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Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 235
Reg: 06-2007

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Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 03:41 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i have now finally finished, bar 1 small thing, which is the cover for the amps in the boot, but other than that my system is fully complete. YAY.

The system consists of

Front : Focal Access 5.25" splits in customised factory speaker boxes
Mid : Focal Access 4" coaxials in custom rear armrests
Woofer :2x JBL 8" coaxials with the tweeters attenuated and mounted in a custom fibreglassed and carpeted rear shelf.

Amps: Controlling the front and woofers is a Jaycar 4x100w Amp.
Controlling the mid speakers is an alpine 2 channel 50w amp

The headunit is an Alpine IVA-W502e Double din Multi media centre with custom aluminium surround with front AV inputs

Below are some pictures of the completed system. Here is a link also to my progress in making the rear shelf and armrests for the speakers










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As you can see, the cables need a little tidying up, once i have finished making the cover for them, i will post up another pic. Feel free to ask any questions and i will do my best to answer them

Thanks, Andrew
Garion Gibson
Tinkerer
QLD
Soarer V8 GT

Posts: 33
Reg: 03-2008

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Wednesday, October 01, 2008 - 11:15 pm, by:  Garion Gibson (Gordy) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Looking good man, How hard was it to make the fiberglass enclosures for the mid speakers?
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 236
Reg: 06-2007

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Thursday, October 02, 2008 - 07:47 am, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

the mids took a little messing around with, my father has a computer router so it wasn't hard to make the speaker rings. The actual fibreglassing wasn't hard, just the covering in vinyl was the hardest bit as it had a webbed backing on it which meant i could not stretch the fabric as much to contour the fibreglassed outline. If i did the mids again, i would do a totally different design. by not following the factory lines and making it 1 seamless pannel. but other than that they sound great. I have them on a 200Hz high pass filter as they don't really need to have much bass in them because the woofers are right behind the passengers heads.
Nye Phillips
Tinkerer
Montpellier France
2.5 TT

Posts: 12
Reg: 06-2008

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 01:41 am, by:  Nye Phillips (Nye) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi I have just fitted a aftermarket dvd player and the former owner has messed up the system by adding an amp in the boot, I want to remove the amp and connect the speakers directly to the head unit, do you have any idea what the wiring sequence is likely to be or if indeed it is possible to run without an amp without a complete audio rewiring job, clearly you are an expert in this area, so can you help please?
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 252
Reg: 06-2007

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 10:24 am, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

is the amp using RCA cables? if so it shouldn't be a big job overall. otherwise, i would recommend you get a plug in harness, and that would allow you to plug directly into the OEM harness for the power and speakers, and then just solder directly into the new stereo harness. is your car a japanese spec soarer, or is it a european domestic version (that's if they made one). hopefully i have helped, otherwise post back and i will endeavour to answer your questions.
Alex Sinclair
Tinkerer
Victoria
Soarer TT Limited

Posts: 41
Reg: 03-2006

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 11:56 am, by:  Alex Sinclair (Alex_sinclair) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey Andrew,

Would you at all have the design for the fibreglass parcel shelf?

Interested in doing something like this myself, and a good design would be an awesome place to start :-)
Nathan Sheehan
Tinkerer
WA
Soarer TT Manual

Posts: 62
Reg: 12-2005

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 03:09 pm, by:  Nathan Sheehan (Soarermad1) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Im more interested in that H-pattern you got there ooooh, another manual :-)
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 254
Reg: 06-2007

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 10:06 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yeah, it's pretty good nathan. Alex, i don't actually have the design, i just made it up myself and adjusted as i went along. there are 2 8" woofers in the back shelf, and it really increases the bottom end exponentially. i started the shelf, just by tracing around the factory shelf and cutting it out with a jigsaw. be sure to use nothing thicker than 8mm, i would recommend using 6mm of whatever you can find as it will fit in much better, also get an orbital sander and sand the edge from about 15-20mm from the edge closest to the window on your cutout, and taper it down to about 2mm over the distance, as that will help it wedge under the window nice and flush. i found that by doing that, and using the particular woofers i am using, the back shelf is acting somewhat like a ported sub box and shakes the car quite nicely :-), however i have no clutter in the boot except for what the cables make.

if you look in the ICE section, i have a thread in there on my custom parcel shelf, and it is entitled that. it will show you some of the processes i took in fibreglassing the shelf. post back with any questions you may have

cheers
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 263
Reg: 06-2007

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Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 06:53 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

hey chaps, i finally was able to locate a windows XP machine, was harder than i thought, so i could run my imprint sound processor calibration. i must say the $200 that it costs is WELL WORTH IT!!!!!!!!! i have to say that the improvement in linear response and sound quality is way above what i expected. even though i got the entry level focal speakers, they sould like utopia splits!!!!

bere are the 2 curves that i was able to derive from the calibration data. now all i need is a true subwoofer to bring in the ultra low frequencies <80 or so HZ then it will sound amazing :-)



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Tom Nicol
TryHard
Vic
JZZ30 TT

Posts: 221
Reg: 01-2006

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Monday, November 10, 2008 - 08:59 pm, by:  Tom Nicol (Goosemonger) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Awesome! I always wondered about Alpine's Imprint technology... I like to do my own tweaking rather than let a computer do it for me, but that looks a hell of a lot more involved than I thought.

I'm especially happy to hear that the entry level Focals sound fantastic, I'm about to upgrade to all Focal access speakers and Alpine head unit and amps. So now I'm excited!
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 268
Reg: 06-2007

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Monday, November 10, 2008 - 09:28 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

believe it or not, the imprint makes your system sound like a concert. all the sounds are how they should sound. i thought i had a brilliant tune on my system, but as soon as i tuned it with the imprint, i will never ever tune my system again :-)

all i can say is the imprint is simply the best system i have delt with and the best sounding i have ever heard:-)
David Grab
DieHard
SA
T78

Posts: 682
Reg: 01-2008

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Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 05:28 pm, by:  David Grab (Blastedbyasoarer) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey Andrew can you explain how this works, how you achieve that result and what i need to buy? Im a bit clueless about it but it looks cool as haha
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 272
Reg: 06-2007

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Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 08:11 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

David, it works by using a highly calibrated microphone, software, and interfaced with my DVD headunit, is an external audio processor. What the software does, is it sends a "test signal" which consists of for a better word, "blips" that vary in frequency to test speaker frequency, size and time correction.

the software measures this and knows what equilizer setting to send to EACH speaker. so in turn, if you have 6 sets of spekers, (front left, front right, rear left, rear right, subwoofer left, subwoofer right) the software gives each speaker 500 equiliser calibration points and 500 points of time correction per speaker, virtually giving your car near perfect linear sound and perfect equlization. essentially what it does is level out the peaks and dips from your speakers, and essentially give it a "flat" eq curve, not in the word flat being all equilizer settings are 0, but make the system sound flat to the speakers. if that makes sense.

all up (if you have any of the alpine "imprint ready" headunits, either a CDA 9886, 9887, IVA-W505e or IDA-X100) the imprint processor is $299, and the calibration software is (depending on where you go) is anywhere between $30 and $100
David Grab
DieHard
SA
T78

Posts: 691
Reg: 01-2008

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Monday, November 17, 2008 - 10:01 pm, by:  David Grab (Blastedbyasoarer) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

so this is only achievable with alpine headunits?
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 274
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 08:39 am, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

from what i know, alpine is the only one that uses microphone calibration technology, other than Pioneer Home Theatre amplifiers
Tom Nicol
TryHard
Vic
JZZ30 TT

Posts: 228
Reg: 01-2006

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Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 10:31 pm, by:  Tom Nicol (Goosemonger) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well I've just bought myself a pair of 5" Focal Access splits for up front and a pair of 6.5" coax's for the rear.
I was gonna go with a fairly low range (but still Alpine) head unit, I thought as long as it lights up blue to match my dash and it plays CDs, whatever.
But after reading your experience with the Imprint software, Andrew, I might end up forking out more than I budgeted for!

An Imprint ready head unit will be $575, whereas the first one I was looking at was $350. The bloke told me they do all the Imprint calibrating and computer stuff for you at no extra cost.

Sounds like it's worth it so I'll probably end up with the more expensive unit... I always do in these situations.

Also it should all sound nice with an 8" sub pumpin' under my seat.
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 277
Reg: 06-2007

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Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 10:38 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yeah, it should sound really good tom. what unit are you looking at. is it the CDA-9886? to purchase the calibration software, it is under $50, and the thing is, if your battery goes off, you will have to re-calibrate it. just something to think about.

look forward to seeing the results
Tom Nicol
TryHard
Vic
JZZ30 TT

Posts: 229
Reg: 01-2006

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Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 10:44 pm, by:  Tom Nicol (Goosemonger) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think it's the CDA-9887. I forgot to write down the code when I saw it in the shop, but it looks like it.

I might ask them if they will recalibrate for free it if the battery does something funny... I doubt it though. I might just buy it myself.
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 278
Reg: 06-2007

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Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 11:03 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i was just thinking Tom, with your front splits, i retained the factory box, but split the front from the back. you will see a seam around the speaker, just remove the 6 or so screws holding the front around the edge then use a bread & butter knife to separate the front from the back (an extra pair of hands really helps with this). then just get either silicone sealant or sikaflex and fill in the gaps to give a sealed speaker box. i found the smaller speakers "drive" better in a sealed box rather "free airing" to the door cavity seeing they are only 5.25's rather than 6.5"
Nathan Sheehan
Tinkerer
WA
Soarer TT Manual

Posts: 89
Reg: 12-2005

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Friday, November 21, 2008 - 01:52 pm, by:  Nathan Sheehan (Soarermad1) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

andrew, pioneer does have microphone calibration for thier top range head units. Im a pioneer dealer :-)
Nathan Sheehan
Tinkerer
WA
Soarer TT Manual

Posts: 90
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Friday, November 21, 2008 - 02:11 pm, by:  Nathan Sheehan (Soarermad1) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

pioneer do shallow mount subs, 2 8" subs in custom rear parcel would pump hard! or at least look mad HAHA. If you set out a good set of 6" speakers in the rear and decent splits up the front u could save plenty of boot room too. the 8" subs dont need stuff all air volume either. a 14 litre enclosure would be sufficient.
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 279
Reg: 06-2007

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Friday, November 21, 2008 - 02:21 pm, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

nathan, what is the mounting deapth on the 8" subs. i am thinking either of keeping my JBL's and bridging them with the left and right rear speakers and then using a focal 11" sub in the boot or replacing them with the pioneer 8" subs

by the way. i suppose you learn something every day :-)
Tom Nicol
TryHard
Vic
JZZ30 TT

Posts: 232
Reg: 01-2006

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Sunday, November 30, 2008 - 10:24 am, by:  Tom Nicol (Goosemonger) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Andrew, was the imprint software tricky to use at all? Or was it pretty straight forward?

I'm thinking I might end up installing the whole system myself and use the couple of hundred I'd save on installation to cover the cost of the better head unit.
Andrew Stewart
TryHard
Queensland
Manual GT-T VVT-i Single Turbo

Posts: 284
Reg: 06-2007

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Monday, December 01, 2008 - 08:59 am, by:  Andrew Stewart (Daboom) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

tom; the system is really straight forward to use, the only trick is getting the software to hook up to the headunit, if you follow the steps that come with the software 100%, you will have absolutely no issues with the software working. once it is installed and working, simply follow the prompts (moving the microphone around the car) and clicking the "next" button. for each callibration point.
Nathan Sheehan
Tinkerer
WA
Soarer TT Manual

Posts: 97
Reg: 12-2005

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Friday, January 09, 2009 - 04:32 pm, by:  Nathan Sheehan (Soarermad1) Quote hilighted text Edit Post Delete Post Print Post   View Post/Check IP (Moderator/Admin Only) Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

the mounting depth for the 8" subs is 78mm or 7.8cm whichever you like to look at. Off the top of my head they retail for $229 (for independent dealers) in the 500 watt range (or 250 watt RMS roughly) enough to make crazy bass in the cabin, running two! The rec enclosure size is 12.7 litres of air give or take 2 litres should be fine. They use a similar setup to isobarak sub boxes where one sub pushes and pulls the other sub to create twice the bass in a smaller enclosure. The slim lime subs have dual cones, one acts as the 'driver' for the other cone, that way they reduce depth overall. Good idea really

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