Another Kickass Audio Build

Hey man, thx! Yeah, I did some rough 3M filling, but this stuff goes on thick.. around 40 to 60 mils.. Great stuff! Drys hard, not soft.

 

Speaker wire?

 

16 gauge KnuKoncept wire, twisted with plastic sleeve.. shown clearly in the third pic above..

 

That's a thick ass wire! I've never seen something like that.

 

Tried to fish my front door speaker wire through the boot but gave up and just spliced into the existing speaker wire. Didn't think about doing what you did, wish you had posted this about 1 month ago . Had no problem getting speaker wire through the back door boot.

 

I now have all speakers running.. currently experimenting with front stage speaker positions..

I ran into another issue the other day. The amp was going into protect mode at medium to high HU volume levels!!

Turns out, the amp can only take 23 volts input (high level), and playing a song on the iphone exceeded at only 45 out of 60 (verified w/ oscilloscope).. So, I need to establish a max volume and set gains from there..

At least I don't have to worry about feeding a clipped signal to the amp!

 

is the signal still "clean" at 45, or does the signal already look distorted? (flatter at the peaks/valleys)

 

Its clean..

I took measurements at both 0db and 2.5 dB; I noticed the stock HU distorted at 56 volume at 0dB 1000 Hz ; I don't remember what it was for 40 Hz.. Depends on what the input signal is, but I got the HU to distort pretty bad; whopping off the peaks pretty good..

I'm also happy to report that the noise floor is under control and there's no annoying alternator whine, etc.. Use quality cables folks!

 

So, running the stock HU into the OEM+ solution we should anticipate a clear signal all the way up to 45? If so, that is awesome as I've never tried to go that high, nor felt a need.

 

Well, we have to be a little careful here.. I did test tones of a pure sine wave which is not the same as dynamic peaks from music; but yes, I got the HU to distort pretty bad. Its an indication that the HU is not capable of producing a clean signal all the way up to 60 volume. This is typical of most decks by the way.. If I get more time, I'll post up some pics. Its fishing season, and couple that with family, its almost impossible to give a lot of time at this audio project right now..

However, so far, I'm very happy. The system is not tuned yet, heck the gains aren't set yet either, but I can already tell the final product is going o be great. I might even compete if I can find some local competitions..

The sundown woofer is excellent! Very very nice SQ sub, and I do not miss having two either.. One is actually perfect. The door speakers are great as well, no vibration, and producing nice mid bass that I can feel!

The front stage are the CDT ES-02c's. Very nice, and the stage is already excellent only just setting time delays. I believe everything is going to come together nicely..

The only outstanding items are making dash pods, tune, and tucking in wires..

stay tuned

 

Is there room in the dash under the stock grill for the 3" Hertz mid? I hope to run the HSK163 up front in my 16 however I'm 2 weeks from delivery so I can't check myself. Killing me!

 

I had the 3" hertz mid in the last vehicle.. My guess is maybe with most likely some modification of the dash at some areas .. The depth will not be the issue..it's the perimeter..

 

Modification is not a problem. I'll make a fiberglass pod if need be. I'll be running the HSK163 High Energy up front with a Sundown 12 behind the back seat and the HCX165 High Energy in the back doors. LCQ1, Epicenter, and a PDX-V9 powering it all. If you're going to keep the stock stereo plan on a processor or you won't be happy. Don't waste your time on a standard line out converter.

 

Great speaker components..

I don't know if that advise is for me, but I have a powerful processor in my amp..

 

Zapco makes very nice equipment however they don't have processors built in, nothing does. The issue with the stock stereo is the bass reduction. You turn up the volume, it automatically turns down the bass. The LCQ1 over rides that feature. The LCQ1 also gives you the ability to fine tune your sound since it's also an EQ

 

I got it covered dude!

My amp has the full DSP in it.. Also, it has voltage sensitivity to program boost at a specific voltage to address stock HU bass reduction..

Look it up.. DC 656

 

Pretty sweet, learn something new every day.

 

Oh, the sound stage is incredible!

 

Looking forward to seeing these pods completed.