DIYMobileAudio.com Car Stereo Forum banner

2019 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport

116K views 476 replies 86 participants last post by  ErinH 
#1 · (Edited)
I initially planned to wait until the build was complete before posting this but have decided to go ahead and make this an "in progress" build log and update it as it goes along. So let's get on with the show!


The Car:

After owning my previous car, a 2006 Civic Sedan LX, for 13 years and putting just over 250k miles on it, I finally upgraded. Yea!

(link to old build log here)

The new car is a 2019 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport (non-touring edition). I looked at and test drove quite a few cars. I really liked a couple but ultimately landed on this Civic for the following reasons:

  • I like hatchbacks. And, they are just easier to get bass right in, IME.
  • The gas mileage. I drive 80 miles round trip each day.
  • We already own a 2018 CR-V so I didn't really need a larger car for family stuff. I just need a good car that has a decent platform for aftermarket audio, enough space for me and my family to make quick trips around town, and something I could see myself still driving 10 years from now.
  • I think it looks pretty sharp.
  • It’s a budget friendly vehicle and leaves me enough money to cover the audio stuff.
  • It's fun to drive. It isn’t the world's fastest car but you have to remember I'm coming from a 2006 civic with 250k miles on it. So, this thing is almost like a race car to me. It's got some nice speed, takes corners like a champ... I won't be driving it like a madman but just being able to finally merge without fearing my engine is going to fall out from the workload it's under is a big improvement. :D



Here’s some pictures of the car the day I got it:



















 
See less See more
9
#349 ·
I picked the car up Saturday. I haven’t posted because I’ve been busy running my kid around for birthday parties.

So, here’s my impressions of the build…

There’s not much to say that I haven’t already said. I’ve been getting updates from Steve as I go and I’ve been updating this build log as I receive those updates. So, there was no real “unveiling” or surprises. Still, seeing it in person is a different ballgame. The craftsmanship is stellar. Everything from the sail panel tweeters to the trunk. Even the wiring was nice and tidy and easy to follow when I had to start the process of setting up the DSP and adjusting the amps’ gains.

The trunk is just friggin’ sweet. I’ve always wanted something that I could show off a bit but my fab skills never permitted it. The way Steve used the fake rear vents of the car as a design basis for the amp rack cover was sweet. And, I admit it, I’m a sucker for dancing LEDs; I must have spent an hour total just staring in the trunk. My 8yo daughter even showed it off to her friends and they were blown away. LOL.

This build is everything I wanted it to be and more. One of those “and more” things they did which I thought was really cool was they wired up the amp rack’s LEDs to where they come on/off when you open/close the trunk. I know this isn’t groundbreaking stuff. I just think it’s a neat added touch. I also like the way they incorporated the mini voltage display up front in a way that’s visible but doesn’t look out of place. That came in handy yesterday while I was tuning. Having that display right there at the console is so much better than having a DMM sitting in the hood.

Overall, I absolutely love what Steve and his crew at Audio X did in this build. It fit all my needs perfectly. I can’t give those guys enough praise.
 
#366 ·
Realized I took some pictures of the engine bay wiring and the power supply but forgot to post them. So here we go.

And also a cool shot of the car I took the other night ...
Killer shot of the car! Looks REALLY nice, Erin. :thumbsup: Great stance and I actually think the OEM wheels look great on the car.

Nice placement of the Anderson Power Pole charging connector on top of the battery, too. I like it!

That ceramic tint makes a huge difference...use it on most of my personal vehicles, but it's in all of my photo/movie equipment grip truck cabs. Love it.

One of my film crew guys liked it so he dedlcided to put in his personal Tacoma as well. But he wasn't specific and the tint installers put some cheap @ss crap that "rainbows" the windshield when he wears his polarized sun glasses. :( So guys, check that out on the specific tint you decide on before having it installed. Drives him crazy now. :(

Have fun and good luck at finals with the new sled & system!
 
#367 ·
What a beautiful car in person - the style of the car, the color, the tint, and best of all the aesthetic of the install.

As Al stated - the install looks even better in person. And of course it sounded fantastic! Erin chose incredible equipment, and the installation was top notch. And, on top of that - Erin put a very impressive tune on it. If you get a chance - definitely get a demo!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
#369 ·
The bigger question is how did it do at finals? ?

Stolen from Facebook... 0.2 behind Steve head isn’t a bad result for a virgin install ?? Nice job!
Steve Head didn't compete this year so I'm not sure what year that is from
 
#373 ·
Got to listen to the car at Finals this weekend.
It was definitely the best sounding car (with purple amps) in the entire show.:p
By the way, the amps arent as "Barney purple" as the pics show.
It was great to see you again and I hope you enjoy the car and the bad ass sound system.

J.
 
#378 ·
You'll get there. Just keep on sweet talking the processor and call her a dirty girl when necessary, hehe. Man extreme class is no joke but you built the car for your personal enjoyment and that's all that matters in the end.Can't wait to get some seat time in it.
 
#380 ·
I was able to get some time in the car at Finals and was thoroughly impressed in how it looked and sounded. I know you didn't have long to tweak on it but I have no doubt you will get it where you want it quickly. I did have a reservation as to the midbass size, if they would be to your liking, considering what you had before. But that damn thing would jam! Can't wait to hear it again next season.
 
#387 ·
Thanks Erin for letting me have a listen on Saturday. I'm surprised on the competition results but remember how new the install is and how little tuning you got in before the hardest show of the year. Your Civic has an incredible install thanks to Steve Cook and John Yi told me how he personally built your Tru amps. I think the speakers need some more time to break in (especially the Dyns) and more fine tuning time is needed. The system sounded great but I know there is a lot more potential available in the system as it stands now. I bet that by next year the system will be better and ready to take on all challengers in your class. :)
 
#393 ·
Interested to hear your thoughts on the sound vs some of your other setups.

How is the response of the dash speakers ? After reading that whitepaper it seems like the windshield on that car must be pretty rakes, certainly more than 55 degrees, yet the mid seems like it is not angled nor is very far from the dash apex, ie the speaker position isn't following the white paper suggestions. Any thoughts on that or is there something I'm not understanding about that positioning.

Are you willing to share your x-over points or any other items of interest in your tune ?
How hard was it to blend, etc.
 
#394 ·
I can’t really give any details at this point. Not because I don’t want to. But because I don’t have them. When I got the car back I had only a few days to get it ready for finals. Thus, my tuning time consisted of: 1) Use arbitrary crossover points/slopes to keep the drivers in a notional bandpass that would ideally limit power concerns (i.e., don’t pop the tweeter) and don’t push the mid too far past where it is beaming. I threw 3500hz/24dB on the DSP as the crossover point. 2) Run Dirac Live.

That ultimately consisted of me doing a bit of manual tweaking again both before and after Dirac Live. I spent a good deal of time finessing the sub and midbass crossover because DL just doesn’t do that as well as I would like. Currently the crossover on the sub is 80hz/48dB. The left midbass is 84hz/48dB. The right midbass is 80hz/48dB. The left midbass is a little higher because there’s a null and subsequent pull to the door around 70-80hz. EVERY SINGLE CAR has an issue like this. Crossing lower, in to this creates more problems than it solves, IME. It’s worth noting the difference between crossing my left midbass at 70hz vs 80hz is night and day; crossing lower results in the sub pulling more to the rear, regardless of slope/phase configuration. Other than a rattle in the trunk, this configuration worked the best. I would have to cross the sub at about 50hz to avoid that rattle which isn’t worth sacrificing the output; I’ll fix that rattle. But the point is more that I didn’t get “all scientific” with it. I just wanted to have a system that was playing, wasn’t overtly problematic, and jammed. It did that.

I plan to dig in to the car and the tune to understand the limitations of the mids and work to refine the crossover point. I’ll also revisit the sub/midbass. Basically, everything is up for grabs. When I get to that point I’ll be happy to share the data. I have nothing to hide, as evidenced by all my past build log’s posts. I just don’t have anything meaningful to share at this point.


Having said all of that, I can say with absolute certainty I like this new system more. Not just sound, but everything. The entire package. From the stealth looking install to the overall sound and the output. Kelly mentioned above that he had reservations about the output capabilities of the system compared to what I had before. And as he said … this thing jams.
 
#400 · (Edited)
Typically what you get in the midbass region is both sides filling in the gaps/peaks of the other. When you measure one side at a time from the driver’s seat you get nearly the complete opposite result from the passenger seat. The nearside responses match, and the farside responses match. Meaning, the left side response from the driver’s seat matches the right side response from the passenger seat. Same thing for opposite side speaker from each respective seat. Which is why I believe DL isn’t as useful here; it’s measuring one side at a time and when both sides are playing they are interacting in a way that is consequential again. The fact that I had to cut both sides makes me think it’s either an effect of Dirac Live (maybe it’s boosting one side to match the other) or it’s a loading of the door panel. It’ll be something I look in to as I go forward. :)

Angling the baffle will have no benefit since the midbass are cut off at about 300hz. Even fully removing the console doesn't make an effect in this case; I tested this in my old civic and was prepared to build a new console as an absorption panel if needed. I don't think I ever posted the results... but it seems like it didn't make a difference until I got above about 600hz. But, obviously YMMV since some cars' consoles are much larger than my civic. Some cars, it feels like there is practically a wall between the two halves of the car because the console is so friggin' large. :rolleyes:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top