360 Stereo Upgrade / Subwoofer Install

I though I would share my recent stereo upgrade project with you all.

After a year of ownership the standard Ferrari system just wasn't good enough for me so I decided as a weekend project (well 2 weekends actually) i'd upgrade it stage by stage.

Firstly, and still using the standard Ferrari stereo I replaced the front door speakers with a pair of Infinity 6532i speakers - Fairly easy to fit after a little tinkering & I kept the original grills in place to retain the factory look. Immediately - just with this pair of speakers fitted it sounded so much better !

Next on the list was a new headunit - I went for the Pioneer AVH-X7500BT. This was a straight plug / play unit into the existing ISO connectors - Nothing additional was required. The transformation after fitting this was another upward step, so much more clarity with just the new door speakers fitted.

I could have ended here, but next need was for more bass, I may have gone a little over the top here, but I decided to challenge myself and make 2 x bespoke subwoofer boxes that fitted on the sheves behind the seats. It did take an awful lot of cardboard templates to create the patterns for these but eventually I got there and they do (IMHO) 'fit in' with the rest of the interior now. I made the boxes from MDF, no clever tools, just a jigsaw, a drill, an electric sander & around 18 hours !. They are fully sealed and air-tight. I carpeted them in standard black acoustic carpet which is very flexible and went around all the contours pretty easily. I'll let the images lower down this post explain a bit more about the construction of those. The subwoofers I fitted were Infinity Reference 1260 12", not expensive speakers but good quality & just shallow enough to fit into the boxes I made.

Obviously an amplifer was needed to power these, so i went for an Infinity Kappa One 800w RMS subwoofer amp. 'Back in the day' - ie. 20 years ago when I installed amplifiers / subwoofers in my previous cars (in my younger days) the amplifiers were massive, the benefit now it that amplifiers seem to have shrunk in size yet with more power ! - This particular amplifier is very small, and it fitted perfectly underneath the rear panel on the drivers side (RHD car). Power, amp remote wire & RCA lead from the RCA subwoofer output of the headunit were all routed under the sill cover very easily and and it was earthed under the rear panel.

Turning it on after the bass boxes were in ??? - Firstly the Pioneer head unit has so many controls for the sub bass & everything else (this unit has endless features) - I tinkered on the headunit for 30 mins and wow ... clarity from the front speakers and the deep bass from the rear subwoofers shakes everything. The kind of bass you can feel though your chest - utterly brilliant (IMHO).

My musical taste is dance music / D&B, with some deep bass parts - When i was setting up the subwoofers in relation to the headunit I used these 3x remixes to practice my setup with (all of which drop very low in parts) :

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozV_vWXZgZY]Adele - Hometown Glory (High Contrast Remix) - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VmPwAosxM4]Utah Saints - Something Good (High Contrast Remix) - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_BRR9pRJSA]Chase & Status - Blind Faith (Loadstar Remix) - YouTube[/ame]

Pics below :

Dave
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