Winno's Australian Peugeot 306GTi Titanium system

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:41 am

Dash pod time.

I tried flush mounting my drivers into the dash but the plastic is very thick and very strong in these cars. The windscreen also prevented me from getting any tools in there that could do the job properly.
So, I decided to make some simple pods.

The first pic shows the basic design, with the second showing the pod cut from MDF and taking shape after some carving with a snap blade knife.
Next up you can see the finished product with Morel MT23 tweeter and CDM88 midrange drivers.

In line with using the windscreen above the drivers to reflect the sound to give a higher sound stage, I got to thinking about reducing the output of the on axis (relatively speaking) sound. The little blue cards are very temporary wave guides and they made a BIG difference.

The result - almost negligible rainbow effect in the staging now. The stage is solidly at eye level right across the screen and is quite striking sometimes.

That's why in the last pic, you see a much more refined product in place.

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:45 am

Stay posted guys.
Over the past few days I have been redoing my boot AND carving up some much more elaborate dash pods out of laminated MDF.

More pics to come...

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 2:02 am

A couple of days ago, I decided to find and treat a rattle that was coming from both of the subs.

It sounded like an air leak (I was hoping this was what it was and not a cooked coil, or noisey motor that the standard Perfect subs suffered from at one stage) and sure enough, it was - PHEW!

The standard foam supplied by Infinity obviously wasn't 'cutting it' so I ended up with some special driver sealant putty. It looks like blu-tak (used for putting posters on walls, etc) but it's not as tacky.

The first pic shows the stuff in place. Inside the box you'll see a Deflex panel. Not sure if they actually work in this application but I have a box load of them so thought, why not!

As well as ridding myself of the rattle, I gained a much, much more dynamic drive and feel to the sub-bass. Funny that!

The last pic is what the subs look like - I don't actually have a pic of them out of the box. My two are mounted in sealed 0.7cu ft boxes and they're low passed from about 50Hz @ 18dB/oct and 180 degrees out of phase from the Elate 6 mid-basses in the door.

Heavy ass sub with cast alloy basket, spider captive leads, 1600w power handling, alloy cone with ceramic coating,a choice of magnet inserts to tailor to the application - hits very hard and really shakes my car but also stops on a pin head - an incredible SQ sub!!!. I have yet to find anything I prefer.

I wouldn't mind trying the older PG Ti 10's, or even the new Morel carbon fibre subs!

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 2:22 am

Ok, moving to the boot/trunk again.
The first pic is how the boot was when I last worked on it.

The second is how it is going as it was changed to show off the amps better and allow them to remain cooler. Summer here regularly gets into the mid to late 30 degrees C so any help is welcome. At the same time, the car does get used for normal day to day stuff like food shopping, etc. You'll notice that the LED's are in white. I changed them to white so that they match all the instrument and head unit lighting up front.

Next pics will show the almost finished product, carpeted and grilled, but awaiting the showroom Phoenix Gold emblem to be mounted.

p.s. wait 'till you see my new dash pods...

Post by **ttocs** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 6:27 am

not a fan of the pods on the dash. They stick out too much imo although I am sure they would help the soundstage.

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 10:47 am

For installing into hard to reach spaces like the dashboard close to windsheild I use a skewdriver pro It is a great tool definately worth the price when I still was installing it got very well used.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=360-179
You can also get it in a ratchet version which helps a little but is double the price.

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:52 pm

ttocs wrote:not a fan of the pods on the dash. They stick out too much imo although I am sure they would help the soundstage.

Well, you'll like the new pods even less then.

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:55 pm

I got my old pods working and sounding pretty good but I just felt that I could get the staging better yet.

I gave some thought to what would give the best stage height and most solid imaging.

In the end, I wanted something that would;
1. provide as high an incident/reflection point as possible
2. minimise on axis sound to a greater degree
3. provide at best, a virtual point source, or at least a vertical reflected array source, as apposed to the horizontal one I made previously.
4. be different cosmetically to just bout everything else I have seen here in Australia.
5. be achievable with the very limited tools I have at my disposal whilst sticking to a very strict budget.

So, I drew up plans and came up with the little templates you see in the first photo.
Look at the reflection in the windscreen. It's a little higher than where the 0 degree axis point of the drivers is but it gives you the idea.
That seemed all good and so the templates were traced to sheets of MDF.

The midrange cut out has been built up with thinner MDF gaskets and the tweeter pod is made up of 3 layers of 16mm MDF. This would later be carved into a 3D, multi axis angled tweeter pod that would allow flush mounting of the MT23 tweeters that I have now and then perhaps some Piccolo tweeters later on.

Cost to date = easily less than AU$50 the pair in materials.

Here's the progress pics to date:

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:18 am

Looks like you stole dinner from a pissed off beaver when it was half done with it.

I am curious what you do to get the beaver mad/hungry enough to chew like that, and then once he does start gnawin away how do you control it. Is there some secret to holding the tail/scruff safely or what?

waynehead · Post by **waynehead** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:00 am

Thats got to be some of the most insane woodworking ive seen. are you carving those out of logs because they look like one solid piece. Im sure you have alot of time invested in those. Im diggin the install.

jbob0124 · Post by **jbob0124** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:27 am

Looks like a few layers of MDF glued together, then carved.

Post by **stipud** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:48 am

Were you a boy scout back in the day? You seem to be pretty good at whittling

Definitely a unique approach!

winno · Post by **winno** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 4:32 am

Oops, I really must be more careful with my knife...
Looks like I am good at whittling my leg too with a 40mm long slice to my thigh and a pair of jeans wrecked. Time for a blade change I think.

The pods are coming up really good but.

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:11 am

carefull sport! Maybe you should consider some FG?

winno · Post by **winno** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:15 pm

Nah...I'm livin'on the edge with what I'm doing

winno · Post by **winno** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:17 pm

The next goodies to go into the car...hopefully before the event this weekend.

My new pods.

These may look pretty rough but they're good enough to cover now. Carpeting pods of this shape will be a challenge but it will cover the finish, hiding all the little flaws. Remember, these have been carved by hand from solid laminated layers of MDF.

And also, my showroom Phoenix Gold sign. Thank you Drew at Northfield Marooka!

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 3:35 am

no more blood on the pods this time?

Are you going to hit them with some sand paper or is your carpet that thick? I have to be honest and say that carpet up there looks a little wierd to me since nothing else is carpeted. Have you considered maybe texture and pain to try and match the factory vinyl/plastic?

winno · Post by **winno** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:06 am

Haha, I ended up shaving off all the blood.
Actually, I have a carpet dash mat in the same carpet.
They're popular here in Oz because our summers are so stinking hot and they protect the dash and cut down on glare.

I'm also thinking of carpeting my pillars as well. Seen it done before and I kinda like it.

And yes, the carpet is pretty thick and does wonders in hiding the rougher finish on the pods. Sanding/smoothing is of absolutely no benefit.

Back to the dash mat, I also bought one for acoustic reasons after experimenting with a towel first.
It's helped to make the staging more transparent, solid, layered and believeable.

Tonight I mounted my PG sign, smack bang in the middle of all the gear in the boot/trunk.

Next up, after the pods are finished are a couple of 12v gimbal mounted LED spots mounted into the tail gate to light up the toys.

Some decent pics are only a few days away once it's all done and up and running.

Damo95 · Post by **Damo95** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 2:23 pm

nice sign... got 1 similar myself (without the black section)...

i've heard reports from other MEA members that the dash mat does indeed help SQ....

pods look good..

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 3:31 pm

Wow i really like the PG sign!

Carpetting the mat... i dunno but here in Quebec it would be weither too hot in the summer or too sloppy in the winter :p

winno · Post by **winno** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:31 am

It's about time I put up my most recent pics.

Apart from door treatments and fine tuning, the system is pretty much complete.

Here are the new dash pods, windscreen treatments and boot install...

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:46 am

velcrow?

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 4:46 am

ttocs wrote:Looks like you stole dinner from a pissed off beaver when it was half done with it.

I am curious what you do to get the beaver mad/hungry enough to chew like that, and then once he does start gnawin away how do you control it. Is there some secret to holding the tail/scruff safely or what?

LMAO
those pods are just plain weird looking...A grinder could have gone a long way for ya. why if your gonna use a screw to hold them down, not use a black one?

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 4:53 am

not my style but I bet the soundstage is alot higher than anything I ever built.

I assume the velcro is to dampen it off the glass just a bit? An interesting install to say the least.

winno · Post by **winno** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:29 am

Stryker: I didn't have any black ones available at that time. Since then, felt has been used anyway.

ttocs: yes, velcro is the go - for now at least. I was after felt dots but this was wha was on the shelves at that stage.

Looks odd but works just as intended very well.