Cliffnotes at bottom.
Well my 1995 Nissan 240sx came with the OEM 'Bose' headunit, Linear Research 6.5" speakers in the doors and rear deck, OEM 'Bose' tweeters in the A-pillars, as well as a MTX Thunder2160 300w(nominal) amplifier powering two 12" no-name subs. This setup was far from ideal, the OEM CD player was failing and would not read several CD's, the subs sucked in general and took up a ton of trunk space and the stock tweeters were blown. I really didnt like the Linear Research speakers either as they were too bassy and didnt offer much clarity. On top of all this, the Bose amplifier rack began to fail and the front CH's would randomly go out or get very staticy.
With that in mind I sought to improve things where I could while not suffering monetarly. I replaced the headunit with my Pioneer DEH-P8600MP, bypassed the Bose amps and replaced the two 12" subs with a single 12" Infinity Referance in a pre-fabbed box. Interestingly enough I originally bought a Referance 1030w, but due to some mis-packaging I opened the box to find a 1230w facing me. I also just unhooked the tweeters as they were blown and I didnt care that much anyways. The power improvements from the Pioneer unit made the 6.5's sound better as well.
Well I was happy for now and hadnt spent much money at all. I was offered some free Pioneer TS-A655's and a set of MB Quart Discous DSE216 components. I had already removed the rear Linears and was planning on just running the MB Quarts up front but hadnt begun installation yet. Well after a AutoX event my sound mysteriously stopped working, the headunit was working normally but for some reason would not emit sound from the amplified outputs. I checked all my connections, reset the headunit, assured all the settings and still nothing. Well after some research I found what may of happened was the wiring for the rear speakers came loose and touched, thus shorting out the internal amplifier. We took the RCA for the low-level outputs from the HU and ran it to my friends sub/amp and it worked so with that I am going RCA.
This bad event motivated me to finally clear myself of the OE wiring, amplify my front-stage and install my new speakers.
Here is my new setup, that hopefully will be installed by the end of next week.
4ga wiring from Optima 51R to 8ga distribution block
Pioneer DEH-P8600MP headunit
MTX Thunder 2160 2ch amplifier (Bridged 300w RMS) powering subwoofer
12" Infinity 1230w Referance sub (300w RMS)
Custom .75 spl box (to be remade later in a proper size)
Lanzar Vibe418 4ch (4x 400w RMS) powering mids
MB Quart DSE216 6.5" components (120w RMS) front stage
Pioneer TS-A655 6.5" 2-ways (35w RMS) rear fill (Possibly NOT use)
Later I'll be installing a inverter, slim PC and a 7" touchscreen (completely replacing the headunit) I have everything EXCEPT the screen.
I'll post a bunch of pics once it is installed, I have been installing sound deadening and made a false floor for the trunk so everything is in peices at the moment.
:::Cliffnotes:::
Car had crappy setup with mixed parts and OEM Bose stuff
Stuff started failing, replaced with better stuff
Internal amp failed on nice Pioneer HU
Swapping to low-levels and fully amplified system with better speakers
???
Profit
