# 2009 C6 Corvette - Horns, OE source



## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

This is a 2009 Z51 coupe with the LS3 engine and 6 speed manual transmission. I have plans for the powertrain, so the audio install reflects some of the performance oriented goals of the car. I'm paying a lot of attentention to thermal issues and weight.

I sold my e36 M3 and kept the majority of the good parts in anticipation of this install. The system is mostly carryover from the M3 with the exception of the new sub/enclosure and midbasses:

Stock 6 disc in-dash unit (Corvettes have unequalized line level output, and stock appearance is a HUGE plus for me)
JL 300/4
JL 500/1
Boxology enclosure w/IDQ10
Dayton 8" reference mids
Radian HLCD's in Image Dynamics minihorn bodies

That's pretty much it. No center or rears to muddy up the imaging. The only other hardware I may add is an EQ. I'm looking at either an AudioControl EQT or the Alpine PXE-H650, depending on how it sounds right out of the box with the horns in this car.


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

I pulled most of the interior and got started on the insulation kit. I'm surprised just how heavy the carpet is in the C6 compared to every other car I've worked on. The passenger side is noticably heavier and they apparently added some reinforcement and extra insulation for 2009. Luckily, the whole insulation kit weighs only about 3lbs! It does wonders for reducing cockpit temps as well as road noise. It's about 8mm thick and spongy feeling.








The insulation kit is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to put together. I had to patch and cut pieces to fit the two "pods" on the center tunnel near your ankles on each side. Not too bad, just a little time consuming to get it to my satisfaction. The aluminum tape is difficult to work with cleanly, but the result doesn't look bad considering my somewhat sloppy application of it.

I also swapped the Bose 10" subs in the door for the Dayton 8" midbass. I'm using the signal wires for the self-amplified subs as the speaker wire for my mids. I just soldered and heat-shrinked a short length of speaker wire to go inside the door cavity via the main grommet above the speaker. This gives me a pretty clean wire routing and I can pick up the other end of the signal wires near the stock amp in the passenger footwell where I'll make the connection to my high power amp output along with the tweeter/horn wires later.

Staring at the inside of the door, I also had time to think about how having the window down might color the midbass response with a highly reflective surface right behind the driver. My solution was to drape some rubber mesh (tool cabinet shelf liner) across the back of the mid and adaptor plate. It was initially held on with 3M super77 adhesive, but it's also sandwiched between the adaptor plate and the door frame when installed. This should be just enough barrier to break up direct reflections without impeding breathing. I trimmed the excess mesh after tightening down the adaptor flanges to the door.


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## bassfromspace (Jun 28, 2016)

I'm jealous.


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## atsaubrey (Jan 10, 2007)

Owning a Corvette myself I am intersted in how you plan on getting a sert of horns under the dash esp. with it being a manual. There is no way I would try horns in my C6.


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## gsr22 (Jul 30, 2007)

why didnt you go with a 10" midbass


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

I spent a fair amount of time checking the C6's for under dash clearance at work before I pulled the trigger on buying one and doing the horns in it. There should be enough room, but your toes will be behind the horn body while driving. The footwell is deep enough that I shouldn't have to worry about kicking them even when enjoying "spirited driving" on track. I'll make it work, I know it's been done before somewhere...

I looked at a bunch of drivers before getting the Dayton 8's. I didn't see any 10's that looked like they'd be as clean from 80Hz-1.5kHz as these for anywhere near the price. I'm only doing a two-way (active) front stage, so they have to extend to wherever the HLCD picks up. I have plenty of sub, so I don't necessarily need the extension. I'm not convinced that bigger is always better. The 8's should hold their own. My previous install sounded great with Peerless 6.5" mids in the BMW. This should only do better.


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## Kenny_Cox (Sep 9, 2007)

Love the color, I am painting my show truck a similar shade of blue. Looking good so far!


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

I finished both doors and moved on to the horn install. There's a surprising amount of room under the dash if you're willing to make some compromise. I could have mounted the horn bodies closer to the edge of the dash, but the idea was to push them as far back as possible to improve staging. There is also nothing good to attach the mounting straps to that far toward the dash. Moving them deeper starts to encroach on toe clearance for the pedals, which is a big no-no since I plan on road racing the car and need to be able to dance without thinking about missing the horns. There was more lateral room on the C6 than my previous M3, so I pushed the driver further to the outside and trimmed the edge of the horn flush with the mouth opening. I ended up trimming the hood release switch to clear the horn body. It's still functional, and I have the horn mounted as far back and out as possible. The final location is about 4.5" deeper than the bottom of the dash panel. I still have access to both the OBDII plug, footwell light, and HVAC vents.


















So, yes the driver's horn fits fine. The passenger side should be much easier, but that'll wait until tomorrow. I may take a shortcut and just order a pre-made amp rack from the same place I got the insulation and midbass plates from. I honestly don't see me coming up with something better without spending way too much time to do it.


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## chevbowtie22 (Nov 23, 2008)

Wow; just wow. I applaud you for tearing into a brand new vette! I get all kinds of crap when I tell people I'm going to tear into my brand new Sierra Denali. Especially since I only made it a month with the factory pcm/tcm tuning in it.  I'm really curious about the horns. Everyone raves about them but I have yet to hear a set. Anyway the car looks great so far!


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

chevbowtie22 said:


> Wow; just wow. I applaud you for tearing into a brand new vette! I get all kinds of crap when I tell people I'm going to tear into my brand new Sierra Denali. Especially since I only made it a month with the factory pcm/tcm tuning in it.


Oh, I have plans for the powertrain too... 








Tearing into the PCM calibration doesn't scare me since I do that for a living.


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

Why did you use copper plumbers strap? :laugh: 

Looks expensive, did they not have gold plated?

(please see the above as a joke and not an attack It sounds funny in my head)


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## markjoe8 (Feb 27, 2009)

nicer


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## chevbowtie22 (Nov 23, 2008)

Mmm. Turbo. Now I'm really jealous!

What do you use for the tuning? I'm currently running EFI Live but I'm a novice at best. I'm getting a lot of help from another experianced tuner. I'm hoping sometime this summer I'll be throwing in a Mast Motorsport cam and a set of American racing lt's. Its amazing the differance a little tuning has made on the L92 motor. Even more so with the 6l80. Just the removal of the TM was night and day.


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## 30something (Jan 9, 2009)

eficalibrator said:


> Oh, I have plans for the powertrain too...


Nice...looks like Peter sent some goodies from Down Under. Are you going with a speed density set-up or staying with the MAF?

Oh, yeah...and I love the horns


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## lowpoke (Jun 1, 2008)

Nice. I'll be keeping an eye on this install as I have some horns ready to go into my '63 Impala, although unlike you I have plenty of room 
(I say ready, though I have another install on the list ahead of the Impala.)

Anyway, I had it in my head that the bass driver should ideally be on the same plane as the horn (?). (Mounting in the door or kick panel would suit me much better too.)
I'll be keen to know how yours sounds.


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

I'll be using HPTuners for the reflash. This is actually the demo car that I use for my business where I teach EFI calibration classes to enthusiasts and shop owners. My day job is as a powertrain calibration engineer for one of the Big 3. I am very familiar with how these things work. The MAF will stay (but in a new housing), and I will also have the complex equation-based VE model tuned correctly for boost as well. All of this will be without going to a custom operating system, since the factory OS is more flexible than many realize.

The straps must only be copper plated, since they're very attracted to the neo magnets. It's just what I had on hand when doing the install. You literally can't see it unless your head is on the floorboard. The horn is not visible from outside the car or in the driver's seat. I can "paint" them with a black Sharpie if it helps. 

The Flu is kicking my ass right now and I'm working with an out of town client this weekend, so the project is on hold for a bit.


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## atsaubrey (Jan 10, 2007)

WOW! I gotta give you credit, I didnt think the horns would fit. Looks like I need to get under my own dash and have a look!


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

eficalibrator said:


>


Sorry for asking this but the picture doesn't really show it. 
Is the horn parallele to the floor? 
Doesn't the underdash obstruct the opening of the horn mouth?


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

That picture was taken with the camera sitting on the front edge of the driver's seat. The horn body is flush with the closeout panel directly above it, so it's darn close to horizontal. I can tweak the straps on either side if needed to level it, but we'd be splitting hairs here.

The other (angled) photo shows it better. The closeout panel is not perfectly smooth, but I think it'll be close enough. Does anyone here really have enough experience (or data!) to show where a perfect coupling of the horn body to the dash makes any sonic difference? I suspect that by the time I'm tuning it in and listening, any mismatch between the top of the horn body and the bottom of the dash will be the least of my worries. They're as far back, apart, and level as I can get them. Time to move on to amplification and signal processing.


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Saweeet! I love installs for cars that are meant to be driven.


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

In my E39, I had the horns mounted closest to the edge of the dash as possible. As an experiment, ou could make a panel out of 1/8 wood and 'slip' it in to see if it makes THAT much of a difference. The only thing I can think of it improving is irregularities for the staging and MAYBE a bit more precise imaging. It would be nice if Eric Stevens would chime in. Also, I am most interested in how the different compression drivers would sound, any idea on the crossover point? what slope? 

Besides that, it looks good!! I wish I could put a 8" in my doors like that.


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## McMan (Dec 27, 2008)

Glad some one had the balls to mod a new car this should be good when finnished and with some extra power by your pics.
Can i ask what is good about using horns as i have never heard horns before?

Good luck with this all.


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## imjustjason (Jun 26, 2006)

chevbowtie22 said:


> Mmm. Turbo. Now I'm really jealous!


Uhhh hmmm *cough*... that's TWIN TURBO.


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

> Can i ask what is good about using horns as i have never heard horns before?


 
Good sir, (Had to be a little British!!) The advantages of horns is basically it allows for a single source (speaker) to be placed as far forward as possible in the vehicles interior. Along with proper design of the horn body, it allows for accurate imaging and staging. Of course, the drawbacks are rather large themselves and they include. Mounting-Not the smallest things.
Space- in the footwell for horn bodies an not hitting your feet.
Tuning- it is rather picky about crossover points and equalization.
Matching with the rest of the system. In my opinion, you need a very strong mid-bass to compensate for the inherent efficiencies of the horn design.

I hope it helped. The major manufacturere of Horns is Image Dynamics in California, headed by Eric Stevens. A little more research will lend loads of in formation for you. Here is a picture of my horns in my BMW as another install utilizing horns. They are the same horn assembly as eficalibrator is using.


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## designer485 (Sep 19, 2006)

This looks like its going to be good! Nice work so far...can't wait to see the turbos installed!


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## McMan (Dec 27, 2008)

slvrtsunami said:


> Good sir, (Had to be a little British!!) The advantages of horns is basically it allows for a single source (speaker) to be placed as far forward as possible in the vehicles interior. Along with proper design of the horn body, it allows for accurate imaging and staging. Of course, the drawbacks are rather large themselves and they include. Mounting-Not the smallest things.
> Space- in the footwell for horn bodies an not hitting your feet.
> Tuning- it is rather picky about crossover points and equalization.
> Matching with the rest of the system. In my opinion, you need a very strong mid-bass to compensate for the inherent efficiencies of the horn design.
> ...


Thanks for the heads up on horns i will have to get some and give them a try some day!


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## mjgonegm (Jun 21, 2008)

eficalibrator said:


> Oh, I have plans for the powertrain too...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oooooooooooooooh

Are you doing a twin turbo up front or muffler repacment type deal ?


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## mjgonegm (Jun 21, 2008)

eficalibrator said:


> I finished both doors and moved on to the horn install. There's a surprising amount of room under the dash if you're willing to make some compromise. I could have mounted the horn bodies closer to the edge of the dash, but the idea was to push them as far back as possible to improve staging. There is also nothing good to attach the mounting straps to that far toward the dash. Moving them deeper starts to encroach on toe clearance for the pedals, which is a big no-no since I plan on road racing the car and need to be able to dance without thinking about missing the horns. There was more lateral room on the C6 than my previous M3, so I pushed the driver further to the outside and trimmed the edge of the horn flush with the mouth opening. I ended up trimming the hood release switch to clear the horn body. It's still functional, and I have the horn mounted as far back and out as possible. The final location is about 4.5" deeper than the bottom of the dash panel. I still have access to both the OBDII plug, footwell light, and HVAC vents.
> 
> What's better Horn's Or Well Placed Twett's ????
> 
> [


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

slvrtsunami said:


> Here is a picture of my horns in my BMW as another install utilizing horns...


Funny, I had these exact horns previously installed in my e36 M3. I think the photos of that are in my other thread about that install.



mjgonegm said:


> What's better Horn's Or Well Placed Twett's ????


In my previous experience with the M3, it was definitely the horns to my ears. (Your mileage/taste will vary) I tried that car with 1" silk domes in the kick panels and then with these horns. Once I learned how little gain the horns really needed (about 1/10th the power of the mids!), they blended MUCH better and center imaging was never so good. Granted, the e36 was a bit narrow by comparison, so we'll see. I really don't miss any of the supposed "loss" above 16kHz with the horns since I prefered silk domes over metal tweets before anyway. Voices ended up being way more natural with the horns by far.


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

I actually heard a E36 with the horns integrated into the bottom dash panels so there was no loss of footwell! I thought it was tricky and different.


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## chrisdors (Mar 6, 2009)

nice work- not too many 09's running around with 3 horns


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

Ummmmm.......3 horns?? Am I missing something here??


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

lol a pair of horns under the dash and 1 horn under the bonnet (honk! honk!)


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## lsm (Mar 11, 2009)

Just a suggestion, but you may want to trim the horns the same on both sides so they are as far apart as possible, it may help the sound stage. I've installed several sets of horns, the littlest adjustments can make a big difference. Nice Install BTW, I love the mids!


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

The horns are literally as far apart as I can get them. There's less than 1/4" clearance between the actual driver motors and the sheetmetal or electronic module behind each of them.

I got the hatch insulation done and passenger horn mounted last night. I still have a couple speaker/turn-on lead wires to run before buttoning up the front end. After spending some quality time in the passenger footwell, I've come to the conclusion that if I do the Alpine PXE-H650, it's going to have to be on the amp rack in back.


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## TXwrxWagon (Sep 26, 2008)

nice work...

a few general horn tips...from ID/Eric Stevens, years ago... & some of my own trial & error:

1.) horns as wide apart as possible.
2.) horns as far back (touching the firewall/footwell joint would be great) from the front passengers as possible. A simple under dash filler covered in carpet or felt (nothing reflective) will act as an extension to the horn & add depth.
3.) some listeners want a "super tweeter" up high (a-pillar) crossed 12K+ for more shimmer, where the horns are naturally rolling off. This will vary based on the compression driver, horn shape, & personal taste.

Rob


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## Brian_smith06 (Jan 31, 2008)

looking pretty good so far. I love the color too. It's about the same color my grandmas 69 stingray was


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Brian_smith06 said:


> looking pretty good so far. I love the color too. It's about the same color my grandmas 69 stingray was


I'm officially very jealous of you. That's my fav corvette.


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## willtel (Dec 18, 2008)

Awesome car, the ZR1 has nothing on you! I still can't believe you crammed horns in it, looks great.


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## Audio Dave (Mar 15, 2009)

Lookin' good!!!


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

I got everything connected and playing a couple days ago. Overall, it sounds pretty good to my ear, but probably has some room for improvement.

The good:
Integration with the factory head unit turned out fine, even if soldering to hair-thin leads under the dash was a royal pain.
AWESOME kick drum sound and feel with the 8's and sealed 10, great for rock music.
No overtly obnoxious "horn sound" in the upper midrange (to my ears)
Amp gains on the horn channel worked out to sound great at just about the minimum, which meant next to no zero bit noise from the horns even in a quiet garage with the engine off.

The not so good:
My TrueRTA software recording measurement confuses me. It shows an almost flat response from 35Hz-10kHz in "peak hold" mode with pink noise, but it shows a straight upward slope of about 5dB total across the same range in real time plotting (regardless of number of samples (1-50) averaged). this is with the same Behringer mic, preamp, and laptop that I previously used on my M3 about a year ago. Adjusting the bass and treble on the head unit makes a change to my ears, but isn't showing up on the TrueRTA plot in either mode. I'm trying a different (Shure, borrowed) mic tonight to see if that tells me anything. There's probably something weird in the midbass region, but my relatively untrained ears can't pinpoint it without some help from the mic.

*IF* the response really is that flat, I'll pocket the money I would have spent on a PXE-H650 or EQL. We'll see...


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

OK, so after a few moments of sanity, I started from scratch on the RTA and microphone setup. It turns out somewhere along the way, I had the mic input potted too far down to register.

I found that out of the box it had a significant peaks around 250Hz and 3kHz. It also had dips in the 500-1k range and another rather persistent dip around 2KHz. I readjusted gains, crossover points and slopes to end up with the best compromise I could get:









The rolloff above 10k appears to be a GM feature of the source unit. I didn't have this with the same horns in the BMW. I'm not really torn up about the top octave missing, but I'd like a bit more sparkle in the 5-10kHz range without resorting to installing a second set of tweeters.

So the question becomes, "does this look bad enough to warrant another $350 in outboard EQ?" This group has historically been fairly frugal, so I welcome any advice on how to improve the system at minimal cost. I'm fighting the urge to order either the Alpine processor or an EQX. Thoughts?


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## mjgonegm (Jun 21, 2008)

eficalibrator said:


> OK, so after a few moments of sanity, I started from scratch on the RTA and microphone setup. It turns out somewhere along the way, I had the mic input potted too far down to register.
> 
> I found that out of the box it had a significant peaks around 250Hz and 3kHz. It also had dips in the 500-1k range and another rather persistent dip around 2KHz. I readjusted gains, crossover points and slopes to end up with the best compromise I could get:
> 
> ...



Does it sound bad to you ?, If not leave it alone, that 350 could be some rear tires, or a full syntheic (Royal Purple FTW), I would say tune but you allready do that


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## brianlin87 (Dec 9, 2007)

turbo spooling + horns = ear porn.


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## MonkeyBone (Mar 24, 2009)

This thread did it for me. I'm officially moving over to this forum!

I love the SQ builds you guys do, and the worthless and degrading comments from the peanut gallery are not as prevalent on this site as the others I belong to.

An let's see..a TWIN turbo 2009 Corvette tuned by an expert in the field, an amazing SQ audio system AND the car is going to be setup for road racing???

Goodness gracious, the finished product will be an absolute assault on all of your senses in an adrenaline infused utopia of sight, sounds and speed!

*BRAVO!!!*


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## MonkeyBone (Mar 24, 2009)

This thread did it for me. I'm officially moving over to this forum!

I love the SQ builds you guys do, and the worthless and degrading comments from the peanut gallery are not as prevalent on this site as the others I belong to.

And let's see..a TWIN turbo 2009 Corvette tuned by an expert in the field, an amazing SQ audio system AND the car is going to be setup for road racing???

Goodness gracious, the finished product will be an absolute assault on all of your senses in an adrenaline infused utopia of sight, sound and speed!

*BRAVO!!!*

Oops! Admin, please delete double post


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## AWC (Mar 31, 2008)

MonkeyBone said:


> This thread did it for me. I'm officially moving over to this forum!
> 
> I love the SQ builds you guys do, and the worthless and degrading comments from the peanut gallery are not as prevalent on this site as the others I belong to.
> 
> ...


I'm officially asking you to stay where you are
Shut up.




No, really.










Stop.















You're an idiot.















I sleep through more fear nightly than you'll ever be able to conjure.




















You look like Fez


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## CraigE (Jun 10, 2008)

Wow.. Greg that is some install.
I have an 07 C6 with stock bose/nav HU, 3way frontsage, and Boxology Sub Encl. w/ IDQ10 v3. 
You should post this in the audio section of Corvette Forum.
I think the fellas would enjoy seeing it.
I recently installed an Audison Bit 1 in the passenger footwell, where the Bose Amp was.
I know several people have had problems with the B 1, but I, as well as many others, have had no problems whatsoever.
This B1 is an amazing tuning aid, with eight outputs. 
Not cheap at around $700, but well worth it IMO.
You should check it out.
Nice car (and system) you have.:thumbsup:
Craig


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## transaman98 (Feb 7, 2007)

is that an aps kit?


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## 1badrx7 (Nov 20, 2005)

That looks awesome! I really like how you placed the horns


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## SlowCamaro (Apr 5, 2009)

transaman98 said:


> is that an aps kit?


looks like it to me


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

I'm digging this up again. I've been driving and enjoying the car all summer, but I can't seem to leave well enough alone with the stereo. I recently bought a set of Neo3 PDRs from PartsExpress and will experiment with installing them in the stock upper door location to see how they compare to the horns. I'm still on the fence about sourcing either a Bit1, 360.2, or DQT to clean up the final frequency response.

I have another open track event this weekend, so I probably won't really get into it until later next week. Has anyone else seen significant issues with just slapping the planar tweeters in a stock door location? All the talk seems to indicate that they're really forgiving of horizontal misalignment, so having them pretty far off-axis seems like it should be no big deal vs a dome.


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## mjgonegm (Jun 21, 2008)

Did ya turbo it?


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

mjgonegm said:


> Did ya turbo it?


Yes, it made ~600rwhp at 5.5psi.  Making reliable power is the easy part for me, I'm poking around here to get smarter on the audio stuff!


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## mjgonegm (Jun 21, 2008)

Now...... make it REV. Higher  Nice power curve i'd take it not much lag or spool time but all that damn torque...... Jesus Christ!


Oh...Yeah 

Will you please adpot me? I will  if you don't


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## GlockandRoll (Oct 2, 2009)

Sweet ride man!
1st post, and damned proud to do it here. Sweet ride man!

I'm a former pro-installer turned computer guy, but miss it so much I just bought an 87 GN t-top, and will be putting in a set if ID HLCD's with a pair of stout midbasses and a pair of 12" drivers in the trunk w/A-periodic mats.

I feel like a kid again!


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

Any progress with the planars? do you have a pic of the tubing on the topside of the engine?


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## GlockandRoll (Oct 2, 2009)

I got my horns ID horns installed yesterday into my 87 Grand National, they are bolted in securely and even though I used the big-body horns, they tuck up in thier quite nicely, and they are in there sturdy enough to move the car by them.. and the sound is, as I hoped, like a live performance. You cant - really at all - tell where the sound is comming from, and even standing outside the car you can hear left/right speration.

The staging is incredible, and I think I can bring it up higher than dash level with the EQ. The imaging is fantastic, but a little off so I'm going to play with the cross-overs and check to see if one of my mids isnt out of phase.

Here are some crappy pics from my blackberry, my buddy has plenty on his shop cam.


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## GlockandRoll (Oct 2, 2009)

eficalibrator said:


> Yes, it made ~600rwhp at 5.5psi.  Making reliable power is the easy part for me, I'm poking around here to get smarter on the audio stuff!
> http://www.calibratedsuccess.com/pics/Turbocharged_Dyno_resized.JPG
> http://www.calibratedsuccess.com/pics/turbos_installed_resized.JPG


Very impressive, however have you considered methanol injection to allow you to run more boost?


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

GlockandRoll said:


> Very impressive, however have you considered methanol injection to allow you to run more boost?


Why bother? I know I could run more boost on pump gas alone without knocking. I'm more worried about the tires' ability to hang onto any more power on the street. Even methanol doesn't fix traction limits or the strength of the factory rods/pistons. It makes enough power and hooks well enough to embarrass a LOT of other cars while still being docile enough for the wife to drive.

On the audio front, I bought a MiniDSP and will be integrating that into the mix very soon. The planar tweeters are mounted and wired in the stock door tweeter location (replacing the horns). I just need more time to finish the project. Hopefully this next week will work, but I'm tidying up a few things in the engine bay first.


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## Dooby357 (Feb 2, 2009)

How does the dampening help with interior noise and heat? BTW, what type of exhaust are you running?


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## transaman98 (Feb 7, 2007)

Damn C6 vettes! Those LS3 cars are some performers. I had to do a lot more work before I made those kind of numbers!


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## eficalibrator (Aug 25, 2005)

Dooby357 said:


> How does the dampening help with interior noise and heat? BTW, what type of exhaust are you running?


If I'm honest, I'm not sure I noticed a whole lot of difference in noise level from the insulation but it was pretty docile before. This car is definitely more "refined" than the Mustangs and Camaros I worked on for years. The heat from the tunnel area on my car isn't really notieable, so I guess that's a significant improvement from the garden variety C6.

My exhaust consists of the cast turbo manifolds, a pair of GT3076r's, and stainless downpipes that bolt directly to the stock X-pipe and two-mode mufflers. The factory exhaust is all mandrel bent with a great X in the tunnel. The mufflers are basically the same as the Z06 where they have valves that open up at high throttle angle above 3000rpm. It makes the car very docile and quiet around town so I can hear the stereo, but opens up pretty good when you nail it.


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