Hey guys,
Mike at Audio Logic in Hollywood, Fl. (954-437-0400) is doing this for me:
Head unit: Kenwood Excelon KDC-X796 $180
Speakers: Kenwood Excelon KFCX183 $200
Amplifier: Kenwood Excelon X7005 $270
Sub: JL Audio CP210-W0v3 $350
I'm going to keep the existing dash tweeters. All the steering wheel controls will be integrated. Bluetooth control on steering wheel.
Final price with installation is $1600
He did my 911 two years ago and I've been super happy with it. This one should be a rockin' system that came in right at my budget.
New audio system!
Moderator: volvite
Damping and insulation. Just saying... 
http://www.secondskinaudio.com
I always do this with my vehicle. I did find the Pathfinder doors to be pretty stout before damping and didn't notice quite the increase in sound quality I had before on my Sentra, but it definitely significantly improves it. I wouldn't spend money on a stereo without sealing my doors and damping the outer skin personally...with more power will come more feedback from the sheet metal.
Incidentally, damping in the fenders (particularly the fronts) fixes that whole thundering over every bump nuisance. Mine is *very* quiet for a Pathy...
http://www.secondskinaudio.com
I always do this with my vehicle. I did find the Pathfinder doors to be pretty stout before damping and didn't notice quite the increase in sound quality I had before on my Sentra, but it definitely significantly improves it. I wouldn't spend money on a stereo without sealing my doors and damping the outer skin personally...with more power will come more feedback from the sheet metal.
Incidentally, damping in the fenders (particularly the fronts) fixes that whole thundering over every bump nuisance. Mine is *very* quiet for a Pathy...
Well, I called Secondskin and got my answer. You can take it as far as you want and spend THOUSANDS on insulating your truck. I had no idea the levels you can take that to. I think I'll just dynamat the door skins and speaker holes. Maybe take it a step further and do the fenders like you mentioned. Great tip. thanks again
Yeah, it's one of those "how far do you want to go?" questions.
I spent maybe $500 on my Pathfinder if I had to guess. More on the Sentra, but it had more...issues.
Something to consider about Dynamat in hot weather. It's tar based where Second Skin is butyl rubber. The former often melts or delaminates and falls inside your doors, making a sticky mess. Second Skin won't. Also, SS doesn't have that awful tar smell. Just a thought, but to save a little money I'd consider Dynamat for flat surfaces if at all, and Second Skin or another butyl product for vertical ones like door skins.
Stuff that made a difference on my truck (in order of imact):
- Damping the front fenders. Relatively easy to do (except on the right side by the washer reservoir). *Huge* noise reduction. Foam absorbs some of the mid-frequency noise but it's hard to stuff in there.
- Damping and sealing the door enclosures for stereo SQ. Wouldn't waste money on a speaker upgrade without at least damping the outer skin. I do also put a layer of foam in there, partially to absorb mid-frequency road noise but also to further clean up sound quality.
- Putting a heavy layer of foam plus vinyl backing down across the cargo area (and seats when they're down...which is usually since my bike lives in there). This is ten times easier than taking the floor up and trying to fit a 3/4" thick heavy mat everywhere and works like a floor protector. Absorbs road noise like a champ.
- Damping the rear fenders. Not nearly as big a change as the front fenders (which are relatively unstressed metal and boom like a base drum), but it does quiet it down a lot. This is hard to get to though. It requires removing the second and third row seats and lower and upper plastic trim.
- Damping the tailgate and adding foam. Surprisingly, this quiets things down quite a bit and it's not hard to do. There's more exhaust and road noise coming through there than you'd think. I sometimes have a bike hitch rack back there; now I don't hear any clinking or wind whistling through it, let alone road noise. (One note, my hatch was already drooping a bit and the extra 20 lbs didn't help...definitely meant the 225 psi McMaster-Carr hatch struts were an appropriate upgrade when I replaced them last month!)
- Damping the floor. I damped a lot of it while I had the seats out. But the floor is relatively thick and stiff metal and damping didn't make much of a difference. The heavy foam layer sitting on top in the cargo area made a much larger impact.
I would like to add a little damping to the roof. Lots of people don't believe this does much but I think they're looking only for noise reduction. What I expect to get out of it is a.) improved base sound quality (the more you do this stuff, the more it seems like the sound stays in the car) and b.) reduced rain noise.
On the Sentra and other vehicles, damped roof = rain is *silent* except for what hits the windshield. On the Pathfinder the roof is so large (I don't have the sunroof, partially for head room and partially for sound quality) that rain is ridiculously noisy. I'd like to fix that.
Hard part is looking at all of the things that'll have to come off for me to lower the headliner to get to it. And letting the headliner down carefully to avoid bending it too much.
I spent maybe $500 on my Pathfinder if I had to guess. More on the Sentra, but it had more...issues.
Something to consider about Dynamat in hot weather. It's tar based where Second Skin is butyl rubber. The former often melts or delaminates and falls inside your doors, making a sticky mess. Second Skin won't. Also, SS doesn't have that awful tar smell. Just a thought, but to save a little money I'd consider Dynamat for flat surfaces if at all, and Second Skin or another butyl product for vertical ones like door skins.
Stuff that made a difference on my truck (in order of imact):
- Damping the front fenders. Relatively easy to do (except on the right side by the washer reservoir). *Huge* noise reduction. Foam absorbs some of the mid-frequency noise but it's hard to stuff in there.
- Damping and sealing the door enclosures for stereo SQ. Wouldn't waste money on a speaker upgrade without at least damping the outer skin. I do also put a layer of foam in there, partially to absorb mid-frequency road noise but also to further clean up sound quality.
- Putting a heavy layer of foam plus vinyl backing down across the cargo area (and seats when they're down...which is usually since my bike lives in there). This is ten times easier than taking the floor up and trying to fit a 3/4" thick heavy mat everywhere and works like a floor protector. Absorbs road noise like a champ.
- Damping the rear fenders. Not nearly as big a change as the front fenders (which are relatively unstressed metal and boom like a base drum), but it does quiet it down a lot. This is hard to get to though. It requires removing the second and third row seats and lower and upper plastic trim.
- Damping the tailgate and adding foam. Surprisingly, this quiets things down quite a bit and it's not hard to do. There's more exhaust and road noise coming through there than you'd think. I sometimes have a bike hitch rack back there; now I don't hear any clinking or wind whistling through it, let alone road noise. (One note, my hatch was already drooping a bit and the extra 20 lbs didn't help...definitely meant the 225 psi McMaster-Carr hatch struts were an appropriate upgrade when I replaced them last month!)
- Damping the floor. I damped a lot of it while I had the seats out. But the floor is relatively thick and stiff metal and damping didn't make much of a difference. The heavy foam layer sitting on top in the cargo area made a much larger impact.
I would like to add a little damping to the roof. Lots of people don't believe this does much but I think they're looking only for noise reduction. What I expect to get out of it is a.) improved base sound quality (the more you do this stuff, the more it seems like the sound stays in the car) and b.) reduced rain noise.
On the Sentra and other vehicles, damped roof = rain is *silent* except for what hits the windshield. On the Pathfinder the roof is so large (I don't have the sunroof, partially for head room and partially for sound quality) that rain is ridiculously noisy. I'd like to fix that.
Hard part is looking at all of the things that'll have to come off for me to lower the headliner to get to it. And letting the headliner down carefully to avoid bending it too much.
My friend, you really know your stuff. Couple things- I just installed some "Strong Arm" hatch supports from Ebay. They work great. Also, GREAT tip on the dynamat. I would never have known that and it's important being here in Sofla where shit melts in the summer like nobody's business.
-I'm assuming that insulating/foaming the front fenders would require raising the vehicle, removing the wheels and removing the plastic inside the wheel wells correct??
-Clarity: You said putting foam with a vinyl backing is better than putting a nice mat down in the back. I plan to keep the third row down 99% of the time. So would it be best to put a layer of foam and then cover it with a Weathertech mat for example? please advise.
-I'm assuming that insulating/foaming the front fenders would require raising the vehicle, removing the wheels and removing the plastic inside the wheel wells correct??
-Clarity: You said putting foam with a vinyl backing is better than putting a nice mat down in the back. I plan to keep the third row down 99% of the time. So would it be best to put a layer of foam and then cover it with a Weathertech mat for example? please advise.
I'm a mechanical engineer in a computer science world, and damping resonance is my outlet
Yeah, I figured Florida might require the butyl rubber solution.
- It's a lot easier to get into the fenders if the front is lifted, yes. You can do this with a jackstand on each wheel though, no need for a lift or anything.
- It's thick foam with a mass-loading vinyl (MLV) layer over it, not something like Weathertech. Second Skin's previous product had foam attached to the vinyl sheet and that's what I have now; as that's gotten expensive they sell both separately.
If I had to do it again I would get a layer of Overkill Pro (thick neoprene foam) and use some 3M adhesive to stick Luxury Liner Pro on it:
http://store.secondskinaudio.com/overkill-pro/
http://store.secondskinaudio.com/mlv-noise-barriers/
My third row is never up unless I'm cleaning the leather, so I have a sheet like this from the back of the second row all the way to the tail gate.
I'm happy with the heavy foam/vinyl sheet I have since I'm putting dirty mountain bikes down on it all the time, but if you wanted something nicer a Weathertech tray would probably sit right on top of it with no issues.
Yeah, I figured Florida might require the butyl rubber solution.
- It's a lot easier to get into the fenders if the front is lifted, yes. You can do this with a jackstand on each wheel though, no need for a lift or anything.
- It's thick foam with a mass-loading vinyl (MLV) layer over it, not something like Weathertech. Second Skin's previous product had foam attached to the vinyl sheet and that's what I have now; as that's gotten expensive they sell both separately.
If I had to do it again I would get a layer of Overkill Pro (thick neoprene foam) and use some 3M adhesive to stick Luxury Liner Pro on it:
http://store.secondskinaudio.com/overkill-pro/
http://store.secondskinaudio.com/mlv-noise-barriers/
My third row is never up unless I'm cleaning the leather, so I have a sheet like this from the back of the second row all the way to the tail gate.
I'm happy with the heavy foam/vinyl sheet I have since I'm putting dirty mountain bikes down on it all the time, but if you wanted something nicer a Weathertech tray would probably sit right on top of it with no issues.
Forgot, here are some pictures of what I did:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1049747599 ... Pathfinder
https://picasaweb.google.com/1049747599 ... Pathfinder
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