It would be great to have a sponsor for the EJ's forum! Keep us posted Dave. Maybe they could sponsor a EJ get-to-gether. You know we need to do this sometime this year.

 

ooo nice!

 

Ok phil,
I might not be the anti bling king, but I am a steward of his. This is my ugly overused Minivan with many many miles. It is a 1999 Odyssey and it is a work van turned mommie van. The stereo remains intact and is ready for a few upgrades including video.


***Warning these pictures you are about to see contain no bling, that is, they are 100% Bling Free.***

The headunit : a Pioneer Premier P8600MP
In dash crossover: The old Sony XEC 500


A little explanation here, the DEH P8600mp just arrived in the mail. It has a great internal crossover and is probably better than the XEC 500. I really do like this headunit, but i'm sure it will break as my other Pioneer HU did. It was a DEH P920R. I have a friend at pioneer corperate and he uses me as a tester. I love that!

Abou the XEC 500: I love the knob control of the sub, fronts & rear not to mention crossovers at my fingertips. I can dial in song for song and it has survived through many set-ups of mine. But alas, when I get a DVD player I need the dash space and will have to use the Pioneer built in crossover (which is probably better, but more difficult to get to.) but maybe not.. i don't know yet.

amps
PRS X720 (subs)
PRS X340 (fronts)



Good solid amps. Discontinued and wanted by pioneer lovers. One of the better car amps Pioneer ever made. Best location for them in under the folding rear seat. The seat is folded down door this pic, so you can

 

Nice headunit, I got the same one. So easy to use, and has so many features.

 

Leather looks great Phil Cant wait to watch the progress!

 

well, it should be pointed out -- and should be to no ones surprise -- the camera misleads the color match. the darker graphite is a very close (almost perfect) match to the upper darker trim and the lighter jade matches the carpet and headliner.

thanks to everyone on all the compliments on the leather... i really appreciate them... the wife and i were both a little hesitant to do two tone, but we felt that either of the 3 colors that matched would have been too much 'greenish' or too dark alone.

Dave
well, i started off planning to buy Jim's extra Soundstream Rubicon, but when we figured the best way he could run the setup he was looking for was to use the Rubicon, i went to buy his Alpha. it just so happened though, that i stumbled across the PMA300HCA (the high current version) at Etronics for almost the same price... hard to pass that deal up... a 1 ohm mono stable amp? yeah, hard to pass up. ironically, Jim later found his same model Rubicon for way less, but i'm going to give the Alpha a whirl.
so far, the Alpha strikes me in 4 specific ways.... first - very good looking amp with a nice package of goodies that came with it, and very flexible controls. second - it looks like there's a fan on the bottom of the amp for cooling, but it looks to be located such that it'll be smothered when mounted. i need to look more carefully into that. third - the wiring connectors look to be designed by a monkey, since the best i can tell, the connectors are unuseable w/o dismounting the amp. (the allen heads face down w/o clearance for a wrench) fourth - the amp came to me sealed, but there are more than a few scratches, dents, etc. in the brushed aluminum surface. none major, but if i had paid anywhere near the MSRP for this amp, i'd be asking for a new one.

and yeah - a 10" screen, 2 pair of Bostons (1 components, 1 coaxial), the Boston amp (rumored Audison design/build), and a 12 W3v2. i'd have gotten the W6, but it was a bit much for the wife's needs. no WAY would i have gotten a W7... it's way too expensive and doesn't sound but so so for the money. (Dave's definition of crap )

ummm... i'm still the king of anti-bling... really.



Willie

great to finally see the inside of the Ody. i'm thinking of mounting amps in the same location (under the magic seat) but on a board for easy removal, and putting a smaller sub box in the trunk. what have you done to protect the amps when using the whole rear cargo? i'm thinking a heavy blanket should be decent protection...

also, i remember those amps -- very nice stuff. i came extremely close to buying one at one point, but caught a deal on the Kicker and went that way.

 

I am assuming you put heated seats in at the same time you did the leather?

 

yeah i use a heavy blanket or towel, but I have carried so much stuff in my vinnie man that the amps are banged up a bit.

so much for making it a show car

You know you can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood in your van, right? that's one of the reasons i bought it. It was a transporter of stuff to be sure. And this hurricane season it carried many many sheets.

how much was the leather? I'd love to do that to my front seats.

My two tens can shake the whole van on demand BTW.
And they could just be the perfect distance.

 

Yea, I didnt like the fact that you cant get to the terminals without removing the amp, but I do like that you cant see any wiring. Also, the scratches and such are def. from ETRONICS, Ive seen a bunch of Alpha amps, and when new, they dont have scratches on them. But if you got a good deal, so be it.

When you hook it up, post a review.

 

lol -- you're kidding right?


a cold winter in Louisiana may mean we dip below freezing... maybe. usually it means we're in the 50's for a month or so. like right now? it's a typical low 70's out tonight.


from Etronics?? hrm. -- i wonder. the box was for the most part sealed and looked untampered with.
i wonder if Etronics gets cosmetically blemished 2nd's... :think:

of course, i'll post a review.



leather was $1350 installed for all 3 rows, and is warrantied for 3 yrs/36k miles.

also, it's my hope that the 1 12" pushed right at it's max allowable power will shake the van as well... i'm definitely a closet basshead, and i think the wife is too.