The RF and Alpine stuff is great. I originally was going to use an Alpine 5 channel amp, but suddenly things took and different course and everything just started to evolve on it's own.
My bad on telling everyone that my car was missing the Harman Kardon amp...I found it! Researching this stuff on the web is like doing a doctorate thesis.
I wish someone would just write a book and be done with it!
I searched everywhere trying to find the location of the amp in my car, but all of the photos were of either coupes or sedan showing the amp in the trunk, which is where I was looking. I finally found one very poor image of the amps location for a convertible. It's mounted in a steel bracket wedged between the left rear trim panel and the body. For a 10 channel amp, this thing is tiny, only about 7 x 8 inches or so. After more research into the E46 audio conundrum, I became determined to take the easiest route possible for every part of the install. I scanned hundreds of images of wiring diagrams, plugs, the numbers assigned to the little pins on the plugs, all the various wire colors, how to cut and slice and blah...blah..blah! I'm still committed to maintaining the OEM appearance, so some things were and some things were not negotiable when it came down to choosing the components:
HEAD UNIT: Dynavin N6-E46, because it's almost identical looking to the OEM unit and after further research, has many great features and is easy to install.
FRONT: Focal K2 Power 130 KRC 5.25" 2-Way, because they fit, sound incredible and were half off the usual price of $799.00 at Crutchfield.
REAR: Focal K2 Power 100KRS 4" Component, same reasons as above but will require minor mods to fit.
AMP: Helix DSP V Eight, because it's a state of the art DSP amp with endless fine tuning possibilities, FITS in the original mounting location with a few minor mods, and I got a great deal on a demo unit from a friend of mine that works for the US distributor of all the Audiotec-Fisher stuff. I would not never have considered shelling out 1,400 clams on an amp, but like I said, was a good deal.
SUBWOOFER: JL Audio ACP108LG-W3v3 (Enclosed 250 watts powered) again it fits, has incredible bass for the money and frees up two channels on the amp I can use for more power up front and maybe even a center channel. No deal on this, gotta pay retail.
The only thing about this install that was keeping me up at night was having to cut and splice all the multicolored wires coming on the HK amp harness. SOLVED for 75 bucks!
http://technicpnp.com/product-catego...6/top-hifi-hk/
I still have a little research to do on the best way to assign the 8 channels on the Helix before the final install next week, but other than that it's looking pretty good.
Oh yea, I must have removed at least 10 pounds worth of factory modules and brackets that I'm going to save in the event I ever sell. This way I could reinstall the OEM junk and get to keep all the neat stuff listed above.
Pics should be up in a week or so.