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Babs' 08 Honda Civic Si Sedan

132K views 737 replies 84 participants last post by  Huckleberry Sound 
#1 · (Edited)
I've been reluctant over the years to do a log here for a couple reasons. One I didn't think the skills were up to anything special for showing off anything that's not been seen, and two install learning curve on many levels has made my install work extremely slooooooowwww. Like molasses slow. And lastly I feared I'd make a confabulated crazy thread full of misinformation and audio heresy while showing just how newb I am at real installation and tuning. Hehe :) ah WTH! Here goes.. The old girl has something like 90k miles on the odo and she still boogies but has some squeaks here and there and some typical things I want to do from a maintenance and looks perspective. The paint will have to be redone. The 8th Civic paint curse has bitten me.



The car has already had iteration 2 or 3 maybe with still a two way system comprising of SB Acoustics drivers badged NVX and I've gone through various subs along the way with an SD-3 10" in an Audio Integrations box, then pulled it for a temporary 12TW1 in a first home-built sealed box for me.

Powered by 80PRS, PDX V9 and F4

Changes planned and in the works:

IB baby!!

Two IB12AU drivers on shelf now and building template now a bit unorthodox. Balsa wood. LOL! I have to make everything difficult. But ok. Here's as of tonight. Template done, time to cut some wood.



3-Way:

The poor guys at the NCSQ meet have heard me whine for the last time about a 3-way. Scan-speak D3004's and 10F mids will be replacing my first fabrication project in the pillars with a bit more extensive first-time pillar job for me.

Existing:


That little window will be getting mids and tweets glassed in a sealed enclosure pillar job for the 10F. Goal being as stealthy or inconspicuous as possible.

Gear list plan after this iteration:

80PRS main source
IDevice into HDMI converted to toslink for second source
Helix DSP (8 ch) with two-knob remote
PDX V9 for sub, mids, tweets
PDX F4 for midbass.
D3004 around 3100 hz up maybe
10F from 400 to 3100 hz
NVX (SB17) XSP65 midbass from 80 to 400 hz. Maybe a surprise or two there though on driver and installation



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#51 ·
#50 · (Edited)
Got zero actual car work done this weekend but needed to "sharpen the saw" a bit. Garage area reorganization and clean up so I could put the car in a place around a $&@#! pole that's in a really inconvenient place. So now I can roll a workbench out for making dust while the car is torn down.

Before:


After:


A little thing but had a crazy weekend of tree trimming and helping neighbors. Disk between L4/L5 vertebrae is barking at me for sure.

Panel poppers ready. The great teardown now to get this thing going.


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#53 ·
So minor update. Found the coolest local warehouse today with all kinds of goodies. The guy that helped me builds home speakers, small world. They had every kind of wood stuff from wood flooring to big artistic cuts of cypress. Awesome place. So I picked up two 5x5 sheets of this..



Russian birch ply. A sheet of 7/8" and 5/8". Pretty solid stuff.

Makes me think for two IB12AU's I might be ok with just a single layer of 7/8". I bought the 5/8" layer for strength if needed. Plan is some aluminum angle on the bottom at least and top if necessary for rigidity and for fastening.

Your thoughts?



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#54 · (Edited)
So a small update. It's going slow especially when you have a PITA dog under your feet who wants to play ball all day.


But I love him though.. Big goofy sweet boy.

So I did up a "sealing" baffle in 1/4" to take up the space which goes in in two equal pieces. Job being to close in all the gaps. Love a flush trim bit.



Plan is that front baffle will get a nice chamfer or roundover edge outlining the subs on the board behind them.

Next trick will be using my old MDF baffle cut down as large as possible but small enough to get by the rear struts and actually fit in one piece well behind the front piece. That'll be used for a template for the actual 7/8" baffle. Ran out of daylight.

It's going. It's Babcock slow, but it's going.



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#55 · (Edited)
All I use is the 3/4" Baltic Birch so I know it is strong but my initial reaction is to double them up or glue the 5/8" to give you a thicker mount because if it vibrates at all, you'll lose efficiency on the subs. Meaning the subs are going to push against the mount and if the pair of subs are able to move the mount at all, they won't have the output of a solid mount. If you don't want to double up the whole thing then maybe double up around the subs, which would also give you more bite if you were to use screws to mount the subs. And I'd use even more bracing in the center to ensure the middle doesn't move at all.

But looking good...stop moving Babcock slow. :)
 
#56 ·
Haha! K 7/8"+ 5/8" it is. That aughta be solid as a rock for two 12's. That's a bunch of ply layers.


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#57 ·
No excuses now. Plunge base and circle jig. Pretty rings for tweets and mids are tempting me but gotta stay on track, finish the IB wall first.

Tool pron:



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#59 · (Edited)
Thanks, yeah that shop has literally pallets of the stuff in many different flavors. Come to realize, now I can't just throw any saw blade on it, so now gotta hunt a good and proper plywood blade for the old Skil saw for a nice clean cuts without a bunch of tear-outs on the top layer. Funny how one little project will make you buy a metric ton of tools.

Car audio has made me have to learn some carpentry, woodworking etc.

Tool tip of the day. :)
Homemade saw track for doggone straight lines with a hand-held Skil saw.


And a bonus.. Playlist for cutting accurate rings down to even 1" in thin stuff.
Yato at CAE teaches circle cutting w/ plunge router

Updates coming guys.. Sorry for the delays.
 
#61 · (Edited)
So how'd y'all spend your Memorial Day weekend? I had fun with tools this weekend. Progress made. In short, made above straight saw track guide. Cut some wood. Got a plan together and baffle layers fitting, which because of the short width in front of the mount location was no small feat. I envy you guys who've got a straight shot for your baffle hole. Here we go...

Use whatcha got for straight edge guide.. I can now make straight cuts


Sealing layer of 1/4" 2-PC fitted


Putting saw and flush trim bit to work


Because the baffles are angled they of course don't line up so I drilled center sub holes for jasper jig pins while in car so to have the holes line up... Plan anyway. Looked good on paper. :)



How nice to learn how to use a plunge base for accuracy of depth.

Layer one, which would have probably sufficed. 7/8" 15 ply Russian birch ply.

It fits!! You have no idea how stoked I am at this point. Second layer of 5/8" ply.

All three layers as they lie in position in car. 1/4" MDF which is useless for strength but in two pieces can go in flush all around.





This baffle with subs weighs oh a metric ton or so.. But I can imagine MDF would have been heavier. The subs are the thing.. AE IB motors are no joke.


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#62 ·
Round over the top baffle for a cleaner look that's easier to finish in whatever material you decide
 
#63 · (Edited)
Yep I was thinking a round over or a champher bit. Round over might be a cleaner look.

Edit:
Verified I've got a little 1/4" round-over bit sitting in the drawer ready to go, so there's the decision made for that one. Aughta look nice.

Thinking carpet likely, but could do something completely unconventional if I find some kind of cool vinyl at the local shop maybe. Trunk side will get carpet, certainly as I have some on hand that matches.

If I carpet the front piece, I might run into a clearance issue around the drivers.. No sweat. Line it up over the second baffle and hit it with a small rabbet to open it up 1/8" or so. LOL! :D


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#67 ·
Well, no second guessing there.. Those IME are probably about as good an IB sub as you could ask for. If you do the apollo upgrade, it's just gross excess goodness. I've not heard these IB12AU's before. I really have no idea what to expect. Trying to keep my expectations reasonable considering they're just 12's and first tier IB12AU's. Displacement certainly not being what two 15's would be. Will see. :D
 
#68 ·
So.. Next stop:

Hardware.. Gotta mount this IB beeyatch, fit it up in car then mark the spots for T-nuts, get a carpet thing going, etc.
Now I'm all brave and stuff, time to break out the type-1 PVC sheet do some little mid/tweet rings!! Booyah!

Tear out everything else and start thinking of the wiring updates.. It's all gotta go by the IB wall, so it's kinda sorta gotta be done fairly soon, unless I get silly and see if I can route over the top of the wheel well and come out by the driver side trunk corner where I'm planning the amp rack. Watch me not have enough 4awg from the battery. It'll be 4" too short I just know it.
 
#69 ·
You know for a couple hundred dollars you could get that "annoying poll" out of the middle of your garage. It's usually quite simple. If you possess the skills to build a box you have the ability to get rid of a post. That is the type of work I do every day. If you wanted advice on how i would love to give it. Most people are just intimidated by structural stuff. I could likely do it in less than an hour with some hangers and a few lvl's. Anything to see some unrestricted progress with this build:)
 
#70 · (Edited)
Cool. Might need to discuss it with you. It's holding glu-lams up. Looks like a pole every 8 feet or so, running the center joist span of the basement. 2-story house over it. Certainly load bearing.

Luckily I got the car situated where it's not interfering with any doors.

My learning curve with all these new-to-me techniques I think is my biggest obstacle for speed. The stuff you experienced guys knock out in a weekend I'm at the very start on the learning curve. Hehe


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#71 ·
Believe it or not the two story part doesn't always mean much. The weight gets spread across walls like trusses. It doesn't actually travel down individual studs with our conventional construction. Anyway it's all speculation until I see it. And that's for another thread. As another IB'er i am eagerly waiting your finish.
 
#72 ·
A thought just occurred.. What size cap-head and T-nuts I wonder for mounting the subs?
I have some #8-32 and #10-32 kits on hand though the screws I'm sure will likely be a tad long for the job. What sayeth the gallery on that for good and proper attachment of the actual subs? I imagine I'll need to pop one of each into the frame hole on a sub and see what the sub hole tells me is a good fit.. Go big if possible.

Here's what I've got:
#8-32 kit from PE
#10-32 kit from PE

Also would it be kosher or blasphemous to "cut" off the slack if they're long causing them to protrude from the baffle back? Granted, the overhang is doing nothing if it's not grabbing T-nut threads.
 
#73 ·
I use 1/4 for my subs but I'm sure 8 #10 screws would be more than strong enough.

If you need some, I have plenty of 1/4-20 slab nuts with screws. PM me if needed. I offer the following to AVS members since I bought them in bulk for my HT sub business.
What fasteners are you using for big drivers? - Page 3 - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

Cutting to length is easy with a hacksaw, just thread a couple nuts down, cut, file smooth, and then remove the nuts, which will straighten out the threads.
 
#74 ·
That's cool.. May give you a shout.

I'll do a little inventory this evening and see what I've got on hand. May scavenge from my old temporary 12tw1 install as well if I gotta. Heck I don't even recall which size I used. I only remember PE actually sent me an extra bag of one of those t-nut kits. Also have their "hurricane" nuts on hand but can't recall the size. I never used the "hurricane nuts" though as they looked like they could spin on you easier than T-nuts. Since the application was a sealed box that made me go for T-nuts. I'll get a better handle on what I've actually got when I rummage through the hardware bins this evening.

I do have PE's gasket tape, however immediately upon it arriving (isn't that typically the case) I was told it stinks as a product.. The adhesive gets gooey and it degrades etc. Heck, may not need it with the rubber gasket on the drivers now.
 
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