DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Would anyone here be interested in seeing a little bit of my car audio work? I know you guys don't care about the subject, but I've been working on a project that I'm sorta proud of...
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
Knifey
Zombie
Reged: 06/20/04
Posts: 2419
Loc: Massachusetts
|
|
Sure. I'd definitely be interested.
--------------------
"You're a gentleman," they used to say to him. "You shouldn't have gone murdering people with a hatchet; that's no occupation for a gentleman."
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Quote:
Sure. I'd definitely be interested.
I'll upload a bunch of pics and link them through image shack/picoodle. This'll take a while.
And thanks for showing some interest, man...
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
First of all I want to say that I'm not an obnoxious "boom car" guy. The projects I take on retain a certain level of sound clarity and loudness is the least of my worries. Sure, this vehicle is loud when the owner wants it to be, but we're adults. There is no cruising through residential neghoborhoods while blasting vulgar, bass heavy tracks that vibrate people's windows. That's kids stuff and I have zero interest in it.
Pic 1. This is an Alpine IVA-W505. It's obscenely expensive. This is a touch screen dvd player with Sirius radio and navigation capabilities. But that's not why I picked it. It's a part of this project because of it's clean looks and extremely ipod friendly operation.
How the hell am I going to fit it into the LS' stock location when it's nearly twice the size of the factory unit, though?
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/1.jpg
Pic 2. This is how I'll fit it in there. Damn, I'm good. 
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/dvdplayerisin1.jpg
Pics 3 - 7. Say hello to DC Sound Labs everyone. DC ain't nutin ta f*ck with. :fyi: I chose DC Sound Labs because their subwoofers are hand built in the USA and are accompanied by one hell of a warranty and terrific customer service. This subwoofer is not your typical, stamped out Alpine or JL Audio product. There's a little bit of love in each and every DC driver. The DC amplifiers were brought into play because they're built by an industry leading Korean manufacturer and they're backed by the same wonderful DC Sound Lab warranty.
Please take note of the DC subwoofer's imposing size in comparison to a more popular Kicker CVR.
Why on earth did I pick a 15" sub when the LS' trunk is so tiny, though? There's a method to the madness.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/3.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/pai-100011.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/pai-12041.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/2.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/4.jpg
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Pics 8 - 10.
The stock speakers in the Lincoln simply will not be able to coexist with the sheer power of the 15" DC Audio Level 4. This subwoofer will eat 1,000 watts rms, spit it back in your face and beg for more power. What to do about that? Well, I decided to modify the stock 6x8" speakers and replace them with Rockford Fosgate's top of the line 2-way 5.25" component system. Behold, the RF T152S, two pairs of them actually. These little suckers have aluminum cones, neodymium motor structures and sexy good looks. They can hanle well over 125 watts rms per side too. That means there's around 600 watts of crystal clear highs & midrange in the LS, all powered by reliable Zenon built DC Audio amplification. If you like car stereos, this is like sex.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/rft152stweetsx-overs1.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/11.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/10.jpg
Pics 11 - 16.
The Rockford Fosgates didn't simply fall into place. Hell no, serious modifications were done in order to comfortably house them in this project. 1st of all I have to cut the plastic door panels to make clearance for the RF's. Then I had to fabricate mdf adapters to modify the stock speakers to the new 5.25" midbass drivers. After that, I had to pass two run of 12 gauge Knu Konceptz speaker wire into each door. The speaker wire alone was a task. I had to cut the factory door boots, run the wiring, apply abs plastic looming and finally zip tie things together for security against dry rot. Then there was the matter of making the actual speaker pods decent looking. Enough talk, take a look.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY02811.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY02801.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/12.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY02851.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY02841.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/finishedpodinstalled1.jpg
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Pics 17 - 24.
You may have already noticed the Dynamat Xtreme sound deadener. Over 100 lbs of the stuff was installed in the Lincoln's doors and trunk. It helps eliminate vibrations & rattling, but it also cuts down on road noise. Not only that, but it sort of converts the vehicle's doors into speaker cabinets by greatly improving density...among other things that're boring. Here's a look at some of the Dynamat that went into the vehicle.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/frontpassengersfinished1.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/driverafter1.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/decklidfirstlayer-11.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/decklidrearfirstlayer-11.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/trunk1.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/trunk31.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/reardriversfinished1.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/rearpassengersclose1.jpg
Pics 25 - 27.
And that pretty much takes care of all of the vehicle's in-cabin work. This is what everything looked like once panels, seats, carpet and trim were reinstalled. A hell of a lot of work was involved in this process, guys. Several daylight till dark work days in the dead middle of summer. This was taken care of last summer, but I'm still extremely proud of it. You can't tell I touched a thing in this vehicle's interior and months removed there have been no problems at all.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY05061.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY05041.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY05051.jpg
Onto the fun part, the trunk...
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
woodenheart
Rotting Corpse
Reged: 04/24/10
Posts: 172
Loc: Illinois
|
|
WOW, you're very talented..sometimes I can't figure out how to preset my favourite channels on my car stereo. 
--------------------
If you die first, I am definitely going to eat you, but the question is, if I die, what are you going to do? Bon appétit... Eat or die. ~Ravenous~
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Pics 28 & 29.
One simply cannot throw nearly 2,000 watts of power onto a stock electrical system, so certain upgrades come into play. For starters, a humongous battery, huge 1/0 & 4 awg copper wiring and lots of sore fingers get involved. Here are pics of the Kinetik HC2400 power cell and the top of the line Knu Konceptz Kollosus Flecks Kable "big 3" upgrade. I also applied a layer or two of Rhino Liner into the LS' spare tire well, where the DC subwoofer will call home. This is also the time in the project in which I fire up the RF T152S components and the Alpine IVA-W505 for the first time. You ever seen a $325 car batter before? You're about to.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/5.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/testamp1.jpg
Pics 30 - 33.
And this is where things get serious. This seperates real car audio guys from the pack of Best Buy customers who use "bass packages" or cookie cutter prefabriacted enclosures. The DC Level 4 is a monster, it needs well over 3 cubic feet of space in order to function to it's full potential. The Lincoln LS' trunk is awkwardly shaped and tiny, so compromises were made. A conventional enclosure would have to been built in-trunk and it would swallow every square inch of useable space. That simply won't do. This vehicle must retain functionality and the owner needs room for luggage. I had to design the goofiest looking enclosure that I've ever worked on in order to get the ball rolling. I also had to come up with an idea of how to keep the trunk from being ugly as sin (more on that later). Anways, here's a look at the subwoofer enclosure, from initial concept to actual reality.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/6.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/7.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/8.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/2-211.jpg
Pics 34 & 35.
And this is where the project stands as of today. Please keep in mind that the owner works for a barge company and is on leave every other month. That means I don't get to work on this vehicle nearly as much as I'd like. That's also the reason why this project isn't "finished". However, all of the gear is in the car and it's functional. More than functional actually, it's downright impressive. Anyways, here's a look.
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/SANY05011.jpg
http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k460/savage1119/Lincoln%20build/finishingup1.jpg
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
The trunk will be absolutely beautiful when the finishing work is done. I plan to raise the entire floor of the trunk to the level of the enclosure's top and wrap everything in padded black vinyl. There will be a recessed geometric shape surrounding the subwoofer and port holes. This area will be covered with leather to match the vehicle's interior. The DC amplifiers & Rockford Fosgate crossovers will get special treatment as well. A custom, one-off rack will be implemented to house them. They will be showcased.
This process is commonly known as a "false floor" to car audio installers. It'll be something to be proud of for myself and the vehicle's owner. This setup is a blend of form, function and attention to detail that will be show & modest competition worthy once completed. I can't wait to get my hands on it again...but it'll have to wait until the beginning of June.
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Quote:
WOW, you're very talented..sometimes I can't figure out how to preset my favourite channels on my car stereo.
Thank you very much.
My brother taught me everything I know. I got my start at 14 and have been in love with the work ever since. I've been responsible for many nice sound systems over the years, but never have I had the opportunity to work with this type of budget ( the sound deadener and wiring alone was well over $700). Performing this level of work in mid grade luxury sedan is something that I've never done until now either.
This car is simply too pretty to screw up.
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Speaking of the pretty car:
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
|
Howler
Zombie
Reged: 11/26/01
Posts: 2660
Loc: N.B. Canada
|
|
Looks like you do some nice work there lad.
--------------------
..........
Is the glass of blood half full? Or half empty? You decide.
|
DanielSavage
Zombie
Reged: 09/25/03
Posts: 3160
Loc: West Virginia
|
|
Quote:
Looks like you do some nice work there lad.
I try.
Here's a list of prices.
Alpine IVA-W505 - $730.00
Kinetik HC2400 - $310-ish
Rockford Fosgate T152S - $170 x2 (bought these on clearance, 50% off, msrp is well over $350 per set)
DC Level 4 15" - $325+ shipping (weighs almost 40 lbs)
DC Audio PAI-1000.1 - $300+ shipping
DC Audio PAI-120.4 - $350+ shipping
Dynamat Xtreme Bulk Pack - $140+ shipping x3
Knu Konceptz Kollosus Flecks Kable 1/0 awg - $3.40 per foot (20 ft)
Knu Konceptz Kollosus Flecks Kable 4 awg - $1.25 per foot (40 ft)
Knu Konceptz KonFuzed batt terminals - $20 each+ shipping (2 of these)
Knu Konceptz KonFuzed anl fuse holder - $25+ shipping
Knu Konceptz KonFuzed distribution block - $25+ shipping
Knu Konceptz 12 awg Klear Speak Kable - $.50 per foot (125 ft)
And that doesn't include building materials (mdf, screws, glue, wooden dowels, etc) or my payday...
--------------------
If we run this light, and take a little life, noone will care at all.
Edited by DanielSavage (05/08/10 09:35 PM)
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
