My 2001 Lexus LS430 Daily...

[SQ_Blaze]

I nearly forgot I had a membership on this forum it's been so long! LOL

A little update...

The Nissan 370Z that I had since new for a few years has been sold, and all of the audio equipment went with it. The Lexus LS430 is now my daily and I'm finally getting around to doing something with the system. I'm going in this Friday to Five Star Car Stereo (again - Took the Z there a couple years back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7lY7hd2kf8 ) for a head unit and installation.

I'm going with a Kenwood, but a discontinued model, though it is still BNIB. It's one that they have in stock, and with the cost of the unit and install, I couldn't pass it up. It has and does everything I need it to do, so I don't care that it's a couple year old model. It's the Kenwood eXcelon DDX795. It accommodates front and rear cameras, so I'll do that as well, though I never mentioned that to them on the phone when I made the appointment, so will probably have to do that on a different day.

As for the rest of the system, everything is still up in the air. I'm not 100% sure on what gear and what direction I'm going in. All I know is that it's going to be like all of my other systems, designed for SQ and as stealth as possible.

The only issue I'm going to run into is figuring out what to do for the front tweeters. The stock front tweeters are mounted in the dash which can not be uninstalled from the top. From what everyone says, the entire dash needs to be ripped out of the car to get to them. That's just utterly ridiculous, and I'm pretty certain I don't want the tweeters blasting into the windshield anyway, so there's that. Not to mention that the stock tweeter grills are oval. Keeping with the stealth theme, I'm really at a loss on what to do. As much as I don't want to, I might have to have them custom mounted into the A-pillars. They have a velvety type of material on them, so that would have to be sourced to recover them, and light tan grill cloth over the tweeters. Ugg...

I still have my Helix DSP.2 that I only used for almost a month in the Nissan, so that will be going into this system. From what I've been looking at, power requirements and size concerns, I will most likely be using a couple of Rockford amps, a 5-ch and a 2-ch as I will still be using the rear door speakers for when I have my family in the car. The rest of the time, they will be off. I'll be going with Stereo Integrity mids and tweets again up front and who knows what in the rear doors. Probably just whatever Five Star has for cheap since those don't really matter as far as sound quality is concerned.

As for bass duty, I had planned on going big or going home, meaning a pair of 12's or 15's in infinite baffle, but I might just go with a single 10 (or 12 if it can fit) on a custom baffle in the rear deck. I don't play music super loud these days (even on my home system which can play loud very easily), and the interior of this big body LS430 is pretty darn quiet anyway, so maybe a single 10 or 12 will be more than enough. Heck, even the stock 8 isn't too bad, even at highway speeds, only that the stock system pulls out bass the higher you turn up the volume, so that sucks. Plus, I plan on doing some deadening in the car anyway, so that will help even more.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Five Star will do another video of the head unit install, plus I'll be going to them for the rest of the system as well, so a multi-video "series" when it's all said and done.

As a side note, I had ceramic tint installed, custom fully adjustable Fortune Auto coilovers sitting here waiting to go on, a custom flashed ECU from Russia installed, and will be getting some wheels for it eventually, most likely 18's, maybe 19's.

And just for fun in case you are really really bored, a few pics of the "new" ride.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Went to Five Star Car Stereo yesterday. At the last minute, I decided to change my mind on the Kenwood head unit to have a Pioneer DMH-2660NEX head unit and Pioneer GM D1004 (tiny "brick" amp) installed instead. We just have the stock front speakers and subwoofer running. After much tweaking of the levels, time alignment and EQ last night, I've got the stock speakers sounding pretty good. Definitely a lot better than with the stock head unit and amp. The most impressive thing however is the stock Pioneer sub. That little thing can dig deep and has a considerable amount of punch. Of course, I'm not going to push it as I don't want to blow it.


This little brick amp is only a temp solution until I get the rest of the equipment in and go back for the final install, running an entire active system with DSP, etc, etc. This little amp will eventually be used to power the rear door speakers for when family is in the car with me. Fun times to come... Hopefully sooner than later.

 

[farfromovin]

Those LS430’s are like rolling around on clouds, cool car!

 

[SQ_Blaze]

A bit of an update...

After much consideration and research, I decided to go with a single Dayton Audio UM8-22 Ultimax 8" sub. And to my surprise, Parts Express just put this driver up for sale today, for only $99.

I know when I first got into the system planning for this car, I was dead-set on doing a pair of 12's or 15's IB, but after hearing this old, stock 8" sub in the rear deck with a decent head unit and amp on it, it sounds shockingly good, provides plenty of punch, digs quite deep, plays loud enough to keep up with the stock fronts, and is fairly detailed considering. If this stock (again, 19 year old sub at that) can perform like this with 90 watts available to it, then the Ultimax 8 is definitely going to be a LOT better, especially when it gets a bit more power, somewhere in the 250-500 watt range.

Secondly, since I have been running this new head unit and little amp, the front door speakers have been seeing a bit more low end frequencies and volume, and just overall a lot more use (almost never played the stock system before since pretty much all the music on FM sucks these days and my Bluetooth cassette adapter sounds like pooh). Not that I'm pushing them hard or anything, but they are simply showing their age. The last time I was behind the door cards, I noticed that the drivers were still in good shape, but the surrounds felt a little dry and I could see some very fine hairline surface cracks in the foam. From the slight noises they are now making leads me to believe that old dry foam is finally giving up the ghost. Not surprised actually.

So with that said, I have decided to go with a pair of Hertz Mille Pro 165.3 components for up front. Five Star carries them, so I'll purchase them right from them instead of online. I just called Five Star and they will give me a great deal on them.

As I'm building this system a little bit at a time, I'm going to continue using this little Pioneer GM D1004 amp for a bit. When I go in to get the Hertz and Dayton installed, I think I'm going to have them install the Helix DSP.2 as well. Dean asked if I wanted the DSP installed when they installed the head unit and amp, but I passed since that would have been pushing them past their schedule and I didn't want them running late for the next customer. As it was, they ended up having to install that amp that neither of us had planned on.

It will be interesting to see how good the system will sound with all of that new gear installed along with the DSP with just that little budget GM D1004 amp powering it all. 45 watts x 2 + 90 watts bridged for the current sub as well as when the Dayton is installed. I know 90 watts isn't much, especially for that sub, but I don't play the system loud anyway, so it'll be fine for a while until I decide on an amp. That's one of the nice things about having a large, already well damped, insulated vehicle from the factory. It allows for a small amount of amplifier power to go a long way.

Anywho, that's about it for right now. Oh, and after demoing the current setup for all three of my brothers, they're all highly impressed with the sound. Two of them honestly believed that I had already replaced all of the drivers in the car, until of course they heard that front left driver start making its ugly noises. LOL

And just for fun, a couple of pics...

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Another update - a.k.a. - mind change

So I was planning on buying the Hertz Mille components, but the lack of information on them and/or reviews of them, and the few personal reviews on different forums, there was just something putting a bad taste in my mouth about them. So I continued my search, and came across a classified ad in another forum. For a mint, new pair of Morel TiW 634Nd 6" drivers for an extremely great price... Pretty much two for the price of one! They sell for $199 each, and I got both for $225 shipped! No way I could pass up that deal. Considering that the route I'm wanting to go with this system, stealthy SQ install on the cheap, these fit the bill perfectly. Just because I have a budget and don't want to spend loads on this system doesn't mean I have to settle for bottom of the barrel quality components.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

And...

Just purchased a brand new pair of Audison Prima AP1 tweeters to complete the front stage. Only thing left to find now is a good 5-channel amp!

 

[JCsAudio]

Looking good. One great thing about those Lexus cars is that they are some of the quietest driving cars on the road. That makes for a nice foundation for a high fidelity system and because they are quiet, the available power goes a long way.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

My thoughts exactly, and the current little Pioneer amp that I'm using proves that easily. Then again, stock speakers are typically very efficient as well, so that also helps. Once I start installing these new less efficient drivers, that 45 watts will not be going as far, but that will change with a good 5-ch amp. I should have picked up that Arc XDi 1200.6 the other day when it was still available, darn it.

 

[JCsAudio]

My thoughts exactly, and the current little Pioneer amp that I'm using proves that easily. Then again, stock speakers are typically very efficient as well, so that also helps. Once I start installing these new less efficient drivers, that 45 watts will not be going as far, but that will change with a good 5-ch amp. I should have picked up that Arc XDi 1200.6 the other day when it was still available, darn it.

Maybe, it depends. I’ve amped stock speakers before with very good results. Tweeters and midrange speakers don’t require much power but the midbass may need it depending on music and the sub stage it’s trying to keep up with. Given that you are using an 8” subwoofer, I don’t think the midbass would need much power to keep up. Here, read this as it will help you understand why. https://www.audiofrog.com/community...se-and-why-your-tweeters-never-get-150-watts/

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Maybe, it depends. I’ve amped stock speakers before with very good results. Tweeters and midrange speakers don’t require much power but the midbass may need it depending on music and the sub stage it’s trying to keep up with. Given that you are using an 8” subwoofer, I don’t think the midbass would need much power to keep up. Here, read this as it will help you understand why. https://www.audiofrog.com/community...se-and-why-your-tweeters-never-get-150-watts/

That makes complete sense, though my main concern is not whether or not the front stage will keep up with the sub, rather just have good headroom power for transient peaks. Again, not that I do or will play the system loud, but some of the music I listen to does have some decent dynamic swings. I've started listening to some "original sound track" recordings of movies, and most of those recordings are not compressed nearly as much as your typical commercial, mass produced music.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Just purchased a 10 day old Rockford Fosgate Power T400X4ad which will power the front stage.

 

[JCsAudio]

Just purchased a 10 day old Rockford Fosgate Power T400X4ad which will power the front stage.

Good choice, I had a T600X4ad and ran it in my testing and it did very well.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Good choice, I had a T600X4ad and ran it in my testing and it did very well.

Thanks. Been a fan of RF forever, but never ran any of their amps, though my oldest brother ran the original Punch 45 back in the 80's as well as a couple of Punch 12's in an IB in his '86 VW Jetta. Loved that car and system.

Anyway, I plan on also buying a matching Power T750X1bd.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Well, almost everything arrived today... Two packages from UPS, one from FedEx, and the one from USPS? Well, it's coming from Illinois, yet it's sitting nearly 100 miles south of me in Sarasota, FL. How or why it went right past my town, who knows. Maybe it will show up tomorrow, though I'm not holding my breathe.

Anywho...

And my Helix thrown in for good measure.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Kind of ironic that the 8" subwoofer has a 2" voice coil and the 6" mid-bass drivers have a 3" voice coil. Ha!

 

[JCsAudio]

Looks like Morel midbass and Dayton sub. Very nice!

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Looks like Morel midbass and Dayton sub. Very nice!

That would be correct. I've always had good luck with Dayton drivers over the years with DIY custom home audio and home theater loudspeakers and subwoofers, everything from isobaric loaded to dual push-pull designs as well as open baffle, bipolar and dipolar designs. You name it, and I've most likely designed it and built it at some point, all using mostly Dayton drivers, and mostly their higher end drivers.

I've never used Morel drivers before, though I have used Dynaudio drivers before for custom 3-way, 4-way MTM designs, and I feel both Dynaudio and Morel are very similar in design concept, which is NOT to say they perform or sound the same, but it IS to say that they are very well designed and very well performing high quality drivers.

I think the equipment that I'm acquiring for this build is going to be a good foundation for a solid little system when it's all said and done.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

The new Audison AP1 tweeters showed up yesterday in the mail. So today...


I just went out and popped the grills off of the stock tweeters in the dash. The way these grills are designed and shaped, it looks like the metal mesh can easily be removed from the plastic portion of the grills, these little Audison tweeters dropped right in and tacked into place INSIDE the grills, then the mess put back in place, all while keeping the stock tweeters untouched in the dash below the grills. If need be the Audison grills can easily be removed as well to make even more room inside the stock tweeter grills.


There's plenty of room around the stock tweeters inside the dash to pass the speaker wires through to the new tweeters. So in other words, the stock tweeter grills will become a complete, functional Audison tweeter! Pretty darn excited about that!

And a few more beauty shots of all of the equipment so far...

 

[JCsAudio]

Once you reach a certain point in equipment qaulity, and as long as you understand and use the drivers you have within the passband for which they’re designed, then all you have left to master is installation and tuning. Tuning is for many the most challenging part. With your experience in home audio though, I think you’ve got a good foundation to build on.

Many people think that you have to spend a lot on equipment to get good sound and generally it’s true to a point, especially if you want low distortion and loud, but if done right, it’s possible to get really good sound on a modest budget. Morel, Dynaudio, Focal, Sinfoni, and AudioFrog are amount the best manufacturers out there for car audio.

 

[SQ_Blaze]

Yeah, tuning isn't much of a concern for me. I'm not perfect and certainly no pro at it, but I'm a firm believer of doing as much tuning and getting as much of a clean response as possible with levels and crossover points alone. Only after that do I start playing with TA and EQ to really dial things in.

For years with my home systems, I have dealt with active crossovers and parametric EQ's, then within the last 8 years or so, using room correction and full-on DSP for levels, crossovers, phase, TA, EQ and room correction. So doing similar in a vehicle isn't much of a major challenge these days.

I think my equipment lineup for this car is pretty decent. It's not ultra high-end, but it is higher than average. That alone should net me some good results. Then once I dig into the DSP, things should get pretty spicy.