Jay's 2015 Mazda 6i Touring build thread

Hehe...if you're going to rep at shows, I might have to upgrade you. Send me a PM with size and shipping info.
 
Just pulled one of my subs out of the box, and...















































It's beautiful. Even has my name on it. lol

Out to tear out the back of my car...

Jay
 
Yeah, with the way things had been going, I was too. lol
But they look great. Build quality looks nice, so I'm happy (Finally.)

Jay
 
So, I went out and started working on my IB wall. Tore the whole back of the car apart, rerouted some wiring and made a cardboard template.

IMG_20170823_122528176_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170823_122445467_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170823_131029180_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Then I transferred that to a piece of 1/4 MDF and made some adjustments. Then made 3 more pieces out of 3/4 MDF. I was going to use Baltic Birch 13 Ply plywood, but the only place I could find the B/BB stuff closed up shop a couple months ago.

IMG_20170823_143511507 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170823_190602329_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170823_184342178 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

This weekend, I plan to figure out the mounting (1/4-20 T-nuts and Rivnuts, and some metal bracketry)

Probably going to recess the subs into the baffle. Once I have all the mounting figured out, I think I'm going to run the baffle through the router and
take like 1/8-1/4 off all the way around so I have room for caulk or foam or something and the wood won't rub on the metal and potentially squeak.

Jay
 
Well, I made some more progress. I finished all the brackets for my IB wall, made sure everything fit, trimmed a couple of tight areas, made sure everything fit, and then blew it back apart to glue the layers together.

IMG_20170903_190238275 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170903_190305635 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

I installed 1/4-20 T-nuts in the 2nd layer for the brackets to bolt to. They're countersunk and epoxied in.

IMG_20170903_162342895_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

All the brackets are lined with a foam tape I found at Home Depot today.

IMG_20170903_204126148 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170903_204553048 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Painted the area around the subs, but plan to carpet the whole panel after I build the trim piece to seal it to the seat sides/bottom.

IMG_20170903_211904574 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Bolted back in...all 1/4-20 hardware that attaches to either rivnuts or T-nuts, with fender washers and lock washers.

IMG_20170903_213103083 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

There is about 1/16-3/16 gap in most places around the wall, which I did on purpose to reduce tactile response. I filled the small gaps with black silicone.

IMG_20170903_215302957 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Subs go in tomorrow, so I can try them out!

Jay
 
They're in and playing. I deadened the rear deck with 70% Noico 80mil and about 100% Sonic Barrier MX4. Then I added Sonic Barrier 1" foam on top so the rear deck won't rattle.

IMG_20170904_093105637 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_104223762_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_105754842 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_112925911_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_121224333 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_120137853_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_123641201_TOP by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170904_132916888_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Jay
 
Yeah, There's a sticker on the magnet that has the make and model of the sub and my name printed underneath it. Kind of a cool touch.
I think I have a pic of it, I'll post when I get home from work today.

Jay
 
Looking good Jay. Good that you're getting practice on those IB walls cause eventually you may tackle mine lol

Needs a few of those brackets lol


To floppy if I let the subs get to much movement
 
Beckerson1 said:
Looking good Jay. Good that you're getting practice on those IB walls cause eventually you may tackle mine lol

Needs a few of those brackets lol


To floppy if I let the subs get to much movement
Click to expand...

Between 3 layers of 3/4" MDF and 8 brackets, plus silicone, it hasn't made any funny noises that I've noticed.
The brackets are from Home Depot, that I bent up in a vice and drilled my mounting holes in. Nothing too fancy.
Cheap and effective.

Jay
 
Ya my sides are bolted through to the front of the baffle and then a L bracket about 8" is welded (ya I know another thing I shouldn't have done) to the car itself but that's it which the bolt terminates there. Support in the middle will go a long way though as I don't have any. Also three layers of 3/4 MDF but still flexes a good 1/2" in the middle if I let it
 
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Had planned on doing some tuning today, but had something else to do this morning. Talked to Jacob at Orca about why I couldn't save my T/A settings on my 8to12 Aero, and he got me figured out.

When we were at SVR Nick (Skizer) turned on the Listening Position setting to Left Front on my 4100NEX. With it on, the center was pretty good, stage height and width were decent as well, but I lost some midbass, and didn't have subs installed yet.

I turned it off and turned the EQ setting I was using on the radio to Flat.

Just getting the T/A in the ballpark resulted in more midbass, but the stage width and depth suffered some. Center is still close. But the Flat setting sounded 100x better than when I had it on before I left for SVR.

Makes it sound like I'm moving in the right direction.

Hope to do some tuning this weekend, which will give me time to reaquaint myself with REW.

Also, the AE's do OK when I have them turned up, so I may turn the gains up a little so I can keep my sub level down more to give me a little more adjustability.

Jay
 
I was thinking about it earlier, and if I had a sheet metal brake, I would make something like angle iron (but with an angle to match the baffle) that I could weld a frame out of and then put bolts in...then shave the heads, but have the threaded part go through the baffle. Then the baffle could be a relatively easy thing to change, if equipment changed. A lot of work, so maybe someday if I build a dedicated sound off car or something I'll try it. For now, I'm pretty happy with my brackets.
I thought it was cool that Christerfer Pate even commented on them on FB. I guess if they get his approval, I must be doing something right. lol
 
Not much has happened since the last post. I keep meaning to tune, but either things come up or REW is smarter than I am. lol
I was having some issues with REW, where I'd record my pink noise track, and average them. It looked like I expected...but then
it would come up on the EQ screen almost flat, which confused the crap out of me. SkiZer to the rescue!

He gave me a couple of pointers, which I hope to put to use on Wednesday.

Also, my time off request for Finals was approved, and my hotel is booked. Now I just need to set aside a few hundred dollars for the trip
before then, lol

Jay
 
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