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Stereo upgrade project 2016 M6 GT

8K views 23 replies 5 participants last post by  Archerfish 
#1 ·
Stereo upgrade project 2016 M6 Touring

Figured I’d start a post as a place to log my progress. I’m figuring that this is going to be a 6 month project if I am lucky.

Goals aren’t that crazy:

Keeping factory HU with PAC aoem-maz2 for integration.

Infinity kappa 6.5” three way components in the front doors / dash using factory location.

Kicker comp RT shallow 10 in the trunk above the spare.

Amp is a Rockford Power t1000-4ad, which will give 250w to each door channel, and 500w to the sub. I plan on using HU power for rear fill.

I’ve done lots of stereo projects in the past and each has something I end up regretting. Usually because I get impatient trying to work fast. So I’m giving myself all the time in the world for this one.
 
#3 ·
I strongly recommend figuring out a way to get forced ventilation (airflow) through the amp section of that box; I suspect you're going to regret it in a major way down the road if you do not. You'd be utterly shocked at how fast electronics that are running material amounts of power get hot in confined and reasonably-insulated spaces (which that space definitely is and will be!)
 
#5 ·
IMHO two small box 12V fans (e.g. 80mm) at opposite ends of the box (one push, one pull) wired to the amp turn-on circuit so they run when the amp does and establishes a positive airflow through the amp box. Fortunately they're trivially and cheaply available (PC fans are 12V.) That'll do it; you don't need a lot of airflow, but you do need positive airflow. Sleeve bearings are fine if they're mounted vertically.
 
#6 ·
This is going to be nice.

How is your tuning going to be achieved? Are you going to run a processor of some sort?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
This is going to be nice.

How is your tuning going to be achieved? Are you going to run a processor of some sort?

As of right now no tuning. Trying to keep it simple. Front stage will be well powered passive three way, rear fill from HU power, modest single sub in the trunk with adequate power.

Haha sadly 99% of my listening in the car these days is podcasts anyhow! This is more of a passion project than anything else ... a chance to take it slow and get as close as I can to something I’m happy with, as a white collar shade tree hack who is relying on his 12v self-training and 30 year old middle school shop classes (supplemented with some YouTubing).

Dunno about you guys but I feel like 75% of my “work” on this sort of project is just staring at stuff.
 
#12 · (Edited)
On a GT, I'd personally leave out the PAC. It seems appealing because its plug and play and does supposedly work even on the BOSE models, but jt will be reducing an already line level signal down further which allows noise and distortion to be more easily introduced to the signal. If you want you can use the wiring harness that comes with the PAC so you don't have to cut into the factory wiring and can just cut into that instead, but don't use the actual hi-lo converter box.

With the BOSE system you have easy access to line-level 4 channel audio that is differentially signaled directly from the head unit (so 8 wires total) at the BOSE amp end of the factory cabling right under your passenger seat. I just did a whole system upgrade on my 2016 with BOSE and have the factory wiring connected directly into my amp and it works perfectly. I also kept the stock head unit since it is so integrated with various vehicle features and Android Auto already provides everything I need entertainment wise.

I analyzed the entire system and documented all my findings, including some wiring diagrams that are a lot less vague than the standard ones found in the workshop manual. It may help you out:

https://forum.mazda6club.com/electr...-6-w-bose-full-system-breakdown-analysis.html


If you just want the diagrams, skip to the bottom.
 
#22 ·
Some notes on that pic above.... obviously the sub is in and everything is powered up. I'm very happy with the outcome. Sub sounds very good, and I've only run it for an hour or so, so if experience is any guide, it's going to break in nicely.

I still need to fab up some beauty panels to go along the sides of the box to keep the floor flat. I've also got a plan for a grille for the sub that I need to execute on.
 
#23 ·






Time to declare victory. Basically done with this project. I wanted everything to be 100% reversible... BUT my tweeters wouldn’t fit in the stock location so I had to surface mount them. There are 3.5” mids down in the factory dash location too.

And I also had to trim about four inches off of the “deep” (seat back) end of the trunk carpet because of the raised floor. With the beauty panels in along the sides of the sub box, the carpet lies 100% flat and most people wouldn’t know it’s not stock (unless you knew how high the trunk floor is supposed to be in the first place).
 
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