Just had my system redone by my friend Bing of Simplicity in Sound. I’ve had it for a couple of weeks and it is crystal clear and should do well in the Iasca competitions. For those going to the All Cali Meet in July, you’ll get a chance t audition it in person. Enjoy Bings build log

Well, just spent the last three weeks redoing my friend Mike, a.k.a ChicoOG's acura TL. some of you may remember this car, as it is hte third system that has gone through the vehicle and the second time i have worked on it:
http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...-complete.html

Well, good ole Mike's caught the SQ bug, and when the california IASCA shows were announced, we decided to redo the system for even higher level of SQ and the occassional IASCA comp.
so here are the goals:

1. raise the level of SQ a few notches higher htan before, something competitive in the rookie class of IASCA.
2. retain zapco DC power/processing and adding to it.
3. fit much more gear in the trunk but still somehow retain a bit of stealthiness and daily usability.

so...lets get started:
as before, the stock headunit was used as a signal source. the TL is one of those rare stock HUs, when tapped before hte factory amp, is reasonably clean and flat. and not to mention the stock nav and info screen makes it difficult to do an aftermarket source.
as mentioned before, zapco processing, so here is the laptop plugged in and ready to tune:




the front stage we went from zapco to Seas.
the Lotus Reference midbass was installed in the same manner as before, and the sound proofing was also from the previous install:

quick shot of hte termination of wiring on the driver side midbass:

and the same goes for the passenger side of course:



the one thing i added this time, was to fully sound proof the door card. as the TL tend to hvae quite a bit of door buzzing, we also decided to secure the movable pocket door shut, as it was a major source of rattles. so here they are:



moving onto the midrange. we have a pair of Seas Excel Magnesium 4" mids. this time, i had the time to mold hte kicks into the stock piece. and here is the result. the kicks are aimed at the opposite listener, and have an internal volume of approx. .25 cub ft.





here is the shot of both from the back seat:

then, i made a pair of grilles for the speakres. if you are wondering why the grille is black and not tan, for one, the interior is two tone black and tan, but more importantly, tan grille cloth gets dirty so quickly and is impossible to make clean.

 

the Seas lotus reference tweeters were installed inthe facotry location, with its early reflection, it sound quite nice, similar to on axis A pillars but IMO affords a deeper stage.



if you are wondering what happend to the hood release, it was relocated to right next to the kick, still relatively easy to reach


here are some build pics of hte kicks.
first the back mold was mated to the stock panels and then trimmed:

then, they recieved a layer of sound proofing:

ring baffles were then aimed and attached:

and mold cloth secured, resined, and then reinforced from the inside:

after that, they were sanded smooth:


then as usual, each kick recieved a layer of modeling clay, and then another lay of sound proofing to hold the clay in place and to aid in resonance killing. here you see one of hte kicks with clay and the other one is already done with the sound proofing over the clay:


and then, they were wrapped in factory matching vinyl. they turned out to be one of hte more difficult wrap jobs i have had to do, due to the complex concave and then convex shapes. but after a lot of pulling and swearing, they were done


here are the shots of hte midranges with their wiring terminations:


and finally ,installed into the kick panels:

a quick shot of hte tweeter wiring termination:

so thats it for the front stage.

now a few quick shots of the wiring. here you see all the wires running in the door sills, wired tired and secured every 6 inches or less:




so thats it for the interior. as some of hte work was already done from the previous install.
moving to the trunk.

 

here is hte normal view with all the grilles on. the entire trunk was done with grey carpet so its durable. you will notice that the main floor is a two tier wtih a curved step in the middle:



pop off all the grilles, and here is what you see.
two DIYMA 12s reside in side fiberglass enclsoures that are molded INTO the stock side carpeting (thanks to Josh at JML audio for giving me the idea and insipiration). each enclsoure is 1.5 cubfeet or so.
three zapco DC reference amps are in the two level fake floor. a DC1100.1 powers the diyma12s wtih 1100 watts, a dc650.6, sends 100 watts to each tweeter and 180 watts to the midrange, while a DC1000.4 sends a bridged 500 watts RMS to each midbass.
everyhting is trimmed in exterior matching vinyl, and my logo is on the front wall. so basicaly a fully boxed trunk install, the only piece of stock carpet you see is the one under the rear deck.








so here are some build pics of the trunk.
by FAR the most difficult part of the instlal was the side boxes. found out quickly that the stock "carpet" really doesnt take resin at all, and you cant just lay glass on it as it wont stick. so after some trial and error, i coated the stock carpet with a combination of resin and duraglass, let that stick, and then layed 10 layers of mat/cloth on the places where i wnated to have the back of hte subbox.
so here are the sides with all the backs done:



then the baffle was attached. the shape was used to it can accomodate the fake floor to come later, as i knew before hand that all three amps cannot fit on the same plane and still fit the diyma12 on the sides.


then, the mold was resined, and the box strengthend with 10 more layers of mat/cloth from inside of hte box. I cut the backs of these boxes and laid up the glass, and then joined the two pieces back together with glass. you can see in this picture where i put a line of sound proofing on the seams, even though they were already sealed up with cloth/mat from both sides.
then, i sanded and molded the edges to flow into the stock carpted shape:

and finally, the boxes were carpeted, whcih was a bit difficult as well due to the shape hehe, and the front red vinyl trim panel attached:


two quick shots of the wiring going into the DIYMA 12s:


so here is the floor piece that was curved. you can see here its been glassed and sanded smooth for the curved effect to match the shape of the side baffles:


and here is hte piece after vinyl and carpet application:


here the trusswork belowt he floor. the stock navigation unit, whcih was located ont he passenger side trunk floor, was extended and relocated to accomodate the subbox:

here are some quick shots of hte grilles being made, all have a rabet around the cutout, and HD mesh grille attached:


and all of them carpted, whcih is a breathable carpet.

and a shot of the wiring and layout of hte amps below the floor, all wires secured, and heatshrink terminated.



so thats it...with some quick tuning by Leon, the car definetly have potential to do well at the upcoming iasca comps.
the stage and imaging is excellent i have to say, with VERY good center focus, and the stage is nice and high and wide.
tonality is also good, very smooth overall but with good detail, but it hink will get even better with more tuning time.

 

install looks good, very clean. form and function

 

what ^^^^ he said.... the only question that I have, how will you pop the hood?

install looks great, if tunned properly and by looking @ pics you should do pretty good @ IASCA events....

Good luck to you.

 

Moved the hood release

Two events in June

 

Good luck at your events I miss competing I used to enter just about every show on in the south east and of course SBN yearly it was a blast!!

The install looks awesome for some reason it reminds me of Buwalda's old car not really in look but just kind of the theme.

My next project on my car is defiantly going to be kicks should be a little easier for me as I plan on having my mids much more off axis.

 

Chico...

That looks great man!

-Jason

 

guess missed that. went back and you do show it.
what about fuse box?
just messing around. install does looks good...

 

Damn man! That's sick!

I love how clean the trunk install is.

 

Thanks...Bing does awesome work

Needs more tuning, but it is getting there...

Hope you make it to All Cali, want to check your set-up out...I know it hits real hard

 

Nice setup, I want to hear it!

When/where is the all Cali meet?

 

That trunk looks amazing. Good luck @ IASCA.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/california-308/all-cali-meet-july-18th-woodward-park-fresno-ca-714715/

^ All the info is here...

 

amazing

 

Holy. Crap.

Looks so clean. Congrats!

 

Hey Mike,

Glad to see you posted your audio build here. I've been staring at it for the last week at DIYMA. I checked out some of Bing's other installs. This guys knows his stuff. He does some first class installs. I think you'll be ready for SQ competition.

Link Link
http://simplicity.elitecaraudio.org/catalog.html

Did you have to change any of your electrical system? Alt or Battery?

 

he is good.... have you seen lexus? http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=38069&page=1&pp=10


that thing is incredible.

 

I am impressed. That's a Sweet install!

Any issues with cancellation as the subs are pointed directly toward each other?

 

Only change is the battery...no caps, didn't do the "big 3", everything else is stock and I can run it at 40 with no impact on electrical at all. Actually, I am surprised...definitely thought I would need some upgrades

 

That's good to know. How much power are you running? I assume it's quite a bit more than me.

Just wondering if you ever considered a bandpass ported to the inside of the car like Jason's, especially since you're going for SQ. I'm a newb so bear with the questions. How's the bass sound?

 

Simply SUPURB !!!

 

Did you see the Vette? The twin banks of amps with the subs in the middle look crazy.

 

Awesome install.

 

you are the winner on acurazine already... great install

 

freakin sweet mike!!! should hit up the bay crew when you were down here

 

Props for the extremely clean install. The time and effort paid off well. Keep us updated and let us know how the competitions go.

 

Very nice install, I was wondering when you were going to post this here. I've been admiring it over on DIYMA. How do the DIYMA subs and Seas comps compare to the Zapco subs/comps in your previous install?

 

hey guys, thanks for the kind words.

I wanan thank mike for giving me the freedom of design and execution on this install. Last time, we were so time crunched with me having to remove the old....install... and making it finish on time in time for hte meet. this time around, wtih a clear goal in mind and a good 3 weeks, it was a much more enjoyable build.

btw guys, we had our first norcal IASCA comp this past saturday. Mike unfortuantely couldnt attend, but i took three of my customers cars there, a Gti, and Two G35s, along with my car.

it was a HUGE turnout for htis type of comp, 22 cars total. the 3 cars i took, were all in rookie class, and finished 1st, 3rd and 4th out of maybe 8 or more cars in that class and my own car took home first in pro class out of 4 or 5 cars, and first overall in SQ score cant be happier with the result, 4 cars went, and 4 trophies, with the one guy not getting a trophy but essentially tying for 3rd (he didnt registere with iasca so that cost him 10 points, and the 10 points is what he lost by lol)

I am very strongly convinced that event wtih so little tuning time on this new install, Mike would have been in the running for the top three spot easily, perhaps even coming in first or second.

the staging and imaging on this sytem is incredible by my stnadard. the cneter is so focused and distinct, wtih a very high stage throughout that is pretty wide and deep. tonality wise its already very good, just need a few more tweaking/breaking in and it will be good to go.

I think Mike, short of a few manufactuer backed "rookies" with months long builds, you will be going home with trophies at every cali show you go to based on waht i have seen a heard. each judge will be different, but i would imagine you should be in the top three each time

cant wait to get you to a comp and see how you do!

b

 

Which event in NorCal?

Must have missed it...

 

Kustom Kar Audio in santa Rosa held an IASCA comp just this past saturday.

the next ones up

june 13th in modesto, and june 28th in monterey

b

 

Rated at 2650 (dc1000.4, dc1100.1, and dc650.6)...

Completely different bass set-up then Jason...mine won't make a phone dance on top of the car Much more transparent and seamlessly disappear into the front stage...those that like jason's may not like mine. It's kind of like choosing between ice cream flavors, their all good, just depends on what you are in the mood for...

 

Next time I flew down and had to head back pretty quickly...

 

post the final results if Mike does attend.

by the way, awesome choise on componnents.

now here comes a question regarding IASCA.

back in early 90's, and I am sure it is totally diffrent now. I compitted in 1000 + class. the moral of the story, points were diducted for having stock electrical. how do you think it will affect this install?

thanks

 

well explained. not only it's in the enclosure but the overall tunning as the whole..

if you don't mind me asking. mids in kicks what are they crossed at?

So have you played any of diana krall or such? I bet the staging is pretty good.

 

Oh nice.

I love that area.

 

I could never get the zapco's to sound just right. I don't know if I was running enough power to them or if it was a tuning issue or what. I've heard them in another install and they sounded great but could never duplicate. Could be operator error

The Seas on the other hand are very clear and natural sounding. A noticeable difference. That being said, bing installed the tweets in the dash this time vs. the kicks with the zapco's. I'm not sure how much of the SQ improvement is a result of speaker placement, install, added sound deadening, tuning, etc... vs. the equipment itself.

The DIYMA's are as advertised, great SQ subs. I can't say I am completely sold on them though, something seems to be holding them back and I'm not sure what yet.

 

I am sure it was on a meter, before and after. how does the curve compares?

 

The staging is great...very high, no rainbowing...haven't played the diana krall disc yet, but the sting/herbie hancock track sounds awesome.

Not sure about the tuning specs. Using the zapco dsp on the laptop, I'll see if I can get a screen shot with all the spec's.

 

All tuned by ear, no meters involved...Leon, the tuner, has a gift

It would have been interesting to capture that information though, maybe next time...