Hello everyone, just finished up an install for a 2016 Mazda CX5 that was fresh off the lot. The goals for this car was first and foremost to have a high level of sound quality while still maintaining a good amount of output, retain the factory radio, and to retain trunk space. With that in mind and looking at the car and the set budget, we decided on..
. Helix DSP
. (2) Zapco ST-4X SQ. One for tweeters and rear fill, and one bridged to the mids
. Zapco ST-1350XM II for subs
. Scanspeak R2004 tweeters
. Satori MW19P-4 7.5" mid-woofer
. Sony XS-GS1621 Coaxials for rear fill
. (2) JL 12TW3-D4
Just a side note.. this pictures are out of chronological order, but are organized in a way to show the steps of each area of the car. That said, i let my girlfriend take my camera with her to Europe so the last couple days i didnt have a good camera and im low on photos since i was discouraged from cell phone pics. My buddy came over to shoot a few but i havent received them yet, and the customer will be getting some more for me at a later time.
First thing i did with this car was just get right to deadening. Liberal amounts were used as you can see. This car had a somewhat thick, removable plastic access panel which made deadening the outer door skin a breeze (aside from that horrible window regulator that you see in the below photo that mazda uses. if you ever plan on removing these access panels, be very careful when removing the window regulator thats "clicked and turned" into the access panel. If that falls apart on you, i assure you that you will have a bad time. Dont ask how i know)
Said access panel. front and rear got plenty of CLD coverage. All 4 got the same treatment. The door panel also got plenty of coverage to combat resonance from the larger than normal mids.
Not the prettiest since i dont have a capable router setup on hand for this, so jig saw it was. But two layers of 3/4" HDPE decoupled from the door with CCF and sealed to each other with CLD and butyl rope. Factory mounts were retained.
Heres the passenger side front door once it was completed. 2 layers of 1/2" Dynaliner was used to seal the woofer to the door panel. Some people like to use the open cell foam based pre-made ones. I cant help but think theyre not very useful considering theyre open cell foam and the point of this step is to completely seal the driver to the panel. On top of that, im not a fan of the idea of putting open cell foam in a door where it can get wet and hold moisture. All speakers in this car got XT60 quick connectors for quick and easy service while maintaining reliability. The tweeters also got a 100v, 50uF cap in line to protect in case of any equipment failure or user mishaps.