Christmas 1997 That's a nice present! Could use some improvements however
Goal... install a nice sounding system for listening to music... (no competition... no scaring the neighbors!) for under $1000. Want to learn installation basics along the way.
November 2000
Replace all 4 factory speakers with Polk DX 6x9 coaxials. Cost around $150 for the set. Ran these off the Ford head unit, sounds like crap.
December 2000
Throw Ford Radio into the dumpster! (no, actually its deep in the garage).
Install Pioneer DEHP5200 Head Unit. The insert has that extra "pocket" space... its only good for holding the dollars needed to purchase fast food while waiting in line... I would like to put a 1/2 din EQ there... will that fit? The Pioneer says it has 22 watts RMS per channel perhapsthe 6x9s sound much better though.
January 2001
Run RockFos 6 guage from the battery for later upgrades. I ran the cable through the firewall at the hood release cable opening by cutting a slit in the rubber grommet next to the cable. Cable and fuse were about $45 and this took about an hour.
Feb 2001 I built a box for the single 10" MTX 6104 sub out of > inch MDF sealed with silicone and covered with carpet from the Home Depot. It is designed to have a bit of space underneath for the little amp, and the box can be removed easily allowing for the jump seats to be used if need be. The amp driving this is a small pioneer 2 channel bridged into one for a final RMS of around 150 watts. Both the amp and the sub were demos and I took them home for about $75 each. This adds a little bit of bass which is good for me (Im way too old for 3 twelves!) and was a good way to learn the basics of system building/installing.
So far the system has cost around $600 (and around 16 hours of my time, mostly for building the sub box).
