XxGoKoUxX

A few pics of what I had to do....



Here is one of my failures (as soon as you get through the firewall of the car, it has a plastic/metla plate there, so i had to jerryrig a wire on the outside, it isn't as noticable as you would think though)



If anyone can figure out a way to go by that without taking half of the right side of the car out, let me know!! =]

Here's a picture of the speaker mounted onto the car, took me about half hr to think it through, because the speakers didn't go in place with the adapter... i think i have a picture showing you why.



Here you go, this is how i mounted the speaker on.

XxGoKoUxX

Ohh! and don't worry, the wires didn't hang out like that into the car rofl, i ran it in the least suspectable way as i could =]

manyvices

Great posts and thanks for the pics as well. Do you have a Mark Levinson system that you're upgrading or no?

I have an ML system and I have to admit, it sounds damn good but I do have an Alpine 4-channel amp that I bought a couple years back that is collecting dust and I would like to install instead of the factory amp. I was also thinking about installing a different 10" sub, however, this would also call for a seperate amp to power this, correct? Where are you looking to install your JL amp?

I have heard rave reviews of MB Quart, though. You'll definitely have to keep us updated on your progress.

XxGoKoUxX

nope, i'm non-ml/non-navi unfortunately.... BUT doing the ML system is the same thing, just different color wires lol, upgrading a ML system will not really do you any good, the ML is sync'd perfectly just the way it is. if your alpine amp is low power (like 30-40 watts per channel). Then you can probably start considering it, i don't know the power rating of the ML speakers, but you definitely don't wanna blow them up!

If you wanna take the risk, you have to purchase a line-level output converter.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AudioControl-LC7...item5d2917f51d

OR

http://cgi.ebay.com/Scosche-SLC4-FOU...item5192460ec8

I've read that for the price.... the scosche converter is okay, except for the plastic adjustment ***** lol.... and the LC7 is phenomenal.

Hook the lines from the ML amp up to the line level coverter, then hook up the RCA's from the line level converter to your amp, then hook up the lines from the amp towards the speakers of your car, VOILA!

I'm going to hook my amps up in the trunk, since the car is soo small that's just about the only place i can put it lol....

for your setup, i would mount it against one of the backseat area's so it looks clean, are you doing free-air subwoofer setup? or a boxed setup? i'm mounting mine's onto a wall i'll be making, and the wall will be connected to the sub box, so nothing really moves around

THE.K.W.C

1st most aftermarket speakers will come with some type of adapter
2nd make them your self out of some mdf

manyvices

Well, actually, the ML system comes with a 10" sub already mounted in the center right behind the rear seats. I'm not really sure what this type of sub setup is considered....boxed or free-air. Does the non-ML system not come with a sub?

XxGoKoUxX

yeah... i don't have the tools to cut mdf wood, unfortunately, not in a circular motion anyways. Considering all the time and labor put into it, i think 23$ for both front and rear was worth it... the tool to cut the wood is probably double or triple that alone. Also, it didn't come with an adapter, i've bought over 20-30 sets of coax and components over my years, never seen an "adapter" to hook up to my speakers, unless you're talking about that dinky grill they give you to cover your speakers if u decide to mount it outside lol

the non-ML system has a 10in sub also, mounted in the rear, in the same spot. This is considered a free-air subwoofer, no box, no enclosure. It's good for what it is, but just doesn't suffice for me. So i'm setting up a single 12in JL Audio w6 in the rear. I had two just sitting in the garage laying around, so i decided what the hey, hook one up and keep the other as a spare hehe.

aznaznazn

Sorry to revive the dead but do you know how much clearance there is to the window from the door skin mounting surface?

XxGoKoUxX

I recently took these garbage adapters out and installed 3/4th in MDF wood as a adapter. It works great and the glass doesn't touch the speakers' magnets.

I've also replaced the smaller MB Quart speakers with some 2-way JBLs. so the magnet was a little bit bigger.

aznaznazn

You had the MDF cut yourself? Cool upgrade. What JBL speakers are they?

XxGoKoUxX

Yeah, I cut the MDF out, it wasn't that hard to be honest with you. Start out by cutting the inside diameter of the speaker out with a router/ jig+drill first. then cut the outter edges according to the speaker trace-out of the OEM speaker housing.

I got the JBL P660 I believe, nothing fancy... was installed like a year+ ago. I've also just installed the DQ-61 from AudioControl and BOY it makes a difference! I've still got some tweaking to do (which I'm very lazy to do) but whooo-boy.... Worth every penny....

One kink I've been trying to figure out however, is how I lost my ability to make BT phone calls.