1993 Lexus ES 300
My New Baby. :-) In May 2003, I traded the jeep in due to the economics of gasoline and repair costs, and bought a Lexus instead. Naturally, the first thing that had to be done was rip out the stock stereo (tape deck! ack!). The install was done by Traffic Jamz Car Audio in Encino, and I must say did a simply superb job, as you can see in the install pictures towards the bottom of this page. (Note you don't see many pictures of the speakers inside the car, except obviously, the sub. The point for me is to have a killer sound system... and yet not have my car broken into to steal it!!! Inside, buttoned up, everything looks 100% stock, except the Alpine head unit, naturally.)
This install was done in three phases, as time (and money!) permitted. First phase was to rip out the factory stereo and install my Alpine head unit (pulled from my Jeep... see link below). I had a pair of nice Alpine SPS-6939 Coaxial 6"x9" speakers rescued from my beloved Maxima (may she rest in pieces), so I had those dropped into the rear deck in place of the factory 6x9s. Then, a custom box was built into the trunk for a Diamond Audio 12" subwoofer, which fired forward through the ski port. The Rockford-Fosgate Power Series 5 channel amp (also pulled from the jeep) was mounted to the back of the box, and a custom display panel built. Everything was wired into place with Lightning Audio amp kits (direct to the battery) and wiring. I continued to use the factory mids and tweeters in the front, but now they were powered by the Fosgate amp.
Phase two was my Christmas gift, and consisted simply of adding the Alpine XM Tuner with a Terk XM antenna to the existing system. I also had an auxilliary input set up with a pair of RCAs accessible from the front seat, so I can connect my laptop, an iPod, a diskman... pretty much anything I want... to the line input of the stereo. It's nice watching movies in the back seat on a laptop with the sound running through the car stereo!
The third and final phase, completed early May 2004, almost a year to the day after the initial install, finished my system... at least, until Alpine comes out with their iPod-integrated head unit, or I get the urge to install a screen and DVD player. LOL For now, though, this last phase really finished things nicely. The factory speakers were replaced with Diamond Audio Hex series 6.5" mids and tweeters. The doors were coated with Accumat to decrease vibration and seriously assist with the bass... it's like the mids have their own enclosure! The great guys at Traffic Jamz built a custom crossover for the front mids and tweets. Due to an issue with bass cancellation, we decided to pull the Alpine 6x9s and instead put in a tone-matched Hex 6.5" midrange on the rear deck instead, along with it's own Accumat. To power those front high-end Hex series speakers, we added a Diamond 2-channel amp for some serious juice. The Fosgate amp's 4 channels were bridged to power the rear fill speakers with a lot more power than we had before. The 12" sub remained on the Fosgate's 5th (sub) channel. They mounted the considerably larger Diamond Amp where the Fosgate amp had been, and moved the Fosgate to the left of the enclosure. The XM module was fine on the right, where it was. An additional Lightning Audio amp kit fed the new amp power directly from the battery, and a PAC 50mf capacitor filters clean power from the alternator. A new display panel completed the job.
So what's the end result? A sweet Alpine MP3/CD player with XM satellite radio and aux input, matched Diamond Hex mids and tweets in front and rear, Diamond 12" sub, drive by two amps, a Diamond D5 series 2 channel and a Rockford Fosgate Power series 5 channel (bridged to 3). It's loud, and it's clean. I love my stereo. I really, really, do.
Info on my old system in my previous car, the Jeep, here.
Sound system details:
| HEAD UNIT | ||
Alpine CDA-9811   (temporary - soon to be replaced by Alpine CDA-7998) |
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Selectable Faceplate Angle
Bass Engine Plus: Bass Engine functions provide control over your system, so you can tailor the sound to your personal tastes. Bass Engine Plus includes the following functions:
MP3/WMA Playback: ID3 tag v1 and v2 are supported; track title, artist name and album name ID3 tag data can be displayed. |
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| XM RADIO COMPONENTS | ||
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| FRONT SPEAKERS | ||
Diamond Audio S600s 6.5" HEX Series Component System with Silk Tweeter (each fed 150W RMS by D5 600.2 amp, below) 
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HEX Series Components by Diamond Audio Technology- The Ultimate In Mobile Sound In the ideal world an audio transducer would reproduce all frequencies equally, requiring no assistance from other drivers and no signal-degrading crossover. Perfection requires a driver whose cone is inherently stiff, with no resonant signature, and having zero mass. Toward this ideal, the loudspeaker engineers at Diamond Audio Technology have pioneered the use of space age composites similar to those developed by the aerospace industry for "stealth" fighter aircraft. The Diamond Audio Hexacone is a composite sandwich in which thin layers of bulletproof Kevlar are thermally bonded to a flameproof Nomex honeycomb core. Hexacone composite is 70 times stiffer, yet up to 70% lighter than conventional paper or polymer cones. Hexacone exhibits such broad, smooth frequency response that no other drivers and associated crossover elements are needed to completely reproduce the entire midrange frequency band, extending to nearly 7 octaves! The results are tonal and harmonic accuracy as well as pinpoint imaging. Audition the Hexacone Series by Diamond Audio Technology. We're confident that you will judge them as the ultimate in mobile sound. The HEX Midrange features:
· Proprietary Hexacone Technology - Manufactured in Germany, internationally patented. The HEX Tweeter features: · Model S.0ts Silk Dome - 1-inch diameter. Low mass, inherently well damped, and very smooth. Precision integral silk surround. High temperature aluminum former. Available in the S600s, S500s and S400s systems. Both models feature:
· Neodymium Magnet - Approx. 1/2 oz. of the highest grade, high temperature neo magnet in a 2-oz. motor for high efficiency and power handling for the life of the system. Small and easy to install. |
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| REAR DECK SPEAKERS | ||
Diamond Audio S6.0mx3 6.5" HEX Series Midrange Speaker (fed 100W RMS (4x50, bridged) by RF600.5, below)  |
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| SUBWOOFER | ||
Diamond Audio Motorsport CM3-12D2 12" Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer (fed 200W RMS (2 ohms) by RF600.5, below)  |
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General Massive Double Stacked Magnet - High excursion, maximum efficiency CmaxTM Optimised Spider and Edge -allows long throw and controlled braking Integrated Rubber Trim Gasket - seals driver for front or rear mounting Symmetrically Balanced Suspension - controls high excursion yaw. Radial Vented Basket - uses venturi effect to maximise cooling efficiency 3 Year Warranty 2.5" voice coil Specifications Power Range (W RMS):500 Impedance (ohms): Dual 2 Sensitivity (dB SPL): 91 (2.83-V input @ 1 meter) Freq. Resp: 25Hz-250Hz(±3dB) Dimensions Diameter: 12" Depth:5.4" Diamond Motorsport-M3 Series - The standard for every other speaker company. Built to the same exacting standards as our award winning Hex and M6 systems, Diamond's M3 Series of loudspeakers continue our the tradition of leaving the competition in the dust. Every element of every system has been designed, engineered and tested with all the care and attention to detail that competitors and enthusiasts have come to expect from Diamond name. Our engineers just can't resist the urge to refine and then redefine our speakers' performance until they invent a completely new standard of excellence for the category. CM3 subs have more excursion, higher power handling and greater low bass output than anything in their class. Our mids feature a textured, high mineral content copolymer cones for accurate dynamics and resolution. Our crossovers include a level of audiophile grade components rarely found in high-end home loudspeakers. And our tweeters feature whisper thin aluminum domes (not highly resonant titanium) and high-grade neodymium motors for smoothness and extension. Just one listen and you'll agree that the new M3 Series represents the "Diamond standard, made affordable". Visit your local Authorized Diamond Audio retailer today and see how, once again, our engineering skills and obsessive attention to detail have set a new standard of excellence. |
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| FRONT AMP | ||
Diamond Audio D5 Series D5 600.2 two-channel amplifier  |
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RMS Output Power 150W x 2 @ 4 Ohm Stereo 300W x 2 @ 2 Ohm Stereo 600W x 1 Bridged @ 4 Ohms
Specifications
Dimensions The Diamond D5 line of amplifiers utilizes the proprietary D7 output technology, and features the finest components available. Diamond D5 series amplifiers raise the bar for all other amplifier manufacturers. Hand built in the USA; all D5 amplifiers utilize massive extruded aluminum heat sinks with fly cut billet aluminum endplates, an extremely flexible flexible crossover topology, and an exclusive anodized Diamond finish. These D5 amplifiers are designed for the serious enthusiast who demands audiophile excellence while at the same time requiring brute dynamic power. All of the above yet again produces an amplifier worthy of the name Diamond. |
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| REAR AMP | ||
Rockford-Fosgate Power 600.5 five-channel amplifier  |
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50 watts x 4 + 100 watts x 1 at 4 ohms 200 watts x 2 + 100 watts x 1 in bridged mode 100 watts x 4 + 200 x 1 at 2 ohms 2-, 3-, 4-channel or Tri-Way output front and rear variable 50-210 Hz high-pass/low-pass crossovers, 24 dB/octave (low-pass only on sub channel) MOSFET power supply and output devices Maximum Efficiency Heat Sink Application (MEHSA) mounting technology provides more efficient transfer of heat from MOSFET output devices to the heatsink for cooler operation Requires 50-amp fuse and fuse holder Punch Bass boosts bass up to 18 dB at 45 Hz (wired remote control included for fingertip control) TRANS·ana circuit designs keep voltages low and signal paths simple in the pre-amp section, for minimum distortion and maximum musicality NOMAD advanced protection circuitry monitors amplifier and provides "intelligent" shut-down protection without limiting system performance TOPAZ noise-killing differential inputs eliminate 80% of ground loop noise between the head unit and the amp Pass-thru RCA 4-gauge power and ground connectors Cast aluminum heatsink for more efficient heat dissipation Dimensions: 18-7/16"W (14-13/16" without endcaps) x 2-7/16"H x 9-7/8"D |
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| SUB ENCLOSURE | ||
Custom-built and tuned by Traffic Jamz Car Audio in Encino, CA. Baffle-box enclosure built for sub to minimize impact on cargo space but maximize sonic output. | ||
| INSTALLATION PHOTOS |
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| INSTALLATION PHOTOS, FINAL PHASE |
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| FINISH PHOTOS |
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| Thanks again to Frank at Traffic Jamz Car Audio in Encino, CA, for making this all sound so great! | ||
