Trying to catch up with the work I have been doing on the van in the last few months.
LOTS going on. Going to start with the oldest one, which is the ICE.
As you may or may not know, I had an "OK" system in. Based around my 90's Genesis amps and Rainbow speakers, along with a 'thin' JL Sub.
I just wasn't happy with it and couldn't get it to sound the way I wanted. Just didn't blow me away.
So I took a trip to see Lee Dyson at Platinum In Car, who I had hear from lots of people in the know, was THE person to go and see.
I explained what I had done, talked him through my ideas and showed him my setup.
Being the top, no-nonsense bloke he is... he didn't sugar coat it. Said I had fallen into the same trap a lot of people do.
I had researched online and bought all the "top of the range gear" that was the best you could get... in the 90's!!!
So, I set about selling all the amps and speakers I had amassed and placed myself in the hands of the multi-EMMA award winner himself.
This is the install we (he) came up with.
Stack of hardware, mostly Hybrid Audio.
Cutting edge Class D, high punch, low temp, low power.
Metal amp rack, built into the rear drivers side skin, to be hidden behind a beauty panel.
Helix DSP.2 Digital Signal Processor, for running 'everything' active.
Two Unity U5A amps
Good earth, close to the amps, with a proper sized cable.
Power is taken from the leisure battery, which is hidden in a box under the van.
3-inch Hybrid Audios in the dash. Put in "SOLID" with 15mm ply.
There are NO tweeters on this install, these go up so high, you really don't need them.
3U's perform perfectly up to 20khz!
Needed a bit of a kick but also well balanced in the mix. So we went with a 10" C10SW-D4, dropping down to 33hz, which is plenty low enough to me.
Yes, it feels ACE on your bum.
That does leave us with a "gap" between top end and sub.
So, lets fill it!
I used a pair of "thin" speaker pockets from Audio Sport .. and just started hacking!
Used Rivnuts to attach them to the doorcard, so they will be solid bu also let me take them off, if I needed too, until they were painted/finished.
Going for proper Sound Quality (SQ) here. So tried to solid up the door, stopping them rattling and 'sealing' them, as best as I could.
Then I just built it up with a combination of Fiberglass, P38, Putty Spray Primer, Bumper spray, "Manhatten Mist" textured spray and a few other bits and bobs....
Filled the pocket internals loosely with packing, to help with back waves.
Bolted the whole lot to the metal door itself, to stop any rattles and make it solid.
Added just a little bit of bling to the door pulls and handle.
Finished job...
Then, Lee spent a day setting it all up.
Never heard anything like it before. The staging is incredible. Feels like you can reach out and touch the musicians in front of the dash!
No mental sub, no SPL.... just award winning (I hope!) sound quality, that envelops you. VERY happy.
Friend of mine is an upholsterer, so he covered them for me but he put quite a large over hang of fabric to the back when he glued the fabric on.
So I left it for a week or so in the sun (summer time) and then trimmed the edges flush (well, at a 45' angle) with a very sharp blade.
For fixing them, short term I have used string double sided tape. But long term, I have holes drilled in the door card where the padding trim it covers it.
Then I can use a glue gun and put a blob of glue from behind to make sure it stays where I wanted it too, IF the tape isn't enough.
This is how VW did it but with chunks of melted plastic. Which is why when you buy them they usually have drill marks on the back of them, where they were taken off.
Honestly, the shape of the piece means it pretty much stays in place on it's own.
Specially after you screw the handle on (as it retains it a little) and the little door pin holder also keeps it in.
Hope that helps!
Dash speakers instead. How you finding them?
I have always been in the mind set of thinking a system "needed" tweeters. And I may have been right back in the day.
But now-a-days, with high quality speakers and drivers, they are really not something you need to add.
This turnaround was put upon my by Lee @ PlatinumInCar. http://www.platinumincar.co.uk/
He has won so many awards in the last 5 years, I just trusted his judgement.
Honestly, I have never heard a stereo as good as the one in the van (on a regular basis) ... ever.
It isn't loud, it isn't bass heavy, it isn't sharp.... It is perfectly balanced, the depth and width of the sound stage is incredible. Just hard to explain and quantify.
I love it!