Discounted ICE

[mulletboy2]

Hiya guys,

I can arrange some pretty sweet deals on non-mainstream stuff, so if you're after amps/speakers/etc... give me a shout, let me know how much you want to spend, what your requirements are, and I'll find some attractive prices for you.

Cheers

Mark

[Ian C70T5]

What is classed as non-mainstream as im interested

[Bracer]

I'm still thinking of a sub and amp that can be fitted into a custom fibre glass box to fit in the spare wheel well. So if you could have a think of a suitable package arround a 10"er that would be fantastic thanks :hug:

[Murphy]

I'm still thinking of a sub and amp that can be fitted into a custom fibre glass box to fit in the spare wheel well. So if you could have a think of a suitable package arround a 10"er that would be fantastic thanks :hug:

10" just wouldn't happen in a saloon. You need x2 15" speakers at least for your car, and then you need to build them into your rear seat. I used to be quite in to my PHAT BEATS when i was a wee boy - lol.

They weigh to much though so i will never bother !

[Bracer]

10" just wouldn't happen in a saloon. You need x2 15" speakers at least for your car, and then you need to build them into your rear seat. I used to be quite in to my PHAT BEATS when i was a wee boy - lol.

They weigh to much though so i will never bother !

LOL yeah in a perfect world it would go a treat with my already acclaimed Chav factor :rice: but in the real world I need my boot and dont really want to make my Boy deaf before he's 3. Just wouldn't mind a little extra bottom end balance as the Alpine H/U and Comp's have the rest sorted :wink:

[Ian C70T5]

yeah i've got a JL 10" sub in mine running from a 550rms genesis amp and its barely heard at all..

[mulletboy2]

Ian - I can't really say on the thread, incase I step on any toes ;) I also have to check into prices on a one by one basis, so if you let me know what sort of thing you're after by PM, I can go away and come back with some ideas :)

Bracer - personally, I'd go for atleast a 12"er in a fibreglassed box in the spare wheel well.. maybe 2, or a 15. Are you up to the task of making the box yourself, as custom fabricated ones cost muchos deniro? What speakers are you running up front, and are they running off the headunit? If you're not after loads of bass, and they're good components, you might get away with just optimising the install of them at the front (better mounting, sound deadening, amp and full phase check). The other option is fitting seperate midbasses up front... something like 7's or 8's running off a seperate amp, much like a regular sub would. My mate has some 7" rainbows in wedge shaped boxes, just infront of his seats in his Saxo. If you're not after thumping bass, I'd probably go for something like this, once the comps are fully optimised.

HTH, and drop me a PM with ideas of budgets etc.. if you're after something.

Cheers

Mark

[Bracer]

Ian - I can't really say on the thread, incase I step on any toes ;) I also have to check into prices on a one by one basis, so if you let me know what sort of thing you're after by PM, I can go away and come back with some ideas :)

Bracer - personally, I'd go for atleast a 12"er in a fibreglassed box in the spare wheel well.. maybe 2, or a 15. Are you up to the task of making the box yourself, as custom fabricated ones cost muchos deniro? What speakers are you running up front, and are they running off the headunit? If you're not after loads of bass, and they're good components, you might get away with just optimising the install of them at the front (better mounting, sound deadening, amp and full phase check). The other option is fitting seperate midbasses up front... something like 7's or 8's running off a seperate amp, much like a regular sub would. My mate has some 7" rainbows in wedge shaped boxes, just infront of his seats in his Saxo. If you're not after thumping bass, I'd probably go for something like this, once the comps are fully optimised.

HTH, and drop me a PM with ideas of budgets etc.. if you're after something.

Cheers

Mark

Head Unit is a Alpine CDA-7893R

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/639000-639999/639353_31.jpg

Spec as follows:

CD/MP3 Player with RDS Radio
4 x 60W High Power Output
MP3 File Playback
Ai-Net Compatible
Detachable Front Panel
CD Changer Control
CD Text
3 x 4V Preouts for connection of External Amplifiers (Front
Rear & Sub)
BBE
Bass Engine Plus
Rotary Control
Versatile Link
Remote Control Ready
Telephone Mute
Switchable Illumination (Green/Amber)

Front Components are ALPINE SXE-1350S

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/639000-639999/639353_32.jpg

5-1/4"(13cm) Component 2-Way Speaker, Peak Power 250W, RMS Power 40W, Frequency Response: 60Hz-20kHz, Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m, Ferrite Magnet, Long Fibre Natural Pulp Cone, Neodymium Magnet, Mylar-Titanium Balanced Dome Tweeter, High Polymer Foam Edge

Rear Components are ALPINE SXE-1750S

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/639000-639999/639353_33.jpg

6.5"(16.5cm) Component 2-Way Speaker, Peak Power 280W, RMS Power 45W, Frequency Response: 60Hz-20kHz, Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m, Ferrite Magnet, Long Fibre Natural Pulp Cone, Neodymium Magnet, Mylar-Titanium Balanced Dome Tweeter, High Polymer Foam Edge

Both running off the HU.

The only reason why I was gonna settle for a 10" sub is due to the small enclosure space of the wheel well. If I can get a 12" thats a bonus.

And yes I can make this myself.

Steve

[mulletboy2]

Cool, ok then Bracer. The first things I'd do, and I realise that you may have already done some of these, but they're all important, and will help get more out of what you already have:

1) I haven't seen behind the door cards yet, but stock speaker mountings are rarely optimal. The speakers should be mounted on proper baffles (9 or 12mm MDF will be fine).

2) The outside skin of the door should be sound deadened

3) The inside skin of the door (where I presume the speakers are mounted?) should be deadened, including having all holes covered with sound deadening. You only need to do this bit if the speakers are mounted to the inner skin in some way - if they're mounted to the door cards, don't worry about it

4) If the speakers are mounted on the door card somehow, strengthening and deadening the door card with sound deadening us a very good plan. Even if they're not mounted here, this can help.

5) Get a 4 channel amp (you can usually pick something up that's good enough for around £50 off ebay/talkaudio) to run them. Headunits don't output the claimed power, they tend to be around the 15-20WRMS mark per channel, so even a 4*40W amp would be a marked improvement. Don't worry about getting one with a higher power rating than the speakers - you don't have to use all of that power all of the time, and "headroom" (more power available from the amp than you're feeding to the speakers) equates to more control of the speakers, and greater output.

6) Upgrade the stock speaker wiring. CAD (www.caraudiodirect.co.uk) do some blue 16AWG speaker cable for £0.50/m which I usually use.

7) If you're not particularly concerned about what the rear passengers hear, but would rather make sure the sound is amazing up front, run the rears through a low pass filter, set around 150-200Hz (again, the rear doors should be well deadened too). This will give you a greater amount of bass with the same amount of mid/treble, which although it won't give you more bass alone, the reduction in mid/treble will give you more bass by comparison. With the extra power on tap for the speakers, you'll be able to crank them higher without distortion, hence still enable you to get more bass. Playing only low frequency sound through the rears will make the sound appear to be coming completely (or almost completely, depending on rattles etc...) from the front, which is also a good thing.

8) Phase check - running just the front speakers, disconnect the tweeters and have a listen to something. Keep a note of how it sounds - does there seem to be a lack of bass? Then try swapping the phase (plug the +ve speaker wire to the -ve terminal on the speaker and vice versa) of the passenger side mid. What's happened to the sound? More bassy or less bassy? Keep a note of how each combination of phases sounds, and make sure you'll be able to find your way back to a given combination.

Now try swapping the phase of the driver mid. Again, note differences down.

Lastly, swap the passenger side mid again, so you'll now have covered all 4 electrical phasing options.

Figure out which you prefered, and connect them up that way.

Now you can do the same process with just the tweeters playing.

Once you've got the mids and tweeters done independantly of eachother, and connected it all up optimally, do the same for pairs of speakers. Listen to it as is, then swap the phase on the pair of mids, then on the pair of tweeters, then on the pair of mids again.

If you go through this process fully, it can make one hell of a difference to the sound! You'll also have to do the same for the rears in your case, although you won't be running the tweeters if you've low-passed the signal, so it's only the mids you need to do. Don't do this until you have the front end sorted though.

Cheap sound deadening can be had from www.bodyshopwarehouse.co.uk. If you're really going to do a proper job, you'll need around £100's worth of the stuff. However, anything is better than nothing. A lot of people say to use flashing tape/aquaseal, as it's cheap, but you need so much of the stuff that in the end, it just works out to more time to install, and greater thickness IMHO.

If you're not happy with the sound from this lot of changes, then you can look at bigger midbasses upfront, or a sub... in which case, your rears will pretty much become redundant. You could take the low-pass filter off them again, and just fade them out completely, or almost completely.. then fade them back in if you like, when you have rear passengers.

As for fitting a 12 in the spare wheel/wheel well, that won't be a problem. I used the wheel well in my Rover coupe, and got a 1.9 cubic foot box, which would be ample for 2 12's. Even if you only fibreglass inside the wheel itself, careful choice of 12, and good box construction/wadding will mean that you won't have too many problems.

There are certain 12's which will happily play in 0.6 cubic feet, or even smaller if you use sufficient wadding.

Or, if you cover over the spare wheel with MDF, and ensure that there's no way for air to get from the rear of this baffle to the front of it (e.g silicone sealant), then you could run an IB (infinite baffle) 12, in what would effectively be a very large enclosure.

Here's some pics of my last door speaker install:

http://www.devgeek.co.uk/myphotos/ice/WR8Doors/DSCF0080.jpg
http://www.devgeek.co.uk/myphotos/ice/WR8Doors/DSCF0082.jpg
http://www.devgeek.co.uk/myphotos/ice/WR8Doors/DSCF0085.jpg
http://www.devgeek.co.uk/myphotos/ice/WR8Doors/DSCF0087.jpg
http://www.devgeek.co.uk/myphotos/ice/WR8Doors/DSCF0088.jpg

HTH

Mark

[Bracer]

:wow:

Thanks for the mamouth post I will look into it ASAP, only prob I see it that I am also trying to keep the weight down thus the need for a fibre glass box ;)

SAM is a slim Jim at the moment and I'd reall like to keep it that way.

Suppose I could always go CF Bonnet, Boot and Roof :rally_dri

[mulletboy2]

Oops, I wasn't expecting such a quick reply. Check the links I added in my edit :)

No worries for the mammoth post - I tend to get carried away ;) Still, hopefully that's the last time I'll have to post that on this forum, and people can just link to it in future :D

Unfortunately it's a myth that fibreglass is lighter than MDF. If you build a fibreglass box sufficiently thick, then it will be roughly the same weight as an 18mm MDF box of the same size. If you don't build it sufficiently thick, thhen it'll be lighter, but won't have the necessary rigidity.

You could artificially reinforce it by doing it inside the spare wheel, right up to the edges, but good luck getting the box out of the wheel if you do so ;)

The lightest box you'll make, will be with birch ply (get your wallet ready! it's around £60/sheet). My last box I made entirely of fibreglass, except the top bit which was using birch ply. It's roughly 3/4 the weight of MDF for the same amount, so it's a hell of a price hike for a small weight saving.

tbh, I wouldn't worry too much about the weight of a small box for a single 12... ok, you might lose 0.05s on the quarter mile.. but if you're planning a day of racing, take the box (and amp(s)) out :) For day to day driving, you're unlikely to notice it. My last install was 125KG before wiring/sound deadening, in the coupe turbo, and I barely noticed it. Infact, my car was still keeping up with some more modded ones.

Infact, the weight of my last install seemed to help with handling. A couple of the Rover guys commented that mine was the best handling coupe they'd been in, probably due to the extra weight in the boot, thus better weight distribution.

Oh, the IB mounting method for a sub would be the lightest option by far if you want to go for a sub.. but you have to use a sub designed for IB use.

Cheers

Mark

[Bracer]

You are an Ice God ! me thinks you need a whole area to your self :biggrin:

[mulletboy2]

LOL. We all have to have something we're good at. :D

I think most VT5 people are more interested in tuning rather than ICE. I'm more than happy to help out with advice though, and when I have a bit more free time, I might even be conned into helping people with their installs (gotta get mine built first though :D )

[Wobbly Dave]

The man is a legend in his own lunch hour