my new ice system

[Lego]

i got a good system going in my car.

i have all the equipment but im installing as i go

installed as of right now:
sony gt300 xplode s drive cd player
percision power 50w amp (glory day amp)(hooked to my rears)
my 2 rears are diamond audio motorsports 6.5in

equipment being installed within a week:
3 jl 10 inch w6's
phenoix gold 600(powering my w6's)
eclipse 40w (glory day amp)(for my 2 fronts)
2 fronts that are diamond audio motorsports 5in
7 inch monitor
ps2 slim

so oppinions on my setup?

[Adam West]

Wonder what all that weights? Ha, ha!

No, sounds cool. Post some pics when you get it in!

[amdrunner]

yeah some pics would be nice. ...I'd be especially interested in how you ran the wires through the car to your amp and such and how you mounted the amps.

[Lego]

well as for wiring everything, just take out all the plastic in the middle of the car, take out the driver seat (makes it a smoother install) all the rca jacks, thick power cable coming from firewall, speaker wire, remote wires throught the carpet going past the gear shift and past the seat belt tensioners. then pull them through the back seat. take thick grounding wire and bolt it to on the the rear seat bolts. the new speakers in the back had to have holes drilled, looks clean. the front speakers had bigger magnets then stock so you must retrofit the stock speaker brackets to the new speakers. so far i have everything done except for my subs in the trunk. diamond audio speakers are really the best speakers ive heard they are sound incredibly clean and made in germany. pics up soon

[Lego]

custom ported box to fit trunk




its a complete mess I know lol

[Legacy Konig]

Damn dude, this is pretty serious...

That's like pimp my ride serious.

I don't even know what advice I could offer you.

But I guess if I have any advice it's this...

Don't take any shortcuts, if you really are going to be installing this entire system yourself, make sure you don't skimp where you shouldn't. Proper wire diameters, proper and correctly corresponing fuse to volt ratio, making sure wires won't be pinched, or perhaps even subjected to cool outside conditions (you don't want a system like this to be interrupted by something avoidable like cold temperatures and improper install.)

Basically don't get fed up with the project's entirety and rush important steps and/or look over details, rather focus on one speaker at a time, and make sure you tighten the damn screws.

There's nothing more embarrassing then a phat system thumpin' bass, while at the same time rattling itself to death.

Avoid that.

And since you're puting such a large amount of time and money into this project, I would recomment looking into Dynomat, a product made in this case to dampen the sound waves traveling out and around the speaker- so the sound stay in your cab, and not in your doors. In fact I'd Dyaomat for sure, with that kind of wattage you'll be making hella big sound waves, and will probably rattle other things in your car anyway, so taking this small step to ensure your sound is really utilized WILL make a noticeable difference. The only thing though is that the Dynamat is a little on the expensive side, but since you've invested this money thus far, adding this now would be seen in my opinion as a smart decision, and I do believe others would agree.

And use the little clips that you push onto the sheet metal of your car, over the whole the speaker screw will go through, the little clips that keep the screw from backing out. It makes install harder but it's worth it in every way.

Alright, everything I said is mos def worthy advice, so just keep it cool, install your s**t correctly, keep your car clean, and thump that bass wherever a gain in respect in possible.

For some reason bass = respect.

Keep it cool.

[kimokalihi]

fuse to volt ratio

I think he means fuse to amp ratio.

And since you're puting such a large amount of time and money into this project, I would recomment looking into Dynomat, a product made in this case to dampen the sound waves traveling out and around the speaker- so the sound stay in your cab, and not in your doors.

The purpose of "dynomat" is the prevent your car from resonating. That is, it's designed to add weight to whatever item you think is going to or already is resonating. It doesn't actually block sound very well at all. It just stops panels and stuff in your car from making unwanted noise.

Dynamat is synonymous with quiet, quality and comfort. Dynamat is a thin, flexible, easy-to-cut-and-mold material that stops noise-causing resonance and vibration. Dynamat's visco-elastic qualities promote vibro-acoustic energy conversion. In short, Dynamat turns noise into silent energy. You can apply Dynamat in patches (25-50% area coverage) to keep a specific panel from resonating or you can apply it over an entire area (such as the floor, doors or trunk of a car) to create a sound barrier and thermal insulator.

If you want to keep the noise in your car and not outside of your car and at the same time keep the noise outside of your car from getting into your car (road noise) you will need closed cell foams. Such as ensolite.

Read this site.

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi

I can't count the number of times I've seen build threads where people "dynamat" the shit out of their whole car and don't use any kind of closed cell foam! And they think they're keeping the road noise out but it goes right through that stuff. It's because dynamat doesn't seem to care to make the point clear to the consumer that the butyl mat's purpose is to stop panels from resonating and not to make the car quiet inside.

I think the biggest difference you could achieve is getting a vinyl backed close cell foam which is pretty thick, about 1/2" or so and line the entire floor of the cabin with it. I did that in my car on top of my butyl mat and ensolite closed cell foam and it helped a lot.



Did you calculate your port length/width to tune your box or did you just put random sized ports in it?

[Legacy Konig]

*cough*

Alright.

Well at any rate, Dynamat would be a worthy purchase.

And I'm not saying Dynamat you're entire car, that s**t's heavy.

You know how you're driving, then you pick somebody up and then realize how much one person's body weight makes a difference in your car's handling?

A little Dynamat's one thing, but a whole cab or an engine compartment is crazy. Although the effects are positive, in my opinion the weight isn't worth it- but that's coming from me (I stripped my first Legacy to reduce it's weight, AC and all, but later realized these cars are already built heavy, like Supras, so if you want a light car this isn't it.)

If you've already installed you're system it'd be a b***h to take everything apart again simply to lay out the matting. A buddy of mine just purchased 4 Alpine type-Rs and Dynamat'd just behind every speaker, it was worth it. You could feel the sound coming from the speaker, and not vibrating the rest of his doors.

Kimokalihi is right in that Dynamat's most obvious effect is it's vibration dampening, but there is more then one kind of Dynamat. And Kimokalihi can take me to the courts for this one, Dynamat does reduce road noise. Yes it does. Don't argue with me.

Though it'd be ridiculous to buy that much Dynamat.

[Lego]

thanks for the input guys, yeh i just dont have money for dynomat atm..

the bass isnt real bad outside the car, sure the trunk raddles but its mostly the middle tailight section that thumps around.

the sub box was designed with JL audio dimension standards.

i even cut out the cigarette tray, i now have a tripple din, 2 din spaces will be used for gauges/ hookups. i ditched the monitor and ps2 install..

[magicmike]

I've only used ported boxes in an open air vehicle like a station wagon or SUV or hatchback. I think they sound too sloppy in a trunk. Just my .02

[asc_up]

To be honest, I had two 12" subs in a ported box. It was cool for awhile, then it got old and I went to a single 10" in a sealed box. I absolutely loved it. The bass was tighter and more precise, but still delivered a nice thud

I'm sure your setup will do nicely as long as what you were hoping for was a bunch of bass, even if it's not necessarily precise. <---That's not meant to sound demeaning.

[Lego]

yes i had originally created a sealed enclosure for my subs... it was more precise but i wanted more bass so i built the better ported box, the sealed box was a half fast box where the ported was done nice and slow.

yesterday i swapped out my phoenix gold amp for a rockfordfosgate 1500, that amp kept turning off every time bass began to get high.
so we swapped the rock for a kicker 1000, i have to say its one of the best amps Ive heard, nice clean bass, more bass notes were hit than the phoenix, but only after 10 of run time we checked it for heat and the kicker was literally over 150 deg. nearly burnt my hand every time to touch just the top of it. so went back to the phoenix... which is a great amp also.

[magicmike]

um, blowing up amps is not a sign that its not big enough for your subs. How do you have the subs wired? and how do you have the amp wired?

[Lego]

i never said i blew up an amp, i just wanted to try diffrent amps out, my subs are wired together to create a 4 ohm load...