Hey guys, it's Waldo with an extremely long post! :)

[Waldodamon]

I know I have a tendency to disappear and reappear, well, last I was here I believe was 2013. It is crazy to think it's already been four years since my last post. A lot has changed. I remember posting about some old school Orion and Kenwood gear I had picked up and what not, crazy, so much changed even within months of those posts that I still just have that stuff laying around. I think I have been through, yes, 3 cars since then too. :)


Currently I am working on an install in my Rogue. I have the big 3 done, and all my wires are ran, I mean ALL the wiring. Right now I am planning on the amp rack which will be installed on the front face of the back seat "riser", if you will. For the big 3, I used "mutt" wire; that is, the alternator power wire is Stinger HPM OFC 1/0 from my old Saturn build, still had 15 or so feet left over. I cut back about a foot on one end to get to "fresh" wire, if it wasn't purple, I may just have tried to squeeze enough of it for most of the install itself. I actually kind of install a big "4", I took one extra step which may or may not have been necessary, but in my eyes a bigger path to ground is a bigger path to ground. I used black 1/0 copper welding cable for the big 3 grounding. I grounded from battery to chassis, battery to engine block, as per normal. The extra step I took, which is sort of like an extra path from engine to chassis, was to upgrade the ground wire that ran from the alternator to the chassis. It was right there in the open, I had the extra wire, and if I was going to upgrade the alternator power wire to 1/0, why bottleneck its ground?


I then installed sound deadening in the front doors, entire "trunk" (it's a Rogue, more like "rear storage"), the entire spare tire well, and the rear hatch door itself, completely. This was the fun part. I tried, on the first door, three different deadeners because I wanted something different than the usual Second Skin or Dynamat. At first I tried Fatmat Rattle Trap. This was a HUGE mistake. That stuff is the NASTIEST, asphalt based, poorest performing garbage I have ever used, period. In less than a week of it being installed, with the door panel having been put back on, I have to take everything apart and remove it. The smell, no, I can't say smell, it was an entire atmosphere, would hit you in the face so hard when you opened the door, it was so bad that I couldn't sit for more than 2 minutes without my eyes literally watering up from the asphalt environment. Now, I have been an electrician for 10 years, I have worked in some pretty crappy industrial settings and I've inhaled and been exposed (directly and indirectly) to some pretty offensive odors and atmospheres; this took the cake.


When I removed it, I used a heat gun on the first piece, I did a 3 second swipe with the gun in one direction, then a 3 second swipe back to the start position, with gloves on this stuff burned my hand. It was liquid tar, and it was bubbling, literally, from 6 seconds on a heat gun low setting. On top of that, once it was removed, my car door looked like it had smoker's lung, and I am not exaggerating either. From that point, I removed it all without a heat gun, and, after almost a week of being installed, it was easier ripping it off than it was putting on, and I used a hardwood roller and let my OCD go to town when I installed it. Seriously, I would have never gotten Dynamat or Second Skin off without having to use a heat gun, even after one day of installation, and here is this stuff just peeling right off. Garbage, sorry, but it is.
What was cool about Fatmat is that they replaced, for free, the exact amount of material I ordered in Rattle Trap with their Mega Mat. At first I was somewhat reserved about this, having been through what I went through with Rattle Trap, but for the last month, the Mega Mat has been in the doors and it is a viable competitor to Dynamat and SS. The very first thing I checked when it came in was the material, and it is pure butyl, well, I am not a chemist, but the consistency of it was very close to Dynamat. The butyl color was gray, and the butyl itself wasn't a flat texture, it had somewhat of a "ridged" texture to it. I did use a heat gun and my wooden roller to apply it, and I will say the performance is literally just the same as Dynamt, which I have been using since the 90's. SS I have not used as much because mostly it's been on my installs and not "customer's" installs, but from the cars I recall using it on, it was basically Dynamat, and at the time, cheaper, which is what Fatmat Mega Mat is now. I am impressed that their customer service department not only answered the very first time I called, but also was sympathetic to the situation and sent me an equivalent amount of their better product in exchange for the scraps I had left of the Rattle Trap. Since I am going SPL (I know, big surprise right?), I didn't bother with any MLV or CCF, all I did was deaden.


In the trunk, hatch, rear storage, whatever you want to call it in a Rogue, I used Noico 80mm. I wanted to experiment with different deadeners. I know that Don from Sound Deadener Showdown is an extremely intelligent person and offers top notch products at a fair price. His knowledge and willingness to share said knowledge with the public goes eons beyond what any other product or brand can offer. This was for my vehicle, and I wanted to experiment. After 20+ years of using the same stuff, tried and true, I wanted to see what the "cheaper" alternatives were all about. You can't possibly get much cheaper than Noico. Problem is, you get what you pay for. Now, it is butyl, there is nothing tar about it. It claims it is 80 mil, however, it was so thin I had to put it next to a scrap piece of Mega Mat, which is only 70 mil, and the Mega Mat was thicker. I don't have calipers or what not to get precise measurements, but when a product that claims 80 mil is thinner than a product that is 70 mil, well, you know the rest. I tested, with the spare Mega Mat I had, doing one side of the spare tire well with Mega and the other half with Noico. Night and day difference. The Mega Mat outperformed Noico all day long. I ended up taking the Mega Mat out, and, as I had hoped, even after only a half hour of being installed, I needed a heat gun to uninstall it. I continued to use the Noico since I had ordered 50 sq feet of it. I doubled up the entire rear, including the spare tire well, and it just about met my criteria for "ok". I continued to use the rest for the hatch door itself, I removed all the panels and treated it as if it were a door. I only had enough to use one layer, I used it on the plastic trim pieces, I covered as clkose to 100% as I possibly could on the external shell, internal shell, and again, all the plastic pieces, and, once again, it "just about" passes my criteria for "ok". With Dynamat, SS, and now Mega Mat, I always cover roughly 50% and then do spot checks, and if I find anything, hit those areas with smaller pieces. With the rear hatch, I covered I want to say at LEAST 90%, THEN did spot checks, and I am still considering ripping all that crap out and redoing it with MM.


I am not putting FatMat on a pedestal here, but their MegaMat is a good product, and the company was very professional to deal with. I would recommend MegaMat if you're looking to save some coin over more expensive deadener of the same category and thickness. Noico, honestly, just stay away from it. The only reason it is still in the Rogue right now is because it barely passed in my opinion and it is butyl, no asphalt in that stuff. Other than that, garbage.


I have my head unit installed, still using my good old Kenwood KDC-X889. It started doing this one funky thing lately, that is, the motorized part where the face plate attaches keeps opening as if there is a CD in it. If you push the button to close it, it closes then reopens, lol. Once it is open, the mechanism unlocks, so I can just push the bottom of the frame under the faceplate plastic and once I get it flush that way, it will stay closed, until I turn the car off, ha haaa. Turn the car off and, whether face plate is on or not, it will open, then close, then open again, I find it hilarious. The problem is, to me, it may have something to do with the processor, I am hoping everything is copasetic once I get the amps installed. Performance wise right now I just wired the two stock back speakers so I could have something while I am doing the install, and every function within the unit itself works as it should, so I am not worried about it. I know it's old, and I did get the call from 2006 asking for my head unit back, ha haaa, but honestly I love that thing! I know that most all of the Execlon units utilize 5v RCA pre-out, but this thing has been with me so long, you guys know what I mean. :)


All my speaker wire and RCA jacks are installed on the passenger side, of course with the driver side speaker crossing behind the glove box and steering column to get into the driver's door. The routing was really easy with the Rogue. It has the factory wire clips which could literally fit 2/0 no problem on top of the factory wiring. My 1/0 power and 14 gauge remote wire are run down the driver's side. All of the wiring, including the RCA cables, outside of the big 3, I used KnuKonceptz. I used their Kollossus Kandy Orange for the 1/0, I was hoping the color would have been a little darker orange, but oh well. The wire itself is awesome, and flexible just isn't the word. I've used Kolossus in more than the last few installs I have done, this is the first time I use the Kandy colored wire, I just wanted to have something to go with the Crescendo and Cadence amps, it's way too bright an orange for the Crescendo, and even a little too bright for my old school Cadence amps. Aesthetics aside, I have found that the Kolossus line is really worth its weight in gold, and unfortunately they sell it for quite the amount of gold. I used all Karma SS RCA cables and 14 gauge speaker wire for the doors. I have and will be using Karma SS 10 gauge for the subs.


I suppose it's time to get to the nasty, what the hell am I installing, anyway?!?!?


Well, for starters, this is a temporary set up. The subs will be replaced in the future and I will be buying a second mono block to strap. I have already ordered Crescendo PWX 6.5's and the FT-1 Super tweets to replace what I have currently, and when I do replace the subs, I will be going with 4 12" rather than the current 2 12".

What I have now:

2 Soundqubed HDS 312 subwoofers
1 Crescendo BC2000D mono amplifier
2 Cadence Q3000 Ultra Drive 2 channel amplifiers (the old school Q3000 (early to mid 2000s), not the new 4 channel ones...no no, none of that tom foolery!) I am using one amp per door, for future proofing. The amps will be run at 4 ohm mono @ 300 WRMS each. I will still maintain stereo by using one side RCA per amp (splitter), you get me, I know you do. :)
1 pair of Crescendo CZ 6.5 components
1 Kenwood KDC-X889 head unit
1 XS Power D1200 AGM
1 Interstate regular starting battery
1 PAC 500 amp solenoid relay (separate the batteries so the lead acid isn't constantly pulling voltage from the AGM when the car is off)
1 Bosch style 30 amp 5 point relay (wire the head unit remote wire into this and let IT take the load of the solenoid and three amps, NOT the HU)
1 1N7000 Rectifier Diode (Radio Shack) to be wired in reverse bias between the HU remote wire and ground. This protects any potential EMF voltage spikes (from the Bosch relay) from making its way to the head unit and frying it when the car is turned off, instead of traveling to the HU, it hits the rectifier diode which is a one way street to ground.
2 KnuKonceptz Bassik battery terminals
2 Knukonceptz Ultimate battery terminals
3 Knukonceptz KONfused High Current inline fuse holders (one @ 300 amp, two @ 250 amp)
2 Knukonceptz KOnfused distribution blocks (grounding block using three solid brass bridge terminals, of course positive block running fuses)
1 stock 120 amp alternator, I think it may actually cut the cake.
1 Atrend dual 12 inch ported box supposedly tuned to 36 Hz (Don't laugh, it's temporary while I build a real box, plus I do want to see if I can shatter this thing! Well, don't laugh until I shatter it! :) )
1 (in the making) 3/4" MDF constructed 5.5 cubic foot (NET after port displacement and bracing) sub box using slotted port tuned to 34 Hz.


Future Upgrades:

Alternator (even if this one works for now, there is no way it will then!)
Strap a second BC2000D or buy a larger mono block (4000+ watts RMS)
Upgrade from HDS series to HDC possibly, or another sub brand altogether, most likely Sundown or Fi
Add two more 12's and of course fabricate a new box.
Upgrade components to "pro" series (on the way)
Build my own crossovers for said component upgrades.
Don't need to upgrade the Cadence amps, as each one can 4 ohm mono @ 300 WRMS, but it depends I suppose on how big I go with the sub amp.


Sorry for the term paper guys, I wanted to give some in depth as to what the install entails and what I have done differently this time around. I don't have pics right now, I am sorry. I am horrible with that, once I start working, I just don't stop until I am done, and THEN I think about the pics! When I start with the amp rack, hopefully this week or next, I will try to remember to take some to post in the gallery here.

Hope everyone is doing well, and after that Great Wall of Text, I hope your eyes are still doing well! :)
Waldo

[Chris from Washington]

wow, sounds like an impressive install.
Looking forward to pics.

If you don't have a garage on here, create one and start uploading pics!

Welcome back too!