Phoenix Gold Phorum

Post pictures of your first installs in this thread! Oldschool and hackjob installs rule here! Don't forget to tell the story behind the install, as that is the most entertaining part! Hell, even if you don't have pictures, please tell us your story!

I'll start us off with my first car. The 1985 Toyota Corolla.

Pinstriping says ELITE, and by golly, that car just reeked of sophistication. Hubcaps from Canadian Tire, and rust work done by me! (You can see the rust coming out the bottom already ).


This picture was already a year after I had started the install. I replaced the insanely cheap and crappy Clarion headunit, and Pioneer whizzer cone 6x9's in the doors. This photo shows the successor Sony CDX-CA900X headunit and ULTIMATE 6x9 coaxials. Those things had a good 1" of magnet on the back, so you couldn't roll any of the windows down beyond 1/2! Also note all of the stereo wiring hanging below the dash, held up with hockey tape


Closeup picture of the 6x9's. The speaker grilles would shoot out sometimes if you slammed the door too hard. Also, I cut out the holes using gardening shears, then later I found some tin snips! I think maybe only two of the four screws ACTUALLY held it in... the rest was flapping on the door panel


Closeup pic of the headunit. Truth be told, I miss the thing! It sounded great, had ample features, and a very intuitive user interface. Only problem was, all the controls were on a dorky "module", which I had to retape to my dash every couple weeks (didn't dare drill any holes in my precious car!).


Here's my pride and joy. A JL W1 prowedge, also bought on that first boxing day that started me down the path to enlightenment. $200, and I stayed up all night to get that deal!


At first, the 4 6x9's and two 3.5's in the dash were powered by my headunit. That's right, I had my front door 6x9's and 3.5's run in parallel off of a headunit . Later on, I added this Sony 4 channel amp, to match my year old sub amp. It was run off of speaker level inputs, until Fuzzy and I finally got out the heat gun, and melted the air ducting behind my dash so that I could fit RCAs in!


And here is the 2ch amp that ran the subs. The 4 gauge I used to feed these amps was actually used for overhead power lines, and had about 6 strands of incredibly thick copper in them. Impossible to work with, and it was so stiff it ended up cracking the power terminal on the amp! Both of these amps were installed under the seats, which in a small car meant that you got a lot of feet on them. Thus the footprints and dirt


Here's how I installed my subs... facing inwards, because otherwise the trunk rattled too much! The box was tied in with orange rope that has been used for camping in my family since the 1970's.


Note the NOS sticker, for comedy value. Also, the trunk hinges were totally broken, so it sat crooked, and didn't seal from water.



Unfortunately I lost the pictures of my second install, which was MUCH better. I completely reupholstered the doors, and installed Elite 5's up front with NO REAR FILL! The windows could roll down completely. I swapped the Sony headunit with a Pioneer SQ unit. DEX-P99R I think?

I built an angled 2cuft box for a Xenon 12D4 using nothing but a jigsaw, and even rebuilt the entire floor of the car with 1/2" MDF. Then I turned the back of my trunk into a wall, where I mounted the Ti basscube, Elite XO, and Ti900.7 powering everything!

That was a much nicer setup. I would love to get those pictures back, but they disappeared with the original PG soundoff forum. If anyone has backups, I will KISS YOU!

With my Corolla, I used to park it during the winters, in order to save on insurance money as a starving student. Then I would just take the bus, or borrow my parent's car. However, one year my mom ended up going on a half year sabbatical to Sweden, so I took over her Subaru legacy for one winter!

This install precedes the final one in the Corolla, and included my first ever PG products -- Ti10 subwoofers! I saw the Ti10's at a local audio shop for $500 EACH, and I loved them! However, they were obviously too expensive, since I was looking at $200 Alpine Type-S woofers instead. But when I finally checked on eBay!!! WOW!!! Two Ti10's, new in box, for only $250 SHIPPED to Canada. That's two for HALF the price of ONE subwoofer locally! They were even cheaper than Alpine's on eBay!

So, here it is... my very first PG gear.


My friend, and Fuzzysnuggleduck's Ex-girlfriend Alice, worked at the local shop "International Stereo" which was going out of business. At their closeout sale, she ended up giving me an Alpine 2x10 box, and all I had to do was go buy her McDonalds!

I bought a JBL Crown 600.1 on eBay as well, after buying the Ti10 subwoofers, and threw it all together:


However, at 1cuft per sub, it was too big for the Ti10's, so I threw in my own ports instead! PVC bought from the local Revy, a hacksaw, and a file is all it took!


However, I later realized that in order to fit under the tarp, the amp had to be mounted on the side. Here's a first for me... REAL power and ground wires! This flexible stuff was a dream to work with! Also note the Ultimate 6x9's, which I had taken out of the Corolla prior to parking it, were now running in the back off of deck power!


Finally, I installed my venerable CDX-CA900X as well, along with Tantrum 5.25" Coaxials up front.


Those subs were SOOOOOO LOUD! They could hit long deep notes like nobodies business, and easily take your breath away. That is definitely, by far, the loudest setup I have owned. However, the ports were tuned far too deep for the little sub and enclosure, so the bass timing was awful, and those Ti10's couldn't hit fast notes whatsoever.

I'm so old that I don't even have digital pics of my first install!!!

My first install was actually in my best friend (since I was 2 or 3 years old) Jason's truck. He had a 1977 Chevy 1500 that was bought new by his dad, and survived in the family since then. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that install, but it was hilarious! There was an entry level Alpine headunit cut into the dash, with 6x9 speakers in truck rider boxes, tied to the floor between your legs. We later mounted some seats from his Dodge Lancer to some metal tubing, and threw it (unattached to the truck in any way!) into the cabin, in place of the bench seats. Then we installed Lightning audio 3.5" speakers on each side of the headrest, pointing outwards! Gosh, the sound that those things made was horrible!

Then we went to a local flea market, and bought two 12" crunch subwoofers... then mounted them to a piece of plywood (not a box), and put it behind the seats. EVERYTHING was run off of deck power! I am so incredibly surprised that nothing broke. God knows that Deck is still working today. I SALUTE IT!

That truck later got a 454, which was bored out and tuned to well over 500hp in his shop class. Talk about a sleeper! Running tall farm tires, with nearly no brakes and nothing holding the chairs to the truck, it was quite exciting! It actually got featured in a magazine (well, the engine at least) . The truck was later sold, and the engine transplanted into a restored Impala SS.

After selling his truck, we got a US Acoustics amplifier (designed by Zed!) from his friend. Then we later installed plexiglass on the back to show off the amp guts, MS series style (before we even knew what MS amps were ).


And at the same sale that I bought my Legacy sub box, we got him a PG prefab enclosure as well! This held some new Type-S subwoofers.


We added some JBL 4x6's in the front doors, and later a pair of my Ultimate 6x9's (those bastards blocked the trunk spring, so it wouldn't hold open

lashlee wrote:I'm so old that I don't even have digital pics of my first install!!!

Nor did I. I used a scanner

I like the PG subs in the Alpine box and then the Alpine subs in the PG box.

gkitching wrote:I like the PG subs in the Alpine box and then the Alpine subs in the PG box.

Definitely. But don't worry, I traded boxes with him, and put in some proper subs later



Millions of pics of that install here: http://phoenixphorum.com/stipud-s-saab-9-5-vt316.html

stipud wrote:

gkitching wrote:I like the PG subs in the Alpine box and then the Alpine subs in the PG box.

Definitely. But don't worry, I traded boxes with him, and put in some proper subs later

Millions of pics of that install here: http://phoenixphorum.com/stipud-s-saab-9-5-vt316.html

Still using the orange rope I see!

mr tibbs wrote:Still using the orange rope I see!

Yes... but sadly it has been cut down and down and down until almost nothing was left... and it has now been replaced with bungee cord. Godspeed, orange rope!

(I still have a good 50ft of it at my parents house )

Thank you Stipud...

I will try to find some old pics mydself and scan in..

I never had a camera, so I guess there ain't that many..

I love your posts, so full of text... Thank you for sharing...

I welcome all the others aswell to keep up this Memory Lane Thread.

(And Stipud, thank you for doing this thread sticky!)

One cardinal rule broken. The entrance of the port inside should never, EVER be facing toward the back of the woofer.

You wont build any pressure

ydnap wrote:One cardinal rule broken. The entrance of the port inside should never, EVER be facing toward the back of the woofer.

You wont build any pressure

Oh it had pressure alright. Enough to rattle your teeth, shake the bolts out of the car, and cause the tarp to flip off

It's a weird box. The face of it angles upwards, so it was at maybe a 70 degree angle to the woofer back.

I later installed two Xmax 10" woofers and tuned them higher by removing the last elbow and extension. That setup was perfect! Hit hard and fast and stupidly loud! It's just too bad that Jason painted his Alpine box lime-ricer green, otherwise I'd be rocking those two Xmax 10's

The Xmax 10's are still one of my favorite 10's of all time!

This was from 98/99? It was from the earlier days of my fiberglassing. The front stage was run with an XS4300 and Xmax 10's running off an XS2500. Then an EQ232 and MX3 sunk in the back of the rear seats.

Way to put me to shame you jerk. Come on, you must have some REALLY old pics

"Powered by NEON" lol

I still like Nicos old installs. Way over the top but right up my alley

stipud wrote:Way to put me to shame you jerk. Come on, you must have some REALLY old pics

Sorry .. that wasn't my intention ... It's 10yrs old!?? ..

Here's something older ....


The Eq lid would open on hidden hinges. Note the Xmax 15's! It would consistantly do 141+ db. Back then that was alot.


An overview of the trunk. The amp rack was on hidden hinges that allowed access to my spare.


The distribution center. Not viewablr in that pic was the back-up battery that was sealed and vented to the outside to conform with IASCA rules.


A night time shot showing off the lighting.

This was my personal car that I competed on PG's team with. (and beat Jerry D's BMW with hehe)

Prepare for pics-and tales from the early 90's tomorrow!!
They'll make you , , and

Greg; I feel like from the stone-age compared to your "oldschool"skills...

gkitching wrote:Sorry .. that wasn't my intention ... It's 10yrs old!?? ..

Here's something older ....

You're not helping! Way too much talent!

stipud wrote:

gkitching wrote:Sorry .. that wasn't my intention ... It's 10yrs old!?? ..

Here's something older ....

You're not helping! Way too much talent!

More like I've been doing it way too long

gkitching wrote:More like I've been doing it way too long

You must have pictures of your FIRST install. You weren't always a professional installer right? You know, the one with duct tape, that you built using nothing but a framing hammer and willpower?

Awesome thread so far. Keep em coming guys! (I'm on the edge of my seat Nico!)

The first install I did was in a mark 2 golf GTI. I consisted of 2 5 1/4 punch power mids and a 12" JBL sub in a ported box. Nothing very exciting.

Then I did an install in a escrote with a 15" JBL with a caliber amp.

Then my MG turbo metro with a stroker 18 on a punch 500m and a punch 25 running the front stage.

and on and on, sadly I dont have any photos at all

An MG with a stoker 18"

Thats something I would love to have seen!