Hello Everyone,

So I have reevaluated my budget and I am very close pulling the trigger on some Alpine components but I have some questions I was hoping could get answered. It seems the most feasible thing to do on the 2007 sedan is keep the stock stereo and it is non-bose. The list of components includes:

-Alpine MRP-F300
-Alpine MRP-M500
-Alpine SPR-60C 6.5
-Alpine SWR-1043D 10
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Now the questions:

1. It seems like a capacitor is a must and I am confused about the farad rating. Is the higher the rating better or the opposite? Since I will be running two amps, will I only need one capacitor to run both or will I have to purchase two capacitors?

2. I will be pairing the 10" sub with an Atrend sealed box. Do I need speaker wires to connect the two and do I have to use anything to fill the box? I heard the term tuned box thrown around but I am not sure what it is meant.

3. Is there anything else I am missing to complete the install?

I will most probably go with a professional installation because I really would have no idea what I am doing. I want a simple and clean install.

Thank you

 

Not sure about capacitors because I never needed it. From what I remember, you most likely won't need it unless you have a really demanding system. I have the M500 with the 12 inch type R, in a cheapo box. It sounds good enough for me since I barely turn up the bass. Never really bothered with filling the box with anything.

You will need speaker wire to connect the sub and box. I'm not sure if non-bose has a dedicated line out for subwoofer. I have bose and I spliced into the low freq. Line in the trunk so I didn't need an LOC. You also need wiring kit, if you forgot.

A tuned box is a box specifically made to make the speaker operate at its maximum potential. Let's say my sub required 1.3 cu. In according to the manual. I would need to make a box that is 1.3 cu in. With a port that is tuned to, let's say 30 hz. You need to do some calculations to figure it out.

I apologize if my writing is all over the place, I just woke up and am typing on my phone.

 

When you speak of speaker wires, are you speaking of wires dedicated to car audio or can you use regular home theater speaker wires. I have a bunch of 12g wires sitting around from my last home theater system.

And as far as wire kits, do you mean an amp wire installation kit?

If I were to fill the box, would it make much of a difference in sound quality and what would I fill it with. I read somewhere that one person stuffed it with pillow material.

Thank you.

 

You can use any speaker wire. I believe I used 16g so your 12g will do fine.

And yes, I mean amp wire installation kit.

I think filling your box is supposed to make the box "bigger" to make it sound better and let the sub run more efficiently. You can just get some polyfill online.

 

I am guessing the stock head unit does not have any rca outs so I would have to buy a line out converter. Since I am installing two amps, do I just need one LOC unit or would I have to purchase two?

 

You just need one LOC that has both front and rear outputs. I have basically the same type of setup you are going after. I have that exact sub paired with a 400W sub amp, 6.5 components and some rear fill speakers. I used the Audio control lc6i LOC. It has everything you will need to connect your two amps with speakers and sub. I'm curious, how many watts you plan on running to the front speakers? I would not do the default 50w to that speaker. IMO it's underpowered with that amount of juice. That alpine sub is clean and tight sounding in a seal box, but from experience you need at least a .77 cubic feet of internal volume to have it sound optimal. And although I have 400w RMS running to it, I need to get a bigger amp to have it sound it's absolutely best. At your 500W rms to it, it should sound fine, but a 600W rms amp would be best. When the weather gets warm, I plan on upgrading my sub amp to something around those specs. You will be pleased with the sound after installation. The stock non bose system simply is too muddy sounding. Good luck.

 

I don't plan to run any rear speakers at this point so I will be bridging the four channel amp to get 150w per channel for the front. I know I could use more power but I just wanted a quality system now that I can enjoy for the meantime. I also decided to go with the 12" type are with a 12" sealed box.

 

I went to a car audio place today to get an idea of what it would cost to get my front components installed and two amps ran while I provide all the gear and materials required. they quoted me $400 and said the alpine's 6.5 tweeter would have to get some custom adjustment in the place of the stock tweeter. I don't know, $400 seems a lot to me for what is seemingly a pretty easy install.

Would the alpine component fit into the stock speaker slots or will I have to do some minor modifications? I am thinking I may want to tackle the install job myself.

 

The woofer will fit but you may need to get one of those speaker spacers. Don't have experience with those speakers, so can't say for certain. The tweeter will not be a simple drop in like your car audio folks said. I'm guessing you want it where the stock non bose tweeter was? $400 is actually not bad for the installation. It's not a great deal, but neither are they over charging you. You can do yourself, but frankly it's going to take you lots of time if you have never done it before. Things like how to route speaker wires can stop you in your tracks if you have zero experience doing installs. The LOC wiring for two amps in itself is a major time consumer.