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'04 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart - First Build Log

218K views 1K replies 112 participants last post by  strakele 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm now on the 4th and best iteration of my 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart build, and I figured I'd share it with you guys. It's nothing fancy, just a solid build with good equipment that I think will sound really good when it's done.

Quick info about the car:

The Ralliart is the step down from the Evo. It's got a bigger motor, better suspension, better transmission, and some cosmetic upgrades as compared to a normal Lancer. No turbo, no AWD. It's got a 110a alternator, and came with an Infinity system with speakers in the doors and rear deck, tweeters in the A-pillars, and an 8 inch sub in the trunk all powered by a small amp under the drivers seat. I started last year with a pair of Alpine Type R 10's, a Kenwood amp, and an Alpine deck. I later changed out the front and rear speakers with Alpine Type S components and coax's, and then finally added a 4 channel amp. I also ran a set of bi-wired Boston SPZ60's for a while.

This semester at college, I decided it was time for a revamp, so here goes:

One of the only things staying is the Alpine CDA-9884 head unit. I chose this deck because of Alpine's great iPod interface, good price, features I wanted, and it almost looks like it SHOULD be there. I like to keep things low key - I didn't want it to be painfully obvious I have any kind of stereo mods. The 9884 matches the color of my interior almost perfectly, and the ability to make the blue buttons light up red matches the rest of the gauges in my car as well.



iPod cable runs to the glove box:



In the daylight, the red LED behind the blue buttons makes them a little purple, but whatever.



The 9884 is also one of the first series to support Alpine IMPRINT, so I picked up one of these processors for EQ, time alignment, and active crossovers. I haven't bought the tuning kit to run Audyssey's MultEQ, but I may at some point. After trying a couple different spots, Ryan (slade1274) helped me pull the head unit and install the processor behind the glove box. (And by helped, I mean I basically watched him do it, then went to wire and install the subs.) I had never pulled my dash before, so it was a great learning experience for me, especially since I had to pull the deck myself a few hours later to flip the 3 little switches on the bottom of the head unit that allow it to do important things like PRODUCE SOUND when the processor is added. Alpine just forgot to tell anyone about them.



 
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#2 ·
I listen mostly to rock and metal, so I wanted a mid that could really pound out the midbass. Typically drivers that can do this tend to give up some upper midrange, so I needed a tweeter that could be crossed low. I didn't want to have to fiberglass pods for large format home tweeters. I considered the Image Dynamics NX30 and XS28, but I finally decided on the Seas Neo textile dome (Prestige 27TFFNC/G) from Madisound for their great price, low Fs, and the fact that everyone here loves them. I'm planning on high-passing them at 2.5KHz with a 12 or 18dB slope.

They're screwed on to the stock tweeter bracket via a hole that Ryan drill pressed in for mounting purposes. They just barely fit behind my A-pillars. They're aimed just behind the dome light.







 
#3 · (Edited)
I also wanted a pair of subs with really good transient response for the type of music I listen to. I scored a pair of brand new Image Dynamics IDQ12v3's from dman for a great price. They're installed in the ID recommended enclosure of 1 cubic foot per sub. No polyfill as of now, may add some later. Just a standard sealed enclosure made of 3/4" MDF. I just wish the terminals were on the back rather than on the sides.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do for a grill yet, but I'll figure something out because the rifle cases have to fit back there for range days. Also, I can already tell I'm going to need more sound deadening in my trunk. I feel like these suckers could easily shake my car apart if I let them.



The box for the IDQ's says 450W RMS, the manual says 500W, and somewhere on the ID site (or maybe it was woofersetc, I don't remember) it says 750W RMS. So I figured I'd get an amplifier that has plenty of power for when I want/need it. I decided on the Clarion DPX 11551 class G/H amp and picked up a brand new one from KnightWhoSaysNI. Runnin' this bad boy at 2 ohms for around 1500W, not that I'll ever really need that much :D





The factory Infinity sub used to be on the passenger side in the trunk, where you see the small area that isn't carpeted. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet, but I thought it was kinda lame that Mitsubishi didn't feel the need to carpet under it.



Since I know someone will ask, my previous mono amp took two 4ga power and ground wires instead of a single 1/0. That's why you see two power/ground leads coming from the amp. Overkill? Probably. But I have the wire already run and it saves me from buying a new distribution block and fuses. Works all the same :) Thanks again to Ryan for the heat-shrink tubing.

Also, I took out the speakers in the rear deck like most people do to let more bass through. After listening (albeit with only tweeters and subs) I think I'm going to seal off the holes, either with a speaker or MDF or Damplifier or something. I guess I just like the subs to be sealed off from the cabin.
 
#4 ·
Powering the mids and tweeters is an MB Quart DSC4125. Powerful, solid amp. This is the other component that's staying from my previous install. It had a tiny bit of noise, but I'm hoping that with the 4V output of the Imprint processor vs the 2V output of my deck, it will be cleared up. The amp is mounted on the back of the fold down rear seat.





I did some more work organizing the wires after I took these pics, so it looks a little better now.

Once I get the new mids in, the Monster 4-conductor wires will be cut to the proper length. There's an old 9-con wire there too which used to carry the power for the Alpine front and rear speakers, but that has been replaced with the thicker gauge Monster cable. The only reason it's still there is for the remote turn on lead. I didn't feel like ripping it out simply to run a single remote wire, so it's probably going to stay for the forseeable future. Both sets of wires were run by shops. I was kinda pissed - when Car Toys installed the 4 channel, they dented the decorative top plate. I might just take that off later.
 
#5 · (Edited)
That's all for now. I'll get some pictures of the better wiring tomorrow, and this coming weekend I should be able to mount the mids and get pictures of the whole door install.

Any comments or suggestions welcome. Another big thanks to Ryan (slade1274) in Lawrenceville, GA for the help with the install and having a well stocked garage full of tools and install hardware.
 
#7 · (Edited)
You didn't miss. I haven't said yet (partly cause I'm not quite sure). I actually have 2 pairs coming in to try out, and I'll post plenty of pics then :)
 
#8 ·
Here's a couple quick pics of the better wiring.



I ran the mono amp RCA's behind a trim panel instead of alongside the amp with the speaker wire.



Added a couple more zip ties here and there so everything is tight and secure around the distribution block.



Don't mind the staples in the carpet flap thing, that will be replaced with velcro. Just had to make sure that idea would work.



And here's how much trunk I have left.

 
#9 ·
Both pairs of mids should be in on Friday, so I'll get to show them off then, as well as the install.

That's all for now. As always, comments and suggestions welcome.
 
#12 ·
Make an amp rack to hold both amps, so that you could hide all the wiring. the easiest way i could think of would be mounting a board over the pass through, that is set back far enough so that you could still put the seat up and mount the amps there,if it will fit. and drill holes just big enough to pass the wires through. if you get really ambitious then you could make a wall for the sub box so it extends to the sides of the trunk.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I don't think I quite visualize what you're describing. I'd like to do an amp rack at some point though.

When the rear seats are folded up like normal, the only wires that aren't completely hidden are those going to the mono amp. Looking into the trunk from the outside, you just see them disappear behind the enclosure. Once I get the mids installed and the speaker wire cut to length, the only thing you'll really be able to see when the back seats are folded down is the distribution block and the wires going up to the mono amp. The RCA's pop out from the passenger side, and the power wires from the driver's side. It's mostly covered with carpet until the come out to connect to something.

A wall would look pretty cool, but it's nice to be able to stick stuff in the nooks and crannies in the trunk. One of the goals of this install was to not give much, if any, up in terms of functionality. No kick panels, no removing the spare tire to make an enclosure, no taking up the whole trunk with subs. I drive cross country every semester so I need my storage space too :)
 
#14 ·
allow my crappy MS paint job to try and help


the red would be the amps, and the out line is what you are looking at in your picture. it probably does not make much sense, sorry. if dont want a wall on the sub box you could build one on the back of the amp rack to hide all the wires.
 

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#17 ·
Yeah I know. Appreciate the suggestion. Something to mess with this summer. Just kinda tough cause there's not a lot of room back there. I have the sub enclosure bolted in as far back as it will go in the trunk to maintain as much space in front of it as possible.
 
#19 ·
Thanks. I really like this car. I love the way the shifter feels compared to my sister's Mazda 3 and the Miata my dad used to have. I think it looks good too.

Wouldn't mind it being faster though. Oh well - I'm putting my money into audio instead of engine mods. :)




[for now]
 
#22 · (Edited)
Alright, so I finally got the install finished since the mids got here today.

I'm using a pair of Usher 8945A 7 inch speakers that I got new from norcalsfinest. For those that don't know, they're a ridiculously low distortion driver sold on PE for about $100 a pop. They're supposedly very similar to Scans that are twice the price.

Anyway, I wish I had taken pictures of these things before I installed them, but I was too excited to get them installed. The magnet on these things is enormous. Each driver weighs about 6 pounds. They just barely fit, but just barely is all I need.

The drivers are installed onto resin coated 1/2" MDF rings. They're fit into doors sealed and deadened with Damplifier, and non-hardening modeling clay all around the baffle. I don't really have many pictures of the deadening job since it was all done a long time ago. There's plenty of pics like that elsewhere on the forum.

Anyway, here's some pics.






Here's the Usher compared to the previous Boston SPZ60's. The MDF baffle is the same diameter on the outside, so you can see the size difference.






After plugging in some rough measurements for the time alignment and setting the crossovers, I let 'er rip.

Holy crap. It sounds great! Twice as good as what I had before. I'm very happy and impressed. I still have a bit of EQ, level matching, and T/A to do, but overall I'm very pleased.

Again thanks to Ryan Slade for the help with the install, the speaker rings, and letting me use up all his spade terminals :)
 
#25 ·
Thanks man.

Also, this is the second set of mids I bought while being impatient for the Ushers. They're a pair of Taiwanese made DVC 4 ohm 6.5 inch drivers that I got from ghostmechanic. We're not sure of the brand. If anyone recognizes what these may be, let me know. I'll be messing with these over the summer and comparing them to the Ushers.







 
#26 ·
I just recently installed some Second Skin Speaker Tweaker pads, so I thought I'd post an update.

No pics of the pads going in, but I do think they improved the sound coming from the door speakers. The music does sound cleaner.

Can't really say there's less distortion, because there really was none to begin with. These Usher speakers are amazing in that respect. I'm really happy with how good they sound. Even being 8 ohms and not crazy high sensitivity, they can get extremely loud off my MB Quart amp and they just never distort.

While I was installing the pads, I did have to pull out the speakers so I decided to snap a few shots of the Usher 8945A compared to a 'normal size' 6.5" speaker since there aren't a whole lot of pics of the Ushers around here.

Usher on the left, random DVC 6.5" speaker on the right (and the magnet on this one isn't exactly small...)












For anyone who can fit these suckers, there's really no reason not to look into the Usher drivers. This A version is just a normal cone, and there's also a P version with a phase plug. Even without the phase plug, these play fine to 2-2.5KHz in my car. I'm happiest with them crossed low at 63Hz and high at 2KHz, with the Seas tweeters crossed at 3.2KHz, all at 12dB/oct. Check out the woofers at Parts Express.
 
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