05 Scion xB SQ with a little extra oomph!

[Driftdad541]

Yesterday I finally started on the Scion build. I've been piecing equipment together for the past couple years and I'm now at a place where I feel good enough about said gear to start putting it all together. Every system I've built in my own cars has been a progressing of one upmanship. I like nice gear so I've been very particular about which brands and/or products I've chosen. I don't go buy what's popular but more by what I've heard sound the best. For now I have an Alpine CDW-265bt for the H/U which I'm not totally satisfied with. I come from Eclipse decks which unfortunately are no longer in production for the public. I'll probably upgrade later to an iPad mini or a Pioneer. As for my front stage I'll be running Hybrid Audio Legatia SE. I have the PRO L1 tweeters and L4SE's going in the dash/a-pillars and the L8SE's going into either the kicks... or the doors if I can't make the kick panels sound good. My Scion is a 5 speed. If it fits I'll run it. If not, the doors will have to do. I found a wrecked xB in Portland and acquired all the extra interior parts I'll need so I can chop those up instead of the originals. This is ALMOST a no compromise build. The only compromise is to not cutout the metal to the exterior. I was looking at an amazing build log on here a few days ago with the JL 13w7 cutout in the spare tire well and the kids cutout into the wiper compartment. That shit is awesome! I'm just not comfortable cutting that much lol. Maybe some time down the road. I do plan to hit all the shows with this car and compete so who knows where we'll end up. Back to the story though...
I'll be glassing the a-pillars or the factory opening on the dash for the L4's and the tweets. Peter from PSSOUND on YouTube did a build in some kick panels with large drivers and made a false floor built in that run up to the kicks and just below the pedals. That's an idea. Again, we'll see how much room is available. My previous systems have lacked in the midbass department. Even with high quality drivers (last ones were Morel Elate 6 3 way separates), they were in the doors of an accord. I just wasn't satisfied with the sound. I'll just keep on trying until I get it right. For the subwoofer duties I have (3) 12W6v3's. I like tons of bass but my fiance only can handle a little lol. At low volume she'll be fine. We're going to run them sealed for now so we can fit the amps back there too. I still have to purchase the amps. I have a Mosconi One 120.4 to test with but I plan to upgrade to either Mosconi Zero or Zapco AP series. The power will be stupid but the quality will be awesome. That's what I'm going for. I have a DC Power alternator that should do alright for starters. If I need more I'll add a second one. An AP150.6 will run the tweeters with 2 channels and the other 4 will be bridged to run the Legatia 8's. An AP400.2 will run the L4's and another AP400.2 for the subs. I spoke with John from Zapco about running those 3 subs wired to make a 3 ohm load. He said as long as the box is sealed it should be alright as long as I have a fan on the 400.2. I really wanted to run all the same series of amps for showmanships sake but idk if that's going to work. It might force me to run all Mosconi instead. Zero 4 for the tweets and mids, Zero 3 for the midbass and a zero 1 for the subs. I'm not in a huge hurry so it'll all work itself out as I go. The subs will be a tight fit. I'm going to fire them downward so they're not visible as well as helping to keep the bass seemingly non directional. I'll be mounting the amps to the face of the box in a custom rack right in front of the rear lift gate. Obviously the car will be treated with copious amounts of sound deadening and foam as well as 1/0 cable and high quality RCA's. I've been away from the game for so long I don't even know who makes the best cables anymore. Used to be Ixos. I hear of a brand from Russia called Tchernov but they aren't available outside of Europe. I may have to special order. That's the plan so far. I'll post up a few pics and more as I go. I'm also still figuring out the site so bare with me lol. Any suggestions on speaker placement or anything at all is welcome. I'll try my best to post as often as I can. I do have a family and I work at least 2 jobs so time is scarce. I make it happen anyway though.

[Driftdad541]

Quick pic of the subs

[Driftdad541]

Man this is going to be a tight fit lol.

[rton20s]

I have a first gen xB myself and run some of the equipment you are considering using. If you want to check out my build log, it is on that other site. It is 32 pages long, so if you want to skip ahead to the most current iteration just start on page 31.

https://www.diymobileaudio.com/threa...driver.127416/

Regarding the L8SEs... make them work in the kicks. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON THE DOORS. The amount of time and effort you will put into the doors to try and stop every single rattle is incredible. It just isn't worth it. Check out JT's (John Tanaka) xB build. He has L8SEs that he put in his kicks. I think that is one thing that has lasted through several changes. Mostly because he doesn't want to build a new set of kicks.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/jtaudioa...=page_internal

As far as the Zapcos go, I am on the competition team and run a Z-150.6APs and two Z-400.2 APs. Two channels of the 6-channel aren't currently in use (potentially for rear fill) and the other two power Illusion C5s and TL25BN tweeters. Each of the other 2-channels are bridged to power a pair of Raven 10XL subwoofer. I would trust whatever recommendation John gives you, but I think a Z-400.2 AP on the L4SE is overkill. 150W on my C5s easily gets loud enough to satisfy even the most particular volume loving listeners. If I were in your position, I would probably run a Z-150.4 AP on your mids and tweeters, a Z-400.2 AP on the midbass and a Z-400.2 AP on your subwoofers.

Just my 2 cents, take it for what it is worth. Good luck with your build, and I'll definitely be following along.

[BigAl205]

That's not what she said

Man this is going to be a tight fit lol.

I used to have a Honda Element. I sometimes miss the old toaster.

[Driftdad541]

@BigAl205 We're going there already, huh!? I can tell we're going to get along great!�� That said, I haven't heard any complaints yet. "It's not small it's thin! If you twisted it on the end and painted it silver it'd look like a kick stand!"��

[Driftdad541]

@Rton20s - It's you!!! I was looking all over the internet for ideas on mounting my driver's in the dash and sails and I saw your build. I couldn't find it again when I went back looking later though. I'm stoked you saw my post! How's the imagining and depth with your mounting choices? Any trouble with the tweeters in the sail panels? That was basically how I was planning on mounting the L4's. Couldn't decide on the sails or the a-pillars for the tweets though. Scott Buwalda sings the praises of the R1 pro's off axis response. Was kinda thinking about the a-pillars but in the sails would be easier. I checked out JT's FB page. Those kicks like sweet! I'm shooting for the same sort of idea but I'm going to go one further and use a little more space if I can make it work. We'll see. I might end up doing them twice. Thanks for the advice. It's much appreciated! Those Zapco AP amps are gorgeous! I might have to reconsider how I'm currently building the sub box and make some small changes to accommodate the size of those babies lol. I'll be posting regularly with updates as I go. On your other site page you mentioned wanting to switch processors. Are you going with Zapco? That was kind of the route I was looking at going. I don't trust many brands. I've always known Zapco to be the at the top of the pack. One more question... Who makes the best RCA's now?

[geolemon]

Looks like a dream, so far. The upright windshield is close - but at least the angle is great for sound quality. And those dash locations look like a dream. I"m looking to use those same spots in my Civic - but that means disassembling my entire dashboard, removing and modifying a panel that extends the entire width of my dash, and relocating some defroster vents. Yours - pop some grilles, and bam. There they are. Nice.

I totally understand - and even agree with - what @rton20s said up there, but with a twist-
It might be WORTH ripping those doors apart and nailing down every rattle in there.
I've also had midbass struggles for years in almost every car that I've had - it was even one of the reasons that I've been a "front stage only fan" for decades... I don't want speakers cancelling.
BUT - if you are finding that your midbass is cancelling (if you had good drivers, in well-functioning locations, and STILL don't have midbass - there's yer sign, as Bill Engvall would say), it can be a solution to use not just your front doors for midbass, but your rears as well, because it's cancellations from car acoustics causing the midbass cancellations when you just use front speakers - so you can add rear speakers (doors, in both your and my case) to overcome that midbass null.

If you are OK with working with fiberglass, and maybe not afraid of a little inner door structure reworking, it might be worth trying to make a fiberglass enclosure to fit in the door cavity, behind the inner structure. Now - I say that, but I also know that upright door is pretty thin I believe, so you might not have much depth between the door structure and the glass, and getting a really stretched-out fiberglass pod physically into the door cavity can be a challenge as well - but if you can pull it off, that can at least help with the vibrations - although no matter what you've got a speaker playing those frequencies, loudly, bolted right TO the door - but I assume you have damping material on your list at any rate.

Good luck, it'll be fun to see where that goes - I always thought those cars looked fun.

[Haakono]

I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this thread, toaster builds are right up my alley - having a Nissan Cube myself I also used to have a Toyota Yaris Verso (funcargo), which is pretty much the euro cousin of the xB. Built on the same platform and many parts are interchangable. Hopefully the xB is a bit better put together and soundproofed, but I guess maybe not

Regarding kicks and underfloor enclosures, is there any space between the carpet and actual floorboard on the xB? The Cube has these 3-4" thick styrofoam spacers under the carpet to raise the floor level. If the xB had something similar, it could be a great way to make underfloor enclosures for the midbass drivers.

[Driftdad541]

@geolemon- Definitely a great car to build a system in! My fiance had one the same color when we met. After driving it around a bit, I started to REALLY enjoy it. The seats suck for long drives but the convenience of being able to carry almost anything I could think of, easy to get in and out of plus ideal path lengths is what sold me on it. Yes it's thin and kinda funny but I think I can overcome that with sound deadening material and some creativity. A guy from a local shop has owned a handful of them and swears by midbass drivers in the doors provided that they're fully deadened and braced which would be extensive. Not a problem for me really but I was running for the kicks, again for the sake of path length. Scott Buwalda says that's probably the most important part of good sound BEFORE processing. A guy named Peter from PSSOUND on YouTube did a build with 8's in the kicks and used the floor area attached to the panels in order to add lots of airspace to the pods. Basically raising the floor up to level with the door plates. That's an idea I'm considering. That said, I'm able to use the full amount of the lower half of my doors and still be able to roll down the window all but 4 inches which wouldn't be too bad either. Idk. I'd hate to chop up the doors only to realize it just isn't going to sound the way I want. I'm going to try the kick panels first. I'll snap some pics of the door and kick panel area and post them up.

@Haakono That euro Versa had rear discs!? I think I'll be doing a rear axle swap so my xB has those! There was small strips of styrofoam under the heel area by the pedals. I removed it. Gave me an extra inch of depth. I'm planning to go all in on my midbass setup. That is priority 1. Same with deadening. Right now I have free time so I'm getting as much done as I can in between rain and work. My front stage is always first. But I do love bass. I'm trying to make them blend well... until I want it to go boom. That's why the (3) JL 12's. Eventually I'll trade those in for Hybrid Audio Clarus 15's. Probably in like a year. There's a ton of work ahead. It'll be fun though. Thank you everyone for going on this adventure with me! I love car audio. Makes me feel like a big kid lol