bass mechanic

this entire system started out based on a quest to get a little more power / volume and to improve the midbass and staging up front in my C6Z
my system consists of the following
Kenwood DNX 9980 HD
1 pair of JL audio ZR800 8" component drivers in the front door's
1 pair of JL audio C2-350 3.5" 2 way speakers in the front doors.
1 pair of JL audio C2-525x 2 way speakers in the rear
1 Pair of JL audio 8W3v3-4 subs in the hatch
1 JL audio XD700/5
1 JL audio XD300/1
1 mini amplifier for center channel and using factory dash speaker.

someone had asked me in a previous thread someplace what i thought about the 8's in the doors so let me give a write up.

After about 4 days of tweaking things I found good results using the HU front channel high pass filter set to 70 hz for the ZR800 8" speakers,
they play to about 180hz with 12db per octave setting, the 3.5” coaxial’s come in at about 200hz also 12 db per octave then play to the top.
The rear 5.25” are set at 120 hz and up.
All of the above running off the JL XD700/5
the sub channel of this amp is 300 watts to the 8" in the doors. it is mono but you can't hear stereo with the frequencies that these speakers are playing anyway.

The pair of 8w3v3 in .45cu ft ported and tuned to 35 hz absolutely pound! They play from 100hz and down at 12db / octave.
Several people have listened to the system and all stated if they had not known there were 8’s back there they would have guessed a single 15” sub. as a ported enclosure they move a ton of
air and the hatch just amplifies it.
Because I have the subs and the 8” in the doors, both of which share frequencies from about 60-100hz (depending on xover slope)
I found that using the digital time alignment (DTA) setting on the Kenwood I was able to align the arrival time into the front seat.
The result is midbass that sounds like it’s all coming from the doors (most of which is) that just absolutely slams!
Snare drums, kick drums anything with a quick WHACK you would swear are right in your lap! The tom tom drums resonate the front staging of the car like nothing I have ever heard before.
In fact, the midbass upfront hits your legs enough umph to really feel like there is a drum set sitting right there.

I also took the time to seal up the open cavity in the rear section of the doors with some ¼” MDF it seems every bit as solid as the rest of the door (fiberglass) I don’t know if it helped with mid bass but it sure couldn’t hurt and only took a few minutes to make using the factory rain shield as a pattern.



I had some issues with the ZR800 actually hitting the back of the door panel in 1 area, I had to locate the drivers lower in the door and farther to the back.
I also removed the excess plastic from the inside of the door. I would say it’s clear that unless it were a thin mount 10” like the factory had this is about as large of a speaker as you would want to put in there.
I can say it definitely has as much or more bass than the factory 10” but of course I have more watts to throw at it. It does make the side mirrors unusable at moderate volume.
I found crossing them lower than 70 hz caused a LOT of cone travel, but it doesn’t really make much usable bass, better to let the sub boxes take care of those tasks.
However I am sure I’m still getting usable bass response down to about 50-55hz with the 12/db octave xover.

I also cut the rainshield off the factory 10" speaker to use it on my adapter plate, it's 1/2" thick, threw some black paint on it to hide it behind the factory grilles.



I used an RTA and some pink noise to see what kind of freq response I had and to my surprise it was already pretty darn flat as far as I could tell with a flat EQ setting,
this is very surprising and unexpected, but based on the components i picked i was not too surprised.

My head unit has SRSwow and trubass on it, after I got the DTA set correctly I found using these really lifted the sound stage and added a 3D environment that just brought everything together in a way I never could have expected.
The sound stage is plastered all across the dash, you can hear every detail from every instrument and can locate with your eyes closed exactly where it originates from while playing DVD 5.1 audio discs.

As I mentioned the center channel is run from 1 channel of a small IC based amp (35 watts) I was able to adjust the level of it so it is just perceptible, the Kenwood head unit uses SRSwow in conjunction with the center to create some really neat
surround sound effects it seems to bring the sound stage just beyond the windshield which I was not really expecting. amazing really..

As for power, there is more than enough, I am worried to push it any louder will blow the 3.5” speakers, I cannot believe how loud they can get, never distorted and more than my ears can take! I was shocked at how much of the audio spectrum they actually cover and they seem really flat. I like a little sizzle so I added on the EQ just a tad to the top bands.
I have had several people sit in the car in total amazement, the staging in that car was not something I was really expecting to get, I am sure a lot of it has to do with the head unit and the time alignment SRSwow and other features but it painted sound all across my dash.
You can close your eyes and pick out all the instruments in separate locations

I did not do the most elaborate designed setup in the rear just something simple to match the interior of the hatch area, I incorporated the Lights that came from the factory in the rear panel into my sub boxes. I think they add a nice touch!

The main thing that brought me to the JL setup was the hunt for a large free air driver for the doors, I knew the rest would be pretty easy and straight forward.
But considering how important it was to me to have the mid bass upfront this was key for me to find the right diver and the Zr800 are just the ticket!

What I learned from this experience is that the 3.5” can easily handle 70% of the total frequency response up front. (just like Bose did) This brought my staging much higher and leave the bass duties to a speaker that has more cone area to handle that task.
In listening to many component systems I find that the tweeters do way more than they should and the smaller midrange speakers are not really good at anything but midrange,
the 3.5” seems to walk all over those setups because your getting a lot more range than a tweeter can provide.
if you really listen to the sound from a component setup the mid and tweet really need to be close to each other to compliment each other because they usually cross the tweet over near 2.5k and to be honest even a 5.25" midrange has trouble playing that high and flat.
it is especially hard if you have a poly cone, the light weight cones that JL uses seem to work much better. light weight paper actually works best but few manufacturers use them because like
I have stated before to many people buy with their eyes and not their ears! that idea is not a marketable one.
the 3.5" as in my case actually play pretty low and because they are small cones have no trouble covering those higher freqs leaving the tweet to cover only what it was designed to, and it's only about .75" so it doesn’t cover up too much of the 3.5 cone itself.
I was amazed how loud they can actually get.

I took a few pics of the install process, i didnt take as many as i wanted to because i was under the gun to finish the system so i could take it to the car show the next morning.
I pulled an all nighter, working from 10AM friday to 6:30 the next morning stopping only long enough to eat dinner. I made it to the show by 8:30am after a 1 hour drive there.
the enclosures themselves I had been working on in my spare time for a couple weeks..
they are made from 1/2" and 1/4" MDF that has all been reinforced with fiberglass on the inside. despite what you might think they are rock solid! they don't resonante at all and fit perfectly in the odd shaped space around the wheel wells and rear of the hatch area.
they are also removable so i can get to the battery and storage cubby under them. the items you see in the net are the things i access most often and thought i might as well relocate the cargo net for that purpose.

0Andrew6@TheDoubleAA

very cool and nice way to maintain space while still having system in.

bass mechanic

that is always my goal to get the maximum amount of bass in the least amount of space and to do it in a way that can be totally reversed to sell the car. i did not cut a single wire or drill any holes to do this install.

Lancejoker

Great looking install

bass mechanic

thanks, it's not by any means my best install but I think it's as close as I could get to somthing that looks like it could have come with the car.
if the trunk had about 1 inch more height i would have used more fiberglass and been able to mold the subs farther into the corner taking up less room. could have made the amp rack thinner.
hard to explain but i had to go with this design because i still wanted access to the storage cubby without using any tools. and because of the size of the boxes and the position of the cubby i had to make a couple comprimises.
i think in all it looks professional.
i used to do installs for about 10 years up till about 15 years ago for a living. back then i was doing systems for the denver bronco football players!
you might imagine what a $30,000 install would be like back then.

markcz

Looks great

I like the way you put the original lights and cargo net back into the aftermarket boxes, that's something I would have done

bass mechanic

lots of people have commented on the use of the factlry lights. i think it adds a nice touch.

crease-guard

I agree on the lights, very nice touch. I really like how you did the amps and subs blending in the lines and keeping the cargo space. That was one issue with my first install that there was NO space left.

Very nice work.

Jay

bass mechanic

you know i may be rolling through or near plano in a couple months, i would really like to see your setup in person and would love your opinion about the SQ of my system.

DJLynch

Bass mechanic, it sounds like you know your stuff - AWESOME setup!

I was wondering now that you've had it a few weeks, how are you liking the JL zr800s with the 3.5s in the door? Ive been trying to figure out a setup that would keep a bigger door speaker..

Also if you didn't run the subs in the rear, would the door subs suffice in your opinion? Im thinking about either buying or building a custom box that holds 1 12 but i really don't want to sacrifice the room in the rear if it can be avoided.

Either way, again nice setup.

bass mechanic

it took me about 2 weeks of tweaking this and that, each time thinking i had it just the way i wanted. i finally have all the bugs worked out and i am very happy with the out come. more and more people have heard it and all are absolutly blown away with the sound.

if you wanted to run without a sub you could but to me having sub bass up front just sounds wrong. midbass is fine and if thats all your looking for the ZR800 would be perfect. they can move a ton of air though so you need to cross them over at about 70-80 hz

i am now crossed over at about 180-190hz on the top end to the actual spectrum they cover is not that much. the 3.5" 2 way really deserve all the credit because 80% of the sound comes from there but the midbass can easily be felt from the 8's

also about the 12, i would not reccommend it. the 2 8's take up less room and hit every bit as hard as a single 12 sealed.

snoopdan

why does it always have to be JAY ELLE?!?!

DJLynch

Bass mechanic... would you be interested in duplicating your box for sale? Either that or would you happen to have a dimension sheet of your box, like a draw up of how you built yours?

bass mechanic

ugggg, sure everything has a price! pm me your info lets talk over the phone.

Tarheels1

Nice looking set up!

bchataroo

This is SWEET! I have the same car and am ready to upgrade the stereo. This is what I am going to do. Would you mind if I send a few PM's along the way?

bass mechanic

sure no problem glad to help!

sublime1996525

Tagging this for future reference.