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Here's the thing...WHen I took my car to the shop to get it installed for the first time in January (I know...big mistake ) the guy used 8awg wire to power up my amp. Back then I really didnt know anything about amps or subs or HU's, but I think I know alot more now, here are my questions:

1. I am getting a new amp install kit (Rock Fos) thats 4 awg, I want to know if its an easy way to run the power wire to the batt with out taking out my panels. I;m only askin this cuz my boy said somethin about how you can tie the end of the wires together and just pull it through.

2.Component speakers - I have and LX so I didnt get any tweeters, I am also ordering a pair (havent decided on the brand) and I wanted to know which to go with, and good spots for tweet install.

3.Mids - On my old Sony HU (the one that got stolen) I thought I had everything set up the right way. I had my subs putting out nothing but lows, and I though I had my Front and rears putting out highs and mids. Well after my HU get stolen I hooked up my factory radio and I was shocked because except for the bass of course, it sounded a little "deeper" than my Sony. I think it was because I had my insides maybe set to put out mainly highs. I was thinkin about gettin either the Panasonic deck (the one with the Organic EL) or the Sony CDX-MP70 and wanted to know whats the best way to set it up so my insides put out good highs and mids. Any help?

 
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That little trick w/ the wire will never work. The wire is bigger and there is just way too much friction.

Pull it all off and do it right.

For components I bought Diamond M6's. I also liked the JLs and Bostons too.

 
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You will never get 4AWG routed through the car by fishing it behinds the panels. I removed the passenger kick panel, the bottom panel on the door jam, the 2 bolts that hold on the bottom seat belt anchor and the rear seat cushion. The seat cushion comes off with 1 10mm bolt. It takes all of 5-7 minutes to get all of this off.

Try getting a component system for your front mids and tweets that come with pasive cross-overs. Youi will have to do some mods to mount your mids in the doors. I used 6 1/2" mids and I had to destroy my stock speakers to use the shroud as a mounting bracket.

 
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i just got my system installed today and i went with 1/0 guage wire and that stuff is huge...so what the audio place did was ran the wire from my battery underneath the car and just drilled a hole in the bottom of my trunk and sealed the hole up with some caulk.

 
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is the wire exposed? i ran my 0 guage under the carpet with no problems.

 
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I have a question? I know 0 AWG Is prolly thick as ***** (I've never seen it) 4 AWG should be all I need to power a 1000 watt amp and 2 10's.

 
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should be fine.

 
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I have a Panasonic HU, and i love mine. It has the graphics and all that junk and Ive never had a problem with mine. I have had mine for a little over a year and its still going strong. I would highly recomend it.

 
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you can fish it through, but not fully. youll have to pull some panneling off to get it sucessfully through. after running the cable in yrou engine compartment, its far easier to get it through teh grommet by lining uf the wires together and then wrapping it in tape. with enough tape to secure the wires firmly together (no wire overlap) you can get it through the grommet.

other places it wont be neccesary to do teh same. yoru door sill comes off easily enouogh, you may as well pop that off. the rear quarter panel it depends where the wire is run, but if its fully behind the panel and not wedged somewhere, it would be easier to fish that through as well, rather than remove the panel.

however, if yrou wire is just stuffed under there, your not gonna be able to fish it through, and its not a big deal to just relay the cable and restuff it behind the panneling.

but i highly reccommend fishing it through teh firewall, that IMO is the most painful part of isntalling an amp kit.





spots for a tweeter is a personal descision, there are three good places that i know of.

the first position is with teh tweeter attatched to plumbers backstrapping and installed directly over the midrange. this method of making a coaxial or braxial helps phasing a whole lot, the tweeter/midrange transition is usually right in phase, so no worries of vocals or any other response at 3000-3500 Hz sounding like htey are coming from two locations. however all too often it brings the stage down low, and makes yrou sound sound like its comming from yoru feet. its possible to have a high stage with yrou tweeters here, but it takes some work.

edit: i have chosen this location for my own tweters due to size, and nearly everyone running kickpanels has made the same choice i have. with work you can make the position work, and it does have without a doubt the most superior phasing position. however, i have to reccommend agasint it in retrospect due to complexity of install and difficulty of positioning/tuning, unless you buy q-forms. then youd be set =D

the second location is in the door panel, a bit forward of the interior door handles. this position works much better than the kickpanel for rasing the stage, no work is required for stage height. phsing becomes a much bigger issue, as the tweeter might be located at a different distance to the ears than the midrange, so care must be taken to positioning to find its proper spot. a big advantage of this position is the off axis direction the tweeter fires, makes for a very mellow and laid back sound, smooth response, while still allowing for very good imaging. this position is the top choice of tweeter position for Leon, who is arguably the most knowledgeable active SQ competitor in northern california (and why I am trying to milk being in the rookie class, becuase im not looking forward to competing agasint him next season!) biggest disadvantage is you have to drill a hole in your doorskins. damages the value of the vehicle, and if you want to change it later in the future, you are stuck.

the third location, and the civic driver location of choice is teh sail panels. for like $7 you can get the tweeter pods from the dealership, they clip right in, and if you mess up, you can always replace the panels for another $7. this is the ideal position for stage height and protection of the value of the vehicle. an industry standard install position. the two main disadvantages to this location is it cna be difficult to install a large tweeter in such a small space, sometimes you ahve to get creative, unless you have a small tweeter. the other big disadvantage is tha the tweeter is nearly on axis. if you have a smooth tweeter like the JL XR tweeter, this isnt really a big problem. however, if you have a pioneer tweeter, they absolutely SCREAM. its a great way to get loud, loud, LOUD LOUD tweeter in yrou car cheaply and effectively, but if you have no tolerance for a screeching tweeter, or if you buy a really bright tweeter, like from infinity or earthquake, this isnt the position for you. unless you like that screamin sound. (most civic drivers do, thus why its so popular)






getting "deeper" sound from the stock radio is the bane of tuners. i cant tell you how many posts are in this forum titled "help, aftermaket system, why did my stock system have more bass????". the stock system, for everything everyone says, was very well engineered by honda. adding aftermarket speakers often leads to a loss of a frequency band called "midbass", which is generally where you get your deeper sound. bass guitar, lower toms on set drums, etc all reside in your midbass. speaker choice and amplifier tuning will be yrou best friend when you replace your radio again and try to recover lost midbass. speaker choice is most key, more than any other factor i can think of when trying to get back your midbass. notice how infinity speakers for example have very poor bass guitar response when it comes to volume, espeicially when installed freeair (freeair = in the door) With a bit of tuning, you can maximise yrou midbass capabilities, but theres no one soltion to the problem. just takes time and playing around




i hope i was able to get through everything, good luck with the new sounds!

 
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i have my tweeters located in the door currently, and they are flush mounted. i love the sound, but i am having problems with certain frequencies being cancelled. now my speakers came with a kit for angled mounting, and i am tempted to try this, but i need to widen the hole in the door to fit the angled kit in, thus possibly making the flush kit no longer fit right.

my question is is the angled mount going to get rid of the cancellations somewhat or simply cause them to occur at different frequencies? i don't want to ruin my doors more and am just curious if this project will be worth my effort.

 
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That is a really really bad install technique, unless they wrapped the wire in a braided steel line to protect it. All power wire should be ran INSIDE the car. Suppose a sharp rock goes up and hits that wire, cutting it. Then you will have an exposed 0 AUG wire, and if it touches the frame of the car or grounded metal you are gonna have one hell of a shower of sparks possibly catching something on fire.

If I were you I would go back to that shop and tell them to run it inside the car like the professionals they claim to be.

 
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not to mention potential corrosion problems from salt if you do live in florida near the ocean (or if they use road salt in the winter like they do here).