Hey Guys,

Just finished off my install in my VX220. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the VX220, it's a stripped-down two-seater made by Vauxhall, but based on the Lotus Elise (and built in the Lotus factory).

It's not an easy car to install into - it has a DIN slot, but due to the exposed aluminium interior and compactness of the passenger cabin, it's very hard to do a professional looking install. Given as this was my first ever install too, I'm pretty chuffed with how it's turned out!

System comprises of an Empeg Mk2a, hooked up to an Audison LRx 4.300 amplifier, which is driving a JL 10W6 subwoofer and some PPI 17cm components.

All installed without drilling a single hole, and with no visible cables - indeed, it's so stealth I have no worries about leaving the roof off in town.

Tweeter location:



Tweeters from inside:



Head unit:



All that's visible of the sub:



Speaker locations:



Amp and mahoosive crossovers:



Sub:

Very nice!!

For the other USians, looks like this:

Wow, very nice. Heck, I'd be nervous to leave the top off for fear someone'd jump in and steal the whole car. That thing looks pretty darn cool... and fast. Nice install.

(by the subject, I thought you were installing a cell phone into your car; of the LG variety, that is)

Nice. When I first read the digest, I was thinking XJ220 (Jaguar)!

How does it go having the components split so far apart (i.e. midbasses behind you and the tweeters in front)?

You mention no hole cutting - are all the speakers in factory locations?

Holy blue!

Nice car, btw.

Great looking install, and a super vehicle for it!

Cheers

The tweeters aren't going anywhere, the velcro is rated to something silly like 10kg vertically, and it's holding about 50g horizontally.

The sub is a slight concern in the event of an accident, but it really doesn't have any room to move at all - both seats are wedging it into place. So it doesn't have any room to build up momentum in a head-on collision.

Nothing moves at all in 'spirited' driving.

Bring it to the empeg meet in July, you could easily win the install prize.

Oh man, no price for worst install this year? I was so looking forward too winning that!

Well done all around!

What type of mount is that you have the iPaq in?

Not sure who makes it, but I got it from here:

http://www.dashmount.co.uk/

The cradle is a TomTom one.

Hi I have just got a vx220 and i want to change the standard speakers, can you give me some pointers on how to replace them and any recommendations on speakers to replace the standard ones.

Thanks

Is yours a 2.2 (NA) or 2.0 (Turbo)?

Changing the speakers on both is pretty easy - the hardest part is getting to the passenger-side one, as the seat isn't adjustable.

Standard 17cm speakers will fit in both cars, but the mounting depth needs to be less than 65mm, which limits the choice somewhat. There are still a bunch of options available though. Coaxials are far easier to fit, as you don't have to run wiring to the front of the car for tweeters, but drag the soundstage back even further.

Removing the old speakers is pretty easy - on the turbo there are four visible screws on the grilles, just remove these and out the speaker comes. On the NA, the screws are hidden behind the grilles, so you need to remove them - you'll need something to lever them out, but be aware that you're levering the grill out from the round plastic surround, NOT the plastic surround from the car panel.

There's loads more info on the vx220.org.uk forums, worth checking if you haven't looked already.

Let me know if you have any more questions.