Hey everyone! I've been slowly collecting equipment for my next installation and have gotten to the point where I can start showing off!
The car is a run-of-the-mil 2000 Honda Accord, but with only 45k original miles. I bought it off a friend who had garaged it (with a car cover) for a couple years and only drove it in the summer. When I got it it only had 25k miles on it!
The equipment is a collection of stuff new and old. The amps I've had for a little while (with the exception of the GT-24 which I bought off this forum), the HU I've had in several cars and will use it until it completely goes TU. Sound dampening, of course, is new, and more is planned/on the way.
Here's my current layout:
HU: Eclipse CD8443
Front Stage: H-Audio Trinity & Ebony and maybe a tweeter.
Rears: H-Audio Trinity & Ebony
Sub: AE IB15 ** if it ever shows up
Amps: 3x Boston GT-22's (need one more), 1x Boston GT-24
GT-22 --> bridged --> left front Ebony
GT-22 --> bridged --> right front Ebony
GT-22 --> stereo --> left/right front Trinity
GT-22 (need) --> stereo --> left/right rear Trinity/Ebony pair w/ passive xover (also still need)
GT-24 --> bridged --> AE IB15
Signals will be handled by my Eclipse CD player, perhaps an Alpine EX-10 iPod aux-in adapter too. RCA's to the JBL MS-8, and then off to the amps.
My goal for the install is to have it be close to stock looking. I doesn't need to be flashy, but I do want to incorporate just a enough to be fun.
I had to track down a stupid security hex screw wrench to take off the covers of the amps It seemed to work ok...
The amp boards seem to be nicely laid out and the red will look nice in the install I think. The heatsinking is a little different (the top piece of the sink was the top of the amp - the rest of the fins were hidden). I thinking about cutting off the top fin to make it flush with the other fins but keep the bottom sticking out like it is. I can use the bottom plate as a mounting device. The front of the amp will lose its 'feet' and probably be mounted with a piece of metal across the whole front. Its a little difficult to describe but you'll see what I mean
Boston was also nice enough make the leads on the fan (which was tucked inside next to the heatsinks) long enough that I can put the fans almost anywhere I need.
It is a great car over all! Is it a V6/2 door? Weather 2 or 4 doors you will need to do some stiffning work to get the most from the door speakers. I had to plate my doors with 3/16" thick aluminium to stop the flexing of the panel. That was the only way I was able to get the speakers to perform.
It's pretty good in the door for me. I dont like the drivers to be pointing at me. I actually prefer them in the kicks! This pic was the very 1st install I did in the car when I got it new. I later replaced the JL's to Dynaudio 3 way, which was a major step forward. Then craved more full frontal bass & made the move to the Morel 9.
Well, I've run into what I think is a snag (but maybe not??)I was planning on using a GT22 bridged on each of the front midbasses. I knew that I could mono the amp, but then realized that it wouldn't be a left or right signal, just mono (as in summed, right?).
How would I bridge the amp to create a true left amp and true right amp?
Or am I just having a brain fart?
if you are sending the signal split up like right side to a amp and the left signal to anther amp what would the amp care if its left or right ? how would it know that ? i truthfully dont know the answer i dont think the amp cares as long it gets a signal.
if you are sending the signal split up like right side to a amp and the left signal to anther amp what would the amp care if its left or right ? how would it know that ? i truthfully dont know the answer i dont think the amp cares as long it gets a signal.
Maybe I'm overthinking this... the Left Front from the MS8 goes to the Left amp -- if its bridged, it would need both Left and Right inputs, or just one? The amp has "Mono - L" as an input possibility -- does that mean I'm simply using the L input and sliding the switch to Mono on top?
And that'll give me a true 'left' or 'right' amp?
The owners manual is not too helpful. I 'supose I could call Boston
So maybe its:
MS8 Front Midbass output signal --> rca --> Left amp 'mono' input -->spkr wire-->spkr
MS8 Front Midbass output signal --> rca --> Right amp 'mono' input --> spkr wire-->spkr
This is from my first 'real' system back in 2000. It was a 1997 Civic HB with Boston Pro's in front, Xtant 603 and an Xtant 12" fiberglassed into the spare tire well. The back lit up in red neon to match the car when you opened the hatch.
I also had a "custom" install on the HU where it sat in front of the stick shift down below (I think where the factory tape player went) and an XM radio module installed in the radio location with a custom "pleather" wrapped plate.
Note the Nokia hands-free kit installed where that useless little pocket used to be
you will need two Y splitters. for the right side mid bass, split the right side signal into two and feed the amp's left and right channel with it. same goes for the left side amp. the amp doesnt really care or know whether its two different signals or one signal split into two.
I also have an Accord, but '04 4door, Eclipse 8443 HU, and also awaiting AESBP15 subs Running HAT L8SE in the doors, and HAT L4SE in the kicks.
I see you and I are in the same boat.... John @ AE Speakers seems to have issue after issue. If he didn't have so many people praising his speakers, I would have tried to cancel my order awhile ago.
you will need two Y splitters. for the right side mid bass, split the right side signal into two and feed the amp's left and right channel with it. same goes for the left side amp. the amp doesnt really care or know whether its two different signals or one signal split into two.
Indeed... I called Boston and confirmed that the Y-splitters are needed. It turns out that you can use the L 'mono' input, but it engages the LP filter, with noway of defeating it. It wouldn't be all that bad but I need the Ebony's to reach up to the Trinity xover point - which is the very upper limit of the amps lowpass (Mark advises 315 for the HP to the Trinity's vs 350 LP on the amp. I think I'll stick with the MS8 xovers to cut it up).
I'm using a Kinetik battery as my main starting battery. I'll be running 1/0 Stinger HPM wire to the back from here, into a fuse block. I've thought about adding a 'standard' battery in front and moving the Kinetik to the trunk. If I leave the Kinetik under the hood, I need to come up with some way of attaching the 1/0 to the battery terminal without adding height to the battery (which is pretty darn close to the hood).
Made a little progress today... I decided to take on the sound dampening of the doors first. I started with the rear doors, not because I plan on installing speakers in them, mainly for practice
I had forgot that dynamat cuts your hands. That foil is sharp! Ugh. I also went out and bought some CCF from a local fabric store. They had a whole bunch of different CCF, I decided to get my feet wet by starting with the 1/8" behind the door panels. I figured if I could go thicker, maybe I could just glue on another layer. The door panels went back on fairly easily, so I'm guessing I could have gone thicker (and will in the front doors).
I wasn't sure on how to get the CCF to stick to the door. I used some foil tape to stick it on. I'm thinking that it should hold. What' s the "proper" way??I also took off the vapor barrier - should I replace it on between the CCF and the door panel?
Pics up in a few after I go pick up the kiddo from school
I found that there was only two screws to remove, one behind the door handle and one in the dooe recess (circled). You'll need a small flat blade screwdriver to remove the covers on each, and a Philips to pull the screws out.
The door panel is 'pinned' in several places around the perimeter towards the bottom. A quick tug on the bottom of the door panel and it came loose. The top of the door panel is wedged in betwen the door and the window, all I had to do was rotate the panel a little towards the back of the car and the panel was loose.
There are two connectors to unplug, one is for the door light, the other is for the window. The window one (pic below) was a little harder to figure out, but once I pinched the connector it came out easily.
After the door panel was off, I cut off the vapor barrier to get it at the door itself. A sharp knife is all you'll need there. Once the vapor barrier was out of the way, I started to Dynamat. 2 layers on the inside of the door skin and smaller single layers on the outside.
The CCF was trimmed with scissors to shape. Before I taped up the CCF, I cut out another copy out of the rest of the foam for the other door. Some foil tape later, I had foam on the door.
A little more progress... I took off the drivers door panel to see what what waiting for me. The previous owner had installed a pair of JBL power series 6" and tweet - but it was the 6" and how it was installed that suprised me. The actual speaker wasn't screwed into the plastic speaker adapter... the screws were on the outside of the speaker frame, and metal washers were used to hold the speaker in place.
The Ebony midbasses were just a tad bigger than the plastic speaker adapter and the hole in the door so I had to make my own adapters. I've learned cruising through DIYMA that plastic cutting boards make for decent spacer materials - so it was off to Goodwill. I found a 3/8" cutting board for 3.99... good enough for me
The board was pretty easy to cut, and soon after getting home I had two spacers in hand for a total of 3/4" (enough to space I hope). The two pcs are pretty thin width-wise in a few places, I used the factory plastic speaker adapter to trace onto the cutting board. Thinking about it now I probably could have made it a little wider and been fine - but for 3.99, its not a big deal.
While I was waiting for the two spacers to dry (superglue seems to work pretty well for glueing cutting board material together) I tried fitting some 4 gauge powerwire into my amp to see if it was truely 4 gauge on the input. For some reason I couldn't get it to fit in all the way, and as I started to curse about having to go to 8 gauge... I noticed something stuck in the connector. A bee! WTF?!?!?
2000 Accord SQ install
Sound dampening, of course, is new, and more is planned/on the way.
It seemed to work ok...
Linear Mode
