Sub in boot tray?

[Turbo_Steve]

The stealth is worth every moment of the effort when you seem some a$$hole in a carpark looking through the windows trying to find the sub.

[andydckent]

OK now I could use some advice on the set up.

The output level from the headunit is supposed to be 2v so I have set the level controls on each channel (6v-0.2v) to just over half way.

Should I have the HP filter turned on for the front and rear door speakers? I currently have it set but some songs especially some rock songs the kick from the bass drum seems to be lost between the door woofers and the sub. There also seems to be a lot of treble. I could set the door speakers to full range but I am worried this defeats the point. I have the filter set at its lowest setting.

The main bit of the bass in most songs seems OK, I have the bass filter set at its highest setting and the bass eq set about 10 o'clock which boosts the bass at 45hz (not recommended to go past 12 o'clock).

And what about the head unit eq? Should this be set to flat and then adjusted later?

Cheers!

Andy

[andydckent]

For the record a link to the manual of my amp:

http://www.maxxsonics.net/manuals/hi...fierManual.pdf

Its the 8010 the 5 channel one.

[Turbo_Steve]

Manual is downloading now.

I'd suggest you need a little more gain on the amp than "halfway" as that would be 4V. I'd turn it to around 1/3rd, if not a bit lower (i.e nearer to the 0.2V setting).

You want the HighPass filter set on all the fronts.
This should be a variable frequency filter - I would set it to 80Hz for focals in a VR4 - they will take a bit of bottom end just fine. Chances are that 80Hz is as low as it will go.

You want the low-pass on the Sub set to 80Hz as well, this should give you a good crossover point.


Quick and dirty guide for getting it to sound reasonable:
Mute the subwoofer, either by turning it down on the headunit or by unplugging it.
Set the door speakers to full range.
Fade the headunit forward.

Play the CD you want, and get the volume and Headunit EQ to sound about right....don't worry too much about the bass end.

Now fade in the rear speakers...they should be around 50% of the fronts.
Check your EQ still works.

Now you can introduce the sub very very gradually. You should find it's a little intrusive with the car sat idling (once you're moving you'll lose quite a lot of bass and want to turn it up a little more - for now, though, keep it set low on the headunit). Play your test track again, and when you're happy with the sound, flip the high-pass filters on.

Now readjust the subwoofer and overall EQ again.



This is a really Ghetto method of setting things up - it's not the best, and it's not at all scientific. What it DOES do is allow you to hear the effects of each change as you make them.

Chances are that once you've got it all how you like it, you'll go for a drive, and want to change it all again.

Be aware that if you're using more than very small changes in headunit EQ, something isn't right! I find I need to knock off a tiny bit of top end as my tweeters are too brash...I use as wide a Q as possible, and as little attenuation as I can, and base it around 12k.

It's probably still brash at 15k, but it's entirely possible I've attenuated my hearing in that frequency after a life-time of listening to bad night-club systems clipping themselves senseless.


Short of having a 36-band EQ and getting it put on full on spectrum analysis - a Dyno for Car stereos, you're never going to get it perfect, but this is a good way of just running it all in and listening to the relationships between the various components.

Bear in mind that the sound will change as everything beds in and gets some heat through it.

[Chip]

Next question before I end up doing a rush job. Where is a good place to ground the negative connection to the amp?

Also which wiring kit to buy? Its a mystery to me... I know I need power (fused and pre crimped), earth, speaker cable, remote cable, audio cable.

http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/pro...ring-kits.html

I grounded mine to one of the Brake light screws

[andydckent]

Photos attached

[Turbo_Steve]

Looking very good, Andy! I hope you've put some trunking around the wiring where it goes through the bulkhead - just to stop it getting sliced through.

Really nice, though: All accessible, all hidden. Top notch!

[wintertidenz]

Very nice setup!

I agree with TS - you shouldn't need to adjust the EQ too much, if you do need to then something isn't quite right. You can use a bit of cloth in front of the tweeter to get rid of the harshness, but that also muffles a lot of the other frequencies. Additionally you can reverse the wiring of the tweeters and see if this helps.

[ZEUSvsHADES]

mate thats nice. check out mine
http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.p...121#post184121

[gareth001]

Just found pioneer do a spare wheel sub - costs a bit at £300 RRP though:
http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products...10A/index.html

[Turbo_Steve]

Without wishing to judge it prematurely, I'd be very impressed if a design like that can go as low as effectively as a sub in the oddments tray.

I'm not knocking it - it's an excellent product, but I suspect it's still a compromise on sound quality.

You're asking the enclosure to rotate a wide variety of frequencies by 180 degrees - very very difficult.

OF course, I haven't tried it, so I could be completely wrong

[gareth001]

Without wishing to judge it prematurely, I'd be very impressed if a design like that can go as low as effectively as a sub in the oddments tray.

I'm not knocking it - it's an excellent product, but I suspect it's still a compromise on sound quality.

You're asking the enclosure to rotate a wide variety of frequencies by 180 degrees - very very difficult.

OF course, I haven't tried it, so I could be completely wrong

I'm waiting for a saxo/peugeot driver to mount one of these subs in their spare wheel tray under the car...

For a main stream manufactorer though - it's far more universal for a spare wheel "replacement" sub than mounting in the offments tray, as not all cars have the tray. But yes I can't see it as being as good as a sub mounted within the oddments tray.

If Panasonic want to lend me one I'm willing to have a try though...

[andydckent]

Right, I've recently adjusted the EQ on this.

It sounds really great when I play rock music but if I listen to anything with more bass the boot floor has started to rattle annoyingly at and above medium volumes.

The rattle obviously goes away if I apply pressure to the boot floor.

What it the best way of sorting this out? Perhaps some sort of thin sticky foam where the floor rests on the tray?

Cheers!

Andy