# '97 Deville-Quality Sound and able to get LOUD!



## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

*INTRODUCTION*

This is my 1997 Cadillac Deville that I wanted to build for moderate SQ competitions, ability to get very loud, and very important was the ability to demo a few systems in one vehicle to show my customers how the equipment we carry was capable of sounding, and what each upgrade could add. I didn't want to use the absolute best we have access to, but actually the better gear we sell daily. Not every customer wants to spend a grand on a sub, or several thousand dollars on just a set of component speakers.

One system is a decent headunit with four door locations on head power.
Another would be a pure SQ system setup for competition tuning, which I usually leaves something to be desired.
Another would be an SQ system that would be how I want to listen on a daily basis.
Another would be one for a just plain out over the top LOUD system.
And I wanted to have another preset as a starting point for MECA's RTA testing portion so I only have to make small adjustments for the atmosphere of the day.

As an employee at what I'm proud to say is a reputable car audio retailer (Columbus Car Audio & Accessories/2010-11 Retailer of the Year) I have access to decent equipment, but working in this business you don't get rich, and my budget is tight. This has been a work in progress of buying some of the gear, then when I have the cash buying build materials, then when I have time from working 60 hours a week actually working on it after hours, and the cycle repeats.

I didn't take pictures after every kerf, every connection, etc... but I think it's been slowly coming along pretty decently. Keep in mind, I am NOT an installer/technician at our company. We have some really amazing guys who take care of that on a day to day basis. 14 years ago I was a DIYer helping my friends with systems and had a huge passion for sound, and after I left the television broadcast engineering field, I wanted to do what I love. Less money, but I get to make people smile about their car every day.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

*EQUIPMENT*

Headunit: KDC-X995

Basic head+4 system has in stock locations Excelon KFC-X1300P 5.25" components in the front doors & Hertz ECX130.4 coaxials in the rear doors running off head power. The doors have Hushmat & Stinger's Expert Roadkill on the doorskin, and some headliner material and minimal damping mat as sound control.

The other systems use...

SPEAKERS:
HSK165*XL*(custom kicks and tweets in custom A-Pillar run active)
Excelon KFC-X693 for rear fill when turned on for "loud" mode.

SUBS:
(*(EIGHT*)KFC-XW1200F Excelon Shallow 12" subs

AMPS:
RF T600-2 for midwoofers
RF T600-4, half running HT28 tweets, half running 6x9's when they are turned on.
(*TWO*) RF T1500-1bdCP running subs

PROCESSOR:
Audison BitOne.1 used to actively run the front components and other speakers

WIRE:
Rockford RFK1 for one power wire kit from front to rear, and Stinger HPM wire for second 1/0 power and 1/0 ground from front to rear, and HPM wire for the rest.

RCAs:
Stinger HPM
SHI6317 deck to processor
HPM2 custom cut-to-length from processor to amps

BATTERIES:
Stinger SPP1500D under hood.
Stinger SPP925 in trunk with welded mount.
(*FOUR*)Kinetic KHC600B in trunk all in a welded battery rack.

CAPACITOR:
Stinger SPC5050 50F Hybrid Cap, hooked to mid/highs amps, because why not.

ALTERNATOR:
Undecided at this point, will end up with either Mechman or Singer.

FUSING:
Stinger, with exception of one RF underhood main fuse.

SOUND CONTROL: A combination of...
Stinger Expert Roadkill
Hushmat Ultra Mat
Hushmat Semi-Closed Cell Foam
eventually, some Hushmat MLV, but I don't wanna go too thick for competition specs.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

pics in the morning :surprised:


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## edzyy (Aug 18, 2011)

Sub stage may be loud

Front stage? not so much.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Gotta have an alarm, so I do



















Glass breakage sensor, factory chime speaker taken from an Escort radar kit, and a Piezo Siren to knock your head off.









The alarm features:
Remote Start with heated seat, mirrors, heated windshield washer fluid, and rear defrost activiation
Full door, hood, glovebox, and trunk protection
Trunk release and power Fuel door release
Impact sensor
Glass Breakage
Backup system
digital tilt
three hidden sirens,a piezo siren, and horn to make some noise inside and out
GPS tracking/alerts will be added
LED's hidden inside all four interior doorhandles
and of course soldered, no T-tap or scotchlock ********
GPS tracking/alerts will be added
I would also like to add sharks with frickin' laser beams and a robot with rocket launchers.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

KICKPANELS:
I will start by saying that I am 6'1" tall and wear a size 15 shoe, and these do not interfere with my footspace at all. I wanted the kickpanels to look like a vertical column. I call them "Quarter Columns."

I routed out ~22" diameter 5/8" thick MDF rings. My jasper jigs didn't go that big, and I don't like my slider jigs, so I made a larger one.










I then taped up the floor, spread some milkshake and then quickly layed down a few layers of glass in the car.(no pics). I then cut the mdf rings into quarters and began stacking them with woodglue and brads. as I tapered down to the bottom I was using smaller and smaller sections of the rings. Eventually I had what looked like a medieval shield. I CA glued the mdf onto the fiberglass base. Using resin and kitty hair I made it one sealed unit, with an open top. A layer of glass and milkshake was the applied over the baffle.










Then I cut some curves, and made the actual mounting baffle for the HSK165XL woofer. The woofer will mount from the rear internally. This was then glues and sealed in from the inside.
Red primer sprayed.









These kicks are about 0.25cf sealed at the moment. In the future I may add flexible tubes that vent up into the dash if I find I'm getting odd peaks in the 100Hz+ range due to the limited airspace. I discussed these "aperiodic" ports with Larry Frederick(formerly of Elettromedia) for a while. I would use a flexible grabber tool to stuff the tubes with polyfill and put screen mesh on the ends to prevent movement. The kicks are current stuffed with polyfill.

I then fiberglass some tops for the kickpanels. I taped them up and put 7 or 8 layers of glass in a single pass with a roller


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Here you can see how the kicks will sit in the vehicle. They were covered in red primer as a guide coat so I can be sure when they are smooth enough to wrap.










two more layers were added for height so you cannot see the tops.



















a little filler work was needed around the edges









factory center channel grills will be modified to fit the new quarter columns.









I shaved down the central lip on the factory grill, then added grill clips, the metal screen was cut around the edges so it would follow the curve. clear carpet tape will be added between the plastic and the metal so there are no odd noises.










I then used some spare grills from the junk yard. I covered them in tape, wrapped in 2sided tape, and built up body filler to a nice curve to blend the grill in flush.

Here they sit wrapped in the factory darker vinyl. My car has the Shale & Nut interior. 





































****ty old camera, and floormats sitting sideways


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

In these picture you can kind of see how the factory grills will be implemented. Of course these are not the ones I will use. They were hit with some bondo and primer throughout the process. I have plenty of spares that are the right color. These were just temporarily stuck in there so I could take a pic.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

TWEETERS:

I don't have many pics of the tweeter installs. These are just a couple "finished" pics. I hadn't found the exact GM vinyl at this point, so I had something close out of the detroit books. I have since found the right stuff. I have collected several spare pillars to experiment with different tweets, aiming, mounts, etc.

I pulled the factory headliner material off the pillars. It took practically forever stripping the glue to get back to raw plastic. I then made a few jigs to heat and reshape the plastic to get a nice flat spot to mount the tweets. After that process, I made some MDF rings to flush in, and recess the tweets into the pillars. I wrapped the pillars in thin foam, then the factory Shale vinyl. The rings were wrapped in a factory GM vinyl that will eventually be changed to the exact match.










these domes face almost straight at across at this point. experimentation will occur. but they sounded OK in a preliminary passive test.


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

Wow, those kicks are awesome! Keep up the good work!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Thanks!
I hope to post some pics of the sub enclosure tonight.


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## niceguy (Mar 12, 2006)

Very nice work!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I'm well aware I could have kept things simple and used a couple higher end woofers and gotten the same volume level, but I like lots of surface area. The subwoofer enclosure will forward fire into the cabin, sealed completely from the trunk so there will be no trunk rattle outside. It'll just shake the hell out of everything up front.

In the back of these cars there is a big v-shaped structural brace. I've seen shops cut this out to fire the box into the car, but that seems dangerous and is not neccessary. There is a big plastic panel that holds the vehicle computer, fusebox, and relays. Obviously this had to come out.










It can be difficult to fit eight 12" subwoofers in a trunk and not have it be just an enormous box dropped into the trunk.
The baffles are made from a layer of 3/4" MDF, glued to a piece of 1/2", pre-routed to recess the woofers. The backside of the baffles were given a slight roundover. I then setup my angles and top/bottom supports.










A groove was cut into the top support, which you'll meet again later. The diamond fits into a birch shell shown here.










These are of course just a test fit, side supports were added before it was permanently mounted and glued into the shell.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

In these next pictures, you can see the big structural brace. In this picture you can also see the 6x9's installed, and a start on the damping material. The wheel wells, quarter panels, and spare tire well were covered in a jute-like compressed fiber material.
I built like cubby pockets to house the computer, relays, and fusebox.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

The box has a vertical opening and the support braces are at an angle, so I made wooden trimplates that fit both openings. I then used fiberglass to create a tunnel between them. This is affectionately referred to as "The Bass Vagina." I rabbited the edges of both the forward most enclosure opening and the rearmost opening of the tunnel to allow for wrapping the piece in material before the final mating with the bass vagina. -pun intended-










From the side you can see the angle.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

"Bass Vagina"....That's awesome! Great work. Can't wait to see more.


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## bkjay (Jul 7, 2009)

That's Badass!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

just curious,where at in Ohio are you, bkjay?


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## bkjay (Jul 7, 2009)

D-Bass said:


> just curious,where at in Ohio are you, bkjay?


Cleveland area.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

cool. I always get curious when I see people from my state. thanks for checking out my build. I'll try to add more tomorrow. and thanks for the props.

I wish I'd taken more pictures, but I never planned to make a blog/thread about it until I was half way done.


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## speakerpimp (Feb 15, 2012)

Pretty sweet so far, I dig the alarm install and box especially.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Yeah, the box for the alarm remotes is pretty sweet. It's got blue and white, and pictures on it:laugh:


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

The Bass Vagina and the area behind the seats was wrapped in black trunkliner. Here you can see box box temporarily placed in the car.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

The interior of the enclosure was wrapped in the dark factory vinyl. The groove I had precut into the top support was a perfect place to tuck the overlap. The groove was later covered with an LED strip.










The subs were installed using Stainless tamper-resistant screws. I think I spent about $150 just on these type of screws throughout the build, and probably another $150+ on other nuts, bolts, and washers.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

These old photos show another look through the tunnel. Here you can see the subs mounted. I also made some trim panels to cover the pockets i made for the factory equipment. As usual it looks better in person than in the pics.










These power and ground wires get covered later, and another power run as well.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Here's a view through the skipass/armrest looking back. The rear will get sealed later.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I intentionally went with the black on tan. If it cannot match perfect, it needs to be a total contrast.


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## mklett33 (Dec 7, 2009)

That looks cool man! Keep up the good work


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

Do the subs get any cancellation when fired at each other like that? Cool install BTW.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

No cancellation. They are all in the same polarity as eachother. Just like in a bandpass box, the subs are working together to pressurize and rarefract the same airspace.

It's definitely way to much for when i'm in SQ mode, literally trying to rip the overhead console out of the headliner. But when I've got subwoofer level attenuated 20-30dB's, it does pretty good.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

You sir are the bomb, is it possible to see a picture of the outside of the car? I'm looking to add a play car and I love the earlier Cadillacs.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

it's covered in snow right now
and even if it wasn't, it needs a bath. One of these days I'll get a picture of it. It's off-white like a cueball, and has a full-size brown cloth top.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

i plasti-dipped the front grill so the chrome wouldn't get all pitted and corroded when the property association throws salt all over the sidewalks and parking lot throughout the winter.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

What the hell is this?


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

any guesses? they are made of steel. and there is a foam padding on the support piece


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## SciPunk (Jan 12, 2013)

Almost looks like a small battery try with multiple locations. Or could be for a disc changer, small farm animals..who knows...LOL


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

damn good guess. it's for both batteries and small farm animals.


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## TheBetterMethod (Sep 19, 2012)

Nice! The kicks look great and that bass-gina is killer!


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## ROCKSOLID84 (Feb 1, 2013)

so its a sealed box how many cubes? or since its sealed you said whatever?..


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## Brad92 (Apr 30, 2012)

Great looking build and the sub box is really unique. I cracked up when I read "bass vagina"

Posted with a solar powered calculator


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

It has 6cf in the rear sections(magnet side of the woofers), divided equally left/right into two chambers since each section is on separate mono amplifiers. i can't remember at the moment how much volume is in the common central area. Kenwood's ideal standard sealed enclosure would recommend 6.4cf for all 8 woofers. So I'm a little small, but I also have a higher pressure on the common central chamber, so I have increased spring on both sides so it should help reject the effects of the slightly lost volume(only about 6% below recommended).


Posted with a Li-Po Powered Abacus


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

So, yes. The rack holds four Kinetic KHC600B. These batteries taper slightly front top-bottom, or front/back in my application. I made wooden templates of the top and bottom dimension of the "PowerCells" to stack these to be a VERY tight fit prior to the cutting and welding. The battery rack is screwed into the side of the enclosure through 1.5" of wood. It also is riv-nutted into the metal of the vehicle in three places.










The support brace to keep the batteries from sliding out of the rack is riv-nutted into the trunk floor in one place, and once into the top of the rack. I used a rubberized foam to prevent any vibration and rubbing, but the batteries fit in so perfect, I doubt it'd ever be an issue.
HOPEFULLY these Kinetics never swell, or they will not come out of the rack so easy. I wanted to use the Stinger SPP680's, but these were half the price and we had added the kinetiks back to our sales line-up in addition to the Stinger batteries. Like mentioned at the beginning of this thread, I wanted to showcase the products we offer.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

You can also see the 3 braces I added to Each side of the tunnel before I slid it into the shell. I have more subwoofer surface area per chamber than I do sides of the enclosure, so I though these were absolutely necessary. I don't like going much more than a foot of length without some sort of bracing. Then you can see where I added the second layer of MDF around the mounting points for the rear panel of the enclosure.
In the second picture, if you look close, you can also see where I added braces along the floor(and top -unseen) to support along the center of the floor and roof of the box.
Being birch ply, yes I wish I had done the ply the other direction so my screws would be pulling the ply's together, instead of splitting them apart, but no issues so far. I just know it would have been stronger in the long run.




*Posted from a Static-Electricity Powered Magic Carpet*


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Did you leave room for when those Kinetics swell up? Or did they finally solve that problem?

Jay


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## Booger (Apr 27, 2007)

nope.....they still swell. I had several swell recently. They were real asses about warranty too.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

When we had first become a Kinetic Dealer the rep told us an HC800 was equivalent to an Optima Red Top. One of our salesmen sold them to everyone (just about literally.) Then when they started swelling up and causing problems, the people at Kinetic were like "Well, you can't use them as a _starting_ battery."

Most of the time it was just annoying, but we had a Yukon XL we did with 4 HC800's under the hood....there wasn't really enough room for an upgrade. We've had MUCH better luck with XS power.

Jay


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Here's another shot from when I first temporarily hooked up the LED's. The back of the seat will be covered so that you won't see the yellow foam of the seat.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I have a 1/0 ground wire running from the body ground in the trunk back up to the alternator mounting bracket to help link the front and rear. I will also have everything grounded to the body in the rear making everything common.
I needed a place to start these grounds. I used some big grounding lugs that are threaded on both ends of the lugs. I cut out some of the Roadkill and cleaned it back to bare metal. I drilled through the floorpan and added lockwashers and a couple nuts to mount the lugs. I then added little squares of black Hushmat to cover the area's back up.
I needed a little more height on the lugs, so I added a couple copper washers between the lugs and the body. You all will see why I needed a little extra space above the floorpan in the next post.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

In that picture on the far right, you can also see where I have my Stinger SPC5050 50Farad capacitor mounted. There are ToolMaker Metalworks' 1-to-2 1/0 adapters in the terminals blocks. I'm sure some of you guys have probably gotten stuff from him before. He actually used to be a customer at our store about 20 years ago when he lived around the Columbus area. It was interesting when I learned that from him.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I like where this is headed. If I ever find myself in the Columbus area, I might have to stop by. I wasn't directing the comment about the Kinetics at you, but I'm not a huge fan (as you might have guessed), so I wish you luck!

Jay


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

No offense taken, Jay?. As you know, I don't make the Kinetiks. They do however brand a highly effective product. I just sell them as an often necessary upgrade. Sometimes I try to sell around them about the benefits of a more costly battery solution such as something made by EnerSys(*brands they produce not mentioned). If the customer wants a great price point powercell solution, Kinetik is the way to go. If a customer is willing to fork over a few more bucks, I have other solutions


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Sometimes you just need a good place to ground 
Here is a temporary-placement preliminary shot.....


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Now THAT is a good ground! lol

Jay


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

It's only 1" thick Aluminum, about 2" wide, by 11" long......not like it's a good conductor or anything


sent from a treadmill powered StarTAC


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

D-Bass said:


> No offense taken, Jay?. As you know, I don't make the Kinetiks. They do however brand a highly effective product. I just sell them as an often necessary upgrade. Sometimes I try to sell around them about the benefits of a more costly battery solution such as something made by EnerSys(*brands they produce not mentioned). If the customer wants a great price point powercell solution, Kinetik is the way to go. If a customer is willing to fork over a few more bucks, I have other solutions


We sell the XS Power batteries for about the same as we were selling the Kinetics for....

Jay


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

thanks, Jay. glad to see someone seeming to be subscribed. It's a shame no one else likes where I'm going with this.... LOL

1,935 views, only about 55 posts, probably half by me.... LOL
Guess it's not Robolop or anything...

I love this website, lots of views, I just wish more people asked questions so we could be more productive with eachother.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

also, although I haven't gotten a chance to tune anything at all......
We did just start keeping the full Mille series Hertz IN STOCK. With what I hear about the Mille tweets, I almost want them even though my Hi-Energy's have only a couple hours on them.

Unfortunately, I want a transmission that doesn't make horrible noises first!!!


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## maverik159 (Nov 20, 2008)

You've "guilted" me into a response. I'm a professional lurker on DIYMA( please refer to my substantial post count for confirmation of this fact). I'm on daily and purchased some of the "best" (ahem, expensive) stuff out there. That said, I'm here for the innovation of our hobby, profession, obsession (ha!). Your install appears to fall within all those parameters. For the record, I own a few of the "swelling" kinetic hc600's (not installed as of today) and your discourse with Jay is the first I've heard of it (victim of an old amazon based hot deal and a complete google fail). That said, your install (from the sub configuration to the aluminum ground plate) epitomizes all that is great about this site and true (in my very humble opinion) car audio. Good stuff.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

maverik159 . I am glad I got you to post. Every member of this forum should be an ACTIVE member. 
You say you have purchased some expensive equipment. Everyone on this forum, lerkers that may make future purchases, and those doing google searches will benefit from any input you have on this forum. Please post your experiences with the equipment you have bought, good or less than good. It may help buyers, or if you post pics, we regular posters may have advice to help you enjoy your gear better. EVERYONE, please be as active as possible.
Also, anyone who does post feels much better to receive responses quickly, regularly, both positive or negative. *Let's help eachother out! *

From here on out, If you are going to look at my thread, or anyone else's, please post at least a little something, and lets help the community grow! We don't need lurkers, we need learners and teachers!


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## TheBetterMethod (Sep 19, 2012)

^What a great post, D-Bass.

I'm also a lurker on here, among other Mobile Audio sites. I live in Parkersburg WV. I notice you are in Columbus. I was thinking I might stop by to check out your shop some time. I really love the work you've done on this build, as well as the work your shop has posted on their (your?) website. It looks like quality stuff, and creative at that.

Thanks for posting this build. I love this box.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

In additions to grounds, I needed POWER connections. These Four KHC600B's needed power connections to the loads. 1/0 ring terminals don't provide the right size connections, so I used *TWO* 4Ga wires terminated with small-hole connections per terminal on each battery. That's also why there was eight 4ga terminals coming off the Dr. side of the grounding block..
Sorry for the glare on the Lexan!
This fuse system accepts a few blocks of 1/0 input of power. Fused acrossed the blocks with all the Kinetiks.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Thank you TheBetterMethod & JayinMI. There is a bunch of stuff on our company's website, but I'm afraid SOOOO much of the BEST stuff is actually not on there. I'm not sure why, but the best stuff never ends up on there, but the moderately cool occassionally does. ;( I wish it was all the basass stuff.

As we tell any possible new employee, this is not West coast customs, you will never flush a fishtank into a dash. We spend 99% of our time providing real customers with real product the can use every day.


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## maverik159 (Nov 20, 2008)

Wow, one shot fired, two "kills". Some of you get that. You are ABSOLUTELY correct. I'm a "no excuses" type of guy. That said, you are all over it, sir. Input/stimulus/debate is what makes this site work. Thanks for your commentary!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

ditto, mo-fo


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## maverik159 (Nov 20, 2008)

Ha ha ha. Touché. And...awesome.

When the crap weather passes, send all of us a pic of the exterior of your "well engineered" caddie.....I have very recently become very, very caddie curious (lol). Traditionally, I'm a German kind of car guy. (Please don't cue douchey elitist music, ha). But, do feel free to cue hot, deep bass, euro mix sweet beats....(except when "in the lanes" of course....).


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## TheBetterMethod (Sep 19, 2012)

I really like the work on that F-430, with the W7 8s. That's a slick install. Maybe I'll give the hiring hotline a call and see if you guys can use me up there. I'd love to give it a shot. Anyway I don't want to spam your thread. I'm just thinking out loud.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Well I for one am a lover of early model well done Cadillacs. Then again I also have a deep passion for early VW's also. With that being said I love learning new techniques to improve my systems. Unfortunately early I fell into the category of buy the newest thing it will make your system even better. I have since found via great advice on her to utilize what you have first and foremost.

I've been to those West Coast/Unique shops where they have a $20,000 setup in the cars. You come in looking for clean and simple, and they swat you down like King Kong in NY. Not all of us want the glamour and glitz and spinning amps. Some of us just want clean, simple, and quality. I'm following your build due to the fact that you care enough to do one, and I like where it's going. It's been awhile sine I've walked into a shop and have purchased from there. The equipment that I own/use has come from my fellow forum members and for that I am greatful. All I ask is that you post a picture of the exterior of this car before I burst lol. I will continue to watch/comment/ ask questions as your build progresses. Also if I am ever in that part of town for business,I will surely stop by.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I'm a big fan of installs that don't draw a lot of attention on their own, but when you start pointing out subtle mods that were done to get a certain result, it's fun to watch people's faces.

Ocassionally I get to build some moderately cool stuff (I work out of a small 2 bay -- 2 TINY bays) shop, doing mainly basic installs and fixing the local DIY and ghetto shop's work, or installing customer owned equipment that gets passed around from "cousin" to "cousin." I miss the days when people actually cared about more than just bass. When people actually wanted to know about the equipment that went in their cars, not just the price. I hear there are still places like this, but they aren't in Michigan, that's for damn sure.

The other day one of our installers from another location was talking to a customer, and the customer told our installer that he was going to go with some new ID v4 subs, because he "heard them on a YouTube video and really liked the way they sounded." That's a much more typical customer nowadays.

I also really wish salespeople actually valued skilled installers...but when they have to make a deal, they immediately cut it out of labor instead of *selling* the labor (and getting anywhere near what they should.)

It's getting harder and harder to stay in this business nowadays. Most people are stupid, and don't want to be educated on the whats and whys.

When I get home from work, I'll have to check out CCA's website.

Oh, one last thing...I remember watching an episode of Pimp my Ride and watching the installer at WCC finishing up an install...he tightened up the power connection on a distro block and then pulled back the carpet on the side of the truck and THREW THE DISTO BLOCK BEHIND IT!

For a place working on celebrities' cars, this should not ever happen, let alone on National TV!

Jay


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

That Ferarri was actually featured in Car Audio & Electronics magazine, I believe back in April '08. and it sure was a badass setup. The 3/4" plexi that was contour-curved on multiple axis was a nice, but tricky touch.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

****ty camera, and ****ty weather the other morning....
But here you go, guys who have been wanting to see the exterior.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I know, it's a Deville. It deserves some Vogue's, but I guess I'm just not that baller. and as far as aftermarket rims, I don't care for them on my vehicles. One, I'm a broke-ass. Two, I don't want to make myself any more of a target.

I will be having one of my tint guys put some tint on my windows once I get the transmission back to spec. Probably just some legal darkness ceramic to block the heat and UV rays.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I would personally keep it exactly as it is. No need to be sorry about being broke as I'm friends with a lot of broke people. Yet they still try to add things when they really can't afford to. I say run it like it is and be proud.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I'm not really a fan of aftermarket bodykits, rims, etc... I like a good looking car with a classic look.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

If I were to change the rims on that car (and *I* probably would, cause it's me, lol) I'd just do some later model Caddy rims. Something a little more up to date, but subtle...but I also picture driving it around disguised as an old man and firing up the system in traffic and look around like I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from. 

The guy I work with has an '05 Seville. When he went to buy the car he was looking at DeVilles...but the sales guy said "You don't want that, it's an old man's car." lol

Clean tho...I like it.

BTW, what's legal tint in Ohio?

Jay


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

50% front, rear side windows i cannot remember, rear windscreen is as dark as you want if you have both side mirrors

maybe I can find the old-people sunglasses that were in the armrest and take a pic wearing them....


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

DAMN! I couldn't find the sunglasses in the car. They are CLASSIC old-people glasses.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Like the ones you can wear OVER regular glasses and that cover up the sides?

Classic!

Jay


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I like the suggestion of using newer same model wheels on your car. To me oem+ is a concept that many of us should try. The worst that can happen is they fit correctly and look good.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I found them, in my other car. Yeah, I wore them one day.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Like A Boss!


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Reminds me of an old Crocodile Dundee lol, stop showboating and get that tranny fixed. Lol


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

A post-op tranny would have already been fixed!:laugh:


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

My subwoofers needed some wires, so I used 10ga from the coil terminals out to distribution blocks, which then take two 8ga+ per chamber and two 8ga- per chamber to the amplifier for that chamber. and the same for the pass.side chamber.










I'll admit, I do wish I had countersunk the holes into the box from the outside so that I could have glued in grommets just for a cleaner look than birch-ply with little splinters. It'd be a MAJOR pain in the ass for something no one will ever see outside the forum, and something that would never affect performance of the sound system. Hindsight is 20/20.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

The passenger side chamber got the same treatment with the speaker wire.
You can also see where I have my power wires fused as they enter the trunk area before the other batteries. The front-to-rear ground cable is just below that. I used some screw-down wire clips to keep things in place.


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

OH! So there's the sixth battery. Couldn't remember where I put it.....
This was a temporary placement before welding up the mounting tabs and extra fuseholders.
Below the enclosure you can see the 50F cap again, still not hooked up


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## sinister-kustoms (Jul 22, 2009)

You should be able to power a small village with all that extra power!

You wouldn't happen to have a link for those screw down cable clamps would you? I've never seen them over here, but keen to get some!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I ordered them from Stinger Electronics(Aamp of America). SWT0B for 1/0, and SWT4B for 4ga. Stinger used to sell them for 8ga and 10ga as well, but no longer offers them. I have seen them available in many sizes online somewhere before, maybe alibaba.com or something with different part numbers. but I can not remember for sure what they called them.


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

The clips are Streetwires Clip-Its. They make single and double versions.

StreetWires® | Cable Management


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

6 batteries and a 50F cap, I'm not sure that's enough. I cannot wait to get the alternator in, because with all four amps, this thing sucks some power. Birthsheets on the amps add up to a big number.(yes, I know these aren't the numbers I'd see in the real world with numerous highly reactive loads and crazed damping factors)


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## danno (Jan 25, 2009)

The massive amounts of power wire look much more impressive in person..lol


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

nice install! love the wiring solutions esp!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

Thanks


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

UPDATE:
I dropped the Caddy off for transmission work a couple days ago. I'm looking forward to being able to get this thing back to the shop and spends some evenings working on it.


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## silver6 (Nov 11, 2008)

I'm looking forward to you working on it again! It's been a REALLY nice build so far!


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## D-Bass (Apr 27, 2012)

I've got some pics to post up if I ever get the time for it.
We've been busy lately...


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## silver6 (Nov 11, 2008)

We're ready!


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## TheBetterMethod (Sep 19, 2012)

Well instead of wasting time with that post, you should have just posted the pics. 

C'mon!


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## Midwestrider (Aug 10, 2007)

Nice build, clean and simple. And what's not to like about that body style caddy, ROOMY!


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