Just got an '05 TC. I want to upgrade my sound system. I have to do it one step at a time because of budget. I know the first thing to do is replace the H/U. I'm planning to get either the Pioneer DEH-P790BT (single din) and use the extra space for storage or the Pioneer FHP5000MP. Later planning on upgrading at least the fronts with an amp and later a single 10" sub. Never done any audio work to a car myself, but plan on doing it all myself. I figure a good learning project.

1st question - Ive seen the DIY on how to take apart the whole interior, but nothing on how to simply install a new H/U(I've tried searching - to no avail). I know it's prob really simple. Can someone please help.

2nd question - If I go with a single din, is there a way to make a nice peice for storage underneath... or is there a company that makes that?

3rd question - For my fronts I'm considering the Boston acoustic SL60s. I like clean sound and am willing to spend the money on better stuff. Anyone have comments on these speakers in the TC? Other brand suggestions? Is the door a good place to have them or is there a better place?

4th question - Thinking of buying a 4 channel amp to have 2 channels going to the fronts and bridging the other 2 for a single sub. That way if I want to replace the rears I can buy a new amp for the sub and have the 4 channel for the interiors. Is that a good idea for going step by step? I want a really clean sounding system, any suggestions on brand of amp?

5th question - Likely going to get a single 10" sub. Again, I want a really clean sound, not loud and sloppy. Considering possibly Boston Acoustics G5. Any suggestions for a good quality clean sounding sub? For that matter an amp to power it?

I know this is alot, but I want to have all this planned out and have a great sounding system when I'm done. I appreciate any feedback - Thanks

 

Best HU, Alpine CDA-9885. Pioneer IMO never looked appealing to me nor the quality. Ive always loved and sticked with Alpine with zero problems!

1. Buy your HU off of Crutchfield.com and revieve...
Free Custom MasterSheet™ instructions
Free Scion In-dash Receiver Kit
Free Receiver Wire Harness
Free Toyota Speaker Harnesses
Free gear worth up to $86.93
Installing it is cake!

2. Check #1

3. I would go with ElementalDesigns.com for components. If you have the money, CDT Audio.

4. Elemental Designs Nine.4 will be a good choice for 1 sub and a set of components.

5. Elemental Designs 11kv.2 (10") will be a good choice also. Not overly big but gets the job done.

Hope it helps you out!

 

Tanks for the info. Im really kinda set on the boston acoustics though. Does anyone else have any ideas for a different set up? Im willing to spend a bit of money to put a nice tight clean sounding system together. I dont need it to be crazy loud though.

A couple more questions:

-What needs to be deadened in the TC? If it's really necessary to do the whole thing I will, but I didnt want to waiste time and money for no real benefit.

-I have a Maxima Im getting rid of. I was thinking of using the rear 6.5 inch bose speakers for the rears in my TC. Will this cause a problem with wiring? under powering them with the HU before I get an amp and possibly blowing them? I know bose doesnt have traditional specs on their speakers, but is there anyone who knows an approx wattage? Ive googled everyway I can think of and got nothing.

 

#1. Doors first and foremost. After that, rear quarter panels and maybe your hatch if you've got a decent amount of bass but definitely the doors.

#2. No, don't do it. Bose are 2 or 3 or 6 ohm speakers. 6 wouldn't be bad but 2 or 3 on a HU rated for 4 ohm loads would yeild a lot of heat and a non-functioning HU after a while possibly.

That and they probably wouldn't sound better than the stock speakers in the tC.

One thing about factory speakers, the factory HU that comes with them has an EQ curve to make them sound good. I would imagine that the curve for making a Bose speaker sound good vs. that of the stock tC Pioneers would not be the same.

 

Well im planning to replace the HU first. Then Im gonna get a 4-channel amp for the full range speakers. Will either the new HU or the amp help with making the bose sound good? If not, should I get a 2-channel amp for just the front speakers or should I amp the stock rears with a 4-channel. That brings up another question. How do I tune speakers from an amp? Do I just adjust them until they sound good or is there a science to it?

Thanks so much for your help. You guys have been a wealth of knowledge

 

HU first for sure. Dont worry about the rears, IMO i would leave them stock as many others have aswell. a 4ch amp should be good for the fronts and a small 10" sub. Tuning is pretty easy, dont over due it. I usually keep it right in the middle if not less on everything. Read the manual and it should be cake.

 

Ok so its been awhile...

Heres my new setup:
Alpine CDA-9887
Apline KXT-100EQ(imaging hardware and software for ^^H/U)
DLS ultimate UP6 fronts
Alpine PDX-2.150 (for the fronts)

Future:
Alpine PDX-1.600
Single 10" sub(undecided, maybe Boston Acoustic G510)

So here's my dilema. I was going to make fiberglass kick pods for sound staging purposes. With Alpine's Imprint technology(imaging mentioned above), I would rather just put the woofers in the stock location and put the tweets on the A-pillar or somewhere up high because it's easier. Im not apposed to cutting into the stock kick panels for the tweets if it's going to make that much difference, but if it's no better because of imaging equipment then I'd rather not. This may be a question for a select few like rocketgyrl, but any help would be appreciated.

Here's the alpine head unit site which has some info on the imaging system:

http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/prod...model=CDA-9887

One more question. Does it really make that much of a difference when you hook up components actively?(bi-amp) Is it worth a whole new amp?

Thanks for any help

 

the kick panels are an excellent place for tweeters in the tC. also very easy to put them there. just get a hole saw of the right size, drill the hole and run the wires. images very well. here is a pic...

*also i must add, if you are considering another amp so you can bi-amp them, you might as well buy another amp and just run them active and just take the passive crossover out of the equation. you have the processing and stuff to do it with the 9887 and the imprint. *

 

Yea I guess I can get a new pair of kick panels from the junk yard if I want to put it back to stock. It's not like kicks are going to be in high demand...I would think...

As for the bi-amping, I was looking to see if there was any spec on the wattage of the woofer seperate from the tweeter on the Dls website, but there's only the tweeter power handling. Looked in the owners manual too...nothing. The overall RMS is 150 watts and the tweeter alone is 50 watts RMS. Does this mean that the woofer is 100 watts RMS. I'm asking because if I'm buying a new amp, I dont want to pay for more than I need. I'd rather get the Apline PDX-4.100 instead of paying for the 4.150. What do you think?

Also, can I use home theater speaker cable? or does it have to be car audio specific?

Thanks

 

yea i priced out the kick panels brand new from trdsparks and they are cheap anyway. the tc images very well with the tweeters in the kicks. at volume they don't sound like they are mounted low at all.

i wouldn't pay attention to the rms ratings of the speakers one bit. buy as much power as you can afford to buy. i am running 300 watts per side on my comps that are only rated for 60 a side, and that 60 a side rating is with passive crossovers to soak some power up as well. i have 100 watts rms on tap per tweeter and 200 watts rms on tap per mid. i would recommend the 4.150 over the 4.100. the more power and headroom the better. you can never have to much power.

now when it comes to deciding how much power to give the tweeters and how much to give the mids, just play with gain setting or settings on the deck to get them to match and blend.

speaker wire is speaker wire. i am using cheap plain old speaker wire from radio shack, now on the other hand, rca's i find to be very important. make sure you have nice shielded rca cables or you could run into noise issues like i did.

 

Thank you for your response. I wouldnt be anywhere without you guys on SL.

 

no problem man. :-)

if you want to learn a whole bunch on car audio go to DIYmobileaudio.com and read around on there. anything you'll ever want to know about car audio has been talked about on there. good luck, and let me know if you have any further questions.

 

Why not get the H701 for sound processing and go active up front!

 

he has the 9887 and the imprint kit already. he can go active with that. can the h701 even go together with the 9887/imprint kit? would it do anything extra anyway?

all he needs is a 4 channel instead of the two channel. or another smaller 2 channel to power the tweets, and use the current amp for the mids. then he can go active.