hey guys, just had another opportunity to work on a brand spanking new Scion Xb again, a relatively enjoyable car to work on, though the equipment the customer presented did pose some challenges
here are the goals:
1. good sound quality
2. save as much space and utility as possible, hopefully sacrificing only the spare tire
3. somehow integrate the alpine PLT-5 active subbox into a custom install
anyway...the customer suppled pretty much everything except the front speakres
so lets get started:
the signal starts with a pioneer Avic-D3 nav/dvd unit, installed in the stock location of course:
the front stage is a set of DLS referenec MS6A 6.5" two way component set. as before, the tweeters were flush bottom mounted in the A pillars:
the front midbasses were installed in the stcok lower door location via spacers, new wires were run into the door and the door was dapemend with a combiation of V4 foam and second skin the customer provided...note on second skin, i have 20 or so cuts on my hand from them lol...
while i was at it, i had some second skin left over, so i dampend the outter door panels too, ensure for aboslutely no vibratoins and a pair of pretty hefty scion doors lol:
snap shot of the front:
the rear doors recieved a pair of customer supplied Polk DB5250 5.25" component sets, similar to the front, the midbasses were installed in the stock location and the entire door dampened. while the tweeter was flush mounted slightly above the midbass on the outter door panel. this ensures that the rear tweeter doesnt conflect with the front stage listening, whcih is would have more if it was mounted way up high
finally, to the cargo area:
here is the normal view, as you can see, 100 percent stock look, nothing different at all:
lift off the trunk carpet, and still...nothing:
it is only when you flip up the floor board that things are revealed.
a fake floor amp/sub rack takes place of the stock spare tire area...trimmed in matching vinyl. BOTH side storage units are retained for added utility. a window in the back peers into the plexi cover of the alpine PLT-5, and another window frames the customer supplied Rockford 4 channel powering the front and rear speakers, another center cutout vents the bass coming out of the PLT-5's port
the hardest part was getting tings to fit and center aligned, becuase the alpine window isnt cnetered on the box, its offset to the right, so the whole thing had to be shifted so it looks like its centered, and since the box is wedge shaped, i had to make a series of platforms and support brackets so it sits perfectly flat in an irregularly shaped surface
as you can see, the floor is dampened as well, and wires run neatly:
overall, sounds pretty good, the RF amp isnt the most powerful in the world, but it does okay, the sub, sounds quite good, though it doesnt qiute have hte bottom end of say a normal 10 or 12 in a subbox, and it tends to get a little bit boomy around 70-80hz, but one of hte best sounding prebiult active boxes i hvae heard and blends relatively well
AMAZING stealth install by simplicty in sound!!! *update*
Bing is an amazing guy. very down to earth and accomadating. i was nervous about droppng the car off at first but after meeting him i had no worries. 
