2014 Highlander - SQ build

[Mapletech]

OK - My turn. I've spent my time lurking, learning, and the odd technical post here and there whenever I could help out.

We just got our 2014 Highlander about a month ago.

The conditions, partly imposed by be, partly by SWMBO:
- Must be as transparent, physically and operationally, as possible. I've planned this down to having everything hidden, without taking up standard storage space, and with only the sub taking up any new space (and that taking up a rear corner and ending up flush to the wheel well, etc.)
- Car must remain usable pretty much every day through the process. This will mean 1 section / door / side at a time.

I had narrowed my equipment list to a short list. Once I had the car and tore into it a bit looking for space, here's what I'm working with:

HU - Stock unit
DSP - Helix
Amps - JL 600/6 and 600/1
Front MB (Doors) - SEAS W18NX001
Front Tweet (Dash) - SEAS 27TBFC/G
Rear Doors - JBL P662 Coax's
Sub - Image Dynamics IDQ10V.4
Damping - 60x SDS Tiles + Some butyl rope
Barrier - Barymat BM1A

Other - Prestigious Society NAVI enhancement to let me do Navigation and other stuff while moving.
- Trailer wiring and additional 12V outlet at the rear. Unfortunately no room for a power inverter since I would want true sine wave.

Note, partly to remind myself:
I intend to take measurements of the stock stereo 'as-is', as well as to get the curve of the electrical output (ie. minus speakers) to see just how much EQ is actually being done at the HU.

[Mapletech]

Part 1 - The "Amp Rack" build:

My first search was for a place to drop the amps and processing. I found the back left corner had a nice deep storage pocket, which, If I do this carefully, can be converted into a shallow storage pocket with some fiberglass work.
Here's the new home for the electronics:



I had to measure this space very carefully, and found that I could fit the JL amps in here with not much room to spare.

First thing then was to create a base to level out the cavity. The center of the space, going front to back, is reasonably flat, so I put some rare-earth magnets to secure it. No need to drill into the chassis - these provide plenty of holding power. Also, the grommet at the back has to remain accessible for the hitch wiring:

Base fitting:


Underside of the base once it had been fully tweaked:


A bit of paint - now time to get building, starting with the fan since the screws will be buried:

Level 1: Sub Amp: All settings must be done now - no tweaking once this thing is together. Fortunately all tweaks will be done in the DSP, so I just need minimum gain on the amp and straight through otherwise:


Rails for Level 2. This is just stock Home Depot angle aluminum, radiused a bit on the corners to fit the JL curve. The 600/6 is longer than the sub amp - no problem on the front, but at the back I had to make the support rod just flush with the rail. It's held up by double nuts below, and once the amp is in place it's not going anywhere.


Level 2: Tweets / Midbass / FullRange:


And finally, Level 3 - Processing and Electrics:


The top layer is a piece of 1/4" phenolic that I had laying around from a garage sale years ago. To my surprise, I found that it had a copper layer on one side. So...why not - seemed like it would look cool (despite being hidden). Some sanding brought it back to a shine, and 6 coats of clear lacquer to protect it. Sorry no intermediate shots - this is now the finished product.
Connector at front left is for 2x smaller fans to pull air into the space (I take cooling seriously!). The open-ended fuse will be for 12V socket nearby. Relay is for the control line from the HU - it takes the fan load as well as triggering REM IN on the Helix.

More pics:

There's about 3/8"+ space between layers - not much, but not bad, and surely enough air will move. The fan is just a PC fan with a 3-speed switch.


The Phoenix connectors handle HU speaker line inputs, Remote In, and then the 6 new speaker lines. All have locking screws. So once I run the wires/harnesses, this becomes basically a "Plug & Play" module - mostly just power and speaker lines plug in. Unfortunately the sub line (blue one under layer 1) will be direct, but then again the sub will be 6" above the module.

Next Phase - a bit of shop cleanup and then the speaker mounts.

[optimaprime]

We'll thought out and clean. I like it !

[cerwinvega_fan]

Very nice!

[diy.phil]

Whoa you need a federal permit to do it like that!!! j/k.
That's a very nice arrangement and hook-up!!

[reithi]

Neat and compact

[Hanatsu]

Interesting little amp rack, looks fancy!

[poochieone]

Very impressive arrangement!
Sub'd.

[Mapletech]

Thanks for the compliments so far.

Did testing today with a 5A PSU that I had kicking around - it's enough to warm it up and make a few watts of audio. So far so good - all channels work fine, zero discernible noise in the XD600/6 at turn on/off, so no worries about toasting tweets there. A very slight click in the sub amp - I was just using a full range 6" speaker on my bench as the test speaker, and I'd say the click is about as loud as dropping a small paper clip.

My initial impressions of the Helix are so-so. The EQ does not seem very 'effective'. The only way I can relate this is to different mixing desks I use - with some you only have to move an EQ Gain knob a wee bit and you hear the difference. Others like old Yamahas you need to really send the dial past 3-o'clock before you hear much change. I'll be trying some tests to see what the output changes are versus what's shown on screen. Also, Input gains would be really nice.

Long weekends are great - you get so much work done

[Hanatsu]

The Helix is the best DSP I've used to date and I've tried quite a few. Not sure I understand what you mean by "effective", it does what you tell it do

[Mapletech]

For the moment it's a subjective thing until I get a chance to properly bench test it.
It could be just because if has a higher default Q per band, and therefore it's not affecting as much 'area' - therefore the impression that it's not being 'effective'. I have been certified on at least half a dozen professional DSP units, and regularly configure and tune those and many more (just pulling from my folder I have Biamp, Bose, BSS, ClearOne, Crown, DBX, EV, Lectrosonics, Polycom, Rane, Symetrix, Xilica and XTA). Of those, I like BSS and Rane the best - their EQ is fast to operate & react, and usually 'a little pinch will do ya', whereas with some of the other brands I find that I have to push/subtract more to get the results I need. I've never bench-tested any of them really - they get spec'd into a system - I create the config and then go tune 'em. This may very well go alongside the discussion about 'better' amplifiers, which I am in agreement with based on both subjective and measurable results in my past. Like the amplifiers, all of these products probably bench-test close to the same in terms of basic measurements, but there are those finer differences in engineering, build quality, and software that can make one product better than another.
All that said, the Helix "sounds" good so far with my limited listening on it thus far, and none of the EQ adjustments make it sound harsh when boosting nor do they seem to suck the life out of the signal when cutting.

[Mapletech]

But FWIW, I'm happy to hear that I made a good choice. The mobile world is certainly an island of its own, and so I could only go by spec and a few opinions from here.

[sirbOOm]

Where'd you get the barrier material?

[Mapletech]

I got it from a local company called Acoustiguard. They seem to handle all types of sound control situations. Very easy to deal with, and they cut 'half' sheets for me at 36" x 54", so I've got one piece per door.
The BM-1C is the closest thing on their website, which is 1.6 lb/sqft, wheareas the BM-1A that I got is 1lb/sqft. Mainly I like that the foam is pre-attached to the vinyl, and then the vinyl has a backing that easily works with double sided tape or velcro. It is more of an open-cell foam, but it should still offer decent decoupling. I think it was about $90/full sheet, so $180 total.
Noise control composite materials - AcoustiGuard

[Mapletech]

D'oh - Double Post

[sirbOOm]

I wonder how different it'd be from LuxuryLiner Pro.

[Velozity]

That amp/dsp rack is really cool. It's like a little "audio engine". Props!

[WhereAmEye?]

Props on the 6" x 9" x 9" powerhouse box haha. In for more!

[motomech]

Mapleleaf
Thank you so much for posting this project!
I have the same (2015 Highlander) vehicle and planning to do the same type of setup though trying to keep the cost down.
I just started to collect the pieces.
so far I have an alpine pxe h66 and a set of rs28f tweeters from parts express.
Have not decided on drivers for the doors yet.
Plan to go active. This is all a relatively new experience as my last build utilized ADS plate speakers back in 1985!
will likely build a sub above and behind LS wheel well.
leaning toward class D amps but have not heard them in an SQ installation.
Your work is top shelf!

[Mapletech]

Well - you can call me Maple Leaf anytime...not a bad 2nd to being a Canadian Tech.
I'd be happy to help in any way I can. I haven't posted here for a while - once kids & school & real-world projects got in the way, things slowed down, but I'm right near the finish line.
I have some good info, measurements, and so on - speaker baffles, templates for covering the door openings, and such.
Unfortunately, the amplifier block that I was so happy with had to come apart. it was one of those 'awww crap' moments, when I took it in for rustproofing, and they sprayed oil into that area. Fortunately the gear wasn't in yet - I was waiting specifically for that - I didn't want oil on the speaker cones in the doors either, but I didn't know that the space at the back left was going to get it too.
I have the sub in the same space as well. The backbox is done, and will be handling the front end over the next few days. I chose the IDQ partly because of the reviews on here, and partly since the box volume works out to be just under 1 cubic, and with fill that can 'expand' to a bit more, and the IDQ works fairly well in that space. There's literally about 1/4" between the magnet back and the back of the box, but there's no air going through the magnet, so I figure that's OK.

[motomech]

Sorry Mapletech!
Autocorrect is a mistress that can not be trusted!
Go Leafs!

[JVD240]

Really love the attention to detail here!

By looking at the cable and connectors I feel like you work in commercial/pro AV. Haha.

EDIT: Just read your other responses. Seems I was right. I'm a Rane/Symetrix fan myself. Never used the Blu stuff. Been using the Rane a lot lately because of their slick web interface for end users.

[motomech]

Mapletech
Does the HU supply full range to both front and rear speakers?
Thanks in advance.

[Mapletech]

It does...with the caveat that that signal is EQ'd in the HU. When I was doing gain tweaking, I scoped the outputs of the amps, running just sine wave from an ipod app. There is a notable hump around 75Hz, but then a fairly steep rolloff below that. Didn't really look at how flat it was to the lowest frequencies, but those will likely need a decent boost to get 'flat'.
There's some other EQ work done too - I'll put that up once I get to tuning stage - hopefully next week.

[KyleMDunn]

Any shots of the amp rack installed? That's probably one of the most compact amp racks I have seen that include a DSP - awesome work!