Jay's 2015 Mazda 6i Touring build thread

Didn't you have to leave last year for your anniversary or something? I think the second day I went to see about a demo and you were gone. lol
I'll try harder this time. lol

Jay
 
JayinMI said:
Didn't you have to leave last year for your anniversary or something? I think the second day I went to see about a demo and you were gone. lol
I'll try harder this time. lol

Jay
Click to expand...

Yeh, I had to go back and forth a few times last year heh. We will sync up this year. [emoji1303]
 
OK. Here's what I started with.

IMG_20170924_211025707_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170924_211036257_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

On that scale it looks closer to a 13dB difference between the top of the peak, and low tweeter.

I applied the filter around 2k and got this:

IMG_20170924_213335616_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20170924_215148510 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

then I applied the EQ that REW suggested (as best I could.) In my thread on SSQ (FB) someone linked a video that showed I could reenter the center frequencies and then optimize the gains/q's again to conform to the graphic EQ on my processor.

These are my left/right C3CX's (without Jazzi's house curve shown). It looks like one side is about 3dB louder, so I am going to try to get the levels closer and the EQ closer between the two before I move on to the midbasses.

IMG_20170924_223424718_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Kinda where I'm at now...

Jay
 
OK. So let's get caught up.

Go back a couple of weeks.

Still trying to tune my system, and getting nowhere. Oh, it looked good on REW, but sounded horrible.
Kept falling back to my Preset 1. (Basically, T/A and Xovers set)

Planned to leave for Finals around 9am on Friday the 13th.

Thursday, the 12th, late. Nick Apicella and I were talking about it and he suggested a remote tune.
So I downloaded Teamviewer at about midnight, and spent the next 3 hours watching Nick work his magic (and bitch about the Mosconi software/my slow internet lol) He got it much closer to the target curve than I had, but after 3 hours of listening to Pink Noise I couldn't tell if it sounded good or not. Decided to wait until the morning to see. Really appreciate it, Nick. Getting to see you in action showed me I had some things right and some things weren't. Also learned that stacking LR2 filters doesn't result in an LR4 filter. Something they should probably mention on the screen in the processor software.

Got up to leave at like 7 and had a headache. Went back to bed til 8. Got up. Headache turned into a full blown Migraine. Still got trunk carpet installed, everything packed and went back to bed. Left at 2pm. Sounded like there was a transistor radio playing on my dash. (Similar issue to what happened when I tuned it as well...more on this later) 6hr trip took 7.5hrs. Waze sent me through Indiana. I used Google Maps for the rest of the trip. I hate driving through Indiana. Got to the hotel around 9:30.

Since my stereo sounded bad, I reverted back to Preset 1 for the trip. Debated not entering the 2X event at Finals, but got talked in to it. I was going to do it just so I could park inside. Paid for membership and to enter "Meca Street class"...had to park outside because there were no spots left in the building. *sigh*
Spent about 10 minutes playing with the EQ on my radio and turned the subs up from -17.5dB to -12dB.

Kyle Ragsdale judged my car on Saturday (he judged ALL of the cars for the 2X...40+!)

IIRC, I was like 5th out of 5 in my class with a 70.25. I was hoping for better, but I expected more like a high 60s, so I was happy with that considering how much time I had in it.

Now, Nick and I had to attenuate my midbasses like 20dB to get the frequency response curve to match, but when you listened to it, there was literally NO midbass and barely any sub. I had the same problem. So I started thinking maybe there was a problem with my mic. Like maybe it was overly sensitive to the low end.
So I borrowed my friend Nick Adams' (Thanks!) mic and ran 3 pink noise "sweeps" with mine, then 3 with his (stereo, left and right), but they were very close, so no mic problem.

So it seems that REW isn't "hearing" or interpreting the data correctly or something.

Jim Becker suggested I pick up TrueRTA and use that to see if it shows the same thing. Pretty sure I had that on my old tuning Netbook, but the login for the admin account is corrupt so I can't get to it. Looks like I get to buy it again.

Strangely, I attenuated the midbass maybe 9db on the radio, and got it decent, but Kyle said that 80-200 was missing. So, that really makes me think the -20dB we were doing is a bit much. lol

Going to play with it tomorrow.

Also, Nick Adams introduced me to some new music that I hadn't heard before.

Lake Street Dive was pretty cool.

Also, if you want to have nightmares, check out Tori Amos' Strange Little Girls. Her cover of I Don't Like Mondays, and '97 Bonnie and Clyde are ... intriguing. lol

Awards got over around 1am on Monday morning. Hung out til 2, got back to the hotel around 2:15ish, asleep by 3.

Got up and found out there was a Bojangles (which I've been meaning to try since the first NCSQ meet at Jason's house) about 15 minutes from my hotel. What Google neglected to mention was that it wasn't done being built yet. Guess when I found out? lol

Here's my score sheet:

IMG_20171017_211002430 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

I wasn't sure what the comment was under "Midrange Frequencies". Looks like something about "Upper Range Big Broad Penis." It was suggested that
maybe it was a compliment, but I thought I should ask. Turned out it was a "Big Broad Peak." I guess that makes more sense. *sigh*

Anyway, those were the highlights of the trip. Got to listen to some really nice cars, tho, I missed Michael Meyer's Scion. I'll have to catch that one at some point.
Chefhow's car was very impressive. Spent about 2 hours talking to Jason Owens. Met Ben Zimmerman and Tom Meyers.

It was a good time. Trip home took just over 6 hours.

Now I need to know when the shows are going to be so I can start planning!

Jay
 
BTW, Nick (Apicella) the Versa was great. I think Jim Becker made some minor EQ changes, but the car sounded great and the install was top notch. Great Job!
 
I had gone out to New York State Finals at Apicella Autosound a few weeks ago, and Nick spent some time on my car. He made great strides in getting my stage on top of the dash, L, R,center placement, etc. But while he was doing this, randomly, my upper midrange would drop out. We updated the Firmware and GUI on my Mosconi 8to12 Aerospace right before, so we attributed it to that. I talked to Jacob Brown at Orca, and apparently there is some sort of incompatibility between the older tune files and the newer GUI or firmware, so I had to screen shot everything and re enter it all manually. I also had to reset the controller, which seemed to change sub levels and stuff, so it threw a lot of stuff off.

Then I tried to tweak it with REW and made it worse. lol. Nick Adams took pity on me (or maybe it was the 20 cans of Faygo Rock and Rye) and walked me through his tuning process Saturday morning. This improved depth and width, and tonality.

Then Mike Flanagan (sp?) judged it. Nick (Adams) had said he thought it would be a high 70's car as it sat. Apparently Mike agreed. lol

IMG_20181015_182006781_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

At the 2X last year, Kyle Ragsdale gave it a 70.25, so it's definitely better.

Then on Sunday, Nick Wingate (from Orca) took a listen and said it was better than last time he heard it, but there was a timing issue between the subs and midbass and told me how to fix it. We estimated some things, but playing with it (and using the process he told me) improved the sub bass placement. It's up front above the dash most of the time and it doesn't drag down or shift center as much (tho center still wanders a little). Sometimes, low bass notes aggravate a couple of panels and the resonances drag the image back.

I've already decided to do some MLV/CCF so hopefully I get that done before the season gets rolling.

I was pretty happy with it, and even got 3rd in Modified Street (prior to the Wingate-inspired changes) at the 2X '19 Season Kickoff.

IMG_20181015_182117190 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

I plan to start working on a new tune (likely from scratch) with what I've learned over the weekend. Don't worry, I have the current one saved. lol
 
And nearly a year has gone by...I had some issues that I attributed to my 8to12. When the car was below about 25 degrees, the midbasses would distort and the stage would shift drastically. Once it got to operating temperature, it would click back into place. Sure seemed like it would have to be the processor, right? So, I replaced it with Helix DSP Pro Mk2 (and a Director Create).
I like the interface MUCH better. I went to SVR, but didn't really listen to many cars...but of the few I did, a couple made me think I should have entered, because I might have done ok. Then I got motivated to try and get the 45 points needed to qualify for Finals. So, I spent a few hours tuning the car, and headed off to New York for Nick's show. Got 3rd in my class (Mod Street) with a 3-judge avg of 75. That got me 18 points and my 4x event requirement...(Nick's trophies were my favorite so far) and I had 6 points from the kickoff event. I fixed several issues that all the judges seemed to agree on and went to a show in Ohio, where I scored an 82. Now, there was no way I should have gotten an 82, but it got me 10 more points. The following weekend, I went to another show in Ohio and met Mick Shuck. I got an 83 (same judge) and Mick and I agree he probably runs about 5-6 points high. But he's consistently 5 points high, so it's still kinda valid. That got me to 44 points....
Then last weekend, I went to the Horizon Audio show in Ohio and took 2nd to Mick, after Geoff Schneider judged us. I had a 76.75. He said I was 2nd by about a 1/2 point. So, I should be qualified for Finals now. Geoff mentioned he heard some hissing or buzzing from the right front tweeter...and I've recently come to suspect I may have an amp issue. I don't want to replace any equipment until after Finals, so I'm hoping it holds together until after that.

My boss is blowing out Arc SE amps cheap, and I'm also considering some of the Arc X2 amps, but want to hear Nick Adams' new setup before making an final decisions.

Anyway, there's the recap.

My goal with this car was to not cut anything visible, and be able to score in the 76-79 range consistently, with maybe a trip or two into the 80's. Looks like I'm pretty close.
 
ARC SE, you say... Hmmmm... will definitely say I really love the XDi V2 that were in the Grand Cherokee and have set aside for the Ram. Just all around awesome amplification.
 
When I was posting up another build, I found some more pics and realized I had some upgrades done I forgot to mention.

So, besides the Helix DSP Pro Mk II and the Director, I also switched my c3cx's out for Audiofrog GB10/GB25's. I put the GB10's in sails per Andy's recommendation.
For the sails, I decided to try something new, and built them primarily from Duramix. Didn't come out perfect, and I had planned to redo them, but it's not a major priority since they perform well and look ok.

I used a small plate of ABS on the bottom, the factory sail panel and the GB10 mounting hardware as a base.

IMG_20190405_201352648 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190405_201349746 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190405_204058613 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190410_144315740 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190429_132044077_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

And I had a little mishap with one of my GB25's. I was literally about 10 minutes away from putting them in, and was finishing up a frustrating job and tossed a screwdriver on my toolbox, and it took a bounce and punctured one of my brand new GB25's before I could even get it into the car. Dan over on DIYMA lent me one of his, until Andy got me squared away.

Jay
 
I also made an acrylic mounting panel for my Director.

IMG_20190428_121746318_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190428_122226258_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190428_125855072 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190428_155739548_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

IMG_20190428_204003199 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

It's shifted a little to the left, so it's easier to see from the driver's seat, and I will eventually move the lighter socket onto the panel and paint it.

Here's my GB25:

IMG_20190408_124412172 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Jay
 
So, yesterday when I got home my GF handed me a manila envelope that came in the mail from Tennessee. Apparently I got an award for being the only competitor in Mod Street from Michigan. lol. I didn't know, or I could have grabbed it when I was at Finals. Ooops.

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Jay
 
So, for the last week or so, I've had 6 12's in my car. Only two were hooked up and the other 4 were sliding around hitting things.
I managed to score 4 JL 12W3V2's, with nearly missing surrounds for free. Kit to replace all 4 surrounds was $44. I may have found the subs
for The Distraction. lol

Also, (once I can find a box to fit them into) I'm sending my tweeter pods to Richard Hall for his Mazda 6. I came up with an idea for new ones.

Probably be a while before I get to build them, tho, so for now the tweeters are off axis held on to the sails with industrial strength velcro-like fasteners.

No tuning has taken place since the day I got home from Finals.

Update complete. lol

Jay
 
Some of you may be familiar with a my 1989 S-10 project, that I called "The Distraction." There's a slow build thread in the "other modifications" section.
Well, I recently picked up a Distraction for the Distraction. Sigh.

After putting 100k miles on my Mazda in like 2.5 years, I decided I should look at a cheap beater to drive for work. I happened to hop back on to Neons.org and
amazingly found a very solid Forest Green '99 Expresso Coupe near my parent's house with an asking price of $650 obo.

Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/photos/152771097@N08/, on Flickr

It was originally an automatic, but has been manual swapped, has an Iceman cold air intake (with the battery tray), a Mopar Performance PCM, an embroidered Neon hood bra (also, I'm told a fairly rare thing nowadays.) It rides on adjustable Koni Struts with Mopar High rate and Extra High rate springs. It sits on some 15" Rotas, and came with an extra set of wheels and tires. The PO replaced the battery just before I came to test drive it.

I picked it up for $550. I could probably part out some of the parts and get another $300 or so back on that price.
We'll see.

I ordered a bunch of new stuff for it, and will be doing a timing belt/tensioner/water pump before I drive it on anything longer that about a 10 mile trip.

When I was considering license plates, I thought about "NOTLDAY" (Not Leonard Day) but decided to go with something else. lol

I may also steel Jacob Brown's plate next go round, which reads "370H55V" But you have to read it upside down. lol

This could potentially become a MECA Stock-class car for me.

Jay
 
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