Summer stereo install part 2..... new goodies are here

This little redo was a bit unplanned, but welcomed. If you are not an audio geek of auto OR home audio you may be bored.

The lack of multiple bands of EQ have been driving me nuts lately. I tried to go the auto setup route with this car... I knew better. It worked for me OK in the beginning, but slowly I've been progressing back to my roots of tweaker habits ditching my auto EQ settings and have been manually tuned for the last 6 months of the year. For the longest time I've wanted an Alpine PXA-701 setup. I've past on deals in the past I shouldn't have, prices have gone up a bit seeing that Alpine discontinued it and the PXA-H800 is sort of a bust. I came across some parts the other week. I have most of it here, the rest is in transit. It's going to be a hidden install where the OE amp is, nothing really to see. I'll have the Alpine Imprint and tuning kit for sale soon *wink* *wink*

Car goodies:
Alpine PXA-H701 DSP - 5.1 DSP 31 bands of graphic EQ or 7 bands of parametric EQ for each output / sub channel(s) get 10 bands of graphic EQ. Up to -30dB xover slopes per output, adjustable phase for each output, auto TA, and will give you head while you drive.
Alpine RUX-C701 Controller - My deck will control the DSP except for two functions. Main reason was that I didn't want to tune this from the back seat. It's disgustingly overkill.
Alpine KWE-610a fiber optical cable - Alpine made a stupid propriety cable for the W505, you can't just get a Toslink for this.... oh well... mmmmm fiber.
Misc install crap - It seems that Alpine's parts house didn't mention that the missing wiring harness is on a back order with an unknown release date. Sucks, but I'm going to be headed out to see if I can't work something out until it gets shipped. Otherwise wire and other magic cock pony.

Tuning goodies:
What good is all of this power without the appropriate tools? I had a getto RTA setup before,... not any more.
CALIBRATED Benringer ECM800 mic - I was on the fence about getting a calibrated mic, not anymore. I was playing around with the ones I have and then this.... no comparison.
Mic mate - bypasses the PC / Laptop sound card, so no worries with that BS.
Tru RTA - I've used the 1/3 octave setup for a while, now it's really good to go.

Oooooooooooooooooo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...........................


Yeah, lame I know, it's just a box. I'm far from tooting my own horn about shit, but I'm pretty fucking pumped as this pretty rounds things out for me and should be pretty bad ass

You'd think with all this time this summer I've been out and about, HP would have rubbed off on me more......

I've always been into stereo systems. But DAMN your in deep.

I've been wanting to listen to your setup, but I either forget or its m.I.a. for weight savings


Btw I hate doing installs when its hot out like today!

Baller shit dude. I remember installing all that stuff into a chevy pickup truck for a guy when I worked at tweeter.

Some serious SQ gear. I am still considering selling my beloved eclipse cd8053 because the god damn thing loses my dsp settings when I disconnect the battery. It does active biamping, seperate delay on all drivers and parametric EQ.

I am sure it's going to sound excellent. I was very surprised you had the imprint due to it's lack of adjustments.

Congratulations! I would love to have that stuff.

yup.

My cabling issues haven't gotten any better though. I was hoping to install it this weekend, but that is not going to happen. I found a universal power plug on Ebay, but I need to get an AiNet cable. I assumed I could run everything over the fiber which is not the case. Glad I found out now instead of trying to trouble shoot a tons of problems over a stupid cable.

I didn't want the adjustability I had in my last car...... go figure. I have mixed feelings with the Imprint. Alpine shouldn't have used Audyssey's basic software. Imaging was VERY good, tonality was ok, but you had to do the tricks to get any bottom end out of it. My biggest gripe was the goofy volume cutoff when engaged (24 was the max volume instead of the normal 35) and the noise it introduced. That was the killer for me. With the Imprint turned off and just using the EQ and what not with it, it's fine. It was only at low volumes and I could over power it, but ick.

Thanks, I'm pretty excited to start tweaking.

Sucks to hear about the Eclipse. I always liked their decks. I did like my Pioneer 880 / 800 if you think about looking. Not bad at for the price at all. If you ever have the desire to do some RTA tuning, I'd be happy to let you borrow my rig.

I am not sure what to do, it's hard to justify buying a different deck at this point. I may do some fancy footwork with a cluster of diodes and a small 12v backup battery. Something is really pulling down my battery when the car sits and now that I think about it, it's not been an issue since that deck isn't installed. Hmm.

Thank you for the offer of the RTA, I appreciate it!

My nova doesn't have a radio...... I need to fix that.

I don't even know what the interior of a nova looks like!

Snazzy!

Huh...so that's what the inside of a racecar looks like.

nightrunner06 wrote:

240sxguy wrote:

I don't even know what the interior of a nova looks like!

Hah, Playboy Bunny for that extra touch of class!

Tusk wrote:

nightrunner06 wrote:

240sxguy wrote:

I don't even know what the interior of a nova looks like!

Hah, Playboy Bunny for that extra touch of class!

it was like where is waldo for a second lol

I got this bitch in today. It took me all damn day. I had to strip the interior to remove old cables and run new ones. I'm getting to old to me all scrunched up and bent over all day.

This thing is bad ass and has given me road head twice so far. I get to spend tomorrow tuning it now.

Carnage pics for those who don't care.

WOW. I didn't think you had to tear all THAT up to do this...... I bet it sounds killer though!

Is that last picture the amp or that tuning thingy?

The thingy.

It sounds better than it did before

Damn well better!

Looks good man, I wish I still had the passion for car audio.

Does the thingy heat up like an amp would in that tight of a space?

^ No it runs very cool. Not even warm to the touch.

neat, thanks guys