Building a High Fidelity Sound System Build (Attempt)

[Adurm]

You'll be fine with bigger air space in sealed enclosure. Ported would be an issue.

 

[JackRabbitSLIM]

It's pretty common to forget about the volume that the actual speaker takes up inside the enclosure too.

 

[mmdb]

It's pretty common to forget about the volume that the actual speaker takes up inside the enclosure too.

Yeap! I always tell folks to shoot 10-15% more volume. Speaking of which, I did another measurement. MDF hates water FYI. Got about 19 liters volume. A liter too much, so I poured about 1 liter of resin mixed with fiberglass and a bunch of change I had sitting in my car.

So just a little bit of bondo work and sanding left. Then it's off to get upholstered. All in all, not too difficult of a task. I'm really looking forward to see how it sounds. If I could do it all again and if space wasn't an issue... I'd design the speaker to shoot straight backwards.

 

[nonoabby123]

Is the stock 140a alternator good enough for your build? I don't know enough about hifi builds but enjoy watching and learning about them.

 

[mmdb]

Good question! I found THIS link going over an alternator's output, the car's load, and the sound system usage.

Given: 140a alternator
14.4 volts produced whilst running
140 x 14.4 = 2016 watts produced (max)
assumption car usage at any one time = 60% of 2016 watts = 1209.6 watts
Watts available car audio: 2016 - 1209.6 = 806 watts

My amp setup can require over 2k watts. But I highly, highly doubt I'll crank up my music that loud. My speakers will probably blow before reaching those levels.

 

[Adurm]

Made me think of a big 3 upgrade. Have any positive thoughts on upgrading the cars ground points?

 

[mmdb]

I honestly don’t know much about that stuff. I’m learning as it goes at the moment - open to
Ideas.

 

[gixxerfool]

I honestly don’t know much about that stuff. I’m learning as it goes at the moment - open to
Ideas.

Honda’s have a pretty poor electrical system when you add stuff on. Many of them with large systems will do the Big Three upgrade. It basically consists of running large gauge negative cables from the battery to the engine, to the alternator battery and to the coils.

 

[Ezekiel81923]

I honestly don’t know much about that stuff. I’m learning as it goes at the moment - open to
Ideas.

Battery (+) to Alternator (+)
Battery (-) to chassis
Engine block to chassis

It does help to maximize what you have but if your system is drawing more current than it can produce you will still have problems.

I never used to convert an electrical systems output capacity to watts, you should be fine using the current draw (amps) to make sure you are within it's limits. If you have an 800w amp but it only requires max 30a to operate that's different than an 800w amp that requires 40A or 50A to make the same power. I also wouldn't assume any stock alternator is going to give you it's max output rating unless you've made a lot of upgrades to the system.

Aftermarket alternators do exist but I've found it easier and cheaper to have the stock alternator rewound to a higher output capacity. I don't know how many places like that are still around but there was a shop down the street from me that did it which was very convenient.

If you're worried about it at all, that is.

 

[JackRabbitSLIM]

I agree with what everyone is saying, but I don't think it's going to be a problem for you @mmdb

 

[mmdb]

Thanks for your input. It puts my mind to ease

For now, the class D will put my mind to ease. I personally haven't "heard" different amps and how they sound (A vs AB vs D). I do have experience hearing lossless files vs an mp3 and honestly the differences were so small, and in a car, went totally unnoticed.

 

[Ezekiel81923]

Thanks for your input. It puts my mind to ease

For now, the class D will put my mind to ease. I personally haven't "heard" different amps and how they sound (A vs AB vs D). I do have experience hearing lossless files vs an mp3 and honestly the differences were so small, and in a car, went totally unnoticed.

For subwoofers I don't think you'd tell a huge difference, their frequency range is so small. Class D is the way to go, they are the most efficient for the power you'd need just don't clip the signal.

I have been able to tell a difference between old school Class A/B amps and the newer mainstream stuff. My Orion HCCA's that I ran back in the day (the original HCCA's were still old "back in the day") were amazing. Super underrated power output and crystal clear signal.

They don't make them like they used to, as they say.

 

[mmdb]

^ vintage stuff is pretty amazing. I was always a fan of zapco amps and have used their amps as well as arc audio signature a/b amps. I’ll always be using either of the two. Though I can really attest to arc audios amazing customer service and tech support.

update: finally got my enclosures back. My dsp will be here on Thursday. So back to tuning with the new zen v, fixed dsp and sub. Exciting!

 

[tshrey]

They used carpet for something up on your dash? You should pull that off and wrap it in alcantara, all the curves are convex, it would be trivial to do and look a lot better.

 

[mmdb]

They used carpet for something up on your dash? You should pull that off and wrap it in alcantara, all the curves are convex, it would be trivial to do and look a lot better.

Good idea. I’ll def need to redo the pods. Carpet was too damn think to get them installed without a lot of sweat.