Here's the audio upgrades I did in my 2014.5 CX5 Touring:
- replaced front door speakers with 8in. Lanza VX830s installed with foam speaker cups
- replaced dash tweeters with Polk DB351s and 0-300hz Stinger bass blockers
- installed Alpine KTP-445U amp
There are other good threads in this forum that cover installation of the door and dash speakers. I'll focus on the amp here.
I decided to leave the rear door speakers alone and leave them powered only from the stock head unit. The input to the KTP-445U is from the front speaker wires. There is a switch to set this (vs. using RCA plug input) and because I am only powering the front speakers I set another switch to 2 CH input which effectively bridges the two amps in the KTP to 90W per channel. This is just about the sweet spot for the speakers (the VX830s are rated for 200W but either that is very liberal or they are fairly efficient speakers).
As someone did elsewhere here I installed Molex connectors in the front speaker wires so I could choose to reconnect the original speakers if I so desired. This meant that I didn't need to do any soldering, but you have to be very careful and deliberate in your connections so everything lines up properly when the connectors are mated.
I grounded it to the bottom center bolt that holds the HU in the dash, and ran a wire to an Add-a-Fuse I had previously installed on a 15A switched circuit to which I had attached an additional accessory outlet for my GPS power cable.
The prep for this install requires removing the black plastic trim piece that runs across the dash (which has the two center vents in it), and then removing the HU black plastic bezel. I highly recommend using nylon/plastic trim pry tools for this so you don't scratch anything. I also recommend putting a cloth across the heat/vent/AC controls so they won't get all scratched up when you lean the HU against it to disconnect and later reconnect all the plugs in it's rear. You'll see this in the pictures below.
The black plastic trim piece pries off from the far right side. Do it slowly and carefully - it pulls straight forward once you've pried off all the pins/clips. The HU bezel pulls out from the bottom and then pivots up along it's top where there are 3 tabs that go into slots. Make sure you put these into the slots when re-installing so the bezel sits flush against the dash.
The 1st picture shows the Molex connectors patched into the front speaker wires on the back of the large plug that goes into the passenger side of the HU
This next picture shows the KTP unit with the provided cable ties attached to it and the patched Molex connectors attached to the KTP wiring and plugged into connectors on the speaker wires from the picture above. Note the ground wire (with the yellow collar) temporarily attached to the HU bolt in the center of the picture - this was just for testing. All unused wires on the KTP plugs (for the rear speakers, for instance) were wrapped up with twist ties to keep them out of the way. I didn't want to cut them in case I might want to use them in the future...
I attached the KTP-445U amp using the cable ties and hanging it from a large wire loom along the top of the dash just below the windshield, directly behind the center dash speaker grill (the clips of which you can see in the top center of this next picture). The yellow wire on the right is the power input that you'll see in the 4th picture. The black ground wire with the yellow collar will be re-connected on the bolt in this picture after the HU is put back in - this bolt used to hold it in the dash.
Here is the Add-a-Fuse I added in the fusebox by the drivers left leg. The red wire goes to an accessory outlet I added for my GPS and the yellow is connected to the yellow power-in wire on the KTP unit. The white rectangular thing attached to the wire is a label in case someone other than me wonders what it is for.
I hope this helps anyone else thinking of installing this amp. It was fairly easy. The worst part was dealing with the Molex conncetors and keeping the pinouts straight.
So how does it sound? I'm very happy with it. The sound is well balanced, clear, and the bass is nice and tight.
In the next post I'll provide links to some sound files so hopefully you can hear the difference of the setup at each step as it was upgraded.
- replaced front door speakers with 8in. Lanza VX830s installed with foam speaker cups
- replaced dash tweeters with Polk DB351s and 0-300hz Stinger bass blockers
- installed Alpine KTP-445U amp
There are other good threads in this forum that cover installation of the door and dash speakers. I'll focus on the amp here.
I decided to leave the rear door speakers alone and leave them powered only from the stock head unit. The input to the KTP-445U is from the front speaker wires. There is a switch to set this (vs. using RCA plug input) and because I am only powering the front speakers I set another switch to 2 CH input which effectively bridges the two amps in the KTP to 90W per channel. This is just about the sweet spot for the speakers (the VX830s are rated for 200W but either that is very liberal or they are fairly efficient speakers).
As someone did elsewhere here I installed Molex connectors in the front speaker wires so I could choose to reconnect the original speakers if I so desired. This meant that I didn't need to do any soldering, but you have to be very careful and deliberate in your connections so everything lines up properly when the connectors are mated.
I grounded it to the bottom center bolt that holds the HU in the dash, and ran a wire to an Add-a-Fuse I had previously installed on a 15A switched circuit to which I had attached an additional accessory outlet for my GPS power cable.
The prep for this install requires removing the black plastic trim piece that runs across the dash (which has the two center vents in it), and then removing the HU black plastic bezel. I highly recommend using nylon/plastic trim pry tools for this so you don't scratch anything. I also recommend putting a cloth across the heat/vent/AC controls so they won't get all scratched up when you lean the HU against it to disconnect and later reconnect all the plugs in it's rear. You'll see this in the pictures below.
The black plastic trim piece pries off from the far right side. Do it slowly and carefully - it pulls straight forward once you've pried off all the pins/clips. The HU bezel pulls out from the bottom and then pivots up along it's top where there are 3 tabs that go into slots. Make sure you put these into the slots when re-installing so the bezel sits flush against the dash.
The 1st picture shows the Molex connectors patched into the front speaker wires on the back of the large plug that goes into the passenger side of the HU
This next picture shows the KTP unit with the provided cable ties attached to it and the patched Molex connectors attached to the KTP wiring and plugged into connectors on the speaker wires from the picture above. Note the ground wire (with the yellow collar) temporarily attached to the HU bolt in the center of the picture - this was just for testing. All unused wires on the KTP plugs (for the rear speakers, for instance) were wrapped up with twist ties to keep them out of the way. I didn't want to cut them in case I might want to use them in the future...
I attached the KTP-445U amp using the cable ties and hanging it from a large wire loom along the top of the dash just below the windshield, directly behind the center dash speaker grill (the clips of which you can see in the top center of this next picture). The yellow wire on the right is the power input that you'll see in the 4th picture. The black ground wire with the yellow collar will be re-connected on the bolt in this picture after the HU is put back in - this bolt used to hold it in the dash.
Here is the Add-a-Fuse I added in the fusebox by the drivers left leg. The red wire goes to an accessory outlet I added for my GPS and the yellow is connected to the yellow power-in wire on the KTP unit. The white rectangular thing attached to the wire is a label in case someone other than me wonders what it is for.
I hope this helps anyone else thinking of installing this amp. It was fairly easy. The worst part was dealing with the Molex conncetors and keeping the pinouts straight.
So how does it sound? I'm very happy with it. The sound is well balanced, clear, and the bass is nice and tight.
In the next post I'll provide links to some sound files so hopefully you can hear the difference of the setup at each step as it was upgraded.
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