08 sebring w/equipment?

Hey everyone! Welcome to my first post and my first venture into aftermarket stereo system in about 15 years. That being said I am open to ANY input just please don’t steer me in the wrong direction ‘cuz I am in a position of having to learn the things I need to know as I am going here! I have a bunch of that learning to do that is for certain! To jump into the fire with both feet I am going to be putting a 5.2 car theater into my fiance’s ’08 Sebring 4-door Sedan. I has 6”x9” in the front doors and in the rear deck. My first question is about the stock head unit opening… I have come across information a couple of times that suggest that the opening is just shy of a true double DIN opening… does anyone know this to be true or not? This is important because I will be putting a DIN head unit, an Alpine IVA-D310. I also want to hopefully put an Alpine SBS-05DC DIN sized center channel speaker in the stock opening below the HU. It will have to go below the HU otherwise the display will cover the speaker when it is out. In looking at the panel, I don’t see that there is much room to shave above or below the opening to make both fit if in fact the stock opening is not a true double DIN opening. I can only really see the center having to go in between the sun visors on the headliner if I cannot fit it in the stock stereo opening. I have a background in woodworking and am comfortable that I could built decent box to hold the center if I do end up having to go with it on the headliner… but as I eluded to earlier I would much rather it go in the stereo opening. The other equipment I have on hand at this point I will list and call out what I have intended to do with it… If someone has a different/better suggestion please by all means feel free to make the suggestion. If you would please explain why so I can pick-up on things for myself!? Alpine NVE-N872A Navigation Module Alpine SIR-ALP10 Sirrius and Traffic Module Alpine PXA-H701 Multimedia Manager/Processor … all of which will be hidden. Not sure where yet but that will happen somehow. Will likely end up putting these in the spare tire well with some fans running… will this work? Is it too confined down there even with running fans? Any other locating ideas? 2 ~ Boston Acoustics G2 12” DVC 300W RMS in a vented box Sony AM-SD51X Class D Mono Amplifier (wired ‘mote to the dash) I plan to run these at 2 Ohms. I have yet to get or decide upon an amplifier to drive my center channel. I am looking for some direction on this one. The speaker is 50W RMS and 150W PEAK. Focal 165V 6.5” Mid-Bass, 1” tweeters and crossovers 150W PEAK 75W RMS Alpine MVR-T500 V12 Amplifier 2x100W Audiobahn ACAP10Q 2-1 Farad Digital Capacitors Power Acoustic PT-738MSV Sun Visor Monitor Monster Power MCPI-150W Power Inverter PS3 with wireless controllers Alpine EX-10 iPod Adapter with Bluetooth w/ Wireless Remote Parking Brake Bypass is already on the D310 I still have to decide upon and aquire a second set of mid-bass and highs. My plans were to get Focal 165CVX coaxial speakers to use for rear fill and to use the components for the front stage. With the 6.5” in the doors and the tweeters on the A-pillars. I will have to get adapters for both the door and the rear deck locations. Also, do I need to run my mid-bass and highs through the caps? I am pretty certain that I don’t because they don’t need a lot of power in an instant like the subs do… but I am not sure!? What Amp Wiring kit should I go with? I know I want to go with OFC but need help with what size Power wire to use… can using a larger than needed lead to signal lose or other problems? I will in all likelihood end-up getting a 4 channel amp to drive all of my mids and highs mainly in order to save room in the trunk by having 3 amps instead of 4… sub, center and 1 mids & highs instead of 2. I have some Monster Cable speaker line (top-of-the-line) that I purchased when I put in my Home Theater… is there any reason I shouldn’t or couldn’t use this as my interconnect lines in the car? It is twisted pair with really good insulation… can’t recall the part number right now but I know there wasn’t any better available. What mounting bracket should I go with for the head unit and center or just the HU if that is the way I have to go about it? I truly look forward to any and all input and knowledge anyone can give! I plan to get started on this project the weekend after Halloween and answers to these questions before then as I need to get the last few items. Thanks for any and all help you can give! Also, I am really looking for a book or a site that I can print off all the stuff I need to have a good understanding of in order to make sure the install goes well and to keep things going well while the equipment is in her car. Thanks again! Fatalii

Thanks for the suggestions VM! I have considered trying my hand at working with fiberglass. Have never done so yet! If there is any knowledge base you have found to be best please mention it. I will likely find all of my info on working with fiberglass online. I will take your suggestions to heart and make the adjustments to my plans accordingly. Nice to see someone with a home theater background who knows car theater as well. My background lies in home theater as well. I am hoping to get the car to sound as good or better than the Mordaunt Short Home system I put in the theater room of the homestead last year. Gonna be hard pressed to meet that though... I love my MS setup! The SQ is AMAZING! I have spent much, much more before on bigger names and will never stray from MS again! Plus it's always more fun to mess with your own stuff than to spend days working for someone elses enjoyment! But it pays much better to install their dreams! Thanks again and please feel free to make any other suggestions you may have ! ~FATALII_STL

Well, I read your post VM and took the last week or so to do some more homework. Little did I realize that I had gone about my research all wrong the first time around! I was looking into names that I was familiar with. There was so much that I had not looked into nor had I taken advantage of the resources that I had at my disposal. I took a day to meet with a designer at the local design house here in St. Louis and was blown away by the level of quality that these names I had never heard of were able to lay on my ears! And with that I now have all of the information that I need to get my girls system to where I want it to be. Today I secured a ZAPCO 900 WATT amp and am going to be working my ass off to get Hertz into my hands. As well as another Zapco 4 channel amp to drive the mid-bass and highs. Those happen to be brands that my local design house mainly use. I know how they work together and I am certain that they know how to tune them. They are both a pretty good chunk more than I had intended to spend... but that was a decision made based upon poor research. This has clearly changed my install schedule but I would rather put it off for a few weeks and end up with a product that I am happy with than to rush into things and just have to change things up later. As for your choices for home theater... I have to say that for me those are not the items nor the brands that suit me! But that is the beautiful thing about this industry, there are plenty of brands to choose from. For my money I have and will always go for Pioneer Elite electronics. I have several friend that swear by projectors... I love my Kuro plasma! My theater is not my daily viewing area so I don't have the lifespan concerns that some others my have for a plasma monitor. There is honestly more PS3 and Wii that are viewed on the Kuro than Blu-Rays! And for speakers... Mordaunt Short all the way for me! I have had Morel and they are without a doubt very good! for my ears the MS Performance line is by far better! Again I mean no offense whatsoever! I suspect you have many of your clients that you have hooked-up with some of your favorites and they have been more than happy with the equipment and SQ! Just as I have clients that have allowed me the freedom to put a system together to suit their needs and have gotten nothing but praise! Have also had clients that have insisted that I use some of the items you called out and they have been thrilled as well. Let me close by saying THANKS A TON for the input! Without your post I would have most likely not gone back and researched again what I needed ot! You post certainly saved me a bunch of work! ~FATALII_STL

Im not familiar with the sebring but, many of the other Chrysler vehicles can do a double din head unit. Provided you have the navigation bezel. For my 300c for example I switched to the Navigation bezel bought off line for around $70. The standard(non nav bezel)opening was a din and a half. If there is a navigation package available then this would be the route to go. If it is available you will need the Nav bezel, a trim kit but, atleast there is no modding or cutting to the factory piece. After a little research I have found that they do offer nav for that year. I could not find a bezel online though. But you still have the option to go to the dealer for it or if you are lucky a salvage yard. Hopefully this is the normal size unit they have in the 300, charger, magnum, Nitro and many of there other models. If it is a din and a half nav unit there will be no getting a double din in that location with out fabricating your or bezel. You could just do a regular din flip out.

j.reed... I have found a bezel that works on the bay. We have opted to just set-up the system without the center channel and utilize the "phantom" center provided by the PXA-H701. We discussed this with the designer and while we will be using the car to watch movies the main use will be for music. Thanks for the input! I did also find a set of double din brackets on ebay. But they don't quite make sense to me how they work. In looking at them I think they may stick out a bit and the HU and speaker would sit about .75" out from flush. I could be wrong but luckily I don't have to figure it out. And perhaps I wasn't clear but the IVA-D310 is in fact a single DIN. The bezel that I plan to use has a DIN opening and a storage slot below the opening... If it fits I may end up putting the Zapco RDS were the slot is. Otherwise it will be perfect for holding the remote for the HU/Nav. Now all I have to do is buy the remote that came with the NAV... The unit I purchased didn't come with it. The seller had it stolen!

Yeah I mistakingly took the head unit for a double din. But glad you got it somewhat figured out. Keep us posted would love to see pics of the install and finished product.