General Bass solution

[Maninacan]

A up folks,

After suffering tiny loud but piercing speakers in the standard fittings I decided it was time for action. There's not enough boot room to sacrifice any for an off-the-shelf sub and i didn't want parcel shelce 6x9's as i'm always raking the shelf in and out when i'm moving kit around.

The results are much better than i had hoped and much nicer than any 6x9's- bass galore but ballanced with the upgraded speakers in the standard dash mounts. I had to mess around with the fade and eq settings a bit to get a ballanced sound. I've got a crossover on the way but to be honest i don't think i'll need it. The equation for port diameter/length are hideously complex so unless you've a fluid mechanics degree then just do it by ear - start long (15cm?) then take cm at a time off until its tuned to your liking. Radius the the inside ends of your port tube by sanding to reduce port 'chuffing'

Total cost £20 for driver (6" 150W Mission bass/mid unit) and delivery. Made the cabinet from 18mm MDF i had lying around. Well glued and screwed then sealed airtight with silicon sealant. Wrapped in car carpet stuck with contact adhesive.

Just wired it to one of the spare rear channels on the head unit. Still got a spare channel!

Downside is you lose your centre consol (if its a sporting) but I never used that anyway.

If anyone wants any tips on doing this then just shout.

Dan

 

[Maninacan]

Aah my photo was too big a file - will compress it and stick a lower res pic up....

 

[jaydr]

hi mate

sounds interesting! i have a plan for my little cinq but my intention is to make a "shelf and beef up the sealing of the boot to make it airtight as possible or the other plan i had was 2 8" subs in a ported box that also doubles as a parcel shelf, i do agree with you that space is a premium and im interested to see how you did it or just photos of your enclosure. The only advice i will give you is to invest in an amp for it (id say around 100wrms would be adequate) and the difference will be staggering also if you invest in a 4 channel like id did (won it for a tenner on ebay) it can be run in "tri mode" where i have my components on 2 of the channels and bridge the other 2 for a sub

cheers
jay

 

[Maninacan]

Not amping it, it sounds ballanced and plenty loud so i'll leave it at that bud. I think i'm getting optimal 'bang for the buck' just now!!!

Will stick that photo up tomorrow, or take a lower res one with my phone.

 

[jaydr]

hi mate

fair enough however the reason i suggested an amp is not for the power output its because is the mission speaker you are using is a subwoofer then the sub will be receiving frequencies it shouldnt be (most subs dont like much over around 150hz) and it can damage the voice coil not to mention your head unit if its a low impedance speaker because it will be working the internal amp extremely hard to move the sub so id proceed with caution on this one


cheers
jay

 

[Maninacan]

Here's a low res pic off my phone. The cabinets like a tapered wedge shape that means it looks tidy and doesn't overhang into the footwells. Sounds even better this morning now its sealed and de-rattled. Not as low as bigger sub of course in the correct volume cabinet, but it wasn't meant to be a true sub - more of a low-mid/bass speaker.

Cheers Jay, I hear you. It's actually an 8-ohm 6" bass/mid unit but you're absolutely right its trying to play the full freq range at the moment so i'll pop that xover in when it arrives today. I'm gonna use that as a gentle (6db) LP filter for the new speaker. Should meet up with the dash speakers about right.

My little dash speakers are actually limiting the output to around 60% on the head unit as they start to distort so that'll stop me getting carried away! And as I'm only running 3 channels from the head unit so I reckon I should be pretty safe.

Speaking of dash speakers - has anyone tried these?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-10cm-2-Way-...ryZ14938QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I've not heard of the manufacturer but the spec is pretty impressive (if the y actually deliver that performance)

 

[Red18]

Good Job man....!

I just recently paid about 400 for my speaker system, which a damn site more i've paid for tuning the car lol

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h281/mnirocky/Image139.jpg

Thats a picture of the rear of the car, i spent about another 40 minutes sorting the wires and sticking the sub (which fit very nicely in the far left of the boot, i just need something to keep it there) and i used 2 wire, electrical wire, because my bro is a DJ, and he says it has less resistance, gets less hot, and it cheaper... GOOD TIMES! haha, so i went with that =]

as for the sound :| omg, our cars are TINY for even a good set of 6x9's, but when i wire the amp and sub, i was blown away...!

but i like where yours is, its neat nad actually looks real professional... seriously man, good job

Red x

 

[Maninacan]

..of course this is just another advantage of cinqs - that tiny cabin means you get high SPL for relatively low power!

 

[Maninacan]

Jesus Red - it must be loud in there?!!! ha ha love it. Better check your windows are stuck in proplerly!!!

Cheers - mines cool for £20, well £30 inc xover, it'll does a job and I really can't have anything boot or shelf mounted as i have to move music kit around every day.

Your damn right about SPL - i'm a music producer so i have all kinds of fancy systems for monitoring and mastering in the house, but i have to say there's something about the sound in my cinq - when else do you sit in a space that small with your music that loud?!!!

Yet another reason to be Cento! SUV suckers!

 

[cinq117]

i have to say that is a very good idea especially if you are planning to strip out your car to add to performance.(power to weight) i.e rear seat etc and still want music.

well done

i will be considering it when it comes to stripping my car

ricky

 

[jaydr]

nice 1 matey very tidy but as its a mid bass (that driver looks like an m70 series driver) full range wont hurt it much but the crossover will tighten the lows considerably. id recommend a cutoff point of around 85hz for that size of cabinet/driver combination as the box you have built will have a similar air volume to the intended box and from what i can remember from the m7 series speakers i had the bass should be pretty solid

once again congrats on a very tidy build matey

cheers
jay

 

[Maninacan]

cheers jay - will get that x-over in when it comes although i have no idea what its frequency specs are - just its slope. But for £4 what can you expect?!!! Should at least keep the HF stuff away from it. I figured as its a two way, 6db then that should be about right.

The driver is a CR-150 but i'm not sure what speaker that came from. I do know its a lot better quality than the stuff we used to design into Linn speakers!!! The magnet on its like a family size pork pie!

 

[jaydr]

ahhhhhhhhhhh linn happy days........................ (had a pair of keilidh many moons ago f*****g awesome) a 4 quid xover is better than nowt m8y but like you say the midbass you have is a quality item so i hope it serves you well

cheers
jay

 

[Maninacan]

I could tell you some Linn tales mate but I won't in case you're still enchanted with the brand! I worked there as design co-ordinator, project manager, product manager for a good few years before going self-employed.

This project has been driven purely by cost , but for £30 all-in i'm happy with the sound. I did plan to fit a pair of old Bose 101 monitors i have kicking around but just couldn't squeeze them in - glad i went for this now though.

What 4" speakers have you fitted by the way? Did you see the ones on ebay I posted a link to?

D

 

[jaydr]

im in the process of fitting something but atm its the engine thats being replaced. i know someone who had `16.5cm units from the loudest and i thought they were very bass heavy but tone it down slightly and the sound was very sweet from such a low cost item, the tweets can be a bit harsh at volume but keep it reasonable and they were superb. im looking at sorting out the cavities for the speakers before i spend anything on drivers, i want to turn the original cavities into sealed units so very little bass comes from them which should sort the imaging/focus out and keep the speakers from distorting as easily

cheers
jay

 

[Maninacan]

sounds like a plan boss - engines are quite important!

Put my xover in just now - it only had three points to choose from - 2k, 2.5k, 4k. So went for the lowest as its a gentle 6db slope. Sounds like the drivers having a much nicer time now! In fact the sound in the cinq is better than in my old jap celica GTfour-A (RIP) with the amped 10 speaker system option.

Been listening to Lyn Collins "rock me again and again and again" repeatedly. Better stop now before the neighbours call environmental health, or, much more importantly, I wear the song out for myself!!!

What are you lot listening to by the way?

Good luck with the engine job pal - i'd offer to help but i'm only good for brewing up and generally getting in the way/acting daft.

 

[jaydr]

thanks for the offer matey it seems we are pretty similar (arse about and brew making abillities lol) hmmm now thats a tough question musically im quite diverse in choices. At the moment im listening to a lot of frank sinatra/ratpack also a lot of barenaked ladies stuff and a bit of ub40 but for audio set up i find kd lang's ingenue cd a must

cheers
jay

 

[ronnieronson]

quite possibly one of the best creative uses, of one of the many useless spaces in our cars!

Well impressed!

:worship:

 

[Maninacan]

Cheers mate - quite easy to do really and cost buttons. Sounds really good now with the x-over fitted. Sounds all the better when you think "thirty quid"! I could have probably have done it much cheaper if i'd hung on for a suitable speaker to turn up at a car booter, then I could have got spare drivers and x-overs too! Tight? Me?!!!

 

[ronnieronson]

Cheers mate - quite easy to do really and cost buttons. Sounds really good now with the x-over fitted. Sounds all the better when you think "thirty quid"! I could have probably have done it much cheaper if i'd hung on for a suitable speaker to turn up at a car booter, then I could have got spare drivers and x-overs too! Tight? Me?!!!

You've done well there - if it wasn't for the 400watt sub in the boot, and the fact that I've used that particular bit of my sei to house my temp gauge, then I'd probably have a crack at making one myself