# it begins: my 2007 scion tC build thread



## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

ok folks, thanks for all the help/advice/info. ive finally purchased most of my equipment and have found a little time to start taking out the old stuff to start on the new. its going in my 2007 scion tC (pix of the victim below). equipment will be as follows: thoughts? suggestions?

Headunit: Alpine CDA-9887, running active on imprint

Amps: 2 x Cadence TXA-600.4 (150x4 @ 4 ohm for mids/tweets, 600x2 @ 4 for subs)

Midwoofers: 2 x Mach 5 MLI-65

Tweeters: 2 x Seas Neo 27TFFNC/G 

Subs: 2 x Dayton RS HO 10's

Deadening: eDead V1SE² (had this installed from previous before knowing issues)

Enclosure: ??? wanna go ported with a common center slot port but not sure how to do so. got 41"W x 11.5"D x 11.5"H to work with if someone would be so kind to make me a sketch. would like tuning ~30hz

some pix of the culprit...


































some pix of what i got started with...

just a pic of the dash with the premier deh-680mp for now










got bored and added a lil techflex to the main ground (no heatshrink yet)










got this crap out










some deadening


























video of the very temporary install i had of eD nine.1 on 13av2 and nine.2 on edi 6500's. have since tightend/fixed the rattle on the hatch garnish. sold av2 2 weeks later, was too difficult to integrate the sub into my hatch area the way i wanted. 

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32009511


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## drocpsu (May 3, 2005)

nice. Are those aftermarket leather seats? The lack of a leather option (aside from aftermarket) was the one thing that bugged me about that car. Especially because their limited release models came with Alcantara seats which were a lot nicer than the regular ones...but you couldnt get them in the regular tC. 

Looking forward to seeing the build!


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

drocpsu said:


> nice. Are those aftermarket leather seats? The lack of a leather option (aside from aftermarket) was the one thing that bugged me about that car. Especially because their limited release models came with Alcantara seats which were a lot nicer than the regular ones...but you couldnt get them in the regular tC.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing the build!


thanks. actually they are factory replacement style seatcovers by Clazzio, couldve went katzkin but these were well priced, managed to get them over the factory covers without ripping the factorys off, looks good enough for me for now


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

i just was taking some measurements and i realize ima have one helluva time fitting two of them cadence amps in there... them shiz are huge @ 25" a piece


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## Vorlon (Nov 17, 2007)

Best....License Plate.....Ever


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## 99IntegraGS (Jan 18, 2007)

Vorlon said:


> Best....License Plate.....Ever


X2

JD


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Nice canvas to work on. 

Love that paint.


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Enclosure?? Glass it into the wells behind the tail lights.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

matt62485 said:


>


Are your baffles protected from the weather or just painted?


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## glidn (Apr 21, 2007)

Wow, it's the first New Scion i have seen, again not a car that is available in New Zealand at all. But this thing is awesome. It an very nice colour and also looks like it has some great capabilities for car audio installs.

Keep the install ideas and pictures rolling. Will be one to watchout for.

I noticed you have around 14 - 20 litres in each rear panel you could easily mount some sub/s in there put the cover back on and no one would be anywiser. Other than you of course.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

t3sn4f2 said:


> Are your baffles protected from the weather or just painted?


i used some "weather resistant" outdoor paint, but hell what do you recommend? nooB here


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

thanks guys
'


Vorlon said:


> Best....License Plate.....Ever





99IntegraGS said:


> X2
> 
> JD





GlasSman said:


> Nice canvas to work on.
> 
> Love that paint.





glidn said:


> Wow, it's the first New Scion i have seen, again not a car that is available in New Zealand at all. But this thing is awesome. It an very nice colour and also looks like it has some great capabilities for car audio installs.
> 
> Keep the install ideas and pictures rolling. Will be one to watchout for.
> 
> I noticed you have around 14 - 20 litres in each rear panel you could easily mount some sub/s in there put the cover back on and no one would be anywiser. Other than you of course.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

enclosure wise, just a slot ported @ 1.4 cu ft net internal tuned to 30hz. did a lil playing around on sketchup after finally figuring out the enclosure thanks to tcguy, jp8, aworldcollision, chad, etc just to name a few...


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

matt62485 said:


> i used some "weather resistant" outdoor paint, but hell what do you recommend? nooB here


People like to coat MDF baffles with fiberglass resin (takes a few passes since it will soak into the fiber at first and leave some exposed). I'd let it dry completely after the first pass of glass if you want to go that route. This way it will somewhat prevent any more from being absorbed and you can use the next layer for the final seal.

Under coating or sound proofing spray should work as well for wood baffles.

Thick cutting boards made of plastic are also being used, you can layer and glue two together for added thickness if need be.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

t3sn4f2 said:


> People like to coat MDF baffles with fiberglass resin (takes a few passes since it will soak into the fiber at first and leave some exposed). I'd let it dry completely after the first pass of glass if you want to go that route. This way it will somewhat prevent any more from being absorbed and you can use the next layer for the final seal.
> 
> Under coating or sound proofing spray should work as well for wood baffles.
> 
> Thick cutting boards made of plastic are also being used, you can layer and glue two together for added thickness if need be.


ahh ok thanks


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

matt62485 said:


> ahh ok thanks


Some more inf. on the cutting boards, more if you search on them.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showpost.php?p=60325&postcount=13


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

oh hell u meant like an actual cutting board, it didnt click at first. damn thats creative. thanks for the info, ill do some searching!


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

any progress?


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## danssoslow (Nov 28, 2006)

t3sn4f2 said:


> Thick cutting boards made of plastic are also being used, you can layer and glue two together for added thickness if need be.


What kind of glue will work?


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

danssoslow said:


> What kind of glue will work?


NOT gorilla grip, words of wisdom :blush:


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## danssoslow (Nov 28, 2006)

I read up online, and found that there is a special glue that will work with that stuff; but like most of those special glues, it's expensive. You get plenty for the money, but it would be more than necessary for a couple door baffles. It goes against my cheap-ass standards. If Gorilla Glue doesn't work, it isn't of this world.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

nah no progress, actually not even in town right now. subs/headunit are on backorder... rca's on the way. wiring starting up this week.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

made a little progress, installed/ran my rca's and installed the 9887 today, completely forgot to grab my roll of remote wire, so ima have to pull it back out and hook that up, otherwise got the rca's/ipod cable hooked up... took a few pix of the coming progress. also pulled the back seat for ease of installation.


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## darkknight1999 (Jul 13, 2008)

Why is there a wire nut in your dash???


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

darkknight1999 said:


> Why is there a wire nut in your dash???


very good question... i was wondering the same last night. i used wire nuts on my last harness install but i only had the 2 rear speakers hooked up to deck power just for slight rearfill incase i ever felt like cutting the subs off w/ passengers... however the harness wasnt installed yet, soooo with that said i guess when i install the remote wire ill check that out


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Nice ritz box.

Love what you've done so far with the car. Not sure on the depth of the Mach MAW driver but very similar to the Extremis, little better extension up top.

Youre going to need to add a few levels of spacers, iirc i used 3 3/4" layers for a 2.25" baffle. For the excursion that driver is gonna put out, excursion peak will be a problem, and you can see how i fixed that with my install. Though very rudimentary.

Have you thought about door pods, or modifying them someway wtih FG?

I'm going to be intrested to see how your rear turns out, in planning for a new rear myself, and its going to be right confusing and complicated.....

Nice job so far.

May i also suggest a layer or two of ensolite on your side rear quarters on each side of the bench. That is without a doubt the noisiest place in this car, and is VERY easy to fix. Personally i did 2 layers of raammat, 2 layers of ensolite, followed by layer of 1.5" accoustic eggshell foam, you can find it at PE.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

did a lil techflex/heatshrink work today... got the runs for the mids and tweets done and found out my subs that were suppossbly due to PE yesterday are now backordered still until 9/4.... suppossbly... im getting impatient as its the only thing im waiting on, ive almost considered going with some w3v3s in replace of the daytons, but think ima stick with my original plan. 





































happened to look over during my work and notice our cat broke into our bag from my sisters wedding yesterday... looks like its time to send him to AA.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

You said you'll have to pull up everything to run your remote wire? Is your h701 near you amp? Just making sure you know you can use ai-net to switch the h701 on (no need for remote turn on) and then run the remote turn on out of the h701. Makes for easy install.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

bikinpunk said:


> You said you'll have to pull up everything to run your remote wire? Is your h701 near you amp? Just making sure you know you can use ai-net to switch the h701 on (no need for remote turn on) and then run the remote turn on out of the h701. Makes for easy install.


i dont have an h701?  ive got just the 9887. plan to run imprint


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I don't know where I saw 701.  

Oh, well.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

lol its cool, i was gonna do the h701/c701 combo as well but funds arent there atm. thanks for the concern though!


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

H701/c701 is a good choice if you can ever afford it, its defiently worth the cash, but only if your a tweaking freak.......haha not drug related. But i find myself fiddling with my processor evertime i get into my car....even after almost 3yrs of having it all installed......even if my car sounds good, i still like to fiddle.....If your a set it and forget it then just stick with the head you have.

Keep it up though, nice work.

You planning any FG.....defiently worth it to play around in, even if your just teaching yourself how to use it. So easy once you learn the ins and outs and work times.....Keep it up though.

Also might i suggest using FG instead of MDF, weight issues on the rear can definetly throw your handling off, and that looks to be 40-50lbs of mdf alone, unless its directly over the rear axle you might have residual weight problems.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

thanks for the info. ill be using mdf for now. i may do some fg work later down the road, but just not in the mood for it right now. ive had several setups in the tC, weight size the 13av2 took the cake on being heaviest. i also had 2 15s and 3 10s, so i had some weighty stuff back there.  plus my tC is lowered, the box for 2 daytons will be considerably smaller than anything ive had installed in the past, it should be ok.


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Haha nice. I had a 1-2" drop on the rear when i put the sealed tempest in. Thing slammed like none other, a bit much for the car, but i still crave that output and low end....nothing else is like it, minus the higher Harmonics.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

demon2091tb said:


> Haha nice. I had a 1-2" drop on the rear when i put the sealed tempest in. Thing slammed like none other, a bit much for the car, but i still crave that output and low end....nothing else is like it, minus the higher Harmonics.


i hear that. lowend wise, the 13av2 was a monster, the 15s had it too. and my 10w3v3s probably took the overall best sound as a whole. the 13a lacked something in the upper freq. slightly above say 60hz or so... i dont have the desire to run midbass to make up for that, or felt like redesigning an enclosure


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Prolly needed a smaller box, even in my 4cf sealed enclosur ei had loads of output 60-100hz, 24db at 63hz was all i could do, and still the top end was too much....lol.

Those mach midbasses should do well in the midbass dep, and the 10's should do well in the upper region as well, what size enclosure per, .5cf?


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

demon2091tb said:


> Prolly needed a smaller box, even in my 4cf sealed enclosur ei had loads of output 60-100hz, 24db at 63hz was all i could do, and still the top end was too much....lol.
> 
> Those mach midbasses should do well in the midbass dep, and the 10's should do well in the upper region as well, what size enclosure per, .5cf?


ill be doing .6 net per... seems to be the happy medium. i had the enclosure built to eD specs, a few others complained about the lack in the upper bass region. oh well, i sold it. im stoked to hear the mach5s and the seas together as im waiting until effin sept 4 for the daytons


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

you'll have plenty of low end with two of the Dayton HO's ported, tuned to 30hz. don't you worry. i still think the single ten i have is plenty. it sounds great, has awesome SQ, and can still be very very fun to listen to. 

you'll also be able to cross them wherever you want. hell, they would do well crossed at 100hz if you had to cross them that high. they have no problem playing the higher notes at all. its a very easy sub to get to blend with the front stage, they can be very transparent. 

the mli's and seas neo's are also great. seems like a very good little budget setup you're building there. have fun and keep us posted.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

tcguy85 said:


> you'll have plenty of low end with two of the Dayton HO's ported, tuned to 30hz. don't you worry. i still think the single ten i have is plenty. it sounds great, has awesome SQ, and can still be very very fun to listen to.
> 
> you'll also be able to cross them wherever you want. hell, they would do well crossed at 100hz if you had to cross them that high. they have no problem playing the higher notes at all. its a very easy sub to get to blend with the front stage, they can be very transparent.
> 
> the mli's and seas neo's are also great. seems like a very good little budget setup you're building there. have fun and keep us posted.


thanks bro, im actually going to go sealed now, much easier to build, i got fed up with trying to do 2 of them ported in an enclosure i liked


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Were you going slot ported MDF or what? I find areoports are the best imo for SQ, easier to implement successfully without maving a massive box with port displacement taken out, and added weight added in. I'd look into them, not sure who sells them today, havn't orderd any in 4-5yrs lol.

Can get some PCV bends for angles.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product, hopefully i can get some ideas as well, for my next run around.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

demon2091tb said:


> Were you going slot ported MDF or what? I find areoports are the best imo for SQ, easier to implement successfully without maving a massive box with port displacement taken out, and added weight added in. I'd look into them, not sure who sells them today, havn't orderd any in 4-5yrs lol.
> 
> Can get some PCV bends for angles.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing the finished product, hopefully i can get some ideas as well, for my next run around.


friggen PE sells em but to do two enclosures would be lik $80 for all the port lengths.. ghey. 37" for each sub 3" aeroport


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## glidn (Apr 21, 2007)

so anymore updates?

Been waiting to see what has been going on.

Been playing with google Sketch up i gave up, i guess it's just not for me.

Oh well i may try thaht again one day.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

glidn said:


> so anymore updates?
> 
> Been waiting to see what has been going on.
> 
> ...



still waitin on the subs man, itll be another month until they come in... for now ive just been running wires, etc... ill post pix soon enough. yea googlesketchup takes a little getting used to...


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

w00t, subs are back in stock... should be recieving them within a week or so. FINALLY figured out how im going to do my enclosure and make the massive cadence txa6004s work with porting the subs. once i get the funds ill be purchasing the $100+ worth of port materials etc and some mdf... got it down to this...

-internal dimensions for each sub are 15"w x 9.75"h x 10"d = 0.846ft^3 gross

-with ~ 13" of port inside the box yields roughly .06 port displacement + .08 driver displacement = .14 ft ^3 total displacement subracted from 0.846 = 0.706 ft^3 net 

-3" dayton aero ports with flared ends should be approximately 28" of length +/- the end correction which i hope is spec'd on the box/instructions and ill account for later

-so with ~12.75" of port inside the enclosure will leave somewhere in the means of 15.25" of external port, which i plan to do in the likes of chad/tcguy but make it a little less noticable, hopefully my idea will works, ill post updates as i go. anyone who wants to fund my purchasing of the expensive ass port pieces can paypal me 
-


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

cool, sounds good man! keep us updated!


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

well after reading through chads most recent install of his HO, i decided to use a slot port design. heres a mock up of what itll look like. outside dimensions are 42w x 14.75h internal gross is 1.03cuft. port disp is .26, driver .08. = 0.69 net. port area of 8.4375insq. 6.75 x 1.25x 33" L ~ 30hz. finally, dear lord. i hope this is the last one, if found quirks in all my other ideas, but i think ive finally accounted for everything, only if i can get my damn subs in.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

well. my luck. the last post i made was off. so, b4 i posted up, i sat and thought this one out for hours, checked everything right down to the nitty gritty. so with that said me and the girl got the wires for the mids/tweets ran and i added a little more deadener to the doors, popped my door panels off, etc to install the midwoofers and tweets tomorrow or sunday and plan to get the enclosure built sunday as well. hopefully the subs will arrive monday as scheduled and i can have some sound sometime by mid week. final specs on the enclosure come out to .73 net @ 29 hz. sorry no pix of todays work, will post some up tomorrow


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

cool!


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

forgot the camera, but soldered the wires on the mids and tweets, starting to get the kicks ready to cut holes for the tweets, got a few cuts made for the platform for the enclosure, ran the remote wire (forgot to when i installed the headunit). installed the mids in the doors with some foam to ensure a airtight fit, ummm, hopefully ill get everything tomorrow and finish up... gonna spend the whole day on it. w00t


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)




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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

wooohooo, subs just arrived!!! building enclosure as we speak


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

well its not the prettiest thing in the world, first time ever building a box on my own, in the past ive always had the help of my buddy who does carpentry for a living, so anyways, dont flame me too bad for my woodworking skills. as u can see, the carpet i got obviously didnt work too well, i can make carpet look pretty good for what its worth, not pro by any means, but typically a hella lot better than this came out. maybe ill re wrap it someday. anyways, hears the pix, im about to headout and try to get the rest of this thing complete


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

w00t, got everything hooked up and working!!! surely got a bit of tuning to do, and got to put everything back together and permanently mount the amps and sub box, but wanted to make sure everything worked. one my my solders broke off my mid and gave me a little scare, and had a little mishap on one of the RCAs and wasnt getting connection on the left side, scared me a little, but after some tinkering got everything working... funny thing is, it already sounds better than anything ive had in the past and all ive really done is set the x-overs, havent got to play much with the EQ, and crossovers are set conservatively as well as the gains, cranked up the subs a lil though... holy hell, they do have a good bit of output ported. came out to .73 net for each @ 29 hz. anyways, ill get some pix later, it started raining on me


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## yeldak99 (Mar 5, 2008)

looks good man... This stupid rain is holding up my progress as well....


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

glad ya got it going. i told ya the HO's can get dumb loud when needed.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

so did a lil crossovering today.... got lowpass @ 63, mid-l @ 63, mid-h @ 3.2k, high @ 3.2k all at 12slopes (im pretty sure if i recall correctly). for some reason, the parametric EQ, when i try to + a band it actually makes it sound like im attenuating it... im not quite sure wtf is going on. still got a lot of playing to do.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

You can safely play the daytons pretty high before they reveal themselves. I'd try 80 to take some stress off the doors so you can dedicate more power for what really counts. The lower you go in XO the more power you have to throw at them and is not available for the other instruments. That mid-bass has a LOT of work to do. Reducing excursion also lowers IM distortion.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

chad said:


> You can safely play the daytons pretty high before they reveal themselves. I'd try 80 to take some stress off the doors so you can dedicate more power for what really counts. The lower you go in XO the more power you have to throw at them and is not available for the other instruments. That mid-bass has a LOT of work to do. Reducing excursion also lowers IM distortion.


well even at 63 the mids sounded fine, right punchy and strong for mids, i was impressed, at 80 it sounded good to, but the subs seemed to sound a little better crossed at 63, mids/sub seemed to blend better, ill give it another shot... i really got a lot of playing to do, it sounds pretty good right now, the tweets seem bright though, im trying to get a more warm/full sound.


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

i agree with chad, maybe try the mids at 80hz and the sub at the same. or try an under lap. also try an under lap between the mids and tweeters. i have my mids at 2.5k and the tweets at 4k and my car still rta's flat in that area, same with the sub.

on the tweeters try lowering the overall level of them or just try EQing down at certain points and see what happens.


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## ender (Aug 27, 2008)

tcguy85 said:


> i agree with chad, maybe try the mids at 80hz and the sub at the same. or try an under lap. also try an under lap between the mids and tweeters. i have my mids at 2.5k and the tweets at 4k and my car still rta's flat in that area, same with the sub.
> 
> on the tweeters try lowering the overall level of them or just try EQing down at certain points and see what happens.


X2

Nice tC btw.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

a lil more work with the XO

subs @ 80/12
mids @ 80 - 2.5k/12
tweets @ 3.2k +/18
played with the time correction a little and got the front stage a little more centered, got the tweets to blend a little better... need to do some more work (duh its only been installed 2 days lol). but overall sounds alot better than anything ive had in the past.


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

glad you are liking it.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

slowly coming along. amp on top wont be visible when im done, left it thr for gain setting


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## yeldak99 (Mar 5, 2008)

probably a stupid question, but is there still a spare under there?


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

yeldak99 said:


> probably a stupid question, but is there still a spare under there?


nope wouldnt fit by like 2 inches. boooo. oh well.


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## yeldak99 (Mar 5, 2008)

I ditched mine as well. Gonna get a PDX-5 now so I can save some space.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

nice, yea the cadence amps are friggen huge as u can see


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## blong07 (Aug 16, 2008)

man, that box sure is snug in there matt.


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

oh yea, had to ditch the spare lol


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## matt62485 (Jun 7, 2008)

i think i got my x-overs final....

sub 63hz/12
mids- 63-2.5k/12 (sound good at 80, but a lot more punchy at 63)
highs- 4k/12 (took tCguys advice and sounds like it smoothed out the upper end some, less strain on the tweets)

playin with t/a some got the sound stage sounding like its coming from the headunit lol, a lil tweaking got it pretty well centered and up around ear level, even though my tweets are installed down in my kicks, a dude i know thats pretty into car audio thought i had them mounted up in the doors and then t/a up lol. got the sub stage up front as well, most of the time i keep the sub level on 0 but i can crank it up to about 8 for a good punch and 12-15 for some boomboom, but they get too loud for everyday listening and most of the music i listen to doesnt sound good with bass that loud. one sub would have been plenty, but o well lol. after playin with some sarah mclachlan, some eagles, etc i realized the whole system itself is waves better than anything ive ever owned in the past, and thats with no EQ adjustment, just strictly XO and t/a adjustments, im sure once i learn more, ill get it sounding a lot better. anyways, still havent finished covering the amps, etc... wanted to get all the adjusting down, now we got a tropical storm out there so no work this weekend.


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

cool glad it worked out for ya.


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