Latest SQ install...08 Civic Coupe

[simplicityinsound]

hey gang, just got done with my first new civic, this being one of our own forum members car. its a 2008 civic coupe. I have always thought that the interior would lend itself to a very nice SQ install..and was very happy i finally got the chance to give a crack at it

the goals:

1. excellent sound quality
2. place midrange and tweet cleanly onto the A pillar
3. as stealthy and space saving as possible in the trunk

lets get started:

the signal starts with a kenwood excelon DNX 8120 cd/dvd/nav headunit, installed via the honda double din finisher:



if you look next to the HU, you can see the flush mounted bluetooth mic for a stock apperance:



the front stage consists of a seas lotus reference 6.5" two way component set and a DLS ultimate iridium 3" dome midrange.

the midbass was installed in the stock lower door location, and the door dampened, the outter door card was dampened as well around the speaker area:













now arriving at the most challening part of hte installation, the mold of hte A pillar to accept the midrange and tweeter. after some mocking up i decided:

1. to place hte tweeter infront of hte mid, pushing it as far back as possible, instead of putting it further up the A pillar, though it may have been a much easier mold
2. to keep the mold contained in the A pillar itself, instead of flowing onto the dash, the complex curves of the driver side dash means that if i molded it out onto it, it would make for very assymetrical and weird looking pod.
3. to not use the DLS midrange grille, beucase i think it wouldnt match with the seas tweeter, so this means making my own grille and inturn, means making a recessed flushmounted baffle...

so anyway, here is the result of the work:

first the drivers side, i made a shape that i though flowed with the angles and shapes of the stock A pillar and dash area the best...there is a suede insert, and the two sepakres side one in front of hte other. the grille for the dls midrange is removed so the dome is exposed. the entire pillar is wrapped in one piece mesh grille cloth with no cuts, wrinkles, or sewing...quite an annoying task lol







the passenger side:







all together:



i also made matchin grilles for the A pillars:



and here ihwat it looks like with the grilles in place:











now onto the build pics of hte A pillars.

first, the baffle itself was cut, and then low heat plastic wrapped around and shaped to be identical with the baffle, there is also an insert, and a grille, so in essense, each side consists of three individual pieces, all routed to match.



next the baffles were aimed and mold cloth attached:



after it hardened, it was strenghthend from the back:



next came the sanding to make it smooth:





then, they were wrapped in grille cloth, matching hte pattern and close in color to the headliner, the insert pieces were covered in suede and ready to go





the grilles were made also and finally, the speakres were installed into the A pillar structure with the insert in place







with the grilles test fitted:





so moving onto the trunk, again, the goal here is for a very stock apperance...to that end, here is the initial view when the trunk is open...100 percent stock looking:



remove the rubber mat, and it still is 100 percent stock looking, no fake floor rebuild in sight



lift up the stock cover, and here is hwat you see, two zapco dc reference amps, a 650.6 and a 1000.4, powers the entire system, and two exile audio xt10 shallow subs upfront, all trimmed in light gray suede.
the 650.6 sends 180 watts to each midbass and 500 watts to the subs, while the 1000.4 sends 100plus watts to each midrange and tweet.











if you are wondering about hte bass with the cover and rubber at in place, it doesnt seem to affect at all, originally i planned on making a new cover grill to replace the stock lift off piece, but after powering up, i realized that it made no difference in sound, no rattles, nada, so the stock cover was retained for a completely stock look

now, this is an install that IMO, looks super simple, but take a lot of work behind it to make it work...the main challenge here is obviousy to fit two large amps, and two subs, in the spare tirewell, while giving each sub the proper airspace that it needs...so here is a quick few pics of the trunk process...

first, the wires had to be run around the sides of the trunk so it wouldnt stick underneath the carpet and bulge it up:





next, comes the strange looking subbox, in order for the box to get the proper air space AND serve as a firm mounting pltaform for the two amps, a half MDF half fiberglass piece was construted. internal volume is somehwere in the .85-.9 cubfeet, matching the subs requirement very well. its definetly one of hte more bizarre boxes that i have built but it works well.







now here is the subbox and amp rack installed and all wired up:





and then the last piece was also a interesting build...its hte top floor, its acutally a two piece bonded together, a 1/2" mdf main baffle, with a 1/8" hardboard lip, this lip slides underneath the stock carpet, and there for, forms a seamless top baffle once in place, while the thick main baffle provides the strenght for hte floor:





so thats it, and this car is definetly going to be one of the best sounding i have done recently. after doing so many 2 ways, this 3 way with the A pillar set up really provides a lot of realism, while staging and imagine is pretty dead on. thanks to Leon for some quick tuning, and on friday, i am taking her down to LA for some more tuning with senor Eng and then delivery to the customer on saturday

cheers!

Bing

[Vestax]

You can tell Bing is getting old when he has to label his work pieces. "Wait, that's not the grill, that's my drill!"

[8675309]

[Midget]

That is sweet. I love stealth stuff. I like the pillars you did, but it's not something I would do. They look nice. But I am partial to kicks. God I can't wait to get started on mine.

[simplicityinsound]

Originally Posted by Vestax

You can tell Bing is getting old when he has to label his work pieces. "Wait, that's not the grill, that's my drill!"

yeah, really getting old...tired to isntall the sub in the A pillar and coldnt figure out why it wouldnt fit

[capnxtreme]

I love the trunk.

The craftsmanship on the A-pillars is incredible, as always, but I'm not feeling the design, especially considering that it doesn't improve PLD's for the mids, and is still off-axis.

[simplicityinsound]

Originally Posted by capnxtreme

I love the trunk.

The craftsmanship on the A-pillars is incredible, as always, but I'm not feeling the obtrusive design.

you know i agree with you on the obtrusiveness, its one of the reaosns why i dont do this kind of molds that often, but htis civic's big stock A pillar i think lends itself to it...but either way, when you get a chance, take a look at this one in person and see hwat you think...its a san diego car

[capnxtreme]

Originally Posted by simplicityinsound

you know i agree with you on the obtrusiveness, its one of the reaosns why i dont do this kind of molds that often, but htis civic's big stock A pillar i think lends itself to it...but either way, when you get a chance, take a look at this one in person and see hwat you think...its a san diego car

OK, I might have to hit him up.

Thanks for the ideas, been looking forward to seeing an 8th gen Civic system from you for a while.

I guess there's essentially no mounting depth behind the A-pillar? I've been toying with the idea of trying to fit some large-format tweeters in there.

[lowpoke]

Originally Posted by capnxtreme

I love the trunk.

The craftsmanship on the A-pillars is incredible, as always, but I'm not feeling the design ...

... x2

[simplicityinsound]

there are some space, but not a lot. keep in mind one of hte reasons why it sticks as much as it does, is beucsae its on a DOME mid, which has a dome sticking out a good inch from the mounting flange if you do a large format tweet, it all deepnds on if you want to do on or off axis...on axis is going to result int a pretty big tumor hehe way more obtrusive than this one, unless you have a sedan, that would be a different matter all together

as far as not improving on PLD? hehe am I missing osmething here? Where else would oyu put a midrange in this car that has better PLD? not hte kicks really, you have similar PLD but you get more separation with tweet. i cant seem to think another method that would get you better PLD for the midrange short of remold on the dash?

as for off axis, hehe, i think i myself like the way off axis sounds, dont know why, i have heard and done a few more on axis installs recently, and to me, it lways seems to have less defined center, and not as good depths and a bit too much in my face tonality wise but we all have our taste when it comes to how we like it to sound right?

again, take a listen to this sometime, and see hwat you think?

b

[capnxtreme]

Cool, thanks Bing.

Regarding the PLD's: I recently busted out the tape measure in my coupe, and was surprised to find that the PLD between the factory door speakers was ~11" vs. ~10" for the PLD between the factory tweets in the far corners of the dash (this could just be because of my gangsta seating position). So, I'm not saying that kicks would be better, but I do think they'd have a shorter PLD.

I was also thinking about having the mid further away than the tweeter, but I suppose that would create a bigger tumor as well. It is all about compromises. I would love to hear it sometime.

You don't have any more trunk buildup pics do you?

[WolfSong]

Bing, as always, a pleasure to see your work... and even more pleasant to see it on a car I know intimately.

The A Pillars are definitely different, but I've learned to appreciate someone else's vision and if that works well, then it works well. It looks clean... but I think the capn said it best when he used the word "obtrusive"... the A pillars are actually a bit of a blind spot on these cars because of the thickness.

It was an education though... and food for thought when I decide to go with a 3 way front stage.

[simplicityinsound]

thats interesting capn...i will bust out hte tape measure and do it myself, i mean, if thats true with someting as long dashed as this car, wouldnt it apply that most cars, then, anyhting even remotely on the A pillar, or hell, on topof the dash, would suffer some serious PLD versus just doing kicks or lower door? but again, i will measure it out and see hehe...i dont believe a lot of TA was used on the mid and tweet for the solid center...

yeah ideally, mid should be further away htan tweet, but that would look really out of place hehe...

sorry no more pics on tihs one

hey derek, isnt it a popular thing for the sedan guys to glass over the little window for a big enclsoure? hehe...

yeah, in the end i agree, doing a three way set up with the mid and tweet anywhere on the A pillar or dash, is going to be way more intrusive looking, but, after doin this one, i feel like htere are indeed some measureable gains via just a two way with a tweet up there. whether or not this gain is worth the more obtrusive look, thats for hte owners to decide.

i thought about it long and hard, but i couldnt come up with a LESS obtrusive way of doing the mid and tweet up there, well, i guess, molding the mid surface mounted and then the tweet up the pillar also surface mounted would work, but i just didnt htink that would look right and would be really bad PLD wise hehe

[H-Audio - AKA - Here-I-Come]

And another great one from the man!

[WolfSong]

Actually the more I look at the A Pillars, they're growing on me. I've always been a function over form kinda guy anyways...

I have a coupe like this one, but my wife has a sedan and even with the little glass thingies it's still a blind spot... one of my few beefs about these cars actually. I'm tall, so these are probably low enough that they wouldn't be a big intrusion except for maybe some close maneuvering in a parking lot maybe.

I think that I wouldn't mind them too much now that they've had a chance to grow on me. It was different, and now that I've had a chance to appreciate them for what they are, I appreciate them more.

[simplicityinsound]

well, my delimma is similar to yours man, we just picked up a 09 civic sedan for my wife, and i am debting on what to do for hte tweet location, i dont htink i can talk the wife into loosing hte window, that would create a mega blind spot...so i think i am going to use the stock tweeter location on hers.

i am not sure how tall you are, but i am around 6 foot,and to be perfectly honest, i didnt find that they obstructed the view at all...also, i had leon's fiance drive the car to and from leon, a good 45-50 min each way, and she didnt mention not being able to see, shes quite a bit shorter than me hehe

do you loose some vision? of course, but really its just the thin strip on the top, where from normal sightlines, it intrudes into the edge of hte windshield. dpending on how tall you are, this could mean about 1/2" to maybe 1.5"...the rest of hte pillar flows with the hsape of hte A pillar and does not block outward view.

i feel like these pods, acutally causes less view blockage than large format tweeters i did on axis in the G35...whcih was a much smaller mold.



waht do you think?

[simplicityinsound]

p.s.. if you want, i will take a coupla shots of the pods at normal eye level to show you just how little viewing is lost. all the A pillar pics you see, are taken at about chest level...you can sorta see how the shot is on the same verticle as the bottom of hte A pillar...obviously, unless you are a midget, your head would be significantly above that hehe

i will snap some for you civic guys tommorow

out of the ones i took, this one prolly comes closest to demonstrating how little it intrudes into the acutal sightline out of hte window, this is taken from the driver seat looking over, but still lower than my eyes, mabe around chin level.

[lyttleviet]

Great craftsmanship, but I am not a fan of the A-pillar design. Also, IIRC the airbags deploy off the A-pillar on the coupe the same way the Si Sedan does correct? This would mean flying mids and tweets everywhere .

[simplicityinsound]

Originally Posted by lyttleviet

Great craftsmanship, but I am not a fan of the A-pillar design. Also, IIRC the airbags deploy off the A-pillar on the coupe the same way the Si Sedan does correct? This would mean flying mids and tweets everywhere .

i was under the impression that the charge blow the A pillar into the windshield, and the curtain airbag blows out to prtect the occupants? or does Honda do this completely different than all the other manufactuers?

i discuseed this at lengths wit ha freind of mine who is an automotive engineer quite a few years back, and i was assured that, unless i stick somethiung very heavy up there, like a big mid or midbass, osmething like this wouldnt hinder much with the operation of a side airbag. and its not like the tweeter and mid isnt secured, why would they go flying out? the idea is the entire pillar, wtih the new pod at the lowre end, would again blow into the windshield and the airbag deploy

[lyttleviet]

Oh, I wanted to say I love your BT mic spot! I might steal it :ninja:

edit: good news to hear on the A-pillar. Just want to make sure that guy is safe . GG on talking to an engineer about it before doing the pillars. You sir are top notch and have my respect.

[WolfSong]

Yeah... I was actually eyeing that spot for the bluetooth mic as well...

Bing, I'll admit that they aren't near as obtrusive as say a double or triple A-Pillar Gauge Pod. And they truly are growing on me.

[moosejuice]

As usual Bing great looking install, Wish you were closer so that I could check some of them out in person...

B-

[John Swanberg]

A Quick question Bing, are the amps Reference Series or DC Series? I can't seem to tell from the picture. BTW, just picked up an 09 Civic Coupe and appreciate all your ideas. John

[simplicityinsound]

DC reference John the DC is the all black one, the normal reference has black fins and a dark graphite colored main portion.

wow, we are all picking up civics this month eh? here is the one we just pciked up for the wife last week

[MaXaZoR]

I guess there's essentially no mounting depth behind the A-pillar? I've been toying with the idea of trying to fit some large-format tweeters in there.

CapN, you shoud look at my install. I have the OWII and I like how they sound, interested to hear On-Axis vs. Off though