Few pics of the install

[nick-caper]

Its a 2004 Madza 3. Sorry no pics of the car just yet. Im bored and decided to do this at 1:30 am. I redid the tweeter pods so the RSD tweeters would fit. I bought some 5x7 plates from Crutchfield to make the RSD 5's fit and sealed them in real good. I have 2 different boxes I use with different air space. Not sure which one I like yet but I do like the carpeted look better. I went with all JL amps. 300/4 and 500/1. Im impressed especially with the 500/s cause its a Class D. I didnt think it would sound this good. The Alpine CDA9887 is hooked up to the portable DVD player through AI Net. This is the best deck Ive heard so far. The best FM tuning ever period. I did everything myself except build the boxes. I did redo the black box front panel to fit the RSD 10's.
.5ft3 per sub

Tweeter pods

Front speaker location

5 inchers fitted and sealed with passive x-overs

1ft3 per sub

Amps with dizzy block and Head unit/DVD

[stipud]

Those rims suck

Just kidding...

You should try deadening over your doors... it will make a huge difference, especially with plastic adapter panels holding your speakers on.

What did you use to paint your old sub box and tweeter pods? It looks neat in the trunk (probably pretty durable?), but I don't think it matches your interior too well. I would look for a more subtle SEM texture spray, or wrap them in fabric. It may just be the picture though.

Those prefab 10" enclosures seem to fit remarkably well across your trunk. How do you keep them strapped in?

[nick-caper]

The prefabs dont need to be strapped in. They fit soo tight that once pressed in like dominos its really hard to remove them.
The other box was coated with DuraLiner which is used in truck beds. I then coated it with a fleck stone type paint and then clear coated it. Its a very solid box. Oh and I put a sheet of black vinyl over the front panel THEN I coated it. U right it doesnt match up well with the rest of the interior. The prefab looks almost stock.
The tweeter pods were several coats of rustoleum and textured spray paint. I used a dremel tool and alot of elbow grease. Its a simple setup. You cant see any wires. Well maybe just a minimal wire or 2. The black box is so loud that I gotta usually turn down the bass volume when driving cause it makes my eyes all shakey and the rear view is useless.
Id like to maybe trade the 10's for a Titanium 15 or Elite 12. Id even throw in one of the boxes you see if I can get a good trade.

[nick-caper]

Hey guys. I got a new (old) ride. I got rid of the Mazda3 and got a granny mobile Buick!
First off I wanna say thanks for the oppurtunity to post these pics. They are nothing glamorous but I like to show off my setup. I took the pics with a Motorola Q cell phone.
I installed a RSD 5.25 set in the front and 2 RSD 10's in the trunk. The rear deck had a pair of factory 6x9's I pulled out to let the bass through into the passenger area. The amps are JL 500/1 and JL 300/4. The JL300/4 is bridged to about 150 watts per side and these little 5'ers are taking it! Im so impressed. At first I thought these were nothin special but now after many people sat in my car and said its like they have headphones on, well. Im happy!
The only thing Id like to change is the subwoofer setup. Id like 1 15. Id be happy to trade these 2 RSD's for a 15 of high caliber. Im looking at possibly the older Ti 15. I had a pair of those but duh, I sold um. Anyway. Id even ship these in the box u see in my install for a good 15. Image Dynamics is nice and a consideration as well.
The car possed a few problems during install. First and the biggest problem was the factory wiring harness. I went with the Alpine 9887 head unit. The factory harness is a ribbon cable and the factory radio is included into the cars security and lighting system. I had to get a GMRC-04 Metra wiring kit. It was a serious pain to install cause I had to cut out the inside of the dash to make the new radio fit. It is rediculous what GM vehichles make us do to add new sound.
After that obsticle I realized after a few days that the battery was under the rear seat! Made running the power wires easy but it was odd to find it there.
The front door speaker wires from the factory are tangled in a rediculous cluster of useless large extension blocks. I cut everything and redid the wiring and its all pretty and neat. But the speakers in the doors needed to be fitted to properly work. I had to fill in the gap around the speakers cause it seems the factory speakers were a bit larger then the RSD's. Eventually I got it all airtight and wired. I modified the passive crossovers with several small value Mylar poly caps that in my opinion makes the sound seem very analog, transparent and deeper. The tweeters went in the factory location without a hitch.
Everybody that listens to my setup cant belive how good it sounds. I had a dude get pissed off at me cause he has a huge system in his truck and it didnt come close to my sound quality. He was almost fighting with me from jealousy of my SQ system. LOL

Anyway. Here it is. Not a glamous setup but it is nice enough..



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Also I wanted to say that the Mazda3 tweeter pods I made as well as the tweeters and mids and crossovers as you see in the prior install are for sale. Please send me an offer. I take PayPal. The crossovers were redone with better caps and made to sound overal better and take more power. Factory PG box, manual all included and all work 100% without any dents or broken parts.

[stipud]

Paragraphs man, paragraphs!

Nice looking setup there. Yeah, the RSD comps are something else eh? Have you sealed off the mids at all? If not, some good sound deadening will make a world of difference in stiffening up the bottom end.

Why do you want a 15? More SPL? If so, the RSD comp subs might be down your alley as well. They definitely get jiggy with the power you give them.

[nick-caper]

Thanks. And sorry. I dont know when to stop and start paragraphs. LOL
I used to have a Ti15. Actually 2 of um. I just got attached to them. When I sold them I found myself missing them. One thing I noticed about the RSD 10's is low efficiency. At 84db its really low. Its like cutting the wattage in half compared to a couple of other subs I used in the past. I need 1000 watts to push um real good. 500 watts is barely gettin um movin!