Well, as some of you know, I've been working on an additional project as of late. I've been working on a new website for a friend's business. To see the difference between what he had to what I'm working on, have a look at the following links:
Anyway, I'm not going to talk about the development of this site. Instead I want to tell you about a new project that I've found as a result of this project.
I took on this project with the aspirations of helping out a friend. If you have a look at the progress of the site & compare it to what already exists, you will see that there are improvements in leaps and bounds. I did not take this on to make money. However, it was made perfectly clear to me that I would not do this without payment.
While I was in Portland a package arrived at my house. It was from this friend I'm working with on the website. I wasn't expecting any packages from him and was very intrigued as to what had arrived. Thankfully, I only had to wait one day to discover what was delivered. When I got home from the airport and before I left for Columbia, SC I had couple of moments to check it out.
To my surprise it was the first payment installation for my work on his site. He purchased & shipped to me an automotive component speaker set, Powerbass Extreme 3XL-6C to be exact.
I've been wanting to buy & install these speakers for some time now. I had picked these guys out when I purchased my subs a couple of years ago. The only thing that has stopped me to this point was I couldn't justify the cost of them in comparison to everything else I've had going on. I couldn't have asked for anything more appropriate for the work that I've done with this site & its content matter.
Well, I've decided that since I'm going to finally replace the only factory speakers remaining in my car that I would also go the extra distance to replace the factory speaker wiring. This has proven to be an interesting decision. The factory wires appear to be 20g wire. Based on the research that I've done thus far, for the distance the wires are running, this is an appropriate gauge. Unfortunately, I don't trust the auto industry to have taken the care and consideration in running the wires in an intelligent manor to produce the best sound.
There are many things to take into consideration with signal carrying wires. Signal wires should be kept away from power wires whenever possible. Power wires can introduce noise into the signal. Signal wires should be as close to the same length all the way around the car. The distance the signal needs to travel should be as close to the same as possible to ensure that the sound reproduction occurs at the exact same time. To install wires to speakers of distinct difference lengths will introduce a minor but detectable dissonance within the soundstage. These two considerations are the ones I plan on mitigating with the installation of my own wires.
There is another reason why I've decided that I will install my own speaker wires. The factory system is comprised of a 6 speaker setup (two tweaters and four coaxial 6x9's). The Infinity 6x9's installed by the factory were just poor quality drivers OR the prior owner just abused them. Either way, they were ideal candidates for replacement. I'm happy to be replacing the final set of 6x9's in the car. However, since the installation of my own 4 channel amp, the factory tweeters have been bypassed. This is all fine & dandy since the factory tweeter installation location was in the dashboard pointing directly at the windshield. Pointing any speaker at the windshield is poor soundstage design. I refuse to re-use this installation point. Therefore, since I need to run new wires to relocate the tweeters anyway, I might as well finish the job for the rest of the car.
This is where the title of the post comes into play. In order to properly prepare the environment for the accessibility required to run the wires to all of the locations that I will require access has deemed dissection of my car a necessity. I've taken doors apart before, I've taken segments of a dashboard apart before, but I've never tried to completely disassemble the dashboard. Well, as far as I can see, right now there is only a single vinyl component installed on my dashboard (not counting the steering wheel or driver's kick panel.
I could not believe all of the screws, panels, layers and mess that all of this would create. There are dashboard pieces all over the garage & in my car (not where they belong) that it is just humorous. Between Angel & I working on this together, it took us about 2 1/2 hours just to strip down the car to where it is at. Check out the following slideshow to see exactly what I'm talking about.
(In case you are curious, yes, removing the passenger seat was required to access the factory line level amplifier. I also removed it so I could assess why it stopped sliding on the adjustment track.)
Well, I'm sure there will be more to come on this topic as I make progress getting the new speakers & wires installed in my car. Tomorrow we plan on buying the speaker wire & doing the wire installation (aka, the fun part).
Later.
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