K-Town 370z install
 

I thought I would start a thread tracking my install, I am doing the system myself. I am going for most bang for the buck, doing the system in two stages first stage. Power infrastructure, amp rack, and sub upgrade to factory Bose system.

For me the most important thing straight away is get some more thump, so I am doing the sub upgrade first. Then I will collect everything to do the full system change out, the most expensive part also so that will wait for now.

I have taken some pics here to show the progress, the sub upgrade is very easily DIY with minimal tear down.

To start with here is the factory bose setup.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...y-location.jpg

Here is the amp rack making space for the new Alpine 1000watt mono amp.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...w-location.jpg

Here is the new 150amp stinger 4gauge amp wire kit.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...wer-system.jpg

This is where I pulled the power wire through the firewall, there was a grommet behind the battery.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...nd-battery.jpg

Routing the power wire, the door trim pulls up starting at the weather stip. Harder than I thought it would be.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...power-feed.jpg

Fishing for a power wire anyone? Got's to love the old fish tape, easily routed the 4gauge power wire with no problems.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...shing-away.jpg

No problem getting this wire through.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...ough-there.jpg

Finished product, need a little touch up paint on the bare patch.http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...ion-system.jpg

Question - does the Bose amp in the back only power the sub? Or all the speakers? I see that you removed it & replaced it with your 1000watt amp (cool). Will you need to retain the amp to power the door speakers?
Kevin


(edit) - looking more closely at your last pic - perhaps you just repositioned the Bose amp to the corner?

on my G's bose the rear amp powers all speakers.

Your looking at the Bose amp, I never removed just moved it from factory location so I could mount my new Hifonics Brutus amp.

The Bose amp powers every speaker in the car, I am adding the Re-Q taping off the factory speaker wires so I can run my new amp at the same time I run the factory bose for the stock speakers less the crap sub. I will run this setup while I compile all the parts necessary to remove the Bose completely from the car.

sounds good. looks like a fun project indeed. :p

@ Juleous

Thanks for the clarification - I am doing the same, except I'm not sure I'll remove the bose headunit or amp completely in the end. I've got to find a head unit that satisfies my need for a completely neutral look and incorporates the steering wheel's bluetooth controls.

Kevin

Every head unit can do all that the blue tooth and all but you can not use the bose blue tooth mic on any of the new head units you have to use the new one. You also just have to have a adapter to use the steering wheel controls.

I am curious how the sub upgrade is going to satisfy my need for more power. Maybe I will be satisfied enough not to bother upgrading the rest of the system, probably not though.

Ya once you start you will probably want to upgrade the rest.

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...sting-spot.jpg

After ordering the Hifonics Brutus 1700 I had to make a little more room, the BRZ1200 would have fit but I couldn't resist for an extra $10 I got 400 more watts. Good deal me thinks.

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...t-bose-amp.jpg

Hardly notice the amp even there, no problem getting the spare out.

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...-installed.jpg

The addition of the new MTX Re-Q lot's of room now for Brutus!

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...ge-works-z.jpg

Testing the Re-Q everything working fine, no need for ACC turn on the Smart Engage works just fine in the Z

Those ugly holes drive me nuts in the pics, when I place the amp in there all the holes will be covered up. This amp rack will be replaced when I remove the bose crap for a fresh one.

I was thinking about cutting in some plexiglass windows into the Zenclosure so I can see the nice glowing Hifonics logo, it's a really nice blue LED color.

Anyone ever do any mods to Zenclosure? Plexi window?

How I wired in the MTX Re-Q: Being the Bose amp wiring harness travels right past the Re-Q location I simply tapped the speaker part of the wire harness going to the Bose amp. I used the Bose amp wire diagram on this forum, referenced the wire numbers to the appropriate pair of speaker wires(colors did not match exactly) cut the wires and tapped into those speaker leads that I needed. The appropriate pairs are twisted together. How I identified which wires were correct was looking at the Bose sub and the Amp plug I was able to identify which were the sub wires by color and then referenced the left and right rears from that. I tapped off the rear speakers as they are the only speakers receiving full range output from the Bose, I think the crossover for the fronts is in the amp.

Speaking with the tech's at MTX about the Re-Q they told me it was not necessary to dissconnect the speakers you are tapping, only recommended to remove the factory sub if your using an aftermarket setup like me. So the factory rears are still in play, the factory sub is gone in favor of the new dual 10" subs. The tech told me there would be no effect on the amp or the speakers and I can confirm that you do not need to dissconnect the speakers you are tapping off of to feed the signal to the Re-Q. The full range speaker taps are required so the Re-Q is capable of doing it's full restoration duties.

I also did not have to tap the ACC wire to the Bose amp as the Re-Q has smart engage where it turns on when it detects a speaker output from the Bose amp, this works exactly as stated in the Z. So the only wires I had to tap and cut were speaker wires which are very odvious as they are the only twisted pairs of wires in the harness, this install is an easy DIY

There is actually another tiny amp inside the sub box. Check my photos in this post...the amp is tiny.

http://www.the370z.com/audio-video/1...-question.html

Nice did not know that, that explains why the additional wires in the sub plug. Either case the two sub wires I tapped off were directly from the main amp goin to the bose sub, those two wires then are going over to the Re-Q to supply the base signal.

Thanks for the additional info.

You are correct, I did the same thing with my AudioControl LC6.

:ughdance:http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...fonics-amp.jpg

New HiFonics Brutus 1700 amp.

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...-installed.jpg

New amp installed. You gots to watch how tight the amp is under the support brace, leave as much room as possible when mounting an amp rack here.

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...ype-r-subs.jpg

The new Zenclosure with the new 10" Alpine Type R subs. This thing pounds so hard, Bose has got some Lows now!:ughdance:

Great install easy to do, I highly recommend the Sub upgrade to the factory Bose setup. Now I don't totally hate the Blows.

I think when I upgrade the front system I will move the HiFonics to behind the seat, it looks so nice and when the logo lights up it's very cool especially at night. I will put all my other components under the sub enclosure, the Brutus is a little big for under there anyway.

After some tunning the subs sounds great, punch really really hard. But not two 12" like I used to have, I want more BASS.

Oh well I will have to be happy with two 10" for now, I will be upgrading the rest of the system ASAP as the rest of the system sound is not up to standard.

Courious why you didn't go with shallow subs and have a lower box...like mine i guess? i'm building anew one to hold 2 of our 10's over the winter, or even do a 12 vented?

Oh and if you swap out the HU you may be able to fit both amps under there.

I went with a Zenclosure as recommended on this site, it's an easy option which I was looking for. When I change the HU out I will have a bunch more room back there but I am going to put in an Audio Control DQS with a DDC control so I can tweek from the drivers seat. The HiFonics would be better served behind the drivers seat, plus it looks way cool at night.

Undecided I may just keep the Brutus there, and just make room for the other amp and the eq. The sub box is ok for now, I think I am going to redo the whole system and go with a much more custom system. Like no spare tire remove all that crap build something up real nice, false floor plexi panels and the sort. Maybe if I feel like doing that style of system again, not sure that's a ton of work for just show and I am not really into that anymore.

OK, cool. just wondering, so many people seem to go with that box, and to me it just looks big, i like the other one better, the one that goes in the spare tire area on top of the spare.

I sort of regret buying it, I could have built a much better enclosure my self but I was being lazy. The CAS does not have enough thump for my tastes, I am even thinking about how do I get two twelves in the Z.:stirthepot:

That is the one problem i'm having also, my last car i had room to do what ever i wanted, hell i had 4 of our square 12's vented in the back seat! with about 3000watts running them. but now i'm at a single 12, which for most would be enough, but once you've had a CRAZY Bass, it's hard to go back to "Normal" bass.

2 12's, depend what you want to give up space wise, i had a buddy do 4-15's in a CRX way back in da day, still had a spare tire! I have to keep my spare, caught too many times with out on the hwy, and for my job thats not fun! :(

I'm pretty sure i know how to get 2 12's in, AND keep your spare tire...

Really? Remove the foam blocks on the left and right place the subs there, build up a false floor place the amps towards the front of the hatch? That was what I was thinking, what you got up your sleave?

I don't want the weight to get out of control though, but I do love my BASS

No, i was thinking once you change out the HU and don't have to put any thing in that tub, you could use that as part of the air space and the rest above it with the subs inverted, and in a wide V shape, the amps could go behind the seat, if you go right down to the floor you should be able to still move the seats all the way back. And since most of the box would be'glass the wieght wouldn't be too bad.

Oooh I like the way you think, that would look awesome. Not quite the stealthy look, but very good idea.

LOL, yeah 2 12's in a Z and stealthy, you'll have to pick 1. :)

I will take the two 12's please.

Juleous on my connecter that goes to my sub I see a big black and big yellow wire. A smaller grey as well as another black wire than I light blue and a purple wire. Are the blue and purple the wires that you spliced into for the re-q?

Correct the Sky Blue is + and the Violet is -

The other wiring is for power to the sub amp which is located in the subwoofer assembly. I taped directly at the Bose amp but they are the same wires so it doesn't matter either way.

Okay excellent thanks for the info. I should be getting mine this week so I'm trying to get a good idea of what I got to do. From what I understand the re-q has two brown wires that those hook to? And I have heard people say that they had problems when using those wires off the sub connecter and that it was not loud enough do to it being low level. Being you have it done the way I am gonna do it I was wondering if you acquired any problems like this?

What I did was tie into the rear speaker outputs also, not sure if that made any difference cause I never tried it with just the sub. It was really easy, I tied in close to the main Bose amp with no issues.

I will say the odvious stuff just incase, make sure you remove the battery ground first. Solder all connections, then shrink wrap them. Use some wireloom to protect the wiring and finish it off nice. When you first start the RE-Q up you will likely be near full gain on the RE-Q start with the amp at half gain or lower then turn it up. The RE-Q is a bit of PITA to tune especially if you place it under your sub box. If you cant reach the RE-Q then go full gains on the RE-Q and turn the crossover to 100hz or above, then use your amp crossover to do your final tuning. If your amp and RE-Q are both under the sub then your sort of screwed on tuning. Then start best guess and keep the volume low on the deck to start with.

Just some tips I found when I did what your about to do. I ended up changing it all cause I hated the amp and RE-Q under the sub, which led me to a full system change.

My latest creation waiting to go in the Z.

http://www.the370z.com/members/juleo...box-design.jpg

nice man!

Thanks for the info. I am hoping that it all works good going off the sub wire. If not I'm gonna have to try and go off the speakers like you did. Hopefully it's not to hard to figure out what wire goes to what.

These are the outputs for the rear speakers, you will find that each wire pair for each speaker are twisted together which makes it easy to identify which is which.

Rear Left
#1 L? +
#10 Purple -

Rear Right
#2 Light Green +
#3 Yellow -

Now I only have to tap into one of the pairs correct? And than they go to the corresponding wires on the re-q and not the brown wires?

The RE-Q has 3 inputs, sub channel, speaker left and speaker right. Hook the rear right to the RE-Q right channel input, hook the rear left to the RE-Q left channel input and the sub channel to the RE-Q sub input. You will be tapping into all three channels, with a pair of wires per channel. Follow me here?

That's three Bose outputs and three RE-Q inputs, the RE-Q wire colors will be on the install sheet. Real easy to see what goes where, suggest you label what Bose color wire you are connecting to what RE-Q color wire so you plan out your wire connections, BEFORE you ever cut a single wire. The reason I went for the rear speakers and not the fronts, is because it seems the front woofer and tweeter are on seperate channels with the crossover in the Bose amp. This leads me to think the rears are the only fullrange output from the Bose amp, so I tapped off the Bose rear channels.