As I mentioned previously, I don't plan on running the sub full blast all the time.

I plan on dragging this out into a two-three day project. I plan on stripping the interior the day my CLD panels arrive, and just leaving everything off until I get everything installed.

Figured the first day of install would be running all the wiring, and setting things up where I want them. Most likely install the components and headunit that day. I plan on pretty much pre-wiring everything inside my house, so I can just take it outside, and know exactly where everything goes.

The second day I plan on doing the "Big 3" upgrade. Been doing a lot of research on this, so we'll see how this goes.

I plan on pre-wiring everything for my subwoofer and respective amp, and just have everything sitting in there, waiting for the arrival of my subbox, and subwoofer.

Plan on taking plenty of pictures. Started doing my wiring harness last night, and soldering and heatshrinking the connections. Got one soldered and heat shrinked, and I was like "Wait... How does the DCI hook up to this?" and realized I just wasted my time, because the DCI harness I ordered is the same harness, with the additional wires required. (facepalms). Oh well. Lesson learned.

I'll keep you guys updated on how everything goes.

Thanks for the help again.

EDIT: I also plan on porting the Rear tray at some point. Found a thread on the DIY to do it, we'll see how that goes.

 

It sounds like you're going to be really happy with your system. Hopefully you don't have too many moments of frustration with the install. You did get some dynamat or equivalent for the doors, right? That's all I didn't see. Anyways, it sounds like you're trying to do everything right the first time and you have it pretty well laid out, so it should go well and make a really nice system in the end.

I'll be doing some install work over the holidays too. All I have in the car today is a nice HU, and at xmas I'll finally dump the factory speakers for full active components. I'll eventually get a sub, but audio isn't the only thing I want to spend money on with this car, so that will probably wait until next winter.

 

Yes, I did purchase some sound dampener. I purchased it from http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi .

Guy used to do reviews and comparisons of sound deadeners, and noticed the pros/cons, and started producing his own. EVERY detailed information on that site.

I purchased some of his CLD tiles, to help with reverb in the doors, trunk, floor pans, and trunk lid. Plan on stripping the interior, and using some of the tiles on the panels that need it, using the 25% rule of thumb. (Look on his website, explains the 25% better).

I've got about 6 pages from this forum, and around 3 from other websites noting spots that are prone to reverb, so we'll see how it goes. I did not buy any PHYSICAL sound deadener. I just bought the CLD tiles, which are designed to keep the panels from vibrating from interior sound sources, IE: Subwoofer, woofer, and exterior sources, IE: tranny, cars passing by.

I got roughly 16 sq feet of tiles, which should be more than enough to do the car. Eventually I would like to get some of his foam, and vinyl sound deadening products, that's for another time, if I decide to do it at all.

And yes, you are correct. This will be my first car stereo install, but I've done plenty of other wiring, including my home surround system, and some house electrical.

 

Interesting web site. Makes me think about vibrations from the engineering sense more than the car audio "dynamat the crap out of it" sense. Though I think sealing is pretty important for the audio portion.

I wonder if placing a big X across each resonating panel will be the most effective--damp out the expected resonant mode shape, you know? Hmm... interesting food for though.

And even if this is your first install--I was more referring to the traditional "do it right the first time"--it sounds like you've got everything laid out well and will have absolutely no trouble. Car audio is a pretty easy thing in all honesty.

 

I am an EE that is why I did not rec to go that route. Your math is right for what you want to find out, and I don't want to bore you guys with efficiency or other silicon madness

I am a sound deadening freak, but I didn't want to weight down the car so I went with the minimalist route. I only did the doors on the S because I figured no matter how much you do, it is a noisy car to begin with anyways(especially the poor rear wheel well to cabin insulation), and a heavy S2k without FI kinda defeats the original concept of S2k.

I used both mat and closed cell foam type deadeners, specifically HushMat products. They are the OE deadening material manufacturer for many manufacturers, including many highly recognized european cars manufacturers. What i loved the most is that their mat type materials do not cut you and all of their deadeners do not require surface prep or heatguns. I used to get a mad amount of cuts when I worked with other brands...

Anyways, on the outer door skins of the doors, what I did was diagonal line from where the mid bass is to the door handle area. That pretty much made the doors to have a uniform deaden sound when you knock on them. On the inner metal door panel, I only used mat around the mid bass, and used closed cell foam on the rest.

It is VERY critical that you do a good deadening job on the plastic door panels, I found out that it resonates pretty bad when you have a high output system, and since no one mentioned about it earilier, I had to redo it after I found the first job to be inadequate. What I did was mat type around tweeters, mid bass, and especially the pocket section. Then closed cell foam on the rest of the sections. You need to be careful in the area that the door lock and door handle rods are, or they will rob and make lock/unlock/opening the doors very difficult. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions if you find any

 

These are some nice tips, thanks!

I already have a dynamat door kit, so I won't bother researching other products this time around, but I'm doing my install over xmas--thanks for the confirmation and voice of experience on where to dampen. I feel the same about weight--I don't want to add any more than I feel necessary to produce reasonable quality sound.

And I did forget in my last post--it's not ALL a sales pitch; there is a bit of buried truth under the marketing. Dynamatting everything in an area would significantly reduce local road noise, which will make for an improved dynamic range. But that stuff is heavy, and from a systems/holistic perspective I expect you'd have to add a lot of it all around this car to really quiet road noise effectively. Damping out resonant effects will probably get a high percentage of the improved sound performance with a lot less material: no more annoying vibrations--my real pet peeve, no 100+lbs of mat, but still stuck with a lot of road noise this car comes with.


Is it worth throwing a bit of deadener anywhere behind you to fight vibrations etc, i.e. in the top's plastic tray or trunk areas?

 

Like stated on that site, there are multiple TYPES of sound deadeners. I believe Dynamat is a "Combination" of CLD tiles, to stop reverb, and a sound deadening foam.

If I were to go all out on mine (Which I would like to do at some point), I'd use (Like I am going to when they arrive), CLD tiles from him to control the the tiles from vibrating, and amplifying outside, and even inside frequencies, by turning the panel into a basically oversized speaker.

On top of that, I would use some closed cell foam, and then mass loaded Vinyl, to be the final barrier.

But that's pretty extreme. I'm curious what his Extruded Butyl "Rope" could be used for in our cars. Maybe between panels, to keep them from vibrating and rubbing?

And to answer your question Ace, I would put it more in the trunk, over the gas tank, than on the soft top tray.

As for areas to cover, I've got these threads bookmarked:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...&#entry12469273
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...=687627&st=0&#

But keep in mind, that dynamat is (In my opinion) only used to stop reverb of the panels. If you're looking to BLOCK outside sound, IE: Floorboards, over the tranny, front floor pans to stop engine noise, Get some closed cell foam, and top it with mass loaded vinyl.

Another thing to remember is that this is a sports car, and a convertible. It will never be super quiet inside, even if you put 200 lbs of sound deadening material inside it.

More food for thought. Om Nom Nom.

I think next we should start a "Big 3 Upgrade" discussion in here.

OR, a discussion on porting the rear tray, and/or boot liner. A continuation of:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...=556109&st=0&#

 

I don't have a sub, and I don't feel the need for a sub for what I listen to most of the time and for what I have right now That is why I don't want to bother weighting down the car by deadening the trunk/wheel well section. Even with that soft top on, I'd still hear the truck that is next to me, so I decided to just forget about it and have a quicker escape My ditched spare tire and after market exhaust saved me just enough weight to put in all the audio goodies that I currently have, and I just want to keep the car at stock weight right now

Jae, big three has been discussed and over beated in many other audio forums, I don't really think we'll need another one, unless you are up to providing all the pics If you do, I'll try to fill in as much as I can

 

I do plan on providing pictures of my entire install.

We'll see how the big 3 goes.

 

So... here's the plan.

Already received my headunit, component speakers, battery terminals, and modifry DCI.

My sound deadener and wires arrive tomorrow.

My amps arrive Thursday.

Sub and Sub box 1-2 weeks (hopefully, not too sure how long the sub box will take).

Tomorrow (after I register for Spring classes (**** my life.)) Going to strip the interior, and trunk, and work on installing the sound deadener, and running all my wires. Well, atleast get my wires laid out. Most likely get my speakers mounted and wired up, and just run the wires to the back. Should be ready for the arrival of my amps Thursday, and I will install the amps thursday, while also working on doing my Big 3 upgrade thursday as well.

Wish me luck. It's all downhill from here haha.