Sexual intercorsa...

[preston]

Yes we are watching and enjoying.
Have to say that having a giant stiff wooden structure as a dashboard is not very safe
But I love it and it should sound incredible !

[dumdum]

Yes we are watching and enjoying.
Have to say that having a giant stiff wooden structure as a dashboard is not very safe
But I love it and it should sound incredible !

Not safe how? Not pillocking, genuinely curious as to why you think it should be ‘not safe’ when I’m wearing a seatbelt... genuinely curious, it will also be bolted down to the large steel cross member also so it wouldn’t move, even in an accident imo

[preston]

PM'ed you.

[dumdum]

So I’ve had a quick play with a bit of level matching, a few bands of eq below 200hz and it shows promise, I will get some response graphs up later, it has limited low end from the 0.8l enclosures with sb mfc17 I’ve thrown back in that I tested with, so 100-150 is a little limited, it shows an immense peak around 150-300, but the mic picks up everything, reflections from all angles, but listening to it you simply don’t hear it, it sounds very clean and concise considering there is zero eq above 200, can’t wait to get some proper enclosures made and in playing with a bit more midbass and a smoother sound than the mfcs (although they are excellent!)

[dumdum]

So as part of the build I’m going to be incorporating an android tablet into the build, I have acquired a Samsung t510 as it’s the cheapest 10” tablet that I’d trust on the Emma value list at €219 euros, which will be used alongside a topping d10 as a bridge to coax digital or maybe with a usb hec I had kicking about from my dsp pro 2 (bought a new metal end plate for £10 and away it goes) I will try both as methods of input and test to see if there is a difference, the usb hec is simpler and easier on the power side of things as it’s powered internally in the helix ultra

so the tablet... basically I am going to build it in, this involves leaving it on, and using a double tap and then a swipe to open it, I have then enabled developer options so I can tell it not to lock when it’s charging, so the first time I jump in the car it gets unlocked and stays unlocked

this however causes a small issue, the tablet being in standby when off (black screen but still ready for a double tap) means the usb c port is live all the time...

so basically I opened up the lead and found two 5v cables that run between port and hub, interrupted them after cutting the sheilding back, and routed them via a relay

just the hub took power from the tablet and overnight in approx 12hrs it took the battery from 93% to 68%, this is not so good if you only do short journeys, however...

with the relay in situ and a usb stick plugged in for extra load (the usb stick has a light on so it shows if it’s reading data etc) the tablet went from 46% to 29% overnight (about 2-3hrs on top of the previous test) so I’m calling it a win

[dumdum]

So a little bit more on the car, stripped out the roof lining and proceeded to pu sealant 6 1mm stainless strips to stiffen the roof up, bonded in with pu sealant

it was messy for the first one until I got the hang of not touching the sealant as it sticks to everything and formed lovely stalactites which then dripped all over me!

I also wrapped the entire roof lining wiring loom in fabric tape so all rattles are prevented! And pinned the dab/fm aerial cable up and loomed that in properly also

[dumdum]

A few more pics, I will see how rigid it is when the sealant goes off, think of it as a composite cld on steroids, I will add another few strips in various places and then layer it over with a 100% covering of cld also

[blockrocker]

Wow dumdum! Your dedication to this build is incredible. I can't thank you enough for all the pics and time taken to share this with us.

[preston]

For anyone considering something similar, those strips would be quite a bit more effective with a flange. If you had the equipment (sheet metal brake) you would want to put a flange on each side, 1/2" if you had the room, and then use a metal shrinker to put an arc in them to match the roof line. I realize that's about $500 more in equipment (using Harbor Freight level tools, $2000 otherwise) than most people have in their shop though. And of course my next suggestion would be to weld the ends of the strips to the unibody stringers and now you're into ridiculous overkill ha ha. In my case I have the equipment but I think I would be perfectly happy with slapping some CLD on the roof and then stuffing as much melamine foam or equivalent between the headliner and the roof. But I definitely admire your dedication, and am interested if you notice a strong subjective improvement in roof flex. A lot of people don't make the effort to drop the headliner, but IME its definitely worth it, as you can see the roof is more unsupported than a door and while there is not much road noise coming through the roof, there is a ton of potential vibration even when you are sitting still. And noise absorbers on top of that really deaden the car. If you think about it the headliner is probably the single biggest area that you can put a noise absorber. A little pile of rock wool in the pillars and nooks of the vehicle seems almost pointless to me in comparison.

[Audiogal]

Wow dumdum! Your dedication to this build is incredible. I can't thank you enough for all the pics and time taken to share this with us.

From the Canadian contingent I second this big time !!! No matter what I do, it will always be considered sane and dabbling based on your ultra high standard of taking it over the top