# VW Golf MK3 (1995) Concept/SQ build



## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

So, another car, another build thread. My other/main project can be viewed here: VW Passat -00.

I have a ton of stuff just collecting dust on the shelf and I'm tired of driving a car without proper sound during the entire winter season. I wanted a car that was easy to modify and work with and a Golf mk3 was almost ideal for this. Most of the gear isn't super high-end and flashy but it will do the trick with proper install and setup. I will probably need to buy some gear anyway but I'll try to keep costs to a minimum. What I'm trying to archive is competition-grade SQ system by the use of measurement gear through the entire process. I will to get the most of every part in the system and avoid as many issues as I can in the process. This build might get technical, theoretical, weird and it's very probable it never will be completely finished. Think of it as infinite ongoing or something as I will try out lots of the stuff that were to troublesome to implement in my main build. 

Equipment list (so far):

*HU: * Sony CD/MP3/AUX-in (dunno model nr yet - not new model)
*DSP:* Behringer DCX2496 (as I write this, not yet modified for 12V)
*Amplifiers:* Soundstream STEALTH (2x 4ch) (1x mono)
*Sub: * ? (Got several subs)
*Midbass:* Seas L18 H1224
*Midrange/Widebanders: *? (Maybe Dayton RS125) 
*Tweeters: *? (I have 3 candidates) 
*Power: *Banner Running Bull 70Ah AGM - Stock 90A alternator.
*Cables - Power:* 0GA (50mm²) Main Power cable - fused 200A.
*Cables - Signal/Speakers:* Audison or DIY / OFC 2,5 - 4mm² to all drivers.

_Ok. I got 3 tweeters, one pair of "Amega QW1" - Swedish car audio brand. Moderately expensive kit. I have 1 pair of Peerless HDS large flange drivers and 1 pair of Vifa BC25 (horn loaded/waveguide version). The Peerless drivers are probably the best performing overall, however the size is a drawback. The Amega drivers have high Fs (resonance) of 1500Hz and sound best above 4000Hz or so, the Vifa's goes slight lower - I'd say ~3kHz with a steep crossover slope.

The tricky part is that the DCX has 6ch output which means passive crossovers between midrange/tweeter. The driver with the cleanest bottom have an edge over the others if I were to use a simple cap in series for a 6dB/oct electical filter (which might not at all have to mean a 6dB/oct acoustic slope), it's important to differentiate the two. Crossovers will be determined my measurements of both driver and environment and modeled in LEAP speaker design software to get optimal crossover component values._

_Midranges: Got a pair of Dayton RS125 and RS52 domes. Also some TB w3-871s widebanders, a pair of 2" Cambridge kevlar OEM widebanders (decent drivers). Also a pair of 4" Canton midranges (plastic cone?). The OEM dash speakers measure 3,5" so any driver with a flange of 10cm(4") will fit there (IF I where to place them there, that is). A pair of Vifa TG9 would be perfect, sold those drivers a year ago unfortunately, would have to buy another pair. I'm leaning towards the Dayton Rs125, they have an exceptional lower midrange. _

_Sub(s): Got like 12 subs in my little stash. Leaning towards my old Atomic 12" sub, it's like 20 years old but still in excellent condition. Slightly high Q (0,55) limits the enclosure alternatives to IB/Sealed/AP. I have two TB w8-740s, mid Q drivers around 0,4 - they will work in vented enclosures as well as BP enclosures and more exotic designs like tapped horn/TL. They are 8" drivers with "standard" X-max so output will be limited in sealed/IB. Also have a 12" MacAudio STX sub, an old Pioneer 12", an Atomic 10", two Canton OEM 12" drivers, a TB w10-8...? driver, some MDS Audiophile 12" and two unknown PA 12" drivers... Suggestions? _

*I might get some HU with iPod support, IF I buy a HU it will probably be an Alpine or a Pioneer 80PRS.

*Might buy another widebanders/midranges if the price is right and it's good for my application. Vifa TG9, Dayton ND-series, Vifa NE-series perhaps?

*Before I even start with drivers I must determine the acoustic response at different positions in the car. The Schroeder frequency (the transition to the modal lower frequencies) and the lower octaves highest modal peak (should occur around 50Hz in this car). How the cabin gain looks is important for modeling enclosures and get the response to match as good as possible towards my target response.

-- The amps are custom anodized by Grizz Archer, bought them from him some time ago, shall be fun testing these amps. They are not available in Sweden as far as I know so they are kinda rare over here  --


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

TB w8's below



Cambridge Widebanders below



Amega Tweets below





Possible mounting location?



Engine compartment before



After some cleanup:



Old ground cables (lol):


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

More ****ty stock cables removed:



Soldered new ground cables:



New cabling/fuse around battery (HU fuse directly below the big one);



Alternator cap filter (total 650uF):





Welded a fuse holder:







New alternator cable:





New ground:


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The old owners where complete dumbasses, 100% morons. Dunno what they did but they managed to screw up the entire electrical system. Replaced 10-15 vital components by now. They even cut the cable to the lambda oxygen sensor, I mean wtf?

Removed crap;



Mess... 



Doors:





New HU wiring:



Dunno why they cut a damn hole aside of the OEM mounting hole... idots. I will have to fix that.



Random pics below:

Disassembled Seas l18 driver (it was damaged)







Great depth in the doors, lots of space for enclosure designs.



Replaced instrument cluster (to the silver one). Replaced all bulbs to green LEDs:



Dayton Rs125, stock midrange location



RS52... damn huge flange



Peerless HDS tweet, fits perfectly 



Some tech-flex rolls and speaker collection lol...


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## damonryoung (Mar 23, 2012)

sub'd


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

sub'd. What's the felt looking stuff covering the alternator wire?


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## Grizz Archer (Apr 3, 2009)

Interesting! This ought to be cool. BTW, I used that same Behringer DCX2496 in my sound room. Cool unit...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WhereAmEye? said:


> sub'd. What's the felt looking stuff covering the alternator wire?


OEM cloth tape from TESA


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Grizz Archer said:


> Interesting! This ought to be cool. BTW, I used that same Behringer DCX2496 in my sound room. Cool unit...


Yeah, got it for free... even better 

Reading through the manual right now, gotta look into how to do the 12V mod in the easiest way too. There's people who have done it before I'm sure of.


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

Oh okay thanks


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Found this little transformer board. $100 doesn't seem too much as I got the DSP unit for free 

DSPower! The Behringer® DCX2496/DEQ2496 12V Conversion Kit Envision Electronics Design, LLC [DSPOWER] : EnvisionElec.net, Welcome to Envision Electronics!


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

This shouuld be fun, looks like you have some work to do. Sub'd


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

Hanatsu said:


> OEM cloth tape from TESA


Beautiful stuff.. we use that too..


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## PteDefcon (Jan 10, 2014)

Sub'd, love me some VW.


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

looking forward to this! have the same car. What are you going to do to the doors to seal them up? take lots of pics


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

vwtoby said:


> looking forward to this! have the same car. What are you going to do to the doors to seal them up? take lots of pics


Will build enclosures 

I'm continuing with this today. Expect some update later 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Tedious work... removed stock dampening and extended/fixed wiring in the door.




















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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I've ordered 40 sheets 2mm silent coat cld and 9 sheets 7mm isolator closed cell foam. Hopefully it'll arrive before next weekend. I'll start with the doors in the meantime.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Dampening has arrived. Bought another car just like this one to take some parts from, I'm picking it up on Saturday. I will remove the entire dash and mod it to accompany larger drivers, but I need an extra to work with since I drive this car daily 

Detailed driver testing on the Seas L18 and Dayton RS125-8 is coming shortly. Still looking for a tweeter I can use. I've decided on a new headunit, the Sony won't fit my design and it doesn't got iPod support. So either a new Pioneer or Alpine HU. I really like Alpine better but Pioneer's features are better for the price (Comparing 80PRS vs 137BTi). Since I have an external DSP I'm only interested in iPod support, fast USB/iPod control, good multiline display, multiple illumination color choices to match the car and active crossovers (for the tweeters or sub ch since the DCX2496 only support 6ch output). Any suggestions aside of 80PRS and 137BTi? With some modification I could fit a 2-din HU as well.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Kenwood DDX-3023 | Car Audio Direct

This unit seems to be pretty cool. Kenwood usually makes decent stuff aswell.

Edit; Even better, this unit; http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/DVD-Receivers/AVH-X1600DVD.

I think I'll go for a 2DIN unit after all. Never had one so, why not?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

this should be sweet sir 

but im biased.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I went for the Pioneer X1600DVD unit. Got an awesome price (about $350) for a BNIB.

Nice unit indeed.



I've measured the Dayton RS125-8 drivers, here's the results:

FR (Farfield, havn't figured out ARTA merging near/farfield yet)



FR into 0-15-30-45-60-90deg axis. Notice the breakup at 4kHz and the massive one at 8,5kHz. You seriously don't want that driver anywhere remotely close to that 2nd breakup. Considering power response, the driver is usable to 3kHz with a steep slope.



Same thing displayed as above, differently



CSD below. Shows no serious issues, except from the HF area (above 10kHz or so).



Burst decay shows decay as periods of each frequency instead of a fixed time unit as the CSD does. The burst decay therefore displays the "ringing" so you can compare different frequency ranges so eachother. The CSD is a bit "biased" there since a cycle at 10kHz is much shorter than one at 100Hz.

Things starts to get bad around 6-7kHz.



Harmonic Distortion at 92dB/1m equivalent. Shown as % vs amplitude.

Great performance in the lower midrange/upper midbass. Merely average above 1kHz.



Some random IMD (Intermod distortion) tests to see how it relates to the harmonic distortion. Both are non-linear distortion.

200+1500Hz (4:1ratio) - 92dB/1m equivalent.



400+3000Hz (4:1ratio) - 92dB/1m equivalent.



*Verdict:*

Decent driver performance, seen better. It performs good from 125-1000Hz, slightly high HD in the 1-3kHz area but it's not THAT bad. Dispersion drops off above ~3kHz. Wanna cross them before that. So basically this is a driver usable from 125-3000Hz with steep slopes both ways. A 160Hz highpass would probably be more reasonable if you tend to push them a little.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Impedance plot:



Here's my measurement rig if someones interested;

Excuse the crappy pics:









I gate out the reflections from floor/roof etc in ARTA. So the measurements are "quasi-anechoic".


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

can someone explain the alternator cap filter? I know caps filter out noise, but I have never seen one on the alternator wire. How do you come up with the value to use and do you really see a benefit? It also doesnt look like it is hooked in line with the positive wire, so trying to figure out how it is wired in?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Jroo said:


> can someone explain the alternator cap filter? I know caps filter out noise, but I have never seen one on the alternator wire. How do you come up with the value to use and do you really see a benefit? It also doesnt look like it is hooked in line with the positive wire, so trying to figure out how it is wired in?


It's connected on B+ and alternator chassis ground (edit: On one of the pictures it's not connected, must have taken it before I connected it lol). The cap is composed of 2200uF+100uF+1uF+100nF+4,7nF in parallel. The a filter "ladder" eating up much of the HF overlayed on the DC output. The cap acts like lowpass and not like a notch or something. 

Placed a similar cap over the terminals of a Alpine PDX amp. The noise is clearly reduced as seen on the picture below. Seen AC reductions below 1kHz with a $1 DIY cap like mine. A friend had alternator whine in his setup for some reason, placed a 470uF cap over the alternator and the noise was reduced by 50% or so.


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

I love this kind of testing and info. My hats off to you.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Hanatsu said:


> Kenwood DDX-3023 | Car Audio Direct
> 
> This unit seems to be pretty cool. Kenwood usually makes decent stuff aswell.
> 
> ...


*edit*
Oops. Too late. 

Glad I don't live in Sweden! LOL That radio goes for about $239 here.



I like 2dins mainly for the better user interface. I have no interest in watching video while driving. Why not move up to the 2600BT?...then you could do streaming (I know, not best for SQ, but nice for convenience and lack of cables), and hands free calling.

Price difference is like $50, IIRC (street prices)

And if you are looking at single dins, why not the Alpine 149? They sell for sub $300 and have time aligment and EQ functions built in.
Jay


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

JayinMI said:


> *edit*
> Oops. Too late.
> 
> Glad I don't live in Sweden! LOL That radio goes for about $239 here.
> ...


Haha yeah. The prices here are nothing like the prices in the US, painfully aware of that. The import costs are usually 25% x price + $100 shipping if I were to buy oversees. 

I thought the X1600 could stream? Hm... The difference is about $100 between the 1600 and 2600 models. I'll take a look what's the exact difference is later. I have not much interest in videos, but I like the interface of a 2DIN unit + these cars doesn't come with 2DIN slots so I thought it would be cool to mod


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Started to apply some CLD and foam today. I noticed it smelled like gasoline in the trunk, removed the cap to the fuel pump access and it seems like the previous owners (idiots) hadn't bothered to put back the gasket correctly which sealed the big hole to the tank. I had to fix that little issue so I never came to finish my dampening work today, which I had planned... Well anyway, here's some pics;







Aluminum foil tape









The fuel pump/tank is below that silver-ish round cap btw.


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Looking good so far


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

nice man.

would you care to post a little more in-depth on the filter. maybe a schematic and the like for people who would like to give this a try?

i also have never seen a filter on the alternator - and its a great idea.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

req said:


> nice man.
> 
> would you care to post a little more in-depth on the filter. maybe a schematic and the like for people who would like to give this a try?
> 
> i also have never seen a filter on the alternator - and its a great idea.


Sure. I'll make a circuit diagram later. It's nothing complicated though.

Taking care of the noise at the source is more effective. The car's ECU doesn't mind getting a clean DC feed either 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

cool man! 

thanks


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## Starlet-SQ (Apr 19, 2008)

excited2see whadcha gonna make of this!!!!
always found the golf mk3 a nice n solid car to install .




Happy hunting


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

req said:


> nice man.
> 
> would you care to post a little more in-depth on the filter. maybe a schematic and the like for people who would like to give this a try?
> 
> i also have never seen a filter on the alternator - and its a great idea.




As seen on the circuit diagram it's just a five capacitors in parallel (I just chose an arbitrary number here). When we put capacitors in parallel and connect the negative to ground they are called decoupling capacitors and they short AC ripple to ground. The smaller values the capacitors have, the higher frequencies will be capacitor be able to "swallow". To decouple radio frequencies only a few pico-farads will be necessary. As the AC ripple overlayed on the DC is quite small (unless your alternator is going bad) we don't need that huge caps. This circuit is just an example, values up to 50000uF can be used. The combined values of all caps in parallel will equal the total capacitance. If you really wanna get rid of the high frequency noise small ceramic caps are great, not that it's needed for this particular application. Mostly used to balance power going to sensitive IC circuits etc.

Note; "LOW ESR" is a common marketing power-word for manufacturers. What they define as "low ESR" can be subjective as best sometimes. Use good brands like Panasonic, Nichicon etc. (I use Panasonic FC)


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Starlet-SQ said:


> excited2see whadcha gonna make of this!!!!
> always found the golf mk3 a nice n solid car to install .


Indeed it is. Wonderful car to mod and build audio systems in. Everything is quite easy and uncomplicated, which makes the actual modifications funnier/easier to make. I had quite a few frustration moments with my newer Passat, there's so much crap everywhere so it sometimes makes an seemingly easy modification almost impossible to archive and it's simply annoying. This car is refreshing because I can do almost everything I want without hassle.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Just ordered a pair of tweeters. They were on a sale and looked pretty cool xD

*SB Acoustics SB29RDC*





























From Zaph; 










Nice dispersion in the highs. Low HD allowing me to cross them around 2,5kHz to match the Daytons optimally. There should be lots of space in sail panels for these, the good dispersion around 10-15kHz in the 30deg axis doesn't call for a 100% on-axis installation. The design is some kind of inverted ring radiator design, weird drivers... I'll measure them as soon as I get them.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

my buddy has the small version of that tweeter.

a good buy if you ask me 

and thanks for the explination of the circuit!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Ait. got some help from my buddy to do some work on the interior yesterday 

I started to weld together a mounting frame for the amps, subwoofer etc.

From an old desk;



Removed inner roof to do some dampening work.



My friend just love to remove stock insolation xD;





YEp ^^



Mounting frame (work in progress);









Silent Coat CLD and 15mm isolator CCF.


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## Wesayso (Jul 20, 2010)

Not only will you have a great sounding car, you're building a rally car (lol)
Nice tweeters though, again ring radiators .
When crossing passive, are you going to mount the tweet and mid close together?
If the sub was closer I would have used the crossovers on the amps to cross there (no passive components needed). That way you'd still have time alignment on the mids and tweets...
No room for a smaller up front sub anywhere?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Wesayso said:


> Not only will you have a great sounding car, you're building a rally car (lol)
> Nice tweeters though, again ring radiators .
> When crossing passive, are you going to mount the tweet and mid close together?
> If the sub was closer I would have used the crossovers on the amps to cross there (no passive components needed). That way you'd still have time alignment on the mids and tweets...
> No room for a smaller up front sub anywhere?


Yes, I'll mount them about 10cm within of eachother. Because of the awesome offaxis response (if we are to believe the manufacturers plots) it won't be necessary to place them 100% on-axis. I will definitely consider a front sub, a Dayton HO10 works in really small enclosures, the amp got 400W/4ohms so I should be able to handle most subs out there. To prepare for active crossing I did run speaker wires for all drivers back to the trunk - we'll see how it turns out. It's kinda funny sometimes to work with limited "resources" and see what you can get out of it. I got dual 4ch amps so that won't be an issue at least


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I ran out of welding gas (the argon stuff) so I couldn't finish the frame. The place where you buy refills isn't open on weekends, of course ^.^

Ground distribution point;





The two longer bolts will be used for fastening the mounting frame.



We started to dampen the roof... big difference. Much less resonant now.



Tired of the ugly old inner roof. Had some red alcantara fabric left over so...







(It's actually darker than the picture shows... I'll take a proper picture later)







Wiring done at the right side of the car. Signal cables will be run separately in the middle.



Great to have help sometimes


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

req said:


> nice man.
> 
> would you care to post a little more in-depth on the filter. maybe a schematic and the like for people who would like to give this a try?
> 
> i also have never seen a filter on the alternator - and its a great idea.


Just a regular cap like this one  It "absorbs" ac irregularities, we use those when we have a BMW install because of their natural habit of whining... 

Helix Cap 33


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Woosey said:


> Just a regular cap like this one  It "absorbs" ac irregularities, we use those when we have a BMW install because of their natural habit of whining...
> 
> Helix Cap 33


Mine's cheaper


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Was going to update with a few pics... but I forgot the camera USB cable in the garage :<

Ok. Here's a few things I've decided on. The Behringer DCX2496 have 6ch output, I will use ch5 and ch6 for two different subs.

*Build a front sub, probably 4th order BP. Use it as an active "selective" bass cancellation unit. The ringing the lower modal range is an issue that cannot be fixed other than cancelling it out with a second sub playing slightly out of phase at certain problem areas. The result should be tight uniform bass that sounds transparent and flat / neutral without lingering tones.

*Rear sub shall be completely decoupled from the chassis to reduce vibrations to the maximum extent. This one will be vented. 

*Build a test enclosure to measure the acoustic transfer function of the car. This to be able to calculate optimal tuning and efficiency. 

*Experimentation with "late reflections" from backwave of dash speakers to subjectively increase stage depth using lightly stuffed aperiodic vents. I had 'some' success with it some time back, I'll do some more research before deciding on a final solution. This will be done together with the dash mod.

A few cool tests are coming up. Dampening before/after tests... Active bass cancellation before/after. The temperature's effect on tuning and gear, this car will be used during the winter so knowing how the speakers behave in cold temperatures is important.


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

Can't wait to see more...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Woosey said:


> Can't wait to see more...


Well, here's some more. Most of it is 'dirty work' though. Removed the right front fender to see if I could apply some noise dampening there and guess what? I found a load of rust once I started to inspect the wheelhouse thoroughly. I'm kinda anal about oxidized metals so I just had to fix that xD



Fixed some rust.



Bought a "shark fin" active antenna to the HU. It was black so I had to repaint it with the red original paint. It's the same color as my Passat actually ^^



Antenna extension cable...









Repainted the crankcase ventilation metal pipe properly. I like the orange theme... matches the amplifiers.



Issue: I've been troubleshooting the bad idle behavior of the car. The RPM goes up from 1200-1600 all the time and I've noticed some power loss lately. Made a cylinder compression test and it turns out the fourth cylinder deviates, it has about half the compression of the other three. I suspect the cylinder head gasket so I ordered one off ebay, hope it arrives soon so I can replace it. In the meantime I removed the "top cover" (what's it called exactly?) and repainted in the same color as the ventilation pipe.





Applied liquid dampener on the inner wheelhouse. Dunno how much good this will do, I think I need some form of foam or some as well if I wanna reduce road noise. Improved aerodynamics would help but I'm not going there exactly yet. 



(Don't mind the cables from the door, I will fix that later)



Still haven't transferred those pics from my DLSR camera but I finished dampening the floor left side with a few sheets of asphalt/butyl and some liquid dampener from BRAX on top of it (under the driver's seat). Applied an adhesive 35mm isolator sheet on the floor below the rear seats (the aluminum stuff), that area had absolutely no dampening at all so I'm expecting some noise reduction from that.


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Hanatsu said:


> In the meantime I removed the "top cover" (what's it called exactly?) and repainted in the same color as the ventilation pipe.


Typically that's called a 'rocker cover,' with your OHC engine it's more a 'cam cover.' Either way works


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Little update:

Mounted my new antenna. It's sub freezing temperatures here so the white stuff on the roof is just ice. 



Started working on the grounding in the trunk. I put some transparent shrink tube over the label. They tend to fall off otherwise.











Painted the mounting frame. Pretty much done with this part.



I like the color


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The ground point is welded directly to the chassis btw.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The paint had dried so I installed the mounting frame in the car today.







It won't go anywhere


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Update. This is the pictures I never got to upload a few days ago;











Forgot to rotate the image, this is the 'inner wheelhouse'.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Here's what I've done today:

*Built the amp rack

*Prepared for power distribution to amps

*Built the first part of the floor


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## Wesayso (Jul 20, 2010)

Hard to believe this is "just" your daily driver 

Can't wait to see it all come together!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Wesayso said:


> Hard to believe this is "just" your daily driver
> 
> Can't wait to see it all come together!


Hehe... thanks 

I'll begin with the sub after I'm done with the cabling and the amp rack. As soon as I'm done with the trunk I'll take care of the dashboard and doors. Actually thinking of a tapped horn for the sub... only problem is the low end extension vs enclosure size. They tend to get huge with larger drivers.


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## Wesayso (Jul 20, 2010)

Big is a relative concept...

Have you seen this?









http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/build-logs-project-install-gallery/159952-bmw-x5-groundzero-nautiluzcreation-6x15-40kw.html

(don't think that one is a daily driver though )


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Lol yeah. Relative indeed 

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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Little update;



























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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The alu foil is there to reduce EMI from fans, which can be significant. I'll just short the foil to ground.

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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Update,

done some various fixing, work and decisions. First off, I decided not to use the Dayton RS125. I simply don't like the driver, sounds "artificial" i the upper midrange, probably because of the recessed FR and moderately high HD. I listened to a demo SB-Acoustics SB15NRXC30-8 and liked them really much so I ordered a pair. Both midrange/tweeters will be from SB-Acoustics. Performance wise they are close to Scan-Speak if I am to trust Zaph's testing of these. 










Ok. Made HU-->DSP cables and marked them properly. They are psuedo-balanced with pin 1-3 of the XLR connector connected to shield and neg.











Power connection for LED and PowerWindows (had to fix connections as the old were really bad). The new ones are weather-sealed.











Speaker connection door mids.









The dash is black and boring so I decided to wrap it with some carbon-fiber 'look-a-like' vinyl. Only this little panel so far.







Experimented a little with lighting.











More's coming soon---


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## Starlet-SQ (Apr 19, 2008)

Awesome work.....attention to detail
Keep it up
Cant wait to see how the finished results look like

Are you gonna do any exterior modifications?


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

sub'd for great little + big details being done here!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks 

I'll modify more than the interior. This is my 'project' car after all. Ordered an ethanol conversion kit, fuel regulator, fuel pressure gauge from prosport and some programmable led displays to monitor dc dc conversion voltage in the dsp etc etc

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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Annoying... got a mail frlm the supplier that the SB Acoustic mids were out of stock and it would take 3 weeks+ to get a new batch... so I changed my order to the second alternitive I had; Vifa NE149. The drivers have been sent, hope they will perform as good as they look 

So the front speakers will be;

*Seas L18 (7" midb)
*Vifa NE149 (midr)
*SBAcoustics 29SB (Tw)

Still thinking about what sub I'm gonna use...


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

Hanatsu said:


> Thanks
> 
> I'll modify more than the interior. This is my 'project' car after all. Ordered an ethanol conversion kit, fuel regulator, fuel pressure gauge from prosport and some programmable led displays to monitor dc dc conversion voltage in the dsp etc etc
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


The problem with "project cars" is that things can get out of hand quickly . I am pretty much destined to do a full on resto mod to the interior of my e34. The German car interiors of this vintage don't seem to hold up too well in the Southern sun. But at least I am far outside the rust belt. 

Can't wait to see the progress with your vw.


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

Lookin' good!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Turned out more expensive ghan I first planned on but whatever 

I'm getting my dual DIN Pioneer x2600bt next week or so. Then hm... ordered 40m(~120ft) Sommer Cable 22awg shielded mic cable. About $1/ft -- $3/m. Really great cable to work with.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu you seem to know anything thats worth knowing about mobile audio, and you are also have great skills for building and creating with your hands. Its rare one person excels at both so Im impressed.

Mk3 Golfs are becoming a rare sight on danish streets, our use of salt on the streets makes them oxide, but yours look very nice. 
Did you fix the low compression problem?

What do you think of the SB tweets?
Have you measured if the claimed specs is true?
Any reason you didn't go for the smaller Neo version SB29RDNC?
I have the Neo version and like it, but I find the sound do change if I move just a little off axis.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks Win. Perhaps we can listen to eachothers systems when mine's ready, I live pretty close to Denmark. There wasn't low compression, turns out my meter was broken... I'm guessing vacuum leak or injection system that's responsable for the rough idle. Haven't looked into it yet.

Havn't got the tweets yet. They will be shipped along with the midranges. Will post test results of both when I get them. Dunno rrally why I didn't buy the neo version. I wasn't aware of a neo vrrsion when I first placed the order, I could have changed the order but whatever. The full flange versions usually have better power handling and better non-linear performance in the "low-end". Dunno if that's the case with SB, my Vifa XT25 followed this pattern though.

---

Removed the dash today... what a mess. There's cut cables everywhere, wanna slap the last owners in the face seriously. I'll post pics tomorrow. Gotta sleep!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> The alu foil is there to reduce EMI from fans, which can be significant. I'll just short the foil to ground.
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


The foil is not a bad idea at all. I have had nothing but problems with fans in the past. I do plan on using one in my new amp rack. Have you ever run into an issue with the fan and amps sharing a ground?


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## Eiswritsat (Nov 19, 2008)

looks great so far


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

REGULARCAB said:


> The foil is not a bad idea at all. I have had nothing but problems with fans in the past. I do plan on using one in my new amp rack. Have you ever run into an issue with the fan and amps sharing a ground?


I always connect fans and auxiliary equipment through a filter box to avoid these issues. I guess you can say I'm a fan of filtering, excuse the pun


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

More crappy pics;









Dash is out!



Mess...





Added a ground cable from the battery, had to drill two holes and seal them.









Cleared up some off the mess with some TESA tape.



Had a test baffle for a 5,5" driver, just to show the size of the MDF baffle on the dash. The Vifa NE149 is actually an 1 inch smaller in diameter so there's no problem fitting them there. I will weld into the steel frame of the car to create a completely vibration free battle for them.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Shipped today;

*2pcs SB Acoustics SB29RDC
*2pcs Vifa NE149W-4
*40m Sommer Cable SC-Source MKII Highflex
*Pioneer AVH-X2600BT
*6pcs Silent Coat Isolator 10
*20pcs Silent Coat 4mm CLD
*10pcs Neutrik NC3 FX Female XLR connectors
*12pcs Silver-Clad-Copper RCA Male Connectors
*25m flex tube 12mm
*25m flex tube 25mm
*25m flex tube 35mm

Also ordered:

*Xenon HID H1 4300k 35W kit
*Ethanol Conversion kit
*Ethanol resistant fuel lines
*EVO digital gauges 52mm, VOLT / FUEL PRESSURE / OIL PRESSURE / OIL TEMPERATURE
*Programmable LED 35x70 Displays + temperature, volt, amperage, watt sensor module
*New Borch Titanium 3-electrode spark plugs and new spark plug cables
*Mapped chip for the ECU (optimized for ethanol, supposed to gain some hp too)
*Ultra-slim neon green lighting to fix the backlighting for buttons etc (hard to get even lighting with LEDs).
*New gaiter and handbrake cover in black/red real leather.
*MK4 steering wheel and modification set
*New cam belt, fan belt + spanners
*DRL LED for front dim lights.
*Full set of LEDs to replace all lamps

Got my rocker switches for the power windows, the damn back lighting was red and NOT green as the description showed. Works fine otherwise. Well this ought to keep me busy for some time. Came with a price tag of $1500 too.

The reason I'm going for ethanol is the gas prices in Sweden. It's about 14,20SEK/liter which is ~8,5 dollars / gallon. The ethanol price is about 5,5 dollar / gallon so even if the car require about 30% more fuel with E85 it's still cheaper.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

For the last 2-3 weeks I have been driving on 20-30% ethanol on my old mazda.
Is this dangerous or harmful when no conversion is done?
It seems to run just fine...


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> Thanks Win. Perhaps we can listen to eachothers systems when mine's ready, I live pretty close to Denmark. There wasn't low compression, turns out my meter was broken... I'm guessing vacuum leak or injection system that's responsable for the rough idle. Haven't looked into it yet.
> 
> Havn't got the tweets yet. They will be shipped along with the midranges. Will post test results of both when I get them. Dunno rrally why I didn't buy the neo version. I wasn't aware of a neo vrrsion when I first placed the order, I could have changed the order but whatever. The full flange versions usually have better power handling and better non-linear performance in the "low-end". Dunno if that's the case with SB, my Vifa XT25 followed this pattern though.


I would really like to hear your car, im sure it will sound min. to leagues above my car!
Its my first SQ oriented install if I can even call it that, with the cerwin vega subs? I dont have RTA or any measuring equipment, besides a fluke, and I got a left ear that cant hear high freqs...
But I have tuned my sys the way I like it and that's gotta be the most important.
As I'm currently unemployed my budget is very tight so it will take a while before my car is finished. 
I'm currently looking for a cheap amp to drive the SB tweets, and have been offered this used MDS classic c2, do you know if this would do the job ok?
Or should I pay a little more and get another old RF punch to match my other amps? 

Regarding the SB29 tweets: I guess the full flange should help the low end performance, I got the small version because it was easy to integrate in my car. I cant remember what version Zaph tested, maybe I also should have gone with the non-neo.
I live very near the Danish SB dealer in Silkeborg. Hes a nice DIY person, so I'm probably gonna trade more with him, when founding allows 

Really looking forward to see how you tackle enclosures inside the doors, cause I have been think about how to do it best. Might steal some of your ingenious


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> For the last 2-3 weeks I have been driving on 20-30% ethanol on my old mazda.
> Is this dangerous or harmful when no conversion is done?
> It seems to run just fine...


The conversion increases fuel mixture by 30-40% since the ethanol have less energy content. Fuel lines might dissolve over time and plastic/rubber goo might get travel along and get stuck in the injection system. You also need to change oil 33% more often. Otherwise ethanol is a cleaner fuel, higher equivalent octane (104, IIRC) and cheaper. I don't think it's harmful for the engine, it should run cleaner with less soot if anything. OBD2 cars can compensate somewhat for the energy content and increase fuel injector flow (within the limits of the fuel injector ofc). Older cars need a fuel regulator to increase pressure instead.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Zaph tested the large flange version. I have no space issues in this build 

I've repaired a few MDS amps, their reputation ain't great but they are no worse than other amps in the same price range. Tend to be slightly overspecced but as long you don't overdrive them they're ok. I'd still get the RF, nice to have the same type of amps in a car... but I'm kinda anal about aesthetics 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy 3 via Tapatalk.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Zaph also tested the small flange Neo version. The difference seems small but you're right the larger no-neo version looks best from 1-1.5Khz 
He also did some very interesting measurements using custom 8" and 10" waveguides:
Zaph|Audio


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Zaph also tested the small flange Neo version. The difference seems small but you're right the larger no-neo version looks best from 1-1.5Khz
> He also did some very interesting measurements using custom 8" and 10" waveguides:
> Zaph|Audio


Ok. I said I had no space issues but a 10" waveguide for the tweeter... xD

We'll see how they perform when I get them. Zaph mentioned they performed similar to the Vifa XT25 and that caught my interest, the XT25 is one of my favorite drivers of all time - but I won't use the same drivers in two builds... boring 

I will make my testings a little more interesting this time around. I'll try out my accelerometer to calculate Xmax by distortion thresholds in STEPS. If I get it to work I can show results of vibration reductions, panel resonances etc as well. Have to build a preamp for it first, doesn't look complicated but damn I seriously need more time off :<

The Vifa NE driver looks awesome, doesn't it?





Here's some random HD test I found of the Vifa @ 2,83V. Looks pretty clean to me, clear separation between harmonics.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

i have two of the 12" subwoofers sitting at my house waiting for a guy who is on deployment to come back so we can put them in his corvette.

they are really nice looking up close. hopefully they sound as good as they look!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Got some stuff today:







Both iPod and Bluetooth streaming from my Samsung G3 worked flawlessly.

More CLD and CCF...



I'm almost done with the wiring... both power windows works now. Made a new harness for the HU etc. I'll post pics tomorrow


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

req said:


> i have two of the 12" subwoofers sitting at my house waiting for a guy who is on deployment to come back so we can put them in his corvette.
> 
> they are really nice looking up close. hopefully they sound as good as they look!


Indeed


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Small update, been working on the electrical system. Unfortunately not much audio stuff... it's time consuming to fix all the stuff the previous owners screwed up. At least power windows and mirrors works as intended now. Had to install relays, new buttons, new cables etc etc. 

Here's the relay socket for power windows.



Fixed the harness for the HU. I relocated the hand break sensor cable to the DIN connector.

















Installed dimmer cable, switch for hand brake sensor and ACC as well.



Mounting location... I guess I have to build a damn center console from scratch. Well, this project is certainly keeping me busy.


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

^See what I mean about "project cars" taking on a life of their own . Wait until mission creep rears it's ugly noggin.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu your cables look so prof. I wonder if you do this kind of work for a living?


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

WinWiz said:


> Hanatsu your cables look so prof. I wonder if you do this kind of work for a living?


Definitely seems to know what he's doing, rewiring the car and all. Cloth tape looks good though


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Orion525iT said:


> ^See what I mean about "project cars" taking on a life of their own . Wait until mission creep rears it's ugly noggin.


Lol, indeed...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Hanatsu your cables look so prof. I wonder if you do this kind of work for a living?


No, I work with chemistry, recycling material and driving fork lifts and front loaders (part-time). Currently studying to be a studio engineer. I built my first loudspeaker when I was 9 so I've been doing this crap for a long time now lol. But thanks


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Very small update;

Made the signal cables from DSP ---> amps. Made a stupid noise test too (1m cable on top of a high frequency switching neon light transformer)

Sommer Cable Source MK2 22 2x0,25mm² Dual Shielded













Audison BT vs Sommer Cable - Noise rejection (high frequency). Yellow=SommerCable / Blue=Audison (Vrms)



Audison BT vs Sommer Cable - Noise rejection (Vmax)


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Drivers has arrived. I will put them on burn-in and begin testing of SB Acoustics tweeter and the Vifa Ne149 early next week.

Still looking for a sub. Looked at these so far;

*CSS SDX10
*Dayton HO10 or 12
*Seas L26ROY
*Wavecor Classic SW310WA02
*JBL GTO 1214

I haven't heard the JBL or Wavecor drivers. Look decent on paper, the JBL driver is the cheapest of them all. Anyone tried it?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

what i dont understand is why we still use phono end plugs in amplifiers - or at all. it puts too much strain on the PCB when plugging\unplugging unless you have one of those unscrew\locking phono plugs. i would much rather use a BNC plug or an XLR type plug even - if its not a balanced signal, at least the shield can be grounded FFS.

nice looking cables sir.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

I really love the sound from the old school 12" gti  but haven't heard the new gto's. 
Generally I do think you get great value from jbl especially if you by from the cheap online stores


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

req said:


> what i dont understand is why we still use phono end plugs in amplifiers - or at all. it puts too much strain on the PCB when plugging\unplugging unless you have one of those unscrew\locking phono plugs. i would much rather use a BNC plug or an XLR type plug even - if its not a balanced signal, at least the shield can be grounded FFS.
> 
> nice looking cables sir.


Agreed... RCA's does have a few drawbacks. I'd prefer balanced transfer and XLR to be the standard in car-audio instead...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> I really love the sound from the old school 12" gti  but haven't heard the new gto's.
> Generally I do think you get great value from jbl especially if you by from the cheap online stores


Alright. Hm... 

I got a nice price on the CSS subs as well but I can get 2 GTI12's for the same price. I got space issues if I choose not to go IB or something. Req did it in his Golf so why not...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Test results of the *Pioneer AVH-X2600BT*;



*Frequency Response:*



*Dynamic Range:*



*Noise:*



*IMD:*



*IMD - Swept Tones*



*THD:*



*Crosstalk:*


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Here's a random comparison on an old Pioneer unit and a cheapo Sony HU:


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The Sony unit performs almost as good as my Pioneer P99RS... LOL.

Well... it's actually better. The P99 died, apparently it cannot be stored for 6 month in a shelf, inside, in room temperature. The Sony has been stored in the garage for a year below freezing temperatures, dropped it from 1 meter into the floor on time, still... it works perfectly fine. Last time I buy a Pioneer unit, I'll replace it with a Alpine 137BT instead (for the other car).


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

bummer man. :'(

the infinite baffle route isnt too hard... for your install - you can even cut out some big-ass vents behind the bumper or something to make it real IB instead of a trunk baffle like mine lol.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Got $1000 on the insurance for the broken P99... I'm heading to team Alpine now. Ordered a 137BTi for the Passat.

Well, I begun fiberglassing the door enclosures now. Did some work in the trunk but forgot to take pics lol. I'll post testing on drivers soon.

Cool design, a real light-weighter.









Weird tweeter... an inverse ring radiator.





Really well packed, in fact the best packaging I've seen so far.



Door so far ^^ More pics later.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Got $1000 on the insurance for the broken P99... I'm heading to team Alpine now. Ordered a 137BTi for the Passat.

Well, I begun fiberglassing the door enclosures now. Did some work in the trunk but forgot to take pics lol. I'll post testing on drivers soon.

Cool design, a real light-weighter.









Weird tweeter... an inverse ring radiator.





Door so far ^^ More pics later. I estimate about 10lit enclosure.



Really well packed, in fact the best packaging I've seen so far.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The SB Acoustics tweeter weighs just as much as the 5,25" driver lol. Build quality is high on both drivers.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

my bro has the small format neo version of that tweeter. feels real good and i cant wait to get it installed in his W8 B5.5 passat 

lookin good!


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

isn't a tweeter like that ( and others without a "phaseplug" ) a ring/dome radiator? since they both radiate the sound, and a ringradiator with plug only radiatates only from the "surround"?

not being a smartass, just like to know...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Woosey said:


> isn't a tweeter like that ( and others without a "phaseplug" ) a ring/dome radiator? since they both radiate the sound, and a ringradiator with plug only radiatates only from the "surround"?
> 
> not being a smartass, just like to know...


Hm? A ring radiator and an ordinary dome are two different types of drivers. The phase plug helps with the output of high frequencies because the wavelengths are so small that the dome's radiating space is out of phase with itself just a cm away. Both an "inverted phase plug" and an ordinary phase plug should do the same thing, it will be visible in the polar response how the HF dispersion looks. I'm suspecting it will be similar to the Vifa XT25.

Here's some fun facts about phase plugs;

Phase Plugs


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Did some initial testing of the drivers, looks interesting. I have a new toy, an accelerometer. I should be able to measure Xmax by THD% limit now.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

A little update;



A temporary solution to fixate the MDF to the fiberglass... I'll fiberglass whole thing tomorrow


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## REGULARCAB (Sep 26, 2013)

Alright if I wasnt sub'd before I am now. Ive wondered about the Vifa NE drivers. Ive had a fondness for vifa since the PL18


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Made baffles for the speakers today... I'll test them tomorrow 

Here's measurements of cabin gain and different sub placements in the car:


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

*Front sub have no issues at 80-100Hz, but a dip around 50Hz.
*A trunk placement have no issues at 50Hz but instead a big null between 80-100Hz.

*The only placement which have no issues would be a sub right in the middle of the car. I wonder if it's possible to use a 4th order BP and put the vent in the backseat middle armrest...


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

are you going to attempt putting the speakers in the rearward portion of the door AND the forward portion of the door and test the difference in imaging for midbass frequencies (below lets say 800hz)?

that would be very interesting.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Sorry to hear your p99 died. Have you checked that its not a simple problem like a blown internal fuse or something?

Can you still operate the windows with the fiberglass inside the front doors?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Sorry to hear your p99 died. Have you checked that its not a simple problem like a blown internal fuse or something?
> 
> Can you still operate the windows with the fiberglass inside the front doors?


Of course 

I made the form with the window down and a cardboard "spacer" in-between. Repaired the P99, it was a power issue.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

req said:


> are you going to attempt putting the speakers in the rearward portion of the door AND the forward portion of the door and test the difference in imaging for midbass frequencies (below lets say 800hz)?
> 
> that would be very interesting.


Already done that. Interested in Opsodis midbass placement, the Vifa NE's are good below 100Hz if I wanna push them. I'll decide crossover points when I'm certain of where the modal peaks end up.

I gonna make a detachable front for the enclosures so I can change position and drivers if I want to 

Effective volume is 14,1 liters, did a 'water test'


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

A little change of plans... This won't be a 6ch setup as I originally planned. I just added 4 more channels (so the tweeters can be fully active as well), bought a 2x4 MiniDSP with 4-way Advanced Plug-in and a cheapo 2ch 12W amp circuit board. I gonna use it for rear speakers, I have a pair of Dayton RS52AN I don't have any use for. With the DCX2496 DSP, which have a really nice time delay section, I'm gonna use them bandpassed and attenuated for ambiance to improve stage depth. I scrapped down a broken active subwoofer and found a nice plate amplifier, perfect for my "anti-modal-control" front sub.

12V dc TA2021 Digital Amplifier 2ch Audio stereo Power Amp Board RCA input | eBay

I will have to mod that amp slightly so it remote starts instead.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Another little theory post... I'm lazy so I just copy this from a earlier post I made about group delay and phase shifts of different sub alignments...

Most of the "phase issues" can actually be fixed with a simple IIR EQ biquad, i.e ordinary EQ. The car affects the FR and Phase much more than the enclosure itself in several cases of my testing, as soon as you hit a modal dip the system no longer is minimum phase and GD skyrockets. Nothing to do about it, except moving the sub (source), the listening position or modifying the dimensions of the room. The latter two is pretty much impossible in a car. Theoretically a 4th order BP would be the best compromise of phase response, low end extension and efficiency. I had most luck implementing vented alignments in the past but I think I go for a 4th order BP this time around.



> Ok. Did some measurements. I can conclude that the phase discussion is indeed silly. Look at this:
> 
> *An "anechoic" measurement of a sealed enclosure-subwoofer.*
> 
> ...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Well, here's the promised measurements over the SB Acoustics 29RDC and Vifa-W149/4.

These are really good performers both of them. I made detailed tests, couldn't get the accelerometer to work properly, something with the preamp. Gotta look into it.

*SB.Acoustics SB29RDC-C000-4* 

*Frequency Response - Semi-farfield, On-Axis*



Extension past 20kHz, a bump in the 7-15kHz area by 2-3dB, nothing serious. The low end starts to roll off slightly below 1kHz.


*Frequency Response - Farfield, 0-15-30-45-60-75 degrees*



A really nice dispersion profile. The first break-up node occurs at above 10kHz. The absorption of the these high frequencies in a typical car/room makes it a non-issue. Up to about 12kHz the attenuation is even and linear between the axis measurements which is good. These drivers should blend well with the environment. The 30deg axis shows basically 100% flat response between 1000-15000Hz. Full power response to about 2,2-2,3kHz. It's basically a 1,2" driver so the beaming occurs at slightly lower frequencies. Crossing them in the 2kHz area would be a good idea according to this plot (...if the non-linear distortion allows for it... continue reading  ).

*Sonogram - Same data as above, displayed differently*

The more "red" the better power response at the top and bottom of the plot.



*Polar Response - Again, same data as above, displayed differently*



*Cumulative Spectrum Decay*

_25dB range_



_35dB range_



_45dB range_



Ok. I normally scale at -35dB decay but these drivers had so little energy storage so I included a -45dB decay plot as well. The ringing at such low intensity (below 1%) can usually be disregarded as audible. The measurements indicate that the drivers should sound transient and "open/clear". For those who don't know what a CSD is, here a little explanation; 

_The CSD is another way at looking at the frequency response, it displays the time domain in a 3rd (Z) axis. It displays the contribution of frequencies leading to the total response (the frequency response). It should not be viewed as frequency response vs time. At 0ms the total frequency is plotted as seen on the graphs above, at 1ms (for example) the contribution of the frequency intensity at occurs 1ms after the driver is presented a signal is shown. Understand? It's all calculated from the impulse response and this is known as linear distortion. Found a great site explaining it in more detail here; Waterfall Plots_

*Cumulative Spectrum Decay / Burst Decay - Period vs Freq/SPL*



Very good performance, something going on at ~5kHz but it's minor. This is basically the same data as the waterfall plots above, but Tone Burst Decay is displayed in periods instead of a time unit like (ms). It's easier to compare the performance between different frequencies like this. (I think I explained this in a previous post).

*Step Response*



--------------------------

_*Non-linear distortion - Harmonic Distortion 90dB/1m Relative. Shown as percent vs frequency.*_



THD below 1% from 1800Hz and up. That's really nice, extra nice when the THD mainly consists of 2nd order HD. 3rd order HD below 0,3% all the way down to 800Hz (where I started the sweep). HD2 hits 3% at 1kHz. That's Scan-Speak performance, very good. In the passband 2kHz-10kHz there's between 0,5-0,8% THD and roughly 0,1% HD3. I have nothing to complain at here really, among the cleanest tweeters I've tested to date. Outperforms the Vifa XT25 by quite a margin below 4kHz and rivals the much more expensive Scan Speak 6600 AirCirc driver from 2kHz and up.



_*Non-linear distortion - Intermodulation Distortion 90dB/1m Relative.*_



I did a lot of IMD testing, didn't get much worse than this unless used really low. IMD consisted mainly of 2nd order IM throughout the usable range and hit 0,5% at the worst spot. Very good performance, tested tweeters which had several percent IMD under the same testing conditions.

*Impedance Plot*



Fs at 635Hz, looks controlled. No irregularities in the plot, looks like the motor is good and the back ventilation is adequate. 

Gonna grab some food, I'll post results for the Vifa NE149-4 right after.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

*Vifa NE149W-04*

Manufacturer spec sheet: http://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/264-1082-vifa-ne149w-04-specifications-46557.pdf

This woofer is marketed as full-range. It's a 5,25" coated wood-fiber cone, a neodymium motor and a very interesting chassis design. Looks similar to the Scan-Speak Illuminator woofers. Let's see if performs as good as it looks... 

*Frequency Response - Semi-nearfield, On-Axis*



If you compare my measurement to the spec sheet, it's pretty similar. I generally trust Scan-Speak and Vifa's measurements. They tend to be accurate. The driver has a great extended response, pretty flat all the way up to 14-15kHz. Using it as a widebander would be to push it. Near perfect response between 200-6000Hz.

*Frequency Response - Farfield, 0-15-30-45-60-75 degrees*



Good power response to about 2kHz. Drops off beyond that. Controlled off-axis response to about 6kHz. First break-up node at 7-8kHz, it's well controlled and nothing like the aluminum or ceramic cone breakups. In the 30deg axis the driver is usable all the way up to 8kHz which is quite nice.

*Sonogram - Same data as above, displayed differently*



*Cumulative Spectrum Decay*

_25dB range_



_35dB range_



Basically, very behaved. Not much to say, great performance.

*Cumulative Spectrum Decay / Burst Decay - Period vs Freq/SPL*



That ugly breakup node shows itself here at 7-10kHz. Basically it looks pretty good up till 6kHz. Just some minor ringing the midrange. 

_*Step Response*_



Not the same scaling. Pretty useless plot anyway.

*Non-linear distortion - Harmonic Distortion 90dB/1m Relative. Shown as percent vs frequency.*



Typical widebander distortion profile. Superb performance above 200Hz but high distortion below 125Hz, it won't suit as a midbass driver, it hits 10% THD at [email protected]/1m, not good. My Seas L16 drivers did 96dB/1m with 1% THD at the same frequency... Enough of that, let's talk about the midrange instead. Above 160Hz, these drivers are top performers, really really good. With non-existant tall order products and a THD of less than 0,3% through the whole usable range. I'd call this a dedicated midrange driver based on the performance here. 



_*Non-linear distortion - Intermodulation Distortion 90dB/1m Relative.*_

Here's some random IMD tests;



















Ok. These might be a little tricky to understand, IMD can't be measured in the same way as harmonic distortion. I included an explanation on the first two pictures, the rest I just let ARTA calculate %IMD, I drew a red line below the numbers of interest. 

IMD is connected to HD. IMD goes up where HD goes up. As shown in the plots above, IMD is pretty low unless you push the drivers into the non-linear regions, below ~160Hz. 

_*Impedance Plot*_



A little low Q bump between 1-2kHz, nothing to worry about. Decent (Le). Mid Q, mid Fs driver which can be used for a variety of alignments. EBP ratings would probably recommend a vented box, not needed unless you plan to use them at lower frequencies and need more output and less distortion.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Quick conclusion...

The tweeters optimal crossover point lies around 1800Hz with a L-R 24dB/oct HP or a 2300Hz L-R 12dB/oct filter.

The Vifa NE149W can be used from 150-6000Hz, with a 12dB/oct LP at 160Hz or a 24dB/oct HP at 125Hz. The upper crossover point is only limited by the power response, I'd like to cross drivers where the dispersion is wide so in the whereabouts of 1800-2200Hz would be perfect. I'd recommend a 2000Hz 24dB/oct BW or a 1800Hz L-R. They can actually be used higher, they sound natural without any lowpass filtering applied at all but I'd still cross them at 4-5kHz as an absolute maximum to avoid holes in the dispersion profile. 

Both drivers sound pretty natural, the Vifa driver had a "dark" or "laid-back" tone to it while I listened to it on the test baffle. The tweeters sounded quite balanced and "airy". I'd prefer not to make subjective reviews before I had the chance to setup the drivers properly in a better environment than my garage...


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

So zaph didn't lie about the SB tweets 

Did you breakin the Vifas before testing?

Honestly Hanutsa you seem to know everything about car audio, have you ever thought about starting a car hifi install company? I would def. drive to sweden for your expertise!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Been busy for some days but here's a little update.

































Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I finally decided on subs. It will be 2x JBL GTO1214 mounted IB. Turns out I had space issues, a 4th order BP became way too big. Not what I planned but I'm hoping the sheer radiating area will keep excursion limited and therefore keep distortion down. The Soundstream amp manage to put 600W into 2 ohm, that's 300w/sub. I guess that's enough since Fsc should lie in the 40-50Hz range in IB config.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> So zaph didn't lie about the SB tweets
> 
> Did you breakin the Vifas before testing?
> 
> Honestly Hanatsu you seem to know everything about car audio, have you ever thought about starting a car hifi install company? I would def. drive to sweden for your expertise!


Heh. Thanks. Dunno about knowing everything there is though... 

Drivers were placed on noise near Xmax for 20 hours or so before testing. I have been building custom home audio speakers for 5 years and selling them. No company yet though.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

This might be stupid, but looking at your sub placement measures makes me wonder if you have considered placing one sub in the front and one in the bag for a more even distribution of the low frequencies?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> This might be stupid, but looking at your sub placement measures makes me wonder if you have considered placing one sub in the front and one in the bag for a more even distribution of the low frequencies?


I will use dual subs, one back and one front but not for that purpose. 



Here's a plot of front vs rear sub displayed as a waterfall (500ms range). There's a lot of ringing in both, the ringing is distributed differently dependent on placement indicating that these are room modes. In a car there's no place to build bass traps, Helmholtz resonators (passive). You can however place a second sub delayed in time with inverted phase at the select frequencies you want to cancel the modes. This require a DSP of course, I got channel 6 free on the DCX2496 so I'll be using that to feed the signal to the front sub. A 4th or 6th order BP with a small 6,5" sub will be ideal as the vents will filter out any non-linear distortion outside the passband of the enclosure. It will be efficient enough to reduce the modal ringing a fair extent.


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

Hanatsu said:


> Made baffles for the speakers today... I'll test them tomorrow
> 
> Here's measurements of cabin gain and different sub placements in the car:


I am surprised about the null at 50hz with the front sub. Do you have any explanation for it? Wave length of 50hz is ~22.5 ft (6.9m). I can't think of anything that matches that as far as interior dimensions and 1/4 wavelengths. 

I think one guy here did essentially vent his sub into the middle of the car to get around the nulls. 

On a side note, I have always wondered if cars with squarish interiors had more intrinsic issues with nulls.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Probably interior width and the distance between microphone and sub ~1,5-1.6m.

A guestimate of the interior dimensions shows the following results in this sim:


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

They do look pretty similar, but why the big difference in absorption from left to right side?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> They do look pretty similar, but why the big difference in absorption from left to right side?


Ah I was working on something else, forgot to change the settings. It doesn't matter, just affect the sharpness of the peaks.


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

Hanatsu said:


> Probably interior width and the distance between microphone and sub ~1,5-1.6m.
> 
> A guestimate of the interior dimensions shows the following results in this sim:


Wish I could do a sim like that. All I can hope to do is move things around and measure. It would be nice to sim to get a good starting point.

What program is that?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

RoomEQ beta19


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Got this little unit today. Bought a miniDC and a 4-way Advanced Plug-in as well.



*Interface & RoomEQ Integration Test*








*
Crossovers, T/A section:*





Nice unit, I like the autoEQ function via RoomEQ.


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## Starlet-SQ (Apr 19, 2008)

looks amazing....keep up the good work


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Here's the system diagram... This one was a bit time consuming to make lol.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Starlet-SQ said:


> looks amazing....keep up the good work


Thanks. Will do


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

So many functions in such a small box is truly amazing!
Do your insurance cover all that expensive stuff or do you also have a rottweiler protecting your car?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Lol xD

Tapaaatalk!!


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## jensclaudius (Sep 10, 2012)

Kommer du ut och tävlar något i år? Kanske med denna?


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Tævlar ??


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

jensclaudius said:


> Kommer du ut och tävlar något i år? Kanske med denna?


Mycket möjligt. Om det blir färdigt. Förra året var allt lite halvklart, tog tre tävlingar innan jag hunnit ställa in systemet riktigt lol. När är första tävlingen i södra delen av Sverige?

Eng; Very possible. If I can get it finished in time. Last year I competed with an unfinished build, took three competitions before I had the time to setup the system properly. When will the first competition in southern Sweden be held?

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Tævlar ??


= compete

Tapaaatalk!!


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## jensclaudius (Sep 10, 2012)

Hanatsu said:


> Mycket möjligt. Om det blir färdigt. Förra året var allt lite halvklart, tog tre tävlingar innan jag hunnit ställa in systemet riktigt lol. När är första tävlingen i södra delen av Sverige?
> 
> Eng; Very possible. If I can get it finished in time. Last year I competed with an unfinished build, took three competitions before I had the time to setup the system properly. When will the first competition in southern Sweden be held?
> 
> Tapaaatalk!!



All events (for the moment) Calendar 
Next competition is at Elmia Bilsport custom show, i never have my car finished beforde the swedish finals, all competions before the finals is used to setup the system properly and to sort out the problems. Use the help from the soundjudges to tune your car.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks. I'll try get it ready before 3rd of May. Ljudbyggaren is fairly close to me 

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

I just googled to find competitions in Denmark, but could not find anything recent.
Does anyone know of any SQ competitions in Denmark?
I dont think my car is really able to compete but I would love to hear some high end installs and chat with other danish SQ minded enthusiasts...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> I just googled to find competitions in Denmark, but could not find anything recent.
> Does anyone know of any SQ competitions in Denmark?
> I dont think my car is really able to compete but I would love to hear some high end installs and chat with other danish SQ minded enthusiasts...


Come to Helsingborg, 3rd May. Shouldn't be too far away? 

I thought the HiFi scene was big in Denmark, you guys are kinda famous for your speakers!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

I'm seriously thinking about going to sweden, but my swedish language skills are bad, and the bridges + hotel and fuel is expensive when i'm unemployed.

Is really sad but true most danes don't even know about danish speakers, and car enthusiasts seem to mainly think about DB drag racing


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> I'm seriously thinking about going to sweden, but my swedish language skills are bad, and the bridges + hotel and fuel is expensive when i'm unemployed.
> 
> Is really sad but true most danes don't even know about danish speakers, and car enthusiasts seem to mainly think about DB drag racing


You can sleep in my guestroom, I got plenty of space xD

You can work it off in my garage haha.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

A little update again...

Frame to HU in center console, I will have fiberglass and widen the console a bit.











Dash, slightly messy at the moment. I will form the right side a bit more.











I'm planning to put three meters here. Fuel pressure, oil pressure and volt meter. Either red or green backlighting. 





New gear gaiter



New air filter



Found a light switch from a Passat 2010. Wonder if I can mod it to fit...?


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

I'm sure it will work u just have rewire ecerything. Also this has auto light switch I don't know if the old one has it as well.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> You can sleep in my guestroom, I got plenty of space xD
> 
> You can work it off in my garage haha.


Thanks for the offer, I might hold you to that


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Personally I would not mount a noisy air filter in a car with such a nice sq installation, seems counterintuitive to me?
I also believe you will lose a bit momentum at low revs and gain zero hp.

Are you planning to sell this car for a profit when/if it wins a competition?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

The previous owners removed the OEM filter and cut all vacuum tubes and the preheating element. I don't like those sport filters but I don't have much choice in this case... 

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Are you planning to sell this car for a profit when/if it wins a competition?


Uh, don't think so. Maybe when I get bored and wanna start some new project, but I got two unfinished builds at the moment lol.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Got a pair of these today:









Had to make more cables for the MiniDSP.



Headunit frame mounting location







Sanded the dash a little, don't mind the ugly paint. It's just a primer. I'll probably finish the dash this weekend if I get the vinyl in time.


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## Woosey (Feb 2, 2011)

^^ nice!!


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## Black Rain (Feb 27, 2011)

I just found your build and holy canoli. You got some impressive stuff going on here. You have basicly repaired a busted up car and flipped it. I'm sub'd and can't wait to see the end. Well its never the end...lol.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks guys 

A little update again...

I decided I gray was better looking than black so I made a new floor. Note that it will be another "floor" on top of this one with the plexiglass covering everything but the amps. 







Mounted it directly in the metal frame below





Damped the rear floor with silent coat isolator 10. 



New RCA from HU to MiniDSP 







The red inner roof was kinda... unfitting. I got another inner roof from a Golf mk3 -97 which had much nicer color and material.

Noticed that the left "wheelhouse cover" is kinda dirty lol. Gotta clean it tomorrow.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Dayton RS52AN-8 (My rear speakers) tested:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/member-reviews-product-comparisons/161793-dayton-rs52an-8-a.html#post2076915


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

I think you DO like the sports filter... Or you definitely would be able to source a "new" OEM filter, vacuum tubes and the preheating element. But no shame in that.
I wont be surprised when you fit a 2.5" stainless sports exhaust too, I'm guessing this is why you need 3 big amps


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> I think you DO like the sports filter... Or you definitely would be able to source a "new" OEM filter, vacuum tubes and the preheating element. But no shame in that.
> I wont be surprised when you fit a 2.5" stainless sports exhaust too, I'm guessing this is why you need 3 big amps


lol xD

I do like the sports filter better now when you mention it...


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Got my little mini amp today, finally I have all the required equipment.

It sounded decent enough, decent output as well. Payed like $15 for it so I don't complain lol.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Was debating just now with a friend of mine if non-linear distortion really was very audible. Did a quick test on klippel's site. Pretty interesting listening test. Got uncertain at -36 / -39dB. Granted I used my crappy computer gaming headset...

Listening Test


So yeah... I can hear it. -36dB is about 1,5% THD


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

If you want cheap headphones with nice sound get the Creative aureal live!
Only 400 kr in denmark, I'm getting a pair. the CAL!s are pretty easy to drive too so perfect for mobile phones and computer gaming!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> Was debating just now with a friend of mine if non-linear distortion really was very audible. Did a quick test on klippel's site. Pretty interesting listening test. Got uncertain at -36 / -39dB. Granted I used my crappy computer gaming headset...
> 
> Listening Test
> 
> ...


I tried the random distortion test on emma test cd but I can't even hear 10% random distortion, so I must be half deaf or something...
Maybe thats why I find the autotune on 80Prs OK


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Ah I got a pair of Focal Spirit One and a pair of Sennheiser HD650. Too lazy to plug them in... they are in the next room lol xD

Hm, what EMMA track is that?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> the CAL!s are pretty easy to drive


Haha, I built a Class-D headphone amp. Could probably blow my ears out if wanted to xD


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> Ah I got a pair of Focal Spirit One and a pair of Sennheiser HD650. Too lazy to plug them in... they are in the next room lol xD
> 
> Hm, what EMMA track is that?


I think it was actually autosound test cd, my memory is bad, sorry
First I tried it on my dyn home system to have a ref. but honestly i couldnt really hear the distortion. Maybe I should try at high volume?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Easier to hear at moderate volume. Try the klippel test I linked


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

I have only slept like 6 hours total last 48 hours so probably not the best time to test my hearing 

I think hykhleif is trying my "guide" now, I hope he gets a satisfying result.

Im guessing headphones are better for this klippel test right?

So tired my phone won't recognize me anymore :-(
I better get some sleep. have fun and sleep well


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> I have only slept like 6 hours total last 48 hours so probably not the best time to test my hearing


Lol... I know the feeling. I was up for 46 hours without sleep during Dreamhack winter 2010 xD


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

I just tried the Klippel quick test, very interesting.
I do think it is volume dependent, because I need what I my neighbour would call high volume to detect even 6 db distortion.
With processing enabled on my Yamaha receiver I can't really hear the difference at real speaker level, but in pure direct mode I can reliably detect -12db distortion, but not -18db
You results are impressive!
Im wondering what codec klippel use for this test? Most online audio is compressed, but for my old and damaged ears i guess it doesn't matter...

Sorry this got off topic I'm not trying to jack your thread.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Here's a trick to hear the non-linearities: 

*Harmonic distortion will always create harmonics above the fundamental frequency.
*Intermodulation distortion will create sum and differential frequencies from the fundamental, which can be near, below and above the fundamental. 

This test are a mix of both. The "quieter" or "deader" the recording sounds the less distortion there is. Intermod distortion is easiest to hear in vocals, it creates an "edge" or roughness that sounds unnatural. Harmonic distortion is easiest to hear in lower midrange, there's more lingering tones in the upper midbass (200-300Hz in the klippel test). The less frequency content there is, the cleaner the recording is.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Im wondering what codec klippel use for this test? Most online audio is compressed, but for my old and damaged ears i guess it doesn't matter...


All my music are compressed. I exclusively use mp3, even for my home audio setup. I think lossless are a waste of space. 256kbit/s and higher is virtually the same as CD quality imo.

Made a thread about it last year. Quite interesting actually.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/technical-advanced-car-audio-discussion/142602-lossy-vs-lossless-formats-audibility-threshold.html


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Ok, little update.

Dash is ready for the vinyl now. 



Amp rack, done.







Welded the frame for the IB install.





Cables to trunk lighting. I'll mount a LED strip on the backside of the frame.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

In my eyes youre definitely a true artist!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> In my eyes youre definitely a true artist!


Hehe thanks. Glad someone thinks I do something worthwhile


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Little update again.

( There will be another MDF board on top of the frame later. I'm just trying to seal the trunk from the listening space as much as possible )







Mids:





The MiniDSP, couldn't fasten it in any good way but I found a solution after a while.



Subwoofer connection:









The Mini amp:


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I'll build this one next week:










Temperature controlled fan circuit using a thermistor. When amp temperature reach ~50°C the fans will start automatically.

Both 4ch amps are operating in 3ch mode. One amp for each side, L TW, L MIDR, L MIDB (bridged) + R TW, R MIDR, R MIDB (bridged).

Midranges and tweeters will have about 50Wrms each (4ohms), midbass should get about 80W (8ohm) bridged. Subs will get 300Wrms each. Should be enough I think.


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## Djdaviesw (Apr 13, 2014)

Cant wait to see the finished result. Ive got the dragon green mk3. Also did a 4 way active install. Would like to see yours so badly. Want to compare &#55357;&#56836;


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Update again. I'm having a mini vacation from work at the end of the week so I'll finally have the time to do some real work...

Well, panels, roof, back seats and stuff are back in place now at least. Had to clean everything for like 2 hours. Fun... NOT.



Wall against the backseats:















There's some space here on purpose. You'll see later what I will do with it


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

My local diving club took me out to the ocean today... another of my little side interests:



Yeah, that me xD


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Looks very prof. Would you mind sharing what your budget for this build is?
I figure the wall against the backseats is meant to block noice from the rear entering the cabin, but I can't guess why you need that extra space..
I envy your garage and fine tools a lot! Have a nice holiday!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Looks very prof. Would you mind sharing what your budget for this build is?
> I figure the wall against the backseats is meant to block noice from the rear entering the cabin, but I can't guess why you need that extra space..
> I envy your garage and fine tools a lot! Have a nice holiday!


Indeed. It's there to block the air to enter the cabin. 

Budget hm...

I've spent about 17000SEK/13900DKK/2600USD already on the audio/dampening/equipment etc. Had the Rs52 domes, the L18 mids, cables and various installation stuff before I began and I got the DCX2496 for free, so add an additional 3000-3500SEK/2500-2900DKK/460-530USD to the total budget (twice that if you counting in the DSP). Bought most of the stuff I need so I guess that's about it. I have other things to fix though. 

The garage is only 45m² big, planning to extend the space a bit, would like 10-15m² more


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Thats a lot of $ don't you have a wife spending your money?
I'm thinking your mini amp would be sweet for my tweets. Do you know where I can purchase this for a fair price?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

That miniamp is not good for tweets. It is clean 20-3000Hz, below 0,1% THD. 3000-20000Hz has increasing THD up to 3-4%... yeah I measured it.

I'm only using the amp 300-3000Hz. It costs about $15 on ebay.co.uk. This is a cheapo class D amp, there are cheap A/B circuits with low distortion in the highs. 

Tapaaatalk!!


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Are you planning on an enclosure for the L18's? Didn't think they were good IB.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

Looks good!










I am guessing that this slot is there for the tongue of the IB baffle to slip into.

All in all it looks a bit like what I tried to do with my E34 touring, but the hatch area is smaller in the Golf which makes things easier (less area to span) and it will weigh way less than what I would have been able to do.

Any idea on how you plan to seal the gap between the IB baffle and the hatch opening? In my car, I found that there was enough flex in the hatch door itself that getting a tight seal would have been problematic. If I sat in the trunk, with the hatch closed and latched, I could easily flex the corner of the hatch door and push it away from the hatch seal. So I had concerns about the baffle seal breaking during strong bass notes. I had thoughts of stiffening the hatch door with a cored glass laminate, but I abandoned the whole idea of an IB hatch cover because of weight and other construction complexities. Not that what I am doing now is any less complicated.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

But is the hatch in a golf mk3 big enough for a true IB? 
As far as I remember it should be min. 5 times Vas right?
2 x 30Liter x 5 = 300 Liter so I guess its doable if you don't raise the floor to much. Wound mid-bass in the back not destroy the front stage?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

teldzc1 said:


> Are you planning on an enclosure for the L18's? Didn't think they were good IB.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk


They work good IB mounted. I will however use them in an enclosure of about 10lit.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Orion525iT said:


> Looks good!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Bingo. That slot is for the top baffle 

I have an idea about the trunk seal. We'll see how it goes... I'll begin working on it on Friday.



Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> But is the hatch in a golf mk3 big enough for a true IB?
> As far as I remember it should be min. 5 times Vas right?
> 2 x 30Liter x 5 = 300 Liter so I guess its doable if you don't raise the floor to much. Wound mid-bass in the back not destroy the front stage?


4x VAS or so. Each sub got ~60lit VAS. So 120x4=480 ~500lit. 

True IB matters very little. What's important is where Fsc (Fs=Fsc in IB) ends up. The most efficient design should have the resonance around 45-55Hz and Qt around 0,5-0,8 with low Qms.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Orion525iT (Mar 6, 2011)

Hanatsu said:


> The most efficient design should have the resonance around 45-55Hz and Qt around 0,5-0,8 with low Qms.


Can you explain this? I am working with low qts subs and I am having a mental battle on the trade off between qts and fs. Lower fs means lower qts, higher qts means higher fs. Thanks.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Qt does not necessarily have a relation to Fs as you mention. There are low Fs, high Q woofers (and vice versa) on the market. Given that moving mass is about the same, Fs and VAS are tied to eachother. More mechanical compliance will give you lower Fs.

Qt only matters at resonance, Qms determines height/shaping of the impedance peak and are therefore inversely proportional to efficiency at Fs/Fsc (in a way). Low Qt means less bass (more controlled resonance), too much control and you basically force the amp to push the sub more (which means less efficiency). So a woofer with low Q, low Fs with low VAS will have a huge Mmd in relation to the size of the cone and very low efficiency.

For IB (in a car) a Fs of 35-40Hz Qt of 0,6-0,7 and mid VAS would be ideal if you want optimal efficiency (main concern for me). Generally vented is better these 2nd order alignments (sealed / ib..)

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> Qt does not necessarily have a relation to Fs as you mention. There are low Fs, high Q woofers (and vice versa) on the market. Given that moving mass is about the same, Fs and VAS are tied to eachother. More mechanical compliance will give you lower Fs.
> 
> Qt only matters at resonance, Qms determines height/shaping of the impedance peak and are therefore inversely proportional to efficiency at Fs/Fsc (in a way). Low Qt means less bass (more controlled resonance), too much control and you basically force the amp to push the sub more (which means less efficiency). So a woofer with low Q, low Fs with low VAS will have a huge Mmd in relation to the size of the cone and very low efficiency.
> 
> ...


But isn't it so that with High Fs (for a sub) of 35-40Hz you will have to play through Fs for deep bass? And isn't it also correct that playing through Fs will cause higher distortion?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Yes. Playing through Fs will create more distortion as excursion increases. Usually not a big deal, the distortion induced is mostly symmetric IIRC, which means the distortion mainly consist of 2nd order HD. Distortion at 30Hz is more audible than 40-50Hz imo.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> Yes. Playing through Fs will create more distortion as excursion increases. Usually not a big deal, the distortion induced is mostly symmetric IIRC, which means the distortion mainly consist of 2nd order HD. Distortion at 30Hz is more audible than 40-50Hz imo.


Im surprised that you think [email protected] is more audible than @40-50Hz because as far as I know human ears are less sensitive at lower freqs. But you usually know what you talk about.
I know Gene Czerwinski advised against playing me cerwin vega subs below FS but I guess maybe he was mainly concerned users would destroy his subs trying to reach high spl below FS. Personally I don't use a subsonic filter and do play my subs below FS at moderate volume.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Here's why I think so;



Hanatsu said:


> Clarification; When we're talking about distortion we should mention if it's linear or non-linear distortion. These two are perceived differently. All sound that reaches our ears and deviates from the input source can be considered distortion. Linear distortion is the only form that can to some extent be fixed with processing, as it relates to frequency response and phase response. There's only one way to reduce non-linear distortion and that is to cut output in the areas that induce the distortion. The non-linear distortion induced are either caused by amps that clips (mainly 3rd, 5th order HD and odd order IMD with solid state amps) and speakers. Speaker always create non-linear distortion at any volume. Logically the audibility of non-linear distortion products (where the added frequencies are induced, NOT where they end up) should be inverse proportional to the ELC / Fletcher-Munsson curves at each respective equivalent volume (phons). Non-linear distortion would be most audible if they are induced in the 20-200Hz area, moderately audible in the 200-1500Hz + 5000-8000Hz area and the least audible in the 1500-5000Hz range. Follow?
> 
> Example; 1% THD is -40dB down. If we have a woofer playing a 20Hz tone with 1% 2nd order HD and 1% 3rd order HD, then there's new tones induced at 40Hz (HD2) and 60Hz (HD3). Look at the ELC below (80phons line). The 20Hz phon level is at 120dB and the 40Hz is at 105dB and the 60Hz at 95dB. OK. What does this mean? It means that we're more sensitive to 40 and 60Hz than 20Hz, so the distortion products should also be more audible right? Let's use 120dB as fundamental, -40dB distortion adds 80dB at 40Hz + 60Hz. ELC curves dictate that we are 15dB more sensitive to 40Hz than 20Hz, so the "real" SPL we hear isn't 80dB, but 95dB at 40Hz. At 60Hz the effect is even greater, we're about 25dB more sensitive to 60Hz than 20Hz so the "real" SPL would be 80+25=105dB here. Put in distortion numbers this equal 120-95=25 (-25dB or *5.62% HD2*) and 120-105=15 *(-15dB or 17,8% HD3)*.
> 
> ...


Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Did some shopping today. Straight from tme.eu



Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu may I ask why you don't teach at uni? You just prefer to drive a forklift?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Lol... I'm too lazy. Also my patience sucks, almost as much as I suck at teaching others haha. I'm currently studying to electrical engineer in low voltage systems so I'll probably work somewhere else in a year or so


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Finally got the damn remote controlled central locking to work. Have to replace the entire central lock system (vacuum type) to individual electrical motors instead. Working on the temperature fan controller as well... but I gotta sleep now. Updates tomorrow!

Ps. Love this song xD


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Made tweeter pods today... 













Found 1m of SCC (silver clad copper) speaker cable. Never seen that before.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Right

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Nice

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk


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## Djdaviesw (Apr 13, 2014)

Neat work


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks 

Here's an update again. Been working with the trunk and the "IB" baffle. My original goal was to decouple the box from the chassis to minimize vibrations which destroy the illusion of an upfront bass. I found a solution for this, even with the subs mounted without box by using these:



They are some kind of rubber-anti-vibration things for large electrical engines. 















The baffle is about 1cm free from touching the chassis and are held in place by 10 of those rubber things. Placed a layer of 10mm CCF on top of the baffle. 









A little opening for easy access to fuses.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Here's a vid too:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxjisgz4ywtyatn/20140420_202151.mp4


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## ansuser (Dec 18, 2011)

Hanatsu said:


> Here's a vid too:
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/cxjisgz4ywtyatn/20140420_202151.mp4


In this setup baffle is going to move out of phase compared to woofers (loss of efficiency) 

And it is going to be temperature-dependent (hard to tune).

Better solution would be to put some reasonable sheet of lead on the baffle :laugh:


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

You sure doesn't do anything halfway do you?

If I know you right, you have probably thought about this. Please understand i'm not trying to bash your excellent work. But I'm really wondering so I have to ask. Because as far as I know subs do need a very stable and solid mount. Won't the rubber-anti-vibration things waste a lot of bass energy, that in a stable mount would have been transferred into soundwaves?
I have seen people trying to isolate speakers from the car chassis before, but always thought they were a bit a crazy. But I know you are not crazy, so am I wrong on my conception that strong and hard hitting bass require solid and stable mounts?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Everything that flex which is close to 180deg out of phase in relation to woofer will cause "losses". Not only a baffle, but the car's roof/walls/floor as well. Especially the roof is a major issue. The "cone" area times the excursion dictates the amount of SPL a transducer or any flexing panel will be able to form. Thr chassis Sd(radiating area) is far bigger than the woofers and the baffle, therefore any vibrations that couple into the chassis will actually cause more losses. Mass loading a panel will lower the resonance frequency, not always a good thing if it gets pushed down to the passband of driver in question. I've only done limited measurements but the loss is not a big deal really. 

Vibrations into chassis will increase the chance of subwoofer localization. That's a larger concern of mine. 

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> Everything that flex which is close to 180deg out of phase in relation to woofer will cause "losses". Not only a baffle, but the car's roof/walls/floor as well. Especially the roof is a major issue. The "cone" area times the excursion dictates the amount of SPL a transducer or any flexing panel will be able to form. Thr chassis Sd(radiating area) is far bigger than the woofers and the baffle, therefore any vibrations that couple into the chassis will actually cause more losses. Mass loading a panel will lower the resonance frequency, not always a good thing if it gets pushed down to the passband of driver in question. I've only done limited measurements but the loss is not a big deal really.
> 
> Vibrations into chassis will increase the chance of subwoofer localization. That's a larger concern of mine.
> 
> Tapaaatalk!!


OK but my personal experience in my car is that only very low freq. test tones like 20-25 Hz creates big vibrations. But when I can feel the sound pressure from the subs in my back it makes it really hard to fool the brain into thinking that subbass really comes from front and not the back of my car.
Personally I also think its fun when I can feel the low sub frequencies more than actually hearing these freqs, but of course this is just pers. preference.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

20-25Hz should be "felt" more than heard. That means the distortion is low. 

Well, I can modify the baffle quite easily to couple directly to chassis so I can measure the difference later. Know that even at full output the baffle moves very little (currently on burn in at ~15mm excursion).

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Hanatsu said:


> 20-25Hz should be "felt" more than heard. That means the distortion is low.
> 
> Well, I can modify the baffle quite easily to couple directly to chassis so I can measure the difference later. Know that even at full output the baffle moves very little (currently on burn in at ~15mm excursion).
> 
> Tapaaatalk!!


I'm thinking your approach of research, knowhow, excellent handcraft and thorough testing is the recipe for medals 
How do you plan to seal the gap where the rubber things are?

BTW this is one of my favorite tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFZDNti7IK4
Sorry about the low bit rate.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

so what did you think!!!?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

OK. A little update again. I have a hard time doing anything right now. I have severe hand dermatitis, it hurts by just moving my fingers ;(











I'll be installing LEDs under that plexiglass. Probably red... orange or something.

I had one of those EPIC fail days, should have stayed in bed this morning. When I got to the garage I happened to drop the damn router (Professional series - Bosch) into the floor and it went completely dead. The Jasper circle guide attached to it also broke, nice! ^.^

Later this evening, I was wrapping the floor with gray cloth and managed to wrap the WRONG DAMN SIDE. Rofl @ me. I decided it time to call it a day after that lol.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Sorry to read about your troubles.
I'm curious about that top cover above your subs, does it function as a seal or whats the purpose?


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## Black Rain (Feb 27, 2011)

Sorry to hear about your pain. Hope all gets better soon.

Q? How did you secure the plexiglass in or is it pressure fit?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Pressure fit. I wouldn't try to remove it, I pushed it down quite hard 

The top cover will further strengthen the baffle, it will work as a "final" seal as well. When I'm done with it I shall wrap it in cloth so it looks a bit less flashy.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

A little OT 'blog' post, couldn't work today - going to the hospital tomorrow to receive a Cortisone shot, hope the damn hand gets better after that. Anyway... bought a pair of new headphones, AKG Q701. Was gonna use them for reference listening since I've heard they were really accurate sounding headphones. Got a really good price from a Swedish site so I took a chance of buying headphones I hadn't listened to. Well...

Right out of the box they were really annoying, too little bass and way too hot in the smack of the midrange. Had to EQ them pretty much to get them to sound natural. 

Here's measurements over the headphones: http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AKGQuincyJonesQ701.pdf

Here's the EQ curve I applied:



They sound wonderful now. Even "reference class" headphones need EQ to sound right, it's really astounding that some people run car audio systems without EQ and claim it somehow sounds better that way. All car systems needs equalization, fact.


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## jdsoldger (Feb 14, 2012)

First off, wow, what an amazing build! I am working on something along the same lines in my Honda Fit, though my knowledge is lacking compaired to yours. I am going to have to seriously look into those SB tweeters, they look amazing from the measurements. I am running XT25SC90s right now.

Can I ask for details about how you measure your drivers? Looks like you use ARTA and a test baffle. I am curious how you made the baffle, since I will be designing and building one myself soon. I have a slowly growing collection of drivers that need to be measured.


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## BSTYN (Jan 21, 2014)

Beautiful installation man


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Quick update, still a bit crippled. My hand is better but I have a hard time doing precision work, eating Penicillin for a damn infection in two of the fingers. Nasty business. 

Wrapped the floor in cloth, the correct side this time. Temporarily installed LEDs too, tried red to begin with. You can see the reflection of the LED in the amplifier (not intended) so I gonna relocate them further down later. Not sure I want red lighting either. Here's some pics:

Wiring to LEDs.









(The vinyl is a bit dirty... well everything are quite dirty actually lol)


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

BSTYN said:


> Beautiful installation man


Thanks


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Really nice!
Maybe green leds would go nice with your red car and amps?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

jdsoldger said:


> First off, wow, what an amazing build! I am working on something along the same lines in my Honda Fit, though my knowledge is lacking compaired to yours. I am going to have to seriously look into those SB tweeters, they look amazing from the measurements. I am running XT25SC90s right now.
> 
> Can I ask for details about how you measure your drivers? Looks like you use ARTA and a test baffle. I am curious how you made the baffle, since I will be designing and building one myself soon. I have a slowly growing collection of drivers that need to be measured.


Thanks 

They are really good drivers, almost Scan 6600 performance (which I consider to be among the best drivers on the entire market at the moment), but for 1/4 - 1/5th the price. So yeah, really great performance vs price. I'm using the XT25SC90 in my other build, they are just as good above 4kHz. The difference is that the SB drivers can be run an octave lower than that and still sound awesome. It was required in this build because I use so large midrange drivers. Using 3" drivers in the other build so a higher crossover is fine (talking about the power response). 

I measure drivers using ARTA. I've previously tried HolmImpulse and RoomEQ but ARTA is more comprehensive and can display results in a much better way. 

What you need: 

1. A low distortion mic, I'm using a calibrated ECM8000, which is good up to 120dB or so IIRC. 

2. An amplifier driving the speakers, preferably something with much power so it remains clean testing lower efficiency drivers. 

3. A soundcard better than most integrated motherboard chips. They tend to have high noise floor messing with distortion plots. Nothing fancy is required, I'm using an external Scarlet 2i2, but an ordinary Soundblaster Audigy 2 or newer ($50) soundcard is clean -120dB down. (Not that distortion in a speaker matters -120dB down but I don't want the test gear to bottleneck the measurements in any way).

4. Impedance test jig, you can make your own if you don't got a Dayton Woofer Tester. The components shouldn't cost more than a few bucks. It's all in the ARTA manual (the program called: LIMP). 

5. SPL meter, get one off Ebay if you don't got one (I think radio shack got as well). An A-weighed meter will only measure right between 1-2kHz or so. I normally set levels using noise in a limited range. 300-600Hz for woofers, 1000-2000Hz for midranges and tweeters. 

Use a standardized method, I've saved my settings in a file so I always load and display the same settings when I measure so my measurements can be compared (at least those I've done in ARTA). The inverse square law dictates that you gain 6dB when you half the distance to the source. So 90dB/1m is equivalent to 96dB/0,5m or 102dB/0,25m. Measuring closer to the driver limits the effect of the "room" since I use the stepped sine method. Too close ain't good either, because the mic will distort as some point and the measurement will not correlate well with real distortion performance. It's dependent on cone size but generally between 10-25cm for harmonic distortion, intermod distortion and CSD tests. 

You must gate the response (limit the impulse response) in ARTA so you don't include the reflection of floor, walls, or roof. My measuring height is 100cm so the first reflection will occur after roughly 200cm. ARTA can calculate both gate time and distance at the same time. It's easy to see on the IR plot (the main screen) if you increase gain (in ARTA), a new peak will always occur a few milliseconds after the main peak, just use the marker and use only the IR before the second reflection peak. Gating the response will limit the low frequency resolution. A CSD will only be good to about 500-800Hz using the test setup I have. It's important to gate the response, especially looking at CSD / Tone Burst plots, they will be seriously messed up otherwise. I measure FR in nearfield and the FR into different angles in "semi-farfield" (usually 50cm away with drivers bigger than 3"), I then merge them, you can do that using "overlays" in the 2FR tab in ARTA. Save the *.pir files for each measurement, you can make directionality diagrams with them later like polar plots. 

I can take a picture of the test baffle tomorrow... it's nothing fancy. I think Zaph has some pictures over his test baffle (zaphaudio.com), his looks better than mine 

Would be nice to have more people supplying objective data. Any questions, just ask them. I'll try to help.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Really nice!
> Maybe green leds would go nice with your red car and amps?


Yeah... thought so too. I ordered green leds now. ( Only color I didn't have :< )


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Hm wonder if can use a photodiode to control LEDs, so they automatically lighten up when it gets dark... would be pretty cool. I'll look into that.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

An updatishz again...

The small grill there... gonna place the Dayton Rs52 under those (the rear ambiance).





Made a small space for accessories (tire repair spray, first aid kit etc).











I got really annoyed at the mess in front of the main fuse so I decided to fix that... Installed a new fuse holder (mini AGM) for HU/DSP power and marked everything up properly. 









Welded a the new holder for the fuse box.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I hate the crappy smartphone camera, I can't find the damn charger for my DSLR. Seems like I must order a new... so annoying.


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## BSTYN (Jan 21, 2014)

good idea 

Put more pictures of car


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Forgot to share these...

Tweeter mounting.













The pod will of course be mounted with the cable 180deg down. I need to paint, make mounting holes etc first. But you get the idea. The "frame" is directly welded into chassis, even reinforced the metal to get it more stable.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Smallish update... I'm working till Thursday. Hopefully I'll find some time to work on the car. A few things have arrived. I'll pick them up tomorrow at the post office...

Fixed the rear view mirrors, they looked like crap.





Pics look a little weird, they are actually tilted slightly upwards but it looks like they are leaning downwards... Well ^.^



Wrapped that little sail panel in red vinyl... I might wrap it in black/dark gray instead - We'll see about that, bought like 10 colors lol. 





I'll see if I can find anything nice to cover the steel frame with. Haven't figured anything out yet... that's what happens when you improvise.


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Can't you paint the steel with the same red coating you used for the side rear view mirrors?
Or if you want high bling factor get the steel chromed by a professional, I think this would match the black leather very nice... 

btw If you want your golf to really get attention you should have used the kawa green coating from your bike on the mirrors! 
Im kidding you, the red mirrors look really nice


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Quick update.


















Painted th VW logo and wrapped the plastics in vinyl.




Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Can't you paint the steel with the same red coating you used for the side rear view mirrors?
> Or if you want high bling factor get the steel chromed by a professional, I think this would match the black leather very nice...
> 
> btw If you want your golf to really get attention you should have used the kawa green coating from your bike on the mirrors!
> Im kidding you, the red mirrors look really nice


Lol. I will have redo this. Speaker keep vibrating when you close the door.. makes me nervous.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

You never stop to amaze me. Extremely nice work. I think a lot of Prof. Installers could learn a lot from you!


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## Freijojo (Dec 2, 2009)

Nice but for make the setting the dcx is movable ? Or you must be two for that ?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Nah. I use the PC interface.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I'm almost done with the panels. My damn hand is still troubling me so I can't work as much as I wanted so things are going rather slowish at the moment. 

I got my EVO gauges as well. I love the way they look.


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## plcrides (Mar 21, 2014)

I've been reading this for the past couple hours i really enjoyed it,thanks for sharing all your hard work,and i know taking the time to load photos always sucks,but thanks again can't wait to see how it turns out.oh and yep i was trying to catch a peak of the kawi what year is it?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

plcrides said:


> I've been reading this for the past couple hours i really enjoyed it,thanks for sharing all your hard work,and i know taking the time to load photos always sucks,but thanks again can't wait to see how it turns out.oh and yep i was trying to catch a peak of the kawi what year is it?


It's a 1992 Kawasaki GPZ500S. I modded it some, added some digital instruments. I also installed LEDs and fixed the covers before I painted it green (it was black, gray and red before). Turned out pretty nice, I painted it in the garage so I was afraid that dust and crap would get stuck in the paint.

The engine is slightly modded as well, it got approximately 10hp more than stock. It's a very light bike but it suits me. It's very cheap to own, both tax and insurance is relatively low compared to other bikes here in Sweden. A new Yamaha R1 or R6 cost about $4000/year to insure... insane.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I'm currently waiting for the DC/DC converters to arrive so I can modify the DCX2496. I'll begin wrapping the dash in vinyl as soon as I've sanded and prepared everything. More updates later this week.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

Damn man talk about 10 pounds of poo in 3 pound bag ! I dig it a lot !


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I've been quite busy with stuff and I was in a traffic incident with the motorcycle a week ago and hurt my foot and leg. Until I recover I can only do sitting work, I'm currently building a power supply for the DCX2496, it looked pretty easy to pull off first but I need to build a dual polarity circuit now, it requires 15VDC+ and a 15VDC- with a common isolated ground. 

Well, here's the test result of the midbass driver I gonna use, enjoy:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/member-reviews-product-comparisons/164027-seas-l18-h1224-08-7-midwoofer-measurements.html#post2109285

I have done some work... but I'll update when I got more


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## WinWiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Sorry to hear about your accident. Are you going to recover without permanent damage? I was wondering why you stopped updating this thread. So I'm guessing you are not visiting Denmark this summer right?


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

WinWiz said:


> Sorry to hear about your accident. Are you going to recover without permanent damage? I was wondering why you stopped updating this thread. So I'm guessing you are not visiting Denmark this summer right?


It's not that serious, nothing broken. I can't stand on my left leg right now, gonna remove the stitches in 9 days from now so hopefully I'll be fine after that.

I still gonna make that trip lol. My vacation begins 18th July


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

Really enjoying my first read through of this build, till the last few posts; be careful on 2 wheels man and get better soon.

What is the angle tool you were using to get the degree/slope for the rear seat panel?

I'm using a GTO1214 in about 1.4 cu ft. It certainly does the job. I've used it with low power and up to 600W, although the surround did separate from the outer lip on my first one, but might have been partly because I took it to xmax often with 600W. Not many subs in the price range with such nice features though.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks 

I certainly don't complain at the price of those subs. I got the system running and the output is indeed adequate. I'm pleased to report that my sub-decoupling-thing seem to work. There's basically zero vibrations into the chassis.

I'll take a proper picture of that tool tomorrow... dunno the english name for it but I'll look it up.

Tapaaatalk!!


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## deltasaurus (Apr 9, 2014)

Just now finished both of your build logs and all I can say is WOW! Forfive thw shout, but wanted you to hear it, lol. I would have thought that you were an EE, but looks like you are studying to be one. You definitely have the skills to be a successful one. One more time, Nice builds, and keep it coming.


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