Hey guys,

PLEASE NOTE: I suggest you do not click on the images, as they were taken with a 7.2mp camera, so theyll will be very large once opened.


I am currently a Year 12 student who attends St Joseph's Catholic High School.

Below are some images of my Major Design Project which I completed for Design and Technology as a part of my HSC.

I just want a few comments from you guys telling me of your thoughts on my design and installation of the overall stereo system. Your positive comments will be greatly appreciated.

The car is a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer GLi 4 Door Sedan. Owned by H7DRO.

Stereo system begins with:


Source Unit:

A Sony CDX-F7710

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Front 6" Splits:

Jaycar Kevlar 6.5" Splits. Custom 12mm MDF Baffles were constucted to solidly mount the woofer to. The MDF baffles were painted in White Acrylic paint, to help to 'waterproof' them. Door trim replaced, ensures that the speakers are well hidden behind the factory trim. This 'stealth' approach was maintained throughout the installation process. (The below image is of the test fit of the speaker and baffle. The MDF baffle was painted before being finally installed, after this photo was taken).

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Tweeters are flush mounted into the kick panels.

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Rear Co-axials:

Jaycar Kevlar 6.5" 2 Way Co-axials. These are mounted to custom 6mm MDF baffles. Again, this photo is of the test fit, then these were painted with White Acrylic after this picture was taken, to make them look nicer, and the factory trim was able to be retained, for the 'stealth' approach.

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4-Channel Amplifier:

Jaycar 4x50wrms. This runs the front splits, and the rear co-axials, and is mounted under the driver's seat. All wiring has been neatly cable tied and routed to the front of the amplifier before disappearing under the carpet and trim panels.

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2-Channel Amplifier:

Jaycar 2x150wrms. This runs the subwoofer, in bridged mode, and is mounted under the passenger seat. Again, all wiring has been neatly cable tied and routed to the front of the amplifier before disappearing under the carpet and trim panels.

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Subwoofer:

DD 1012a. This is mounted into a Custom designed and built 18mm MDF enclosure. Its internal volume is 2.0cu/ft, and features 2x 90mm Ports, to achieve a tuning frequency of 40hz. The enclosure has been designed so that it fits perfectly and snugly in between the shock towers, and also features an angled front and back section, the latter utilises the space, and tapers to the angle of the back seat. It has 2 Blue CCFL tubes that are hooked up via the boot light. So when the boot is open, the lights turn on. There is a third light mounted under the parcel shelf, which shines down nicely onto the subwoofer. First image is with lights on, second is with lights off.

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Power Wiring:

Jaycar 4ga main power wire, Distribution Block, and Jaycar 8ga to amplifiers. This is routed and cable tied through the engine bay and through a rubber grommet in the firewall. This then runs down the centre console, into a distribution block, which safely splits it into two, for the amplifiers. The distribution block has been secured via the use of velcro, so it does not move around.

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Battery And Fusing:

Maxi-Blade 120A Fuse. This is mounted to a custom aluminium battery brace. Also featured here is a Jaycar Voltmeter positive battery terminal, and a Phoenix Gold, Bronze negative terminal, with 2 Stinger HPM series 0ga earths, to the chassis.

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All comments welcome, however;

PLEASE NOTE: No inappropriate talk, swearing, and/or smart remarks, as this will be printed for use in my folio as part of the evaluation process, so it should remain relatively professional.



Thank you for your time.



Regards,

- mad89

thought there were some pics missing

- Stooge007 out

What is that plug for that kind of looks like a LAN cable? Is it a remote wire for when using a standard headunit?

Very clean from what I can see

Ah yes. I had some minor technical difficulties. It is all sorted now.



That plug is for the remote bass controller from the Jaycar 2x150 amp. It utilises the same plug/connection of a telephone line im fairly sure...



Thank you.

- mad89

wikid

Yes it does. rj-11.

Okay, distro steps down a cable size, but theres no fusing to protect that cabling. Given the proximity to moving seat rails (i know thats a tight area) this isnt the best idea. How is the distro secured also.

How is the sub box actually secured.

The aluminium brace, is the fuse holder insulated from it? IF not, theres a potential hazard...a direct path to earth through the brace, which would very rapidly heat up.

Do the speakers in the doors have a little hat on the rear of them (ie, a flap of waterproof material, like foam, wedged between the mdf and the inner skin, which sits on top of the basket and acts like a little rain cap. Not exactly crucial, but a good idea.

Other than that, its absolutely solid. Extremely neat, looks mostly well secured. Nice work.

The distro doesn't need fusing because there is already a fuse in place at the battery end. The extra fuses would just add unwanted resistance anyway.

Nice work on the install, mate!

Thank you.

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Yes, thanks. I thought it was RJ-11, thanks for confirming it.



I was advised that i did not need fuses in between the 8ga wire and the amps, as they are only about 60-70cm in length.

The distribution block is secured with velcro.


At the moment it is not secured, it squeezes rather tightly in between the shock towers, however in Lancers (without folding seats) they have a metal rim that seals the boot from the cabin. Upon inspection, i felt that this may be enough to hold the sub-box there in the event of an accident. However, ive also advised the owner of the car to invest in some ROK-BOX straps to hold it in place securely.



The bottom of the fuse holder is about 4mm thick plastic. I assume that it would not require insulation as this plastic is unlikely to allow a direct connection to earth. This will be double checked though and addressed.
Do you have any suggestions as to what i should put in between it?



No. it was decided that they may not be necessary, since it was impossible to retain the factory ones, do to larger diameter speakers being used.



Thank you.

- mad89

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This is similar to what i was advised, through reading on this very forum, and from some stores.



Thank you.

- mad89

Fuse holder sounds fine then. Well insulated. Generally if somethings not well insulated you'd put a layer of non conductive material (mdf, or plastic) between the two, and wouldnt screw through it. IE, attach holder to insulating layer, seperately attach insulation to mounting surface.

But your holder sounds sufficient.

You can also use that trick, to mount amps under seat, with the bonus of putting the mdf under the carpet (nice secure hold, and insulation).

Looks good.

What i thought also.



Yes, i have seen this done before, but wanted to avoid glueing or screwing MDF to the floor under the carpet. In this case, the Amplifiers were secured to the carpet using an industrial velcro.



Thank You, once again.

- mad89

top job rick, everything looks spot on and seems to be done in a manner which you would expect from a professional installer, everything seems to fit right and "appears" factory. good luck and hopefully this brings you the marks you deserve.

one question? since the factory negative terminal has been replaced where dp the factory grounds mount to? also where do the new 1/0g runs go to?

Thank You.



There was only one factory 8ga ground in the stock battery terminal. This has been inserted into the secondary 8ga input on the aftermarket Phoenix Gold terminal. (if u look closely u can *just* see it, its on the left side of the terminal)

The 0ga earths run to the chassis rails. One goes down locally, to the passenger chassis rail, and the other is cable tied along the front apron and mounts to the drivers side chassis rail.



- mad89

the headunit is sitting nice and flush and from what can see no marks at all around the outside as some people may get when installing headunits.

the splits up front and how the tweeters have been mounted very nice and clean.

the cables nice and tidy looks very clean and appropriate sizes of cables used.

for the enclosure it looks nice and clean and tidy

if was have to give ya a score out of 1-10 for the neatness and the work on the car i would definately have to give you a 10/10 i would be happy to let you do and install for me anyday.

very good job man

cheers

billy

Yes, this was a priority of the owner. To make the source unit sit flush and be relatively similar to the factory dash colour, to maintain the "stealth" approach.



Thanks, the tweeters were flush mounted using a 50mm holesaw, if i recall correctly. I simply cut it out, then filed it smooth to ensure a snug/tight fit.



Cable management techniques were researched as part of the portfolio, and I decided to use cable ties to maintain a neat overall look, and to secure the plethora of wires throughout the installation.



The pictures dont really do it justice. The colour of the carpet is a 95% match to the factory carpet, and it fits tightly/snugly in between the shock towers. The front angle is perfect, as it allows the subwoofer to be on display from eye level/standing height, when you open the bootlid.



Thank You.



Thank You, again.

- mad89

hey mate,



must say great job, looks really proffesional hope u do well with this project, you maintained a good stealth appearance.

Pretty neat and tidy installation there mate Hows is it sound?

So I guess u need to drive the car down to the skul and show it to ur teacher rite?He/She will be impressed for sure and mite ask u to install one in his/her car

Thank You. The 'stealth' appearance/approach was a major part of the design/installation process.

I agree that this has been well achieved throughout, where possible.

- mad89

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Thank You. It sounds very nice and clean. The Jaycar splits sound suprisingly great for their low price. Reports that they have a harsh tweeter were combatted by installing them low into the kick panels, and also making use of the Crossover Network's on-board tweeter attenuation.
The Source Unit's variable Equaliser allowed me to tune it even further to get it sounding nice. At the moment, it is faded towards the front by +7.
The subwoofer is excellent. Very hard hitting and it literally shakes the whole car.

Overall, the owner is extremely impressed with the final result, as am I.



Yes, i have shown my Design And Technology teacher, and he is more than impressed with the sound and workmanship that went into the car and installation process.



- mad89

one comment i will say.

its good to see that you chose this for your deisgn and tech assignment. as not many people realise how much work that goes into fitting and installing car audio systems.'

not to mention cars are not the greatest things for sound quality specially when it comes to asking a sound engineer, they like to think its not easy to aquire a perfect sound quality set-up in cars.

but yeah its good to see you using the car audio set-up and installing and designing a car audio set-up, for ya design and tech assignment.

a big cheers again from me on the work and effort put into this.

Yes, the whole installation was a very lengthy process, juggling school with installing (i.e. working on it after 4pm etc) then having to juggle when the owner of the car, was able to bring it round, if he had other commitments, and/or worked etc.

The installation is one thing. I have a whole portfolio to go with it, which has proved the plethora of research and testing that needs to be conducted to gain some knowledge about car audio.

Its not just about cutting and joining wires (for example) theres alot of other stuff to consider, as i have found out through the portfolio.



So i have read on here too. The sound quality of the stereo system as a whole is really good, and im very impressed with the performance of the Jaycar Kevlar Splits up front, in conjunction with their amps (for their price). The DD subwoofer has also suprised me, as it complements the whole system with ease.



Thank you.

- mad89

A very neat looking install there mate. Looks very professional, not like a backyard install whatsoever, nice work.

Thanks mate.

- mad89

Installation Technique is among one of the higher end installs for a basic upgrade. Wires routed Correctly. Cables Secured. Amps Secured Makes for a very stock looking system. The feeling of having a system installed like that is enough to make anyone smile

Very good work mate, keep it up

Thank You.


Thanks, again this was an important consideration throughout.


Yes, i agree Overall, the owner is extremely happy with the result, as am I.


Thank You, will do.

- mad89

Hi there, i have to agree a nice clean install and well thought out. Sorry to hi-jack this thread, but may i enquire as to the model number of that phoenix gold negative battery terminal? What connections does it have? from here it looks like 2 0 gauges and then possibly a 4 and an 8 gauge? I've had a look on the Phoenix gold site but the closest i can find is one with 2 0 gauge and one 8 gauge connection which doesn't look like the one in the pictures. Cheers, Bryce.

Thank You.


No problems. To be honest i/we dont know the model number of it, as it was bought second hand, and there are no markings on it to indicate a model. Its a little old school, so i doubt you will get one. Unless second hand again.


2x0ga + 2x8ga. Its Bronzy/Shadowy Chrome. A VERY nice terminal in the flesh.


cheers
- mad89

PS: Thank you for all your comments. These will be printed for inclusion into my portfolio.

Hrmmm, I could give comments, or I could give advice ? Which do you want ? LOL !

Advice:
Well first off.. those are Spacers, not baffles. Baffles are part of a speaker box, spacers are used to achieve clearance between speakers and metal parts .
The cable around the amp, I'd suggest hiding them under a trim panel. Just get some 3-6mm MDF, cut it to the floors general shape, cut a hole in the middle the size of the amp (but not big enough to let the terminals come thru), and grab some grey carpet from Bunnings. Staple the carpet on, lay it out the amp, voila, covered cables and a clean finish.
Those neons dont look finished the way they are, kind of a last might tack on. To clean it up will take some major rebuilding of the baffle.. What you could do, is make a false front over the baffle, and where those lights are make some 3" wide cut outs, approx. the length of the tube. Router a lip inside then glue perspex into the lip (this becomes the inside, so no one can see the glue). Now, get some stickers made at the local sticker shop (The sub & HU logo's would be good), but get them cut mirror image, in black, and have the centers removed (like a painters mask). Stick that on the back, then when mounted with the neons on, the logo's glow. Swanky..
Also I stole that idea from Shiny

Comments:
Mounting the speakers behind the OEM grills is a nice way to give you a stealth install. They look identical to OEM installation, which hides the speakers from thieving eyes. They also spring a nice surprise on anyone expecting a horrible stock speaker system when they hear the clarity of the aftermarket speakers.
The MDF space boards provide the neccessary clerances, and also re-inforce the panel. This will reduce door panel resonances, improving clarity and efficiency by not wasting power in vibration.
Locating the tweeter inside the kick panel will improve the imaging quality from higher frequencies. They're also well hidden from prying eyes. Additionally, they are located close to the accompanying woofer, reducing signal separation. Again, improving signal clarity.
The amplifiers are a fine match for the speakers in terms of power ratings and crossover configurations, allowing clean power to be delivered correctly to each speaker. The crossover configurations ensure that only the required frequencies are played back from the appropriate speaker.

The enclosure is well built and correctly sized for the woofer. The ports posses 2/3rd's the area I would recommend for this size enclosure, presenting only 19.7 sq.inch of port area. However, the only ill effect of this smaller area is reduced total SPL.
As the maximum air velocity is low above the tuning frequency, the "choofing" effect from excessive air velocity caused by too small of a port area is not present in this system.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Thats a neat install, but, one question, why did you mount the tweaters in the kick pannel? Tweater are very directional and need to be up higher and positioned so they are angled towards the listener. I'm not having a go at your install, just some advice for your next install. Other than that, its a pretty good install.

I would agree with mad89, that tweeter position gives the stage a lot of depth and can really give a sound stage quite high and stable.

The only suggestion I would make is to use corrugated conduit (like in engine bay wiring) to cover up the wiring around the amps - just to give it that extra factory look.

top job, good work.

Hmm I agree and disagree, there more commonly known as spacers here but if you look on alot of US sites they refer to them as baffles, or for that matter open baffle home audio speakers, exactly what they sound like a flat piece of wood with the speakers mounted free air essentially. So I see nothing wrong with using the baffle terminology.

^agreed.

Baffle AFAIK reffers to the surface upon which the loudspeaker driver is mounted

Well we had a play around with the tweeters on some extended speaker wire, and found they sounded best down there. Also, the Jaycar tweeters are slightly harsh for mine and the owners liking, so they were installed low to attempt to combat this.

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This is what we found.



Hmm. This is a good idea. The owner is happy with it at the moment, but i will mention it to him.



Thank You.

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Hmm. I agree, however this isnt of major concern. Either way, they are wooden 'mounts' to hold the speaker.

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Again, not of major concern, but i also agree.

Cheers All.

- mad89

Just to add to this:

This has been finished for a while now, i had to take the car into school on the day that external markers came to my school.

I stripped one side of the car (passenger side) to show the workmanship and my applications of testing (using MDF etc). I removed the passenger seat, door trim, and rear speaker grill, so they could see what was done.

I wasnt allowed to be present on the day/at the time they marked it, but my mates who were there, said that the markers seemed fairly impressed with it, as they sat in the car and 'cranked' it for about 20 minutes, ontop of reading my 200-odd page Folio.

As mentioned, i had a 200-odd page Folio to go with it, aswell as a Diary/Journal from the past year of working on the whole thing, and a folder with about 40 pages of installation pictures.

I also had to make a 'display board' to showcase to the markers my 'evidence of research and testing'.

'Testing' included (as part of the Folio) :

- Materials Testing:
* Types of Wood for the subwoofer enclosure
* Types of Fabric to cover the subwooder enclosure
- Techniques Testing:
* Wire/Cable Connection techniques
* Insulation techniques
* Cable Management techniques
- Tools Testing:
* Choosing The Right Tool For The Job
* Digital Multimeter Testing
* Testlight Testing
* Pilot Holes Testing
* Waterproofing Testing

All of these 'test pieces and photos' were compiled onto a 'display board', and put on show with my Folio etc on the day of marking.

This is how it was on the day:
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You can see the display board (with all the pieces and photos), my 'Diary/Journal' (from the whole 12months of the project), my 200-odd page 'Folio', and my 'Installation Process' folder, with all the photos from the installation, (which was about 40 pages, and included the step by step explanation of each photo).

Not exactly sure when we get the marks back for this, but i think its around the 19th of December (when the HSC results are released)...

Anyways, just thought id let everyone in on all that

Any questions and/or comments still welcome, feel free to ask

Cheers
- mad89

Wow that's a huge effort mate! Congrats!

It's great to see people that put the effort to get the marks or result desired..hopefully this carries on into your professional work career..

I'm sure the hard work will be compensated with top marks, as i think you deserve them..wish i did something like this at school...

Good luck,
Brock

im pretty sure results come out on the 11th......your folios make mine look bad lol

how did we go with this?
I hope you did well.

Hey.

Pulse, 12:12am. The Results didnt come out until 6:00am.

I do not get a separate result for this. The mark i get as part of my HSC results is the combined mark of this project and the HSC exam. The project takes up 60% of the mark, and the other 40% is made of up the HSC exam.

According to my Teacher though, he told me that they will get the separated mark early next year (February or later). So i will have to wait, and keep in contact with him about it.

As for all of my HSC results, for 5 of my 6 subjects, i got 80% or over, and in the last subject i got 70%.

I wont forget about this, as i am also keen to know what i got for this (as a separated mark), so once i know, ill be sure to post back.



Cheers all,
- mad89

mad89, congrats on a fantastic job. it's quite inspiring

mark

Any news mad?

Hmm. Nothing yet, i havent bothered to keep in contact with the school.

Maybe ill shoot an email off to my old teacher and see what he says.

Ill keep youse posted



Edit: Just tried to log into my old school email account to get the teachers address, but we cant get in anymore LOL. Ill figure something out

I got 100% In Deisgn and Technology in my HSC Year.

I built a Whole House Media System with clients and Custom Software