# 2007 Lexus Rx400h - some audio upgrades



## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, I have been putting this off long enough now. I know that anyone that owns one of these model Lexus and is into car audio will appreciate this build log immensely as I could only find a couple logs all across the internet (most of them here). I don't think I ever found a log of a Hybrid one like this one is. I don't have alot of pictures of the panel removal process and I forgot to snap any pics of the wiring runs that I did but I will say that I really took my time on them to make them as neat and tidy as I could. If I ever have to open 'er up again in the future I will be sure to snap a few pics then.

Putting up this build log might give me a little more added motivation to get things moving as well. With me working far too much lately and the summer heat lately, things have been going a little slower than I like. So far, I have all of the wiring done, installed my amp rack and mounted my two amps and distro block. I also had a 0/1 wire ran along the frame rails under the vehicle to the distro block as there just ain't room for such a fat wire under the sill panels. All in all I am fairly happy with the look of everything to date. 

Here is a break down of what I have for this vehicle:

2007 Lexus Rx400h
Head Unit: Pioneer Z110BT (120 firmware)
Processor: Mosconi 6to8
Amps: Audison LRx 5.1k powering midrange/tweets and sub
Mosconi One 120.4 bridged for midbass
Midrange: Scanspeak 12m
Tweeters: Scanspeak D3004
Midbass: Morel MW265
Sub: Morel Ultimo 12 - 2 ohm version.

This is what I have right now but I do have alot more ideas for this ride. I figured I would get this stuff in first and go from there once my bank account recovers. I will start with the pics I have to date and some of the trials I have dealt with thus far in the next post.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

First off the head unit. I wanted this to be completely reversible back to factory original and wanted the nav to look like it belonged. The only option for me was the Beatsonic Rx82 dash/wiring harness kit. It came out great but cost a freakin' bundle. Also, as I have rear dvd entertainment, the steering control PAC unit isn't working properly yet. I guess it has to be programmed off a different wiring bundle to work properly. Anyways, it is on my to-do list. So, on to the pics: 



And now up close to see how nicely its fit and finish is:










And now the back end as it stands now. This is what it looks like all buttoned up. Totally stock looking:










And the amps in there new home. Don't mind the sloppy speaker wires currently as I don't have any speakers in yet so I haven't hooked up any of them but the sub yet. I was getting a turn off pop so I took the sub out and took the fuses out of the distro until I get the relay and time delay setup put in in a couple weeks or so. This equipment is just far too valuable to risk it right now:










And the distro block in its new home. This is the really nice Audison one that I got in a sweet deal on kijjii recently. Every once in a while I get surprised by something nice on there










And what she looks like on an every day basis with the cargo mat:


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

And this is what I was working on earlier today. Door deadening. I know some people love seeing this stuff and some hate it but here it is anyways. I will say I love the way this vehicle comes apart compared to my old Rav4. In a word, solid! The back comes apart like a jig saw puzzle. Just make sure you remember where everything goes so you can put it back together correctly. I am still debating how far I want to take the deadening as it is such a quiet ride right now. The doors are going to be getting the full Mccoy however with cld overkill maybe, ccf and mlv. I took the ccfémlv out of my Rav4 doors and lo and behold they were an almost exact fit. I was very happy with that. Anyways: The doors stripped down to the metal:










And the junky factory vapor barrier or what`s left of it:laugh:










Cld all done. My first time using Alphadamp and I must say, nice stuff. Sure reminds me of Dynamat extreme but much cheaper being I got mine for 50% off earlier this year.










And mlv/ccf installed:










I only got the passenger side done today but I can notice there is a gigantic change in the way the door shuts and the midbass clarity and impact out of the factory 'midbass' was actually quite impressive. I can't wait to get those Morel's in there in a couple weeks. 

Well, I will try to get the driver's side done by the end of the weekend. I work the rest of the week and it is supposed to be stinkin' hot again until Friday. We'll see how it goes. 

Let me know what everyone thinks of my progress thus far.


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## WhereAmEye? (Jun 17, 2013)

Lookin' good. sub'd.


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## JVD240 (Sep 7, 2009)

I read "Kijiji" and thought Canadian. 

Even in the same city! Looks good so far.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

My god, its been three weeks since this started. Man, I might seem like I have been slacking but I have been working on this build a bit by bit. First up, I got my 8 inch Morel's installed by my installer. Sorry don't have any pics at the moment. I didn't have them take any and I have no need to pull off a door panel at this time. If I do, I will snap a pic or two. I did get the other door all deadened just like the other one. My turn off pop was also corrected by my installer. As ir turned out it was all being caused by a wiring boo-boo behind the HU. They fixed that free of charge and still installed a relay for all of my amps/processors etc in the future so I should have no issues with remote power draw at the source. 

The past couple days I have been trying to figure out what size/style of subbox I will create for my Ultimo 12. I just got that solidified today. I got input from Casey from Morel (stand up guy BTW) and I have settled on a 1.6 ft3 sealed to start. If I still want more output, I will slide in a 15 inch x3 inch flared port kit from Precision Ports and be at 1.5 ft3 tuned to 27 Hz. This will give me almost 4 db more output in my vehicle according to Casey. I have just been getting ready to do some cutting which will probably happen tomorrow or this weekend. I guess I'll see if my table saw can cut straight and see how it does with angle cutting too. 

What I have been doing the past few days outside of contemplating my sub box, is get my baffles ready for my midrange/tweeters. I honestly am a little nervous that they will not look good enough to keep. I think I can make them look good if I go completely off axis but I don't know if that will suite me sound wise. Those Scan 12ms are gigantic looking compared to my 10f I used last time. I will try to do some angle listening in tomorrow. I still need to finish gluing one of them together as I appear to have lost my other damned clamp. On to the pics:










And made sure to chamfer the hell out of the backsides. I love my dremel









An idea of what the 12m will look like in these. I was too lazy to go grab my tweets to get the full pic.










And lastly, I did this just before dropping about 8000 4 letter words in my garage as the screwdriver slipped on me. This is a first for me, I have never done any damage to a speaker like this before. I feel like such a tard! I don't think it will affect function tho (sure hope not anyways) but it is most definitely a cosmetic ouchie.:blush:










Sorry for the blurry pic but I wanted to get as much of the damage in the shot as I could with my iphone. Does anyone think there will be accoustic variances due to this? It did not go right through the cone thank god. Also, anyone have any ideas of how to fix it maybe? Thats it for today. I will hopefully get to listening and maybe glassing these bad boys into my pillars this weekend.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Its been a week now and a few things have happened. I have not been standing idle by here. I do want to get this thing finished by the end of summer and for here that time is most definitely approaching. Well, I want to get the 3 way front and sub done.

First, I found out that I indeed wrecked one of my Scan 12m. I thought I had just done cosmetic damage but upon flipping it over, I jabbed the driver right through the cone. It was a very sad day. RIP:angel: As I said, I want this done, this put me in a bit of a scramble to get a solution for my midrange and with little money to spend made it even more difficult. I have a set of CDM88 midranges coming to me as I write this courtesy of a nice gent off of here. I am told they will easily go down to 350 Hz and handle the power I want to feed them and they have the best frequency response plots I have seen from a dome midrange. Casey from Morel told me they get a little choppy above about 2.8 kHz but can play higher if needed. Even if that is an issue for me, my Scan D3004 can easily take as low as 2.5 kHz no problem so I should be good there. If I really don`t like it, I also still have my 10f still sitting here too. I also still have one good 12m that I might just end up using as a center down the road. I also picked up a 3rd cdm88 too for a second option. Always good to have options.

Ok, now on to what I have been working on mostly. A new, better designed subwoofer enclosure for my Ultimo 12. I wanted something with an angled back so it would go behind the seat without hindering the recline of the back seats. I also wanted to try a slightly larger box this time. The one I had before, I made low profile and only about 1.3 ft3. It was 28 inches long and had no angled back (completely rectangular). I also had very minimal bracing in the box. I double baffled it but I don`t think that was even very well done. The new box, I have an outside baffle for it but haven`t put it on yet as I was anxious to hear it. I have had a HUGE helping hand from Joey of SimplicityinSound in creating this box. I finally completed the enclosure yesterday and took it out for a nice long listen. All I can say is WOW! what a difference. I haven`t hit it with the rta yet but I can tell there is a PILE more output from the sub. All I have been able to do is play with time alignment yesterday. I have the thing hitting out at the front of the dash now. It is just beautiful. I only turned it up to 3é4 volume or so and holy crap everything shook on a Kreesha Turner song and could totally feel it in my chest/back. Joey is just the MAN. He totally came up with an awesome way to brace this box. I put my hand on the front of the box during this song and absolutely nothing! The sub is just going freakin' crazy and not the slightest of vibrations and that is without the double baffle yet! I am impressed. Don't think I will need to port it like I was thinking. I think now, that box flex was really destroying alot of the impressiveness that is the Ultimo 12. Anyways, here is the box as it sits now. It is ugly still but I have some nice black carpet for it once I get some cosmetic issues handled with the back. You can see what I mean from the pics. Oh, I had a slight cutting error and ended up with about 1/8 inch gap at the back bottom of the box. It was nothing a little Long and Strong fiberglass (very like Kitty Hair) couldn't cure. First time I used that stuff. It is um... interesting to use. Ok, the pics don't be too mean

How it will always sit:








From back side - showing my Long and Strong glassing from the backside. There is way more on the inside.










From the back and top and main issue to be attended to before I can finish it off.


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

subscribed. interested in how you finish this up, as I have one of the "other" rx installs on here. And, I am running a morel ultimo (sc) sub as well. good luck!


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, finally got the sub box all finished up as best I could anyways. This was my first time wrapping anything that will be visible. I have mixed feelings on how it came out. I think it looks awesome when you look at it straight on but the sides came out like crap if you ask me. Maybe I am just too hard on myself too? The problem I had I think was with the type of carpet I had to use for the box. That stuff doesn't cut worth a crap even with a fresh exacto-blade like I was using. I used 3m 77 spray glue which worked awesome although I will probably be days trying to get it off my hands entirely. I got most of it off with a little Acusol. That stuff is the **** really! Love it! I even used it on the finished carpet where I had been over-zealous with the spray glue. It took the stuff right off and the carpet looks fresh again. 

Anyways on to the pics and a descriptor of how I fixed the back side of the box. I used a flush trim router bit on the sides and it is my new fave bit at least for today.  I used my table saw with the blade angled to chop that overhang on the top. Of course, I forgot to take into account the width of the blade and it took a little more than I needed. Doesn't matter tho as you can't tell once I carpeted it. Here is the box after I prep'd it. Showing the too deep cut at the top










And straight on the back.










And a couple shots of the finished product:










From the side - showing my crappy skills 










And from a distance. I was trying to show how little room this thing actually takes up in my opinion. Still plenty of room for stuff back there. Funny, quite a bit bigger box than I had before and takes up WAY less room. Nice when you maximum the space. The seats will recline fully in the back too if anyone was wondering.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

I figured I would put up a couple shots of my ride so everyone could see her in all her glory. I just posted these in the 'what's your system in' thread.










And from the back and side. This is a Hybrid also if anyone didn't know. Can't remember if I mentioned that earlier or not.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

I am kind of on hold now until my Morel cdm 88 arrives. It has cleared customs so should be here is the coming days; probably Monday and maybe even tomorrow. I am going to take some rta readings tomorrow before work (on evenings the next 3 days) as I am curious as to how that Ultimo 12 reads now. I think I might have more flexability in crossover point now because there appears to be a pile more output from this box than the last. I will try to get some Tru-RTA plots up here in the coming days. I don't know about everyone else, but I absolutely love seeing them in build logs here


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## JVD240 (Sep 7, 2009)

Lookin good, dude. I'll have to swing by soon. Lemme know if you need a hand with anything too!


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

JVD240 said:


> Lookin good, dude. I'll have to swing by soon. Lemme know if you need a hand with anything too!


Hey Jordan. Thanks. I guess it turned out pretty good even if it isn't perfect. I might end up looking for something that's a better match to the interior down the road and try re-wrapping it. We'll see. I will keep your offer in mind. Having a second set of hands or ears for that matter are always nice. We'll have to meet up some time soon and compare notes/tunes.


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## Jaloosk (Jan 13, 2010)

Lookin good...glad you found your flush bit! I was going to post something about that. 

Too bad about the screwdriver incident. Anyway, I like what you're doing to this car.


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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

hay james- good work! clean looking ride! that subwoofer looks nice- ported no less. what is your F3 frequency? 
looking forward to seeing the 8" in the doors. 
i know the feeling about the screwdriver incident- did the same thing to the surround of my imagine woofers. 
keep up the good work!


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## JVD240 (Sep 7, 2009)

Is that a port? I thought it was just for the speaker terminals.


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## chithead (Mar 19, 2008)

Subscribed - like seeing some Morel builds


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Jaloosk said:


> Lookin good...glad you found your flush bit! I was going to post something about that.
> 
> Too bad about the screwdriver incident. Anyway, I like what you're doing to this car.


Thanks, I hope it all turns out looking great and sounding better Just wish I had more time consistently. This is taking way longer than I wanted.



avanti1960 said:


> hay james- good work! clean looking ride! that subwoofer looks nice- ported no less. what is your F3 frequency?
> looking forward to seeing the 8" in the doors.
> i know the feeling about the screwdriver incident- did the same thing to the surround of my imagine woofers.
> keep up the good work!


The box is sealed. I designed it with porting in mind as a possibility. After hearing it and being quite amazed at the output, I don't really feel that I need a ported enclosure. I already have it turned down 5 db. I would like to get a way to control the sub in there tho. There are times you just want to make things shake if ya know what I mean Anyways, it is about 1.6 ft3 and built like a tank; special thanks to Joey from Simplicity in Sound for the design. If i get bored down the road, I might purchase a Precision Port and try it out tho. It would then come in at 1.5 ft3 port tuned to 27 or so Hertz. I would have to watch the throttle a bit possibly as I will have to use a 3 inch port and I was told that could cause port noise at max output. I don't go overboard hardly ever tho



JVD240 said:


> Is that a port? I thought it was just for the speaker terminals.


Nope, just a terminal cup as you thought.



chithead said:


> Subscribed - like seeing some Morel builds


Well, I hope to not disappoint too badly:surprised:.

Well, the past couple days (when I've actually have any time at all) I have done some listening to a few different orientations for the midrange and tweeter. As I have not had time to build any new baffles for the new midranges yet, I improvised with the previous ones just so I could get an idea. 









Just shows how much smaller these are than the Scan 12m. They really open up some install ideas that weren't there with the 12m. With this setup I couldn't really get the drivers too close to where they would exist in the end but I was able to tell that having them both in the apillars with the tweet above the midrange will likely give me the best results. I could not play much with angling but I think angling inward at least a little to avoid dash and windshield reflections will be a good idea. When I get some more time, I will try to get new baffles madeup and do some more indepth testing. I am currently running them in the other possible option with the tweet in apillar and midrange in dash corner by windshield. These are stock locations. I was going to throw the factory crap back in and just wait until I got the pillars completely done but after the royal PITA the factory dash speakers were to remove, I just velcroed the midranges in there. I grabbed my hole saw and gheto'd my tweeters in the factory spot from the front. I will not take a pic of this as it looks just nasty right now. I was only able to quickly set gains at the amp, run a lil' time alignment to center things up somewhat and set crossovers half-ass'd. It actually sounds pretty good with just that. With the tweets aimed down at the dash and the drivers side pointed right at the dash hump, I know the tweeters are not helping much tho. I am going to try to do a little tuning with the rta to see what these things are truly doing frequency wise. Also to double check my cross points and levels. Funny how even when we have a temp setup going for even just a couple days how we have to make it sound the best it can.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, its been a while once again and I really am making progress as I go I think. I have some new baffles cut for the midrange/tweeters and have gotten the apillars prepped for the install. I just got through with gluing the baffles to the apillars and aiming them somewhat. I was originally going for an aim on both sides that would intersect around the middle of the sunroof or so but around the center between the two front seats. I ended up with what appears to be approx. aimed at the driver from the pass. side (maybe a little high which I think is actually good) and the drivers side is aimed around the middle of the sunroof as I intended both to be. Upon thinking about this, I think this current setup will be better for myself actually (the driver) as the drivers will be less off axis especially from the drivers side. Anyways, pictures always work better than words so here we go again.

Both baffles cut and drying as I decided to glue them both together as I think this will make for a much easier job and I think it will look better too in the long run:









Cut the holes in the apillars for attaching speakers and running wires etc. I also resined the outer shell completely like Bing did on a Toureg SiS did a little while back. These pillars have the same cloth like coating as the Toureg I think. Anyways, I liked Bing's idea of a nice solid smooth base for things to attach to. I think they just might be a little stronger too and being a litle tacky from the resin still (even after 2 days...), I think the t-shirt material will stick to it a little easier too. I will be using that to get my base shape. Anyways, here are the pillars after being soaked in resin and drying out in the heat as best I could. Finally got the stink of resin out of the garage now. Just in time to stink it up again. Gotta luv fiberglass.










From the driver's side with baffle attached.









From the passenger side:










And because, I know people must like the rear seat panoramic shot as much I do here it is:


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Now, I wasn't going to post anymore pics until I had these things more 'done' but I figured, 'everybody likes pictures'. I also figured I would get some positive feedback or negative or suggestions from people that know a helluva lot more than me here. So, what do you all think. Don't hold back. I likely will not have time to go any further until later this weekend or I might wait until even Tuesday or Wednesday when I have the house to myself and don't have to worry about the wife getting upset by the smell. She actually shocked me yesterday when she said she liked the smell tho I told her that it is about x10000 worse than this when I am actually using the resin. We'll see how it goes the rest of the weekend. I am, unfortunately, working all weekend here.


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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

james, any thought to the idea of placing the midrange drivers on the door just above the midbass? possibly slightly more on axis than flush with the panels. 
the reason i say this is to possibly gain a little more SQ in terms of reducing the comb filtering effects of the midrange frequencies by mounting them away from the dash and wind screen. 
leave the tweeters up high- tweeters are a little more forgiving than midrange drivers with respect to comb filtering and reflections. just a thought before it's too late.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

Mobile Solutions | Official Website has some fiberglass additive that is grape scented and masks the fg odor..


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

And.. Lookin good!


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

avanti1960 said:


> james, any thought to the idea of placing the midrange drivers on the door just above the midbass? possibly slightly more on axis than flush with the panels.
> the reason i say this is to possibly gain a little more SQ in terms of reducing the comb filtering effects of the midrange frequencies by mounting them away from the dash and wind screen.
> leave the tweeters up high- tweeters are a little more forgiving than midrange drivers with respect to comb filtering and reflections. just a thought before it's too late.


Thanks for the suggestion but there is no way I am chopping up my doors for anything right now. I honestly see more problems with that suggestion than benefit however. 
The increased stage width would be nice.but the lower height and additional obstructions of the steering wheel, my body and dash I think would cause all.sorts of.issues.

I think I am going to hook things up tomorrow and take a.listen if I get time.I might end up changing some angles slightly.



[email protected] said:


> Mobile Solutions | Official Website has some fiberglass additive that is grape scented and masks the fg odor..


Thanks once again Joey but I don't want to wait for this to arrive to get anything further done now. I will do all of this outside the vehicle anyways too.



[email protected] said:


> And.. Lookin good!


Thanks, that means a lot from you guys. An tips are appreciated as always too.


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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

james2266 said:


> Thanks for the suggestion but there is no way I am chopping up my doors for anything right now. I honestly see more problems with that suggestion than benefit however.
> The increased stage width would be nice.but the lower height and additional obstructions of the steering wheel, my body and dash I think would cause all.sorts of.issues.
> 
> I think I am going to hook things up tomorrow and take a.listen if I get time.I might end up changing some angles slightly.
> ...


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

avanti1960 said:


> james2266 said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the suggestion but there is no way I am chopping up my doors for anything right now. I honestly see more problems with that suggestion than benefit however.
> ...


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

IME and from what I've gathered, reflections off the windshield doesn't help much with staging cues - I will even go as far as saying that reflections destroys the illusion of depth... Pillar installs are much more sensitive with speaker aiming. 
I'd reconsider _James2266_'s suggestion and try to get a good grasp of what kind of sound you can get with midrange in sails (Buwalda's style) or high in doors

Test, listen, move, test, listen, move... 

Go with what sounds best. 

Kelvin


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

So, the last couple days have been ah... interesting. You see, I was going to attempt that aim, listen, aim, listen idea. I installed the drivers in the pillars and put them back into the vehicle and then had to go in for supper. When I came back out to the vehicle, all excited to do some listening, I noticed something looked odd on the driver's side. I opened the door and the baffle had fallen completely off of the panel. The weight of the two drivers had made the hot glue break loose from the panel. Luckily, there was no damage done to either driver however. As I still wanted to hear what this will sound like at least a little. I fired it up and took a listen as best I could with holding the driver's side baffle up and in the angle it will be at. A quick and dirty ta setting and I was shocked at how nice of a center image I was getting. I was also impressed by the tonality too. Today on the way to work, I noticed in my haste I forgot to kill the deck's eq I had depressed to make the factory crap more listenable. This should not affect the imaging much at all but tonality might not be as good as I thought. Nothing the 6to8 can't cure if needed however. This was a very short listen and most definitely not near what I wanted. Anyways, I took everything out again after and lo and behold the other side's baffle fell apart too. I spent the rest of the evening, glueing the crap out of those wooden dowels from both the front and the back this time. They seem alot more solid now but not convincing me enough to attempt listening once again. I did find a way to somewhat find out where everything is aimed too. I used my powerful little led flashlight. I was very happy to find that both sides are aimed very similarly now actually. The light was shining right on each sides pull down blind right in the corner of the roof. I was hoping to avoid direct aim at any window and it looks like I might have succeeded. After this today, I noticed another of the dowels had come loose once again on the passenger side. Does hot glue not stick to fiberglass resin and/or plastic or something? It seems to but barely. I think it should be solid enough to wrap and glass now tho. I am a little worried how to go about that however as I have the support dowels really close to the bottom of the panel where it meets the dash. I don't think it wise to pull the material all the way down as I really doubt the panel will go back in then. I am also worried about the sides that meet the door frame and moreso the windshield. Has anyone ever had issues getting a panel back in after doing this? ie. binding up at the windshield and/or dash due to the work done. Anyone have some thoughts here? I want to get the base shape done in the next couple days here.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

If you have those concerns about fitment, make it smaller to give yourself the room. It would really be sad to get them glassed and realize they don't fit...


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

ca glue works well once you get them set where you want them. As to binding at the windshield, I did have that problem initially on my rx300. I built it up too much and had to do some minor sanding. The next iteration of pillars I just stretched spandex tightly, glassed from the front, then made some bondo "milkshake" to fill in the voids. One other note, be sure to drill a few holes around the edges before fiberglassing. I ended up getting mine almost complete, only to have the fiberglass seperate from the pillar when trying to cover. Had to start from scratch. On the base of the pillar, I actually CA glued a paint stirring stick just above the dash line and pulled the fabric to it. That allowed me to keep a small (1 inch) gap at the base, which is necessary since the pillar goes in from the bottom and needs to be angled before snapping in place.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Hey Lorin, thanks for the tips off of your experience. I had looked at your build log a while back when I was looking for subwoofer ideas and had kind of missed (or forgotten) that you had done up your apillars. I was just looking over your log once again and I see you glassed all the way to every edge of your panel. I can totally see how that would be an issue where it meets the dash along the bottom. I have no intention of going over that area as I know I would not be getting these things back in too well. When I was planning this out originally, I had this in mind. The problem is that I was looking for somewhere solid to attach the dowels for support under the baffle. I figured the factory tweeter's 'recessed waveguide?' once cut out would be perfect. Now that I have everything lined up and glued in place, I realize that it is too close to dash height for my liking. I have an idea of how to proceed here. I was thinking about going like you did (glass right to the edges) but no go to the bottom and possibly even having to leave a small gap here. If a gap is left, I have plenty of Long and Strong that I could use to fill that in from the back side and then just blend it in with Duraglas from the front. Does this sound like a good idea to all? I am a little worried about the edge that goes against the windshield but I can always sand it down if needed as Lorin did. I am also thinking about using my staple gun to fix the mould to the panel before glassing as well. I am also thinking about using the staples to not go all the way to any edge. I am a little afraid of the glass separating from the panel this way tho. Is this a justifiable concern? This would give me no issues with fitment at all and give me room to blend in over the staples to the edges with Duraglass or even Featherrite. I think I have a fair amount of that still too I have so much glassing stuff around here it is sickening. Oh, I was also thinking of doing reenforcing ribs with fiberglass cloth from the backside once done too. I want these things strong this time. That, and I have about 4 yards of nice 10 oz (I think it was anyways) glass cloth as I was originally going to do a fancy 'glass sub box into a back corner before deciding to go with a moveable option and also gain more airspace which was definitely required.


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

stapling should be fine. The reason I had issues on the windshield side is that I bondo'd up to that point. Upon the subsequent pillar build, I just used spandex and wrapped around. once it was fiberglassed, just milkshake from behind. Staples are good, but I did drill holes and fiberglassed front and back. I also added a carbon arrow on the leading edge to give me more rigidity (my speaker is almost up to the very edge). My last (4th) set of pillars went quickly and relatively painlessly. Amazing how that works. Each iteration has improved and I find myself quite happy with the current pillars. I havent updated my build log (not really planning to) and it has changed a fair bit since its inception. Feel free to follow up via here or PM with any questions.

P.S. I did use a piece of wood across the bottom (paint stirrer mentioned above) and was able to use that to use that to affix the speaker rings.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, beautiful hot day today. Perfect for glassing and also... huge for this area - NO WIND. Anyways, got the pillars wrapped as best I could with a piece of old t-shirt each. I don't know how you guys do this and not get any wrinkles, etc... I think I did alright. Let me know what everyone thinks. 










I have one of the other side of both by gmail or my android phone is being uncooperative currently. I will post if they ever arrive 

I am about to do the milkshake thing and have always been a little curious about something as I have only done it before. When you are mixing the resin and the Duraglas together you obviously use the resin's hardener but should you also mix in the cream hardner for the Duraglas before mising it into the resin? When I did it last year I used both hardeners and I remember it getting super hot. At the time, I just figured it did that but not I wonder if it was a chemical reaction of sorts between the hardeners causing the added heat. I am a little afraid of possibly melting some of the apillar plastic. Guidance is golden here guys Also, let me know what everyone thinks of my crappy wrapping job on these. I did keep it from the edges so I should be able to blend it nicely - hope so anyways. I am more worried about the baffle area which is the 2nd picture that doesn't seem to want to arrive in gmail (sent twice now). 

Oh, and BTW, stapling sucked on this job. On the second one I reverted to hot glue which seemed to work alot better provided I kept it off my fingers - lucky I didn't burn them. I ended up pulling a few of the staples out that actually did fire out of that mother of a staple gun - that thing is freakin' useless. I don't think any of them went in flush either.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

It finally came through after 3 attempts. Here's they are baffle side up.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, just finished trimming the excess 'shirt' from the baffle. Found a potential new problem. The glass didn't seal to the top of the baffle. I have an idea of how to fix that tho. I think I will hit it with a little Long and Strong from the backside to seal the baffle into the piller fully. I think I am going to be using a fair amount of that stuff all over the outside of the piller to get a better shape. I am not overly impressed with the shape that developed. I will also hit the inside with milkshake once I get some feedback on what hardeners to use for it. The good thing is I see nowhere the fiberglass hasn't bonded to the pillar outside of this small area and it seems pretty sturdy for this stage. I think I am going to be sanding for a while tho - I hate sanding. Good thing I have alot of different types of filler here and a fair amount of each. I tried to get the following picture as best I could to show what I mean. We all love pics right? The other one is pretty much identical.


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

easiest way to keep wrinkles to a minimum is to use a thinner, stretchier fabric. Spandex, a gym shirt, something that you can pull tight. You have a fair amount of sanding, bondo, etc., ahead of you on those. On the milkshake, I mix the bondo and resin together till I get the consistency I want, and then add both hardeners (resin and bondo). It isnt rocket science and you may not need to use as much as normal.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

You don't need both hardeners. They are both the same thing. The hardener that comes with fiberglass resin is MEKP in liquid form. The hardener that comes with body filler is MEKP in paste form. Either will catalyze either...


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

(the resin and filler are both polyester based)


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Lorin said:


> easiest way to keep wrinkles to a minimum is to use a thinner, stretchier fabric. Spandex, a gym shirt, something that you can pull tight. You have a fair amount of sanding, bondo, etc., ahead of you on those. On the milkshake, I mix the bondo and resin together till I get the consistency I want, and then add both hardeners (resin and bondo). It isnt rocket science and you may not need to use as much as normal.


I know there will be alot of filling to do on these sigh... I still think that they turned out alright tho I guess so far. I am going to put them back into the car later today before I go any further so I can check for fitment and get an idea of any areas I need to be aware of that might be an issue with too much filler. I will also check to make sure everything is still cool with the angling but I don't think anything slid or anything while I was glassing yesterday. I am going to use a fairly large amount of long and strong to get my base shape and then a combo of Duraglass and Featherright to finish things out. Sound good? I think this will make it pretty damned strong and hopefully this time I will have no issues with any resonances. I am thinking if I ever go with a cone driver again mainly but the domes actually had some pretty good vibration happening too with any volume. I was actually surprised by that a little.



[email protected] said:


> You don't need both hardeners. They are both the same thing. The hardener that comes with fiberglass resin is MEKP in liquid form. The hardener that comes with body filler is MEKP in paste form. Either will catalyze either...


Thanks for the info once again. Good to know I don't have to use both if I don't want to. Even better to know that if I do mix them that some weird chemical reaction isn't going on too.


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

Good info Joey. I didnt realize the hardeners were the same. I learned something today!
to take that one step further, is that to say that I could use them interchangeably? Say, if I ran out of hardener for bondo, I could substitute the resin hardener?


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

Lorin said:


> Good info Joey. I didnt realize the hardeners were the same. I learned something today!
> to take that one step further, is that to say that I could use them interchangeably? Say, if I ran out of hardener for bondo, I could substitute the resin hardener?


Yes, they would be. The problem would come in determining how much to use in the opposite situations. I don't think you could do equal volumes of creme to replace the liquid MEKP because I would think the creme would contain some inert fillers. So, you would kind of have to guess on what would be right. But, short answer, yes, either will catalyze either...


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, have gotton some work done on the weekend here. This is after about 6-7 hours or so work I think. This was over a couple days so might be off and hour or two either way. Anyways, I used a copious amount of Long and Strong filler (Kitty Hair) and then about 2-3 applications of Duraglas to get more or less the shape I was looking for. I took these two shots just after hitting them both with a little Duraglass milkshake too. These things are getting pretty Heavy now. I should have no issues with resonances this time I hope. The pics:


















I am contemplating hitting it with even more Duraglas but wondering if it is even needed? What do you guys think? Can I go ahead with the Feathrite now and finish these off or should I do another application of Duraglas? Also, is there a method you guys use to apply the final filler? I have been using a credit card which I saw a guy on youtube using but on a curved surface it is kinda difficult to not get ridges with the Duraglass. I also have a pretty large problem with pitting in certain areas as can be seen in the pics.


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

what are you covering the pillars with? the smoother you can get the bondo, the better it will look when complete. Just use finer sandpaper (120 or 200) to reduce pitting. those look pretty good from where you started.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Lorin said:


> what are you covering the pillars with? the smoother you can get the bondo, the better it will look when complete. Just use finer sandpaper (120 or 200) to reduce pitting. those look pretty good from where you started.


To be honest, I am still thinking of what to finish these with. I am kind of leaning toward wrapping them in black grill cloth but there is a large part of me that wants something more fitting this vehicle like suede or maybe even alcantara. Problem is I have never done anything like this before and those materials I think are a lot harder to work with? And also a lot more expensive as well. I am also thinking about getting them good enough to wrap with any of these but just spray paint them black until I decide exactly what to do. I just wish there was someone around here to do the finishing that won't charge me a fortune and will do a good job.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

I would stop using duraglass, it is much harder to sand. Use some regular filler and start sanding when it is in the green stage and it will go very quickly. The ridges would knock down easily...


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> I would stop using duraglass, it is much harder to sand. Use some regular filler and start sanding when it is in the green stage and it will go very quickly. The ridges would knock down easily...


Thanks Joey, that was kinda going to be my plan. Glad to hear you have the same thoughts. I can't wait to get these things in and hear what I have to work with. I think this is going to sound nice.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Ok, yesterday, I did my first full final stage filler sand step. I was freakin' covered with white powder once I was done. Today, I decided to grab my sharpie and mark all of the remaining low spots on each panel. They now look like they are painted in zebra paint. :laugh: I think this will better guild me as to where I need to apply more filler and sand sand sand. They are really starting to look like the finish product I envision. As I have a big day at work tomorrow and can't risk any cuts to my hands, I am not going further today. I decided to throw them back into the car and do a fitment test. The passenger side went in quite nicely except it wouldn't sit flat at the top which is bizarre. I never really did anything up there. Could the resin have warped it possibly? Anyone ever seen that happen before. It is quite minor really tho but it would be nice if it would seal up nice like the ones that came with the vehicle. It could be the top clip is too damaged too. I will likely replace them when I am ready to install them once finished. I am hoping to be there by the weekend. We'll see. Oh, then I did the driver's side and not so nice. I could not get it to clip in at all. I think it is sitting too high now. It also appears that it might have the same warped top too.  I will have to trim some of the plaster at the bottom I think to make it fit properly. My trusty Dremel should take care of that.

While I had them in there test fitting, I decided to snap a pic from the back seat. I did say that I loved those types of shots and I hope you guys all do too. This was also the first pic where the flash was used on my new Android phone. I must say 1000x better than that damned iPhone was in this regard. I really think these will look nice once I get them in if I can get them to fit properly that is. Here is the shot:










Any ideas on covering materials for these? I am all ears. I want something that will be easy for me as I am a complete noob when it comes to that. Currently, I am leaning towards grill cloth and keep going back and forth on color between black and factory light gray. I like black as the speakers will blend in better with the dash/apillar and maybe not so noticeable from outside but keeping it light gray might keep it looking more factory if that is possible. I am thinking grill cloth because it is cheap, easily available to me and really stretchy so should be fairly easy. I just don't know how good it will look. Ideas?


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## Slammer (Nov 14, 2010)

james2266 said:


> Ok, yesterday, I did my first full final stage filler sand step. I was freakin' covered with white powder once I was done. Today, I decided to grab my sharpie and mark all of the remaining low spots on each panel. They now look like they are painted in zebra paint. :laugh: I think this will better guild me as to where I need to apply more filler and sand sand sand. They are really starting to look like the finish product I envision. As I have a big day at work tomorrow and can't risk any cuts to my hands, I am not going further today. I decided to throw them back into the car and do a fitment test. The passenger side went in quite nicely except it wouldn't sit flat at the top which is bizarre. I never really did anything up there. Could the resin have warped it possibly? Anyone ever seen that happen before. It is quite minor really tho but it would be nice if it would seal up nice like the ones that came with the vehicle. It could be the top clip is too damaged too. I will likely replace them when I am ready to install them once finished. I am hoping to be there by the weekend. We'll see. Oh, then I did the driver's side and not so nice. I could not get it to clip in at all. I think it is sitting too high now. It also appears that it might have the same warped top too.  I will have to trim some of the plaster at the bottom I think to make it fit properly. My trusty Dremel should take care of that.
> 
> While I had them in there test fitting, I decided to snap a pic from the back seat. I did say that I loved those types of shots and I hope you guys all do too. This was also the first pic where the flash was used on my new Android phone. I must say 1000x better than that damned iPhone was in this regard. I really think these will look nice once I get them in if I can get them to fit properly that is. Here is the shot:
> 
> ...


I really think you will want the wrap for the pillars to match the headliner and not the dash. That is what the custom trim is in a Lexus and going for a factory look (even with pods) will likely look best. I vote gray and keep it looking as stock as possible.....


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Slammer said:


> I really think you will want the wrap for the pillars to match the headliner and not the dash. That is what the custom trim is in a Lexus and going for a factory look (even with pods) will likely look best. I vote gray and keep it looking as stock as possible.....


I am still 50-50 on that one. For symmetry, light grey would make the most sense as all of the panels above the window line around the vehicle are light grey. The problem is if I don't match it virtually perfectly in color they will stand out. Black would give an almost perfect contrast and there is the black of the dash for it to blend with and might hide the drivers from view a little more too. As of now, the midranges have black grills and the tweets were painted light grey when I bought them. If I go light grey for a color if I can be lucky enough to find a good enough color match, I could always get the grills for the midranges painted the same light grey so they match. I could also look around for another set of unaltered Scan D3004 tweets as well if I choose black. 

One thing I have decided is that I am going to get my shop to wrap these as I don't have the proper glue, never done it before and don't trust myself and don't own the materials currently. I have decided to try out suede for these. I have since sprayed them with light grey primer paint but noticed several areas showing through that might need attention still. I have to bring them in after work tomorrow for their fabricator guy to check out (he was off yesterday). I was told they might be good as is being suede might just not show any of the flaws. Everything is visible with paint and why they don't look too hot right now. I really want these back in the vehicle as I am tired of starring at the airbags as I drive and listening to the crappy factory components in the dash are getting on my nerves too.

I did figure out the problem with fitment too. Stupid me put the attaching clips at the top in backwards and they were pulling away from the windshield. I took them both out and reinstalled correctly and they went back in absolutely perfect. The angles are probably a little different than in the last pic I took from the back seat because of this. I am so happy that these are almost ready for install. The the real fun begins


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

OK. Just got back from my installer and I didn't really like what they had to say. I was told the pillers definitely needed more work and that way too much would show through. That part I am cool with and honestly not too surprised by. I will work on these more. The bad part and what I really didn't like is that they don't think these can be wrapped with no stitch lines and even worse that they would have to outsource them to a company in a city 12 hours by car from here. Auto upholstery is something severely lacking around here still. I really don't like the idea of shipping these out really and I'm sure the price will be nasty because if it as well. I will wait to hear from them in the coming days but I am also thinking that I know some of the members here are very capable of doing this and if I have to ship anyway, it might be a good idea to look at some of you guys. Bing maybe? San Fran might not be much more for shipping really. I don't know. Anyways, I will take the next few days to make these look better and I will likely paint them for now so I can hear what these are like at least and figure out what to ultimately do. I might actually like the painted look? Doubt it tho.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Well, been about a week of filler, sand, filler, sand, filler, sand, filler, sand.... And now, I think I am DONE with this. I decided to get them as best I could and just spray paint them with Texture black for a few reasons. 1st, can't find anyone here it seems that can wrap these things. This place seems pathetic when it comes to work like this or maybe I am just not looking in the right places here. 2nd. I figured it would save me a pile if I could finish these myself. 3rd. I did black as it would match my dash, blend my midrange almost completely from view and well... I had some left from before. I only used one good solid coat just in case I decide down the road to try matching the light grey of the interior above the window line everywhere else. I sanded them right down to 320 grit paper and I must say I think they look pretty good. Are they perfect? Well, no but they are good enough for me I think. I will know better when I drive with them tomorrow as it was pretty dark after I got them mounted, soldered/heat shrunk and pillars mounted in place. Here are a few pics I took during this process. First, both pillars with drivers mounted and ready for install in vehicle.









And Driver's side from pass. seat.










Pass. side from driver's side:










And the money shot from the back (sorry the pics are a little on the dark side) these were taken in my garage. I will try to get some shots during the day outside (whenever I get a day off again)










If I decide on keeping black as a color scheme permanently, I will see if I can get an unaltered Scan tweet to replace these. Would be great for everything to blend in and become as unnoticeable as possible.

And the big question, how does it sound? Well, I only had less than an hour to play with things. I have done absolutely nothing with the eq. I did get ta dialed in pretty good and I think the levels are set fairly well. I had the rta out but I really wanted to only work on a few things and actually ran out of time to even look at the rta. Hopefully, in the coming days I can get time to see exactly what I have in a visual format. I must say it sounds pretty damned good tho overall. Lots of impact, superb height and width seemed to be outside the pillars which I was very impressed by. Imaging seemed great for all but the midranges. The tweeters were actually bang on which actually shocked me as I have always had to lower volume on the driver's side to get them to image before - not this time. I really think them being as far away from the dash as they are and aimed away from all windows really helped them. I might need to get a dash mat to help the midranges along tho. I had to add a little more ta than I should on the driver's and had to lower the output by 2 db and then they imaged fairly well. I will play with that and with eq I can probably make it even better. Overall, quite impressed with this setup at this point. Really looking forward to getting a few rta readings to both see the curve I have right now and see if there are any terribly troubling frequencies. Also to double check my levels. I have a feeling I might need to bump up the midranges a little at the amp. I have a tonne of play there as the gain is almost lowest. We'll see. I think I am now down to the fun part of a car audio install - the tuning!


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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

looks very nice james, great work! the alignment of the drivers looks dead on. i bet it does sound good too.


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## Jaloosk (Jan 13, 2010)

Those look friggin sweet...congrats


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## knever3 (Mar 9, 2009)

I like your dedication, it is tough seeing all these experts on this site make it look easy. Just know they went through simalar tribulation in their infantcy.

Great persistance, i know when you relax a little your fruits of your labor will be justified.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Thanks for the compliments guys. I have had no time at all today to do anything with this. I hope to get some tuning done but it is now too dark to take any better pics of this. I am really hoping to at least get some rta readings to see what I have to work with from a graphic standpoint at least. I am curious if those readings will mirror my thoughts or not (that my midranges need more juice or I must turn everything else down to match). It will be interesting. I will see about posting some of those if I can when I get some time again. Taking care of the wife as she just got out of the hospital last Friday from a pretty major surgery. She's doing well thus far tho which is great.


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## veleno (Sep 16, 2006)

Any updates? Want to sell those pillars?


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

veleno said:


> Any updates? Want to sell those pillars?


Been real busy lately with the wife on the mend. I have only had occasional time for tuning. I have been having some issues with getting the time alignment dialed in properly. I added one inch of delay to both midranges yesterday and now my stage is up at the height of my tweeter! A solid 3 inch improvement in height. I have also been working on getting the left-right balance right on all drivers so my image isn't so all over the map. I think I am very close. It might be time to hit this thing with the rta setup and see where I am at graphically. I have been using mostly my Autosound 2000 cd's and my ears lately for tuning. I also have pretty much given up on getting any sort of 2 seat vehicle going for the time being. I am usually the only one in the vehicle anyways. I might still go 5.1 surround with a center channel when my wallet recovers (if that ever happens) but that will wait until at least next summer as it is too cold to glass now and no cash for that. I also want to try to hear a few more setups before then. Hopefully that will happen at SBN next March if I can ever get a freakin' date on that or even a location for that matter. I would like to start booking things soon.

As for the pillars for sale, not right now at least. They aren't done well enough yet for my liking either. Alot of flaws around the drivers especially. I know I need to get some better pics up here for everyone to know what I am talking about. I will work on that. Never know I might end up selling them tho if I decide I need to have a bigger midrange down the road. You know how this hobby is


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## Radknight (Sep 12, 2013)

Awesome work! Great attention to detail. Maybe everybody will be coming to you for getting the job done right seeing the alternative is 12 hrs away.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Radknight said:


> Awesome work! Great attention to detail. Maybe everybody will be coming to you for getting the job done right seeing the alternative is 12 hrs away.


The alternative is NOT 12 hours away. There is a shop in town that does 1000x better work than I could do. I just wasn't willing to pay their fee for this one. I do think it turned out fairly well. There are flaws that are bugging me more all the time but they will wait to be looked at until it warms up. Too cold for this type of work right now. I will get into it again come spring likely. I might even get the pillars finished in the States if I do decide to drive it down to Cali instead of going to SBN in Florida.

Getting it all to sound good has been a challenge and one that I have been currently working on. I think I have way too much processing currently and I think that I need to seriously look at my levels and cross points again. I think I did my usual mistake and am using too much eq to try to offset bad choices early on. I think I am going to start over from scratch today and really take my time. Try to resist the urge to eq too early. I looked up Morel's website last night after chatting with my install shop for an hour last night. In the sets that used the cdm88, it looks like the cross point on the passives was 700 Hz - 6 db which is quite a bit higher than I am using. I could be getting distortion from them is my thinking which I cut the power to them too much to compensate that I think. We'll see with further testing. Not so sure about that shallow of a slope but worth trying I think. Good thing that my midbasses do very well in lower midrange. I still need to figure out why my pass. tweeter keeps intermittently cutting out. It is very madenning and inconsistent which makes it tough to diagnose. When it does it, I usually get it to play again by cranking the volume on it up. Once it comes back on it works fine. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Suggestions as to a cause? I was thinking it was the wire connection at the amp but now I am questioning either the rca coming into it or the amp itself.


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## Lorin (May 5, 2011)

The tweeter problem does sound like a loose connection somewhere. To remove the issue, I would temporarily run a new piece of speaker wire and rca's and see if you can replicate the issue. If so, run anew. If not, try swapping left tweeter with right and see if issue is specific to the side, or to the tweeter itself. Little bit of work, but should eliminate those issues


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

I think I am going with swapping the rcas for left and right tweeter and see if the problem moves to the right side. First I am going to check the rcas on the amp. I have to remove the amp and flip it to do that - annoying... It could just be a loose connection or something too. I will be chatting with my install guy about it on Monday too as I have to head in for some minor repairs then anyways. Well, out to do all of this now I think. It is gorgeous outside too so maybe I will grab some nice pics while I'm out there for all to see on here. The ones I have hear are pretty dark and can't see much.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Some more updates on this. I started over from scratch with levels/crossovers/polarity. I ended up trialing Morel's settings (sort of). I ended up having 700 Hz -6 db BW - 3 kHz 12 db BW on the midranges. Tweeters are 3 kHz 12 db BW. Midbass has 60 Hz 12 db BW for high pass (x2 for 24 db LR? I hate that about this processor as I want 24 db BW - anyone know how?) and one 500 Hz 6 db BW low pass and I added in a 300 Hz 12 db BW to help with frequency shaping. Sub is at 70 Hz 12 db BW (x2 for 24 db LR once again frustration as want 24 db BW). I only applied fairly minimal eq on all drivers. The other large thing I ended up finding was a polarity issue with the tweeters. No clue which one but reversing polarity on the pass. tweet in the processor solved the problem. I will have to find out where that is messed at a later date. Overall my impression is MUCH NICER. I will listen to this for a couple days and reassess.

As for that pesky pass. tweeter. I reversed the rca on the left and right at both the processor and amp which basically should eliminate it being an rca issue. Well, while I was tuning guess what happened? The damned pass. tweet went dead once again for a bit and came back on when I cranked the juice. Its not an rca. Got to be wiring or the amp itself or the tweet itself. I will get my installer to check the wiring on Monday and see what he thinks of this.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

And some more pics as promised. Hopefully they come out brighter and show better where things stand right now.

Driver's side:









Passenger side:









And from the backseat:


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## Sound Suggestions (Dec 5, 2010)

Looks great, please elaborate how the amp is connected to the speakers...I have a feeling I may know why the amp is cutting out  I ran an Audison LRx5.1k a few years ago and they are fantastic sounding but they have to be hooked up a specific way...

I had sold that amp to switch over to two Arc se's and missed the Audison so much that I recently just picked up another one....ramping up my build...if I can only get the strength to build some pillars for my Picollo's...


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Sound Suggestions said:


> Looks great, please elaborate how the amp is connected to the speakers...I have a feeling I may know why the amp is cutting out  I ran an Audison LRx5.1k a few years ago and they are fantastic sounding but they have to be hooked up a specific way...
> 
> I had sold that amp to switch over to two Arc se's and missed the Audison so much that I recently just picked up another one....ramping up my build...if I can only get the strength to build some pillars for my Picollo's...


How are the speakers connected to the amp? Ah, speaker wire 16 ga Audison brand - the good stuff. Not sure what else you may be wanting here. The amp is running my sub and midranges as well. It is only that one tweeter channel that is giving me issues. I just got off the phone with my installer and he figures it might be the amp channel itself. Lord, I hope not as it would have to be pulled and sent all the way to Toronto for repair. I would love to know what you think it might be. I'll try anything at this point.


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## Sound Suggestions (Dec 5, 2010)

Just inquiring with regards to which channel is hooked up to which speaker...ie: channel A is hooked up to "speaker (s)" Channel B is hooked up to... not too worried with the sub connections....just trying to help


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Sound Suggestions said:


> Just inquiring with regards to which channel is hooked up to which speaker...ie: channel A is hooked up to "speaker (s)" Channel B is hooked up to... not too worried with the sub connections....just trying to help


Wasn't intending to be offensive in anyway. It just seemed a bit of a weird question to me. Maybe I just misunderstood what you wanted. Anyways, the a channels have the the tweeters on them while the b channels have the midranges on them.


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## Sound Suggestions (Dec 5, 2010)

james2266 said:


> Wasn't intending to be offensive in anyway. It just seemed a bit of a weird question to me. Maybe I just misunderstood what you wanted. Anyways, the a channels have the the tweeters on them while the b channels have the midranges on them.


No worries, miss read you lol...ok you have it hooked up right...some people connect the A channel with a passive crossover network (component set) and the amp doesn't like the load (confirmed this with Larry Frederick (I believe that was his name) Old Audison Guru years ago)...wish I could have helped you more!


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## Sound Suggestions (Dec 5, 2010)

Sorry about that Blue and White Spanking last night! 

mind you, if it wasn't for Bernier I think the outcome would have been slightly different


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Sound Suggestions said:


> No worries, miss read you lol...ok you have it hooked up right...some people connect the A channel with a passive crossover network (component set) and the amp doesn't like the load (confirmed this with Larry Frederick (I believe that was his name) Old Audison Guru years ago)...wish I could have helped you more!


Hmm, have never heard that problem before. Thanks for the tip. I was sure that my shop had done setups just like that but it might have been the newer version I am thinking of or maybe they did something to aleviate this issue. Well, today everything seemed to be working just fine. It is really weird. My installer seems to think it just might be the amp. When I described the issues he said he had seen at least a couple amps do similar things and it was an issue with the amp channel itself. If it is he said it will only get worse and become more frequent. Great I kind of hope it does it on Monday when it is in getting some minor work done. He said that it has to be doing it for them to diagnose it. Makes sense. 



Sound Suggestions said:


> Sorry about that Blue and White Spanking last night!
> 
> mind you, if it wasn't for Bernier I think the outcome would have been slightly different


Yeah, I am actually not much of a Flame fan anyways. Becoming more of a Leaf fan. Never thought I'd say that. They keep picking up players I like tho. My team is actually The Penguins. Has been since 1984.


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## Sound Suggestions (Dec 5, 2010)

Hope your everything gets resolved for you, I know that can be frustrating 

Yeah looks like we have a bright future with the Leafs and so do the Penguins! They'll definetly be the team to beat this year for us...with Crosby being back and in pretty good form!

Good Luck with your build, I will be keeping an eye for sure


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this at all. Anyways, I think I tracked down the problem with the tweeters to a possible bad rca. I am still diagnosing this as I haven't had a ton of time due to work and crap weather. Now, finally getting decent weather and I am having to start studying like crazy now to keep my job in a few years. Thrilled about that Anyways, I always try to find a little time for my hobby. A little sneak peak as to what I am planning now.























A little AP love happening now. Precisely the AR3/a drivers that Rishi was nice enough to ship me. I tried putting them in my apillars last night but that huge ass they have caused all sort of issues. I need to chop away a large amount of the original apillar plastic behind the driver for their asses to clear. Baby got back:laugh:

I am not exactly sure the best way to go about it but I figure I can get it done with a combo of my dremel and/or my jig saw with a long blade on it. I'm also going to try hollowing out the rabbit a little more on the baffles so that my grills will be useable. I'm also going to champher out the backside of the baffle nicely so as to hopefully get a flatter response out of these than I was getting. I have another thread on here asking about that too. Anyways, should be an eventful evening and I sure hope I get to hear these things sometime on Saturday. I sure hope they are as nice as everything I've read about them.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

FINALLY, got some time for my favorite hobby today. I decided to attack the ol' apillars once again. I decided to try a color that was more a match to the factory interior than the previous black. I also have had these black grills sitting here for a few months now and I finally altered the midrange holes for them to fit. I love my dremel . Anyways, here is the finished product. I really am liking the new look. I might have to do a little tuning on them tonight however as I thought I noticed some shifting in the upper miidrange to the passenger side a tad on a song. I have a feeling these new grills might be doing a tad more than just hiding the AP drivers. Nothing some time won't fix tho. Anyways, here's the pics.
























I assure everyone the pass. speakers are in the apillar not floating on the windshield. hahaha, that is one helluva optical allusion.


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## 400hv300 (Jun 17, 2014)

Hi 

Ive just joined this site and its my first post.
Im in awe of james2266 build which has somewhat inspired me to put a double din head unit,amp and sub into my suv, along which is a rhd lexus rx400h se l.

I didn't go down the beatsonic route which would allow me to keep most functions.

I went down the route of 

99-9158S mounting kit
TYTO-01 amplifier interface
ASWC-1 steering wheel control interface
Jvc hu
Rockford fosgate t2 sub
Hifonics brutus amp

So far ive put the jvc hu in and lost my nav,ac, rear view parking and energy reading.I can live with that for now.
Apparently there is a small capacitor that I have to add to two wires from one of the free sockets which bring back the ac and energy screen.

The one thing im stumped on is where to run the power cable from. Looking in the engine the firewall looks grommets free.

Jason2266- can you advise where to run the power cable from if I attach it to the battery.

Pictures will be uploaded when 100% finished. 

Many thanks


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

400hv300 said:


> Hi
> 
> Ive just joined this site and its my first post.
> Im in awe of james2266 build which has somewhat inspired me to put a double din head unit,amp and sub into my suv, along which is a rhd lexus rx400h se l.
> ...


Thanks for the kind words. It is nice to know my build log has ins[ired someone to get into this money pit hobby.:laugh:

As for the power wire, I ran it through a rubber grommit on the driver's side of the firewall. It is pretty low so you might not see it without really looking. It enters the cabin very close to the pedals inside if that helps. It's been a while but if I remember correctly I found it easiest to fish it through from inside the vehicle into the engine compartment and then hunt for the wire in the engine bay. The grommet it quite simple to find inside if I am remembering this correctly. Just pull up the carpet on the drivers side and take a look around the pedals. I think it was just above the brake pedal a couple inches or so. When I get some time I'll verify that.

BTW, cudos to you if you can get the Lexus computer and the jvc unit to both function without the Beatsonic kit. I still hate that I had to fork over $400 large+ for that kit just to get my hu in. I do agree that it turned out nice and the Beatsonic dash fascia sure makes it look like it came from factory that way.


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## 400hv300 (Jun 17, 2014)

james2266 said:


> Thanks for the kind words. It is nice to know my build log has ins[ired someone to get into this money pit hobby.:laugh:
> 
> As for the power wire, I ran it through a rubber grommit on the driver's side of the firewall. It is pretty low so you might not see it without really looking. It enters the cabin very close to the pedals inside if that helps. It's been a while but if I remember correctly I found it easiest to fish it through from inside the vehicle into the engine compartment and then hunt for the wire in the engine bay. The grommet it quite simple to find inside if I am remembering this correctly. Just pull up the carpet on the drivers side and take a look around the pedals. I think it was just above the brake pedal a couple inches or so. When I get some time I'll verify that.
> 
> BTW, cudos to you if you can get the Lexus computer and the jvc unit to both function without the Beatsonic kit. I still hate that I had to fork over $400 large+ for that kit just to get my hu in. I do agree that it turned out nice and the Beatsonic dash fascia sure makes it look like it came from factory that way.


Hi James

Thanks for your reply.
I found the grommit just above the brake pedal and tried to force through it with a metal hanger....didn't work unfortunately 
Did I mention that im 6'4.....its such a small space to get into so its awkward to get good purchase to push the hanger through.
I may have to go a different route here if I can't get the power cable through the grommet. Is there another power supply? 
How about from the hybred battery or from the oem amp?


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

400hv300 said:


> Hi Jason
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> I found the grommit just above the brake pedal and tried to force through it with a metal hanger....didn't work unfortunately
> ...


It's James, not Jason to start. My apologies as I was giving you the directions from my Rav4. On this Lexus, I actually had a shop run it along the frame rails and into the vehicle in the back by the spare tire tools area. I was concerned about getting a 1ga cable in and having the panels go back on right. I was running 2ga in the Rav4 and had major issues with that (especially the rear quarter panels). It worked out great to say the least and if I recall it only cost me about $200 labor or so. Well, worth it for me and no issues with panels not fitting right. They used heavy duty loom over the wire along the rails and been through one ugly Canadian winter and no issues at all so far. Sorry, for misguiding you there. As for the Hybrid batter, I wouldn't go anywhere near there. There is major voltage going on there. Best to leave that alone.


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## 400hv300 (Jun 17, 2014)

No worries James

Edit*

Thanks for the advice.


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## james2266 (Sep 24, 2009)

400hv300 said:


> No worries James
> 
> Edit*
> 
> Thanks for the advice.


:laugh: np, hope it was of use to you for your situation. Please, make sure to post up a build log. There are so few of use with this vehicle that actually know what good sound is and no it is not the Mark Levison system.


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