If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

What sets your Spider apart from the rest?
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Daniel

If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by Daniel »

I have been installing stereos for years but on the most part do Home Theater, Clubs,Sports Bars, Projection
now, this stuff can be fun and or frustrating at times but pays the bills. So my buddy wanted a Really nice Stereo
in his Car since I've installed some systems for him in the past he felt like trusting my judgement on his this
project he let me choose what i wanted to put in his pride and joy.

So far I've installed a few things tomorrow should be closer to the finish line friday completed.

I'm installing 6 Morel 1 1/8" Tweeters, a 5 1/4" Mid in the dash, 12" Sub in a custom built 4th order band pass
box, assembling many Crossovers some 12db designs some band pass, running a 6 inch port through the rear seat
arm rest. We are using two 4 channel Amps feed from his factory Radio with Ipod control and Sat Radio A 4 Ferret
Stiffening Capacitor and a Audio Control high to low Controller/ EQ. All this will feed 6 Tweeters 5 Mids the factory
8 inch dual channel Sub and a 12" Sub. I so wish i had this setup myself maybe next year :mrgreen: Anyhow here
are a few photos of what is done so far.

On the Crossovers I designed them to filter out the highs feeding the Factory Mids and 8inch Sub. On the Caps
for the Tweeters I'm using what is considered fast capacitors these have a faster response time then most. This
should help bring the smoothness of the Soft dome style tweeters to life with a little more crisp sound. The 8 inch
Sub is used for mid bass only running from 100 Hz to 250 Hz. The Memphis Sound 12" is going to run from 35 Hz
to 96 Hz but the effective range within the tuning from the port is between 40 Hz to 75 Hz having a linear equation
on bass tones within the musics reproductive response.

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Last edited by Daniel on Wed May 21, 2014 3:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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RRoller123
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Posts: 8179
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:04 pm
Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
Location: SAGAMORE BEACH, MA USA

Re: Not a Fiat but what the heck

Post by RRoller123 »

Nice Nice work!
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
Daniel

Re: Not a Fiat but what the heck

Post by Daniel »

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Last edited by Daniel on Wed May 21, 2014 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Daniel

Re: Not a Fiat but what the heck

Post by Daniel »

I need to take a few more photos of the car and finished work but here is what i took a while back with my phone
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I used gorilla glue to mount the tweeters in the factory door plastic locations some of the glue foamed a little
so you can barely notice it if you look but it wasn't bad.
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This is what the center plastic bezel looked like, I had to make my own plate and seal up the middle vent
tunnels on the top just under the original grill.
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Before
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After
[url=http://s694.photobucket.com/user/FiatStuff/media/20140310_215416_zpsf9df2440.jpg.html]Image

We later changed the Radio to a kenwood this improved the sound quality by about 2 levels imo I'll take
pictures on that next time i see my friend. I kind of forgot to keep track of this post sorry.
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If anyone has questions about car stereo installation feel free to ask I may or may not have an answer but
I'll try my best to help...
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v6spider
Posts: 1035
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 pm
Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by v6spider »

Your work and knowledge are top notch..
:)
Rob
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
SoFlaFiat

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by SoFlaFiat »

Ok, here is a question, can I get any reasonably good sound with a system which would have the bulk of the sound coming from a custom package shelf behind the seats? Maybe small speakers (mini?) up front, formed into the dash or kick panels?
Daniel I'm asking because I don't want big speakers in my foot wells. I would love to have something with small speakers in front and big speakers in back that mixes well and sounds good with the wind already flying around everywhere...
Yep, I know, get a hardtop...
dmwhiteoak
Posts: 1088
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:12 pm
Your car is a: 1972 Fiat 124 spider
Location: White Oak Tx

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by dmwhiteoak »

Alan I have 5" Sony speakers in the front and 6x9 Rockford fosgate in the rear. Only 45w pushing them and they sound excellent. I have the rears in boxes and can pull them out when need be. Unless someone just wanted the ground to move under the car I can't see why more would be needed. I'm a rocker from the 80's and I have all I need. Metal sounds fantastic. :)
Dennis Modisette

1972 124 Spider
2003 Chevrolet Z71
2007 GMC Yucon
SoFlaFiat

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by SoFlaFiat »

Dennis, play Mack the Knife cruising at 60 and let me know how it sounds and I'm in!!! :D

Honestly, the only time I'll use the stereo is cruising on the highway, with Mack the Knife or my kids plugging their iPods in...
Around town, I'm just going to listen to the air sucking into the carbs :mrgreen:
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toplessexpat
Posts: 1183
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:29 am
Your car is a: 1976 Spider 1800
Location: Houston, TX

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by toplessexpat »

Alan - I removed my rear seat, made a back and base from 15mm mdf, fitted 6x9 RFs in the back, a 4x50w JVC head and eschewed front speakers (I kinda like the map pockets). Works a treat and at 60mph I can singalong to most things.

Daniel did a nice job on this MB - I just feel that really high fidelity audio is a bit of a waste on a car that will spend the majority of its life with the top down... And isn't really acoustically sealed when it's up!!

A
---
Many classic Fiats - it's a disease!
www.mirafiori.com
Daniel

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by Daniel »

Thanks RRoller, Rob and Topless for the complements.

SoFlaFiat the simple answer is match the front and rear speakers weather they are 4" 5 1/4"" 6 1/2" speakers
no matter what the price range or brand, even using the same brand but 2 different sizes are not going to
yield the same balanced sound as identical speakers for your mids and highs. On the Speaker wire use good
quality doesn't need to be high end just not some cheap stuff that's going to filter out a good portion of the
musical tones. Using 2 different speakers causes audio cancellation. Here is a video that touches
on the topic but it's directed at recording mics kind of the same theory just on the other end of the audio
production instead of stereo listening similar in principal but the graph and info can help people understand
how cancellation happens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N0ER4A73QE
Daniel I'm asking because I don't want big speakers in my foot wells. I would love to have something with small speakers in front and big speakers in back that mixes well and sounds good with the wind already flying around everywhere...
Yep, I know, get a hardtop...
I think adding small speakers in the dash on top would be perfect if your making a custom unit I would keep
your options open on the design Or you can conceal the speakers using grill cloth or other materials.

Dennis, most likely your system rocks to most people but getting a little better sound quality is never a bad
thing so don't take any of this personally about your stereo system I'm not putting you down if your a Rock
and Roll guy 5" up front and 6x9 in the rear is a pretty normal approach for a lot of car stereo setups.
If you placed your head right about the middle of the car you will notice a change in the sound, it will become
a little on the flat side and seem to lose a some of the life the music has compared to when your listen in your
normal position that is the cancellation I was talking about. It's more noticeable in the middle of the car because
thats the center point which the sound waves are meeting at the same time. Using matching speakers would
not have the same effect. What i like about 6x9s is they can pack a pretty good amount of bass that the
smaller speakers are lacking but it's not a practical speaker size for fronts.

To address the smaller speakers in the front as opposed to lager speakers in the rear, human ears are directed
or shaped shall we say facing forward so the details in sound on your front are more defined then from behind.
If you listen to the same system in a car facing the speakers then turning around with your back to them you'll
notice a dramatic drop in the imaging and stereo separation between the left and right channels. A fun little
experiment you can try is to cup your hands on the sides of your ears while facing some speakers playing, now
tell me what you can pick up compared to before? .............. We see at least part of the reason why dog's
and cats have superior hearing compared to humans after trying this.
SoFlaFiat

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by SoFlaFiat »

Good info! Thanks Daniel!
With the customizing I am doing, I like the idea of fitting small speakers into the top of the dash with larger in the rear but it sounds like I should not mix the sizes?? Any suggestions on small speakers? Or, as opposed to the dash, should I try 4" in the doors (with fatmat or similar behind) and 4" in a box behind the seats? That's pretty much what my truck has...
Daniel

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by Daniel »

Here is what i'd do run 4 inch in the front and something larger in the rear, go with component speakers of the same
series and brand like these for the rear
http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Two-Way- ... FJ5BVGEVWT
or 5 1/4
http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-509CS-Tw ... eakers+car
Infinity Reference component speakers are pretty good for the money, A simple rule of thumb to follow is to
match the speaker wire lengths in the front then do the same in the back, make them the same length. The front
and rear don't don't need to match just your pairs so keep the front Left and Right the same then match up the
rears.
SoFlaFiat

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by SoFlaFiat »

Sounds good! Thanks Daniel!
I'll let you know what I do in the end. Still sorting the spider web right now :D
baltobernie
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Your car is a: 1973 Spider [sold]
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Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by baltobernie »

Daniel wrote: A simple rule of thumb to follow is to match the speaker wire lengths in the front then do the same in the back, make them the same length. The front and rear don't don't need to match just your pairs so keep the front Left and Right the same then match up the rears.
:?: Why :?:
fiat218
Posts: 5745
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 5:06 pm
Your car is a: 1969 124 AS spider

Re: If you like Stereo systems this might be for you

Post by fiat218 »

baltobernie wrote:
Daniel wrote: A simple rule of thumb to follow is to match the speaker wire lengths in the front then do the same in the back, make them the same length. The front and rear don't don't need to match just your pairs so keep the front Left and Right the same then match up the rears.
:?: Why :?:
So the current travels equal distance
Jim
East Grand Forks MN
1970 Fiat Spider BS1 ( FOR SALE
1969 124 AS Spider
2017 Abrath
2018 Alfa Romeo 4c Spider
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