FG-X Sound System Install

[k31th]

A couple of weeks ago now, I installed a sound system for my father in his FG-X XR8 Sprint. Thought I'd do a quick write-up for installing a full line-level-convertor (LLC) based system off the factory FG-X controls.

 

Take the door trims off. This is mostly just unscrewing torx-head screws, unclipping plastic clips, disconnecting the handle-unlatching mechanism and un-clipping electrical plugs. The only things to really be careful of is to go from the inner side (not the outer side) of the plastic inset for the front doors and make sure to gradually work your way around the plastic clips to make sure none are broken (and of course make sure they're lined up carefully when re-installing).

 

Then unscrew and unplug the factory speakers. Either re-use the factory mounts or drill/self-tap new screw holes like I did to install the speakers into the standard holes. New speakers for the front are Rockford Fosgate R1675-S Prime 6.75" woofer/tweeter speakers.

Drivers Door->

Front Passenger Door->

Rear speakers are Rockford Fosgate R1675X2 6.75" 2-Way speakers.

Rear drivers side->

Rear passenger side->

 

Obviously you need to connect the speakers themselves to each of the factory looms to save you running wires through the door looms themselves.

I just used the tiny looms that came with the speakers to bridge the gap with some spade crimps to securely connect into the factory loom plug.

Drivers door (negative from speaker is connected to white with green stripe, positive from speaker is connected to green with brown stripe):

Front passenger door (negative from speaker is connected to blue with white stripe, positive from speaker is connected to orange with green stripe)

Rear drivers side door (negative from speaker is connected to green with black stripe, positive from speaker is connected to the brown wire)

Rear passenger side door (negative from speaker is connected to green with black stripe, positive from speaker is connected to the brown wire):

 

Next is to take off the A-pillar spears. Make sure you have clean hands. The easiest way I found to get it off is move the rubber out of the way until you have a gap you can see into and then just push out from behind the plastic carefully until the middle and end-clips pop out, then you slide the black plastic section out from the white plastic piece then the whole trim piece lifts towards you.

Installed the tweeters for the front-speakers in the factory spot here. Installation method/idea depends on the type of mounting the tweeter itself contains. I ended up using the stock mounting holes after removing the stock tweeters.

Driver side ->

Passenger side ->

 

For the electrical connections for these, I used the same method as the other speakers.

Drivers side (negative from the tweeter to the grey with black stripe, positive from the tweeter to the grey with green stripe) ->

Passenger side (negative from the tweeter to the orange with black stripe, positive from the tweeter to the orange with white stripe):

 

Now the painful part...

 

Pull all of the trims off along the both sides of the car. Run only the amplifier power cable down one side (drivers side is easier due to the battery being on the drivers side... will add more pics here later as I forgot to take some in the installation process). Take out the glove-box and unscrew the "face-plate" bit (heaps of screws... 12 or so from memory) behind the glove-box so you can easily access the place to run the wires up behind there.

 

Behind the kick-panels on either side at the front, you can intercept the factory loom going out to all 4 main speakers. Run the speaker wires to/from the amplifier mounting position and cut to relevant length. Make sure you mark with tape or something which wires are which. You'll need 8 pairs. 4 pairs run down the passenger side across to the drivers side behind/under the dash, two of which come from the factory ICC and will go to a LLC and the other two come from your speaker amplifier to the drivers side speakers. The other 4 pairs just run down the passenger side, two come from the factory ICC to the LLC and the last two pairs go from your speaker amp to the passenger side speakers

For this part of the job, some accurate wire strippers and crimpers or your own ability to carefully strip without cutting wires is necessary, as there's not a lot of room to work here.

Passenger side (front-passenger is negative orange with black stripe and positive orange with light-green stripe, rear-passenger side is pink with black stripe and positive pink with green stripe):

Drivers side (front-driver is negative grey with black stripe and positive grey with green stripe, rear-driver side is blue with black stripe and positive blue with red stripe):

Strangely, the bottom ones come from the ICC (male tabs in pics) and the top ones go to the speakers (female tabs in pics). You can easily find these wires in these looms by looking for the wires that are twisted together in the main loom.

 

The sub-box fit nicely just up behind the factory sub hump. Make sure to disconnect the sub-wiring and connect to it if your LLC requires it. I didn't require connecting to it for this installation.

I ended up mounting the subwoofer amp (Rockford Fosgate R250X1 Prime) on the left of the sub-box, with the Audiocontrol LC7i on the right of the sub-box and the main speaker amp (Rockford Fosgate R250X4 Prime) on top of the sub-box (Rockford Fosgate P1S4-12 12" Punch P1 Subwoofer in QMAX QM12S 12 Inch Sealed Subwoofer Box).

 

Connect power cable to the closest amp (in this case the subwoofer amp) and bridge across to the other amp and LC7i. Connect speaker wires as necessary from speaker amp to relevant plugs, connect wires coming from the factory ICC unit to the LC7i and run RCA's from the LC7i to both speaker amp and sub amp. Run remote "out" from LC7i to both amplifiers as LC7i can turn itself on based on when it receives music signal.

 

I did mount the sub-box with some L-brackets, but did that later on and didn't take pics of that. Might add some later

 

Then it's just a matter of tuning the knobs on each of the LLC/Amp's to taste. I can write up a rudimentary tuning guide, if people want it, but it's mostly just to make it sound "high quality and loud" with the right amount of treble/mids/bass to your own ears.

[Pixy Angel]

glad you know what you're doing.

 

So sound like it should be, nice work Keith

[k31th]

cheers, Azza.

 

it certainly does sound a shedload better haha

 

the stock system is reasonable, but just nothing compared to around $1k spent for heaps more volume all around and a LOT more bass haha.

[kink]

Are you going to add sound proofing? The improvement I had with the Carbuilders brand off of ebay is amazing. Plus adding an extra earth cable off of the battery was another cheap improvement.

[k31th]

nah, it's my father's car. He's more than happy with the way that it is. No extra earth needed, either, as there's absolutely no stereo whine

[kink]

Ahh good. I didn't add the cable for the whine it just gave my system an extra kick.

[k31th]

fair enough; good result, then

[Pixy Angel]

Did you have to put spaces in the rear door?

I just bought 2 speakers for the rear door the sales people I didnt need them. I'm yet to take the door trim off.

I ended up with a brand called Vibe THESE ONES.

Also best and easy why to connect wires?

First timer here

[k31th]

Did not use spacers because the speakers that I was using are fairly shallow and don't get hit by the in-door mechanisms.

 

Most speakers come with wiring that has connectors that plug in snugly on the terminals on the speakers themselves. To connect to the factory wiring all you need to do is either cut and/or crimp/solder the wiring supplied with the speaker to the factory plug (or lop the factory plug off and crimp/solder to the wires straight).

As you can see, I just cut the supplied wiring much shorter and put two spade crimps (fork shaped) and stuck the end of the fork into the factory plug and this makes for a neat and interchangeable plug system.

[Pixy Angel]

I needed to get a spacer because speaker size was a little short in some area and wouldn't attach to the door plus sold me 6.5" (165cm)

All done thanks mate connected them the same why you did.

 

Now Ive done the rear doors think I may need to change all of them.