Well I haven't even had my '09 Fit Sport (blue sensation) for 7 months, and the upgrade bug has gotten to me...

...the head unit and all the door speakers are being replaced this weekend. Also, the front doors are being Dynamatted, as well as the speakers in the rear.

I decided that due to my past experience with DIY installs/upgrades, I am paying a local shop to do everything for me. I set up an appointment and they told me it should be about $200 total including the Dynamat install. I've read quite a bit about HU upgrades, as well as speaker upgrades, but I just don't trust myself anymore with this kind of thing.

My first car I tinkered with was a 2000 Ford Focus. Gosh I remember having every door piece/screw/clip scattered all over the place, only to finish and know that things didn't go back together quite the way they should. Also, the HU install I did was not what I would call professional. Now of course I was 18, young, impatient, and probably lacked a lot of install knowledge when all of this occurred (which was a HU, speaker replacements, and sub install), but I am so glad I found a local shop that will do it all for me in a matter of 2-3 hours for such a relatively good price. If they screw it up, it's on them, not me.

For the HU, I decided on the Pioneer Premier FH-P800BT due to its minimalistic design, good reviews, and good price.

For the speakers, I decided on the Rockford Fosgate Power T1652 coaxials. Not a lot of info on them out there, but I think they're pretty new. I really liked their tweeter placement. I don't know why companies don't do this for all their coax designs.

I'm also looking forward to the Dynamat install, which I know should make a slight difference.

I think I'm going to try to hang around while they do the installs, especially the door removal/speaker replacement/and Dynamat install as these were my main original concerns. Hopefully they aren't annoyed by me keeping an eye on things...

Perhaps a sub will be installed later on. But for the time being, this is it and I'm excited for it.

Later

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have bought all the equipment online, not from the installer.

 

Cool! Snap some pics of the install! Each shop has their own rules, but if you mention up front that you would like to watch some of the install, it may not be a problem depending on how busy they are etc.. I bet you'll be 10x happier with this new system.

 

Can't wait for the full review of your upgrades!

 

OK well the upgrades are done. Bottom line - I am happy with everything.

The install shop has a policy that wouldn't allow me inside the install bay areas. But the installer needed to speak to me a few times with some questions, so those were some of the only times I was able to actually see their progress. Sorry I don't have pics of their work, but I can post pics of the final product if anyone is interested. The Scosche dash kit was used in this process, and the installer did not have any issues with fitment.

The fact that I wanted the Dynamat installed in the front doors and rear speakers kinda threw them for a loop. They were OK with it, but they had to have the shop owner do the install for Dynamat and the door speakers (after they saw that the speakers were not the "typical" install). I'm glad he did it because the guy really knew what he was doing. The whole install took a little long in my mind (four hours) but that's because they took so long on the first front door as to make sure that they were doing everything right. They explained to me that the popularity of Dynamat-type products has really gone down in the last decade, especially when installed in door locations. I am whole-heartedly convinced that it makes all the difference in the world if done properly.

Now, one thing that really made me upset is that they didn't end up using two of the Dynamat sheets from the door kit. This means that the front doors really didn't get as much as I had intended. I could see that they left the factory moisture membrane installed (and I have seen on this forum how some people remove it entirely) and the installer told me the reason I had some leftover Dynamat from the front doors is because he left the membrane on and isolated the speaker area, as well as one other area, creating a complete seal along that whole panel, making it so that sound waves cannot make their way out.

So, I have two extra large sheets of Dynamat to install somewhere else in my car and if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate that.

I really like the new head unit. It comes with a two-year warranty which I like. The bluetooth function worked with my phone right away (Droid Eris). It downloaded my phone book info. The installer put the bluetooth mic on the top above the windshield (center). Playback in every way has been great (bluetooth audio from phone's Pandora is great, CD, usb, and radio). The typical Pioneer blue-green organic led display is OK and doesn't quite match the car's blue led motif, but it still looks really good.

From several reviews I have read that people complain about using the head unit and how confusing it is. Well just like all electronics there is a learning curve, but I was able to figure everything out very quickly with no issues at all. I found that there are SO many audio control options. I have found that the sound retriever function is best used in Mode 1.

The speakers are a great change and I'm glad I did all four speakers. The front tweeters were a big mystery to me before all of this as I thought they would no longer be used with aftermarket head units, but the wiring must be tied into the front speaker's wiring. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I would actually prefer my front speakers to get all the wattage power, not just the majority of it. What do you think about that?

That's it for now.

 

Glas to hear everything went well. I have read from several other fit owners that the rear spare tire area is one of the best places to Dyno in terms of overall noise reduction. Pleaning on Doing my fit soon.

So your using both the stock tweeters and the ones in the coax door speakers?

 

I like the spare tire area idea for the remaining Dynamat install. I'll probably find some time to do that soon.

As for the front tweeters, the installer explained to me that the front tweeter's wiring is probably tied in with the front speaker's wiring. He said they probably pull minimal wattage from that pairing. I have not confirmed that they are still playing as I have not tried to test them yet.

I may try to unhook them because my new speakers (rockford power series) I've heard ideally need an external amp so I want to get them as much power as I can.

 

I would love to have a 7 band EQ....enjoy! Yeah in my experience each individual car audio shop can have a stark contrast of opinions on just about everything relating to your install. I find myself frequenting the higher end shops for information/ideas/tips/installation techniques, then get the same work done elsewhere with car audio minded friends and using the internet. What stuck out for me from your install was their comment about know one using Dynomat anymore?? Not so sure about that... Also what they likely did with yours is wrap the speaker surround in Dynomat, similar to mine shown below. I dynomatted the crap out of my car and there is a vary large difference this can make for your car audio experience if done properly. Also the rain guard or whatever else was in the way down there I believe we ripped all of that out and replaced with several large sheets of Xtreme dynomat....also ripped out the whole back end of the hatch area including the door hatch itself, and added a few layers of Dynomat back there as well for my sub to play around in...

 

reako: I was able to see their Dynamat work before they put the door panels back on. I would say the best way to describe what they did was they created a whole-panel baffle by taking one sheet and cutting it so it covered the speaker hole. They then cut out that area, put the speaker mount/speaker back over that area and then screwed it back in.

The moisture membrane extends the rest of the door, aside from one hole that they covered with Dynamat. So this is why I explain their installation as creating one large baffle.

The installer explained to me that he did not want to remove the moisture membrane because he didn't want to subject my doors to any type of moisture problems that he really didn't want to be responsible for...

While I wish he would have used a bit more of the material, I would say the end result is great. I am putting a lot of bass frequencies to these speakers from the head unit, and I will say this is probably the best I've ever heard from door speakers.

So all in all I'd say that given the install, it was done right. Would I have liked more used? Yes, for peace of mind. But it works well the way he did it.

Oh and the 7-band EQ is great. Completely transforms the music.

In your picture above, what speakers are those?

 

Hertz Energy 165.3's

Here's the thread I started a while back whenever I did my install: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...t-set-way.html

 

I have "dynamatted" the whole floor of a 3rd-gen Integra (+doors,hatch) and EP3 Civic. The biggest difference I noticed for insulating against driving noise was when I finally did the spare tire area.

I currently use a generic product I bought from eBay that is similar to Dynamat--- self adhesive rubberized asphalt with aluminum backing. Last night, I did the spare tire and surrounding trunk floor area of my new-to-me 2009. My wife actually noticed this morning and asked why the car was quieter.

 

I should have updated this earlier - I installed the extra Dynamat in my spare tire well a few weeks ago. I noticed an immediate improvement.

Will I do any more audio upgrades in this car? Probably not. My wife and I are expecting a baby and I can't justify giving up any rear cargo space at this point.

 

Now this is good to hear. I am going to dynamat my spare tire well too now. It would be nice to have less road noise!