da build....

Have a cool car stereo? Post your install pictures here! No PG? No problem! Competition grade or sub-in-box setups: ALL are welcome!
ttocs
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Post by ttocs »

man "safe place" in my house is the kiss of death as well..
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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bretti_kivi
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Post by bretti_kivi »

two hours of playing with cables later, I find one set of holes is crappy and I've screwed up one of the cables (no fork necessary). At least my 100W iron works fine.

Pics:

Bottom:
Image


Top, with one 350.2 and the 90.2:
Image

I'm debating turning the CBR44 on its side - or at the very least, elongating the holes. Two more nights of work here...

Bret
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Post by bretti_kivi »

some more piccies.. another three hours tonight means I have most of the screws in place. the distro block is full and fused something like correctly (only 40A for the 350s, which is not really enough) - though the main breaker is only 100A ATM.

the overall look (this will be under the oak trunk floor, remember)
Image
The distro is now moved to the bottom. It was a complete pain trying to do things through the baseboard and I realised I have space... plus it means I now have somewhere for the USB soundcard / future computer.
Image
These are teh pods for teh mids / tweets; I'll test tomorrow at work, just for the hell of it. I think they'll play nicely to around 120Hz or so. Yes, they are paper cups, and they are pretty solid, actually, with the card around the outside. M4 mounting points. The cables are being glued into place with some polyurethane.
Image
from teh front, the sold-out 2" Peerless BBs:
Image

to do tomorrow: pack. I leave on Thursday morning ;)

Bret
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bretti_kivi
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Post by bretti_kivi »

the 2" work great. Have them on my desk at work right now.... stuffed HARD and with support from a sub, they're pretty damned fine. Sound better than the cheapo 2-way 4" I have under them.

Shame my hearing is screwed with the cold that I appear to have.

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Post by bretti_kivi »

it's back in the car. No more pics until I get to the UK and have time to wire it up properly. Man, this is going to be a huuuuge job....

Bret
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Post by smgreen20 »

Wow, I'm missed a lot of this. Doing good man. And the wiring is the funnest part, isn't it? :-s
"ZPA's will have the same sound essentially as you get from the MS, they just feature a bigger shinier set of balls."

Install:
http://phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16998
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Post by bretti_kivi »

errrr.. no ;)

Anyways. The car is now stuffed full and will be on a ferry this evening to Germany. Tomorrow then new wheels, a stint in a glider and then to Calais and on to my parent's place. First job there is to empty the car.....

I'll be ordering some more damping today, I think, and wondering what I've forgotten.

Bret
ttocs
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Post by ttocs »

what kind of damping
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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bretti_kivi
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

been a very long time, and things really still aren't sorted.

However... there are lots of changes. And other improvements.

My carPC finally has a case and a PSU is on order (M3-ATX); the M2-ATX I have appears to be dead / blown caps.

The sound card is here and works well.

Front end will be Reaper, which seriously kicks ass. I have the ASIO drivers set up correctly, so things really do get split, and I'll just use Foobar as a front end, along with Columns UI and some new touchscreen-friendly graphics for control. Haven't installed the RBC9 drivers for teh Spacenav yet, that's on the list of things to do next.

Bluetooth I will ignore for the moment and the job for today / tonight was supposed to be to install a Nokia CK200 car kit. I'll go down and take some stuff apart in a few minutes and vacuum and empty the car so I can put the sub in its secret compartment and take the glovebox out.

Lots of LEDs ordered, too; the way things have moved in the last few years is astounding. I'm running original Lux 1s, putting out 18lm or so. The new ones are Cree MX3s, putting out over 100lm at the same current, i.e 350mA. Lots of CC supplies ordered for dirt cheap from Deal Extreme - 20 supplies for $30 or so, delivered, is astounding.

Need to get some other projects out of the way, too, but this is the one I really want working now.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by ttocs »

I too have been looking at leds and suprised at what is avialable now. The rgb controllers are getting pretty crazy.
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

right.... Reaper kicks ass. Fuck me, this is *good*. Clean, deep bass with black backgrounds and crunchy treble. Significantly, audibly better than Foobar on its own. Wow. Removing Nokia Suite means I can go back to size 1024 FFTs and it is clean, even on a D510MO (Atom board) with 2GB RAM and 64-bit Win7.

One fly in that ointment: the buzz if the stream drops, so stop before next track and life is fine. Very, very cool.

XOs work well, too, so I need to think a bit more about where they're going; BlueMaemo for control works, too. As does Foobar itself.
Will get a media controller at some point (see Audon electronics for a keyboard emulator where you can connect up any microswitches for full media control).... and the SpaceNav is working nicely as a controller, too. Looks pretty good from here.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

Nokia CK200 is now installed, as is the display, but no power to the unit as I only had around 2 hours. I'll be back down tomorrow, taking more out and starting to really understand where the cables are going and what needs to be seriously sorted.

M3 ATX should be here tomorrow, too, so I can put the PC in the car on Wed / Thu. Will have to work out where it's going first, though ;)
Also need to run USB from the front to the back of the car and a long coax for the rear-view camera. Would be good to run those this week.

Want to get a move on now, the PCs have been hanging around way too long already.

Need to work out how the signal comes out of the Car Kit now, I think it might be already amplified, at which point I'll just use a simple 2" broadbander and leave it alone.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

M3-ATx is here and in the case (fits, but only just...); the first of the MX-3s is also lit and is pleasantly bright :)

Also fixed the LEDs in the vents, which haven't been working properly in a very long time. Tomorrow I have some more time and so I will strip the interior so I can check where all my cables are going - might well also re-route some and generally clean up, along with sorting supplies for the PC, Soundcard and car kit. I should also be able to use line-out on the car-kit, too, so I will do that. WIll need to measure up for RCAs and then create those, too.

Want to keep some momentum this time, I want it fully working before the summer.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

as usual, other things got in the way... 16mm2 cables for the amps cut, CBR44 mounted. No forks, so I'm going to see what happens without any termination for the moment.

Car is now clean again on the inside, and I could easily drop / replace the glovebox with a sub, but I'll leave that one for the moment.

Lots of LEDs now turned up, and I've been testing a little. I'll probably dismantle a door tonight to check out a microswitch.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by ttocs »

great story and all, BUT WE WANT PICS MANG!
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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Re: da build....

Post by stipud »

ttocs wrote:great story and all, BUT WE WANT PICS MANG!
x2 I have no idea what most of the things are that you are talking about, and my attention span is too short to google everything :lol:
ttocs
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Re: da build....

Post by ttocs »

I know the feeling. Even the most complete description is much easier to understand with even a single pic. Not tryin to bust yer balls but its just hard for us to follow since we do not know the car as well as you.
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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Re: da build....

Post by oldskoolmseriesfan »

I was just wondering what made you choose the QX line of amps? A very different choice from the norm indeed :hmm:
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

aaaaahh. Sorry. I have been absolutely swamped with other stuff for months now and I finally started to pull my finger out. I'll do some pics.

- Bret
ttocs
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Re: da build....

Post by ttocs »

hope you didn't think I was bustin yer balls but an install blog is reall hard to know what is really going on. Just save your time and explain everything with the pics and it will be easier.
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

you're right.... and today I pulled everything back out again. And realised how much space I'm "letting go". Not good. Considering it's a small car, I really need to do this better.

So, having taken quite a bit of the interior out, I've starting re-thinking what I want and how I can get it to work.
I'm right now seriously contemplating pretty much all of the system, even the drivers that are in the doors.


See, I have some 8" REL drivers lying around. And they're awesome. They take *power* and drop like little Mofos. So if I could plumb those into the doors, I might even be able to go subless. And then use 3" on the dash with a tweet for the top end.

Problem: the 8"s want 14l or so, sealed. The box I have at the moment is 280mm cube on the outside... so around 14l or half a cubic foot.
Considering I could then move the 8s back some and re-construct the entire doorpocket (which I was needing to do anyway....) this might be a plan. And now it's nice weather. I just have 6 weeks to get it "sorted" and then I have two weeks with the little one, where the car ought to work and I'll have some time outside again.

Decisions, decisions. Need to get one of the 8"s and work out the sizes involved. Could at least them put a decent enclosure on the door; I'd got 7l anyway.

- Bret
- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

Riiight, I'm further on again now, but still no pics.

- the amps are going under a false floor under a false floor.
- the PC is going in the rear where the CD changer was; soundcard next to it.
- the amps are not going to be on a floor, but on a framework of aluminum (alfer's "Logika" series) as lengthwise it works perfectly and widthwise I don't care. This is important, I'll explain in a sec.
- the cables I just braided up are probably too short :( so I'll have to re-do. Whatever...
- I redid some LEDs today, including pulling new cables through to the mirrors and both rear doors. Front doors later, next is the trunk trim with 4 LEDs.

The floor:
this is the bit I'm excited about.

I have four anchors, one in each corner, for luggage, in the trunk. The trunk is a tick under 39" wide (997mm IIRC). I was thinking about weight and stuff and going "NO!"... so I've decided to do it a bit differently.

Alfer have this groovy "logika" stuff. I wanted to use it to support my false floor; use some ply and then a 65mm riser, bolt on an L section and we're good. Supports thin floor effectively wherever.
Then I had a brainwave - there's no reason to have the ply floor. I might as well use the Logika and bolt the amps to it. That way, I have 90degree angles, everything's lined up and *I get support for the false floor all the time* because i'll create a U each time I bolt an amp in place. So there can be three supports running front to back, pretty much the entire length of the trunk, and another at the front and the back. Which is really cool as it means I can get away with using the 6mm / 1/4" ply I have.
Then there's the original false floor, which will be on the top. So it will look pretty much original at first sight...

next: battery off, seats out, carpet out.
cable up the mids and tweets where it's not already done
seal off the sub compartment completely.
Create some kind of enclosure for the mids; I might consider taking the dash out, but we need the car on Saturday next week and it is a 3 hour job (apparently) and I've not done it before. Would make lots of things easier, but...
start putting stuff back together. Get the gearlinkage squeak sorted, the aircon flaps sorted, the lighting finished.

To buy:
- lots more angle, probably another 3m or so, along with some flat strips for left-to-right
- long VGA cable and couple of USB extension cables

I want sounds by the 25th as I'll be driving to Helsinki that day and back late at night. Want sounds!

Let's see what happens....

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

not much done today, but I now have teh flat strips (which cut beautifully using tin snips, which I wasn't expecting) so I started bolting the parts onto the first amp this evening. Makes sense, fits, should be OK, seems to work. Need to cut some more angle tomorrow and sort out the rest of the amps along with the height stuff before I go much further and then sort some feet out as otherwise I'll have some pressure points from the screwheads.
Otherwise? Need to make some attachment points for the anchors, but that's also OK as it means I can use some wingnuts and then it's actually "removeable" should it need to be (which it might, as there's a battery in the trunk, too).

Other than that, I have a shitload of real work to do at work and we have band rehearsals tomorrow and Wednesday along with holidays on Thursday and Friday (yay! another four day weekend!) so I might get the amps in and then get some work done on the door builds Thursday / Friday. Let's see.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

a bit of a change of plan (another!).

The five amps no longer fit with the original side trims in. So.. it's down to four at the moment and that might go to three. See, if I use 3" mids and tweets - run off of a 100.2 and 90.2 - then I only need a sub for 150Hz down. And that can run off of a 350.2. Simples.. if only. Anyway. The car itself is questioning its own existence at the moment by screwing up again and now it seems that half the suspension parts I replaced recently weren't that bad and essentially the only thing it needed was a real alignment check. Which has now been done and boy, does it make a difference. Wheel straight, and only minor wobbles at 120km/h now, which is annoying but should be cleared with a wheel balance.

So. Power and computer need to be in this week again (the gig went really nicely) as we're off up north next weekend.

- Bret
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Re: da build....

Post by bretti_kivi »

new tyres
another balance
problems with bumpstops

several hundred kms and a lot of coffee later, I'm finally making serious progress again.

Phone doesn't want to give me pics, so you're not gettin' em, I'll take more soon.

- VGA, USB, Serial cables laid front to back
- speaker cables re-laid

Cable size is too big. Speaker cables will be re-routed through the roof.

Downsize: 1 x 8" sub, TG9s as mids and then tweets. Means only half the boot floor as ampspace, this is good. Cabling needs to be done tomorrow or so. I'll take some pics tomorrow, I think.
Car goes in for some work tomorrow to Helsinki, so I'm taking the little monster to work.

- Bret
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