bruce_miranda

What is the size of the MS-8. i.e. will it fit on top of the Glove box. If it can or you can make it fit somewhere in the front then that will save you a lot of wiring and pulling out trim pieces.

All you need to do is modify the pnp harness a bit and use the sub-woofer outputs of the MS-8 and send those signals down the old CCC sub-woofer low shown in plug 13813.

Immediately you will regain your sub-woofers with the OEM amp and subs - until you decide to swap those out.

I think the MS-8 is under powered for the BSW speakers as well. The L7 amp puts out 40w per channel and the MS-8 puts out 30W.

So if you are intending to rewire your speakers I would recommend running two sets of wires to each door and the parcel shelf. That way you can run the tweeters and mids off separate channels from the MS-8. I would highly recommend this set-up because the fact that the tweeters are run in parallel with the mids often limits your tuning capabilities. Remember to by-pass the tweeter crossovers.

Cartmanizm

I'm not sure of the size of the MS-8 since I don't have it yet. If the MS-8 fits in the front, then I don't think I even need to modify the harness at all. There are 16 wires in total running down the entire length of the harness (+ what I believe to be a remote wire +/ground), A positive and negative wire for the following: Front right, front left, rear left, rear right (8 wires). Then another 8 wires for the post-amp coming back up. The sub channel wires go directly through the OEM wires to the rear of the car.



The harness provides a tap connection to that (the red/yellow/black points as shown).


Now what I need to know is which points are the ones for the front center speaker. I will need to modify the harness to allow the center channel to be powered by the MS-8.

Finally with the underseat amp in the rear of the car, how would I connect the 12v so that it is powered only when the ignition is on (so my battery doesn't go flat?). I don't have fold down seats so I cant tap into the cig lighter socket.

As for the MS-8 putting out just 30W per channel, well I only followed what Technic has recommended. I'm not the type that will have my music up so loud though, so I think I should be ok in this field? The underseat woofers need more power and there is another amp for that provided.

For the MS-8 config:

1. Front left midrange/tweeter
2. Front right midrange/tweeter
3. Rear left midrange/tweeter
4. Rear right midrange/tweeter
5. Left kicker midbass
6. Right kicker midbass
7. OEM Center channel
8. Empty

Hows that? I mean I understand that having individual amp channels for each midrange and tweeter would be ideal, however that would mean I lose out the rear speakers, which I don't want. Furthermore, it would be a lot of work to route a set of new cables to each tweeter. While I do enjoy my high quality audio, it doesn't have to sound perfect in a car, which is a harsh environment to get right either way.

Cartmanizm

Do I really need to use a speaker cable to rca cable? The MS-8 accepts speaker cables directly (high level input I believe).


What I don't understand is the REM in and REM out? I'm assuming it stands for remote but if I use the cable (Ignition/switched on 12v +) and the ground cable I shouldn't need the remote right?

nelson29

Yes, you need to convert them. Trust me. the signal coming out of the cic are not high level, they're low level. Also Ms-8 wont fit glove compartmet. I suggest installing the ms-8 display in there.

Cartmanizm

Ok no worries, I'll get them converted. How about coming out of the MS-8? Do I do the same thing, RCA to speaker wire?

bruce_miranda

Sorry to sound condescending but some of your question are pretty basic. You sure you know what you are doing completely?

Your CIC has been coded for Hi-Fi which means that you are going to be getting 2 sets of low level feeds. These are speaker outs from your CIC but will be RCA low level inputs to your MS-8. Your MS-8 is then your amp and so you will not use the RCA but instead use the Speaker outs.

Since you are going to use Technics pnp cable you will still need to send the rear CIC outputs to your rear amp, the harness will then bypass the amp and feed the sub-woofer amps. You will get the remote feed from the old amp plug itself.

You still need the REM IN on the MS-8 because you want the MS-8 to turn on only when the car is on. The REM out is used if you then in turn want to turn something else on with the MS-8. Your sub-woofer amp wont need another REM because it has its own.

Cartmanizm

No you don't sound condescending at all! I'll admit, before I decided to do my own sound system upgrade I was completely and utterly clueless. I was happy with the BSW plug n play replacement speakers but the CIC retrofit pretty much forced me to make the next move to fix up the sound. Since then I made myself buy the audio components then figure out what to do later, which is what I am doing now!

I've receive the JL Audio XD 200/2 amp today. After reading through the owner's manual I can say I've finally gotten the full grasp of what to do. This whole remote concept, high/low input, is all new to me and so is an audio upgrade. Once I get it done though I'll have learned by experience but I'm a first timer so ya'll have to bear with me with a little patience .

The only thing I'm unsure of now is which trims I would need to pull up to route the cables from the back of the CIC to the boot. Does it go through the center console (handbrake area) then under the carpets to the back or whats the cabling route?

bruce_miranda

Never route any AV wires down the center tunnel, you will pick up interference. Route the cables via the left side under door entry trims. Its quite easy if you have fold down seats, if not its a bit of a paid to get the wires into the boot.

Cartmanizm

All right I still haven't started this project yet, I'm still waiting for the (delayed again) sub harness from Technic. One question though, which wire is the center output from the CIC (to plug into the MS-8)?

bruce_miranda

There is no centre output on the CIC, just LEFT and RIGHT. The MS-8 create a centre from those too feeds.