₦airaland Forum

Subwoofer Installation

As stated Earlier, Sub of Choice is the Rockford fosgate PUNCH P300-12 powered subwoofer.

this is where the Amplifier kit is applied.

The punch p300 is a bad ass subwoofer, packs all the punch you could possibly handle in an SUV . its also Amplified.

Installing this required running a 12V lead directly from the + Battery terminal , throught the cabin, all the way to the trunk .
From the minimum required cable guage, you can tell this sub is no joke., cable is about as thick as a pen, and had to be fished through a gromet in the engine bay, and into the cabin.

the sub also came with a remote bass control knob, a fantastic feature. that lets you adjust the bass level of the playing song to suite your listening preference with the touch of a dial

HeavenlyBang:
Probably because ELS is set up for higher frequencies. More treble for classical music and the likes instead of better lows.

For what it's meant to do, it's one of the best car stereos.

"what it is meant to do" is reproduce audio signal well, regardless of what part of the spectrum.
A good setup will reproduce mids, highs and lows comfortably and output balanced sound. you enjoy your music just the way you like it, regardless of genre. clean and crisp

The myriads of EQ and other sound settings that are absent from a stock setup like this are a big part of the very limited functionality.

Decent ? yes . One of the best ? I think that's subjective

Zane2point4:
The stock head unit definetly looks better,you could have used it,it has quality wattage and will still produce quality sounds to feed your speakers.

The hallmark of modern interior styling is minimalism and clean surfaces. you don't need 30 buttons to do what a screen and half a dozen buttons can do with greater efficiency . . . but ofcourse beauty is subjective.
There's also functionality and performance, which are paramount. I don't think anyone buys a headset just for the looks.
functionality wise , comparison between both is like comparing a 3310 to an iPhone

As per performance , the stock setup is way underpowered. it sounds like a Tin can in comparison. Even with the stock amp and subwoofer.

dannywest:
My mind never reach your own

lol

Sound deading is a nobrainer, but quite tedious .
As simple as it might appear, getting these mats into tight spots and around curves and holes can be a pain in the ass.

you need some planning and measuring to maximize use of your mat and get neat results.

pic 1. stock condition

2 &3 . after sound deadening and speaker replacement.

Sound Deadening & Speaker Replacement

Front Speakers - Infinity Kappa 62.11i

Rear Speakers - JBL GTO 629, Both tuned by Harman Kardon


Sound Deadening Mat - 36sq ft of Noico 80mil sound deadening Mat.


Pretty straight forward. remove door panels, remove weather stripping, deal with a ton of dust.

had to do alot of surface prep/cleaning with Alcohol for best results with the deadening mats

Speaker holes didnt match the opening on the door even with the speaker brackets I bought. but I really wanted these speakers. I was frustrated for some minutes, until I had a Eureka Moment!!! ..... Cable Ties!!!

grabbed some cable tie , strapped those babies up, and bam! . . . everything kosher.

AutoElectNG:
There is something that stands out in your threads.

You do your homework.

Following

Thanks

Before meets After . . .

Heart Transplant Complete . . . Vital Signs Stable

pic 1 . Testing climate control for fitment to plastic trim piece.

2. Checking fitment of stereo to trim piece.

3 . Old heart, New heart

4 . Heart Transplant in progress

Now On To The Fun Part.. . . . Actual Install of Stereo.

For a 2008 Vehicle, the MDX has a pretty suave interior styling. And the stereo isn't left out.

pic 1 & 2 Stock Setup.

3. Removal

4. Commencenent of Open Heart Surgery

MARKone:
Don't mind the bomboclat talking about common sense, just continue with your post.

I don try for today jare. Already put a TBC

obiekunie2:
undiluted truth!

you proved it beyond any doubt!

Right! ... but I'll show what the fok I want to show, whenever the fok I want to show it , Now fok off.

HeavenlyBang:
Because na you buy the car for am na. Or because you dey pay am to make this thread.

Some of una go just carry phone dey type rubbish.

Lol, what an id!ot. Serious laughter catch Me.

obiekunie2:
common sense should tell u to first of all show us the full pic of the car u r transforming before showing us all this craps!

commonsense is not common at all

T B C

pic 1 - the arrow in the picture below shows the cables attached to the knenwood harness ( goes into the rear of the radio) with red connectors.

pic 2 - shows the labeled end of the cables. labeling is necessary as the cables which have no colour coding are first fished from the stereo location down to the kick panel before the female part of the T-tap is attached .
so you have to know which exact wire/channel you're connecting to, at both the stereo harness end and the pre amp end ( following the Amplifier wiring diagram above)

-shows the harness disconnected
- shows head of T taps attached
- shows final tapping
- T taps, kenwood stereo harness, connectors and sundry items

the choice of blue for all cables and flex tubing is to distinguish my wiring from stock/factory

Amplifier is located in the pasenger side kick panel. ( Arrow points to the Amplifirer feed harness . ) which I had to disconnect and tap into

First Step . . . . Replacement of the headunit.

One of the most challenging part of this project was installing the headunit.
My MDX came with the ELS surround sound sytem which is setup with a factory Amplifier and subwoofer) and because of this, changing the headunit wasnt a simple matter of swapping stereos and connecting with a harness. You have to find a way to send audio signal to the speakers while bypassing the factory amp.
After hours of research on Acurazine and MDXers forums , I got some insight into tapping into the audio feed... pre-amp, and running wires from there to the head unit harness (FOR ALL FOUR DOORS). this would have resulted in a very ugly job of cutting and joining , but for the blessing of T-taps.

As mentioned before Head unit of Choice : Kenwood DDX9904s ( about $750-800 at the time)
fantastic stereo, fantastic sound , Carplay, Android Auto, great audio customization, too many great features to list.

The below is a guide to the colour code for the amplifier wiring in second Gen MDXs.

.

Arrival of Some Supplies:

Kenwood Excelon DDX9904s

Rockford fostgate PUNCH P300-12 Powered subwoofer

Stinger Amplifier kit

Noico Sound deadening Mat. 80 Mil 36 sqft

Geosheild pronano ceramic tint film

Infinity kappa 62.11i speakers (by Harman Kardon) for the front doors

JBL GTO 629 speakers also tuned by Harman Kardon for the rear doors

harnesses, speaker adapters, flex tubing, plastic trim piece (for headset), harnesses, etc

This is a documentation of my second DIY upgrade journey; taking a car from stock to unique.
Finally got around to creating this thread after over a year of laziness and procrastination.

While thread is also intended to serve as a guide to others looking to do the same, It is primarily in preparation for the sale of this car in a month or two.
project spanned about 6 months; from order of parts and tools to completion( first quarter of 2019)

Total spend was about $2700- $2800 (excluding wheels which were sourced locally @N170k).

fun fact. . . . half of the items in this upgrade were procured before the car was even purchased.

Project bordered the following areas:

-Sound/Entertainment,

-Illumination,

-Suspension & control,

-Windows (tint)

-Backup Camera.



1. Sound/Entertainment upgrade entailed :

-headunit replacement
-speaker replacement (all four)
-sound deadening
-subwoofer installation

2. Illumination upgrade entailed

upgrade of all interior & exterior Lighting bulbs to High-quality LED alternatives..
.daytime running lights, fog lights, brake light, turn signal, reverse lights, cabin lights , door lights, HID xenon headlight bulbs everything

3. Backup camera install
this entailed the installation of an aftermarket camera from the Brand Motion company

4. Window tint :

Yeppp I shipped my own tint film in the specific brand and tint percentage I wanted and installed myself. This entailed the installation of the Geosheild 20% Nanoceramic film from tintzoom . details on this choice later.

5. Suspension/Control :

this entailed
-A brake rotor upgrade. : replaced the standard brake rotors with some drilled and slotted performance rotors from Powerstop.

-Ride Height upgrade: installed 35mm front strut spacers and rear coil spacers from the Tema4x4 brand, to increase ground clearance and make room for larger, wider tyres: resulting in a sportier, more agressive appearance, better road grip and wider stance.

I will be following with process pictures and details of parts used/installed

TransAtlanticEx:
heavenlybang have had a few Mercedes? For dream abi wetin?
Or is it because the boy talks down on the brand is what make you think he's had a few?
Mercedes is a very premium brand,only those that cant afford them argue facts please.

Lol @ first paragraph. Me sef weak
the same way she's driven all the models and classes, she knows those who belong to the Benz Club.

Acura makes some of the best value for money cars, hands down. And the MDX is one of her best models. Infact I was looking at moving to a 2016 MDX, before an encounter steered me towards the 550. I did some research and found it to better suit what I needed.

To blindly argue that you "lose features" when you move from an MDX to a 550 That's just plain ridiculous.

radautoworks:
And reading numbers online does not make you a car expert. From what I see you're not even an expert reader

LmAO, you'll be Suprised. 6 years of Automotive Engineering Tech is just added bonus.
But I'm willing to bet your expertise is inherited.

radautoworks:
All the above being said, once you've had a few, it being a "Mercedes" stops shacking you. Ask people like Eddee and HeavenlyBang, they know

Lol, @ heavenlybang Oya o, they say you have owned a few too.
Lol @ Bolded. I comment my reserve

Lol, Talk about failing exams , and reading without comprehension

The only place the Mercedes ekes it out because it has more horses and torque out of the gate HOWEVER, it is heavier and it doesn't really translate to gain in the real world .

That was your comment on performance which I refuted. It Had nothing to do with the question about enjoying all 400 hp. Stop juxtaposing statements



AGAIN, IF THERE ARE RATINGS YOU KNOW, WHY DO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO GIVE THEM TO YOU AND WHY DID YOU ASK AT ALL?

Lol but I never asked, you make up your own question as usual. I stated a fact that the Merc is rated higher in that dept, and you gave another My Car response . . . .as usual

12 years in the business and you cannot do a "FACT" based comparison , or articulate autonomous driving ?

Owning a barbershop doesn't make you a barber, you can own one for 50 years and not know how to hold a clipper. Calm down with the expertise talk.

Acting like it's the King of all Achievement?
Lol, Sorry o Madam that has owned all the Mercedes Models, I forgot. I have test driven thanks and God Bless

radautoworks:
Now that I have more time on my hands I'll address fully why I said the Acura is a better car.

About performance -
So let me understand this. . . . An ML550 is heavier than an MDX, but still manges to have way better 0-60 and quarter mile times. Yet in your opinion, the 402hp and 607Nm from a twin turbo V8 are just figures on paper and do not translate to real world gain. ( Lol na wa )

Better Safety Ratings ?
Better Safety is not just about saying My car has better safety features . . . . there are standardized safety tests, there are figures. there are " RATINGS" . . . .
IIHS tests evaluate crashworthiness and crash avoidance/mitigation, and the 2013 ML has higher ratings

Styling
I see you're posting the interior and exterior of your car, are you attempting to "suggest" that interior looks better or is more comfortable than a 2013-15 ML550 ??.
Now I'm sure your haven't owned an ML550.

Most of what you typed which honestly I couldn't completely read is centred around I, Me and My . . . they're personal opinion.
For someone who supposedly knows cars you give very little facts


The Merc offers heated seats, heated steering, KeylessGO ( push to start) , adjustable ride height, so so many things I don't even care to mention.

So Again, . . .what " REAL WORLD " features does an MDX have that an ML550 of equivalent year lacks,
As you said earlier, you "lose features" If you move from an MDX to an ML550.

I already forgot this conversation even happened

About the screen, Lol seriously? . . . this LCD screen is what you're hyping ? what exactly are you going to enjoy on that? very impractical aspect ratio, it's 2020! LCDs are mundane. even the screen on the ML550 is barely tolerable IMO,
you can enjoy HD interface with "capacitive" (not resistive as is on the MDX) touch for less than $1000.

This is a Kenwood DDX9905s .
I have it in a 2008 MDX and its better value than any stock MDX head unit.
A 21inch screen Is not a "real world gain"

radautoworks:
FYI, this is what I was talking about. The ONLY thing that keeps it from being completely autonomous is it doesn't change lanes. When I get a nice curve I'll round it at 90mph on self driving so you see.

Sigh, what you're excitedly showing off on your "loaded" MDX is available on a 2013 ML550 but cannot be gotten on an MDX of equivalent year!!
Lol , you're constantly contradicting yourself.

And for the umpteenth time , lane keeping assist and collison mitigation are not the same as real autonomous driving , . . .those are safety features.
A Driverless / autonomous car "navigates" from point A to B with little human input

HeavenlyBang:
Should've simply ended the conversation with "That wasn't what I was asking about", then.


There simply aren't many ML550 owners in Nigeria, especially with the 4.7TT.

From what I know about the cars, though. I'm always on MBworld, Benzworld, and plenty of MB communities. Same engine on the 2012+ E550s.

The M278 is very solid. It's also underrated by Mercedes. Probably makes closer to 430 HP or so. Also very tunable. Power delivery is excellent. Sounds amazing with a muffler delete too.

Airmatic is pretty reliable on those, actually. Nigerian roads are a different matter, though. Just do the Arnott swap.

Never heard of any turbo issues.

You'll never be able to use that 400 HP to the fullest. Plenty of low end torque, though.

There's nothing wrong with providing unsolicited opinion/criticism if it is constructive. I was looking forward to learning stuff and having a reason to reconsider.

You should also have understood the line of conversation before asking me why I asked for an opinion that I did not.

In any case thanks for the feedback. It's all positive so far

Afromentalist:
Sorry but you never gave a substantiated opinion. You don't expect someone to just follow your opinion for the sake of it, if you can't bring relevant points - not family and wealth talks which was not in question.

This is a forum, not a church/Mosque. People don't say amen to whatever a Pastor says here. Bizzle2 was very correct in the way he approached your answer.

The bolded is My point exactly,