I leave town on Sunday for 2.5 weeks, if my plans fall through tomorrow afternoon then I'll install them, and do some tuning on Saturday. I also have some CCF and MLV to go in the doors while I'm at it.
I leave town on Sunday for 2.5 weeks, if my plans fall through tomorrow afternoon then I'll install them, and do some tuning on Saturday. I also have some CCF and MLV to go in the doors while I'm at it.
I wasn't sure if I was going to do any work on the car before leaving for my next trip, but I bailed out of work before 11 today :-)
Here is the IQD8 next to the ND-8, a MASSIVE difference in mounting depth:
Unfortunately, the ND-8's don't drop in. The IDQ fits the factory hole perfectly, but the ND-8's are .3 inches bigger. This is as far is it will go:
I couldn't find my dremel, just my bit kit. I'd already started drinking, so I'll have to buy a dremel in the morning to make them fit.
In the meantime I started prepping the MLV for the doors. Here is a sheet cut to fit:
One door piece with Ensolite on it, one without:
Tomorrow I should have the doors back together, and the amp back in. I should have plenty of time to zero out the tune in both the amp and APL1. When I get back from my next work trip I'll just have to build a top up/down switch, build a sub box, and tune from scratch. Then this project will be wrapped up and I can focus on the Bronco again.
Today is stupid hot, but I worked on the car anyway. It's didn't take much effort with the dremel to make the ND-8's fit. I spent more time fooling around with the MLV/Ensolite fitting it properly. I was fortunate that I was able to hold it up with two zip ties, no silly velcro, and no drilling. Here is the complete door:
It felt super good when I was able to get ALL the clips to snap into place on the door card. It fit's like factory again!
Next up was installing the amp. I could have just set it in place, plugged it in, and called it good. Instead I decided to throw some WeatherPak connectors on the JL harnesses for easy reconfiguring later, if needed. I made sure each harness had different connectors so there could be no accidents.
The WeatherPak connectors fit nicely behind the rear interior panel. Now the connectors for the subs are just sitting there, waiting for me to connect the subs to them. If you look up top you'll see that I don't have much room to build the sub box!
In a bold move, I buttoned up the interior before turning the system on, and it all worked great. I then zero'd out the APL1, and setup the amp from scratch, I copied in the delays from the old amp. I turned it on with some DMB on random to do a VERY quick and dirty tune. I cut the tweeters some, put a low shelf on the mids, and it sounds pretty good. When I get home in a few weeks I install the subs and do a real tune.
Ok, that's a lie. It sounds great, the ND-8's blow the IDQ8's out of the water! The ND-8's are just simply a better driver. And the way they match up with the GB15's, it's very similar to how the Audax 7's match up with Eric's horns, it's like they were just made for each other. Magic! I sat in the driveway and went through my whole "Demo Songs" playlist trying to keep from cranking it up. The two songs that REALLY jumped out at me were I Will Rise Up by Lyle Lovett, and Something, Somewhere, Sometime by Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore. I was so excited at how will it played them that I damn near leap through the roof.
I can't wait to install the subs and do a real tune. This is gonna be fun!
I got little more work done today, I started by pulling apart the rear of the interior so I could measure things:
It looks like there is more room than there actually is. The factory roll bar takes up quite a bit of space. There are also some plastic panels that are crucial to properly draining any water that might slip past the top. I just put some CLD on the panels and reinstalled them.
Next I got out the tools, and a bottle of delicious Blue Bee cider:
I'm not a fantastic woodworker, but I was able to get this far before the storm rolled in:
I just have to put the ends on tomorrow, cut speaker holes, add speaker wire, installed it, and put the interior back together. Then I can start tuning!
I made the sides a little tall on purpose, then slowly trimmed them down until it was just the right height for the roll bar to clamp the box into place:
Then I covered the box in truck bed liner. Also, I built the box with 1/2" Birch instead of 3/4" due to space. Because of that I added CLD to the box incase it vibrates. Speakers installed:
Installed in the car:
After wiring it up I gave a a quick listen, it works! I put the interior back together and listened to a few songs, this thing has real potential! I'll do some real tuning over the next week.
That's awesome! I love the use of available space.
Shucks, no CLD/CCF/MLV on the 'rear firewall' and pan behind the seats?
Still following and lovin' this build
CURRENT RIDE - 2019 HONDA RIDGELINE RTL-E (no audio mods yet)
PREVIOUS - 2014 Ford Escape ~ SYNC2 ~ 8" Touchscreen ~ DIY reprogrammed: EQ & TA defeat, HD radio enable, NAV enable, Sirius delete
DSP & Amps by JBL MS series ~ Midrange & Tweeters by HAT Legatia ~ Midbass & Subs by SI TM65/BMmkV
Lossless format music library on Samsung T3 250GB USB SSD
After seeing the way the glass sits with this box, I could have easily squeezed out more room. Maybe enough to run 10's instead of 8's.
Thanks! I'll eventually have to replace the carpet, and I'll treat the floor then. I'm not too worried about the vertical sheetmetal right behind the seats. I did put some CLD on the rear firewall, it'll be easy to finish treating it now that the box is in and I know how much I have to treat. The biggest bang for the buck comes from pulling the trunk panels to treat the rear fenders, and adding CCF to the empty spaces.
In the meantime, I'm gonna see how well I can tune it!
Awesome work!!!
I fired up TDA to set the delays. Thing went super well with the right side:
I need to figure out what that hump from 90 to 150 is about.
I'm fairly sure the two strong lines above 3k are due to reflections.
The left side is wonky:
That HUGE deviation at 400 is weird, and I'm not sure what to think of it. It's nowhere near a crossover point.
The combined left and right isn't terrible though:
I couldn't get a real listen to on the way home because I had a huge Pelican case in the passenger seat.
The only EQ I've done so far is a cut on both sides at 3k. I haven't messed with the allpass filters yet either. Crossovers are:
Subs 70Hz LR24
Mids 70Hz LR24 - 1600Hz LR24
Tweeters 1600Hz LR24