How to install A system in your 06 Impreza

[Harley Sporty]

I haven't seen a complete walkthru on this so I thought I would post some pics of how I did mine.

Materials:
4 gage Power wire
8 Gage Power Wire
4 Gage ground Wire
8 gage ground wire
Various end terminals
Fuse Block w/ 60 amp fuse
Fused Distribution Block w/ 2x30 amp fuse
two sets of RCAs
wire strippers
screw driver
socket wrench

To start you will want to disconnect your battery and begin to hook up your HU... I will not walk thru this as it has been covered quite well here:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=919560
The only difference between this setup and mine is that my deck was originally a single din and so I use the OEM din pocket:


Make sure to hook up the remote turn on lead (Blue Wire) to the Remote turn on lead on your deck (Usually Blue with White Stripe)


Next Step is to start running your 4 Gage Power Wire (I used Blue Wire). I ended up cutting a hole in the grommet in the firwall just above and behind the clutch and feeding the wire thru there.


Strip the end of this wire in the engine bayand connect to one end of your 60 amp fuse block. Connect a secont piece of the 4 gage wire to the other end and attach an end terminal to the end to attatch to the battery terminal.


Next I began running the wire thru the car. I began by running the 4 gage wire behind the carpet in the drivers footwell and then up behind the center console (where your HU and climate controls are mounted).


Next I ran the the 4 gage Power wire, remote turn on, and speaker wire for the front speakers (connected to the speaker wire running to the door speakers behind the dash. Check the manifesto for the speaker wire colors). I ran these wires behind the carpet in the pasenger footwel and underneath the front door sill on the pasenger side.




Next I cut some holes in the carpet underneath the passenger seat to bring in the remote turn on lead (which I branch off of the amp under the seat to the amp in the trunk), the speaker wire, and the 4 gage power cable. I alo mounted the distribution block here and ran the 8 gage out from the block. I cut another small hole in the carpet here to run the 8 gage out to go to the trunk for the sub amp.


I then ran the 8 gage wire under the rear door sill on the pasenger side and then behind the seat (unfortunately I did not take a picture of running the wire behind the seat).

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[Harley Sporty]

Next I ran my grounds. I used one of the bolts underneath the rear deck for my ground in the trunk and one of the seat bolts for the ground for the amp up front. Just make sure to sand off the paint first on the contact surface. I also forgot to take pictures of this, but you should be able to find it all right.

I ran my RCAs underneath the center consol to the amp under the pasenger seat and the other set under the driver seat and then back to the trunk the same way that I did the power wire on the pasenger seat.


Last step is to wire everything up according to the wiring instructions on your amps, speakers, and sub. YOu should be good to go.


I will post some how to on the front and rear speaker install as well later this week when I get the pictures up.

My current system:
Alpine CDA-9831 HU
Infinity Reference 4" Rear
Infinity Reference 6.5" COmponents Front
Phoenix Gold Octane R2.5:2 Amp for the Components
Rockford Fosgate Power Cap for the Sub
Alpine MRV-T757 Bridged for the Sub
Elemental Designs 13Kv.2 Dual 2 Ohm Sub

Hope this helps a few people out.

[okaythen01]

nice..dude I just got 9831 too..and alpine type r speakers..they sounds so nice..and Zapco amp

[UndertoW101]

>Subscribed<....really looking forward to seeing the front/rear speaker install pics

[jblaze5579]

you can also do it without cutting the carpet by just runing them out of the open spaces under the seat to the left of the cuts you made.

Just adding some info

[Harley Sporty]

I have seen that done as well. I just wanted to bring my connections in right where they would be needed to connec to the amp. However If you were using an amp where the connections were all on one side like some of the JL amps, that would be a real clean setup to run them out from where the vents are. So you are right that is another great alternative to cutting the carpet.

[Harley Sporty]

Ok now on to part 2. The rear speaker install. Start by removing the bezel around the door latch handle. Do this by using a screw driver or other flat tool. You will find a small divit on the bottom side of the bezel. Start hear and then work around the piece.



Next open the little flap covering the screw in the door handle and remove the door handle by removing the screw, pulling up on the handle piece, and unplugging the power window button.



Next remove the screwed in door clip on the door end. Just unscrew until it stops moving out any further and then pull it out.


Next just pull the pannel off. I like to start at the bottom of the door and work my way up. Then pull upward on the door to remove from the upper lip. THen remove your speaker.


I then trimed some of the plastic from around the door holes.


I then made a mounting bracket for the new speaker using a plastic cutting board from Walmart. I made a ring allowing for the mounting diameter of the new speaker and enough plastic for the mounting screws. I also cut a small piece of foam the same dimensions to act as a vibration dampenner. I slid both components behind the mounting hole through the larger hole to the side of where the speaker mounts and mounted the plastic mounting ring.


I then plugged in the speaker and mounted the speaker to the mounting ring.


Putting the door back on is the oposite o f taking it off and you are good to go. One could probably fit a 5.25" speaker back there but it may take some creativity and / or modification. I used speaker connector adapters from crutchfield instead of splicing the wires. But that one is up to you.

I will post the front speaker install as I get more time.

[Black-Falcon]

so are the rears amped or are they running off the HU? Also how are you going to run the component speaker wire into the doors? Just some Q's you could cover in the next installment.

[Harley Sporty]

The rear speakers only require a max RMS of 35 W my deck putts out 18W RMS so its pretty much good enough for the rear little jobbies. I only upgraded them because the deal was really good ($35 shipped for the rear speakers) and I wanted to have my rear fill have decent sound quality. My components up front wil be powered by a PG Octane R 80W / channel. I am debating between running wire out to the doors or just sticking with running the wiring to the harness. I'll have to see how much of a task it is and check if the wiring can handle the wattage. I believe it should be able to, But I will check into it before setting up the front components.

[Harley Sporty]

After doing some research, the correct size speaker wire for me to use on the front speakers is 16 gage. So that means I'll be running some wiring out to the doors. It doesn't look like I will have time to do this till this weekend though so I guess everyone will have to wait till then for the front speaker install.

[Harley Sporty]

My night classes got cancelled last night so I ended up taking some time after work to at least run the wiring out to the doors up front. My amp / speaker setup requires that I use 16 g wiring. If this is a first for you set aside about 2 hours to be on the safe side. The first door took me about 1 hour (this was a first for me), and the second about 15 minutes. So once you get the first done the second should be smooth sailing. I'm not gonna bother with a writup on this as it has been coverred really well already and is linked to in Offset's FAQ as well, but here is the link. I followed this method pretty much step for step and it worked really quite well.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=653205

I will finish off the front speakers tonight. As far as running the speaker wire in the car I ran it similar to how I ran the Power wire for the amps. I was careful though to keep a couple of inches between the speaker wires and the power wire though to prevent any static. Shouldn't have this problem with well insulated and shielded wires, and the small amount of power that I am using.

[Harley Sporty]

Ok I just got back late last night from traveling all week for work. I took today off so I though i would post my last install. The front speaker install was done as follows.

Materials needed
Large Nylon Cutting board
Foam
Metal Spacer/Mounting ring provided with Speakers
Infinity Reference 6.5" Comps
Butt conections
16 gauge speaker wire(bought 50 feet, used about 25)
8 gauge power wire
8 gauge ground wire
Remote turn on lead wire
RCA's
Wire stripper/cutter
screw driver
Dremmel/Router
Drill
Jigsaw

Start by removing the the front doors:
This is similar to removing the rear doors. Pop open the cover covering the screw in the door handle. Remove the screw in the door handle. Pop off the bezel around the door latch handle. Do this by poping the front pin (White piece in third picture), then putting a screwdriver into the little divit at the bottom of the bezel (second picture) carefully pry the bezel away (it will pop at its clip points.


[IMG]ttp://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f113/jrwelling99/DSC01188.jpg[/IMG]

Make sure to put your windows down first so that you can check your mounting clearance while installing the speakers. Then pull upward on the handle/window controls/mirror controls to pop the clips and then unplug the harnesses. THen remove you door card. I like to start at the bottom popping one clip at a time nd working my way to the top. This will reveal you door speaker ( I had the stock speaker system) Remove the speaker (as you can see from the third picture there is not much mounting depth ~1.5").




I then mounted the crossovers on the door. I did this using industrial strength velcrow. I mounted the crossover on the door on the small flat section toward the rear of the door where it says "SUBARU". Make sure to cut off some of the moisture guard here and stick the unit directly to the metal. Otherwise you could end up with it shifting or falling off. This also required me to shave the the white foam on the back of the door card. I removed a portion of the white foam about 3/4" deep and 3/4" tall along the lenght of the foam piece.




Next I installed the tweets. I used the provided Starfish mounting brackets provided with the comps. I broke off the front tabs and left the rear tabs in place for more contact area. I then used more industrial strength velcrow to attach these to the door section just forward of the door latch lever. Make sure to remove the moisture barrier here as well as need so as to attach to the metal as well.

[Harley Sporty]

I then started wiring. I used butt conectors to connect the wire to the wires on the tweets and spade connectors to connect to the crossover (I wired for -3db to tone down the tweets a little). I used spade connectors to connect the speaker wire from the amp to the crossover and did the same to connect the speaker wire that will run to the woofer. I will show a picture of the final wired product later.

I then made adapter rings for the woofers. I used a plastic cutting board. I traced the outline of the stock speaker marked the mounting holes, and cut out the outline using a jigsaw. I then drilled the mounting holes. I then marked where the metal adapter ring would be placed and traced the Internal Diameter. I used a dremel with a cricle cutter attachment to cut the speaker hole. I then mounted the metal adpater ring to the plast ring. and mounted the speaker to the adapter. I then connected the speaker to the wiring using butt connectors, and mounted the speaker in the door. When installing the Speaker in the door make sure to wrap the connections at the speakers and the terminal areas in electrical tape to prevent the terminals from touching the metal of the door and causing a short.




The final wired product without the door card should look like this:
(Iused some zip ties to dress it up a little)


I then checked clearence of the speaker against the door card and realized I needed to trim the little piece of plastic flashing around the speaker grill. A utility knife works well. I used a really sharp diving knife.



I then remounted the door cards and tuned the system. I tuned my system as follows:
HPF 80Hz
LPF 120Hz

EQ
+5 1.0 60Hz
+4 1.0 150Hz
+3 1.0 2kHz
+2 1.0 12.5kHz

Adjusted my gains and response on the amps for nice tight response and the volume suiting my tastes and listening pleasure.

Just to show it because I didn't have a picture of it earlier, below is a picture of the amp mounted under the seat. I ran the remote turn on allong side the power cable, connected it to the amp using a spade connector and ran my remote turn on to my sub amp from that connection. The ground is bolted to the seat bracket. Make sure to sand off the paint first for a clean ground. I had to use a piece of the power cable as I had misplace the silver ground wire..... But its the same stuff so it works.


Well I hope this tutorial helps some people out. If there are any questions let me know.

-HU, Cap, and Sub Amp - $0 (had from previous cars)
-Comps, Comp Amp, Rear Speakers, Sub, Wiring, and Box - ~$450 (ebay)
-Installing yourself and having a great sounding system - Priceless

Final Setup:
-Alpine CDA-9851 HU
-Rockford Fosgate 1.0 Farad Capacitor
-Phoenix Gold Octane R2.5:2 Amp for Front Components (80Wx2 @ 4Ohm)
-Alpine V12 MRV-T757 Amp for sub (tested output of 325W RMS Bridged @ 4Ohms)
-Infinity Reference 6.5" Components (front)
-Infinity Reference 4" Coaxials (rear - running off of HU)
-Elemental Designs 13Kv2 13" Dual 2 Ohm VC Sub
-16 Gauge speaker wiring for the front speakers
-12 Gauge speaker wiring for the Sub
-4 gauge into two 8 gauge wiring kit (generic) including shielded RCA's

[Bishop]

pretty good write up you got goin here.



thx!

[Harley Sporty]

Thanks, I figured It would be nice especially for some newbies to have all the information they should need for a how to in one place... If there are any additional pics or information anyone would like just post a reply and I'll get to it... I love doing this stuff. A friend of mine is on their way to pick up their WRX right now and I'll be ripping their car apart next...

[Black-Falcon]

So did you mount the crossover directly onto the moisture guard?

[Harley Sporty]

Oops.... forgot to say that I cut away a piece of the moisture guard so that I could attach the crossover directly to the metal. The moisture guard will be taken out anyway as soon as I get some time to do the sound deadening.... I don't have much vibrations as it is, but I want to improve the overall sound quality and road noise.

[Black-Falcon]

Please please please take pics of your sound deadening install!!! This is a great thread, and I'm going to be following it very closely this summer.

[SubaDuba420]

same here, good info/write up, planning on some of the same myself and I love seeing the installs on 06's, even if theres no differences.

Thanks

[Harley Sporty]

Note to everyone who is using this thread. When installing the speakers in the doors make sure to insulate the end terminals at the speakers. I forgot to do this when I was installing the fronts and it was a tight fit and one of the wires had vibrated over to the side a little and was touching the door... it ended up causing a short in the system and i was getting loud clicking sounds from the speakers. Just wrap the whole terminal area in electrical tape to prevent any of the terminals from hitting the door and wrap each connection individuallly too.

[affinity1]

What path did you use to get the power wire and RCAs for the sub into the trunk?

[Harley Sporty]

The power supply runs in from the engine bay thru the grommet behind where your clutch is then I ran it behind the carpet in the footwell and behind the center console up front I then ran it behind the carpet in the footwell of the passenger side. I then ran it under the front and real door sills (the plastic pieces) I then went under the very edge of the rear seat and past it under the back of the rear seat into the trunk. (I ran the remote turn on along side the power cable)

The RCA's I ran behind the deck and temperature controls to the center console. I then ran them back thru the center console and the under the driver's seat over to the door sill and ran them under the door sills back to the trunk the same way as the power cable but on the driver side instead of the passenger side.

I covered all of this in the first to threads but if there is anything that you are a little unsure of and would like some specific pictures I would be glad to edit it and add some additional pics in. Just let me know.

[Weakness]

Nice looking install... thanks for the pics too!

[Black-Falcon]

Bump and harley check your PM's

[Harley Sporty]

Thanks for the bump and sent a PM back. And by the way, I will be re-routing some of my wires and amps as well as be building a new box for the sub this week. I decided I wanted to go with either a rear fire or forward fire sub to allow me to put my golf clubs in the trunk. I also bought a new amp for the sub (NINe.2X) and will be moving my V12 up to power my components and moving my PG to power the little coax's. I'll post some pictures as I go along.