2014 Honda CR-V (New PG Gear)

Have a cool car stereo? Post your install pictures here! No PG? No problem! Competition grade or sub-in-box setups: ALL are welcome!
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Kirghiz
Posts: 1013
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:59 pm

2014 Honda CR-V (New PG Gear)

Post by Kirghiz »

When my wife bought her new car, she said she wanted to have the entertainment system that I have in my truck in her car, so our daughter could watch her shows, as well as remote start. I figured that if we were going to do that, we might as well get an amp, upgrade the door speakers, and stick a sub in there too. I told her we could do something small that sounded good, while not occupying any cargo space, and not limiting the use of the vehicle from it's role as the family "Mommy Wagon". The Phoenix Gold Scion install was basically the inspiration, and when I showed that install to my wife she agreed to go forth with it. I took the vehicle to Sound Decision in Johnson City, TN, the same folks that did the install in my truck, and showed them what I wanted to do. I wanted to minimize the amount of cutting that needed done to the vehicle, so mounting the sub and amp in the side wall of the cargo area was out. That left the spare tire well. On the one hand, having a "Mommy Wagon" that has no spare tire seems dangerous, but my wife said she has never changed a tire in her life, and there is likely no universe in which she ever would, so it made the decision somewhat easier. There was also this removable black plastic tub thing that covered the carpet in the cargo area. I surmise it's role is to trap spills and fluid. My wife insisted that it had to stay, so it had to be incorporated/worked around.

As far as the required elements, a Pioneer App Radio was chosen as the HU, but it lacks a few functions that we need, and no HU does what we need at the moment, but plans are already in place to replace it with the 2014 Pioneer NEX HU as soon as it ships. In the meantime, App Radio it is. An Audiovox 11" flip down DVD system provides the video for the back, and a Panther alarm system with remote start rounds out the things she wanted. As far as the system goes, I wanted to basically do the Scion install, 2 sets of Ti65cs comps in the factory locations, a Ti21600.5 amp, and a 12" Ti sub, but there was a depth issue in the wheel well, and the Ti wouldn't fit. I was pretty well planning on going with a pair of R3 10's, but then Sound Decision got their first shipment of SX subs in a few days before I was to take the car down there. Just so happens that they got some dual 2 SX 10's, and their depth was just right for the wheel well. Don't let the 400 watt rms rating on these subs fool you. These are very capable drivers, and are far more rugged than the R3's, evidenced by what amounts to nearly 50% more P2P excursion.

The whole team had a hand on the install, but Benny Broyles built a custom fiberglass and MDF sub enclosure/amp rack in the wheel well that looks amazing. This had to be rugged enough that it had to withstand whatever heavy crap got piled on top of it. I read a horror story on another board where a guy's wife poked a hole in the cone of a Morel Ultimo with some sewing gear she was hauling. I didn't want to be that guy. Speaker grills cover the subs, which are recessed down into the wheel well, and the amp is covered by a steel grate. All of this is covered by the black plastic tub thing my wife insisted on keeping, and together they protect the gear very well. My wife is, well, let's just say she isn't a huge fan of car audio. After I brought the car home she was taking pictures of the subs/amp and texting them to her friends. I guess she likes it.

Considering that I have all Phoenix Gold Elite gear in my truck, and I have roughly 5,000 watts rms, I wasn't expecting much from the system in the CR-V. It is after all just mid-level gear powered by a full range class D 5 channel amp. Let me tell you, the CR-V surprised me. The mids and highs from the Ti comps were clean and crisp. The subs reproduced bass notes clean and accurately, and even vibrated my clothes a bit at high volume. I'm not going to sit here and say it is extremely loud, because it is after all just a pair of sealed 10's on 800 rms, but they get as loud as one would expect, and do it cleanly. They handled "Funk Hole" by Destroid very well, really the whole "The Invasion" CD by Destroid, so they can get down and bang when asked. I figure a ported enclosure on these drivers would really let them shine, and I surmise that these SX drivers deliver the most output watt for watt of any sub that Phoenix Gold makes. I'm pretty impressed with them all in all. They still of course need to break in, so I know they'll get even louder going forward. It's entirely possible that they might be better SQ subs than the Ti's. There isn't a lot of difference in price between them and the Ti's either, and the Ti's make more output obviously, so it's plausible that the SX subs sound better to justify that price point. I don't however want to definitively say that they sound better until these SX drivers break in though, so I'll leave it at that.

The thing that impressed me the most with this system though is the amp. You hear all the horror stories about how bad class D amps sound on full range, and there are people that swear they'll never own a full range class D amp. I swear on a stack of bibles that if you listened to this system, and didn't know what gear was in it, you would not know that this amp is a class D. The Elite amps sound better, and I would expect that any high end audiophile A/B amp would, but this class D will give any mid level A/B amp a run for it's money in terms of SQ, total power, and do it in 1/3 the space, and have roughly half the current draw. If you are cramped for space, and don't want to do a bunch of costly electrical upgrades, the Ti2 amps are your best option hands down. Within that niche of being small, efficient, and powerful while still sounding pretty good, I would put the Ti2's right on the same level as the Elites in terms of quality. They do what they were designed to do better than anything else that was designed for the same role. But, after all these years is it really all that surprising that Phoenix Gold designs great amps?

https://www.facebook.com/SOUND.DECISION.JC
http://www.sounddecisiontn.com/
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Being loud without good sound quality is pointless, but having good sound quality without being loud is also pointless.
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Wrennagade
Posts: 491
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:57 pm

Re: 2014 Honda CR-V (New PG Gear)

Post by Wrennagade »

Doesn't the mat muffle the subs or vibrate and sound unpleasant? When I had a 12'' in my subie floor with a grate covering it, even a plastic bag that inched a little bit over the grate would sound terrible. Just curious, nice install man! Dig the clean stock appearance & lighted amp/sub design. :clap:
Ti BASS Cube
Ti Powercore 15
Ti DD10
Ti Fuseblock(Power)
1xTi500.4(Thanks Brian!)
1xTi1200.1
2xTi X-overs/1x Ti Tweets
1xReactor
1xTi 12EliteD
MS1000TA(Black)
Alpine 3339 EQ
Pioneer MVH P8300BT
Kirghiz
Posts: 1013
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:59 pm

Re: 2014 Honda CR-V (New PG Gear)

Post by Kirghiz »

It's actually not too bad really. I noticed it when I turned it up a lot on a bass heavy track, but with the volume at normal people levels you can't hear it. She only will play it at normal people levels. But, I wanted to take it out, she didn't, so if there is an issue with it, she's more than welcome to take it out.
Being loud without good sound quality is pointless, but having good sound quality without being loud is also pointless.
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Drock
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Joined: Wed May 23, 2012 4:44 pm
Location: Canada

Re: 2014 Honda CR-V (New PG Gear)

Post by Drock »

The main thing is she let you put all that gear in.
My wife is going to New York in two weeks, I'll have to hustle and do a quick upgrade in the mini van while she's gone. I hate driving the van, it's so boring. But if I had a setup like yours. I'd be happier to take it out once in awhile.
I have a nice pair of ti10d4 subs sealed I could use.

Very nice/clean install. You just encouraged me to get it done.


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Kirghiz
Posts: 1013
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:59 pm

Re: 2014 Honda CR-V (New PG Gear)

Post by Kirghiz »

We were in my truck one day listening to my iPod. There are very few bands that we agree on, but Halestorm is one, and she was skipping a bunch of tracks she doesn't like, which includes most of their first album. I was like wait a minute. The reason you don't like the first album is because the bass line on most of those tracks are the best part. It's not a booming cd, but on that album a lot of the hooks lie in the bass line and you can't hear it without a sub, and then I played those tracks in my truck and she could hear it for the first time.

I'm hoping this install will open her eyes, or her ears as it were, and she'll better appreciate the hobby as a whole from an audiophile perspective. For her this is her first system, which is better than my first system ever dreamt of being, so I'm hoping she'll get hooked. If not, well I wanted a reason to buy and try a Ti21600.5 and I found one.
Being loud without good sound quality is pointless, but having good sound quality without being loud is also pointless.
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