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2012 gti stereo build

nadams5755

Ready to race!
i ordered some 18sound 6nd430s last month, 4-ohms were back ordered.

idq62s finally died at a meca show a week later. i grabbed some beyma 6g40s to hold me over until the 18sounds showed up. amazon prime!

they fit, front & back, 1.25" mounting ring is right. they're actually a little more shallow than the idq62s.


had to cut some new rings due to changes in the mounting flanges. had to 'clock' them 45* so the mounting ears would clear the door panel's mounting posts:


it felt good making things again:


they don't play low as the idq62s but midrange is much better. i'm getting used to their sound (and limitations). i can see why people suggest PA drivers with horns.

18sounds showed up today. i'm going to hold off installing them for a bit though. i'll probably have to make some more rings.
 

nadams5755

Ready to race!
6nd430s use the same cutout and mounting hole as the 6g40s. dropped in some fast rings as well. i can't put the foam puck behind the speaker because of the frame/basket. i put both sides on the speaker after measuring the depth. i tamed some other rattles in the doors and installed tesa tape where materials touch.



the idq62s are great midbasses but bad midranges. the 6g40s are great midranges but bad midbasses. the 6nd430s are better midranges than midbasses but they sound great.

i took a tip from quality_sound and replaced my signal taps with fresh leads. i got them from bold-sport.com - Bold-Sport.com :: Custom made trigger wire (i chose headunit termination on both ends. ordered half as many as i needed and cut the wires in half.)

this let me un-molest the factory speaker wires.



i went to a bunch of MECA shows this summer and learned quite a bit. i've also been fiddling with tuning and learning there as well. horns put me in modified and i've scored 69-71 throughout the season with a couple 74s.
 

nadams5755

Ready to race!
i was gonna put 8" midbasses in the kicks but discovered horns would be in the way. so i pivoted. :D

i wanted as much on-axis as possible and a wide stage. i was tired of dealing with door speaker resonances.

i ended up with c8s in the kicks and c3cxs in the sails. http://jtaudioacc.com had my car for a bit and i got it back the other day. i'm really happy with the results. now it's time to adjust the levels and fiddle with the tune.

i'm using the passive crossovers that came with the c3cxs. they're mounted behind the back seat. it seems to work fine since they're a bit adjustable and the drivers are coaxial.

















i have 5 dsp channels and 6 amp channels. if i wanted to go full-active again, i'd need a new dsp and some more amp channels. i need approval from the budget lady. :p
 

nadams5755

Ready to race!
i should note that i tried a few different mounting spots before deciding on sails.







i ended up making little mock enclosures from no-bake modeling clay so i could play with aiming. (i masking-taped the back side of the drivers so they wouldn't get gunked up. however, i needed something to hold them in place)



 

nadams5755

Ready to race!
i realized i needed more power to the sub, especially at lower frequencies. i could tell the amp had no good control over sub. i also wanted some more power to the midbasses as well for better dynamics.

i got a good deal on a couple focal fdp 6.900s:
  • mids/tweets: 150w on channels 1+2 of one amp (still using passive crossovers)
  • midbasses: 400w bridged on channels 3+4 of both amps
  • subs: 500w per coil, bridged on channels 5+6 on both amps
two channels are unused until i get more DSP channels.

they're a bit lighter, smaller, and quite a bit more efficient.



the other front runner amps were a pair of pdx v9s and a pdx m12 or some arc xdi v2s.

i went to a triple point meca event sunday. i placed second in modified with an average score of 78.5. (79, 78.5, and 77.25). image/stage is pretty solid now. tonality and linearity are my next challenges.
 

nadams5755

Ready to race!
setting speaker-level output produced increased brightness but no distortion that i could tell. i fed the bit-ten disc back in and did the eq/de-eq process again: turns out there's no need for it w/ speaker-level output.

since speaker-level is back in play, fading all the way forward doesn't cut out the rear door speakers anymore. probably tomorrow, i'll disconnect them completely

one of the judge's feedback was a phase issue in the right midrange. i played w/ test tones and saw it myself: 300-400hz then again at 600hz.

i wanted to see if i had a room/cabin issue, so i put a mic in front of the speakers to minimize the room impact. i disabled the eqs and measured:


turns out the responses are mostly the same but the right channel's frequency response is shifted up a little.

i wondered if i could fix this with more polyfill in the right sail pod. i grabbed some from my wife's craft stash and put it in. turns out it worked!


it filled the area below the curve quite a bit between 250-600hz and brought the peaks more in line with each other.

now the center is all screwed up but the lower midrange is better.

i also spent an hour playing with the midbass settings today, got rid of the 8-10db 100-120hz peaks, and otherwise flattened their response.

back to tuning and learning i guess. :)
 

nadams5755

Ready to race!
after some further listening, judge feedback, and local audio nerd feedback, i discovered that my mids were crossed too low, the enclosures were too small, or the enclosures weren't vented enough. the biggest indication was the bloom/boom centered around 500hz.



some local audio nerds suggested i try to vent the driver better into the door. so i got a blessing from JT and opened them up a bit to breathe into the door panel. i punched an additional 1+" hole directly into the door panel. should be almost 2" diameter total vent.



thankfully i've got spare door panels: :D






end result? solid response down to 100hz! :D


lower midrange tones sound more pronounced. midrange notes aren't as pronounced. whole stage sort of relaxed a little. positioning is a little better. stage height raised up a bit as well.

also note: it's funny watching these little c3 drivers blap out the lower notes (no lowpass crossover)

i should have a bigger update in a couple weeks.
 

clownish

just clowning around
thanks. i don't think this is really the right forum for all this stuff but others may be interested.



maybe i'll get a tune and some wheels, then people will take it seriously :p



*bags and wheels [emoji849]

It's cool to see something more extensive tho - Ive never looked into audio beyond adding a small sub so it's nice to see something way more thought out.


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