Sound System

 

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My custom stereo system consists of:

Eclipse KCD 414 CD player

Audio Control 2 Channel electronic cross over

Cliff Design passive cross-overs

Radio Shack 50 watt variable resistor 

2 x 50 watts Precision Power amplifier

2 x 75 watts HiFonics amplifier

1" Quart tweeters

.75" Cliff Design Tweeter

5.25" OZ Audio mid-range woofers

10" JL Audio subwoofers

Custom Subwoofer Enclosure / Amp Rack

 

Most of my components are a collection of what I've used over the years on various systems I've installed in my previous cars.  I've learned that when you buy quality components, they can be reused from car to car and still sound great.  Some of these components are over six years old, which is considered ancient in the electronics world.  Before designing and building this system I checked around and noticed that the specs on my older equipment was still  better than a lot of new components on the market.  My previous system was designed around my 1982 Camaro.  Building the subwoofer box was challenging, but not nearly as challenging as it was for my RX7.  Nothing in the rear hatch is square.  I wanted to design something that looked like it belonged in the car.  I also wanted to incorporate my existing equipment into the newly designed system.  My final stipulation was concerning the weight of the equipment.  I drag race occasionally, so I wanted to be able to remove the heavy subwoofer box from the car on days I wanted to do some racing.  To promote easy removal of the box, I ran all of the wires coming out of the subwoofer to a plug.  When I want to remove the box, all I need to do is unplug the system and pull out the box.  It takes me no more than five minutes to complete this task.  Unfortunately my amplifiers were white and bluish gray.  Naturally my first step was to paint them silver to match the paint on my car.  The subs are black and the electronic cross-over is charcoal, so I left them alone.  My door speakers didn't fit too well in the factory location, so I completely removed the Bose system and made custom panels for my speaker to mount in.  This panel securely mounts my 5.25" woofers as well as my 1' tweeters.  I kept the factory speaker cover and the door still retains it's stock appearance.  Fortunately, there is a factory center channel space in which I very easily installed a .75" tweeter.  The most difficult part of the installation without a doubt was building the subwoofer box.  Between measuring out the curves in the trunk and fitting in the amplifiers retaining a sealed enclosure, it took me over 20 hours.  I only spent a couple of hour a night and worked almost two weeks to complete the project.    But it came out extremely nice and was worth every minute spent.  Not only did the system look good when it was completed, but it sounded really good.  I knew what to expect since I have dealt with these components in my previous system, and I wasn't disappointed.  Another great thing about these cars is that they have a hatch cover that completely hides everything in the trunk when closed.  In the space where the Bose subwoofer ports stuck up through the hatch cover, I simply installed some grille cloth.  It even looks factory to the average person.  From the outside of my car you can't even tell there's a system installed.  This should keep the thieves away.  The only future modifications I am considering making to the system is the addition of an equalizer.  This would then allow me complete control of every frequency of the system at my fingertips. 

 

Enjoy the Pics!

      

Grille cloth was used to cover the holes left by the factory Bose subwoofer ports.