Dubber
I highly sugjest atleast dropping the seat in..
I did my staging w/out seats & its way low..
I do have an out but im still tuning my motor.. so i will wait a bit..
lay a blanket or somthing to set your seats on..
if your going to do it doit..
i knew i should have used my seats but i didnt .. now im pissed..

Afew tips that I use
#1- after setting mids/Tweet in place
measure from the center of the near side woofer/tweeter To the drivers Ear

#2- When you have the angle..
(Estimated listening angle to the near side woofer from the driver's seat)
((This is the angle from the center of the woofer out to the head position of the listener))

#3-Measure the Diffrence in distance between the near side woofer & tweeter to drivers head position in the drivers seat..
(Try to keep the off axis angle under 45degz)

Some Music with ladies singing & light faint sounds..
try to pickout the stage..(Im sure you knew that from it called staging)

Take your time take your time take your time

But lets see.. what you got..
You should use a Test CD.
Ultimate SQ Setup CD set

Elitecar audio.com has a OnLine install Clinic


Keep up the good work
Peace Troy

Thanks again guys for the advice, it is much appreciated.

I tried to keep the woofers as far as possible from the driver's/passenger's ears in attempt to maintain as equal pathlengths as possible (within reason as space and pedal position restricts this to a degree). Hopefully this will keep the imaging tight, and eliminate frequency shift and separation.

This is partially why I ended up going with the Alpine 9833 HU as it has time alignment facility - not something that I would want to mess about with too much to adversely affect the SQ for passenger/s...but may be a handy feature to correct for the differences in pathlengths.

The tweeters down low may result in a slightly lower stage height, hence why I've tried to keep them as high as possible (within reason again). Hopefully it won't be too noticable, and without installing some abient tweeters to raise the stage height, its something that I probably won't be able to overcome all together. I wouldn't want to move the current tweeter further up though as it creates other problems (freq separation and bigger differences in pathlengths).

Once I get the preliminary placement issues sorted out and the actual hardware installed (still have to rewire the whole car remember! - will be using optima yellow top batt by the way)...I will be taking it to a reputable (lots of feedback and input on car audio forums and in person) installer (shop) to have it all tuned so that should help.

I am an Audiologist (fit hearing aids, perform hearing assessments etc) and some of the similarities with car audio are quite cool, some of the things I've learned through reading about car audio has helped me in my job, and vice versa!

This arvo I will put the seats back in temporarily (may even pick up a cheap laser pointer) and have a closer look at woofer/tweeter placement before I glass the outer skin!

Cheers again
Alan :agree:

I know you're still mocking things up, but you may want to remember to keep the axis' of the speakers parallel. If you look at home audio, you'll find a divergent mid/tweeter combo to be very rare. You want the axis' of each speaker to be on parallel axis' to each other, especially with separates as you are using, as the frequencies of each are designed to work as a system. It looks from the pics as the tweeters are angled up, and the mids kind of accross.

Your right about the level of the stage, it will be lower, but that is the nature of the beast in a bug unfortunately. Adding some reflective surfaces in just the right spots might help, I never spent the extra time. But the stage is not as low as you might think, about as high as the dash. In a perfect world it would be over the hood somewhere, but I think you'd have to move the tweeters up much higher, and you'd also have to run each channel separately to be able to delay the tweeters with your headunit to get them back to the same delay as the mids. Might work out well though, I've only played with my Alpines delays a bit, side to side, as the separates work together through the passive xovers supplied with them.

I look forward to your initial responses to the sound.

Jason

Thanks for the tip Jason...I am a little blind during this installation because I am yet to rewire the car (will be using watsons street works kit)....so it makes it 'ken hard to trial different positions for the components. I could probably adjust the mid angle up a bit to better parallel the tweeter (which I adjusted to aim just in front of the face of opposite person - put seats back in temporarily this arvo). I am hoping there will not be a significant frequency separation.

I had a fellow plot the specs of the mid driver into WinISD (box design software)...

t/s small specs include:
*Fs 60Hz
*Qts 0.62
*Vas 10.1L

His advice was that "it IS possible to port it, but 10L is still a very small enclosure. and you'll want either a very steep xover filter (eg: 24dB/oct) or set it a bit higher (eg: 90~100Hz) to avoid the cone unloading (ie: overexcurting due to loss of enclosure cushioning effect below the tuning frequency).

something like 10L tuned to 60Hz using a 2x5" port could be ok. i've never contemplated porting a midwoofer to know if what i see on the frequency-response graph will equate to good incar performance."

Thoughts of porting into the cabin if I do end up porting? (I'd port in the centre [under the centre of the dash])

I'm actually just finishing up my audio install in my GTI, but this thread has pushed me into doing a fiberglass install. I installed a 'false floor' for my subs, amp, and crossover. Ended up taking up a bit more room than I anticipated. Fiberglass would help recoup every nook and cranny.

Excellent, excellent work!! :agree:

Cheers Craig, hope the revamp of the GTI will turn out well!

I attempted to squeeze in a port (the round shape on the inner end [which will be cut out once f/g is done]) as close to 2x5in based on some calculations/estimations in a "box design" software.

I also attempted to reposition the woofer angle to better parallel the tweeter but unfortunately the limited room did not allow a better angle. Either the woofer hit the base, or when the bottom edge was brought out, my feet would hit whilst trying to get to the pedals. So this is a compromise I'll have to live with.

http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr3.sized.jpg

After checking fit (for the 50th time) resin was generously applied. And that was it for the weekend - more pics to come.
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr3.sized.jpg

Once last pic just because I thought it looked cool :)
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr3.sized.jpg

Yeah Baby..
That looks sick.. :clap:
Nice job man.. Keep it up...
Oh you dont need to stop workin on the car cuz the weekend is over..lol
Peace Troy

Looks great! Sorry I've not been on as much, I'm cruising from island to island in Thailand right now, and the beach has been more appealing than the computer!

Regarding the install, try the port and see, then you can always close it off. One of the keys will just making sure the actual inclosure doesn't color the sound to much, then work on the tuning. I'm really impressed with how it looks so far.

I had the same problem with the angulation and foot space, so I cut the outside flange of the speaker down, so just the needed material was left, and that decrease the diamter significantly. I'll look forward to your next post with much anticipation.

It takes alot of time, doesn't it!!!

Jason

Thanks guys! Yep it sure does take a lot of time :bawling:
You are right about the port too, I figured I'd put it in, and then experiment once done to see if it sounds better with it open or blocked.

Nonetheless, first few layers of matt and resin went down this arvo...
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr4.sized.jpg

The circled area is where I had to adjust the inner skeleton to ensure my foot had adequate clearance when the clutch pedal is depressed - gotta think of these things sooner rather than later!
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr4.sized.jpg

A couple more layers to go down in the next few days then prep for paint.

:eek: :eek: Ooooh!! Babyyy!!! :agree: :agree:

Simply: amazing!!

I can't wait for the next post.

I will deffinately say that your project is amazing as well. Keep up the good work there Das... everything is looking great man!

nice job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

Managed to sand down and cut off the edges and trial fit the kicks again....a little more trimming/sanding is required to get them to slot in all the way (didn't want to force them in for now and risk getting them stuck!).

http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr6.sized.jpg

There are a few gaps....as I said, this kick was not in place properly for the pic

http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/a...Apr6.sized.jpg

:bowdown: :bowdown: C'MON :clap: :clap:

dude lookin sick..:raiseroof
so is it paint or cloth?
ither way it's looking sweet..:clap:
I got my new garage so i may turn out some new stuff..
Sneek Peek

Hope you dont mine your pictures scrolling on my screen saver.. :D
Peace Troy