Long overdue stereo DIY - including rear downward firing speakers
All righty then. I promised a DIY a while back. Mr. 916CLK has inspired me to get focused and get this done.
It doesn't look like I can post a pic, followed by text, followed by another pic, etc. So, here's the steps and you figure out which pics they go with. This will be like playing where's Waldo?!?! Even better... I'll have to make 2 or 3 posts for all the pictures.
Equipment:
Head Unit: Eclipse CD8445 (no, I don’t care about DVD)
Front Speakers: Diamond Audio S600s HEX Components
Rear Fill Sp: Diamond Audio D361 Components (Connected via RAF on front crossover)
Front Amp: Diamond Audio D6600.4 (300w x 2 @ 4 Ohm)
Single 12” Sub: Diamond Audio D912D2
Sub Amp: Diamond Audio D61000.1
Wiring: Street Wires ZN650 (for both main signals and sub)
Cap: Street Wires PSC201
0 Gauge from Battery to Distribution – broken down to 4 Gauge to Amps
Replaced all speaker wire with Street Wires (don’t remember model – best avail)
Dynamat Extreme throughout trunk, rear qtr panels and roof. Still applying where needed
Ok – before you message me with things like “Why didn’t you go with W7”? Or, “why didn’t you install 8 15” subs”? Or, Phoenix Gold is phat – I’da blah blah blah… If you know anything about DA, obviously budget wasn’t really the issue here. My wife said “Go for it”, without setting the budget. Good for me. I built this system for me. Yes, for me. Not the ghetto gangstas 5 blocks away. I have no desire to advertise a challenge to steal it. I built this for SQ. If you don’t know what SQ is, close this window, get rid of your MB and go buy a 1982 Buick Skylark with 24” chrome rims. I listen to everything from Tool, NIN, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Carl Orff, Psychedelic Trance, etc. DA is the speaker/amps that I’ve grown attached to. If you like something else, I’m sure they’ll install the same way. (And no, I won’t get into the discussion – MB Quarts were just too bright for MY taste).
Quick FAQ:
1. What size are my speakers? I don’t know. I have a 99 CLK430. My speakers were: 6.5 front and rear.
2. I’ve heard the rear door speakers are ___: I don’t know. I didn’t measure – I just disconnected them
3. Well, my friend said the front are 5-1/4”: Ok – go listen to your friend
4. Can I replace just the Head Unit? If you like – I replaced the entire system for better sound. I don’t know what problems you will face by replacing one component
5. What’s the wiring code for a (fill in blank)?: I have no idea. I’m a health insurance sales guy… not a stereo install expert. In fact, this is only my 2nd full install ever.
6. That doesn’t look very professional. Why didn’t you ____________? See #5
7. You really need to clean your interior: Yes. I just got the car used. I cleaned the interior as I put it back together. Don’t give me crap about it being dirty. It’s not anymore.
8. Intelligent questions? Send me a message.
So here we go. Skip over any part that doesn’t apply to you – depending on the level, style of install.
Step 1: Gather EVERYTHING in your living room before you even start. Yes, you’ll piss off the wife/parents/girlfriend with a stack of equipment, but from experience, you do not want to put together a system piece by piece. Our car isn’t always the easiest to get apart and with my light interior, I can only stay so clean while working with interior panels.
2: Cut / Carpet the mounting board for the amps. – Remove the Spare Tire Cover and make note of where the Tie-Down points are near the back seats – you’ll want to adjust the cutting as to not interfere with these. Trace the forward (Toward front of car) part of this cover onto any remaining ¾” MDF that you may have from building the sub box. If your amps are small enough, try to keep the MDF small enough so the rear can still open to the spare tire. I also cut grooves into the bottom of the MDF to run the power/speaker wires. Make sure you plan and cut all wiring holes before wrapping in carpet.
2 pics – Wrapping in carpet / Notice wire planning – I did not cut grooves first. Big mistake, big mess.
3. Gut trunk and install Dynamat: Don’t forget the trunk lid. The amp is on the left side behind panel, the Central Locking Unit is on the right. I left both in place, removing only to install Dynamat:
If you leave the trunk torn apart overnight, be sure to install the rear plastic trim. This turns off the trunk light. Yes – you need this installed. I spent more time trying to find a way around than it takes to install the trim.
4. The infamous hat tray (or rear deck). This thing kicked my ass until a got a good set of instructions. Then, it came apart within 15 minutes.
Here’s what NOT to do: DO NOT try and remove the carpeting from around the back seats (the hole when seats are down). This carpeting goes under the rear tray and does not need to come apart. DO NOT force the deck up. It slides out easily if you get everything disconnected correctly
There is a little push clip in the center bottom of the first aid kit. Remove this. There’s another straight forward, just on the edge of the deck. Remove this also.
Remove the head rests. This will require a small screwdriver and a small head to see (if your back window’s too dark to see through. A good job for little brother to feel useful. There’s a little plastic piece that you simply depress next to the unit that holds the head rest in. Push it down and pull the chrome bars out. The plastic rings attached to the deck pop out very easily. Bad picture… Sorry – too close to focus.
Remove the side panels above the rear deck. They simply pop off and slide forward:
Pull the seatbelt all the way out and place the panels outside the car to give yourself more room.
Unplug the rear breaklight – kind of a pain in the ass if you’ve got fat fingers – again, little brother or girlfriend maybe can help. If you’re married – good luck – you know she won’t help.
Now, I’ve read that you should unbolt the rear sunscreen. I did, although I’m not quite sure I actually needed to. It seems as though it wasn’t connected to the rear deck – or, maybe it was and I just broke it?...
Next is to loosen the side panels (next to rear seats). You may remove them completely, but I knew that mine was a 2 day project and I didn’t want to remove them all the way yet. So, I just pulled the top rear enough to dislodge the deck.
Once you get the rear deck out – this is a really good chance to clean it.
5. Remove the rear Bose speakers. **** Remove the speaker from the grill / mounting ring. Keep the mounting rings as you will use this ****
Once you have the mounting ring/grill, cut it out to the appropriate size. Here’s what I did:
I took the mounting rings that came with my aftermarket speakers. I noticed that they could fit in perfectly to the original Bose mounting ring, if I could just remove the grill part. Look at pics – follow along – email with questions:
Glue the aftermarket speaker mounting ring inside the Bose ring. The aftermarket mounting ring should be facing up. I used Liquid Nails and left it sit overnight.
Mount speaker inside aftermarket mounting ring facing up from the original Bose mounting ring.
Drill appropriate mounting / tweeter wire hole, cut foam where needed and mount in original position, but facing up this time:
Remove “Bose” from the speaker grills on hat tray. Replace hat tray and panels.
6. Install front speakers and all wires (RCA, speaker wire, Amp Remote, etc).
Sorry – This part was done around 2am and I still needed to work the next day. I didn’t think to take photos. If you were able to remove the hat tray, you should be able to get the front speakers done. Here’s a tip based on memory:
You DON’T need to make a new mounting bracket for the front drivers. Because Bose does everything strange, the holes won’t line up exactly. However, I found that if you start each screw at an angle and cross screw each one a little at a time (similar to tightening lug nuts on a tire), it will cinch down very tight. As for the tweeters, all I can say is that you’re on your own. I actually drilled a hole through the original tweeter panel and mounted mine half way through. I’m going to carefully paint to match, but even being black, not one person’s commented that it looks bad or wrong.
Make sure you label the wires well in the trunk so you don’t get them mixed up later. Also, plan out proper length.
7. Mount Amps and run wires. Here’s a picture of the wires before I fastened them to the MDF inside the groove cuts:
8. Install head unit. I didn’t have a removal key. I stopped by a local shop and slipped the guy a $5 to pop it loose for me. I also had to buy a euro antenna adapter for $10.00. Here’s the color code that I found:
Pink w/Green: Switched Power
Red: Constant Power
Brown: Ground
Gray w/Blue: Headlight Dimmer
Blue w/White: Remote
Everything else was not needed for my Head Unit. I have no idea what the color code is for the speakers, as I replaced all the speaker wiring (as seen by the blue/silver twisted in above pic).
9. Test / adjust levels. If all works well, enjoy!
There’s a control for the Sub Amp and to the right of that is a retractable hard line for my Ipod. If I get ambitious, I will rewire the cigarette lighter as the Sub Amp remote. I’m far too busy (lazy) right now.
Not much trunk room – but the wife’s car is for the groceries. Just as an FYI – there’s a chain from the bottom right side of the box that attaches to the rear corner tie down anchor point in the trunk to prevent sliding of the sub. One 12” is more than enough. I keep the volume around 15 – 25%
I hope this helps! Cheers!
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“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.”
Vehicle: that I mostly drive: 00 Kleemann CLK 430. Vehicle that I mostly stare at: Euro 88 AMG SEC Widebody
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 237
Prana - major props on your DIY writeup w/photos - I removed my rear shelf today to do some speaker re-mounting. Other than the damn rear headrests which were a PIA, your instructions made the job a snap. Thank you.
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Enjoy yourself,
Marco
- Blue Black 1988 Euro AMG SEC 6.0 2v Widebody - Visual Erotica
Long overdue stereo DIY - including rear downward firing speakers 
- Blue Black 1988 Euro AMG SEC 6.0 2v Widebody - Visual Erotica
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