minitech

This is an unusual situation and one that could be passed over as impractical, etc.. but can I get some advise and constuctive comment?

There is someone in town here with a C5 he uses for racing. It is turbocharged and built from bottom up for about 900 hp at the flywheel and over 700 hp on the dyno rwhp. Used for racing about 90 minutes all over 150 mph and some over 200 mph.

He is asking for some advise on the audio system. It is not a stripped out interior car, still stock.

There is some limited street driving but this car is a workhorse and he wears a helmet while racing.

Is there any configuration that would allow some reasonable sound for music while driving with a helmet on? Obviously not high quality but what would it take for something listenable with helmet over loud car?

This car must be very exciting to drive. What if we added some great audio at the same time?

Just looking for some constructive ideas. May not even try to go there but would like some input.

Kale, please help...

Kale

Hmnn... Effiicent speakers with lots of power...

Whats the interior look like? is it stripped out?


easy answer is headphones inside the helmet, like a motorcycle set up.

minitech

The interior is stock and has the stock audio system. I was thinking of something with a sub and powerful front speakers that could be loud but not too distorted. It has so much power weight is not much of an issue so he didn't need to strip the interior. Could do the headphones but then miss the feel of the slamming sub.

Kale

you could do headphones AND a sub...

scott_fx

lol


i dont see why a beefy amp, front components and a sub wouldn't fit the bill.

Kale

Well a $15 set of headphones would sound significantly better and be waaay easier

scott_fx

i agree, but if he didnt want to go the headphone route...

Kale

he could probably "hear" a loud 6.5 component set. I'd do front and rear speakers in this case.

Will he bother other racers, though?

0BOXOLOGY

Well, given the situation if he doesn't want headphones his best option is some wave boat speakers maybe firing off of the windshield from the middle of the rear seats... they are extremely efficient and very loud on axis... and in this situation I think he is just looking for volume, not sq. and, trust me, they will be about as loud as he can get per watt, though they will do nothing, and I mean nothing for sq, staging, etc. They are basically small horns with a mid and enclosure that are meant for the water skiier to hear from the boat... they are extremely loud and need a really clean amp to be effective.

they have very little bass, so something will have to be done there as well... maybe some bass shakers for this setup will work good enough...

by no means would I recommend this setup for any other system.

scott_fx

how loud can this car possibly be?? i'm going to put on my helmet and listen to my stereo right now!

ok... so i have my arai profile helmet on, it's not the quietest helmet in the world but it's a great great quality helmet. i have my stereo at below my normal listening level and i have an air cleaner canked at full flow... no problems hearing the stereo. i even have my head turned to the side so the speaker is aimed at the side of my head.

minitech

Good point. Didn't think of testing the helmet sound first. May not be that bad then.

robvuk

What kind of racing is for 90 minutes all at over 150 mph???? And WHAT pray tell, is he doing trying to listen to music while participating in this activity?????

I am a high performance driving instructor for the National Corvette Museum Driver events. I wear a helmet when I'm on the track as do my students. We use headphones to talk to each other. Some helmets, depending on the fit, you can hear fine. Others, particularly when well fitting and new, are almost impossible over the noise of the car and the fact that windows are required to be down. High frequencies are certainly out of the question.

I'd like to hear more about this racing.

Kale

Db drag?


I'll be here all night.