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***Admins and Mods Please do not delete the next 23 posts as I am making space so I can continuously post all the pictures in a row. Thank You***

Ok well this is documenting the stereo build in my Acura TSX. I had build the car exterior, interior, suspension, brakes, wheels, motor already so far and was just running a sub with the stock stereo. I have now decided to do the entire stereo. If you want to see the entire documented build of the whole car you can see it here Complete build thread of my JDM TSX - Honda-Tech. I decided against posting everything cause of the 10 image limit per post already is making it hard to post just the stereo with how much I document things. Stages 1-8 are covered in that thread.

Stage 9a – Start of test Install
Pictures is the start of my newest project a fiberglass sub box. If it turns out good I will be making one for the other side of the car as well. Lot of work to come stillon it though.

First Layer

Second Layer

My Drying System due to 32 degree weather

Had to cut all the tape to get it out

 

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After all tape remove and another layer of resin applied

Trimmed down to size and ready for next step

 

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Stage 9b - Parts
Well here is the next phase of what is most likely or at least for the foreseeable future going to be a never ending project. I have upgraded almost everything possible and I am starting to get sick of the factory stereo so I figured it was time to address that. With replacing the entire factory stereo besides the headunit I also wanted to redo my trunk setup. Nothing extremely fancy and it hasn't even been started but I will try to explain it. The one thing I wanted to be able to put in the trunk was the Carbing Trunk Brace so the stereo will be designed around allowing that fit in the trunk. To install the Carbing Trunk Brace you have to install some bolts from the underside of the car. For me this is a problem cause it means I have to remove the rear diffuser which is a pain. So I also decided to finally install a rear sway bar. I chose to go with the progress rear sway cause the only other one I would have went with was a Swift rear sway bar but it is not as thick. Since I wanted to start planning the stereo as soon as possible I had the Carbing Trunk Brace EMS shipped direct from Carbing and since the cost wasn't much more to add another item I ordered the Carbing Rear Floor Brace as well.

Now onto the audio equipment. I am using all Memphis Audio gear. Since I am using the factory radio still I am using Memphis's OEM called the 6ix interface device that give you a clean signal from the factory headunit. I am using their 6.5" MClass Components up front and their 6.5" MClass Synchronous Components in the rear. The amp I am using is the Memphis Big Belle which is a 5 channel amp putting out 4 x 75 watts @ 4 ohms and 1 x 1100 watts @ 1 ohm. The 1100 watts from the sub channel will be split to two Memphis M3 subwoofers. The Memphis Big Belle is a massive amp as well and 30in wide. I am going to try to figure out some way to mount it raised about 3-5 in above the Carbing Trunk Brace along the back of the rear seat at an angle. Obviously though I will not even consider mounting it to the Carbing brace. There will be one sub in each corner of the trunk in fiberglass enclosures facing the opening of the trunk. This is all going to take a long time to install so hopefully in a month or so I will have some pics of the beginning of the install. Until then the pictures of all the gear are below.


The entire conglomerate

Carbing Trunk Brace

Carbing Rear Floor Brace

 

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Progress Rear Sway Bar

Memphis Audio 6ix Interface

Memphis Audio 6.5" MClass Synchronous Components

 

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Memphis Audio 6.5" MClass Components (cast baskets are hot I almost want to reverse mount them so they show)

Memphis Audio M3 Subs

 

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Memphis Audio Big Belle (It evens tests to put out more output than it claims, also uses an external fuse rather than an internal fuse 200amps)

 

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Memphis OAWG Amp Kit (Crazy how much stuff comes with it)

One four channel and One two channel RCA set

One Battery Terminal, One fuse holder with 250amp fuse, Two distribution blocks (Most likely wont use the terminal and keep using my stinger ones with displays)

 

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B]Stage 9c – PnP Harness[/B]
I decided to make my own mercman harness so that I could pull the balance audio signal the the tsx factory headunit uses cause my amp is able to utilize this and thus helps prevent noise. I made the harness plug and play in the sense that I unplug the factory harness and plug this harness into the headunit and then plug the original harness into the other end of my PnP harness. By doing this I only pull the audio signals and allow other things in the harness to pass through to where they belong. I also taped into the factory amp turn on wire and split out a lead for my new amp turn on wire. The rcas are made with high end twisted pair shielded 22 gauge microphone cable. The harness is wrapped in techflex then. The speaker harness is from a 2006 civic si and gives me connection to all the factory speaker wiring. I know I should replace the factory wiring which I will probably do at a later date but currently getting it installed as soon as possible is the current goal.

 

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My tools for the job

 

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Stage 10 – Phase 1 Primary Install
Ok so this past week over spring break I began my system install. One of the main reasons I am redoing my system is I obviously want to replace the rest of the speakers for better sound but the main reason of redesigning my trunk setup is to make room for the Carbing trunk brace. Here the brace laid in place and also the remains after the removal of the old system.

It was cold out so I used my parents porch heater to heat the garage up. Worked very well and kept the garage nice and warm during the days it was around 20 degrees out.

I removed a portion of the interior panels and the front and rear seats along with my old setup in the trunk as well. I then taped off the entire rear of the car as to not scratch anything while working on it. I began the mold for the second sub enclosure first so that it would have time to dry while I wired the car. I did three coats of mat and resin for the new mold and still need to add a coat or two of just resin to add some thickness to the box and strengthen it.

 

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I then ran the custom plug and play harnesses down the middle of the car and left them at the rear seat.

 

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I also had to drop the rear diffuser so that I could install the Progress and got the Progress rear sway bar installed with the help of my friend Brent (MemphisTSX).

I dynamatted each door lightly before installing each speaker then. The specs for the size speakers that could be used in the tsx were far from right from metra. The specs were clearly measured with the windows up. Also the tsx speakers are so small the holes need to be severely enlarged to accommodate the new speakers. I enlarged the holes using tin snips as I did not want to use a dremel and end up with lots of metal filings in the doors. I also needed to use spacers to prevent contact with the window. This was accomplished using generic speaker spacers by metra that I had to custom modify to fit the speakers that were even to large for the 6.5” speaker spacers. I used metra Honda connector adapters so I did not have to cut any of the factory wiring. I installed the front woofers in the doors, the rear woofer and tweeter combo component along with the rear crossovers in each rear door. The front tweeters I had glued into the factory grills. My local shop suggested that if I didn’t plan to ever put the factory tweeters back in to cut the connectors off them so that I could make a plug and play harness for the new tweeters as well since one is not available. This also helps cause there is like no slack in the OEM tweeter wires. Since I had the speaker harness adapter from a civic run to the trunk, the front crossovers were then mounted in the trunk instead of the front door.

Dynamat

 

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Speaker Comparison

 

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Custom Speaker Spacers

Custom MDF Spacer Cause I miss placed the other plastic 1in spacer and didn’t want to keep looking for it. I have since found the other plastic spacer though.

Installing Door Speakers

 

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Had to cut a little bit of the plastic around the speaker grill away to allow for the door panel to fit back on since using the speaker spacer.

Custom Tweeter Install and Harnesses

 

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For the amp rack design I decided to do something simple so not to take away from the Carbing brace. I decided to mount it in front of where the Carbing trunk brace will be mounted. I didn’t want to just mount it flat so I decided to mount it at a 15 degree angle instead. I am using the OEM trunk carpet for the false floor so that it has perfect fitment with the floor. I designed a base inside the spare tire compartment and then created vertical supports to support the weight of the amp. I then reinforced the OEM insert with a 1/2in thick piece of MDF. I made 4 sloped 2 inch risers to support the amp that lined up with the reinforcement board. I then cut 3 ovals to run the wires up bellow the amp between each of the four slopped supports. I mounted the front crossovers and the amp external fuse on the hidden floor under the false floor. The amp is currently mounted on a 1/2 in piece of MDF which will be replaced with a 1/2 in piece of frosted plexi that will be lighted up in either blue or whilte LEDs. The ground wire in the picture was not long enough for the install so it is currently routed incorrectly in the pictures for test purposes. The power wire is correctly run under the false floor but the wire to the battery was run outside the car for test purposes as well. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures while making the amp mount but will take pictures of it when I install the plexi piece instead.

Panel Under False Floor

False Floor

Wiring Below

On the top of this picture you can see the holes for the wires that were cut in the false floor below the amp rack.