14 replies to this topic

[Benno25]

Hi all,

I am about to start my first install in a VY Commodore and are after some ideas on how to make it a nice stealth install with minimum weight and still have a useable boot etc.

I am planning on mounting the amps (Alpine PDX-F6 and PDX-M12) up under the rear parcel shelf, but are unsure what I'm going to do with the sub at this stage. I am either looking at getting a moulded fibreglass enclosure off ebay that will fit nicely into the left hand side of the boot without taking up too much space. Or possibly just having a sub box sitting in the boot and anchored somehow so I can easily rip it out quickly? Love to hear some other ideas or see some pictures of other peoples installs like this.

Next I am looking for a nice sounding sub (or possibly two) to fit a smallish sealed enclosure. I want something more focused on sound quality with a nice bottom end. Probably not looking to spend any more than about $600 at this stage. I have some Peerless XLS subs in my home stereo that I really like the sound of and was thinking about getting one for the car also. I'm not sure how they will go in a small sealed box though? What subs would you guys recommend?

Thirdly, I am only planning on dynamatting the front doors and possibly a bit of the boot area. What areas of the boot should I focus on that will have the greatest effect on making things sound nice?

I should probably add that I listen to a wide range of music, but probably more breaks/hip hop with plenty of nice deep bass lately.

Thanks for your ideas.

Cheers
Benno

[peaandham]

Firstly with the sub, the fiberglass boxes are a good idea however that have been some mentions that some of the one purchased off Ebay aren't up to scratch (not to say that is the case for all of them), if you can make on for yourself however it would probably be beneficial or otherwise a standard MDF will suffice. Depending on the sub your purchase you will need to tailor your enclosure to suit. I own a "Morel SC12" and love it, in a 35Litre sealed box is plays nice and low and sounds beautiful.

As for mounting the box if you make sure you check where you are drilling first a few well played tek screws will do the job, otherwise if you have some really hand anchor points, rachet straps work will aslong as they are installed correctly. Also a good idea is that you could put some anderson connectors on the wire to the sub so if need be you could unplug it for easy removal.

The idea with Dynamat is that the large, flatter areas need the attention, anything with a curve in it can be sturdy enough not to cause an issue. For the bootlid you will have bracing and then a thin piece of sheet metal, cut some dynamat to fit these thinner areas on metal and apply, then wedge some foam between the bracing and the bootlid to stop the 2 parts vibrating against each other.

[Benno25]

Yeah, I am leaning towards the ratchet straps to anchor the box.

For quick disconnecting the sub, I was thinking of using a Neutrik Speakon connector.

Thanks for your ideas.

Benno

[TMM]

For the boot lid, run a bead of sikaflex between the bracing and the outside skin, then apply deadener to any metal that 'rings' when you tap on it. You'll find that metal with lots of bends and ridges in it doesn't need as much attention as large flat panels.
You can get the carpet bootlid trim that the Calais has for about $80 which will hide the deadener and prevent luggage from ending up with bits of deadener stuck all over it

For the boot itself i would pay attention to the rear quarter panels (reach right in and put deadener on the inside of the panel towards the front), wheel tubs. The floor doesn't need much at all (just tap around and find the problem spots), and you can get away without doing the spare wheel well because the wheel being bolted to it does a pretty good job of stopping it resonating.

It's also worth pulling out the rear seats and parcel shelf trim and doing the rear firewall and parcel shelf from the inside.

You shouldn't need much more than 20sq ft of deadener to do all that.

[Benno25]

Sounds good, thanks for the tips

[Benno25]

Ok, the install has begun.

I have pulled the back seats out and started running the cables down either side of the car and into the boot. I have run the RCA's and two speaker wires together down the passenger side. Is it ok to run the speaker cables with the RCA's?
The speaker and RCA cabling to the amps will be run up on top of the rear parcel shelf and drop down the existing holes to the amps.

I will also be relocating my battery to the boot and are going to run the battery feed, the other two speaker wires and the amp remote turn on cable down the drivers side.

I also made up a bit of ply and carpeted it to mount the amps up under the rear parcel shelf.

I still need to get some dynamat and do the parcel shelf etc while the seats are out.

Some pictures of the mess so far are shown below.









Cheers
Benno

[Benno25]

Also, is it worth running the mids and tweeters for the splits up front off separate channels of the amp? I am thinking of possibly using all four channels of one amp just to run the front speakers and keeping the stock rear speakers running off the head unit? I'm not sure whether to go ahead with this or whether it would be worth the trouble? I guess this would require an active crossover of some type before the amps also?

Cheers
Benno

[peaandham]

1) Speaker wires are fine to run with RCA's.

2) What sort of headunit are you running? What are the speakers you are wanting to run?

Running active (each speaker has its own channel) has many benefits one being the tuning flexibility. If you head unit doesn't have the crossovers needed you will have to set the frequency's on the amps instead.

[TMM]

Looks good so far. Only thing i would suggest is run the drivers side speaker wires under the dash to the passenger side and up the passenger side to the boot. That helped eliminate a slight alternator whine in the drivers side tweeter in my car.

[Benno25]

Thanks guys,
The head unit is an alpine ida-x305s. It sounds like to run a set of splits active I will need the pxa-h100 processor configured as a 3 way setup.
The splits I am unsure of yet, probably looking at the morel dotech ovations.

Cheers

[Benno25]

I am now planning on going with the pxa-h100 processor set up as a 3 way system. Sub in the boot, with midbass and tweeters in the front.
For the speakers, I am looking at getting a set of Morel Dotech 6" splits and ditching the crossover.

Seeing as I'm going to not use the crossover, would I be better off buying some midbass drivers and tweeters separately? If so what would people recommend?
Note, the speakers will be located in the stock locations and I am after a sound quality biased system with some decent midbass that can still play fairly loud.
I want the tweeters to sound nice and not too harsh on the ears at loud levels, if that makes sense?

Cheers
Benno

[Benno25]

Looking into this further, I am considering something like a pair of SB Acoustics SB17's and a Scan Speak dome tweeter.

How would something like this compare to the morel dotech ovation midbass and tweeters?

Cheers

[Benno25]

A little bit of progress made today. I'm aiming for a nice simple install that is fairly hidden. Starting to like how its turning out.






The sub shown is an old one I have had in the cupboard for years. This will be used at first until I order a Peerless XXLS and make up a new box etc.
Next thing will be to finish of the wiring for my battery relocation, some dynamatting and start putting the back half of the car back together.
The front stage is going to be scanspeak mids / tweeters in the factory locations and running active I have decided.

Cheers
Benno

[Aussierox]

If you don't end up going scan speak I would reccomend the DLS ultimate series speakers. I currently have a set and they sound great for SQ but also play really loudly they love to go loud!

[Magnum9]

Buy the DLS set in the for sale forum for $300, bargain. I have the UP6i which use the same tweeters and they are very smooth, not harsh at all.

http://www.mobileele...opic/567066-FS-[SA]---Exodus-Shiva-X2,-DLS-Ultimate-Iridium,-two-Fusion-amplifiers

Edited by Magnum9, 07 July 2012 - 11:57 PM.