just wrapped up a pretty simple SQ build in a 2011 civic, this also marks our first relationship with the re-launched Audiomobile line up, old school guys will remember their MASS drivers from about 10 years ago, even older school guys will remember the initial products long before that.
The reason we decided to give their subs a shot is that my rep Scott, whom i trust and love to work with, recommended the line to us, and talking to a few other knowledgeable installers around the country who has experienced the product, all seem to recommend it...so we decided to go with it as well.
so the car is a 2011 honda civic sedan, and the goals were:
1. achieve a decent level of sound quality on a modest budget
2. keep things hidden in the interior
3. maintain a stealthy and classy appearance in the trunk with no trunk space lost.
lets get started. division of labor on this one is that Joey did the underhood, headunit, tweeters and ran the wiring, along with cutting of the doors, while i did the rest, including the trunk.
with Joey here, we can always do some awesome custom mounting for the fuse holders and circuit breakers, in this case, he fabricated a L shaped bracket out of metal that tucks the stinger CB right next to the battery, it is rock solid and you can almost rock the car with it:
the nerve center and signal source for the entire system is a pioneer 80 PRS headunit, which will run the entire system actively, it is installed in the stock location via a best kits dash kit:
Joey, as usual, did a clean job on the harness. i think after a while, you guys will instantly be able to tell who did the harness, joey will twist the wires and solder/heatshrink, while i prefer to wrap in eletrical tape, and use crimp nuts and a few bigger wire ties.
the front stage consists of a set of Morel Virtus 602 two way components, we were determined to mount the tweeter in the stock location withOUT having to surface mount it on top, infact the morel tweeter was chosen for this for its small size. but still we had to go quite a bit of head scratching. after some time, joey came up with a pretty cool concept. so here is the stock tweeter, mounted to the grille, as you can see, quite small:
so what he did was, to invert the mounting cup the morel tweeters came in, push in the tweeter from the bottom, and then mounted little tabs to the outside, this would then allow us to secure the tweeter int he stock hole AND have the Morel arches clear the stock grille:
looks so simple but it took the better part of a day to come up with that one haha
the midbass went into the doors, first, new wires were run into the doors and the metal trimmed to accomodate the morels, while rivet nuts were inserted into the proper location, a few blocks of Focal blackhole Tile went onto the outter door skin around the speaker to provide added resonance killing:
next the entire door was sound proofed via STP closed cell foam, while the area around the speaker got some CLD damper:
using the oem speaker as a template, we made these spacer rings for the Morels, triple coated with truck bedliner to protect them against the elements:
the spacer was then installed into the door via those rivet nuts and bolts, whcih also line up with the four mounting holes on the morel drivers, so a bolt through design:
next the outter door skin received their fair share of STP sound proofing:
the identical procedure was repeated on the passenger side:
next comes a few wiring pics, being Joey is still getting used to the idea of taking pics at every step, we are missing a few, namely the pics of hte driver side wiring between the kick panel and the back seat area, but trust us, its the same, ziptied and secured to the vehicle every few inches hehe.
on the driver side went a single 0 gauge power cable and speaker wires, while the passenger side received the rca cables, remote turn on wires, and the passenger side speaker cables. in order to run the power cable properly in the trunk, we changed it over to dual 4 gauge under the back seat:
as some of you may know, the rear deck cover on the newer civics is a pretty big rattle trap, and since we heard the audio mobile provides really good output, i was determined to prevent as much rattle as possible. so this time, i tried something new, instead of putting cld or CCF on the metal rear deck, i put down a crap load of really thick 1/2" OPEN cell foam on the bottom of the rear deck cover. the idea for this is that it compresses will and always put some pressure and decouple the rear deck from the metal, prevent them buzzing against each other:
so thats it for the interior, moving onto the trunk. so the idea, as usual, is for a totally stealthy look. so here is the normal view, basically an 100 percent stock appearance. the center floor section has been replaced with a new fake floor panel, with a single rounded rectangular cutout.
lift up the grille and here is what you see, two mosconi ONE amps and a single Audiomobile Elite 2210 10" subs resides under the floor. I decided to add a little flair to the build by doing a red vinyl insert/ring around the main components to set it off. the rest of the floor is done in trunk liner. a ONE 120.4 sends 120 watts x 4 active on the front Morels, while a 240.2 is bridged sending 700 watts RMS to the Audiomobile sub, the sub resides in an enclosure about .75 cub feet sealed
moving onto the build pics, first the entire floor well was sound proofed via STP damper:
next, the area where the foundation platform will go was marked out and big rivet nuts installed:
this is the main foundation support platform:
then bolted to the car, and the center taped into a shape of a well, this will provide additional air space and clearance for the sub:
this is the main portion of the subbox, with a matching cutout on the bottom, with a rounded over edge to aid in laying down fiberglass:
in the mean time, the support structure for the amp rack was secured in place:
next, the subbox was bolted down, and 8 layers of fiberglass cloth was laid down to form the bottom of the sub enclosure:
when that cured, it was lifted out and here is what i got:
the top was then secured to the box and wrapped in red vinyl, and wire ran into the box:
the subbox was then bolted back into the car:
here is the main two part cosmetic panel before and after upholstery, the outter part in carpet, the inner part in red vinyl, which was kind of a PITA lol
this is the main floor piece before and after carpet, it is made up out of a 1/8" piece of mdf (to match the thickness of the stock panel) and a 3/8" center part, to provide strength and integrity to the floor:
and this is the vented top grille, before and after carpet:
and then all the carpeted pieces were dyed with black SEM to make them a closer match to the stock trunk carpet color:
the main cosmetic piece was then press fit together and bonded using staples:
and finally, here are shots of the wiring organization, all neatly bundled and secured every few inches or less
so thats it...
the sound is pretty good, with the 80PRS i was able to get a decent center, great depth as you can expect with okay width, midbass impact is nice while the highs were detailed and clear.
but the most impressive thing about this car is the subbass...which leads to the mini review of the Audiomobile Elite 2210 sub:
So lets take a quick look at the sub itself, here in the packing and removed:
it isnt particular fancy to look at, with a subdued black logo and a standard cast basket, the build quality is pretty good as everything looks nice and finished. the wrinkled finish on the basket reminds me of the idmax. the stamped shape of the top gasket obviously reminds us of hte JL subs, which i guess can be a good or bad thing, depends on your taste. but really, i would say as far as looks, nothing really jumps out at me, its just a well built sub.
when we powered it up, running off of 700 watts, i went through my own demo disc first, and immediately, on Hotel California, i was really blown away by the natural extension of the sub, very smooth, and even as i turned the sub volume to unnatural levels, the subbass was STILL well anchored upfront. i then went through songs with more subtle bass notes and at no time, could i get it to sound like its coming from the back, this is an 80hz 18 db filter on it. when I played "keith dont go", the resonance of the guitar's body was smooth and natural, not at all overly boomy, and then playing some trance music revealed it to be quite fast, never lagging behind.
Joey then jumped in and gave it his work out using some very bassy tracks, and this thing REALLY got down and boogied! it produced the notes with authority all the way into the subsonic, with no hint of stressing or bottoming or falling apart, everything from the higher freq hits to the really low extension on bass tracks all was reproduced well. Joey can comment on this later, but it really seemed VERY well composed and behaved.
I would honestly say that i have NEVER heard a better all around sub than this in a single 10", fake floor configuration, with the driver in a moderate price range and having a very modest looking design, (i.e. not a super sub that is 10" deep and costing 1000 bucks)...and trust me guys, i have done a LOT of single 10" fake floor builds.
so to sum it up, i think this could be one of the best "normal" priced and designed subs out there, and you can expect to see more of them being used in our builds in the near future.
pros: excellent overall sq and great overall ouput, not too deep, well built with clean looks, just a great all around performer that is not too expensive. (MSRP of around $300)
Cons: the JL-esque top stamping is a lil off putting to us, i think the sub performs great enough to stand on its own, and so far, it is only available in a single 4ohm configuration, which limits flexibility.
overall, i would wholeheartedly recommend this sub to anyone!
Very nice install...very nice!! And i must say you did a much much nicer job installing the virtus tweeters than i did today. I struggled for days trying to figure out where to put them. I ended up down lower in the door and using the angled flush mount adapter. They sound excellent, but i am going to try and do something better up in the sail panel...when things aren't so hectic in my world.
Can i say i am addicted to looking at your installs without sounding like a dork?
Bing, great install!!!!! I do have a question though, why don't you use HDPE for your trim rings? It seems to save time without having to coat, re-coat and re-coat MDF. The cost difference would be very marginal. Anyway, great build!!!!!
Bing, thanks for the great post and the chance to let the Audiomobile subs shine.
Audiomobile is a very old name with a very new outlook on life. But this new outlook is just starting to catch on across the country and authorized dealers are still being set up. You can see more info on their facebook page including some test video and reviews at:
and their website will be up very soon with a dealer locator. In the mean time you can request dealer info on facebook or contact me here on the forum.
Audiomobile has a ton of products in the works including some very cool flat woofer technology and some small box passive radiator applications so keep your eyes peeled for this new (Er Old) woofer line to start working it's way into some great sounding cars.
Bing, great install!!!!! I do have a question though, why don't you use HDPE for your trim rings? It seems to save time without having to coat, re-coat and re-coat MDF. The cost difference would be very marginal. Anyway, great build!!!!!
i have seen people use cutting board material, or plexi or plastics, but i guess for me, MDF works well, easy to route, is cost effective and really doesnt take any additional time
typically, i would do the spacers, coat it once, start wiring into the doors, come back 5 minutes later, touch it up again, then continue to sound proofing, an hour later flip it , do the same procedure, over again, each time only spending a minute and then i go back to something else.
that is not to say we wont go into something else like poly in the future..but for now, i guess the idea is to stick to what works, especially out here in the dry heat of cali
btw, if you know of a place where they sell HDPE at a good cost that would be great. currently, we pay about 20-25 bucks for a 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" MDF and figure about 4-5 cans of spray on bedliner at 8 bucks a can, so call it $60-70 and thats enough to make 60 or so rings..i am under the impression HDPE would be far more expensive?
i have seen people use cutting board material, or plexi or plastics, but i guess for me, MDF works well, easy to route, is cost effective and really doesnt take any additional time
typically, i would do the spacers, coat it once, start wiring into the doors, come back 5 minutes later, touch it up again, then continue to sound proofing, an hour later flip it , do the same procedure, over again, each time only spending a minute and then i go back to something else.
that is not to say we wont go into something else like poly in the future..but for now, i guess the idea is to stick to what works, especially out here in the dry heat of cali
btw, if you know of a place where they sell HDPE at a good cost that would be great. currently, we pay about 20-25 bucks for a 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" MDF and figure about 4-5 cans of spray on bedliner at 8 bucks a can, so call it $60-70 and thats enough to make 60 or so rings..i am under the impression HDPE would be far more expensive?
HDPE is like cutting butter with a hot knife AND the big advantage is instead of having to cut strips of low-temp plastic to then staple around the edge of trim rings, you can just get a 3/4" or 1" piece of HDPE and router the thinnest edge you can without it flaking off like MDF does. Literally you can get to within 1/16" or less and it stays strong.
I called a local place, Midwest Plastics, and they will sell me pieces and full sheets if I want. It is more expensive ($15 for a 2'x1' Piece) but if you buy a full sheet they gave you a discount ($200 for a sheet). So, it is about 2x as much once you figure the bed liner/etc, but with rings you use the low-temp plastic and time, it wouldn't be as bad. Plus if you take $100/60 rings, that is $1.66 per ring....so double isn't much.
Nice build Bing and Joey! The '09-'11 Civic SI sedan is near and dear to me . Interesting trick on swapping to dual 4 under the back seat. Definitely a good way to do it as I know that panel on the rear left (or right) rear door is next to impossible to get any wires of moderate thickness to fit along side.
HDPE is like cutting butter with a hot knife AND the big advantage is instead of having to cut strips of low-temp plastic to then staple around the edge of trim rings, you can just get a 3/4" or 1" piece of HDPE and router the thinnest edge you can without it flaking off like MDF does. Literally you can get to within 1/16" or less and it stays strong.
I called a local place, Midwest Plastics, and they will sell me pieces and full sheets if I want. It is more expensive ($15 for a 2'x1' Piece) but if you buy a full sheet they gave you a discount ($200 for a sheet). So, it is about 2x as much once you figure the bed liner/etc, but with rings you use the low-temp plastic and time, it wouldn't be as bad. Plus if you take $100/60 rings, that is $1.66 per ring....so double isn't much.
Nice build Bing and Joey! The '09-'11 Civic SI sedan is near and dear to me . Interesting trick on swapping to dual 4 under the back seat. Definitely a good way to do it as I know that panel on the rear left (or right) rear door is next to impossible to get any wires of moderate thickness to fit along side.
1. what i look for in basic damper is that it conforms easily, sticks well, doersnt cut my hand, and isnt too pricey, on that font the STP works really well. remember we dampen each door automatically without charging for it, so it all varies on the customers budget, on higher budbgeted builds, we will use focal BAM XXXL, which is i am sure more effective but ummm 8 times the price
2. i use a standard one you can buy from any hardware store, i forgot the name...haha joey has two of them, one that is similar, and the other a big one for putting in bigger nuts. but any brand really seems to work fine.
Hi
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