6G Celicas Forums

Setting any personal preferences aside as to not fuel a "rear-fill debate"...



No need for rears, especially if you're doing a 3-way up front.



Although, that stock mid location would make me consider a 2-way...



Especially considering the work involved to make the door a proper midbass enclosure...

TA = time alignment. You have HUGE PLD's (path length differences), meaning one speaker is much closer to your ear than the other.

Oh, and it sounds like you are intending on using the factory locations...Looks like you are going to need some serious TA!

OH YUM



Some other options might include



Seas

Dynaudio

Scanspeak

Rainbow



While I honestly haven't heard the Hertz firsthand, they are supposed to be very good. I can put you in touch with someone well-respected in your area who sells them and is currently using them. PM me if interested.

Price range?

Would like to hear more...but in another thread as to not jack pitt...





moving to your other thread...

Good call, soven.

Yeah.

I may have been misunderstood.



How you place a box and face your subs can be subjective - moving your sub box around and facing it in different ways will change your sound.



tim86;



The conversation was based on trunk challenges. So, we will assume you are working with a trunk and not a hatch.



Based on the way you wrote your statement, I'd infer that your subs and your port face the same direction.



Therefore, we can say that that facing your subwoofer and port towards the back of the car with the box pushed as close to the rear of the trunk as possible will cause the incident and reflected waves to be closely in phase with each other, minimizing cancellation.

You heard wrong.

This thread really doesn't need to continue after AudioFreak's last post, but since it is...



Both Rick from RAAMAudio and Ant from Second Skin are very customer service focused. Rick is fully aware of where his product stands in competition with Second Skin. Rick's business model is by design, he could offer any product he wants to.



Second Skin is more expensive. RAAMMat is an excellent product, but their focus is to offer something a little more value oriented. Hmmm...value oriented...That has a bit of a negative connotatoin that I don't want to convey to RAAMAudio. RAAMMat is designed to offer a high quality product, while staying very cost competitive. Either product is quite a bit ahead of it's other competitors.



And as mentioned, you could hit areas with two layers of RAAMMat for the same price of one layer of Second Skin, and two layers is better than one.

I'd have to disagree with most of what KB-2 said, but most importantly I'd say



The enclosure is at least 85% of your bass.



I've heard mediocre subs on cheap (but decent) amps sound great because they were in well designed enclosures. If your enclosure isn't done well, it doesn't matter how good your amp is.



First, I'd say you need to decide if you want a sealed or ported box, and figure out the airspace based on the subs you've chosen. Then at least you'll have an idea of how much room the enclosure is going to take up.



I personally see two options for you that rise to the top of the list based on what you've expressed you want:



Put the sub against the back of the car as previously discussed. I've heard it suggested that if you want to take this approach with a ported enclosure to face the ports forward. Design enclosure as your creativity and skills allow.



If you are taking the rear seats out, then we're talking a whole new ballgame. You may want to examine using that area for the subs (and this doesn't have to be mutually exclusive of your storage areas, either!) This could offer some opportunities to both match your interior as well as add the flair you want - this could jazz up your interior rather than simply having "cool subs in your trunk". Actually facing the subs into the cabin will also keep more of the sound inside the car (less rattles and boom outside the car, more sound pressure inside the car) which may or may not be what you want.



Just throwing a couple of thoughts out there. Search the 'net for pictures. I'm sure you could find more than enough visual stimulation to give you some ideas if needed.

Subs in a trunk can be difficult indeed.



What are your goals? How much trunk space are you willing to sacrifice? Have you determined how much air space you want to give the subs? Is your priority for it to "look like teh nizzle", or are you focusing on sound quality?



A 12 won't necessarily go deeper than a 10, but it will more more air. Two tens will more more air than one twelve. Two twelves will move more air still.



Based on the research that I've seen, you may want to put the sub against the rear, firing into the rear. This is where the reflections are closest in phase to the sound itself (again, based on reliable testing sources. I haven't measured this personally). This introduces a set of problems, though. Your trunk is going to rattle like crazy. It will be very easy for the bass to get boomy (although this may not be a problem for you. It would be for me.)



If your goals facilitate this, you may want to design a simple box (at least for testing purposes) whose dimensions allow you to flip it around to different spots in your trunk.



[Ditching my Dynamat ramblings. There is already information on the topic posted elsewhere that is quite good.]

It was already mentioned that a crossover basically splits your frequencies for your speakers; i.e., sends your lows to your sub, your mids to your midranges, and highs to your tweeters. We could have quite a discussion on crossovers themselves, but not now. We'll stick to the basics.



You can get crossovers pretty much in any component in your system. While you can get some amps with crossovers, my personal preference is to have them adjustable from the driver's seat. Granted this isn't always possible, but given the choice between one in an amp and one in a head unit, I'll typically choose the one in the head unit. Most head units will do this digitally, which presents some technical advantages in and of itself.



If you are looking at a newer head unit as you said, most newer head units (even cheap ones) will have a built-in crossover. The drawback is that you woni't have the flexibility in frequencies, phasing, or slopes that other devices (or more expensive head units) will give you.



If you want that flexibility, don't worry about it in the head unit, but get a seperate crossover. I didn't mention that earlier to keep things simple, but it is a good time to mention the option. You can pick up decent three-way crossovers (two highpass for front/rear, and a lowpass for sub) for under $50 in eBay all day long. Most of these crossovers will offer much more flexibility than one in a cheap head unit or one in an amp. Disadvantage is that it's one more thing in your signal path, and one more thing you have to install.

DIN stands for Deutsches Institut für Normung, the German standard organization that defined the discussed standard for car radio sizes.

Back to the original question, though...



$300 to $400...so let's say $350.



Use that Kenwood amp and one or two of those subs. Subs done.



Don't worry too much about a high end head unit. On such a limited budget, you're better off putting the money into a decent amp and good speakers. Look for a unit that has a built in crossover. A unit with a built in crossover will have an output for your fronts and a seperate output for your sub, and, obviously, will take care of the crossover. I'm going to guess $50 - $75 here. My personal preference here would go to Alpine. I scanned some Alpines that closed on eBay recently and found a bunch that sold for just over $20, and I saw a 7940 (nice unit!) that sold for $42 including shipping (Although, admittedly, I forget if that unit had a crossover in it. I think it did). Let's go with an estimate of $60. Leaves us with $290.



Get a small, good amp. Just stick to a decent name brand like your Kenwood. Something like the older Coustic amps or the PPI Sedona series pop up now and then - they are examples of really nice amps that you could snag at a (probably) excellent price. I would think you could nail a good amp on eBay for $100. Leaves us with $190.



A random search for speakers quickly turns up a pair of CDT Classics, new, for $100.



Which leaves you with a bit less than $90 (counting shipping for those CDT's) for wiring and other installation materials.

Hey, I like this guy.

Alpine 'being the best' may be up for debate, but there is definitely an 'Alpine sound' that many people like.



If you require a new unit, then the advice given is good - go to Crutchfield or Alpine's website where you can view Alpine's lineup by price. A quick scan of the products should help you identify what you want. Up to about the $300 - $400 mark, I wouldn't worry much about the head unit. If it is Alpine you desire, then just get your Alpine in your price range.



If you are willing to go used, things get a little more complex to find, but you (in theory) can get a great used Alpine for that price. If you decide to go this route, there are many good units to find in the hunt: 7998, 9855, or even a classic 7800 or 7900 series unit (yum!).



If you'd care to deviate from Alpine, as I said - you won't find huge differences in new units for that price. If you would consider deviating from Alpine and going used, then you have many, many excellent units you can look for...Oh, look - there goes one now!

Many newer cars have head units that are very integrated into the car's interior and electronics, and a LOC is a good solution in many (most) cases. Cars such as the Mazda6 and RX-8, for example, integrate the HVAC boards with the radio. While they can be seperated, it's not an easy task - making a LOC an appealing alternative.

-ignore me-

If you are in an accident, an unsecured box will move. Not something you want, especially in a hatch.



If you like the way it sounds facing the back of the car but are worried about the sub being damaged, put a grille on it.



As far as the positioning, move it around and see what you like!

Little confused here...



Are you saying the amp now appears to be totally dead?

Curious, what (brand of) amp is this we are discussing? Does the owner's manual give a specific cause for the symptoms you are experiencing?



I am gathering from your original post in this thread that it does not go into protect until the remote turn on signal is sent, correct?



Are there other amps in your system? If so, with the RCA's and speaker wires removed from the amp in question, remove the power wires or fuses of the other amps at the d-block, and remove their remote turn-on leads as well.



Do you still get the pretty red LED?

I saw similar posts floating around, not sure if they were yours, so excuse me if some of this was already covered...



Make sure your ground is a solid contact onto bare metal. Get some sandpaper out if you have to.



Check all fuses.



Unhook the speaker wires. Does the amp still go into protect mode?



Unhook the RCA's. Does the amp still go into protect mode?



You didn't let the smoke out, did you?

Bandpass boxes are among the more difficult to build...