I got this "new" (used) 1999 Saab 9-5, which already has a pretty decent system from the factory. Naturally though, that's not good enough for any of us, am I right?
(Un)fortunately a week after I bought the car, the alternator crapped out... so I called Stan at WranglerNW and got this mean puppy installed, making an unholy 190 no-bs externally regulated amps.
I then also added an Optima Bluetop with 800 CCA as well to make sure the car will have the juice it needs (0 gauge power and ground are for the alternator
).
I still did want to keep the system modest though, because I want to keep trunk room for camping/road trips, and have my seats able to fold down for longer cargo or skis/snowboards if necessary (hell, I live an hour from the mountains). Also, the stock deck is really integrated into the car, so I was not looking forward to changing it. Luckily it has balanced outputs, and plays everything I need it to (CDs
). Majette came to the rescue and sold me an AudioControl Three.1, which converts a balanced signal to 8v RMS single-ended, while still having a few useful EQ features (good enough for me).Unfortunately it was nearly impossible for me to find room for the 900.7AL which would keep it out of the way in the trunk. That amp is just too damn big. While I was hunting around though, I noticed a nicely indented part under the parcel shelf that would perfectly fit a smaller amp! So, through a torturously complicated trade between Mastiff, Me-262 and I, I finally got the 500.4AL I needed.
Now to the speakers. The stock system runs 9... center, l/r dash, f/r doors, l/r parcel subwoofers. I want to keep everything stealth, so everything needs to be mounted in the stock locations. Unfortunately the stock locations are really shallow... but, again, I was fortunate enough to have a set of Elite 5's. I picked up a set of Elite 6Ms from bdubs, so now I have a 6-1 set for the front doors and l/r dash (run off the front of the 500.4), and I will install my 5's in the rear doors off the stock amplifier as rear fill.
Another brilliant idea I had is that when I remove the subs to put stuff in the trunk, I can still have bass, by using a pair of Tang Band 6x9 Subwoofers in the stock subwoofer locations. Unfortunately I haven't gotten this far yet.
Phase 1: BASS
First I had to tap into the factory amp harness for remote, power/ground for the EQ, and RCA outputs.
I could have just isolated the ground shield and ignored the balanced output, running the RCAs straight back, but what's the fun in that? The voltage of the stock line was pretty low (~2v if even), so I had to boost this and run a high voltage single-ended RCA to the back instead. I managed to squeeze my EQ nicely into the glovebox, where it is accessible, yet hidden, and very close to the stock amplifier in the passenger foot well.
I played some 60Hz tones and adjusted the gains on the EQ to put out 8v RMS to the front/sub output RCAs, which are run to the trunk along with the LPL and remote wires. The LPL was installed accessibly in the dash, because it is small enough that nobody will notice it.
Now for the trunk... The amp and crossover were mounted under the parcel shelf (excuse the wiring, this was a work in progress after all).
There is 2 gauge power and ground going directly into the amplifier. I do not fuck around when it comes to giving my amps power! The Xmax 12's were installed in a PG prefab box that I bought for the price of a McDonalds lunch when International Stereo went out of business. It's attached to the trunk using terribly ugly orange nylon rope (I need to think of something better that will hold it tight but still be easy to release for quick removal).
So... that about does it! Fired the system up and what happened? Eureka! I have bass now. Too much bass infact. Off of "250 watts" those subwoofers can be pointlessly loud. Good thing I have that LPL to keep everything at a nice, modest level
Phase 2: COMPONENTS
One of the nice things about installing on the parcel shelf, is that there is a top side to it as well! All the wires are run neatly out of the way, and pop out nicely right in front of the terminals, so the install has been kept nice and clean.
The Elite components managed to fit into the stock locations with minimal modification. On the front, I simply had to cut down a few tabs, and on the rear, I had to file out some room for the bigger driver (someone told me it was 5.25", when it is really closer to 4").
The tweeters were interesting, because I didn't have flush mount cups, nor did I have any solid, non-acoustically-reflective material available that was thin enough to baffle the front location... so they are installed with tape, and a cutout from a shoebox (don't tell anyone
). Fortunately the dash is relatively soft, so the reflections aren't unbearable. Running the tweeters out of phase, reflected off of the windscreen, has them blending perfectly.
I tapped the speaker cables in to the factory amp along with everything else (RCA outputs, remote, EQ power, etc), because the factory 14 gauge wire was big enough for a few feet, and the doors were run through massively complex connectors rather than loom. Cutting up my doors just to run speaker wire would be ugly, and extremely difficult. Note that all connections have been twisted, soldered, heat shrunk and taped, and all cable has been secured approximately every 1/2 foot, or at every junction. I also taped flat everything installed on the shelf to ensure that there would be no rattle from the wires. I did my best to mimic an OEM style setup as best as possible.
So, all in all, mission accomplished. The only tuning I had to do to get the system to sound great was wire the subs out of phase (they were slightly behind my music, now they are oh so tight, and blend in perfectly). I am going to do some mild dinking around with the EQ, but my first RTA showed it was already +- 5dB from 200-10kHz, naturally with way more bass than necessary, and a few unavoidable 10kHz+ spikes and valleys from reflecting my tweeters off the glass. No, it is not über-pro competition grade, but it is perfect for a daily driver, especially because I can remove my subs in under a minute, and have 99.5% use of my trunk, without worrying about scratching anything. The area on the parcel shelf where the amp is mounted is actually indented by an inch (you can only see the tips of the amps if you look straight on, and the system is invisible if you are standing up).
Phase 3: TUNING
I haven't done much to my install since phase 2, besides changing my tuning and subwoofer. I was getting tired of the preset 90Hz crossover in the EQ, so I removed the chip, and sent full range signals to the amp instead. Now I can use the amp's variable crossover, which is now set much lower (60Hz or so for the sub, 40Hz for the components because they roll off pretty quick on their own). Unfortunately with my components set this low, I can get some random buzzing from my doorpanel, so it looks like my next step is sealing the door pods and/or sound deadening the front doors. In the meantime I will probably be raising the crossover to the same frequency as the sub.
After reading Brandon's subwoofer test, I realized it was time for me to do something about the bass. The dual Xmax quite frankly overpowered my "music", and while they had amazing attack and tightness in upper bass, the deep stuff was boomy and not very accurate. I have always heard about the quality of ID subs, so I figured I would see what all the rage is about, so I bought Brandon's IDMax after the test. Wow... this sub is awesome. It is very musical, and has great clarity on low bass. Unfortunately it just doesn't blend perfectly on metal, which is what I listen to 90% of the time.
For christmas, Brian sent me an RSD 10" prototype. You can read my impressions on it here. Basically it had less car shaking oomph, less low bass, but blended magically with everything. Why the hell did I ever switch to 12's anyways? Before this car I have always run 10's, and once I get myself a box for the RSD, I don't think I will be going back to 12's again.
Pics
In case you haven't seen enough, I have a lot more pics up on my website:
http://photo.stipud.com/v/saab/stereo/
http://photo.stipud.com/v/saab/
