This is the story about the Janz and his 2006 Hyundia Elantra GT 5-door.

A quote from the Janz after his new purchase:

“Behold gentlemen…the new improved janz mobile.
Actually got it last Wednesday and have been driving and driving and driving. This 1200 mile break in period is killing me. I got it with 14 miles on it…and now have 200+. I can’t take it over 55, can’t drive the rpm’s over 3k., don’t drive at the same speed for extended periods of time, so basically I’m just trying to hit that 1200 mark as fast as I can, so I can take it down to the quad and put a system in it. The coolest thing it gives me my gas mileage and number of miles before I have to fill up…and as you can imagine, the gas mileage is above and beyond what the mini-van can and would ever dream of doing.”

The Janz has a good reason to want a trip to the quad (Quad Cities IL/IA for most of you)… an install awaits him. The Janz has never owned a system like he is getting… his driving world is about to change… and I’m gonna change it.

As an Electrical Engineer employed as a circuit designer, the Janz has a good reason to be excited – he knows more about amplifier design than 98% of the people reading this, but he has never owned a vehicle worthy of such atonements. Since he has a perfect understanding of gain and distortion, I know he will tune it properly. As a friend and fellow grad, I am glad to provide the time and dedication a system of this kind demands.

We had a good vehicle to start with. Brand new, just broke in and begging to be stripped.

The GT package for the hatchback provides a Kenwood Excelon MP3 CD player with front and sub outs – a 3-band EQ and sub level control. A great start for a factory installed head unit! I am a firm believer that manufacturers should provide pre-outs with all factory radios. This head unit saved him hundreds from the start!

The rest of the factory system was typically poor – small mylar tweeters and 6.5” in the door with 6.5” wizzer cones in the rear. Nothing great. But the sizes and locations were a good start.

Our starting pieces:
(1) Alpine Type-R 6.5” Components
(1) Alpine Type-R 6.5” Coax
(2) Alpine Type-R 10” DVC 2+2 ohm Subs
(1) Alpine V-Power MRP-F450
(1) Alpine V-Power MRP-M650
(3) Sets Phoenix Gold 17’ RCA’s
25’ Phoenix Gold Blue and Silver 8 GA
50’ Phoenix Gold 18ga Speaker wire
25’ Phoenix Gold 16ga Speaker wire
20’ Phoenix Gold 4ga Blue power wire
6’ Phoenix Gold 4ga Silver ground wire
(1) Streetwires distribution block
(1) Streetwires 1 Farad digital cap
Platinum Series ring terminals
Gold plated spade terminals
Charcoal carpet, 3M spray adhesive, 3/4" plywood, hardware, etc.

We chose Alpine Type-R speakers after some serious listening. Eclipse was the next competitor. We love the sound and clarity Type-R had to offer. And at a great price point, it was hard to turn down. The V-Power amps were and easy choice since the V-12 series is rather disappointing in what it has to offer outside of looks. Digital control can be annoying and is a easy failure point. The longevity of the V-Power series is without dispute. These guys have been doing this for decades. We got everything at two places: Etronics.com for the Alpine gear and Parts Express for the install pieces. I would recommend Etronics to those of you looking for good gear at great prices. We got all that alpine gear pictured for $950 shipped. It was perfect.

We started by removing most of the interior; front and rear seats, center console, dash covers, door skins, rear seats, rear interior panels, trunk panels, etc. I keep an empty drawer cabinet so we labeled each compartment as we removed groups of screws. In the end every single screw was in it’s original location.

We did it as good as one can; 6 channel interconnects down the center keeping a good distance from any power sources even at the amp rack. Speaker wire and remote down the other side of the center, and power wire down the drivers side. Upgraded grounds at the battery and head unit, solid ground at the rear using a 7/16th inch bolt and nut.

It took several hours to run all the wire properly. Getting through the firewall was a challenge. Luckily we found a horseshoe-shaped mark just behind the brake pedal that was at the only place we could have cleanly poked through. We had a 4ga grommet but we had over 1/2" of metal and padding so we used trusty electrical tape protection with silicone. It’s not leaking or wearing through. Split-loom was used to conceal wires in all visible spaces.


At the rear we decided on building a shelf that the sub box would sit under. We also needed a false floor with a door large enough that the Janz could pull his spare tire out while leaving the entire system in place. We used 3/4" plywood and heavy gauge metal ‘L’ brackets. It is secured to the false floor and is very sturdy. As you can see, the top was quite an interesting cut. We coordinated the height with the rear bulb assembly so the Janz can access his lamps by simply moving the sub box out. This also allows him to utilize a lot more storage.

We coordinated the height and depth to with the split 40 rear seat. He can fold down his split 60 rear seat and he has all the storage he needs. Also, all of the controls are on the correct side of the amp, so the Janz has easy access for tuning his amps – a very important aspect. It takes a good amount of time to tune a system to perfection. While many people have no idea what the controls actually mean, when you have someone who does, you must provide them the ability to tune on-the-fly.

I was very impressed with the Type-R subs. Great construction for a good price. These are built to last! We provided 50% poly-fill to help soften the enclosure. Sealed at .75 cu. ft. it is a bit smaller than we initially wanted, but in the end it proved the perfect size.

The front doors are fed with a wiring harness where the pass-through tube meets the car. This means you are not going to run anything else through there. So we tapped into the factory wiring (blah) at the head unit and intercepted it at the door. We extended it to the end of the door as shown; this was the input to the crossover. The woofer output was ran along the same path back to the factory location. The tweeter wiring was integral to the door. Since the factory tweeter covers were sculpted to match the interior, it was important to re-use them. We had to fabricate a new tweeter mount using steel strips. The magnet on the Type-R component is impressive. We used 3/4" adhesive weather-stripping foam in order to bring the speaker out and keep it sealed. This works well and lasts as long as it is needed. The mounting adapters supplied with the speakers were used at all locations. They were just as we needed! Another big plus for Alpine! The crossovers have adjustable tweeter padding. The cover can be removed and level adjusted easily. This is the only portion of the install that is visible when the car is closed up. And it is pretty subtle. We wanted a stealth system install and we achieved it.

The sound is amazing. For the money spent the Janz is in competition with systems costing 2-3 times a much. Of course, part of that is helped by getting this install for two cases of New Glaris, WI Spotted Cow. The Janz is now beginning the long task of tuning and perfecting his sound. A dash mounted EQ is the next future purchase to give him some easy tuning and customizing. The only thing we are missing is dynamat. I forgot to add it to his order. Too bad, I don’t see us adding it anytime soon. Eventually we’ll do the doors and rear, maybe when we add the EQ. The subs will have some break-in associated to them, but already they are impressive. A great kick and presence. The components are smooth and accurate.

The Janz lives in Milwaukee so the trip to the quad was all of 4 hours. We started on friday night and finished Sunday around 2pm. I would estimate about 28 hours were spent either in the car or doing something related to it (including a hardware store trip). It powered up perfect the first time. He rocked it the whole time back and it performed like a champ. It was a rock-solid install!

A quote from the Janz a week later:

It sounds great...although I heard 3 rattles this morning... first time... so I'm pretty surprised. I'm going to tune it this weekend get my subs to kick out a little higher frequency. Everything has been crystal clear. I even heard a part of a few songs I've never heard before even with my home theatre. Found one song that will compress your chest. Still looking for that one signature song for the system...every system has one. But so far mudvayne is up there...not my favorite band but they have a few songs that are stunning between vocals, all the different drums, and guitars.

In all honesty I have plenty of room for all my camping gear plus someone elses. So if I took three people...that's three people and their gear we'd still be comfortable."

Overall, we are both happy. I was able to give a good friend the car system of his dreams, and he now has that system.