RTon20s

So I have made my final decision on what to get the wife for her birthday, and now I am looking for installation advice. I've done basic electrical work on cars on the past, and installed different audio components as well. But I am not 100% sure how I should install all of the components I want to use. So here is what I am looking at getting. (Keep in mind that this is being installed on a completely stock sound system.)

Elemental Designs 11Kv.2
Elemental Designs NINe.2
Quarter Wave Designs QD-XB-DF
Tsunami 2Ch. LOC
Absolute RSW-250 (Bass Controller)
8 Gauge Power Wire kit
8 Gauge Speaker Wire

This is how I see the install. If I had more time, and knew I was correct I would just draw a diagram. I will connect the LOC to the harness at the back of the stock head unit. I have seen mixed opinions on whether to tap into the front or rear speakers. Which will work best? Along with the connections for the speakers to RCA, is there also a connection for remote power? Does the LOC have a remote turn on lead similar to an amp? If it does I would connect that to the gray ignition wire.

From the LOC I would connect the Absolute RSW-250 remote bass controller. I tried to choose one that was fairly small so that it could get mounted into one of the switch panel pop out in the center of the dash below the oven door. I would then continue with more RCA cables from the RSW-250 to the amp.

I would use the 8 Gauge Power wire kit to provide power to the amp from the battery. Installing an inline fuse within 12" of the positive terminal. I would also install the remote power wire from the amp back to the ignition wire at the back of the head unit.

But what about grounding? Is the chassis on the xB grounded well enough already for what I am planning to do? Or do I need to do additional grounding off of the batteries negative terminal? Also, if I mount the amp under the driver's seat, where is the best (easiest) ground location?

Then of course I would also have my 8 gauge speaker wire run from my amp to my enclosure. And yes, I know that my descriptions aren't in the correct order for installation. I will address that, as well as my cable/wire routing during installation. But if there are any other tricks or advise you could provide, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hopefully when I do the install (mid-April) I'll be able to take plenty of pix. Maybe even do a write up to help others who just want to add a subwoofer to their stock system.

Thanks again.

ProshopXB

RTon20s its not often we get to answer question from you, usually its the other way around and as you know your going to get a million opinions on what to do. Lets begin, your LOC can be hooked to either the fromt or rear channels, when i do these at work, i hook to the rear channels, so if a customer has to much bass they can just fade it forward and the bass will turn down. But you have an EBC (external bass control) so you can control the bass with out use of fading. So hook it up to which ever you like. As for the LOC needing a remote wire, it does not, i beleive you are using the same LOC i use at work, are there two brown wires coming out of it, they are not for the remote wire. No need to turn the LOC on as the as the radio is sending signal to it it is converting the signal. The ground seems like your biggest concern to me, do not run your ground to the battery, you want to make it as short as possible. I have my amp under my passenger seat, i pulled the carpet up found a nice chunk of metal, used a grinder to clean the paint down to metal, and screwed the ground down with some star washers. If you have not redone your grounds under the hood then you may want to, im sure you know why. As for that everything else you have said looks good. I have one sugestion for you, i dont know what your EBC looks like or how far it can extened but i put mine in a location that can be very well seen but is easy to get to for driver or passanger. The main concern is lenght of wire you have to deal with, the size of the EBC, and whether it comes a part or the **** pulls off. I will take a pic for you and post it in a few so you can see it. If you have anymore questions please ask, I do this for a living so its fun to help my Sciopnlife peeps out.

ProshopXB

RTon20s here is some pics of my EBC in the center consel, next to my E-brake, just another option for you. Sorry there a little blury, and dang i need to clean that spot off of the panel.

RTon20s

Thanks a lot ProshopXB. The EBC I was looking at is this one...

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_3792.html


I am up for whatever someone might recommend though. Ideally I want something that will mount right into one of the pop out panels below the oven door. The center one actually (where the switch is shown below (not our dash!)), since the wife had fog lights installed and the switch is in the left position.


Do you know of an EBC that would fit directly into that location? Otherwise I would need an EBC I could pull the **** off of and reinstall after drilling a hole in one of the pop out panels. I am not sure if that can be done with the RSW-250.

And yes, I was planning on grounding close to the amp. I was wondering though about upgrading the grounding inside the engine bay. I know that it can help, but I wasn't sure if it would be required for my installation.

Thanks again.

ProshopXB

Wow i have never seen an EBC like that before, very cool, ive only seen the ones that plug directly into the amp. As for one that fits directly into the pop panel, i dont know if they make one for it, i will be happy to help research if they do though. The EBC pictured above looks very simular to the kicker one i have, the **** most likely just pulls off and may have one screw that holds the casing together. The biggest concern is space behind that blank, you may have to shave alittle plastic here and there to make it fit, but im sure you could make it work. just wait to drill the hole in the blank till your sure it can fit. The age old question of upgrading your ground wires, well i would do it on any application on any vehicle, i would recomend it whether it is a stock vehicle or the one with the most electronics in the world. It never hurts to help you vehicle ground itself better, especially when adding electronics to it. Your amp takes that power from the battery uses it and spits it back out through the ground wire, so if your car is not properly grounded it can hurt the performance of amp, as it can with all electronics. Sorry hope this make sense im kinda rambling. But a simple answer is Yes i would do it. Ill check into the EBC pop panel for you and if you got more questions please ask.

mfenske

I would recommend NOT mounting the EBC below the oven door because when you open the door it will hit the ****. I am going to re-mount mine to an area similar to where ProshopXB has his. Other than that the only thing I would do differently is to run larger gauge cable like 4AWG or 1/0. Mark

ProshopXB

Mfenske is right i would recomend bigger wire also, just incase you ever upgrade amps or add more amps. But if you plan on never adding another amp or a bigger one, then dont worry about it. If you got the money to spend later to upgrade the wiring, then dont worry about it. Its all a matter of covenience and money with putting bigger wire in for your first amp that requires smaller guage wire. But it is human nature to want more and bigger and better things for yourself and your ride.

mfenske

Based on the length of cable and power of the amplifier I would do at least 4AWG. Plus, I think the ED amps can take 4AWG directly in. You can never have too large of cable as I see it. Think of it like putting out a fire. Think of 8GA like a garden hose and 1/0 as a firehose. Mark

ProshopXB

No need to preech to me Mark(LoL) i agree 100% with ya, im not familiar with those amps at all, so im not sure what they put out or what size wire they take. I use the garden hose/ fire house analogy all the time at work. But you have to admitt if he is not going to ever upgrade later on, 1/0 may be abit of over kill and you know its not fun to hide under the carpet, 4AWG would be just right for that application and easier to work with. And Mark i thought it was the Cheese state, just messing with ya.

mfenske

Yeah, I figured you knew (you're a CC or BBY installer right?) just trying to convey the message to RT. I think 4AWG would be fine too, but 1/0 looks SO much cooler. You're right on about running 1/0, it can be a bit of a pain. The Tsunami stuff from my previous install really sucks and isn't flexible at all. I just picked up some Stinger PRO 4AWG from http://www.darvex.com (shameless plug) and it's great. I think I am gonna buy some 1/0 to do the "Big 3". Why is it people think all we Wisconsinites do is eat cheese? Mark

jallamas

I have some 1/0 Knukonzeptz, where would you run it through from the engine compartment of the xb and how?


Thx



John

ProshopXB

Good call Mark, im a CC installer. Im running 4AWG, to my kicker amp and a cap, should honestly be 1/0, but i was lazy and didnt want to run that fire hose thru the car. As for the cheese, its the Packers fault, blame them LoL. Allright from now on it will be the badger state in my mind and when i talk about it. See you around.

mfenske

I used the grommet on the driver's side where a harness goes in to the firewall. You do need to have the top of the dash taken off to make your life easier. Heck I'd recommend gutting the entire interior. I used a coathanger and a utility knife to make a hole. I Once I had a hole in it I duct taped the 1/0 to the hanger and used some wire lube (I hear dish detergent works great) to slide it thru. Once in the car I ran it down the driver's side near the floor and modified that styrofoam to make it fit. Hope that helps. Mark

jallamas

Can this be done without taking the top of the dash off! If not then how do you take the dash off? Thanks for all your help!

John

ProshopXB

Jallamas there is no need to take the dash off, you just have to kinda wedge your self a little bit under the dash to see the grommet. Stick your head in there and take a look, you cant miss it, it is one of the easiset cars out there, to get to the grommet. Like Mark said the worst part is just getting the huge 1/0 thru the grommet, but lubing it up will take care of that . But good luck to ya.

mfenske

I should explain myself, at 6'5" it was easier for me to take the dash off. It's actually not too hard and there is a tutorial on how to do it. I believe it's the Camry Navigation thread that showed me how to. Mark

RTon20s

Cool guys. I really appreciate the input. So I guess I will look into getting a 4 awg power wire kit instead of the 8 awg. I am still planning on running 8 awg to the speakers though. That isn't a problem is it?

And I'll also take a good look in the wife's car this evening to see if I can find another spot for the EBC. I'll also try and get the additional 4 awg and connectors for the "big 3." Can you confirm that I have the "big 3" correct?

Add an additional 4 awg wire from the batteries negative terminal to the stock grounding location. Add an additional 4 awg wire from the alternator to the batteries positive post. And finally add an additional 4 awg wire from the engine block to the factory grounding location. Is that correct? Does anyone have any pictures of this done on the xB so I can easily find the factory routing?

Thanks again for all of your help.

ProshopXB

RTon20s their shouldn't be any problem with running 8 awg to your speakers, it is recomended to use bigger wire for the run to the subs. I personaly used 14 awg to my sub, i have never heard the diffrence that bigger wire makes, but it is a proven fact. Plus im lazy and cheap.

As for the big 3 i think thats what it is. I replaced the two grounds from the battery to the the stock chassis locations, then from the lower stock location to the block, from block to passenger side location, from passenger side to firewall, from firewall to drivers side, and from drivers side to the stock ground location above battery. Anyway it makes a big circle for grounding, so if one ground comes lose in the chain, it can ground thru the other side. This is the recomended way from II (installer institute) which is owned and run by Metra electronics. but it is not hard to do just a little time consuming and you need a few simple tools. I will also see if i can get some pics tommorow and post for you.

As for the upgraded wire to the alternator, i would also recomended it , i have yet to do this, because of laziness and other mods im doing. But it sounds like you are on track to me. If you need any more help please ask...

hXcdi3hard

Agreed our xbs are the easiest to put any wiring in....simple takeoffs and good locations!!!!!!

mfenske

8AWG for speakers is overkill, now you're getting it! I might try the spot by the e-brake for the EBC. I haven't done the "Big 3" mod yet either but I plan on doing it soon. Have fun. Mark