50 replies to this topic

[Brams96]

JET BLACK (and everyone) Types of Subwoofer Enclosures

Also try THIS it has A LOT of good explainations.

Plus check out HERE for wire size calculations

Edited by Brams96, 28 April 2008 - 02:24 PM.

[Bobby9779]

This thread is awsome....well done.

But i suggest alot more pictures.

Pictures for everything.

Bob

[tcw_lk]

JET BLACK (and everyone) Types of Subwoofer Enclosures

Also try THIS it has A LOT of good explainations.

Plus check out HERE for wire size calculations

thanks for these links helped me a lot . cheers!

[Rob Himself]

Rear Speakers

The number of times I get asked 'what 6x9's should I get, andshould I put them on the parcel shelf or under the rear seats?' astounds me.
I'm going to turn this more into a self-contained debate rather than one man's opinion, so here goes.

If a system has a good balance of front speakers (5.25" or 6.5") (ie: treble and mid-range) and a subwoofer (ie: bass) then a wide range of balanced-sounding music can be played.
If you then add some 6x9's to the parcel shelf, it does a number of things:

• - Noise cancellation, due to the 6x9's treble cancelling out the front speakers, and its bass crashing with the subwoofer. It therefore starts to sound quite muddled.
• - Second thing, is that due to the larger of the speakers being in the back, the sound stage sits behind you and it's therefore distincively louder coming from behind you than in front. The Man on High gave you ears pointing forwards for a reason. You don't stare at the TV with the back of your head, do you?
• - But what about my cinema surround sound Dolby 5.1 setup?! Dolby 5.1 has 2 front L+R speakers, and a centre speaker for the main sound. Two rear speakers are there for effects use (ie: something actually coming from a set direction) and .1 for your bass. Through 5.1 and the way the sound output is set up, all 6 different sounds comign from 6 speakers at any one time. Your car is stereo - it has merely 2 different sounds outputs - left and right.
• - Bass, relative to treble particularly, is quite non-directional. Ie: In a room, it's far easier to point with your eyes shut to a single speaker than a rumbling subwoofer. Following on from the former point, it's better from a sound-quality point of view to remove the rear speakers. Then, any subwoofer bass cannot so easily be pin-pointed to coming from the boot/behind

If you want sheer all-out SPL volume and noise, then bin the 6x9's and get another sub.

Edited by Rob Himself, 26 June 2008 - 07:14 PM.

[Rob Himself]

Setting 'Gains' On Your Amplifier

That little knob on the side of your amp is NOT not NOT notnotnotnot a get-louder knob.

Your head unit sends, via the RCA cables, a low-level signal the amplifier which (surprise surprise) amplifies this to a high-level output signal = noise & music.
The gain level increases the input level.
Turn it up too far, and you'll not only start distorting the music, but you'll frazzle both your subwoofer/speakers and amplifier.

• Turn the gain knob all the way down
• Turn the volume on your head unit up until it either begins to distort or becomes deafeningly loud
• Turn the volume on your head unit down a few notches so that it comfortably stops distorting
• If your amplifier is powering speakers, then turn any bass down. If powering a subwoofer, then turn any treble down.
• Turn the gain knob up slowly until the output speaker begins to distort
• Back off the gain knob a pinch
• Turn the volume on your head unit down, and enjoy your music

[Rob Himself]

ICE Aconyms & Abberviations

A - Amps
Cap - Capacitor
Coax - Coaxial speakers
Comps - Component speakers
DIN - Deutsches Institut für Normung (German equivalent for ISO, usually in reference to the dimensions of a head unit)
DVC - Dual Voice Coil
EQ - Equaliser
HU - Head Unit (ie: The CD player)
IB - Infinite Baffle
ICE - In Car Entertainment
ISO - International Standards Organisation (eg: ISO connector - one standard universal head unit connector)
RMS - Root Mean Squared
SQ - Sound Quality
SPL - Sound Pressure Level (how loud)
Sub - Subwoofer
SVC - Single Voice Coil
W - Watts
XO - Crossover

[Piddling Kid]

lets keep adding to this topic, could someone post up a simple diagram to show how components speakers and sub are wire to the amp and headunit, this would help me out but also probably help out others

[Rob Himself]

It's on my list of things to do

[Rob Himself]

Basic Guide To Audio Layout, Components Involved & Wiring

This has been much asked for - please see attached image. It's only a simple system, comprising front components speakers, a subwoofer and an iPod, but gives you an idea.

Only bit I havn't included is the crossover. This separates mid and high frequencies to go to the mid-bass woofer and tweeter. This goes between the amp and speakers.

Rob

Attached Files

•  ICE_Layout_copy.jpg   134.08K   1539 downloads

Edited by Rob Himself, 27 June 2008 - 01:18 PM.

[Boomboy77]

I think another important thing to cover is wire routing and protection at some point. If I get chance I blurb something down over the weekend if you dont get chance Rob.

[Rob Himself]

Go for it, dude - I'm on work in Gothenburg this weekend!
Rob

[Rob Himself]

If anyone has requests... let me know

[Boomboy77]

Can you play Tainted love by Softcell?!?!?! PMSL

Right then chaps cabling!

As everyone on here knows, the power for your mini comes from the boot anyway, so putting power to all your in car stuff is fairly easy. BUT keeping the power away, yes that says away from your rca (signal leads) is also very important!

Without going too indepth as to what happens when power wires meet signal wires Ill give you a brief, (ok so that may be a lie) run down of what to do and what not to do to get the best sound you can.

As current travels down a cable it produces a magnetic field, think of it as a cable with lots of circles around it along its length, as these circles come across another cable they will induce a voltage, it is this voltage that you hear as noise through your speakers. There are supposedly many ways to combat this, but the most basic is to use the best twisted pair and shielded RCAs you can afford. The ones with the remote wire down the middle of them are ok, but do yourself a favour and ground the remote wire each end rather than use it for its intended purpose. Run a separate cable for the remote-on feature away from you rcas and not with it. Similarly do not run amp power and rcas side by side, its only a recipe for noise. Ferrite cores are all well and good slapped around all your cables, and you can run all the suppressors under the sun, but follow a few simple rules and you will already have eliminated most of the problem.

Twisted pair RCAs, probably the best idea anyone ever had. These cables are 2 cables per channel as normal but are twisted within the shielding, this has the effect of cancelling noise naturally as induced voltages are cancelled out by the next twist along the cable. Think about it, each twist is 180 degrees to the last, giving you a voltage opposite the one you had just seen, almost like an ac signal (mains).

Power wiring, how many of you have huge power cables running straight from your battery to your amp?? How many of you actually have a fuse in that cable within 12" of the battery???? Not many I bet. Fuses are there to save your car! No one wants to have a car fill up with the fumes from a battery that is being shorted to ground, 4awg cable is good for over 100Amps, your bodywork will melt long before the cable will..............put a fuse in it, to work out what the fuse should be add up all the fuses in your amps, but make sure it doesnt exceed the current carrying limit of the cable itself. Mostly I would use a 60 or 80Amp fuse in a distribution block.

[tcw_lk]

thanks for your info Boomboy77

what do you guys think about this?

I'm going to put four 6" speakers(60W),
two 4"(40W) speakers and
four tweeters on my parcel shelf.

I was thinking to put them on a 12mm MDF wooden rings and stick them on a 12mm MDF board then cover the top surface with glass fiber, for a nicer finish.
what do you think of it ? will it work

best regards.

Edited by tcw_lk, 01 July 2008 - 05:23 PM.

[Gingerjoe]

Do tweeters make a difference? if so also where is the best place to put them