so confident of this install, if you lived close to me, I would install it for you for free and it would not take more than a couple of hours tops.
You need to hook up the speed sensor wire (this is the green wire in the gauge cluster), reverse signal wire to one of the reverse bulbs, run the gps antenna all the way to the back or the front of the car. I ran mine to the back of my car - see pic below.
I also installed a rear view camera - this was also easy as it goes into the trunk keyhole. I bought a very good camera off ebay for $140.00 + shipping. I can pm you the sellers name if you are interested. It's lens is 1/3 inch and it is a CCD camera.
Basically I replaced the front speaker/tweeter combo with an Focal K165K2P mid range and tweeter set. I replaced the stock sub with a single Focal Utopia 27WX 11 inch sub. I ran the power wire for the amps along the left hand side of the car and all the speaker wire from the HU to the amps in the rear above the transmission tunnel. I also ran the speaker wires from the amps above the transmission tunnel.
You will need to make baffles for the front speaker mounts - these pics are the ones Jerry made for his car. Mine are exactly the same, I just have not had a chance to upload the pics yet. I made my baffles from 1/2 inch MDF board.
You will also need to make an amp rack from MDF to mount your amps - here is pic of Jerry's again: (this is the back of it)
Here is the amp rack installed behind the rear seats:
I did not install speakers in the rear doors as I want to maintain the sound stage at the front of the car. Typical SQ systems are deliberately set up this way to keep the sound stage at the front of the car.
The only reason to install speakers at the rear is if you are watching a surround sound video. I won't be doing that in my car. If I ever run video in my car, it will be strictly for the rear passengers and I will use wireless headsets for that.
The wiring for the amps was not that bad once I got into it. I called up Zapco (both of my amps are Zapco's) and spent about 1 hour on the phone asking them questions regarding the various settings of the crossover frequencies (I used the active crossovers in the amps to split the high frequencies between the tweeters and mid range speakers). Whatever amps you buy, all you need to do is to call the manufacturer and you will get any questions answered regarding the wiring.
I then bought a sub box from Car Domain and installed my sub in the box and just hooked that up to the sub amp.
As far as the wires going from the pre-amp RCA outs from the HU, I did not run RCA cables to my amps. Depending on what amp you get - you will probably just need to run regular RCA cables to your amps. In my case, I bought special SymbiLink cables that are specific to Zapco amps and ran those cables to my amps. These cables are special because unlike regular RCA cables, they run at a very high voltage 12 volts (compared to RCA cables which run at less than 5V) - which means that there is very little to no signal loss from the HU to the amps. Result - cleaner and purer sound quality from the source to amp.
On other very important thing I forgot to mention is that you need to buy lots of very good sound deadening. I installed sound deadening in the doors (both inner skin and outer skins), top of rear parcel shelf, back of rear seats, trunk lid, trunk quarter panels.
The damn trunk lid is now so heavy that if you are shutting it and you bring it past the center line at the top and let it go, it will decapitate you if your head is in the way.
My car is now so damn quiet from the inside, it is just plain incredible. When I put on the sound deadening behind the rear seats, the drone from the exhaust at low speeds is now almost gone. I think I will put on another layer of sound deadening and I am pretty sure I will get rid of what is left completely.
My story is kinda short considering that I spent 6 days doing this (three weekends). Yes that sounds like a heck of a lot of time, but it was so worth it and I learned so much about audio systems and taking my car apart!
Ask lots of questions and we will help you out as much as possible.
06-20-06, 09:16 AM
#36
Lexus Test Driver
Originally Posted by Hameed
I haven't yet done a write-up on my audio install. I need to take a couple more pics and then will do the write-up.
Anyway, now when I look back a couple of weeks ago when I started this project, I was like new born baby - I didn't know jack**** about this stuff. I still don't know half as much as most people on here like engin_ear and others, but I managed to get through my audio install doing about 95% of the work myself.
Anyway, now when I look back a couple of weeks ago when I started this project, I was like new born baby - I didn't know jack**** about this stuff. I still don't know half as much as most people on here like engin_ear and others, but I managed to get through my audio install doing about 95% of the work myself.
06-20-06, 09:27 AM
#37
EV ftw!!!
Originally Posted by vin 78
You should really consider moving those passive crossovers into the car, the moisture is not good for them.
06-20-06, 07:44 PM
#38
Originally Posted by vin 78
You should really consider moving those passive crossovers into the car, the moisture is not good for them.
06-20-06, 07:52 PM
#39
Hey Hameed!
1) I've been in Sweden and missed the completion of your install. 6 days is not too bad! Good job!
2) The heavy trunk lid problem - you can make this better by adjusting the tensioning bars that go across the back edge of the trunk, between the hinges. It usually is on its lightest setting at stock - move the bars to the groove on the opposite end. (Once you look at it you'll see what I'm talking about.) I have the same problem - it's no joke, you can literally get killed by your trunk lid if it comes down on your skull as a surprise. Moving the tension bars won't cure it completely, but it tends to hold it up better, and it takes longer to pick up speed when falling.
3) So how does it sound man? PM me!
Jerry
1) I've been in Sweden and missed the completion of your install. 6 days is not too bad! Good job!
2) The heavy trunk lid problem - you can make this better by adjusting the tensioning bars that go across the back edge of the trunk, between the hinges. It usually is on its lightest setting at stock - move the bars to the groove on the opposite end. (Once you look at it you'll see what I'm talking about.) I have the same problem - it's no joke, you can literally get killed by your trunk lid if it comes down on your skull as a surprise. Moving the tension bars won't cure it completely, but it tends to hold it up better, and it takes longer to pick up speed when falling.
3) So how does it sound man? PM me!
Jerry
06-24-06, 06:07 PM
#44
Since I'm in the market for one of these systems I'm following this thread with great interest. With only 11 votes cast, it's a dead heat so there's been nothing yet to really sway me one way or the other. I was hoping for an overwhelming vote but I guess it just proves both systems are good, even with some negative issues for each one. Since the 6600 is running about $2,000 and the Z1 can be had for about $1500 delivered, I'm leaning toward the Z1. Anyone have any information that would possibly influence my thinking? I've researched both of them quite a bit and I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Going once......
