My stereo upgrade...
05-17-2013, 12:29 PM
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My stereo upgrade...
OK, figured I would chronicle my upgrade for my 2012's permium system..
First I was contemplating just adding on some amps and new speakers and piggybacking off the stock head and amp, but decided to replace it all instead.
Stock:
OEM 430N with Uconnect, Premium package
What I bought:
(STAGE 1) - DONE
Head Unit: Parrot Asteroid Smart (really freakin awesome)
Amp: 1 Alpine MRP-F300, 1 MRV-M500
Speakers: 2 pairs of Sony XSGT1638F
RUX-Knob for MRP-F300 bass level control knob
0/1 Gauge wire to a DBX44 distibution block, 4 gauge running to each amp
All new 16 gauge wire to each speaker
(STAGE 2) - in progress
Materials for custom fiberglass dual 10" sub enclosure
Metal to fab my own underseat amp brackets
(STAGE 3) - Coming soon
2 10W0V3-4 subs
1 Alpine MRP-F300
STAGE 1:
First things first, I removed all of the stock parts... or as much of them as I could. I think I took apart my entire dash and plastic trim probably 10 times in the last week, so luckily I got very familiar with how it was put together. I forgot to take pics of most of the process so stage 1 is pretty barren.
Once everything was removed and sold, I pulled out the front speaker enclosures. The speakers I bought were not a direct fit and actually a little small for the opening but only slightly. I drilled out new mounting holes, ran new wire from the speakers through the rubber plugs, filled them with poly, mounted the speakers and siliconed up the holes and reinstalled the enclosures. I gotta say, those enclosures are a PITA to get out the first time.
Now that the front was done, I moved on to the speaker bar. Took it down and did the same replacement of the speakers. I left the stock grill up there and put it all back together after the new wiring was ran.
Then I started running new wire to the passenger side rear where I was going to be putting my new sub box. I ran 2 sets of wires since I planned on having 2 subs and covered up the wires with some plastic wire wrap. For the time being I hooked up an old OEM 10" sub in its stock enclosure I had from my old 2008 Evo. I knew it wouldnt be great, but it would get me by (or so I thought).
Now that all the speakers were wired up, I had to re-run the backup camera's wire that I had already there. Previously I did the half-ass way of just running it under the carpet, but since I was doing it right this time I joined it up under the bed rail with the rest of the wire harness. Once I had pulled the new RCA wires from the head unit location down to the amp locations, and the speaker wires with it, and the opposite for the camera... I was astonished and a bit overwhelmed by the amount of wires. Talk about a crazy mess!
Deciding I was going to try and get the amps wired up first and work on the head unit last, I began searching for a spot to run the power line from the battery. Ended up running it across the firewall and then through the foam on the drivers side, then down the footwell (since I had no speaker wires in the footwell to avoid interference). Got the distribution block hooked up and power ran to each amp. Same with the ground wire. Then plugged all the wires into the amp and began my complaints about choosing the lower model line of amps. I really dislike the connectors for the power/ground on the M500. Those screw down spade connectors are NOT big enough for the 4 gauge wire they state is needed. I had to do some creative manipulation to get them to fit well. I really missed the connectors of my old PDX-5 that I installed the other week in my girlfriends TJ.
So, amps were wired up... sort of temporarily stuffed under both seats and not the prettiest but it works for now till this weekend when I work on my mounting brackets.
On to... the head unit.
I gotta say, the head unit is slick looking. Very shallow which was lucky for me considering how much space the extra wires and wire harness were going to take up. I ran about 4 trips to the local bestbuy for the wrong harness(cheap), right harness(expensive) and the antenna adapter. Originally I thought the antenna adapter I bought was the wrong one and ended up getting yet another of the same one (stupid me) and neither fit right with the stock clip thing. I ended up just rigging it together and electrical taping it. Got the RCA's and backup cam hooked up, 1 of the 3 USB's hooked up and left out the Iphone plug since I hate apple products... then realized I had forgotten about the dash kit. Tore open the plastic and had 2 wedge like pieces that mount on the sides of the cage to fill in the gaps. Then I looked closer... and at the instructions that came with both the head unit and the kit.
What a joke!
The head unit has the metal cage we are all used too, with those stupid metal fingers that are used to hold it to the install location. The kit however was pretty solid plastic and was expecting to be screwed to the cage. Neither one provided screws and in fact stated to use the hardware from each other. Since there was no room to really put some screws into the cage, I decided to epoxy the damn thing up! Got it all hard mounted together and went to put it in the head unit location for the second time, and found out that its too tall for the opening! DOH!!! So I grabbed my trusty razor knife and started hacking away at it (neatly) and got it to fit. Hooked it all up and BAM... beautiful!
(OMG a pic!!!)
Now... some reviews on the head unit.
This thing is great! Well.. its great for techie nerds like myself. Im a big android fan and a geek so anytime I can get away from some bloated and slow device that is so bogged down with software I dislike, or features that are useless... I will. This unit is fantastic in that its just like a cell phone. I can tether to my Galaxy S3 and use its data for internet which lets me use Google Maps (best Nav software in my opinion and also displays traffic for free), can load apps for pandora, XM (no antenna needed!), spotify, read emails, bluetooth with 2 devices, hook into Torque (app that connects to an OBD2 reader to display all sorts of vehicle info), display calendars, weather and all sorts of other stuff... as well as the radio tuner. I can use swipe gestures on the screen for volume, track change etc... without looking. Its pretty cool
So now that its all in... I find out that my crappy temp sub situation is just not cutting it. It vibrates against the metal body since I removed carpet and sounds like crap so I will be building the sub box sooner rather than later lol.
Ill post more pics later tonight of my super awesome temporary install (lol).
(my ugly temp install before tearing it out)
First I was contemplating just adding on some amps and new speakers and piggybacking off the stock head and amp, but decided to replace it all instead.
Stock:
OEM 430N with Uconnect, Premium package
What I bought:
(STAGE 1) - DONE
Head Unit: Parrot Asteroid Smart (really freakin awesome)
Amp: 1 Alpine MRP-F300, 1 MRV-M500
Speakers: 2 pairs of Sony XSGT1638F
RUX-Knob for MRP-F300 bass level control knob
0/1 Gauge wire to a DBX44 distibution block, 4 gauge running to each amp
All new 16 gauge wire to each speaker
(STAGE 2) - in progress
Materials for custom fiberglass dual 10" sub enclosure
Metal to fab my own underseat amp brackets
(STAGE 3) - Coming soon
2 10W0V3-4 subs
1 Alpine MRP-F300
STAGE 1:
First things first, I removed all of the stock parts... or as much of them as I could. I think I took apart my entire dash and plastic trim probably 10 times in the last week, so luckily I got very familiar with how it was put together. I forgot to take pics of most of the process so stage 1 is pretty barren.
Once everything was removed and sold, I pulled out the front speaker enclosures. The speakers I bought were not a direct fit and actually a little small for the opening but only slightly. I drilled out new mounting holes, ran new wire from the speakers through the rubber plugs, filled them with poly, mounted the speakers and siliconed up the holes and reinstalled the enclosures. I gotta say, those enclosures are a PITA to get out the first time.
Now that the front was done, I moved on to the speaker bar. Took it down and did the same replacement of the speakers. I left the stock grill up there and put it all back together after the new wiring was ran.
Then I started running new wire to the passenger side rear where I was going to be putting my new sub box. I ran 2 sets of wires since I planned on having 2 subs and covered up the wires with some plastic wire wrap. For the time being I hooked up an old OEM 10" sub in its stock enclosure I had from my old 2008 Evo. I knew it wouldnt be great, but it would get me by (or so I thought).
Now that all the speakers were wired up, I had to re-run the backup camera's wire that I had already there. Previously I did the half-ass way of just running it under the carpet, but since I was doing it right this time I joined it up under the bed rail with the rest of the wire harness. Once I had pulled the new RCA wires from the head unit location down to the amp locations, and the speaker wires with it, and the opposite for the camera... I was astonished and a bit overwhelmed by the amount of wires. Talk about a crazy mess!
Deciding I was going to try and get the amps wired up first and work on the head unit last, I began searching for a spot to run the power line from the battery. Ended up running it across the firewall and then through the foam on the drivers side, then down the footwell (since I had no speaker wires in the footwell to avoid interference). Got the distribution block hooked up and power ran to each amp. Same with the ground wire. Then plugged all the wires into the amp and began my complaints about choosing the lower model line of amps. I really dislike the connectors for the power/ground on the M500. Those screw down spade connectors are NOT big enough for the 4 gauge wire they state is needed. I had to do some creative manipulation to get them to fit well. I really missed the connectors of my old PDX-5 that I installed the other week in my girlfriends TJ.
So, amps were wired up... sort of temporarily stuffed under both seats and not the prettiest but it works for now till this weekend when I work on my mounting brackets.
On to... the head unit.
I gotta say, the head unit is slick looking. Very shallow which was lucky for me considering how much space the extra wires and wire harness were going to take up. I ran about 4 trips to the local bestbuy for the wrong harness(cheap), right harness(expensive) and the antenna adapter. Originally I thought the antenna adapter I bought was the wrong one and ended up getting yet another of the same one (stupid me) and neither fit right with the stock clip thing. I ended up just rigging it together and electrical taping it. Got the RCA's and backup cam hooked up, 1 of the 3 USB's hooked up and left out the Iphone plug since I hate apple products... then realized I had forgotten about the dash kit. Tore open the plastic and had 2 wedge like pieces that mount on the sides of the cage to fill in the gaps. Then I looked closer... and at the instructions that came with both the head unit and the kit.
What a joke!
The head unit has the metal cage we are all used too, with those stupid metal fingers that are used to hold it to the install location. The kit however was pretty solid plastic and was expecting to be screwed to the cage. Neither one provided screws and in fact stated to use the hardware from each other. Since there was no room to really put some screws into the cage, I decided to epoxy the damn thing up! Got it all hard mounted together and went to put it in the head unit location for the second time, and found out that its too tall for the opening! DOH!!! So I grabbed my trusty razor knife and started hacking away at it (neatly) and got it to fit. Hooked it all up and BAM... beautiful!
(OMG a pic!!!)
Now... some reviews on the head unit.
This thing is great! Well.. its great for techie nerds like myself. Im a big android fan and a geek so anytime I can get away from some bloated and slow device that is so bogged down with software I dislike, or features that are useless... I will. This unit is fantastic in that its just like a cell phone. I can tether to my Galaxy S3 and use its data for internet which lets me use Google Maps (best Nav software in my opinion and also displays traffic for free), can load apps for pandora, XM (no antenna needed!), spotify, read emails, bluetooth with 2 devices, hook into Torque (app that connects to an OBD2 reader to display all sorts of vehicle info), display calendars, weather and all sorts of other stuff... as well as the radio tuner. I can use swipe gestures on the screen for volume, track change etc... without looking. Its pretty cool
So now that its all in... I find out that my crappy temp sub situation is just not cutting it. It vibrates against the metal body since I removed carpet and sounds like crap so I will be building the sub box sooner rather than later lol.
Ill post more pics later tonight of my super awesome temporary install (lol).
(my ugly temp install before tearing it out)
Last edited by CoreyZ; 05-20-2013 at 07:41 AM.
05-17-2013, 12:29 PM
#2
JK Enthusiast
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Join Date: Jun 2012
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STAGE 2
Started on stage 2 this weekend. I took out the seats and started forming the back of the fiberglass enclosure. This is my first time working with fiberglass so its not the greatest lol. Also found out that while I was hoping to install a small bracket under the seats to mount the amps, the design of the body wont allow for it, so back to the drawing board!
Here is the enclosure that I began building...
Taped off
laid
Meh... kinda ugly for now
Then I started attacking the design of the amp brackets. Figured I would end up just making metal brackets that sit in the footwell, and have the amps mounted to them. Then I would make some plexi covering to protect them. I wasnt planning on displaying them as it attracts more attention for theives, but at this point if I get too paranoid I can just make some other kind of hinged enclosure that hides them completely.
Here is what it ended up as...
(ignore the far plexi not being attached yet)
Now its all bolted up and works great. I mounted the brackets to the body using those plastic panel plugs used on interior body panels. Works really well!
Then I started back on the enclosure and got the skeleton all built. This morning I resin'd in the frame and am stretching the fleece. Ill post more pics up tonight hopefully.
to be continued.....
Started on stage 2 this weekend. I took out the seats and started forming the back of the fiberglass enclosure. This is my first time working with fiberglass so its not the greatest lol. Also found out that while I was hoping to install a small bracket under the seats to mount the amps, the design of the body wont allow for it, so back to the drawing board!
Here is the enclosure that I began building...
Taped off
laid
Meh... kinda ugly for now
Then I started attacking the design of the amp brackets. Figured I would end up just making metal brackets that sit in the footwell, and have the amps mounted to them. Then I would make some plexi covering to protect them. I wasnt planning on displaying them as it attracts more attention for theives, but at this point if I get too paranoid I can just make some other kind of hinged enclosure that hides them completely.
Here is what it ended up as...
(ignore the far plexi not being attached yet)
Now its all bolted up and works great. I mounted the brackets to the body using those plastic panel plugs used on interior body panels. Works really well!
Then I started back on the enclosure and got the skeleton all built. This morning I resin'd in the frame and am stretching the fleece. Ill post more pics up tonight hopefully.
to be continued.....
Last edited by CoreyZ; 05-20-2013 at 07:50 AM.
05-17-2013, 02:19 PM
#5
I'm curious about your head unit. Yours is one of the very few positive reviews I have found about the Parrot. I strongly considered this unit but couldn't find even one worthwhile positive review by someone who sounded credible. I'll be anxious to hear your thoughts once you have lived with it a while. I'm a gadget geek like you but I do prefer Apple products.
05-17-2013, 04:44 PM
#6
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Odd, I found mostly positive reviews and video reviews before I bought it. I had heard the other parrot units were not good, but the smart had good marks.
This afternoon I loaded a bunch of apps and got my Bluetooth obd dongle working. Now torque runs and displays all my info like a dream!
One thing I noticed though was no fan built in to the unit, and after a couple hours it was pretty warm to the touch. I may have to fab up my own PC fan system for it.
This afternoon I loaded a bunch of apps and got my Bluetooth obd dongle working. Now torque runs and displays all my info like a dream!
One thing I noticed though was no fan built in to the unit, and after a couple hours it was pretty warm to the touch. I may have to fab up my own PC fan system for it.
05-18-2013, 03:26 AM
#7
Odd, I found mostly positive reviews and video reviews before I bought it. I had heard the other parrot units were not good, but the smart had good marks.
This afternoon I loaded a bunch of apps and got my Bluetooth obd dongle working. Now torque runs and displays all my info like a dream!
One thing I noticed though was no fan built in to the unit, and after a couple hours it was pretty warm to the touch. I may have to fab up my own PC fan system for it.
This afternoon I loaded a bunch of apps and got my Bluetooth obd dongle working. Now torque runs and displays all my info like a dream!
One thing I noticed though was no fan built in to the unit, and after a couple hours it was pretty warm to the touch. I may have to fab up my own PC fan system for it.
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05-20-2013, 07:14 AM
#10
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It has a built in WiFi antenna as well as dual Bluetooth. So either you can connect to a WiFi hotspot if you're in a parking lot or tether off your phone. I use Bluetooth tethering and my Google maps rolls perfect while I also stream Pandora.
So after a few more days of use, I realize the built in FM antenna tuner is weak and loses signal easy compared to stock. I don't listen to it much but its a negative and i might look into signal boosters. Other than that its been great. A few bugs in the software but nothing terrible.
BTW.. Was able to stream an TV episode on my Plex client while sitting in a parking lot eating lunch. It used my phones internet and streamed it from my house server. Was awesome :-)
So after a few more days of use, I realize the built in FM antenna tuner is weak and loses signal easy compared to stock. I don't listen to it much but its a negative and i might look into signal boosters. Other than that its been great. A few bugs in the software but nothing terrible.
BTW.. Was able to stream an TV episode on my Plex client while sitting in a parking lot eating lunch. It used my phones internet and streamed it from my house server. Was awesome :-)