[StereoClarity]

Team Stereo Clarity has taken on its first project car named, “Project Optimus Prime”. This is my personal vehicle and this will be an ongoing project. The vehicle is a new Speedway Blue, 2009 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport. This vehicle is all stock and we will be starting our build from the ground up.

Goals for this Vehicle

· True honest sound reproduction

· Well defined sonic “image”

· Stealthy installation

· Retain vehicle usability

· Ability to pound out some fun on command

A successful project requires a proper plan. The first step in any proper sound project is to treat the listening environment. In a vehicle listening environment, one of the largest obstacles to overcome is road noise. Vibration and noise control will be our primary focuses. For these reasons we will use a series of sound deadener products from Don at Sound Deadener Showdown.

The source has yet to be determined but I’ve narrowed it down to a few choice DVD Navigation units. Eventually, the system will incorporate a sound processor. I’m undecided on this as well. The Audison Bit.1 is a fantastic unit and is readily available. The JBL MS8 is also on my short list as well but is not yet available. If this phantom processor ever comes to market it will likely be the processor of choice. Amplification will be done via a JL Audio HD 900/5, the cutting edge in new digital amplification in a conveniently small package. The sub stage was decided from day one; Tang Band 6.5” Neo Subwoofers. I had used these in my last vehicle and they were nothing short of amazing. I suppose we could try something new but if it’s not broken why fix it right? Shifting from low to high we should also talk about the tweeters this car will be testing. A new company called Wavecor has created a compact soft dome tweeter with the ability to yield a surprisingly low FS. These look VERY promising and Team Stereo Clarity looks forward to hearing these. Midbass duties will be taken care of by a pair of H-Audio Ebony 6.5” drivers; the very same drivers we sell in the car audio section. We believe these drivers have what it takes to yield amazing results in our application.

We will be documenting the build every step of the way so stay tuned!

 

[StereoClarity]

Pictures as promised!

 

[Sonnie]

I like that project name... now if you can make it transform... onder:

Goals for this Vehicle

· True honest sound reproduction

· Well defined sonic “image”

· Stealthy installation

· Retain vehicle usability

· Ability to pound out some fun on command

Sounds just like the kind of system I like and similar to what I did in my car.

I have been outlining and getting some suspects ready for our Flex we ordered.

 

[StereoClarity]

I've been giving that RF 360.2 the eye too after you mentioned it to me. I cast it off before but now it's looking quite nice. I checked out those interface pictures you posted and it looks pretty cool. Can I tune with the computer?

 

[Sonnie]

Yeah... it has a regular windows PC program. It is actually much easier to program on a laptop than it is a Palm like I have it on now. Of course once you get it set and tested, it is pretty much a set it and forget it type thing.

 

[StereoClarity]

It's been a while since I've had time to update this so here goes....MUCH has happened since last update

I've gone and started deadening with my new goodies from Don. Here are some pictures from the happenings. I used the 1/4" foam backed with the MLV where I could and I used 1/8th in areas where it was a tight fit for panels.

Totally stripped the inside.

Stock 6x9 with TINY neo magnet. Check out these sweet "tweeters" too. I was surprised to find these behind the door panel.

Here are some shots of the MLV laid down with the foam. This is the first time I'd used the stuff and I'm quite impressed with the way it feels/acts. I have yet to get the whole truck back together so I'll comment on the effect when I can.

Now was a good time to run all my wires too

The insides of my doors had some pre-existing braces that looked totally useless. These things were only "touching" the door about once every six inches or so via a small blob of soft glue. The space between the brace and the door was about 1/8" in some areas. I thought about it for a long time and then decided that if I filled the area between the brace and the door skin with clear silicone it would add a SUBSTANTIAL amount of structure to the door while still giving it a reasonable amount of flexibility so it wasn't ridged. Already I can tell the door has had a dramatic improvement in deadness. I've put some deadener in the door but I'll be adding some more later.

 

[StereoClarity]

I've done the front doors completely and I have the panels back on. This is a feat of epicness. The MLV and foam sandwich makes it hard to get the door panel back on since there are braces on the back of the panel that are intended to sit flush with the door itself for support. I found that if I used my random orbit sander I could grind these down a bit and it helped tremendously. I ended up using plexiglass to seal up the holes in my door. I went around the edges with speaker gasketing tape and then deadened over the edges. I sealed all the other holes except for the pop rivet holes. I think it turned out pretty good.

I also found a decent way to keep the MLV up in the doors. I had bought some of the velcro strips from Don but ended up not using them. I feared that the MLV sheet would be too heavy and they side that sticks to the door would come off. I ended up using the holes/bolts from the stock tweeter bracket to hold it up in the front. On the rear and bottom I used a generic pop rivet that you can get at Lowes. I had a few in my tool box already. I just drilled the appropriate sized hole and pushed them in; holds like a champ!

 

[StereoClarity]

So it's been some time since I last updated this. Shame on me I know....


Since that time I've deadened the rear doors and done them up with MLV and foam. No pictures of that since it's just the same song and dance that I did with the front doors.


The most recent endeavor has been the tweeters. Some of you might remember my thread a while back about the Wavecore tweeters (snowflakes) that I'd be trying out. I've finally figured out what I'm going to do with these. They're not huge but they're a fairly large format and putting them behind my door panels just didn't appeal to me. They came with some mounting cups that were pretty useless until I figured out a slick way to use them, properly...

Tweeter cups have a bad habit of exposing wires and that's just not acceptable in my opinion. I hate exposed wires. So I needed a method to attach the cup to the interior of the car that would hide the wires; and let me aim the tweeter. I accomplished all of this with my idea.


The idea was to use a threaded pipe fitting to secure the cup to the sail panel. Since it's a pipe fitting it's hollow and I can run the wires through it. Score!!!

Not so fast though. The the only fittings I found that did this were slightly too large to put into the mounting cup and have the rear of the tweeter still clear the back and fit in. So, cutting solid brass was out of the question....only in the beginning though

I remembered that Joseph (~Magic_Man~) had a tool at work he said could cut anything that conducted electricity. I needed solid brass cut and done at a very precise tolerance. He said no problem. This machine was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. A thin brass wire 10thousanths of an inch thick gets electrified underwater and makes the cut...VERY cool ! Thanks again Joseph for the help!!

Cell phone pic but you get the idea...massively cool

So with my new cut pipe fittings I went to work getting my stuff together. I was using a thin rubber washer (lowes, hardware aisle drawers) between the sail panel and the tweeter cup. This would give me some padding between the two pieces and friction; both very important to what I needed IMO. I drilled my holes and then pieced it together.

Here is how I ended up. Because the rubber washers keep it snug but not ridged I can swivel the tweeters up or down. Plus, I've been reading a lot about diffraction and I think these pods with their shape should help a little. I'm looking forward to hearing them.

 

[Ryan Anderson]

wow that is actually pretty neat

 

[StereoClarity]

wow that is actually pretty neat

Neo magnets FTW right?!? Those things are actually pretty potent for what they are!

 

[Sicaudio]

lot of work.

loved the ingenious way you did the tweets

i will remember that trick

 

[Ryan Anderson]

one day everything will be Neo... one fine day...

hows the install going?