2016 WRX, 3 way active Focal Be, IDMAX 12 sub, Helix PRO DSP and Director

[Captain Buff]

FRONT DOORS

These were pretty typical but it was just a pain in the ass. No matter how many times I do an install I still lose my shit when stuff is just harder than it needs to be.

Anyway some pictures....

This is the passenger door...hold up...

Not sure if I have mentioned already that I live in Australia...where the driver sits on the right hand side of the car. So I haven't mirror imaged my photos...just bear that in mind as it does have some implications later on.

OK so this is the passenger door with the door trim removed, the plastic weather proof sheet removed, OEM speaker removed, cleaned up and Dynamat applied to the outer metal panel. Note that in this photo you cannot see the wiring harness; this is on purpose! INSTALL TIP Wherever I could I tried to place the existing wiring loom inside the cavity rather than on the surface of the inner panel. This was to make it easier down the line to put Dynamat and especially MLV over the inner metal panel. I highly recommend you do this. In this photo I was a little too keen and forgot that a window might want to come down at some point...so some of the wiring loom had to go back on the surface; but you will see this in photos that follow. Yes I am a dumbass; don't bullshit me that you've never done it!

EDIT: yeah I’m having a shit of a time getting pics to upload correctly, I’m not used to the system sorry, but I’ll sort it out in the morning. It shows the pics directly there properly and then they don’t show, the link is dead, and it says that the pic isn’t even in my attachments...bear with me.





Attachment 13995
Having a few issues with photos I am uploading being rotated...doesn't matter, just taking some time to get them to import properly!
This is a truly terrible picture but shows parts of what I did to the outer metal panel after the Dynamat. I added some butyl to the cross beams (only to the front doors as I didn't have enough for the rears) and also added some adhesive backed Closed Cell Foam CCF. The piece of foam that I put along the inner door cross beam I was hoping would wrap around but it didn't...so I removed it.



Another photo of the outer panel treatment...behind the speaker I put a piece of MLV as it is much thicker than the CCF. This is because...nah you should know why; I'm not writing an encyclopedia.

Note is drawn to the new length of speaker cable for the door mid bass that can be seen...and that was just FUCKED. Sorry, but of all the installs I have done I have never had to try every trick in the book to feed the speaker cable through the rubber grommets that go between the door and the main cabin. I did one on one day and the other a few days later because it cut my hands up to shit and I lost my shit in a big way. No other way to put it than to say what it is! INSTALL TIP In the end I had to break both grommets off and feed a fairly solid piece of wire through it. Then I did the normal electrical tape the speaker cable to the wire and pull/push/swear/wiggle/curse/whatever to get the speaker cable through. It is so bloody tight in there (teehee). I have heard other guys used a zip tie (which I tried at first but that wasn't going to cut it). Regardless plan on that just being a prick of a job. It can be done for sure...it just sucks ass.



I do not actually have a picture of the treatment to the inner metal frame...but it is much the same as the rear doors that I have detailed above. Just Dynamat most of the surface and seal up the sections of the panel that are open. INSTALL TIP Just be SUPER CAREFUL to make sure that when you seal over the gap that the door lock cables come through; you make sure that they can move freely afterwards!!! Three tries on the passenger side door...that pissed me off as well. The front doors were really fuct to be honest.

Final picture for this section is of the Mass Loaded Vinyl layer that I put OVER the inner metal panel and UNDER the door trim. As per typical I had to make some cuts for the wiring loom and bracket...nothing too difficult here. Typical velcro across the top to hang it from and then replace the door trim.



INSTALL TIP I don't know about everyone else...but I always break a few door clips. A few dollars from FleaBay or Amazon for a pack of 30 is a given to me.

I will cover the speaker brackets and speaker installation next...you may have picked up that I found the front doors to be a total pain in the ass. That is true...but after that everything else was a piece of piss. I had a few specific issues because of the size of the Phoenix Gold amplifier; but aside from that if you have done an install before and have half an ass you should be able to do an install to a WRX pretty comfortably.

2:31am local...I'm out, I'll continue ASAP. Hope it helps some guys or was at least an interesting read!

Peace

[Captain Buff]

OK onward with front and rear speakers...sorry if you are trying to follow this and am waiting for my slow ass to hurry up...but bear in mind that I am finishing the install at the same time (and living life); plus as I have said before I want to do this more like a tutorial than a build log. I think people might appreciate (or even just respect) that a little more.

FRONT SPEAKERS

I will assume that all are upgrading their front speakers and are not using some hokey pokey drop in Kicker upgrade. In that case these instructions may help.

For the front speakers there is a Metra bracket that you can use; however down under these were the ones that I used and they worked fine.



You can use the same brand type (but AP 324) for the rear doors.

Remove the existing bracket/speaker (keep the screws!!!); turf the OEM speaker or sell it. You should find the the existing little 'screw inserts' (three white square things around the speaker hole in this photo) will protrude from the inner door metal frame slightly.



This means that if you fit a new speaker bracket onto them you will have a gap between the inner metal frame and the speaker brackets (big no no...). I bought some of this stuff



and installed it between the speaker brackets and the inner metal frame. No biggie, piece of piss.

As you have run speaker cable through the front and rubber grommets; all you need to do is connect up your cable to the new correct spots on the new 6.5" speaker and then use any OK speaker seating foam between the bracket and your speaker.

INSTALL TIP I found that the screws to the white inserts on the inner metal frame fit the new bracket perfectly; but the screws from the new speaker needed to be drilled into the new bracket. Again...no big deal, just a note. Completely depends on the speaker of course. I used the 6.5" from a Focal Utopia 3 way set and this is how they looked off the door. The 'RH' is for right hand and left hand brackets, THEY ARE DIFFERENT!



REAR SPEAKERS

Exactly the same as the front speakers with a different bracket!! If you install them of course...

INSTALL NOTE Some guys use FAST Rings or speaker foam to surround the speakers...with the bracket I used you will not have room for stuff like that. The front door trims ONLY JUST fit back on with the new speaker brackets and speakers.

I will do the cable runs next...this may (?) change with position of the driver seat though so remember this is a 'right hand side driver seat friendly' version.

[Captain Buff]

CABLE RUNS

Before I start here I think it is worth noting that I have NOT sound treated any of the floor of the car. I well may regret this and wind up coming back on it; but for now it is just too much work for what I believe are minimal gains. Watch me eat my words.

The reason I state this is that if you do sound treat the car floor then that is the best time to run all your cables as well (no shit...). As I didn't take out seats and remove the factory carpet I was left to run them down the sides of the car. This is what I ran down each side:

Left Hand Side
0 AWG Power Cable (through the bung that is shown in the vids and to the battery on the left hand side of the engine bay). I put a fuse under the carpeted piece you have to remove inside the engine bay if you run it this way.
Remote Wire (from head unit)
Mid bass cable
Mid range cable
Tweeter cable
Rear mid range cable

Right Hand Side
Single dual RCA's (from front pre out of head unit to Channel A and B of Helix DSP)
Control cable for Helix Director
Remote cable for Phoenix Gold sub channel remote control (I believed this was a full channel control but it turns out to be the dreaded +'x' dB @ 45 Hz control so I should have left it out)
Mid bass cable
Mid range cable
Tweeter cable
Rear mid range cable

With the 0 AWG Power Cable I tried to keep it as far from the speaker cables as possible...I have heard that some people have had induced noise particularly in tweeter cables. Whilst I have never had this it is still good practice. I also ran the Helix Director Control cable and the PG amp bass boost under the driver seat so that I could install them respectively. Not the nicest but I don't want to drill holes and stuff yet. The white cable is part of the heda unit package; allowing me to connect my iPhone to the head unit.



The cable runs are a piece of piss. If you follow some of the vids I linked on how to remove the head unit (if you need to) and the glove box etc. you shouldn't have any problems.

Not much to take a picture of here except something that I like to do...I think I learnt this from Mark @ CAF but whatever; it's a good idea!

Put your cables in Polyethylene Sleeving (you can buy 'Tech Flex' if you have a spare kidney; I just bought the cheap and cheerful China equivalent). PET Sleeving will protect your cables (a little bit; use split tube where you really want to protect the cable); but more so it helps to define which cable is which. Helps to keep you install clean.



That's it for everything to the front of the car (I think). Next is the boot ('trunk'...Aussies and Kiwi's call it a boot. If I say it inadvertently that's what it means) installation.

[RocketBoots]

It looks like you installed the mid in the dash. Will you install the tweet in the pillar? If so, why run a set of wires into the door? As you stated, it's such a PITA. Maybe I missed this one.

The WRX is such a great car. I kind of regret selling mine. The 2016's are pretty noisy though; the sound deadening in the doors helps a lot. IMO, doing the floor is not worth the time/effort, although this car is super easy to work on.

Interested to see your final product. Mine was a much simpler build: Mid and tweet in factory locations, dsp/amp under the seat, glass sub in the corner of the trunk.

[Captain Buff]

It looks like you installed the mid in the dash. Will you install the tweet in the pillar? If so, why run a set of wires into the door? As you stated, it's such a PITA. Maybe I missed this one.

The WRX is such a great car. I kind of regret selling mine. The 2016's are pretty noisy though; the sound deadening in the doors helps a lot. IMO, doing the floor is not worth the time/effort, although this car is super easy to work on.

Interested to see your final product. Mine was a much simpler build: Mid and tweet in factory locations, dsp/amp under the seat, glass sub in the corner of the trunk.

G’day mate...yeah sorry I have neglected finishing this off!! I will get to it though...promise! Reason for the delay is twofold - I was taking care of some more horsies at the wheels - and I MASSIVELY UNDERESTIMATED how much was involved in properly using a mic/RTA/REW etc. to properly set up the DSP. That section of builds is just a massive extra part of a build...and honestly I will leave that knowledge with others. I just want a good sounding car stereo system; I am
NOT a guy that is interested in spending hundreds of hours tinkering and going through YouTube tutorials on that kind of stuff. Not to denigrate that stuff at all...I just have other things in my life that I enjoy doing more than car audio. Totally a personal thing.

Anyway I think your query is related to running cables through the body to car door grommets? Firstly I have a three way active front...so I have 6.5” mid bass in the door, 3” mid range in the OEM location and the tweeters just in front of the mid range...like this!
Attachment 14448
Sorry man I have issues posting photos so you’ll have to put your neck out...my bad

Secondly: I am a big fan of rear fill...so I have a pair of 6.5” mid range drivers in the rear doors ‘differentially mixed’ or whatever it is called!

[RocketBoots]

The attachment link isn't working... it sounds like the tweet is in the dash, and the only driver in the front door is the midbass. I guess what I was asking was why you ran wires into the door, instead of using the OEM ones. While they aren't the thickest gauge, they can definitely handle the power to a 6.5" mid. Moot point now I, since you've done the work.

And yes, LOL, the tuning can be endless. I just try to get a flat-ish response curve, set time alignment/phase, and call it a day. I found the WRX to have a deep, but not wide, soundstage, when using stock locations. And it was a little tricky with the windshield reflections. But, man, a properly treated door can give you some very solid bass!

I had a Cobb Pro tune, J-pipe and cat-back exhaust, upgraded intercooler, and some chassis mods. Ended up with a little over 300 to the wheels. Conservative tune, but completely reliable and extremely linear and smooth. One of my favorite mods was the Boomba shift plate. Also, if you don't already have the Perrin shift stop, I'd recommend doing it. Such a cheap and easy mod.

[Captain Buff]

Sorry mate I have been busy and didn’t get a ‘notification’ about your post...

The attachment link isn't working... it sounds like the tweet is in the dash, and the only driver in the front door is the midbass. I guess what I was asking was why you ran wires into the door, instead of using the OEM ones. While they aren't the thickest gauge, they can definitely handle the power to a 6.5" mid. Moot point now I, since you've done the work.

Easy one there. Three reasons:
1. The stock wiring is always rubbish quality and too thin to handle the increase in power (without incurring a disgusting voltage drop at the least).
2. The stock wiring goes to the head unit...not the rear of the vehicle wear I need it.
3. The day will come when I will sell the car (probably). If I just leave the stock wiring in it’s position (and use new wiring in its place) then come sale time I can just hook the OEM speakers and head unit back up. I think most guys are going to have components they do not want to sell with the car!!

And yes, LOL, the tuning can be endless.

Not an easy one. I honestly have done a twenty minute tune up by ear and left it. The amount of time and money guys invest in taking RTA measurements and fussing over TA and phase and EQ...it’s just not for me. I have other things that I do with my life.

I had a Cobb Pro tune, J-pipe and cat-back exhaust, upgraded intercooler, and some chassis mods. Ended up with a little over 300 to the wheels. Conservative tune, but completely reliable and extremely linear and smooth. One of my favorite mods was the Boomba shift plate. Also, if you don't already have the Perrin shift stop, I'd recommend doing it. Such a cheap and easy mod.

I’ve had the same work done (possibly a few extras) and it struggles for 260. Go figure? Now with a system in it she has a fat ass as well...can’t say I will buy a WRX again. Getting close to the point where I will start to consider selling it and getting a reliable fucking V8 sedan. Had a bit of a shitful of constant money out of my wallet just to be told by the last tuner ‘gee...it really doesn’t get up and go much...I can normally get a heap more out of these engines’. Great stuff.