1995 Civic

[Smurfy76]

Looks good. I just did my 96 civic. How big of a sound difference between kick panel speakers and door? I thought about putting my components in the kick panel but was also worried of people kicking them

 

[Lasherž]

Very nice looking, well done. Any problem with resonance so far? Jealous of your trunk, you basically retained the entire thing for cargo.

 

[OldFartAudio]

Looks good. I just did my 96 civic. How big of a sound difference between kick panel speakers and door? I thought about putting my components in the kick panel but was also worried of people kicking them

You get way better imaging from kick panels because they have less difference in time alignment and they can be angled for the best performance. Notice mine were not symmetrical. As far as people kicking them it happens. If I had covered them in carpet instead of vinyl it wouldn’t have been a big deal. The worst thing I experienced was I would open it up at shows and leave it to walk around and look at other cars. Mostly this was fine because people would just look, but once I came back and some kid was sitting in the passenger seat with one foot on the ground and his other foot on my kick. I wasn’t happy but I stayed cool and it didn’t hurt anything fortunately. I would take the grill off on the driver’s side and leave the door shut. I would leave the grill on and door open on the passenger side. That way people could look and see everything but the open side was still protected. Eventually I did get a black smudge on the passenger side grill. Either use a darker color than the grey I used or Scotch-Guard, or both. I would also make sure to tell my passengers to watch where they put their feet.

 

[OldFartAudio]

Very nice looking, well done. Any problem with resonance so far? Jealous of your trunk, you basically retained the entire thing for cargo.

This is my old install from 1999. I was going through some things at home and found my install album so I scanned the pictures and put them up. As far as resonance I lucked out. This was the first generation Civics had 2 doors and they were pretty heavy. The dampening and the fact that they were pretty solid to begin with made it good. The trunk lid with the crossovers and EQ, plus the MDF and deadening weighed at least 35 lbs and had to be propped up at shows. Because it was so heavy I only got rattle from the license plate. I all but eliminated that with a license plate kit. The rear deck had the speakers removed but the factory grills were still in place and it had a thick piece of foam dampening sandwiched between the trim panel and the metal of the rear deck. It ended up being like a tank. I could crank it and with all the windows up you could only hear a very slight rattle from the plate and other than that it sounded almost stock from the outside. When I opened my windows or sunroof it would carry and you could tell I had something. I only competed for that season. I got 3 first places and 3 second places in the Novice 151 - 300 watt class. I took 6th at SBN which was my first show and I took 10th at world finals.

 

[Smurfy76]

I agree on your post. My civic has zero rattling except the license plate which I fixed but when you open that door people are shocked of how loud the stereo actually is. I never added dampening material to it but it is quiet on the outside. I'm dying to do a custom trunk for the PS and sub.

 

[Smurfy76]

You get way better imaging from kick panels because they have less difference in time alignment and they can be angled for the best performance. Notice mine were not symmetrical. As far as people kicking them it happens. If I had covered them in carpet instead of vinyl it wouldn’t have been a big deal. The worst thing I experienced was I would open it up at shows and leave it to walk around and look at other cars. Mostly this was fine because people would just look, but once I came back and some kid was sitting in the passenger seat with one foot on the ground and his other foot on my kick. I wasn’t happy but I stayed cool and it didn’t hurt anything fortunately. I would take the grill off on the driver’s side and leave the door shut. I would leave the grill on and door open on the passenger side. That way people could look and see everything but the open side was still protected. Eventually I did get a black smudge on the passenger side grill. Either use a darker color than the grey I used or Scotch-Guard, or both. I would also make sure to tell my passengers to watch where they put their feet.

How deep were your speakers? I ended having 1 1/2 inch spacers just to get mine to fit in the door? That's also with baffles as well and I really could of used another 1/2 spacer but I made it work.

 

[OldFartAudio]

How deep were your speakers? I ended having 1 1/2 inch spacers just to get mine to fit in the door? That's also with baffles as well and I really could of used another 1/2 spacer but I made it work.

There are pics in the post. We didn’t use spacers. I am not sure if they used adapter rings. They were 3 way MB Quarts and not super deep. Back then most 6.5”s didn’t have large magnets. I think speakers have come a long way in the last 20 years

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Looks good. I just did my 96 civic. How big of a sound difference between kick panel speakers and door? I thought about putting my c itomponents in the kick panel but was also worried of people kicking them

I'd use kick locations whenever possible. The caveat being a lot of car audio branded tweeters are meant to perform best off axis so you need to pay attention to what you use or use heavy EQ or otherwise get creative.

We did kicks and doors in my brother's civic but we need to keep up with a substantial sub stage.

Good looking trunk build OP. Those old xtant amps were good performers and very nice looking.

 

[OldFartAudio]

I'd use kick locations whenever possible. The caveat being a lot of car audio branded tweeters are meant to perform best off axis so you need to pay attention to what you use or use heavy EQ or otherwise get creative.

We did kicks and doors in my brother's civic but we need to keep up with a substantial sub stage.

Good looking trunk build OP. Those old xtant amps were good performers and very nice looking.

Thank you still sitting on a 3150 and a 302. Seriously thinking about using the 3150 in my Focus

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Thank you still sitting on a 3150 and a 302. Seriously thinking about using the 3150 in my Focus

They're pretty well obsolete these days and getting to the age where electrolytic caps will fail though. A buddy of mine still has a couple of those plus some even older a/d/s power plates stashed away somewhere, wish he would get into audio again so we could use those for something.

 

[OldFartAudio]

They're pretty well obsolete these days and getting to the age where electrolytic caps will fail though. A buddy of mine still has a couple of those plus some even older a/d/s power plates stashed away somewhere, wish he would get into audio again so we could use those for something.

I just have them on display in my entertainment center right now. Hard to see the 3150 on the bottom from the photo. I would like to get a Rockford Punch 60x2, a Soundstream Reference 500sx, and an MTX of similar size to round out the collection . I got the 3150 from an eBay auction by chance and I wanted a 302 to display. I got a 302 now and I need to either sell or use the 3150