stereo_luver
10+ year member
Senior VIP Member
Disclaimer:
As you'll see from the practices, procedures and materials I use I am in NO WAY a professional installer. This is a first attempt at an install that I actually care about. Any fabrication that follows is done so with minimal money, booze induced planning and common materials. I welcome any and all comments and suggestions members may have for the POSITIVE as well as any critisized comments. I have never claimed to be and have never been a professional as this thread may prove. Enjoy!
Ok, so I was sitting on the deck having a few (dozen) pints of Guiness. I decided it was time to change my entire system. I have all this gear sitting on shelves collecting dust and I need to use it, sell it, trade it or whatever. I was bored in general and needed something to do. It was time to change my entire system with the exception of my headunit.
I needed to add some midrange speakers to the system to give a 3-way front stage a try. Later I'll explain the redneck approach I took for the XO I use for the mids and tweets. I'll also go into the practice of trying to find the optimum location for my tweets as well as the, again redneck, way I made my tweeter pods. I am on a limited budget now that I am going on 1 year of unemployment due to this great economy. But, I know a good deal when I see it and collect gear along the way as money is available.
First off I removed the stock mids from the dash and test fitted several mids to see what fit best with no mods. (trying to stay within the lowest class with MECA I can. I need all the help I can get by staying in this low ended class) I ended up using (for this first round) a pair of Dayton RS100-4's. A 4" midrange with somewhat ok reviews. The holes where the stock mids were mounted are open and need some work.
Next I found something I could use for a cup/bucket or pod for the midranges. Since we hardly ever throw out something we can re-use I found some Chinese Take-Out containers that would fit the bill for the cups/pods for the midranges. I gathered some Dynamat, side cutters, Polyfil, razor knife and started my build.
First using my side cutters I made a 'V' cut in the top of the container in a spot I had found to be a good location to allow depth and clearance for the mids. I also check several other mids to be sure that this would be ok to use when I change my mind again concerning the mids and went with another brand.
I continued to use my side cutters to trim all the way around the container until I had the size I needed. Small short cuts were used to keep the plastic from cracking in a downward direction and ruining the container. Move slow and take your time.
Next I wrapped the outside of the trimmed container with Dynamat. I guess any sound deadening material will work. I just happen to have several hundred square feet of this lying around.
When I finished with the wrapping of Dynamat I cut a small access hole in the bottom of the container for the wiring. The utility knife comes in handy here. Cutting a small rectangular hole about the same size as the wire I'm using.
Bending my arm like a Chinese contortionist I was able to feed the cup/bucket from under the dash up to the top where the cup/bucket needed to be installed. I test fit the midrange driver to be sure that it was as centered as I could get it. I then added some hot glue to hold the cup/bucket in place. I found that the cup/bucket was slightly distorted because of the other components, wiring and struts that were already existing. If I angled the glue gun under the dash cover towards the cup/bucket I could squirt a small amount of hot glue where I needed it. Waiting a minute or so the glue would cool enough for me to use my finger to spread the still somewhat hot glue as if I was spreading caulk.
I added some Polyfil to the cup/bucket.
Solder the wires to the midranges for the install.
Feed the wires down thru the access hole you made earlier in the bottom of the cup/bucket. Extend the wries to your amp or XO. I needed to fabricate a mounting plate for the Dayton mids but forgot to make new pics. But I think you get the idea.
This has been step one of this new install. BTW, the mids sound sweet so far. Even with the somewhat redneck temp mounting of the tweets the soundstage has been brought very forward and high in the listening field. I'll be adding more pics of the addional gear I'm using as I get to it. Feel free to add anything you think could be of use to make this a better install.
As you'll see from the practices, procedures and materials I use I am in NO WAY a professional installer. This is a first attempt at an install that I actually care about. Any fabrication that follows is done so with minimal money, booze induced planning and common materials. I welcome any and all comments and suggestions members may have for the POSITIVE as well as any critisized comments. I have never claimed to be and have never been a professional as this thread may prove. Enjoy!
Ok, so I was sitting on the deck having a few (dozen) pints of Guiness. I decided it was time to change my entire system. I have all this gear sitting on shelves collecting dust and I need to use it, sell it, trade it or whatever. I was bored in general and needed something to do. It was time to change my entire system with the exception of my headunit.
I needed to add some midrange speakers to the system to give a 3-way front stage a try. Later I'll explain the redneck approach I took for the XO I use for the mids and tweets. I'll also go into the practice of trying to find the optimum location for my tweets as well as the, again redneck, way I made my tweeter pods. I am on a limited budget now that I am going on 1 year of unemployment due to this great economy. But, I know a good deal when I see it and collect gear along the way as money is available.
First off I removed the stock mids from the dash and test fitted several mids to see what fit best with no mods. (trying to stay within the lowest class with MECA I can. I need all the help I can get by staying in this low ended class) I ended up using (for this first round) a pair of Dayton RS100-4's. A 4" midrange with somewhat ok reviews. The holes where the stock mids were mounted are open and need some work.
Next I found something I could use for a cup/bucket or pod for the midranges. Since we hardly ever throw out something we can re-use I found some Chinese Take-Out containers that would fit the bill for the cups/pods for the midranges. I gathered some Dynamat, side cutters, Polyfil, razor knife and started my build.
First using my side cutters I made a 'V' cut in the top of the container in a spot I had found to be a good location to allow depth and clearance for the mids. I also check several other mids to be sure that this would be ok to use when I change my mind again concerning the mids and went with another brand.
I continued to use my side cutters to trim all the way around the container until I had the size I needed. Small short cuts were used to keep the plastic from cracking in a downward direction and ruining the container. Move slow and take your time.
Next I wrapped the outside of the trimmed container with Dynamat. I guess any sound deadening material will work. I just happen to have several hundred square feet of this lying around.
When I finished with the wrapping of Dynamat I cut a small access hole in the bottom of the container for the wiring. The utility knife comes in handy here. Cutting a small rectangular hole about the same size as the wire I'm using.
Bending my arm like a Chinese contortionist I was able to feed the cup/bucket from under the dash up to the top where the cup/bucket needed to be installed. I test fit the midrange driver to be sure that it was as centered as I could get it. I then added some hot glue to hold the cup/bucket in place. I found that the cup/bucket was slightly distorted because of the other components, wiring and struts that were already existing. If I angled the glue gun under the dash cover towards the cup/bucket I could squirt a small amount of hot glue where I needed it. Waiting a minute or so the glue would cool enough for me to use my finger to spread the still somewhat hot glue as if I was spreading caulk.
I added some Polyfil to the cup/bucket.
Solder the wires to the midranges for the install.
Feed the wires down thru the access hole you made earlier in the bottom of the cup/bucket. Extend the wries to your amp or XO. I needed to fabricate a mounting plate for the Dayton mids but forgot to make new pics. But I think you get the idea.
This has been step one of this new install. BTW, the mids sound sweet so far. Even with the somewhat redneck temp mounting of the tweets the soundstage has been brought very forward and high in the listening field. I'll be adding more pics of the addional gear I'm using as I get to it. Feel free to add anything you think could be of use to make this a better install.
