A/V Installation (Updated!)

[djdj]

Power and speaker cables run down the drivers side
RCAs (audio and video) run down the passenger side

[sxewhodey]

Man, there is a ton of insight on this thread. Custom is personal, and I felt like some was overkill, but thats just me. I love that you did take the time to hellp others out though. I love the wiring but a couple things that didnt make sense to me was all the different components and the XM wire work. Installing all different components gives the Japanese vehicles a generic american gritty apperance. Japanese automobiles are all about form and clean lines and this seems to cheapen the interior( although it may sound like a millions bucks).I can understand changing the XM if your getting smart and installing sirius but why just another XM? I love the location of the CD changer(although they are outdated) and the Xbox. Im undecided about the electronics along the back wall. I thought it was overkill, You may ave the perfect set-up for yourself.

[hofffam]

Originally Posted by djdj

They might be a little difficult to use with 8-gauge cables though.

8 gauge wire to your subs?? I know you know this, but the voltage loss over that 3 feet or so of speaker cable is infinitessimally low, even with 16 gauge wire. You probably have more signal loss on the plated steel nut/bolt assembly than anywhere in that signal path.

I'm not criticizing - just suggesting that you could easily use 14 or 12 ga. with no audible (or even measurable) change.

[djdj]

Originally Posted by sxewhodey

Man, there is a ton of insight on this thread. Custom is personal, and I felt like some was overkill, but thats just me. I love that you did take the time to hellp others out though. I love the wiring but a couple things that didnt make sense to me was all the different components and the XM wire work. Installing all different components gives the Japanese vehicles a generic american gritty apperance. Japanese automobiles are all about form and clean lines and this seems to cheapen the interior( although it may sound like a millions bucks).I can understand changing the XM if your getting smart and installing sirius but why just another XM? I love the location of the CD changer(although they are outdated) and the Xbox. Im undecided about the electronics along the back wall. I thought it was overkill, You may ave the perfect set-up for yourself.

Yeah, for me it is perfect. I know it wouldn't be for everyone. I'm a bit of an audiophile and having to put up with the factory system for the first 6 weeks I had the truck drove me nuts. I usually invest as much in a pair of speakers as most people spend on their entire home theater setups, and spend hours or days listening before making a purchasing decision. Listening to anything 'typical' is actually physically painful to my ears. I have spent years training them to hear every little nuance of a recording or audio system (I have a recording studio so I need to hear everything), to the point where any little problems stick out like a sore thumb.

I actually do use all of the different components that are part of the system. No matter what you do you're never going to get the kind of sound out of a factory head unit that you will a good quality aftermarket unit, especially the one I have selected. The Sony CDX-C90 I am using really made a huge difference over any other head unit that I have ever heard, but at $1300 just for the head unit alone you would expect that. I know that a lot of people are moving toward iPods and other portable music players, and I have one of these, but to be honest I don't like the sound much, and they are quite difficult to use safely while driving. The minimalistic interface on iPods which (while it may make them visually appealing) requires a great deal of attention to use, where a device with more buttons might be faster and safer to use in a car. So when given a choice between minimalistic ergonomics vs. easier or safer use, I lean toward the latter.

I know that by adding everything that I have that it takes away from the esthetic appeal of an all-factory setup, but at some point you probably have to give up some degree of esthetics for desired function. The pictures I have taken are with everything in the truck -- fully decked out with everything I have done to it; on a normal day it isn't necessarily like that. Things like the laptop mount may take away from the appearance of the truck to some degree, but the functionality I get out of them overrides any loss in visual appeal. And the things that are most disruptive to the visual cues of the truck can be easily removed -- like the laptop mount, which comes out with removal of a single bolt, and normally it isn't in the truck.

We all customize our vehicles to our own liking to some extent. What appeals to one may not appeal to another. For example, I really don't care for the look of anything on the front end of the truck like a bullbar or bra, but some people really do. Not that anyone is right or wrong, its just different tastes.

Some of the upcoming projects I plan to do on the truck will bring some of the 'clean lines' back to the truck. Now that I have all of the functionality I wanted I'll be starting to put more emphasis on cleaner integration. It is a project that is never finished. Its a relaxing and enjoyable hobby for me.

As for XM vs Sirius? XM sounds a lot better (even if it is far away from CD or even MP3 quality). If, to me, the sound of Sirius to me is like someone running their fingernails down a chalkboard, XM is more like a wet squeegee on a chalkboard. And since I went with Sony components, if I wanted head unit control I had to go with XM because that is all they offered.

[djdj]

Originally Posted by hofffam

8 gauge wire to your subs?? I know you know this, but the voltage loss over that 3 feet or so of speaker cable is infinitessimally low, even with 16 gauge wire.

16 gauge wire may be sufficient, but when you are talking about the kind of power that is going through the cables (2000 W amplifier into a 4 ohm load is an average of about 22 amps at full tilt, peaking much higher) I felt it would be better to have the bigger cables, even if they were going to be of short length. As power going through a cable goes up, so does voltage loss. I didn't want an inexpensive cable to be the weak link in the chain.

Plus, I already had the 8-ga cable laying around as leftover from another project. If I had gone with 12 or 16 gauge I would have had to go to the store to buy it.

[Truckin']

I'm no audiophile, but I know when something sounds good. When I asked Doug to turn on his music so I could hear the fruits of his labor, he had the parking lot rocking. He has the party truck extraordinaire. I'm impressed beyond words.

[djdj]

Originally Posted by Truckin'

I'm no audiophile, but I know when something sounds good. When I asked Doug to turn on his music so I could hear the fruits of his labor, he had the parking lot rocking. He has the party truck extraordinaire. I'm impressed beyond words.

Thanks for your kind words, Pam.

I may have spent my efforts on the A/V system of my truck, but you have certainly made the exterior of yours look really good. A+ for your work there.

[ShaneS]

DjDj,

I was doing a search on google, and it's funny that I stumbled upon this thread because I am a member of the other side EOC, and I just installed a C90 in my Element. I must say yours looks awesome too, I was checking out your install site. Great deck is'nt it, just seems like this kind of quality has dissapeared has'nt it. I have a question, what do you think about the VC function, and how is the display on yours, can you at least see i in daylight?
Check out my thread I have going on EOC about my C90 install. I posted your dash on the link, I hope you don't mind.
http://www.elementownersclub.com/for...ad.php?t=26055

[djdj]

The CDX-C90 is, as far as I can tell, the best head unit ever made. It's getting kind of old now, but nothing that anyone else has come out with since even approaches it in terms of sound quality.

[Chefelvis]

Originally Posted by djdj

The CDX-C90 is, as far as I can tell, the best head unit ever made. It's getting kind of old now, but nothing that anyone else has come out with since even approaches it in terms of sound quality.

All the new Eclipse decks sound better