# Latest SQ install...08 Civic Coupe



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

hey gang, just got done with my first new civic, this being one of our own forum members car. its a 2008 civic coupe. I have always thought that the interior would lend itself to a very nice SQ install..and was very happy i finally got the chance to give a crack at it 

the goals:

1. excellent sound quality
2. place midrange and tweet cleanly onto the A pillar
3. as stealthy and space saving as possible in the trunk

lets get started:

the signal starts with a kenwood excelon DNX 8120 cd/dvd/nav headunit, installed via the honda double din finisher:










if you look next to the HU, you can see the flush mounted bluetooth mic for a stock apperance:










the front stage consists of a seas lotus reference 6.5" two way component set and a DLS ultimate iridium 3" dome midrange. 

the midbass was installed in the stock lower door location, and the door dampened, the outter door card was dampened as well around the speaker area:























































now arriving at the most challening part of hte installation, the mold of hte A pillar to accept the midrange and tweeter. after some mocking up i decided:

1. to place hte tweeter infront of hte mid, pushing it as far back as possible, instead of putting it further up the A pillar, though it may have been a much easier mold
2. to keep the mold contained in the A pillar itself, instead of flowing onto the dash, the complex curves of the driver side dash means that if i molded it out onto it, it would make for very assymetrical and weird looking pod.
3. to not use the DLS midrange grille, beucase i think it wouldnt match with the seas tweeter, so this means making my own grille and inturn, means making a recessed flushmounted baffle...

so anyway, here is the result of the work:

first the drivers side, i made a shape that i though flowed with the angles and shapes of the stock A pillar and dash area the best...there is a suede insert, and the two sepakres side one in front of hte other. the grille for the dls midrange is removed so the dome is exposed. the entire pillar is wrapped in one piece mesh grille cloth with no cuts, wrinkles, or sewing...quite an annoying task lol




























the passenger side:




























all together:










i also made matchin grilles for the A pillars:










and here ihwat it looks like with the grilles in place:














































now onto the build pics of hte A pillars.

first, the baffle itself was cut, and then low heat plastic wrapped around and shaped to be identical with the baffle, there is also an insert, and a grille, so in essense, each side consists of three individual pieces, all routed to match.










next the baffles were aimed and mold cloth attached:










after it hardened, it was strenghthend from the back:










next came the sanding to make it smooth:



















then, they were wrapped in grille cloth, matching hte pattern and close in color to the headliner, the insert pieces were covered in suede and ready to go



















the grilles were made also and finally, the speakres were installed into the A pillar structure with the insert in place




























with the grilles test fitted:



















so moving onto the trunk, again, the goal here is for a very stock apperance...to that end, here is the initial view when the trunk is open...100 percent stock looking:










remove the rubber mat, and it still is 100 percent stock looking, no fake floor rebuild in sight 










lift up the stock cover, and here is hwat you see, two zapco dc reference amps, a 650.6 and a 1000.4, powers the entire system, and two exile audio xt10 shallow subs upfront, all trimmed in light gray suede. 
the 650.6 sends 180 watts to each midbass and 500 watts to the subs, while the 1000.4 sends 100plus watts to each midrange and tweet.














































if you are wondering about hte bass with the cover and rubber at in place, it doesnt seem to affect at all, originally i planned on making a new cover grill to replace the stock lift off piece, but after powering up, i realized that it made no difference in sound, no rattles, nada, so the stock cover was retained for a completely stock look 

now, this is an install that IMO, looks super simple, but take a lot of work behind it to make it work...the main challenge here is obviousy to fit two large amps, and two subs, in the spare tirewell, while giving each sub the proper airspace that it needs...so here is a quick few pics of the trunk process...

first, the wires had to be run around the sides of the trunk so it wouldnt stick underneath the carpet and bulge it up:



















next, comes the strange looking subbox, in order for the box to get the proper air space AND serve as a firm mounting pltaform for the two amps, a half MDF half fiberglass piece was construted. internal volume is somehwere in the .85-.9 cubfeet, matching the subs requirement very well. its definetly one of hte more bizarre boxes that i have built but it works well.




























now here is the subbox and amp rack installed and all wired up:



















and then the last piece was also a interesting build...its hte top floor, its acutally a two piece bonded together, a 1/2" mdf main baffle, with a 1/8" hardboard lip, this lip slides underneath the stock carpet, and there for, forms a seamless top baffle once in place, while the thick main baffle provides the strenght for hte floor:



















so thats it, and this car is definetly going to be one of the best sounding i have done recently. after doing so many 2 ways, this 3 way with the A pillar set up really provides a lot of realism, while staging and imagine is pretty dead on. thanks to Leon for some quick tuning, and on friday, i am taking her down to LA for some more tuning with senor Eng and then delivery to the customer on saturday 

cheers!

Bing


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## Vestax (Aug 16, 2005)

You can tell Bing is getting old when he has to label his work pieces. "Wait, that's not the grill, that's my drill!"


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)




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## Midget (Nov 4, 2008)

That is sweet. I love stealth stuff. I like the pillars you did, but it's not something _I would_ do. They look nice. But I am partial to kicks. God I can't wait to get started on mine.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Vestax said:


> You can tell Bing is getting old when he has to label his work pieces. "Wait, that's not the grill, that's my drill!"


yeah, really getting old...tired to isntall the sub in the A pillar and coldnt figure out why it wouldnt fit


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

I love the trunk.

The craftsmanship on the A-pillars is incredible, as always, but I'm not feeling the design, especially considering that it doesn't improve PLD's for the mids, and is still off-axis.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

capnxtreme said:


> I love the trunk.
> 
> The craftsmanship on the A-pillars is incredible, as always, but I'm not feeling the obtrusive design.


you know i agree with you on the obtrusiveness, its one of the reaosns why i dont do this kind of molds that often, but htis civic's big stock A pillar i think lends itself to it...but either way, when you get a chance, take a look at this one in person and see hwat you think...its a san diego car


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


> you know i agree with you on the obtrusiveness, its one of the reaosns why i dont do this kind of molds that often, but htis civic's big stock A pillar i think lends itself to it...but either way, when you get a chance, take a look at this one in person and see hwat you think...its a san diego car


 OK, I might have to hit him up.

Thanks for the ideas, been looking forward to seeing an 8th gen Civic system from you for a while.

I guess there's essentially no mounting depth behind the A-pillar? I've been toying with the idea of trying to fit some large-format tweeters in there.


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## lowpoke (Jun 1, 2008)

capnxtreme said:


> I love the trunk.
> 
> The craftsmanship on the A-pillars is incredible, as always, but I'm not feeling the design ...


 ... x2


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

there are some space, but not a lot. keep in mind one of hte reasons why it sticks as much as it does, is beucsae its on a DOME mid, which has a dome sticking out a good inch from the mounting flange  if you do a large format tweet, it all deepnds on if you want to do on or off axis...on axis is going to result int a pretty big tumor hehe way more obtrusive than this one, unless you have a sedan, that would be a different matter all together 

as far as not improving on PLD? hehe am I missing osmething here? Where else would oyu put a midrange in this car that has better PLD? not hte kicks really, you have similar PLD but you get more separation with tweet. i cant seem to think another method that would get you better PLD for the midrange short of remold on the dash?

as for off axis, hehe, i think i myself like the way off axis sounds, dont know why, i have heard and done a few more on axis installs recently, and to me, it lways seems to have less defined center, and not as good depths and a bit too much in my face tonality wise  but we all have our taste when it comes to how we like it to sound right? 

again, take a listen to this sometime, and see hwat you think? 

b


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## capnxtreme (Feb 5, 2008)

Cool, thanks Bing.

Regarding the PLD's: I recently busted out the tape measure in my coupe, and was surprised to find that the PLD between the factory door speakers was ~11" vs. ~10" for the PLD between the factory tweets in the far corners of the dash (this could just be because of my gangsta seating position). So, I'm not saying that kicks would be better, but I do think they'd have a shorter PLD.

I was also thinking about having the mid further away than the tweeter, but I suppose that would create a bigger tumor as well. It is all about compromises. I would love to hear it sometime.

You don't have any more trunk buildup pics do you?


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

Bing, as always, a pleasure to see your work... and even more pleasant to see it on a car I know intimately. 

The A Pillars are definitely different, but I've learned to appreciate someone else's vision and if that works well, then it works well. It looks clean... but I think the capn said it best when he used the word "obtrusive"... the A pillars are actually a bit of a blind spot on these cars because of the thickness.

It was an education though... and food for thought when I decide to go with a 3 way front stage.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

thats interesting capn...i will bust out hte tape measure and do it myself, i mean, if thats true with someting as long dashed as this car, wouldnt it apply that most cars, then, anyhting even remotely on the A pillar, or hell, on topof the dash, would suffer some serious PLD versus just doing kicks or lower door? but again, i will measure it out and see hehe...i dont believe a lot of TA was used on the mid and tweet for the solid center...

yeah ideally, mid should be further away htan tweet, but that would look really out of place hehe...

sorry no more pics on tihs one 

hey derek, isnt it a popular thing for the sedan guys to glass over the little window for a big enclsoure? hehe... 

yeah, in the end i agree, doing a three way set up with the mid and tweet anywhere on the A pillar or dash, is going to be way more intrusive looking, but, after doin this one, i feel like htere are indeed some measureable gains via just a two way with a tweet up there. whether or not this gain is worth the more obtrusive look, thats for hte owners to decide.

i thought about it long and hard, but i couldnt come up with a LESS obtrusive way of doing the mid and tweet up there, well, i guess, molding the mid surface mounted and then the tweet up the pillar also surface mounted would work, but i just didnt htink that would look right and would be really bad PLD wise hehe


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

And another great one from the man!


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

Actually the more I look at the A Pillars, they're growing on me. I've always been a function over form kinda guy anyways...

I have a coupe like this one, but my wife has a sedan and even with the little glass thingies it's still a blind spot... one of my few beefs about these cars actually. I'm tall, so these are probably low enough that they wouldn't be a big intrusion except for maybe some close maneuvering in a parking lot maybe. 

I think that I wouldn't mind them too much now that they've had a chance to grow on me. It was different, and now that I've had a chance to appreciate them for what they are, I appreciate them more.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

well, my delimma is similar to yours man, we just picked up a 09 civic sedan for my wife, and i am debting on what to do for hte tweet location, i dont htink i can talk the wife into loosing hte window, that would create a mega blind spot...so i think i am going to use the stock tweeter location on hers. 

i am not sure how tall you are, but i am around 6 foot,and to be perfectly honest, i didnt find that they obstructed the view at all...also, i had leon's fiance drive the car to and from leon, a good 45-50 min each way, and she didnt mention not being able to see, shes quite a bit shorter than me hehe

do you loose some vision? of course, but really its just the thin strip on the top, where from normal sightlines, it intrudes into the edge of hte windshield. dpending on how tall you are, this could mean about 1/2" to maybe 1.5"...the rest of hte pillar flows with the hsape of hte A pillar and does not block outward view. 

i feel like these pods, acutally causes less view blockage than large format tweeters i did on axis in the G35...whcih was a much smaller mold.










waht do you think?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

p.s.. if you want, i will take a coupla shots of the pods at normal eye level to show you just how little viewing is lost. all the A pillar pics you see, are taken at about chest level...you can sorta see how the shot is on the same verticle as the bottom of hte A pillar...obviously, unless you are a midget, your head would be significantly above that hehe

i will snap some for you civic guys tommorow 

out of the ones i took, this one prolly comes closest to demonstrating how little it intrudes into the acutal sightline out of hte window, this is taken from the driver seat looking over, but still lower than my eyes, mabe around chin level.


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## lyttleviet (Sep 11, 2008)

Great craftsmanship, but I am not a fan of the A-pillar design. Also, IIRC the airbags deploy off the A-pillar on the coupe the same way the Si Sedan does correct? This would mean flying mids and tweets everywhere .


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

lyttleviet said:


> Great craftsmanship, but I am not a fan of the A-pillar design. Also, IIRC the airbags deploy off the A-pillar on the coupe the same way the Si Sedan does correct? This would mean flying mids and tweets everywhere .


i was under the impression that the charge blow the A pillar into the windshield, and the curtain airbag blows out to prtect the occupants? or does Honda do this completely different than all the other manufactuers?

i discuseed this at lengths wit ha freind of mine who is an automotive engineer quite a few years back, and i was assured that, unless i stick somethiung very heavy up there, like a big mid or midbass, osmething like this wouldnt hinder much with the operation of a side airbag. and its not like the tweeter and mid isnt secured, why would they go flying out?  the idea is the entire pillar, wtih the new pod at the lowre end, would again blow into the windshield and the airbag deploy


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## lyttleviet (Sep 11, 2008)

Oh, I wanted to say I love your BT mic spot! I might steal it :ninja:

edit: good news to hear on the A-pillar. Just want to make sure that guy is safe . GG on talking to an engineer about it before doing the pillars. You sir are top notch and have my respect.


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

Yeah... I was actually eyeing that spot for the bluetooth mic as well... 

Bing, I'll admit that they aren't near as obtrusive as say a double or triple A-Pillar Gauge Pod. And they truly are growing on me.


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## moosejuice (Oct 5, 2007)

As usual Bing great looking install, Wish you were closer so that I could check some of them out in person...

B-


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## John Swanberg (Mar 17, 2008)

A Quick question Bing, are the amps Reference Series or DC Series? I can't seem to tell from the picture. BTW, just picked up an 09 Civic Coupe and appreciate all your ideas. John


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

DC reference John  the DC is the all black one, the normal reference has black fins and a dark graphite colored main portion. 

wow, we are all picking up civics this month eh? here is the one we just pciked up for the wife last week


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## MaXaZoR (Apr 1, 2007)

> I guess there's essentially no mounting depth behind the A-pillar? I've been toying with the idea of trying to fit some large-format tweeters in there.



CapN, you shoud look at my install. I have the OWII and I like how they sound, interested to hear On-Axis vs. Off though


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

sweet, you know we almost went with Seas Crescendos for this car and a two way, but in the end, eucase the ucstomer already had the dls 3" mid, we went for htis route... yeah i'd love to hear your set up versus this too 

but after this weekend, i will maybe get Eng to chime in, as he has a much better ear and can critique this system some more...in addition to Leon's input


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## redfred18t (Oct 2, 2008)

Such an awesome install. At first I was like :blush: about the apillars but then I was like  They came out really nice

Also, do you have the 2nd amp mounted under the top one? I love seeing your installs because it gives me sensory overload and gives me some great ideas to try to implement in my own install (note, *TRY* to install haha)


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## MaXaZoR (Apr 1, 2007)

Bing, 
Next time your on the East Coast (NYC, NJ) give me a ring I'll be happy to pick your brain


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


> DC reference John  the DC is the all black one, the normal reference has black fins and a dark graphite colored main portion.
> 
> wow, we are all picking up civics this month eh? here is the one we just pciked up for the wife last week


Is it done yet?!   

Jay


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## TEGBOY (May 4, 2008)

Indeed another great looking install.

I do have a question, and it may seem stupid, but I note on all your installs, when your doing the what appears to be Ensolite in the doors, you never run the sheet to cover the entire door, you always stop near where the speaker is mounted, is there a reason for this? I always thought you needed to cover the entire door.

Thanks,


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

its just one amp infront of hte other, back to back, so the fins part touch to form a long solid black piece 

maxazor, you know i am a jersey boy right? lol sussex county, my parents still live there, and i visit them once in a while, except usually when i am back, i spend all my time wit hthem and visiting some old freinds, and not have much time for other things... but i will let you know for sure.

Tegboy, the way i do dampening is basically what i arrived at over the yeras of trying different combinations. unlike many diyers, i cant be spending days and days on dampening overload, that would result in too much labor charges for the customer. so i basically have tried to work out a formula, that maximizes the effect and not spend too much time.

what i have found over hte yeras is that, if any part of the metal door rattles, its in and near hte speaker area, the rest of hte door seldom rattles. the ensolite material, foam, is bteter at blocking noise than the normal dampening stuff i use.

so...the obvious conclusion then is, for hte rest of the door, use foam dampener to block out as much road noise as possible, and around the spaker, to use normal dampening to kill any chance of rattles. so thatswhy its done the way it is on all the installs 

b


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## TEGBOY (May 4, 2008)

Thank you, perfect balance answer. That works for me.


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## dingaling (Apr 14, 2005)

did someone have a question?

the locations currently work for a very well defined stage. the thing i notice is how solid and deep the center can sound. obviously with the drivers farther away, it can give a pretty deep presentation. The car did need some time alignment to get the best possibly center image for the driver, didn't get a chance to play with phasing cuz I couldn't find a phase switcher in the zapco software. 

overall this car has a lot of potential for a great sounding vehicle. personally i would have tried using stock locations for the tweeter and maybe the mids as far back in the kicks. 

bass integration in this car is very nice. a well dampened car door like this car yeilds some very solid and rattle free sounding up front bass.


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## [email protected] (Jun 21, 2007)

Nice work Bing. I expected nothing less from you.


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## gsr22 (Jul 30, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Nice work Bing. I expected nothing less from you.


x2 as always great job


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

stop with the expectations haha...its a lot of pressure...

some people only have to deal with posting one install every few months or years on their own cars or select customers for you guys to critique, i gotta please the diyma gods with pretty much every single one of my work haha...nowadays i literally i do nothing else other htan what you see me post here...expect maybe a HU install for a freind here nad there lol

you gotta expect me to mess up once in a while  i think pleasing diyma is gotta be 1000 times harder than pleasing the common customer haha...which means i need to keep all my customers far away from diyma  

but i think this pressure helps me to improve my work further, so thanks to everyone for that...


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## nacholibres (Mar 18, 2008)

great job i like to see this great installs........


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## akanoon (Aug 12, 2008)

Bing, great install. The pillars are dyn-o-mite!!! Yet another reason why my web surfing is check my email, cnn.com, and then diyma to look for Bing installs. I'm from SJ also, maybe I'll start a watch-Bing-do-an-install bus tour 

Keep up the great work. I enjoy it yet it makes me hold off on my own install to wait for more great ideas.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

It's nice to see all the civic minded people !

Excellent job Bing !!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

simplicityinsound said:


> well, my delimma is similar to yours man, we just picked up a 09 civic sedan for my wife, and i am debting on what to do for hte tweet location, i dont htink i can talk the wife into loosing hte window, that would create a mega blind spot...so i think i am going to use the stock tweeter location on hers.


I'm the same way you guys are. Just not a fan of a speaker sticking out beyond the pillars. I've even seen a few tweeter installs in pillars that are on-axis and stick out just a little bit to get this positioning and when I sit in the cars it sounds great, but I just can't get past the 'obtrusiveness'. 

Not to dock the install, we all know that it's wonderful. Like others, I'm just not a fan of the speakers sticking out that far. I'm more of a stealth install fan, even at the expense of SQ. 

bing, covering the window doesn't create a blind spot at all, at least not to me. It was a bit weird not having a window there for about a day but I got over it quickly. Truthfully, once you give it an hour you won't even miss it. 

anyway, like I said on 8th, great work. I love the trunk's simplicity (hey, nice pun! ).


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## Duce2k (Mar 18, 2008)

Great install man!!!


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## mikeE72 (Nov 8, 2008)

looks great i also love how everything is keeped stealth


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

just got back from LA  had an interesting night...read about my major brain fart here lol:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49661


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

looking great man. You seems like having a line of customer wants to do customer install by you. 

This makes me wanna redo my trunk . 

how does the Shallow sub sound anyway compared to stuff that you've heard before?


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## khanhfat (Feb 4, 2008)

looking great man. You seems like having a line of customer wants to do customer install by you. 

This makes me wanna redo my trunk . 

how does the Shallow sub sound anyway compared to stuff that you've heard before?


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

trying to use two dimensional pictures in a three dimensional world is difficult at least, if not impossible. my .02


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## nacholibres (Mar 18, 2008)

hey bing were you located maybe i have a trip to see my family in december in fremont ca is a good chance to listen your car is possible i think is closer to san jose.....i work before in one shop in fremont


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## Coheednme13 (May 10, 2008)

what product did you use on the door card to dampen it?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

nacholibres said:


> hey bing were you located maybe i have a trip to see my family in december in fremont ca is a good chance to listen your car is possible i think is closer to san jose.....i work before in one shop in fremont


yeah fremont is not too far, 20-30mins depending on where in fremont. waht shop did you work for in fremont?

listen to my car is cool, that means i need to get it tuned some more hahaha 

the dampening on the door card is edead v1UE


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## nacholibres (Mar 18, 2008)

simplicityinsound said:


> yeah fremont is not too far, 20-30mins depending on where in fremont. waht shop did you work for in fremont?
> 
> listen to my car is cool, that means i need to get it tuned some more hahaha
> 
> the dampening on the door card is edead v1UE


in stereo city 3 years ago...


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Hi all,

This is my first chance to sit down and leave some comments about this latest install. 

Thank you for your input so far. Also, thank you to Bing for the install and accommodating me and my install requirements. As has been mentioned, sacrifices get made in the name of convenience, budget etc. 

Also, thank you to Leon and Eng for tuning the car. Eng was sick and I felt bad for him, but he stuck it out even after the tuning file loss and programming issues.


*Install*:

Installation is top notch as you would expect. The head unit sticks out more than I thought it would, but, of course is installed correctly and solidly. Everything else seems great... All panels back, nothing hanging loose, all lights working etc... As simple as it sounds, those small details make a difference.

*Head Unit:
*
Will take time to work through the many features of this Kenwood 8120. Quick impressions is it's a nice unit. The buttons are WAY too small. The interface is nice. I poked around a little and was able to get around to most of what I wanted, with the exception of getting back to your original screen. I guess you hit the SRC (source) button and then the input you want, but it's a bit counter intuitive to have to take that route. I might find an easier way as I play with it more.

Nav works well- although it took us an odd route to Lucille's (great BBQ place). We got on the 57 and back off and then went through some residential streets.... only to see that Lucille's is RIGHT off the 57???? 

Overall, it's fine. Different from the W200, but fine.

*A-pillars:
*
A-pillars are not as obtrusive as they appear in pictures and slowly get smaller the longer I sit with them. The driver's side is either an optical illusion, or the rear sticks out farther than the front. i.e. it's angled just slightly toward the windshield. Of course this doesn't affect the sound in anyway that I would be able to tell, but I have to stare at that side while I drive. The passenger side is perfectly square. 

The grills are very nice. Press fit and very pro. The whole assembly could have been much smaller had I used a different mid, but then they probably would have stuck out farther because other mids are typically deeper than the IR3, so maybe they wouldn't have been smaller after all. I still believe the best sound is only achievable by getting the midrange and tweeter up on the dash, so I'm happy he was able to accommodate me there.

*Trunk*:

Fit, finish, etc all top notch. Love those little thin subs..... We put the stroller in the trunk on the way to Seaport Village tonight. Perfect. Nice to still be able to do that and have the sound system.

*Headrest monitors:
*
Something I didn't see mentioned in the forums, was that he hooked up headrest monitors. The quality of the picture is just "ok"- I was hoping for better- but they function as intended and the 900mhz headphones are pretty sweet.... now if I could just get my kids to wear them.

and finally, on to the meat and potatoes... errr potatos... errrr... whatever...

*The sound:
*
As Bing mentioned in his post, when my dad and I arrived, and B got back from putting a few gallons of gas in the car, we were greeted with the "issue" of the lost tuning file. Giddy anticipation faded into "uh oh". The car Leon said sounded so good, was no longer sounding so good. But Eng and B did their best but were still puzzled. Then, of course, they figured out the channel issue when the light bulb went off in Bing's head.... I knew I smelled smoke from somewhere. 

B and I sat in the car and he fiddled with some numbers to bring the midbass back inline (after realizing what happened with the channel issue) and the midbass was fantastic. MUCH better than my Z which I thought always lacked midbass. In fact, Bing had it set too high and I could tell the Seas midbass' were working too hard. He turned them down a bit after I put in a percussion CD and it sounded better.

The subs were MUCH better than I thought they'd be. I haven't put on Blueberry Yum Yum , but I'm sure they'll do ok with that - given their overall purpose. I didn't know what to expect, but from some of the comments about single 10's and shallow subs in a trunk environment, I wasn't expecting much. I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. Nothing like the Z, of course, but still nice... albeit a little boomy. 

The tweeters sound great. I commented that they didn't sound as bright as the DLS' (not in a bad way), but that's just in the tuning, I think. So basically, it sounded (note the "ed" part of that word and continue reading) as good if not better than the Z - not counting the sub bass dept.

Then the Zapco software crashed.... Took a minute to restart etc, but how bad could that be, right?

So I was happy. I think I was still in LARGE a-pillar shock, but happy... until Eng sat in the car one last time. I don't know what he did, but the ride home wasn't so good. Bing and I didn't listen to the system on the way to Lucilles for lunch or to the airport, but after I dropped him off, I went into full demo mode... on the freeway, of course.

The midbass was gone. The midrange was "ringing" and warbly for lack of a better term. Lots of air and clarity- which is good- but something went wrong after Eng sat in the car that last time. I feel like he reset something and didn't realize it. Or saved when he shouldn't have, etc.

I was able to sit in the car quickly when I got home for a few seconds of "can this really be that bad" time, but only for a short time before we headed to Seaport Village. It's super "clean" (think ultra crisp and bright) but not right. I think Eng turned down the midbass' too much and of course, something's wrong with the midrange..

Of course there's always the possibility that I touched something I shouldn't have while trying to drive and browse through the head unit's functions. 

The good thing is that I know it's a setting somewhere since it sounded so good while Bing and I were adjusting the midbass.

Ahhhh the trials and tribulations of a new system.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

I just realized something I couldn't place before that throws this install off a bit and has nothing to do with the installer. The spare tire well is not centered in the trunk. When I first saw it I was, of course, impressed but now looking the pictures I realize why something didn't see right. Everything is shifted to the left. Of course nothing Bing can do about that. 

Something else I forgot to comment on is the dampening on the doors. The stock doors are pretty lightweight and sound "thin" when you close them. 

With the dampening on them, they sound much more solid. Tapping the fender v.s. the door shows you how much of a difference it is.

During the ride down the freeway, I also noticed less road noise.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Another thing I forgot to include in the write up was that Bing installed a separate switch hidden in the top of the center cubby that switches the headrest monitors on and off. They are still controlled by the ignition switch, but also by this secondary switch.

So now, when the kids fall asleep while watching a movie, we can reach down switch their monitors off and continue to watch the movie on the HU... not that we'd do that while driving of course.


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## THEDUKE (Aug 25, 2008)

dvflyer said:


> Another thing I forgot to include in the write up was that Bing installed a separate switch hidden in the top of the center cubby that switches the headrest monitors on and off. They are still controlled by the ignition switch, but also by this secondary switch.
> 
> So now, when the kids fall asleep while watching a movie, we can reach down switch their monitors off and continue to watch the movie on the HU... not that we'd do that while driving of course.


You could have done this using the internal switches of the head unit rather than have had to use an external switch. Just FYI incase you want to change it up. Also FYI if you find that the sound of the Bluetooth is not up to par shoot me a PM I may be able to help. By the way I think the A-pillars look great. As far as sound make sure you have all the processing turned off, this may be causing the sound to be not so good. On mine I leave the SRS WOW off, The type of vehicle off and if you are using outboard EQ, Crossover and time alignment make sure all these features are turned off.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Thanks for the info (and for coming over from my350z  ).

I know you're very knowledgeable about this unit and others. I'll let you know if I run into any problems as I dig into it more.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

yeah you can use the internal output relay triggers to do this, but for me, i honestly always prefer a physical rocker swtich, sometihng that is MUCh easier to reach, and you can even do it, when say, you have the display of the 8120 fully off. i knew cusotmres who did this in the past, on long drives with kids, to save their own night vision, they would play a dvd and then turn the display off on the front unit. if you used the internal replay swtich, you would need to first turn the HU back on, touch the screen once or twice dpending on whcih menu you were, and then turn it on and of, versus simply moving your hand a few inches and turn it on and off in a snap  also, the transmitter for the HU accepts TWO inputs, this acutally means you can tehcnically plug in something like a gaming system, and actually play with the monitors and the headphones with the HU turned off  

b


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

dvflyer said:


> I just realized something I couldn't place before that throws this install off a bit and has nothing to do with the installer. The spare tire well is not centered in the trunk. When I first saw it I was, of course, impressed but now looking the pictures I realize why something didn't see right. Everything is shifted to the left. Of course nothing Bing can do about that.



yup, not only is the well not centered in the car (that part is very obvious), but if you look at the naked pictures of the floor and the subbox, you will see that the well is NOT centered within the stock floor opening either, its still shifted to the left (the lip above the well is much shorter on the left side versus the right side)...

i for one, never figured out why manutactures couldnt center something form the getgo haha, but i am sure its something to do wtih the routing of stuff below the car...


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

^ yup.

it's weird. It stinks because in my case, I put the amps on each side of the well. So, the left side had much less real estate to bolt down in to.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

there are a few more quirks on the new civic that makes me feel similar..the lack of space in the door sill for one, and the extra bolt that holds down the botton seat cushion for two (as if that really makes it safer and is not just a pita for removal)...lol

this is why i prefer toyotas for out right installation, most of them are just put togehter in a very simple, yet sensible way...


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

THEDUKE said:


> As far as sound make sure you have all the processing turned off, this may be causing the sound to be not so good. On mine I leave the SRS WOW off, The type of vehicle off and if you are using outboard EQ, Crossover and time alignment make sure all these features are turned off.


I was able to sit with the car in the garage for about 20 minutes last night and was much happier with the sound. Nothing changed, but I was able to focus a bit more on what I was hearing.

I checked the the SRS WOW is off, I didn't find the vehicle type, and from what I could tell, all other EQ settings are off.

The midrange needs to be turned down a bit and the midbass needs to be turned up a bit, but it's not as bad as I thought it was while driving down the road. 

Now to find someone local who will let me borrow their laptop for tuning. 

One question you might know the answer to: The headunit seems to output an odd video signal to the headrest monitors ALL the time. So if I don't have that switch off, there is this weird "blotch" looking screen. Is that normal or is there a setting somewhere I can turn off?


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## THEDUKE (Aug 25, 2008)

Yes, you can turn the output to the rear monitors off. The easiest way to do this is to use the remote control, on it you will see a button that says video out. Each time you push it it will cycle through the video ouputs. Example DVD-IPOD-VIDEO1-VIDEO2 and one of the options will be OFF. You will see what output it is on on the upper left hand of the screen. If you are on DVD out it always shows some strange wallpaper even if there is no DVD playing.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

THEDUKE said:


> Yes, you can turn the output to the rear monitors off. The easiest way to do this is to use the remote control, on it you will see a button that says video out. Each time you push it it will cycle through the video ouputs. Example DVD-IPOD-VIDEO1-VIDEO2 and one of the options will be OFF. You will see what output it is on on the upper left hand of the screen. If you are on DVD out it always shows some strange wallpaper even if there is no DVD playing.


NICE! Thanks.


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## ddmt (Apr 20, 2008)

As always, very good work Bing 
And that A-Pilar is practically stock looking compared to mine


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

holy moly A pillars batman!! hehe...

they call that a WALLPAPER????? wtf lol i call that a blotch, maybe they were going for abstract art?  freaked me out at first, thought i 'd somehow smashed both monitors at the same time lol....but then i put in a DVD and boom it goes...phew...


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Bing just curious did you prep the pillars in any way before wrapping them with grill cloth? paint them and then wrapp? add two or more layers of cloth?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

i learned the hardway not too long ago, to not to paint it, i did that once with just primer, and a few days later, in the heat, the glue started failing at the concave joints...had to redo it all completely...i think the heat cuases the paint to release something and eats through the paint? maybe it was an isolated incident, but that sorta scared me and i never went back to it...keep in mind the only time I would use grille cloth is for very severe curves, wchih of course puts a lot of strain on the glue.

as far as two or more layers, it also has the same effect, on the concave curves, it doesnt stick to each toher well and fails.

you can do one of two things, either wrap and paint over it, it will release the glue momentarily, but just push it backand it will hold. or just thicker premium grille cloth.

in this case its thicker grille cloth, if under very bright direct sunlight, you can maybe see a bit of hte paterns underneath, bot A pillars, where they are, and how they are situated, will almost never show through it if you use thick grille cloth in vast majority of daily conditions.

b


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

Yeah that offset trunk bit me as well though not too badly. 

The Kicker amp overhangs on the driver's side, so when I pull up on the spare tire cover, I need to remember to pull up on the passenger side first, and then bring it up on an angle around the Kicker amp.

The dual zone capability is something I'm interested in for my Navi HU. I have a 13 year old daughter that gets bored easily, so it would be nice on trips to be able to have something to entertain her back there. Any pics on the headrest monitors?


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

I'll get some pics of the headrest monitors tonight. 

Dual Zone is pretty cool... although with the kids listening to the DVD via the rear speakers, it's useless to try and listen to another source up front in such a small car. Headphones would be another story.


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## jboz (Feb 16, 2008)

Hey Bing,

The photos you posted that seem to be hosted on your Elite site seem to be gone from this install post and in your ICIX post. Is it just me or is something up? I checked with multiple browsers and they dont show up. Just a temporary hiccup on the Elite site or a more permanent problem?


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Pics are there now... probably just a hiccup at Elite.

Edit- forgot to take pics of the headrest monitors... I'll try tonight.


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## jboz (Feb 16, 2008)

Sorry about the false alarm. It looks like it was just a temporary problem on the host site because this morning the pics are back.

Great job as usual, Bing.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

yeah, that seem to happen about 3-4 times a year...

you ever get the 5.1 totally online yet jim? hehe


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

dvflyer said:


> Pics are there now... probably just a hiccup at Elite.
> 
> Edit- forgot to take pics of the headrest monitors... I'll try tonight.


No probs dude... got several other "upgrades" in line before this one.


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## Powers (Apr 10, 2008)

I love the a-pillars! Great job as always!


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## lowpoke (Jun 1, 2008)

I don't see any issues at all with that A pillar set up, but then again my system pushes the boundaries a little:











(Sorry guys, I just couldn't resist)


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

gotta love photoshop and its abilities to spark some imagination! I think I will start working on something like that for my car. But instead I will make it a simple two way, compression horn and mid-midbass design.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Headreset monitors.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

damn i thought you'd pop in some porn for us all


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

^ ya, I meant to tell you, I'll be sending your Rump Ranger IV DVD back to you... you left it in the DVD player. 

PS- Got the laptop. Software loaded and ready to tune.  If I mess with it tonight, I'll let you know.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

you mean the gay indonesian porn? that was Eng's disc, his standard reference disc when tuning, has to get hte indo moaning to have the right pitch and tone, and the women's moan should be 2" left of center and dash level, while the male's grunting should be to the right of the cneter and eye level...

lol


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## dual700 (Mar 6, 2005)

EEEEEWWWWW, what a sick minded mediocre installer!!!
Mike, safe the setting on a file first for each amp, then mess with it, so that you can revert back to the original.
Crank the midbass outputs 3 db more, that was the last setup before I messed that up..


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## slvrtsunami (Apr 18, 2008)

man, what a visual that would create! sick minded, but I LIKE it!


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