Did a 146.3DB now how can I break 150?

[LoudMS3]

Brand new member to the forum but long time creeper. Here is my whip, 2009 Mazdaspeed3 with enough audio gear to catch a hard time from the go fast crew.

Specifics:

Pioneer AVH-P1400DVD

Soundquebed 2200.1

x2 Alpine SWR12D4

JL Audio JX360.4

MBQuart reference series 5.25 components front

Stock rear door speakers

USACI was at Import face off a few months ago so I decided I would see how my system faired in an SPL comp on a termlab and boy was I surprised. I knew my car was loud but I had no idea it was 146DB loud!!(This was in the kick with driver window open) Now I've got the itch to see what I can pull out of this thing. The box my Alpines are in is actually a prefab I bought on ebay that has individual chambers and is supposed to be built to Alpines factory port specs and be tuned to 32Hz. I figured maybe a custom box would help me get there but that will be my final modification.

Since then I have added Dynamat to the entire rear hatch, floor and up the side walls of the back half of the car. I have some cheap ebay mat on the way that I will do the roof and floor of the car with. I also adjusted the locking mechanism on the hatch to hold it down a little tighter, I figured whatever I could do to hold in the sound would help. I will also be adding a second battery to the spare tire well as that yellowtop Optima gets its voltage pulled pretty quickly.

Are there any other tips/tricks I havent tried that you guys would recommend?

[boom50cal]

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/98191-spl-gains-updates-page-30-routing-the-port/

There's some unconventional stuff there apart from the usual "up the power, shrink the box." Lots of testing, trial, and error went into compiling that list. Fecupe is a hell of a cool dude for making that list.

[Facekicker]

Nice score and good work for the equipment.

But, you said eBay mat, if you ordered Rattle Trap or Fat Mat or any of their other products I would recommend against putting it on your roof (or your car at all if you can return it).

i don't want to dirty up your thread with all the details, but I just pulled a shit ton of it out of my car and it just made a mess being in there over the last 2 summers. There are partners on SMD that sell some quality mat, for the roof of your car at least I'd look into what they have.

[LoudMS3]

Nice score and good work for the equipment.

But, you said eBay mat, if you ordered Rattle Trap or Fat Mat or any of their other products I would recommend against putting it on your roof (or your car at all if you can return it).

i don't want to dirty up your thread with all the details, but I just pulled a shit ton of it out of my car and it just made a mess being in there over the last 2 summers. There are partners on SMD that sell some quality mat, for the roof of your car at least I'd look into what they have.

Might I ask what you have against it? After being in a car for two years I imagine any sticky deadener would come out messy. For the $90 I'm paying for 100sq. ft. if I have to double it up I think I'll still be coming out ahead vs. a more expensive name brand.

Also thanks for that link 50cal I hadn't read that one yet.

[Robert8252]

Here's what fatmat looks like when you remove it. I will never go near that shit with a 50 foot pole again in my life. I'd rather have rattles, luckily never had the horror stories of it oozing through panels but compared to even Second Skin Damplifier there is no comparison. A quality deadener is much easier to work with, goes on easier, and does a marginally better job in stopping vibration and rattling. 25 square feet of second skin will do just as much as 100sq feet of the cheap stuff even though you can't cover as much.

[Facekicker]

Well, first my personal experience, and then some links that might persuade you to take it more seriously.

First, I live in UT, in an area where we see all 4 seasons and our summers are not exactly heatwaves. I would say that no climate extremes came into play. This isn't Mojave.

Rear trunklid, doors, roof, hood, and floors were all done in one vehicle, about three months later we did a second vehicle's trunklid & doors, all covered in Rattle Trap XXX 80mil (I think that's what I used, looking at what they sell now.)

Vehicle 1:

Experienced stains in the fabric of the headliner from dripping asphalt oil that had melted and separated from the mat. Sags where the mat started falling away.

The underhood area which experienced heat from the engine bay of course melted out over time as well, dripping all over the headlights (directly under lowest point on the hood) and edges, this is the work that started falling off first. I should explain that this part of the install was done only after consulting with the distributor on eBay who assured me it could take the heat of the engine bay while maintaining noise dampening providing the factory heat shield/fabric was reattached to the hood after application, which it was.

Mats on the doors melted as well, effectively "tarring" the lock rod to the passenger door handle as it dripped, as the door would heat and cool you would find it at times impossible to unlock/lock.

Dripping asphalt oil out bottom of door panel.

Trunklid had less "melting" or oiling out like all the other areas, but experienced a lot of sag and falling off. Proper prep before hand, this stuff just doesnt stick once it gets warm, and the bass would pretty much beat the mat off the trunklid.

Floors were fine but I question the amount of dampening it did.

Overall a very heavy asphalt smell for the first 6 months, returning on any hot day, lasted for maybe the first year.

Vehicle 2:

Shit just fell off. Didnt have the melting issues as bad, not to where it oiled everything with tar. Instead the mat kind of cured into a crumbly cake and fell off. Same smell.

Didn't last very long, was replaced with Maxxsonics sound deadener that adhered 100x better and made a night and day difference. Since then I've found there's a lot out there that could be arguably better for about the same price.

My current understanding is that the mat I had was a mix of butyl and asphalt. I could be wrong. At the time I purchased it, I had simply inquired if it was a butyl based mat and the answer I received was "yes," not that it contained asphalt as well. Knowing at the time of purchase, I would have moved on to something else. My personal thoughts at this point after tearing it all out of vehicle #1, is that it was likely 100% asphalt and zero butyl.

If my soapbox about how bad they are wasn't enough, here's a few others that would agree with me:

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/174211-fatmat/

and it sucks that the pics are now gone, but this was a good thread on peel & seal

http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/125605-another-peel-seal-thread-but-not-what-you-think/

And this guy, who for some reason had his fail overnight

[Facekicker]

From the thread I linked, this is what will make your life hell:

[Real96SS]

Nice score man for your first time out. Did you try running with your door open and not just the window?

[OrionStang]

Score in the kick. Nice, but who listens to music with their head down by their feet?

[Robert8252]

Score in the kick. Nice, but who listens to music with their head down by their feet?

Same people who lay their head on the dash

Sorry, couldn't resist. It's why don't compete. Lol