Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Ok, everyone else has done it, it's time now that I have a new camera to post mine.

It wasn't cheap but I have Mike Reid at Tweeter Etc. in Dedham, MA to thank for the work.

Start with the amps, JL 1000/1 and 450/4. Yeah, that's a lot of power.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

The RCAs are Monster Cable Pro 1001s. Good as it gets.

In the trunk we put in a false floor and a false back. Here's the false back with the RX-8 logo on it.

lurch519

u might want to make those pics a little larger, its really hard to see any detail, even when you click on the image to enlarge it

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Behind the back you see some of the guts. We have a sealed box with two Boston Acoustics 12.5 Pro subs. Here you can also see the crossovers for the rear Boston Acoustics 6.5 Pro components, Sirius tuner, and HD radio tuner. The tuners are from Kenwood, which is the brand of my head unit.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

I'lls ee what I can do. The originals imported into iPhoto were too big to upload but these were the original thumbnails.

lurch519

you can either upload the image to personal web space, either through aol, comcast, (i know about those, other isp's may offer storage as well) and link the image here, or use a program like photoshop to reduce the data size of the image and still keep it large enought to make out details

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Sizing is fixed.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Here you get a good shot at the head unit. I didn't have factory nav so I bought this fabricated piece from another member of this forum. The dash piece has a couple of small cracks I've sealed up but otherwise its pretty decent. Anyway, it's a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X889 which is their top of the line non-video head unit. DSP, separate speaker control, all the nice little bells and whistles. You'll notice that I put the iPod in the center console. That was by design. As cool as it might look, I didn't feel safe with a dock in plain sight. Besides, as a practical matter I use the radio to control the iPod so I really didn't need to see or have it in hand to operate it. You can't see it as it's just out of this picture but there is also a bass remote control right behind the shifter.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

The front speakers are Boston Acoustic 6.53 three way components, and no, no pictures of them. Finally, we have of course a 20 gig iPod with about 7 gigs filled.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Stuff you don't see here and I may or may not take pictures tomorrow (as you may have noticed it is dark when I took these pics), are a 15 farad Alumapro capacitor (on the back of the subwoofer box) and a yellow top Optima battery up front. Oh yeah, the car itself.

Detrich

good effort on the job. the dash head unit installation looks a bit, well, ad-hoc to me. but, if it works i guess that's more important than aesthetics. it also looks like u lost most of ur trunkspace too. personally, i really would never give up my spare tire for anything- because even the donut is a life-saver when u get a blow-out on the freeway. enjoy the music!

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Didn't have the doughnut to begin with, but I still have the fix-a-flat that came with the car. At some point, I would like to do a few more things. I'd like a more aesthetically pleasing dash unit, I'd like to get a custom piece made to put an aftermarket nav system in where the factory radio is. As for the stereo itself, I'd like to get Boston Z6 components in the rear and Z6 mid-basses up front as well as a single JL12w7 subwoofer in back. Time (and willingness to spend) will tell.

airspeed

the fabricated piece is an eyesore, why not wrap it up in black leather? or apply bondo, sand it down and repaint it... otherwise everything else looks good.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Believe me, the picture of that piece makes it look worse than it really is.

ElPaco13

Did you have to make your own wire harness or were you able to use an existing one that is available?

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

The installer made it work. I assume he somehow spliced the harness for the Kenwood HU with the harness for the stock radio.

ElPaco13

An installer made the dash look like that?

ScudRunner

That looks like the original dash piece I had made, which I sold to someone on the forum when i went with my total HU relocation project. Can't remember who bought it from me, though.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

_I_bought it from you.

ScudRunner

Well that explains it then.

Davey's RX-8

iTrader: (1)

Not that I am complaining, much, but it developed stress cracks in a couple of places.