philrab Posted August 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 First demo yesterday, but no vids unfortunately. My younger brother is in from Michigan for the first time in almost a year, and he's a musician so I trust his ear over mine (I have no musical talent at all, couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, all that talent went straight to him). He wanted to hear what I'd put together, even if it's not finished yet. We played through some 90's alternative/post grunge (Live, Collective Soul), a little rap (Lil' Wayne), and some dubstep(Knife Party - Centipede plays REALLY well on my system). His comments throughout the first several songs were that everything really sounded well balanced, nothing was overpowering anything else, all the notes were there (crossovers were slightly overlapped, just enough to make sure I didn't drop anything), and that everything sounded really even (thank you 13 band eq). Then I asked him if he wanted to hear something really nasty on the sub stage, and he said let it rip. Knife Party - Centipede goes on, max clean volume, and I saw an ear to ear grin. It wasn't the volume, but this build was never going to do 140's on a single 8" running 300 watts, it was the fact it was clean and controlled and it sounded awesome. And for the record, he was really surprised what that single 8" was putting out, did NOT expect it to get down like it did. I figure when your car audio can pass muster with a musician that scores his own music and plays most songs by ear within minutes of hearing it, you've done something right. From here, more power on the mids and highs, 12" sub in a ported box drawing more power out of my existing amp with a lower ohm load, just take it all up a notch evenly. Still want it to play as clean as it does now, just more of it, but I'm really encouraged. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Did work yesterday, finished up this evening. JL 320.4 on the mids and highs, tuned that and my sub amp with the -5 tracks (for best sound quality). Bass and mids are very well balanced. Hard to decide if I want to retune with the -10 tracks for more output or not. Few things I noticed: A. Kenwood X997, max volume, no distortion. Badassery. B. EQ set flat looking at the RTA was surprising. Where the tweeters were originally way too bright and I had to dial them back, ended up upping the high freq gains just a touch. Think the mids bumped up more than the highs (using passive crossovers). C. Everything is well blended. Still tweaking things, but whereas the midbass left a little to be desired, now with the extra power everything sounds really clean. Very happy with the setup. D. Now that I have max volume (head unit power distorted at 25/35) I have the sub level set at 0 instead of +15, and have the gain MUCH lower. Next up on the agenda is a big ported box and an SA12. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Almost forgot, also did the Big 3 with all SHCA wire and lugs. All nice and tidy, followed the stock harness and zip tied to it, can't hardly tell anything is done but its clean and low key like I like it. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Can't hardly get a pic of the amp its so buried under the seat. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2014 Looking back through my build log, can't believe I sat on this amp for three months before I got a chance to slam it in. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2014 Just a side note. I designed an enclosure for a local with much grander aspirations than I have, but I really enjoy the process. 12 cubic feet (actually 12.4 as designed, but I figure he'll eat some up with sub displacement and bracing, couldn't find a spec for sub displacement) tuned to 37-38 hz. 2 SoundQubed HDC3.118's going in on 2.5K each. I should be apologizing to his neighbors in advance. Ended up with 2" of port external to keep adequate internal clearance on the back wall. I really don't favor L shaped ports if it's avoidable, but if he wants the port to turn I'll do that for him. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Goodbye sealed enclosure. The stealthbox looked really nice, but I wanted to go ported. Infinity 860w, 0.6 cubic foot box tuned to 38 hz. Tomorrow, I'll bedline this, and probably call it done. It's just a temp setup and something to experiment on while I warm up for a bigger enclosure. Played it a bit today, fairly impressive for 1 8" on 300 watts. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 All done. Sub secured with hurricane nuts and cap screws, secure and looks tidy. Bed liner matched the color and texture of the all weather hatch tray, but that shit is Hell to get off your skin. Much better output and low range extension. Tuned to 38 hz, this thing still digs low for an 8, and it gets down plenty to keep up with the mids and highs. Not enough for a basshead, but its a great example of what a small driver in an optimized enclosure can do on low power. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Spent my weekend slinging sawdust. Will wind up a little more net than I originally planned for, adjusted the port volume accordingly. Port is now 3" x 8" (was originally going to be 2.5 x and 19.5" long (going to hit both sides with a 1/4" roundover). Should end up at 2.15 cubic feet net, tuned to 33 hz for my Sundown SA12. I fully expect this thing to be really dirty when it's finished, able to dig nice and low and still bang when pushed. Still on the to-do list: Router out the port opening with the flush cut trim bit roundover the port on both ends (inner and outer) router out the hole in the outer baffle for the sub (going to flush mount) and glue/nail the outer baffle to the enclosure. Will be using 1/4" hurricane nuts and cap screws to secure the SA12. Install the side face with the port attached (dry fit shows the port is perfectly flush to the bottom floor, and the subs clears the end of the port barely) skim it in Bondo, sand the whole damned thing down, and bedline (hoping that skim of Bondo means I won't see the seams between the boards this time around.) 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philrab Posted October 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Fully assembled, tested, shakes headliner and window visors hard. Tuning to 33 hz so far sounds great, this thing runs a train on low notes. May have given up a little output tuning low, but we'll see. Got a full day of router roundover all the edges, sanding, Bondo, blocking, then three coats of bedliner before I call this done tomorrow hopefully. 2015 Toyota Tacoma Build Thread 2007 Mazda 3; 5000K HID's, Kenwood Excelon KDC-X997, Infinity Reference 6.5 comps in front and coaxials in the rear doors, JL 320.4 four channel, Rab Designs built ported enclosure with an SA12, Kenwood monoblock, Redline Leater shift boot/e-brake boot/center console cover, JBR short shifter/shifter bushings/rear motor mount. Build Thread 1996 Mazda Miata: Kenwood Excelon HU, Alpine speaker in the doors, Clearwater (miata specific) headrest speakers. 1994 Mazda Protege: Kenwood Excelon HU, Infinity Reference 2 ways all around, 2x RF Punch 10's in ported boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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