Juleous thanks a lot for getting pics of the install... a lot of ppl have done this but i have not seen any pic's yet...

did you have any pics for speaker wiring by anychance? I have been wanting to do this for a while...now it seems like it will happen.

Thanks,
jay

No I did not bother with the factory wiring as I did not use it, but it's just a two wire brown plug. Not much to show there.

The whole reason I did this DIY is because when I went to do the rears, I could not really find a very well documented process that showed exactly the pieces I had to remove. I asked around and got some info, did help out some but not much. I had to just go for it, once I did I realized how easy it was going to be.

Whatever happend I was going to document it, so no one would have to go through the headache I did when looking to do their rears. I am sure for those that want to do a rear upgrade this thread will serve it's purpose.

I don't understand the argument about "sound stage" the point of 2 channels is so you have L and R not so you will have 2 speakers or front left and front right. With rear speakers you get L and R but instead of the music coming from in front of you, you are engulfed in it.

I would understand an argument that smaller lower quality speakers would ruin the sound of high quality fronts, but this is not the argument being made.

I installed rears on a whim and have them tuned down a little so they do not overpower the fronts. I like how they fill the emtpy sound from the rear. Before the "stage" was too much in front and not enough side to side.

again this is all just a matter of opinion, and I respect that others have their opinions on what sounds good. But if I need to read one more post (bigaudiofan) about how rears are a bad idea i think my eyes are going to bleed.

The key is the term "soundstage". To people really into audio the quality of the system is in part defined by its "soundstage" (among other things - its not the only measure). In that they look for not only the the ability to distinguish the different instruments, vocals, etc but also the ability to distinguish WHERE they would be on an imaginary 3-dimensional field. In other words the placement should mimic the experience you'd get when listening to the music when it was recorded (played live).

I once listened to a Krell home system with Wilson Watt Puppies (just two speakers) and the soundstage it presented was incredible.

In my car I could give a rats a$$. I like rear speakers too. Just give me music and make it loud and fill the car please.

and on that note, I agree that rear speakers will distort the systems soundstage, as left and right are no longer clearly defined. Its just that I don't care but I can understand why some people do.

Good explanation, that made sense to me. I guess its like you dont really "get" it until you hear it. Its kind of like when I heard audiophile quality home stereo system for the first time. I thought I had good speakers until I heard that system, then I was like....oh.

I find that rear speakers at the correct level can add a level of depth to the soundstage, if you don't have volume control over the rear channels then it will totally mess up the soundstage. I find if tuned correctly rear fill can add to the soundstage, not take away from it. But like everything else its all subjective anyway, I say rear fill others say no rear fill who cares.

Whatever a person wants they should do, what I will say though is if you have the rear apart on the Z anyway. Why not throw in the $40 change the rears, then turn them off you want. But if you ever want to turn them on for any reason, the speakers are only a button away instead of having to rip the Z apart again to do it later.

It seems like some people around here have read a few two many stereo magazines, and then try to convert everyone else to see their POV. Well I got 30+ years of listening experience that says I LIKE REAR FILL in a car system!

Juleous,

I know in your thread installing the Brutus, there's barely enough room to mount it with an amp rack behind the crossbrace.

How much clearance height-wise, if any, is there beneath the two plastic storage shelves in front of the crossbrace (just behind the seats)?

It depends on how you build up the false floor, I had max 2.75" clearance but you could get more if you tried hard. Upto 4" I would say if you build the floor low enough. The issue I found was the mounting stud bolts sticking up everywhere in there, you need to do a bunch of drilling to get the floor to sit as low as possible. Also with the large metal brace in the floor that sits at an angle, this angle will take up some of your space and cause you to angle the amp so it will slide under the plastic brace assembly.

Then of course good luck tuning your setup with the amp down there, I pulled out the Brutus and stuck my Punch 300-2 down there. It was really easy to tune with no sub in the car, got all the front and rear setup dialed in. Now comes the sub box on top of it all.

Hmmm - great info... as you've told us all earlier, an HD900/5 should fit there no problem; what about an Audison LRx 5.1k?

Those amps measure 7.80 in x 21.18 in x 2.20 in - will it fit, do you think?

side panal removal
 

Please add this to the sticky list for the side panel removal.

Yep! it should i have 2 amps both are 2-1/2x 9-5/8x 16-11/16

sorry i thought you meant under the floor behind the x brace.

Outstanding. Second the motion on the sticky!

Adm: Side Panel Removal Sticky Request
 

I used this thread and pics to remove the side panel to add some sound deading material in this area. The noise was reduced by adding sound deading material above the seat belt retainer covering the numerous cutout holes in the steel panel. The pics were a great help in addition to the interior section of the service manual.

rear fill is nice once in a while, it can always be turned down or off. If someone has the time and the budget to do rears it would be their decision. It is a matter of taste... Some feel they need rears some don't. it does not make it right or wrong. One thing I know it is all in the taste of the person driving the car. Or buying the gear.