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firebirdude's adventures in audio building

8K views 23 replies 5 participants last post by  firebirdude 
#1 ·
So it only seemed natural I should combine all my progress topics/posts on my car into one spot.

So I started by sound deadening the vehicle in this thread.

Next I tested the frequency response out of the OEM non-Sony head unit in this thread. That kind of ended up biting me in the ass a little later, as explained in that thread. (New head unit now installed and plays DEEP now!)

I bought several samples of carpet to match OEM and found a perfect match here. This carpet was used to cover my amp rack/mounting board.

From here, I'll use the thread you're currently reading to keep track of my progress.

Pioneer 4200NEX is installed! Used the Scosche dash kit, Maestro RR interface with F02 harness. There were a couple hiccups which, with the help of their tech support, we figured out the issue. Apparently ADS Maestro had a revision to the F02 harness and I bought some old stock. A couple things that are now plug and play were completely missing from my harness and install guide. I'll explain that in post #2 along with some other tips on various things. On with the pictures!!!!
 

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#2 ·
So as I said above, I bought an old version of the F02 Maestro harness. The new harness is plug and play. I had to run Can Hi and Lo wires down to the OBD port and splice them in and also run two steering wheel control wires up to the 4" factory screen. Attached is the tech tip sent to me by ADS for the steering wheel control wires, just in case anybody else needs it. Also there's two pictures of the two wires you'll need to cut and how to attach the Maestro wires. YES, you have to cut those factory wires in half and attach to the car side. You cannot just splice into them. If you have a factory backup cam, that will need to be spliced in too as shown in the tech tip. I didn't so don't have pics. Again, the new version of the F02 harness comes with a snap in plug for all this. My tip for anybody doing a head unit install, route as much of the wiring as you can behind the factory 4" screen. Because once you get your double-din head unit install with all the RCAs and what not.... there's very little room for a big interface box. lol My Maestro RR is behind the factory screen.

Also attached is a couple pictures of how to disassemble/remove the overhead sunglass holder, factory microphone, etc panel. I popped off the factory microphone and added a dab of hot glue to secure the new Pioneer microphone in that same location (not sure how well it works there yet). The rear most portion with the microphone slots pops out first as shown in picture #4. If you're just working with the microphone, then that's all you have to take out. But I had some vibrating up there that was bugging me, so I wanted to take it apart further and shove some foam in there. Next, the portion with the sunglass holder, which actually wraps all around the outside border. It's held in pretty darn tight with little tabs that I've called out in red. They're a pain in the ass, but take it slow and use a plastic panel tool to help you work it out. It seems any further than this is actually molded into the headliner. I wedged foam all in there, glued my mic in and reassembled.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
As for my amplifiers and sub, I'm a bit of a special case. I do some amplifier testing and needed to mount my amplifiers in such a way that I could easily access them AND easily swap them for completely different models without having to re-run any wires/problems changing wire gauges or tear up my seat/carpet by screwing amps on/off/on/off/on/off. So it's not super pretty but it's accessible and has been working out well. It's just a piece of MDF that I've covered in color-matched carpet. The MDF is screwed into the seat, but every amp from here on out will be into the MDF. If I were going to have these amps forever, I'd build a decent amp rack.

Anyway, here's the pics. Currently it's a Kicker KXA400.4 , KXA800.1 , powering a Kicker 41VL7122 12" Q-Class L7 and Kicker 41QSS674 6.75" Q-class separates. Also pictured is the adapters I used to install the front speakers (Focus/Kuga adapters). It looks like Metra now makes some that might work. Part number 82-5605.
 

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#5 ·
Wow. Very useful info here. Thanks. I'll definitely look at getting the new harness.
So has the upgrade affected SYNC? Can you easily remove the subs to access the spare wheel?



Sent from the future
 
#6 ·
The sub box isn't secured down. It's heavy, but can still be removed if I needed to access the spare. Like the amplifiers, I'm swapping the subwoofers in and out a lot too. Can't have anything too permanent.

The Maestro RR can retain all of SYNC, however I chose to disable it while programming the Maestro RR. The new head unit does all that SYNC did and more (voice control, phone calls, etc). I didn't want SYNC and the new head unit battling for control. But the Maestro keeps the factory AUX and it was easy to keep the factory USB too. The first pic attached shows the junction I used. You need a male mini-USB (not micro) to plug in and run up to your new head unit. There's also a second place you can tap in. In the second pic attached, you'll see the short little mini USB cable I used. But up towards the top right of the picture in the area lit up, you can see the USB cable plugged into what I think is the ACM module? If you unplug it there, it's a male mini-USB. So you'd need a female mini-USB to tap in and run to your aftermarket head unit.
 

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#7 ·
Thanks. I was simply planning on replacing all the speakers with better quality ones and adding in a Sub and amp. Not sure if this will do much though. I am really not impressed with the stock sound quality.



Sent from the future
 
#12 ·
I do. There's two Kicker FHD fused distribution blocks there on the lower left. Yeah, you don't need to fuse the ground. But I liked the look of two matching distribution blocks. :)

0g from the battery. Currently 4g to each amp. But I needed an easy way to step up or down wire size so I can install other amps. If I need to install a small 300W amp, for example, it won't have 4g inputs.
 
#14 ·
So this is the new head unit you got? It's look beautiful... I never thought I'd want to change mine out but you show the appeal! This thread is way over my head- I don't know anything about audio systems (Amps, LOC's, anything more than that is wooah).

Very nice work! I'm gonna have to ask you kindly for some advice :) PM again
 
#16 · (Edited)
I did. Twice in fact. I ended up drilling my own mounting hole in their brackets. Lined up with the middle pre-drilled hole, but 1/4" lower. This not only allowed the faceplate to open, but also minimized the gaps shown. It's probably 90% perfect now. Nobody but me would notice the small gap still there and it's not worth me tearing apart again.

 
#20 ·
Your bracket has "slots" cut in it, each with these little "ripples" in them to mount the head unit right? Essentially, it's 3 holes smashed together to make a slot. Those give you 3 spots to choose from when mounting your head unit, depending on how much you need to move your specific head unit in/out to properly align it. So the kit does come with a little adjustability. Lining up with the middle hole in each slot, 1/4" lower, is where I drilled my own holes.

However, I don't recall if I drilled all 4 new holes on each bracket? I'm thinking it was only at the front or rear of the bracket, to in effect, cause the head unit to just AIM THE FACE more upward or downward. Versus shifting the entire head unit upward or downward. So I just changed the angle the head unit sat at. I don't remember exactly. It's been a few months. You should be able to tell which way the head unit needs to move/aim and make it happen.
 
#24 ·
Honestly, I didn't try. I'm sure it's just audio +, - and maybe ground. So you could hack into the factory mic harness and try. But you're still running wire up into that location either way. Might as well just use the Pioneer mic at that point. Looks factory from the outside.

Also no idea which microphone is higher quality or if there's noise canceling properties that might get altered by using a non-Pioneer mic? Doubtful, but again, ain't worth trying. I just used the Pioneer mic and moved on.
 
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