06 Civic Build - New Build List on page 60

[Stephen_og]

Like Merzbow said, just find some good home audio equipment yourself. MY dad has all Definitive technology

Here are the towers:

http://www.definitivetech.com/Products/products.aspx?path=OldModels&productid=BP7001SC

and here is the main channel box:

http://www.definitivetech.com/Products/products.aspx?path=OldModels&productid=C/L/R3000

and its ran of off some brand name reciever I cant remember the name.

The price gets up there, but the sound quality from these are amazing. The built in subwoofers in the two towers shake the whole house when they are turned up. Something to think about.

Watching movies and sports with these babies is absolutely incredible..

[scooter99]

Ok folks, the project is done! I've done the best I can to make this as clear as I can for now. When the build is done I'll be writing a summary for the whole build. However this will bring everyone up to speed on the audio build to come.

The one thing i ask is that you do not post please for a while. I'm having to break this up over several posts and would like it to not be intterrupted. Please respect that request. I should have all this up shortly. Once it's done, I'll post up that it's done. Thanks!

[scooter99]

Car Audio Project Summary:

Ok so some people out there are having a problem following along where this is project is at, or where it is going, what’s going in, etc. I have no doubt that those problems are due to not following along from the very beginning, or if you’ve just joined, actually reading the entire thread before you ask your questions. So I’m going to take this opportunity to go ahead and sort of reset for everyone where I’m at, and the direction in which I’m planning to go. IF, this doesn’t apply to you, then disregard all that.

Please keep in mind also, that I’m posting updates in 4 or 5 different forums, and so some of this is not going to apply to everyone.

So all that being said, I’ll go ahead and start on the summary. This is going to cover pretty much everything. I’ll put the pics up, weeding through of course, and this should bring everyone up to speed. This will be very much generalized, so I’m not speaking specifically to one forum or the other four. This just is what’s going on, and what is going to happen.

Updated Equipment List:

Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tablet

Alpine CDA-9886

Octava HDMI Converter

Samsung 7" LED LCD with HDMI input x2

Gefen Analog to Digital Converter

Knu Knoceptz HDMI cables - x3

Knu Konceptz Optical cables - x2

Hertz Mille ML280s Signature Tweeters

Hertz Mille ML700 3" Comp Mid Range

Hertz Mille ML1600 Mid Bass

Hertz High Energy HSK-165 Rear fill (passive)

Hertz High Energy HX300D subs (12"s dvc)

Audison Bit One.1 Processor

Audison LRx 4.1k (mid range and tweeters),

Audison LRx 2.9 (mid bass),

Audison LRx 2.4 (rear fill),

Audison LRx 1.1k x 2 (subs)

Stinger - Batteries (x3 SPP1200), H/O relay, Cables (1/0 Ga, 4ga, 8ga, speaker, other wires) Front - Done March 20, 2011

Audison Connection - distribution blocks, and all connections

Mechman 220 amp alternator

Zenesis auto start alarm with window up/down modules, and sunroof modules

Phase 1 – Operating System aka: Sources:

Original Plan: The original plan with this was to stick with the Pioneer AVH-P4200DVD unit as my head unit and mold in the unit to look cleaner, sleeker, and really just blend better into the dash piece. The problem was that the standard double din trim ring, first off, looks like crap. It’s not a good look and looks very cheap. So doing this will clean that up. The problem was that the bottom part of the unit sticks out and that makes for a difficult molding. Check out some of the pics that I’ve put up here.

Here you can see the trim ring around the unit, as well as, the lip on the bottom with the control buttons that stick out.

Here are some pictures of the actuall filling of the sides etc. Remember this never got finished so it looks like I didn’t post all the pictures to the end.

[scooter99]

Main Source Unit:

After starting on that piece, things gradually changed. I was searching other things just for “curiosity sake” and decided why am I going to try to do this unit, with the Bluetooth module – specifically so I can play Pandora off my cell phone cause I simply do not use the phone that often, cause I’m a texter not a talker, and also the HD Radio Tuner – which really I’m tired of the radio anyway cause they play the same crap over and over and over again, and I end up using my iPod or my phone for music anyway.

So what happened? I did some more searching and researching on tablet installs and found an obscene amount of people were doing the “iPad (gen 1 and 2) install” and I really couldn’t find many other types of installs.

If you don’t know who I am by now from the threads I’ve made, then you wouldn’t know this, but I’m not a “go with the grain” type of guy. I don’t like to do what everyone else has done, or get what everyone else has got. So I decided to go with who I am, and started researching other tablets and phones. Phones because I’m getting ready to switch carriers and I didn’t want an iPhone, much like I don’t want an iPad. But I want to be able to tether my phone with my tablet.

So I researched a lot of different tablets, and came across my current tablet. The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tablet. Here are some pictures of it.

I’m not going to get too much into this part of the install, but I will be doing a different article write up on this and what I’ve discovered, what worked, what didn’t work, and where that is at. When I get that done, I’ll post up the link to that here (in the forums that will allow me to edit posts forever). For the other forums, I’ll just post a link up and describe it and start a new thread on the subject. So, moving on.

This is going to be my main source unit. I’m going to be using this for everything, from movies, music, and Facebook, to everything else I need. Well most everything else. Until I can confirm that I can get the Bit One software on the tablet and it’s usable to control the Bit One, then I’m stuck with “almost everything”.

Secondary Source Unit:

I recently went to a car show for sound quality. I was looking at car builds, installs, and watching judges getting in and out of cars and trucks listening and scoring. It was at that point where I discovered, that I have no way to compete.

Let’s backpedal a moment. My intention with this car and this build was not originally to compete. It was simply set out to be a personal pleasure vehicle, a project car to keep me busy, and something I could be proud of when I was done with it. Show it off to friends, forum members, etc. I was not looking to compete. However, that being said, I’ve always wanted to make sure that I set it up as though I would be able to drive up to a competition and be able to compete in it. Make sure the install was to spec according to whatever rules and laws, the sound was on point, and whatever else needed to be done to it to make it a compete able vehicle.

Back to the above where we left off. I was at that competition and realized that with the tablet install, I have no way to compete because the judges have their cd’s that they use. Now I’ve not read up on the rules etc for competition or even asked how the judges decide what to use in what competitions etc. Why would I not be able to get a hold of these cd’s they use and download them to my tablet to be right there and able to use the tablet for competition after all. I’m not sure of the answer to that.

But after asking around to a few people, the conclusion came that I would need a cd player in the vehicle. So this is going to be my secondary unit.

I recently bought a used head unit for my truck which is going to be a future full build. But for now, I can get a different unit for it and use this one, which I think is a decent unit. It’s an Alpine CDA-9886. It’s very clean, and does a great job in my truck at the moment. Here’s a picture:

Apparently I didn’t take a picture of it, so here’s a link: Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

Phase 1 Install Notes:

The install on these units are going to be completely custom.

For the tablet a custom dash piece will be made with actuators and other features for the “wow” factor, as well as security, and functionality. In order to make this all happen some things need to be removed, and some things just simply moved. The dash kit has an air vent that will have to either be removed, or will end up being partly covered. That decision will be made during the build portion of it. The HVAC controls also reside in the dash kit, and those will have to be moved to make room for the tablet and other things. The HVAC controls will be extended and moved above to the headliner. There is a spot where the interior lights, and sunroof switch resides on the headliner. Those will be removed and brought down and a custom pod will be made to house the HVAC controls as well as retain full use and functionality of the lights and switches.

For the Alpine unit, this will reside in the glove compartment. A panel will be made to fill the glove compartment and the unit will be centered in the panel. On the side of it, I’ll be putting some buttons/switches to operate a handful of other features in the car and system, including a switch to operate the Alpine unit so it can be switched on and off.

Phase 2 – Power, Components, & Other Wiring:

In most every application you can’t have all this equipment and produce great sound without a good power plant. I’ve read install logs and build logs for a long time and come across some serious power and interesting use of it. Now obviously in the SPL world, the more batteries the better along with alternators. I’ve seen some pretty funny stuff there. Seems as though some of the thought process with these is, “just cram it in there no matter what”. But with that much power, sometimes you have to.

In my case, I’m not putting in 12 batteries and 4 alternators. Let’s face it, it’s a Honda Civic. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. But no, my thought on this design was, get as much realistic power in there as I possibly can without it being obnoxious and have the ability to make it clean. That’s pretty much my objective with the power in this build.

Engine Bay:

Under the hood is going to reside a Stinger Power2 SPP1200 battery, Stinger SGP35 500Amp Relay, and a Mechman 220amp High Output Alternator.

One of the reasons I chose this size battery is cause of its size. I have an install idea in mind for the engine bay and I need to have as much space as possible to be able to make that idea work. The SPP1200 allows me that ability, and gives me 2400watt regular, and a Peak Discharge of 2600amps, in a package of 6.75”H x 7.75”W x 6.5”D. That’s pretty impressive. I’m planning this battery only to handle the standard car duties, starting, running accessories, etc. and nothing else. So it’ll need to be isolated from everything else.

Then I decided with this battery up here, and trying to isolate it, and power the rear batteries for the audio system, I needed an alternator that could keep up with those duties. For that I chose the Mechman 220 amp High Output Alternator. This will charge everything and keep up with no problems, unlike my wimpy OEM 70amp alternator.

One of the reasons I came to this decision on the Mechman Alternator was because there were several problems with other company’s alternators. Plugs wouldn’t work, lights came on, etc. I emailed the guys over at Mechman, and they assured me it would be a plug and play unit on my vehicle. I have yet to get it installed yet, but at this point it may be the point of no return. It’s been a couple of years since I got it. Here it is:

[scooter99]

So in order to separate the Stinger SPP1200 up here and the rear, I needed a good isolator. This isolator should allow me to play my system off the rear batteries and keep this front battery charged so I can still start my car and drive off. For this I chose the Stinger SGP35 500Amp Relay. Why did I decide to go with a 500 amp relay? Well I have an alternator that puts out 220amps, and the one below the 500amp was the 200 amp. So I decided for a few bucks more, and a lot more comfort, not to skimp on the size.

To make this system a little more efficient, I’ll be doing the “Big 3”, using Stinger 1/0 gauge HPM Wire.

Here are a couple of good tutorials and how to’s on the Big 3. There are also several others you can find, just look around, they’re out there.

How To Do The Big 3: Tutorial - SMD Forum

Here are some pictures of my current temporary battery set up in the engine bay.

[scooter99]

Trunk:

Now that we have the engine bay figured out and the power to the car decided. I’m going to turn my attention to the trunk of the car, where the power is really needed.

Like the engine bay for power I chose to run Stinger Power2 SPP1200 batteries. However, I’m going to be running 5 amplifiers that are capable of up to 4300 watts, give or take the true power ratings. So, with that in mind, remember back that the SPP1200’s are capable of 2400 watts. So if we take two of those and add them together that gives us 4800 watts. That would give me about 500 watts of headroom.

Now, obviously I’m not going to be using 4300 watts of power in this system. It’s quite overkill honestly. But I wanted to make sure that I had enough power that I didn’t have to worry about it. There are also other things that went into the decision as well.

Component and Wiring Wall:

With all this power, and these components to get power to, I decided I needed a way to keep track of it all, make it clean, and make it presentable. It has to be easy to trouble shoot if necessary, but we hope not, and easily accessible.

The easiest way to go about doing this, for me, was to build a rack that would house all the fuse blocks, barrier strips, relays, smaller components, and anything else to do with the wiring portion of the build. I decided that the best place to put it, because remember I have serious space issues with it being a Civic, was behind the back seat. The back seat in the Civic has the ability to fold down with ease. This help to the accessibility. It’s also a large enough space to put everything in that I need to power the components including the components themselves.

There isn’t much more I can do to describe it to you, so I’m going to go ahead and show you the pics of what’s been built thus far.

[scooter99]

[scooter99]

Phase 2 – Power, Components, & Other Wiring Installation Notes:

You already saw the front temporary battery installation in the “Engine Bay” section above. Here is how things are going to work out. I have a couple of diagrams that are basically going to show you how everything is going to be wired up. Now, I do these diagrams for a couple of reasons. First reason is to get it on paper because, as with everything else, there are so many ideas that float around in my head on how things are going to get done, that if I don’t put them down on paper somehow and actually build it out I’ll forget about it or get confused and I will start losing my mind! Sounds funny, but it’s true. The second reason I do these is so that I can post them up on these threads and get input on them. I may have a question on something and it’s hard to explain sometimes what’s going on in my head. I don’t know all the correct terms sometimes and that makes it even more difficult to explain to get an answer on something. So I do the diagrams to post up to show everyone what I’m thinking and it helps for answering those questions etc. Here’s the first diagram to look at, this is the Engine Bay and battery.

Here you can see the way things are going to run.

We’ll start with the Stinger SPP1200. From the positive output, a 1/0ga Cable will go into a small buss bar. It’s a 4 pin buss bar and power will go from there! I’m not 100% on these buss bars, I’m honestly thinking of making my own and if I can get my hands on some materials I will give that a shot. So From there we’ll start at the right side of the first buss bar.

From the buss bar, a 1/0ga cable will go into an Audison BFD21 Dual Fuse Holder. From there a 1/0ga cable will go to the Alternator. This will be part of the Big 3 I mentioned earlier. This will give me a fuse to protect it as well. Also off the Audison BFD21 Dual Fuse Holder, a 4ga cable will be supplied to the starter. When I originally went in to change out the battery and cables etc. on the first install, I found that the starter cable was way too short. I had to splice it by soldering on a 4ga cable and that’s the way it sits now. So, in order for this to work correctly and look clean, I plan to replace that cable all the way back to the starter with a new cable. The fuse isn’t really necessary, however, so it looks balance I’ll most likely put in a 300 amp fuse or something large so it’s cosmetically correct.

Back to the buss bar, next to the post we just discussed will be the 1/0ga cable for the battery. No explanation needed there.

To the left of that will be the post that directs the power to the rear of the car. From this a 1/0ga cable will go into the Stinger SGP35 500Amp Relay. An ignition wire will be run off the relay as well back to the component wall into the ignition barrier strip. From the relay a 1/0ga cable will run into a second buss bar. The reason for this is because I’m using Audison Connecton screw on type connectors, and they’re quite bulky. I didn’t want to put strain on the post of the relay by trying to cram them on there. This way they get on securely, no strain, and I can make it a cleaner look.

Off of that second buss bar will be the two power runs to the trunk and the rear batteries. These will be done with two 1/0ga cables into a pair of Audison Connection BFH11 Fuse Holders. Then from those 1/0ga cables will run in Carlon Flex Conduit under the vehicle, and enter the trunk through water tight connectors. That will take us to the trunk, and I’ll get to that after I finish up here.

Going back to the first buss bar, off of the 4th and last post will be a 1/0ga cable that runs into an Audison Connection BFH11 Fuse Holder. From the fuse holder a 4ga cable will attach to the main fuse block. On the picture, you see above, it says “ECU” and that’s wrong. Sorry!

So that completes the Wiring Diagram for the Engine Bay.

Let’s go to the trunk. We talked a bit ago about the Carlon Flex Conduits that are carrying the 1/0ga power cable under the vehicle. Those will be held up to the car by metal pipe straps every 6 inches if possible. The reason I’m using the Carlon Flex Conduits are so that the cable is protected under the vehicle. I used to work for a data company very many years ago and that was where I first discovered this material. It’s very flexible, to a reasonable extent, and very very tough. You might be asking, “why run it under the car, why not go through the car”? Well it’s pretty simple. There just isn’t room without cramming it in there, and there are so many wires going through the car I don’t want to take the chance in causing any noise issues, or simply looking bad. This was a pretty easy decision. I’ve done it once already. Here are a few pictures of the current set up.

[scooter99]

After it was ran it was painted black to get rid of the standout of the gray color. Then I did the same with the ground, but I tapped the frame right under the entry point to the trunk and put a stainless steel screw in there. It was also sealed up with black polyurethane. I’ll be doing the same with the new set up. With the new set up, the Carlon Conduit will run next to the frame on the middle side of the vehicle on both sides of the vehicle.

Here is how they come through the trunk floor.

So that’s how the power and ground will get to the trunk. Just a little bit different direction this time.

Now here’s what’s going to happen in the trunk. If you recall, I’m using the same Stinger Power2 SPP1200’s in the back, as I did in front. These will reside in each corner of the trunk. There’s a cubby or cut out or whatever you want to call it, and they will fit perfectly back there. I’ll be building a couple of battery racks for them to sit in and hold the fuse holders. Yes holders. I’ll get to that.

Here’s a diagram on how the wiring will be done.

To explain the diagram, I’ll try to do it as best as I can. We’ll start with the left side battery in the diagram which we’ll take as the driver side battery. So take this as you’re looking into the trunk of the car.

So you have the 1/0ga cable from the front going into an Audison Connection BFH-11 Fuse Holder, and from there into the battery. I’ll either be making a couple of buss bars or buying ones that match the front. However, in the diagram it does not show them. I made a separate diagram for that. Here that is.

There will be one of these on each positive and negative of each battery. The power cable will come in and attach to the buss bar, and then off the buss bar on the other side, into an Audison BFH-11DGT Fuse Holder. Now the difference between this fuse holder and the Audison BFH-11 Fuse Holder is that this one has a Digital Gauge on it to gauge the voltage. I did this so that, specifically, I could show the voltage from each battery in the back. Otherwise to have fuse holders this close together is pretty much overkill.

So from the Audison BFH-11DGT a 1/0ga cable will go into an Audison SFD-41C Complete Distribution Block. This will take and distribute positive and negative cables in the same unit. The diagram shows that there would be a dummy line coming out of the other end of the Audison SFD-41C. However, I’ve change that. There will now be a 1/0ga cable that ties the driver side Audison SFD-41C and the passenger side SFD-41C together.

The passenger side is the same way, so I won’t go over that.

The Audison SFD-41C distribution blocks will allow power to go to all the amps and components. I was originally going to have both sub amps on one along with the processor, and then the component wall, and the other three amps on the second one. But now strapping them together, it won’t matter I don’t believe. The amps will all be powered and grounded off the SFD-41C using 4ga cable. A 4ga power and ground cable will also go from the SFD-41C to the Component wall into a fuse block, which will then distribute power for the components. Below is the fuse block I’m using for that. Any left-over ports on the SFD-41C’s will be dummy lined out with 4ga cable.

[scooter99]

I’m still working out details on these but I’m also going to be installing a gauge up front, the Stinger SVMB. This gauge will allow me to view the voltage I’m getting out of the rear batteries. I’m also going to be putting one in for the front battery as well. So these two gauges will be going in up front in the dash. I’ve drawn up a diagram for these to install. The power wire of it will go in the bridge 1/0ga cable, according to the diagram for the rear batteries, which should give me a voltage total for both batteries. The one for the front will simply go to the positive side of the system, before the relay. Not in the diagram, are the fuse holders or buss bars for the batteries. Here’s the diagram for that.

Finally this is the diagram overview of everything that I’ve described above.

So that about covers the Power portion of the build.

Phase 3 – Trunk Build:

In most audio builds the “WOW” factor is reached by displaying equipment. The second part to that is if you have more equipment, and it’s displayed properly and cleanly, you get an even better “WOW” than other builds. I’m going for that bigger “WOW” in my build. I have a lot of equipment, some overkill admittedly, but at the same time a lot is needed as well. To be able to fit this much equipment in my little Civic is going to take some serious planning and some trial and error. Here are a few pictures of the equipment that I have going into the trunk.