Double-din units look great on the EXA.

First off, ditch the factory head unit it sucks.

Find your particular head unit, and make sure that it can meet your future needs. Such as if you're planning to run four speakers, and subwoofer through an amplifier in the future grab a deck with front and rear pre-outs and also a subwoofer pre-outs. Such decks can be quite expensive, and may cost upwards of AUD$600. Another alternative is to run an equaliser which may give you extra outputs.

But if you just want a twin speaker and sub setup then most head units will come with at least one output (i.e. for the front) and perhaps even a rear output.

While we're on the topic of outputs, high-end head units will come with 4 volt pre-outs to improve the quality of the signal to the amplifier. Definately a worth while investment.

What else is interesting is the advent of newer technologies in head-units. The makers of Dolby have also come up with BBE, and what this basically does is improve the time it takes sound waves to reach your ears to accurately reproduce the sound. In short, it makes music closer to how it was meant to sound.

Also with everyone now downloading MP3s, it is possible to get head units which read normal 128+ kilobit encoded MP3s. Therefore you can fit over a hundred decent quality MP3s on a single CDR.

And with the improvement of lasers, newer units will also allow the reading of CD-RW discs (Re-writable CD Media). Generally CD-RW discs are harder for normal lasers to pick up information but newer units do this with no problem.

Simple mounting panel replaces factory 6.5" grille here.

Going a step further, custom kick panels. Great for those three-way split setups.

Ask anyone car audio buff and they'll tell you that you need at least a set of decent two-way splits. Splits refer to the arrangement of the tweeter and mid-range speakers. Instead of having a tweeter and mid-range in what looks like a singler speaker, splits will separate the two allow independent mounting of the tweeter. This is very important in the separation of the vocal ranges of each speaker.

The tweeter will handle your high end notes (voices, etc), mid range speakers will handle your middle range notes (drums, etc.).

However the EXA does not lend itself to split speaker mounting in standard form and hence some kind of kick panel or mounting kit may be required. You'll notice in many setups the tweeter is mounted no further than 30 cm from the mid-range speakers, this allows for a far clearer sound as sounds from each arrive at your ears closely together.

If you're wondering what size speakers to go for the rear, make sure the rears do not overpower your front (you don't go to a concert with your back towards the band do you?). But i've heard 7x10's will fit the pods with some modification. Make sure you use dacron or other sound dampening materials in all your installations. EXAs are renown for their rattling.

You want big bass and don't want to lose your boot (or backseat)? Or worried you'll lose access to your targa storage area? We've got a few tricks up our sleeves.

Mounting the sub box to the rear seat will allow you box to swing forward with your seat for easy targa storage and removal. Or make a light weight box with side handles for easy lifting and moving. Be sure that your power / speaker wires are either long enough or able to be disconnected in case you've got to move your box a bit further to gain access to your spare wheel well.

Other setups here include, the removal of the rear seat. Some people say that the rear seats are good for short trips anyway and don't make much use of them, so I say ditch the seat and get a few more subs in there! Or even try a separate storage compartment for your targas!

An award winning setup here!

Colour co-ordination at it's finest.

Insane setup if you don't mind losing your boot.

Anyold how, just turn your backseat into a targa storage compartment.

• If you run high powered amps or AV systems then look into getting a high output battery (gel-cel or high-CCA) amps are great.
• Make sure you fuse the power wire to your amps within 30 cms of the battery. This can save your life in an accident and prevents electrically sparked explosion. Also it's Sound-Off regulations all across the world.
• Select the correct guage power and speaker wires. E.g. as a rule of thumb under 250Watt RMS total system power, use 4 to 8 gauge.. over 250watts and you'll need 2-4 gauge. Then there's speaker wires, make sure your subs get the largest possible. And your front speakers get large OFC's (oxygen free cabling). If in doubt visit your local Jaycar electronics store.
• Long exposure of sound levels of over 110db can result in loss of hearing. The fine strains of hair inside your ears that pick up sound vibrations can flatten and they won't come up again leaving your hearing impaired. Our ears are particularly sensitive to the lower extremeties of the sound wave (that is bass), so have fun but by all means don't leave it blasting all day long.
• That's it folks.. enjoy!