General Installation Advice

I am looking to install my own system and I would like some advice and helpful hints;

I will be purchasing the following equipment;

Sony: CDX-L510 head unit, XSV-6933 and XS-V1333 full range speakers, XM-2165GTX 1000W amp, and XS-L121P5 12" sub.

All of these will be installed into a 1995 Dodge intrepid sedan which has a stock radio right now.

Any install tips, info on other equipment and or installation accesories that I may need would be great, I have never hooked up a system like this but I am inclined. Also I think I would do a better job if I had the wiring diagram for my car as well.

Thank you.

You'll need a dash kit and a wiring harness, 2 sets of speaker harnesses, a 4-gauge amplifier wiring kit, and a box (1.0 cu. ft. for sealed, 1.58 cu. ft. w/ port 3" diameter and 8" long for a ported box) for the sub unless it already has one.  You don't have to get the stuff from Crutchfield, I just used it as an example cuz they have good pictures so you know what to look for.  But their kit and harness prices are much better than stores like Best Buy, plus they give you free tech support.

While I'm talking about Crutchfield, I should suggest you check out their info center as they have lots of good tips on how to install everything, in particular the amplifier.  Let me know if you need dash panel removal instructions for the radio or to get to the speakers, and I will email you a file with diagrams for that.

You don't need to worry about a wiring diagram for the car as long as you use a wiring harness.  It will just plug in to the car's wiring, and the bare wire ends match up color-to-color with the bare wire ends of the sony head unit's harness.

You'll want to bridge the amp to get the maximum power out of it.  What this means is you'll use the left channel's positive speaker output, and the right channel's negative speaker output, to hook up to your subwoofer.  This basically combines both channels into one.

where will you be purchasing this equipment?  If you order from cruthfield, you will get most of the things you will need for the install. (you will need a wire harness, install kit and an antenna adapter for the head unit which will be free thru cruthfield or you can pay like almost $50 for one at a store somewhere)  You will also need amp install kit.  I am not a mecp certified installer, i am kinda new to this but kinda know what I talking about(I think)

The subwoofer box should go in the trunk, and if your rear seat folds down, I'd mount your amp to the back of it.  Just make sure if the seat has a center armrest  that you don't try to screw through that section of the seat as you will more than likely come out the other side!

If the rear seats do not fold down you can still mount the amp to the seatback but it's a lot more tricky to get it in place and run the wires and connections, etc, as well as make adjustments to the controls.  With the fold-down seat if you want to tweat the sound all you gotta do is flip down the seat and the amp is right there laid out flat in front of you.  An alternative might be to mount it on the subwoofer box itself, but this is a fairly large amp so you could only do this if your subwoofer box is big enough.

Of course you can always mount it to the floor of the trunk, you just need to be extra careful where you screw in to.  If possible try and get another person to double check your mounting location--always helps to get a second opinion.  The last thing you want is to drill/screw through a  fuel or brake lines, or worse, the gas tank!!!

If you haven't purchased the equipment yet you might want to consider getting it from Crutchfield as Cavyman pointed out.  In addition to giving you all the installation parts for the head unit and speakers for free, they include installation instructions specific to your vehicle for free; a lot of times they're actually better than the ones I have on file.

If u still need the instructions gimme your email address and I'll send you the file.

     An alternate mounting point for the amp is down in the spare tire well if ther is room. not as easy to get to but keeps it out of the way and out of sight.  Personally I would stay away from the on box mount because the vibrations could shorten the life of your amp.  No matter where you mount the amp make sure it is securly fastened.  You can ruin an amp verry quickly if it slides around your trunk.

     Also, fire the sub towards the back of the car.  Seems weird, but the bass is actually louder this way.

Is not weird, but is not always louder either... for each install you need to face the sub in different ways to find the best position, before fastening it.