When I bought my Z, it had a 2 stack JVC head unit as can be seen below - this was waayyy before re-trim time and was exactly how I had it when I bought it - I was lucky enough to have some studio photos taken of my car for Japanese Performance magazine. It was actually an OK system, but because it was Japanese supply, no RDS and the frequencies were at a different range, so it had to go - plus I didn't really want a tape deck anymore!

 

 

 

I went out and bought an Alpine IVA-W200RI touchscreen and ordered a double-din fascia from z32-zone in Japan - the first and only one of these to be fitted over here that I am aware of - this was back in 2008, long before Zthirtytwo were about.

 

I fitted it all at the same time I did the retrim -

 

 

I upgraded the rear speakers to Alpine 16.5cm coaxials in gutted out Bose speaker boxes and ran high capacity cabling to the front. The fronts had some Kenwoods wired in - I can't remember whether I fitted them or not, but they weren't up to much, but I knew little about audio, so left them there - they were co-axial too.

 

I hated the lack of bass in the car, so bought a nice sub box and 12" Alpine sub and a Pioneer amplifier.

 

 

 

This made the bass a lot better, but mid-range and general clarity of the rest of the system was just pants. I then grew to hate the sub and amp. I like having the boot space for when I go touring and I really don't like having a huge great big speaker there. Every time I opened the boot, I was worried someone might see my 'phat sub', so it had to go as I couldn't cope with the embarrassment.

 

I did a bit of research which involved bugging AndrewG and JoelyP a lot. I wanted something hidden, discrete, but with an OEM quality sound - something my system really lacked. I didn't want an amp or a sub to be visible and I don't care for competition systems and having monitors and all sorts of nonsense in the boot. Which leads to what I'm doing with my Z's sound system at the moment.

 

First things first - I was never happy with the z32-zone 2 din fascia. It was a 'remanufactured' OEM item and was looking a little tired - so took part in the GB for the Zthirtytwo 2din fascia which is much better. Excuse the low-level light ouput of the head unit. A combination of angle and having it set to -8 brightness didn't help!

 

 

New Vs Old

 

 

After buying these I wanted the rest of the system to be beefed up. I wanted a tiny amp, but something that would give me enough RMS to power a set of components which, from reading I discovered to be the best thing you can do to the audio in the Z as you raise the sound stage....so I bought these. I matched the speakers' RMS as close as possible to that of the amp.

 

 

Firstly, the amp. This little gizmo had an excellent review from Talk Audio's Adam Rayner and received strong reviews out in the market place, it's which is another Alpine product and is a booster pack/digital amplifier giving the output of my head unit another 2.5 times the power! I didn't want increased volume, I wanted increased clarity and paramount to this was package size! Small is best as I wanted to hide it and the wiring well away; it's all plug and play and ever so neat (I like neat). This pic, next to my hateful Blackberry gives you an idea on size. It's 4 x 45w RMS, so enough to power a new set of component speakers to reasonable clarity.

 

 

I stripped the passenger footwell out for access and unhooked and moved the main car harness which gave me enough room to fit the amp behind the lower strut bar. So it's very neatly hidden and still has relatively good access to ambient air - it's a digital amplifer, so it doesn't really need it. Alpine give you long enough looms and connectors for you to be able to run this amp to pretty much anywhere in the front of the car.

 

I haven't finished installing the cabling, but it's routed, just not secure. I wanted to power the unit before I did all that! If you see the metal bar at the lower half of the pic, you'll see a little black box behind it, that's the amp! You can see the cable feeds too and from it.

 

 

That cables are then routed back to the centre consol area and you plug the Alpine HU loom into it (which mates with the ISO connector) and then you plug the other lead which comes from the other side of the amplifier directly into the back of the head unit (which is the only flying lead that you need to utilise). It's all plug and play and actually frees up a lot of space behind the head unit. I was then able to strip out any unnecessary wiring and tidy up the speaker cables. I also added some edge grommet to those horrible metal reinforcement spars to protect against cable chafing. I actually want to ditch all of those bullet connectors - but not too sure whether I want to hard-wire the ISO loom to the Alpine loom.....

 

The beauty of this set up also is that there's not an RCA lead, signal lead or power lead in sight! I was able to strip out all of that too and it made me feel goooood!

 

 

This is the stuff I used as edge protection - pretty decent stuff to fit and is pretty secure.

 

 

Now I have powered the head unit up and with only the rear speakers connected, it sounds so much clearer with more defined mid-range. I might get some slightly better rear speakers too at some point - the coaxial versions of my components. The current Alpine coaxials are slightly over powered and could do with something with a slightly higher rating. I can't wait to wire in the new component speakers!

Edited March 1, 201411 yr by Funkysi

So what are you doing for bass?

 

As my spare wheel is going to be completely useless to me when my brake upgrade is completed, I was thinking of fitting a small sub into the wheel well. A little 6 or 8 inch sub or something. This way I can retain the full boot space but indulge in some bass heavy music from time to time without over loading the components

Amplified components appear to offer me the bass I need. I am not wanting anything more bassy to be honest. I got rid of my sub and don't want another one. I really only wanted clarity and volume of what you'd find in a reasonable new car.....the audio in my Leon FR+ being as good as I need it to be. Basically a quality VAG system.

 

If you want something neat and concealed, have a look at AndrewG's effort. This, IMO is the nicest install I've seen. I have absolutely no interest in any of these big ugly and lairy show type installs that weigh the car down or visible sub woofers, what he's done is great IMO and is by far and away the best install I have ever come across. So neat and the quality is first-rate - click the link to see what he did.

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?172493

 

Edited March 16, 201411 yr by Funkysi

Completely agree about unsightly subs. However ive found with jodes BMW (we're on a 5 at the moment) that their is a deffo native point where the speakers can't cope with the range of sound they're being asked to deal with so you get this weird sound where it flicks between bass and mid. While the same car running the harmann Cardon system with a small sub seems is significantly better when the volume increases because it sounds like the components are left to deal with the mid level stuff and the sub to deal with bass, just gives so much more clarity.

 

I'm by no means an audio geek, so the best way I describe it in my head is comparing FWD to RWD in that FWD the fronts have to everything while rwd the jobs are evenly shared

FFS, poxy auto correct. Meant to read deffinate point rather than deffo native

Ah, and linky no worky, not subbed dude

Completely agree about unsightly subs. However ive found with jodes BMW (we're on a 5 at the moment) that their is a deffo native point where the speakers can't cope with the range of sound they're being asked to deal with so you get this weird sound where it flicks between bass and mid. While the same car running the harmann Cardon system with a small sub seems is significantly better when the volume increases because it sounds like the components are left to deal with the mid level stuff and the sub to deal with bass, just gives so much more clarity.

 

I'm by no means an audio geek, so the best way I describe it in my head is comparing FWD to RWD in that FWD the fronts have to everything while rwd the jobs are evenly shared

 

 

I agree with you. I guess what I am trying to say is that I probably don't need that level of volume in my car. The Z32 cabin is quite small and I have intermediate requirements.

 

Ah, and linky no worky, not subbed dude

 

I would partake in some 'copypasta' but it's Andrew's thread and he may have wanted in the subscribed area for a reason, so I'll leave that down to him.

Fair enough on both fronts.

 

Plenty of pics with the rears when finished buddy

Main driver and cross-over mounted.

Very neat job! Did you reapply the foam strip to the metal cone that is spot welded to the front of the bracket? It completes the acoustic

seal between the door itself and the door card.

 

You can see it here:

 

Thanks Andrew; alas no, I have been trying to source some, except the foam/neoprene I always seem to encounter is too thin and/or to compact/dense. I am still on the hunt!

Here:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOILER-CASING-FOAM-SINGLE-SIDED-4MTR-HAYES-BRAND-NEW-/151255570525?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item233788d85d

 

There are other vendors on ebay selling the same.

 

I actually did mine with 12mm foam sheet cut into 12mm strips.

You are a star! Thanks! :)

......and now the decision whether to go back to single-DIN or not!

 

The aftermarket 2-DIN fascias are 'ok' quality at best. I also find there's too much glare on the screen thus making it a little awkward to see when the roof panels are out.

 

In my quest to get a near-perfect interior, I have decided to go back to a single-DIN setup with all new plastics and trim and a new Alpine single din head unit.

 

Anyone know whether the lower compartment with the door is still available?

Anyone know whether the lower compartment with the door is still available?

 

Do you mean like this?

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302091060304?clk_rvr_id=1116433795366&rmvSB=true

Correct Andrew! Wondering whether they're available new?

 

To fit these main drivers to the brackets, I followed AndrewG's advise and got myself some MDF speaker spacers, excuse the crappy quality of this photo!

 

 

Andrew has very kindly routed a 45° chamfer at about 5mm depth so that they'll fit the current brackets, but now allow larger speakers - I will need to do some more sanding to get them to fit, but this gives a great point on which to work off of.

 

Have you still got the image of this? I would like to visualise how it works.

Have you still got the image of this? I would like to visualise how it works.

 

Here you go:

 

Correct Andrew! Wondering whether they're available new?

 

Hey Si,

 

I have one in "as new" condition - I bought it new myself about 5-6 years ago and it has seen very little use..... Plus I'm also pretty anal about looking after my things:wink:

 

I was planning on keeping it, just in case I ever decided to return to the 1-DIN set up too, so I'm undecided about selling it. If you have trouble finding one to meet your standards, I might let it go to a good home.... After all, I'd probably only put it back now, if I ever sold the Zed!

 

Richard:cool:

Hey Si,

 

I have one in "as new" condition - I bought it new myself about 5-6 years ago and it has seen very little use..... Plus I'm also pretty anal about looking after my things:wink:

 

I was planning on keeping it, just in case I ever decided to return to the 1-DIN set up too, so I'm undecided about selling it. If you have trouble finding one to meet your standards, I might let it go to a good home.... After all, I'd probably only put it back now, if I ever sold the Zed!

 

Richard:cool:

 

If it's in pristine condition and free from wear/marks I'd love to have it! Thanks dude! Do let me know how much.

 

I have since found out that this part is used in the Almera and X-Trail models around 2001-2003, however I can't locate a part number for it. Would yours happen to have a part number on it?

Edited October 30, 20169 yr by Funkysi

If it's in pristine condition and free from wear/marks I'd love to have it! Thanks dude! Do let me know how much.

 

I have since found out that this part is used in the Almera and X-Trail models around 2001-2003, however I can't locate a part number for it. Would yours happen to have a part number on it?

 

I shall take a look and let you know!

 

Talk soon Si,

 

Richard :cool:

Appreciate it! Thanks Richard.

I shall take a look and let you know!

 

Talk soon Si,

 

Richard :cool:

 

Any joy Richard? :)

I'd be interested in a part number mate

Any joy Richard? :)

 

I have gone one better for you, my friend.....:wink:

Thanks Richard, if you do decide to sell it, do please let me know, I'm very interested.