FJF

iTrader: (18)

I've been involved with audio for 30+ years driven by a passion for music. My record collection for your amusement:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d2...shelves001.jpg

I'm also a dedicated car guy who wanted to have a system in his Evo that would allow me to hear at least some of what's audible in my home system. At the same time, I didn't want to add unnecessary weight to the car. It's taken almost 3 years to get the system sorted and I'm finally happy with its state. After testing several HUs, a few speaker systems, and a multitude of subs/enclosures, this is the final configuration:

HU - Alpine 9887
Amp (tweeters) - Zapco Ref200.2
Amp(s) (mids) - (2) Zapco AG350
Amp (sub) - Zapco Ref500
Speakers (active) - Polk SR6500
Sub - BA C-110




The HU was installed in the lower location with the factory gauges occupying the top DIN slot.





Zapco Ref200.2 under the front passenger seat driving the tweeters. It's held onto the carpeting with Velcro. The carpeting in our cars is such that hook and loop material sticks to it like glue. It's very difficult to remove the amp without adding some force. Once the seat is installed, the amp is invisible. I left some slack in the wiring just in case I decided to try another amp, or remove this one for service with ease.





The other 3 amps are located in the spare tire well. I saved the cutouts from the sub we'd built into our house and they made terrific amp racks. The Baltic Birch material helped to keep en eye on the weight.









The two AG350 were installed stacked. I used separators from Home Depot and 3" screws to mount the amps. They're located at a low point of gravity all the way toward the back of the Evo to help with weight distribution and to minimize the weight penalty.












I purchased a set of grill-less A-pillar covers, wrapped the tweeters in polyester knit from JoAnn Fabrics - one of the more sonically benign materials - and after quite a bit of testing aimed the tweeters in semi-stock locations.










The doors were sealed and deadened with SS and RAAMmat. After the SR mids were installed, it became immediately apparent that their prodigious low-frequency energy was vibrating the door cards. After discussing the issue with Don from sounddeadenershowdown.com, I removed the factory felt-like backing on the door cards, replaced it with two layers of 1/4" SDS CCF foam and added CLD tiles from extra deadening. This worked like a charm; no more buzzing. While I was at it, I also killed the rattle in the glovebox with some of the materials that Don sent along.

As for the sound of the system, here is a brief review:

http://www.caraudio-forum.com/forum/...nent-speakers/

It also talks a bit about tuning the rig in the Evo.

SCEvol8

Nice! Very cool setup and I love the choice of deck. I got one for my Evo and that deck when using imprint with a seperate EQ yields AMAZING results.

FJF

iTrader: (18)

I appreciate the kind words.

I'd be very curious to hear the Imprint tune vs. mine. One of these days I'll borrow the module from a local shop and give it a whirl. Actually, I'm running two tunes - one for windows up and the other for windows down. Everything except for the x-over points, including the EQ and T/A, is altered.

I took a quick look at your system and I really like how you installed the EQS.

stretch15

that is an awesome setup there sir! we've got similar looking a-pillars, too!

SCEvol8

I would LOVE to have two different tunes, but unfortunately imprint won't allow for that. I really would love a push button tune that I can cycle between at will (imprint does allow two different tunes, but only a modification the bass ranges with no customization). The system sounded good before with just the EQ, but the imprint REALLY helped the staging and made everything real transparent. As for the price, I don't think the imprint module is worth the retail price of $300 or whatever especially if you have experience tuning, but for a $100 or less (especially if the shop will just let you borrow it), I do think it's worth it. I opted to buy one from my local shop for about a $100 and like being able to rerun the imprint again at will. Thanks for the props on the EQ location. I can't take credit though...haha! That was a bubby's idea...we held the EQ up to that spot and discovered it fit perfect so we went with it.

FJF

iTrader: (18)

Thank you! Post a pic of your A-pillars, if you have one. Which speakers are you running?

FJF

iTrader: (18)

I have to admit, the Evo was a challenge to tune. It didn't take very long to settle on the x-over points/slopes, and setting the T/A took even less time. But, zeroing-in on the tonal balance was an effort. As we all know too well, Evos are very noisy. Besides road/tire/ambient noise, our cars exert a tremendous amount of low-frequency energy, especially with an aftermarket exhaust. Most of that energy lies below ~40Hz, effectively making sub fight the car to be heard/felt.

I decided not to fight the car and rolled-off the sub at ~40Hz @ 24dB. This had a very positive effect on cleaning up the bass, making it much more articulated and defined. Then, there was the problem of random cancellations in the lower mids and upper bass, again, driven by the car, itself. As such, my two road tunes sound drastically different from the stationary tune.

Truth be told, the idea behind wrapping the tweeters in my install wasn't mine, either.

stretch15

don't want to hijack your thread but here you go:


i'm running hertz milles for my front separates.

FJF

iTrader: (18)

Wow, that's really terrific. The install looks very slick.

No worries about a hijack. I posted the thread in hopes of helping someone thinking of installing a system in an Evo. Your pic only adds to the idea pool.

I've heard very good things about the Milles, but haven't had an opportunity to audition them for myself. Are you running them passively? I heard their crossovers were huge.

stretch15

thanks man...it looks similar to your a-pillars actually. yup i'm still on a passive x-over and they are huge..the tweeter is also huge and thick which is why i ended up with the custom a-pillar.

i'm sure you'll enjoy your setup, though. your 9887 is an exceptional hu. 24 bit burr-brown dac will sound sweet!!

FJF

iTrader: (18)

The A-pillars turned out really well. In some ways, I like them better than mine. What's the rest of the system?

I've had two lifelong interests: cars and music/audio. Being able to enjoy them at the same time is a treat.

I really like the 9887, mostly, for its ergonomics. I can control the system without having to look at the deck. I had a 880 before the Alpine. It was a much more versatile component, I especially miss its L/R EQ, but it was an ergonomic nightmare. In a car like the Evo, where the driver is an active participant, I needed a deck that was more intuitive.

SCEvol8

That's a REALLY good point about the sub having to battle an aftermarket exhaust below 40hz. Even though there is quite a bit of wood covering most the exhaust noise inside the cabin on mine, I'm interested now to try the same on my car and check out the effect. i might try that later today...as much as I like 30hz and below, the fact is a lot of music doesn't have this low frequency and subaudible bass (most 30hz and below is relegated to home theater stuff). A lot of bass in music is between 40hz and 60hz so I might give this a try. I really like what you did with the pillars....definetely one of the nicest designs I've seen and it still looks stock...I love it!

FJF

iTrader: (18)

I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised by the improvement in sound quality. You'll still hear the subharmonics from the lower frequencies, in turn getting the aural queues stemming from the notes, without having those same frequencies masked by the car's LF output turning the bass into a less defined entity. As the lowest frequencies need exponentially more power to get going, your sub will play louder and your amp will draw less current, depending. Win-win.

Cheers

FJF

iTrader: (18)

I've read through the Installs thread, as well as many, many threads on the forum, and I honestly have to say that I was puzzled by much of what I saw. Folks are deadening spare tire wells? Why? It's one of the more rigid parts of the car. Vibration control has no impact on those panels, just as it has no effect on the strut towers. Similarly, why are folks lining the floors of their Evos with deadening? It makes for a very poor sound barrier. OTOH, Mass Loaded Vinyl is an excellent sound barrier, but I saw no mention of it. I've even seen utter garbage like Fatmat mentioned in the same breath as SS DP and DE.

Deadening is used to control panel resonance. A quality product like SS DP or SDS CLD tiles only needs to be applied to the center of a panel to control its resonance. As such, if one wants to dampen the floor and create a sound barrier, CLD is attached to the center of a panel and the entire floor is covered with MLV (gaps glued together). It's not a lightweight solution, but it is effective.

When it comes to doors, three variables come into play: deadening the panel resonance, creating a seamless baffle for the speaker, and limiting the vibration of the door cards:

Panel resonance - apply two 6"x10" CLD tiles to the center of the door.

Baffle - a car speaker functions in an Infinite Baffle alignment. Without getting into audio geek talk, this means that the area to which the speaker is attached cannot have and holed/gaps end to end. This is achieved by sealing the outer portion of the door with deadening. A more effective method uses pieces of aluminum sheeting, found at Home Depot, to cover the large gaps in the out skin along with the deadening. Other materials can be used, as well, to attack the bigger holes.

Door cards - Here we're interested in limiting the audible buzzing emanating from the door cards. The buzz is driven by the contact between the door card and the outer door skin. Ensolite foam has been used for a while to line the area between the two. SDS CCF foam is a new, superior product. As can be seen in the pics (in the first post), the factory backing can be used as templates for the CCF. We need ~1/2" of CCF on top and 1/4" on the bottom of the cards. This, along with some deadening on the inner surface of the card kills the buzzing.

There isn't enough time in the day to address everything else. If you're reading this, thinking of installing a system in your Evo, please do yourself a big favor and look into audio at an appropriate venue. Good luck to all and good listening!

PlanoEvo

iTrader: (2)

Nice record collection I bet most people on this forum wouldn't have noticed the Mott record much less know anything about it