My audio/video build progress thread...

[HemiSpain]

amazing what you can do in the car

[mattd_951]

Nicely done.

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[badgx]

Ok buddy, I think you nearly cracked the VES dilemma. Unscrew the 4 screws holding the circuit board to the plastic casing. Take care the buttons don't pop out. The rca jacks are soldered onto the board. Leave the jacks soldered to the board in place but figure out how to solder wires to the rca soldered points on the circuit board. You have red and yellow, red must be for the picture and yellows must be for the left & right sound. If you are successful at tapping into the circuit board, you can then solder phono leads to the other end of wires where it will run to your head unit for the picture and sound.

Hope it make sense? TAKE CARE NOT TO DAMAGE THE VES

[badgx]

Actually come to think of it, not sure if it will work as its like more for av input, i.e. signal output travel from your Clarion head unit to the rear VES screen. In that case, don't need to tap into the rca jacks for sound, only solder to the board for the picture. Sound will generate by Clarion and use the VES remote control to select the source?

Hemiwagon's mod utilised the REC using a lockpic and VES. He made the signal travel from the VES to the factory headunit, which is the other way round

Hope it gets sorted buddy

[Fisch]

Originally Posted by badgx

Ok buddy, I think you nearly cracked the VES dilemma. Unscrew the 4 screws holding the circuit board to the plastic casing. Take care the buttons don't pop out. The rca jacks are soldered onto the board. Leave the jacks soldered to the board in place but figure out how to solder wires to the rca soldered points on the circuit board. You have red and yellow, red must be for the picture and yellows must be for the left & right sound. If you are successful at tapping into the circuit board, you can then solder phono leads to the other end of wires where it will run to your head unit for the picture and sound.

Hope it make sense? TAKE CARE NOT TO DAMAGE THE VES

Kind of makes sense. Most importantly I only now noticed those four screws you pointed out. So I definitely think I'm going to take a more detailed look and see if I can pull this apart a bit more. It's back in the car now, but I have to take it out again before too long.

And this is where I believe is my only shot to tap that audio into the IR transmitter - right at where those rca's hit the circuit board. But again, I'm afraid it might be out of my expertise. I'll keep trudging though.

Originally Posted by badgx

Actually come to think of it, not sure if it will work as its like more for av input, i.e. signal output travel from your Clarion head unit to the rear VES screen. In that case, don't need to tap into the rca jacks for sound, only solder to the board for the picture. Sound will generate by Clarion and use the VES remote control to select the source?

Hemiwagon's mod utilised the REC using a lockpic and VES. He made the signal travel from the VES to the factory headunit, which is the other way round

Hope it gets sorted buddy

Yeah, that's my problem - I'm going backwards from what most people want. I already can control the audio from the Clarion through the car speakers, and I can also control dual-zone video on the Clarion's screen and the VES screen from the headunit... what I can't do is get the audio into the VES's headphones (without plugging into the rear rca jacks of course).

Think I'm going to try to take the circuit board out as you showed and see what else I can find...

Thanks man!


-----------------

UPDATE:

Sub has been ordered!!!



JL Audio 12W3V3-2. Also ordered the full JL grill and a rear fender enclosure. I'm eagerly waiting for this.

[Cool_V_300C]

Fisch:

Excellent job on the install. One comment on the sub. You made a good decision removing the stock sub. The bass will travel from your JL into the car using that space. I basically sealed the trunk in my car and I left the stock sub opening empty. It helps quite a bit leaving that open.

I have JL's w3v2 series in my honda. Funny I am using my 13 year old w0's in the 300. You are going to be very happy.

[Fisch]

Thanks CoolV. Good to hear I made the right choice removing the stock sub. It was really a coin toss for me.

So what are you pushing to your W3's? Seems to me that I should be able to use all of my 2 ohm 300 watt channel on my single sub.

..........

Fender enclosure arrives Friday. Still waiting on tracking number for sub.

[Cool_V_300C]

Originally Posted by Fisch

Thanks CoolV. Good to hear I made the right choice removing the stock sub. It was really a coin toss for me.

So what are you pushing to your W3's? Seems to me that I should be able to use all of my 2 ohm 300 watt channel on my single sub.

..........

Fender enclosure arrives Friday. Still waiting on tracking number for sub.

single w3 off a JL e1400d in the pilot.

In the 300, MTX ta5601 drives my very old w0's.

[Fisch]

Enclosure arrived!!!

I was holding my breath on this one, but I am very impressed with the quality. It's also much bigger and heavier than I assumed. Finished very nicely as well - and has a nice paint job that I wasn't expecting... metal fleck just like my BB, but it's not as dark and more of a charcoal. Still debating, but might paint it blue. I was thinking about carpeting it, but now I see that is nearly an impossible job. I think paint will look better anyways.

Only problem is that I did not know it was going to stick out this much. It does stick out past the lower trunk floorboard opening, so I'm going to have to mod that someway so that I can still lift the floorboard. I thought the enclosure was more like the stock SRT Kicker enclosure and the floorboard would open... but now that I have it I guess I'll keep it and mod the floorboard somehow.

Pics of course...












Ok, so here's the next thing I need help with... how do I secure this in the trunk??

My latest brainstorming session calls for industrial velcro on the bottom and up the wheel well where it sits - and then I just bought some plastic snap buckles with nylon straps (like you see on a backpack or suitcase). I'm thinking about screwing them into the top somehow, and then the other sides into the fender wall of the car. That way I could buckle them and tighten them in, while also being able to unbuckle them if I need to remove them.

Good idea? Bad idea? Any better ideas? Need some more help here please. How do the stock Kicker enclosures stay in place?

[Fisch]

Oh yeah, and what's the story with the stuffing that comes inside the enclosure? Tell me if I have this right... I was reading that if your cubic foot is too large for your sub, then you can add more fiberglass or even expanding foam inside to reduce the volume. Makes sense. But I also read that if your enclosure's cubic foot is too small that you would normally be S.O.L. without hacking off a side of it and making a room addition... OR you add this type of cotton fill stuffing stuff. ?? Huh? Supposedly it fools the sub into thinking that the enclosure is larger than it actually is. Is this true? I've read it time and time again on audio sites, but just can't get my head around it.

And is this why this enclosure came with stuffing inside of it? Wondering if I should keep it in there or take it out. But I guess that is another issue I have - how can I measure the cubic volume of this enclosure since it is so abnormally shaped?

Thanks again for any help!

BTW, I've been working on a DIY deep dish control panel for the little container next to the gear shift. Great idea - then disaster - then great idea - then disaster... now it currently sits as a pretty good idea... much more work to be done, but I had an epiphany today so hopefully I'll get some more time soon to work on it. I do have a question for those with electronic cutouts - what kind of switch do you use? I'm assuming it's some kind of three-way toggle switch - center/off forward/open rear/close... or something like that.