badtziscool.com - Automotive

Yeah.  I have one of my Pro 6800 on eBay for auction if you’re interested. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=230342393371

Here’s a pic of the two together.  Crazy.

It was actually a nice day today, which motivated me to install my head unit.  It’s the Eclipse AVN 5500.  I like it.  Yeah, it’s not as nice as the newest ones like the 6600, but all I really care about is improving my sound quality, and man, did it ever.  The factory head unit SUCKS BALLS!  There’s just too much equalization in all the wrong places to make it sound good.  I’m still not done with it.  I have all of the functions running, except for the navigation.  I just need to find the speed sensor wire and tap it for the navi system to work.  All else works beautifully, and I even modified it so that it will play DVD movies without having to be in park and with the parking brake on.  I have a bunch of pics, but I’ll put them up later as part of my How-To section.  For now, here it is installed in the bracket.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know I need to make some sort of bezel to cover the gap.  Maybe something out of carbon fiber?  =)

Well, I finally got the stuff to redo my system.  The amp came in and the head unit came in.  It was a close call though on the amp.  It seems like DHL dropped the box at one point in time.  When I opened it up, I saw one of the feet was bent severely.  Then when I flipped the amp, I heard something like a metal rod flopping around.  I was not happy.  The sender was kind enough to let me return the item and get a refund, but this amp is so rare that I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to see it again for a long time.  So I opened it up, and luckily the bar was some sort of grounding bar in a compression fitting.  So I just lightly hammered the bar back into its fitting, reassembled the amp, and tested every channel.  It seems to work just fine.  Even the xovers worked.  So I told him that I’ll just keep it.  Hopefully, it won’t go bad down the road.  Perhaps this is a testament to the indestructability of these old school amps. 

Beautiful.  Isn’t it!?

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  I guess I was getting bored of the car.  At one point I was even considering trading it in for another car.  I always talked myself out of it though because getting another car would prove to:

1. Cost more.
2. Cost less but be even more unsatisified with it.
3. Be even more impractical.
4. Be just not as nice or good looking to me.

I considered a Z4, 350Z Roadster, 335i, 4-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, but the convertibles were more impractical, the BMWs would cost more and the Jeep would be more practical but much slower and more clumsy, and the one thing that I found in common with ALL of the choices was that I would have to modify them in some way or form.

 Which takes me back to square one.  It’s modified somewhat, and the mods that I’ve done I’ve been pretty satisfied with… except for one:  the audio system.

The factory sound is…. umm…. ok for what it is.  I didn’t opt for the Bose system because they aren’t really worth it no matter how much people say it is.  Call me picky.  Call me anal.  But don’t say that I’m not right.  A while back I tried to fix my audio dilemma by adding some subs to the factory system.  Here’s the parts and them installed.

Image Dynamics IDQ10 with Precision Power PC2300 and PC4400.  I love these amps.  I think they’re the best looking amps ever made and these were the last models produced by PPI before they were bought out by DEI and went to crap.  I planned to use the PC4400 for my MB Quarts 5.25″ components I’ve had for a while, but I never got around to installing them up. 

I guess in the back of my mind, I knew the stock head unit wouldn’t do the MBs any justice.  Months later, I found that I was right.  I dusted off the MBs and plugged them up to the PC2300 just to see what they would sound like.  Nothing but NOISE!  The problem was that I was using a high level signal from the rear speakers that I tapped.  In addition, the factory headunit manipulates the signal in such a way that it allows the factory crap speakers to play within their capabilities, so the really low and really high frequencies are eq’d out.  Sucks.

So now I’m re-doing my entire system.  I bit the bullet and bought the necessary components to make this happen.  What’s funny is that all of the new parts that I bought just kinda made themselves available almost at the same time.  The double din aluminum finisher for the 05+ G35 became available along with an Eclipse AVN5500 and other stuff like iPod connector, rear view camera, steering wheel adapter, etc. was found on G35driver.com.  For a good price I might add.  Then a 4080 single 10 sub box made itself available a couple of days later, and it was local!!!  No shipping charges here.  But here’s the real kicker.  For the longest time I’ve been looking for a Precision Power Pro6800 amp.  6 channels.  800Watts of continuous and glorious power.  Channels 5 and 6 are bridgeable into 2 ohms.  Built in 3way crossover.  This thing is AWESOME, and I finally found one on eBay.  Bought it on the spot. 

I CAN’T WAIT for it to arrive.  I’m still a bit nervous, mind you, about the amp and headunit because I haven’t seen them personally, but from what I can tell I bought these things from reputable people.  Let’s hope my instincts are correct.  Knock on wood!