# Basic Audio Installation From Australia



## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Hi, I thought I would put together a build thread for the basic audio installation in my MY12 Holden Cruze SRI-V.

I will try to keep this short with minimal prattle on my part. I'll be taking the best parts from my local build thread and putting it up here if anyone is interested in how Australians approach a basic install.

First things first a few quick shots of the car the day I got her.




























And a brief system plan. Most of this is from my previous car - with some items having sat in a cupboard waiting for my next install.

The components are the DLS Scandinavia Competition series. Scandinavia 1 tweeter / Scandinavia 3C midrange / Scandinavia 6/2 midbass. I know there's allot of DIY driver fans on this site - I myself are from this camp and these drivers replace the Scan-speak Illuminator front stage I was previously running. The reason for the change was purely to support the local car audio industry in my country by representing their products at a competition level. Audio wise I have no regrets but do miss the compact size of the 1" illuminator domes 

Most people will be familiar with the other components. The IDMAX would have to be my all time favourite sub, to me it's the perfect match of fun and finesse. The Mosconi AS series amps are a new favourite of mine, I would have run a set of 3 if I could fit them neatly - but for now it's option B with the PDX M12 stashed away to run the sub. This will be my first install with the PS8 - it replaces my beloved Pioneer P88RSii deck - we'll see how I go with this, the alternate plan is either a Mosconi 6to8v8 or Pioneer P99RS running the factory unit into the aux (relocating the P99 faceplate with the cd transport under the seat and the display flush mounted in the roof).

System Plan


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Wiring

Like a child eating their broccoli first, I like to get the jobs I hate out of the way while I still have the patience and energy to execute them correctly... Top on the list of my most hated jobs is running cable and wire through a car (especially in the cabin). So the first weekend I had the car, the seats and majority of interior trim came out.

3 runs of 12awg OFC speaker wire were run from my speaker locations to the boot. I used the same gauge wire as I've got tonnes of it and my OCD wont be effected if I move components around 




























I took note of the most popular method on the forums for running power cable into the engine bay. A few minutes with a cable routing rod and the 0awg cable was through.




























While the seats are out it's the perfect opportunity to run the RCAs and get some mounting points sorted for my DSP rack.










I roughly wired up the DSP to get all my cable lengths right.










Even though it's hidden under the carpet - I like to make sure all cables are fairly secure. Note the split loom lining any possible sharp edges of metal.










While I had the carpet up I set some nutserts in place to secure the rack when it's built.



















While I was thinking wiring I thought I'd sort out the feed from the factory deck into the dsp. This dsp will accept a high level input just fine, so no point in adding a loc (additional potential source of noise) and I just opted for a simple T harness that you would see used in an aftermarket bluetooth install.










I decided to keep the iso molex plugs, to make changes easier in the future.










These are the patch leads made up to retain the rear speaker wiring into the factory rears (strictly for park assist only) and split out the front speaker output from the deck into RCAs that I've run to my DSP. I'l also tapping into the pos and ground of the factory deck I've used a deans connector to keep this simple.










All wrapped in OEM look felt tape to avoid rattles (the connectors will also get some Dynaliner wrapping).









And in-place with the t harness.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Midbass Install

While the door trims were off it was the perfect opportunity to mount the mid-bass and do some initial acoustic treatment.

I won't get into the specifics of this as there's different approaches to everything but after minimal Dynamat application to the outter skin (about 30%) I closed off the service holes. I know this won't make a sealed enclosure, but will aid in separating the back wave from the front etc...



















Then a single layer of Dynamat extreme was applied (again I know not the best, but readily available in my country).









Step and repeat on the other side.









When making the speaker baffles I borrowed heavily from the ones used on these forums. But first a clearence check as the DLS 6/2s arent the smallest 6.5" driver in the world... To my delight I found there was acres of depth in the doors.










As I'd be moving my speaker forward slightly from the factory placement, I did a little trimming to avoid head aches down the line.


















And applied a little bit of deadener while I was there. I also have some 3mm dynaliner to cover the back of the cards to help with buzzes and rattles as they crop up.



















On to the speaker install.










Closed cell foam tape was used as a gasket for the baffle to door, and also from speaker to baffle. The baffles are held in place by 4 M5 bolts and nyloc nuts.









The speakers are held in place by 8 pan head screws. I usually use nutserts and bolts - but don't plan to be pulling these drivers out too often


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Tweeter Install


After seeing a member on here install HAT L3SEs in the sails, I thought it would be worth a crack to install my tweeters there. Although they are larger in diameter than the HAT midrange and also heavier it looked like a fun challenge. This would also leave the factory tweeter location on the pillars free for my midrange install - I liked this as this will allow me to mount the midrange as far from me as I can to minimise PLDs on the driver that will be covering the largest tonal range in my system. I know the windscreen reflection (and dash guage cluster) will be an issue but I can work with that 

A few checks with mounting rings I had made earlier I could see it would be a tight fit - but doable while still maintaining the axis I wanted.



















Just to show the scale of these tweeters, these are the tweeter rings next to my midrange rings.










A bit of dremel cuttings, hot glue and woodscrews and it's time to get my angle right using my laser and jig.









Yes I know some ******* has moved my steering wheel to the right side of the car 










Step and repeat on the other side.



















Massive tweeters in place to see how the weight (1KG) is distributed.










Then time to break out the t-shirt material and CA glue.










The the fabric stretched and soaked in CA glue, the whole pod is rock solid in under 3 seconds... Time to check panel gaps and fitment. The wood screws can now be removed.



















This top trim clip will be replaced with a bolt and nutsert to keep these sails attached when the door slams.










For tweeters the size of midranges, the pods tuck in niceley with no loss of visibility... They are mounted, very very wide also 










Then it's time to back fill the whole thing with a mixture of fg re-enforced body filler and poly resin... I used a syringe to inject this goop into all the air pockets behind the cloth... With 30mins the whole sail is a solid piece and ready for final sculpting.



























After shooting the sails with some black guide coat, they were fitted and marked up to for sculpting to better match the lines of the door trim. They look rough here, but this is before any filling or sanding 




























Then sand down the guide coat to see where all the work is required.



















To be continued...


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Tweeter Install (cont...)

After allot of filling, sanding, puttying, sanding, spray putting, sanding, priming and sanding and sanding they're taking shape.



















These will be texture painted satin black to match the factory plastics, but I've worked up to 2000g wet sand anyways...



















With the pods ready for paint it's time to re-enforce the trim clip I had to hone out... For this I just used a head unit strap I had laying around and some q-bond.



















After tidying up the sharp edges with a dremel the whole thing was glued together... Notice how the holes in the metal strap locate the bolt nicely.










With a washer glued on top of the plastic also.










A quick check of panel gaps with the new bracket in place.



















And time for the nutserts. These just went straight in the factory trim clip holes.


















Sails bolted in-place with the factory foam piece.










And they'll stay like this in primer until the pillars are complete to avoid scratching the texture paint 










Next most likely pillars and fiberglass sub enclosure...

Let me know if you guys want to see any more of this build and I'll try to keep it updated


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

Can't see pics at work but I'm excited to see what you did. I'm an off the shelf kind of guy as I don't have the patience for a high quality setup. Although, installs must be clean. Nice work!!!


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Ah bummer about the pics 

I agree 100% installs have to be clean! Also neat, tidy complimentary to the car and all it's functions and most of all safe... Sounding good is important too 

Lemme know how you go with the pics and if they don't work at home I'll move them somewhere else. They currently on my personal hosting account.


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## bloberg19 (Oct 21, 2013)

I think that it is really taking shape I like the look abd the effort and thought processes gone in to it


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

bloberg19 said:


> I think that it is really taking shape I like the look abd the effort and thought processes gone in to it


Thanks mate, it's a bit of a hobby of mine 

I'll start putting up the beginnings of the sub enclosure install.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Subwoofer Install

Following the lead of fellow Australian and champion installer Big_Valven, I will be constructing a fiberglass sub enclosure to house my Image Dynamics IDMAX 12 D2v3.0.

The intention is to replace the entire left hand side (passenger side ) trim panel with a custom sub box. wrapped in factory matched carpet. As per the enclosure below from the Mercury/Shok Demo Cruze. I like the neat look of this avoiding that tacked on look of most FG sub boxes.









My enclosure will be slightly larger with the baffle further forward to accommodate the monster depth of the IDMAX. I am estimating around 1.5cuft of volume. I will also make some minor alterations to the baffle design to accommodate a press fit grill to keep my baby safe from prying eyes and stray cargo.

First things first, cardboard mockups.



















Just like my old Commodore, the boot arm is a bit of a pita.










With most things that require more than a few cuts I like to throw a model together on the mac before breaking out the router. The top most ring is the press fit grill.










After much Jasper Jigging - it was time to start glueing... I managed to enlist one of my sons, but he was all to unenthused.









Take note of the awesome artwork my boys drew on the MDF that will be part of this enclosure for years to come 


















And... we have baffle...



















It's just in need of some round overs before I can move on with the next phase.










In the mean time, some quick shots of the frame for the press fit grill.









As there's not allot of room for a large diameter sub around that boot arm, the ring presses over the sub basket - there is still loads of room for the surround and movement though.



















In order to sink the sub in as far as possible there was just one small section of metal that robbed me of about 10cm of depth :/










So time to do a little cutting in my new (to me) car... it's no special snow flake after all... Easily done with a dremel and cutting disc.









Cut just short of the final line so I can roll the edge to add some strength.









Quick clearence check. note plenty of room for glass wall once rolled.









Painted and left over night to dry.









The finished edge, ready for sound deadening...









I hope to tackle the glassing on this in the next week or so. More updates then if anyone is interested in seeing this part of the build? 

To be continued...


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Midrange Install

While waiting for a decent block of free time to finish my sub box, I thought I'd better keep on moving with the front stage.

So on with the first task... Enlarge the pillar holes and rig up the ghetto baffle jig 2000 










When I was first planning my 3-way build I wanted to install the mid and tweet on a common baffle. But there just wasn't room for everything on the pillars with such large drivers and such a small car - so this is the next best thing 



















The major pain with this is I cant have the door open while I'm hot glueing. So I'll have to leave the windows open and use the gun through there...

Visibility loss isn't bad at all on the drivers side for this level of axis. The mid-range discs have been spaced back 12mm with washers to sink the midrange baffles as far into the pillars as possible while still clearing the back of the mid. Because of the angle there's loads of breathing room.



















After stocking up on hot glue sticks it was time to put the ghetto rig 2000 into use. fun times hot gluing through an open window - but as luck has it I'm ambidextrous (no crap).




























A quick test fit of the drivers... I spy a little bit of useless pillar trim that's robbing my SQs... More on that later.










Then add a few more temporary props - as this is going to have some serious stress on it when I stretch the cloth...










Now it's time to break out the Dremel and deal with that SQ robbing pillar trim... But first time for a double sided template.



















Marked for the cut - I wanted to avoid just having an ugly step and make the shape as smooth as possible...










The cut and test fit in the car. Much betterer!










Then stretch the cloth and glue. Bam set in 1 second 










Drill holes errywhere and backfill with fg re-enforced milkshake.



















Since these are midrange pods they'll be receiving a few layers of glass... So knock the shape together first so I can lay the glass down nice and even. An sand everything back with 40 gritt.










More holes. Through glue, milkshake and pillar trim 










Then apply 2 layers of 450GSM matt.










They look rough now, but will clean up nicely with the grinder, dremel and sander*


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Midrange Install (cont...)

So, the fiberglass cleaned up real easy. Everything is easier if you get a good stretch on the cloth and make sure everything is as smooth as possible before moving to the next step and so on...



















A quick test fit in the car. And the ghetto jig popped straight back in place which was a relief



















A quick look from some other angles as cars are 3D and also need to look good from the outside



















After a quick skim coat of body filler and rough sand I sprayed on a guide coat. Things are looking as rough as guts but the shape is where I want it.














































Sanding back the guide coat to see all that work in front of me...










Then after some more filler and sanding it's time to spot putty. I also primed the back edges of the sails so i can get the final coats of paint all good around the edges - now that things are at this stage I can halve production time and work on 2 projects at once, as everything is done in small bursts while the kids are napping or the wife is taking them out shopping










Like my hi-tech painting rocks? They're dual purpose and help prevent my workbench blowing away in the breeze










Now it's time for some spray putty, now these will be trimmed in foam backed roof lining... So these steps are un-necessary - but this is my process and I must follow it in order to sleep at night - they only received minimal wet sanding though














































After that minimal wet sanding. I shot them with Primer - it's almost the same colour as the factory headliner so I'm looking forward to test fitting them and seeing what they look like in the car - and I also didn't want to take anything too embarrassing to the trimmer





































And I guess that means the front stage fabrication is complete and ready for final finishing and installation


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## jstoner22 (Aug 21, 2012)

Now this is a build!
Fantastic work so far. I'm excited to see the progress and end result!


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

subscribed


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

jstoner22 said:


> Now this is a build!
> Fantastic work so far. I'm excited to see the progress and end result!


Cheers mate, I just thought I had better put my old gear to use in the new car. I'm excited to hear these midrange drivers and play with the PS8 as I've not used them before.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

boraz said:


> subscribed


Hopefully there will be some updates happening soon. The next major piece will be the sub box, I need to get the glassing done before the weather turns


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Midrange and Tweeter Install (cont...)

After a little impatient waiting (luckily broken up by an interstate work trip). It was time to pickup my pillars from the trimmer and get those drivers installed. In the mean time I had also texture painted the sail pods 










Cheeky seam is basically invisible in the car as it's near flat on the dash. Either way it's incredibly neat, so the voices in my head approve 










Ready for midrange.










All mounted and wired in - wiring tested with the DMM in the boot and all is good... Eventually I'll get around to making some nice interchangeable stealth grills & trim rings for these, trimmed in the same material but with the foam backing removed.






























Not too bad for a driveway front stage install - I am really missing my workbenches though


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Subwoofer Install (cont...)
With some more room to work with, it's time to cut up the factory trim, stretch and glass some cloth.










A quick test with the woofer held in place by the baffle, you can't see from the front - but there's loads of room and airspace around the whole woofer.










Then I soaked the entire trim piece (carpet on a plastic form) in resin and applied 2 layers of 450gsm matt, this is after cleanup with a flap disc. You can see how much extra space has been created for the sub.






























Some shots with the baffle in place and the trim placed back in the car to give a rough guide of the shape (after the first layer off matt and before cleaning up the glass with the flapdisc).






























So time to get busy stretching fleece. Trying to make the enclosure as large as possible I've had to rig up a little jig to help the boot arm clear the box. This will be removed once the bulk of the fleece is solid and then the fleece underneath will be soaked and the whole outside covered in a few layers of matt.








































This is my first winter in my new (and temporary) home town in the southern states where it actually gets cold, hence the glassing work inside the garage and plenty of heaters. I had to ship my family off to the in-laws farm for the week to get this done.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Subwoofer Install (cont...)


So after much glassing, grinding, shaping etc... (too messy for photos). It's time to trim this thing.










The press fit grill frame fits nicely too - with the perfect allowance it seams to trim it in carpet also.










Minimal space lost in the boot, after measuring the box I've managed to sqeeze 42L (gross) out of a totally useless part of the boot - very happy 






























Being a complete trim panel replacement, there were some panel gaps to consider... Luckily no problems here - being such a large FG job, warping was a major concern - especially re-learning my mekp ratios to suit the cooler climate.










All be it with a tiny bit more buldge because of the carpet.










After the final test fit, the box was deadened on the inside with Dynamat (on the large flat glass surfaces only), and treated with 6mm Dynaliner on the back anywhere it could contact with the car or wiring looms to avoid buzzing. The box is an extremely tight fit - 2 M6 bolts into nutserts set through the floor stop it from moving at all...










Stuffed solid with Dacron, and ready to mount the sub.










Some quick photos of the final product - just a little more work to do now 










So glad to have all the speaker / sub fabrication work over and done with!










Time to set some grill in that press fit frame.










Ready to trim in carpet










All trimmed and in daily driver stealth mode - nothing to see here ccasion14:


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## jstoner22 (Aug 21, 2012)

Easily my favourite build on the site so far. Keep up the great work.

What is your plan for hiding the amps?
Are you up grading power at all (second battery, isolator, big three?)


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Finally, another guy who knows what he's doing. I appreciated the reference to the Illuminator. I can understand wanting to support your local economy.

What will you be using to tune?

Excellent choice on the IDMax. I still have a V3 10" sitting in my basement and it's not being sold. What a fantastic driver. 

The only thing I would have done differently given your constraints and preferences was use a thinner gauge speaker wire. 12 AWG is quite overkill. 

Keep the updates coming!

Sent from AutoGuide.com App


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

jstoner22 said:


> Easily my favourite build on the site so far. Keep up the great work.
> 
> What is your plan for hiding the amps?
> Are you up grading power at all (second battery, isolator, big three?)


Cheers mate - thank you for following my little build 

I plan on installing all the amps under a false floor - with the Mosconi's in-front of the spare (removable & breathable press fit panel above them) and the M12 tucked away at the rear right of the boot.




























Power wise, I have replaced the stock battery with a larger (to my delight the battery tray is adjustable in this car) AGM battery that fills out the entire battery location - I went in to get another FullRiver battery, but there was nothing in the exact size with the DIN style terminals - I ended up getting a battery by Delkor, so far so good. We don't get Kinetik or XS Power batts over here... 

I will also be upgrading the grounds under the hood with an additional 0awg from battery to chassis and another from chassis to engine block. I've yet to inspect the alternator charge wire closely, but if it's in excess of the capacity of the alt (from memory it looked around 4awg so - pretty good for the stock 120A alt?) I'll just leave it for now. If I do have power problems - I'll be having a chat to the Holden boys about the possibility of putting in the 140A alternator out of the diesel (Alternator Delco 12V 140Amp Holden Cruze Diesel) and running a second battery in the boot (with isolator).

There's a chance I'll be swapping out the M12 amp for a Mosconi Gladen AS300.2 (flush mounted in the drivers side boot trim facing the sub, with a removable press fit panel) to run the IDMAX, so a second battery and uprated alt will most likely be on the cards then.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Finally, another guy who knows what he's doing. I appreciated the reference to the Illuminator. I can understand wanting to support your local economy.
> 
> What will you be using to tune?
> 
> ...


Thanks mate. This is a great car to work with from an SQ standpoint 

I absolutely love the Illuminators, to my ear they are hands down the best small format tweeter I've heard to date - installed properly I have seen them put the best of the best car audio tweets to shame (full format tweeters included) - even those with price tags 4 times the cost of the scan-speaks. This car though is all about supporting the local industry, but... I will be putting the D3004/602000s back to use in my wife's car (they're just to good to leave on the shelf) with some spare gear, most likely in a simple setup with some 18W/4531G00 revelator midbass and Peerless 830842 XXLS sub.

I love the IDMax, it's got to be my all time favourite sub! I'm so glad I found room for it in the car, and didn't have to run the Ultimo. The Morel is a nice sub also, but the IDMax just has so much power in combination with grace. It's also got some serious balls on it too if you ever want to turn the wick up for some fun, something I always found a little lacking with the Ultimo.

For tuning, I'll be using the Arc Audio PS8 dsp. After assessing all the offerings from car audio land, this one ticked the boxes I was looking for: 4-way active crossover, 8v pre-out, Parametric EQ, MiniDSP like flexibility of settings/values, auto-sense on/off, logical user interface. I was also tempted by the Mosconi Gladen 6to8v8 but at the end of the day I just wasn't impressed with the software it shipped with.

Tuning wise, more specifically I'll be using my little stash of gadget goodies to get a head start before using my ears and tuning to taste:










A DMM to test various parts of the system and install. USB o-scope to test where the factory deck clips and help get my gain structure all nice and clean, I'll also be using the FFT functions of this to measure the frequency content of the deck and check for any volume dependant EQ and such (I can post my findings here if anyone is interested?). And then the MiniDSP Calibrated USB Mic with HOLMImpulse to help me test the phase of the speakers and speed up the time alignment process, then finally with TrueRTA to pickup on any major issues that need adjustment to the crossover settings - or - minor things that can be EQ'ed out etc...

And yes totally agree 12AWG wiring is most definitely overkill - I just happened to have a roll of it to get rid of


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

Awesome install!


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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

Very nice!


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

blk88verde said:


> Awesome install!





iTz SADISTIK said:


> Very nice!


Thanks guys - I can't wait to have this finished.


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

What a clean install. Love the build!

Have you thought about blacking out the pillars? 
A guy on here used plasti dip and it looked stock. Not sure if you can get your hands on it.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Mick said:


> What a clean install. Love the build!
> 
> Have you thought about blacking out the pillars?
> A guy on here used plasti dip and it looked stock. Not sure if you can get your hands on it.


Thanks mate.

I did consider going with black pillars - but then when I thought about it, I'd want to do a total black roof liner conversion, like in my old car which has SS spec trim. The speakers will be getting some press fit grills trimmed in an un-backed version of the material they're trimmed in, that should help with stealths and cosmetics


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

Awesome install.

I only wish I could hear it in person when you're all done!


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Smurfenstein said:


> Awesome install.
> 
> I only wish I could hear it in person when you're all done!


Cheers mate.

You're welcome to come and listen but it's a bit of a drive


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## Smurfenstein (Nov 16, 2011)

justdofit said:


> Cheers mate.
> 
> You're welcome to come and listen but it's a bit of a drive


If there's a road from here to Australia I'd make the drive haha. After all, I drove 7,000 miles round trip just for my system.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Smurfenstein said:


> If there's a road from here to Australia I'd make the drive haha. After all, I drove 7,000 miles round trip just for my system.


Holy **** - I had to do the conversion as miles don't mean anything to me... that's 11,265km :dizzy:

Lucky you had some good tunes


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

justdofit said:


> Holy **** - I had to do the conversion as miles don't mean anything to me... that's 11,265km :dizzy:
> 
> Lucky you had some good tunes


You bet he did. I designed and installed it. Two 18" peavey black widow low riders in a trunk baffle, Dayton RS180s in the doors, Seas Prestige tweeters, miniDSP, and amplified with a Boston acoustics gt-2300 and gt-475.

My setup is similar, only I am running silver flutes in the doors and morel mdt-44s in the pillars, soon to be replaced with the legendary CSS ld25x. You should see the FR, cumulative spectral delay, and harmonic distortion measurements on that tweeter. Xbl^2 and 1.85mm xmax...on a neo tweeter. Too bad they discontinued it due to consistency issues.

Sent from AutoGuide.com App


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

XtremeRevolution said:


> You bet he did. I designed and installed it. Two 18" peavey black widow low riders in a trunk baffle, Dayton RS180s in the doors, Seas Prestige tweeters, miniDSP, and amplified with a Boston acoustics gt-2300 and gt-475.
> 
> My setup is similar, only I am running silver flutes in the doors and morel mdt-44s in the pillars, soon to be replaced with the legendary CSS ld25x. You should see the FR, cumulative spectral delay, and harmonic distortion measurements on that tweeter. Xbl^2 and 1.85mm xmax...on a neo tweeter. Too bad they discontinued it due to consistency issues.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com App



Very VERY nice systems gents!


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## Cruze SRIV (Oct 26, 2013)

Great install carnt too see how you going too your amps in the boot to i hope you post up those pics to


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Cruze SRIV said:


> Great install carnt too see how you going too your amps in the boot to i hope you post up those pics to


Almost 6 months later your wish is my command


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Front Stage Amps


To start with, just a basic set of 2 12mm (1/2") mdf boards... The bottom one with various cutouts to clear the lumps on the boot floor and what I think is the the fuel sensor?












There's not allot of room left once you lay out to AS100.4s side by side across a small sized sedan boot. So I thought I'd lay everything out to figure out the best spots to mount the anchor points for the trim panels.












With the locations sorted out, I cut out some small sections and pressed t-nuts in from the base, these keeps everything off the boot floor - gives some room for bolts to pass through and also makes the t-nuts accessible down the track if they ever need replacement?












The 2 boards all glued and screwed together with all the holes pre-drilled for the threaded inserts that will secure the amps and hardware to the rack.












Not much going on on the top side, except some rebated sections and all the 5.5mm holes drilled for threaded inserts.












Temporary stainless steel hex head M5 bolts that secure the rack to nutserts set into the 2 raised sections of the floor. These have been replaced with button head M5 bolts so there's less chance of chafing a wire or even worse gashing your arms, elbows expensive italian amplifiers on the sharp edges of the hex head.












You may also notice the rebated sections lining up with those factory brackets.












That's for these pieces of flat bar that slide through into the loop - kind of like a slide lock. The loop will be wrapped in some 3mm dynaliner just in case there's any vibrations etc... The combination of these slides and the bolts into the floor make for a very secure rack.












Oh and I carpeted the board, even though it will all be hidden by trim - I still know if there's anything messy anywhere in the install... I hate bare MDF even when it's hidden under trim panels.












A quick test fit of the major items to get the mind rolling on the trim panel designs and the neatest methods of running the wiring...


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Front Stage Amps (cont...)


Now onto the trim panels - a quick sketch up of what I had in mind.
































I used 3mm thick alloy angle for the front and back supports as this allowed maximum room around the amps within the small footprint I had to work with (around the spare tyre). I drilled and counter sunk holes for bolts that screwed into the t-nuts I set in when I built the mounting board.






















Then drilled some larger holes for my RCAs to run through (with massive grommets). The power and speaker wires run through the front left and right corners where the alloy doesn't go all the way to the edge.












Then just cut out some simple rectangle shapes. and touch up with the router.






















Then add the second layer to create a rebate for the press fit panel and fill the gaps between the rack and the surrounding trim.






















Then create the press fit panel and flush in some metal plates and large neo magnets.












Then create back and front sides (note the foam block shows the factory floor height).
































After test fitting in the car - time to drill through the front and back sides and into the alloy... Then just tap some M5 threads and bam the beauty board can be secured to the base with 4 bolts.






















And then onto my second least favourite job (after running cable)... All trimmed and in place for a final test fit.












Then onto one of my favourite jobs. Wiring up 
































And with the cover bolted on... I'll road test it like this until the DSP gets back from Brisbane and then the cover needs to come off to set the gains with the scope 

And yes the car is filthy with MDF dust


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Sub Stage Amp


There's nothing fancy about the M12 install, it's just some angle alloy used as a bracket with some bolts and nutserts and only took about 30 mins to complete...

I was going to mount the amp flat on the floor and have the factory floor sit over it, but that was causing headaches with the floor height and the sub grill (long story). So I peeked behind the trim to see if I could find another spot.












Turns out there was just enough room to tuck a small 1200w amp behind there.












I grabbed some alloy out of the shed and cut/drilled/countersunk for bolts (I like bolts).












Then nutserts into various places to keep things secure.
































Some magic SQ liner.












Bolt it all together and wire up.












The gain controls are still accessible without removing the amp which is nice 












All buttoned up and hidden away.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Power Support


I wanted to keep it simple under the bonnet - the fuse holder is secured in place with some angle alloy just painted black - it totally dissapears (and yes I know there's no fuse installed yet ).










































I used these little JL Audio terminals so I could retain the factory positive cover.












And for size reference, but I'm guessing a 50c piece isn't a good choice for non-australians... Point is they're small 











I need to pick up some more glue lined double walled heat-shrink and a couple of more terminals then I plan on making up a chassis to engine block cable as well.

Now that just leaves the DSP (there's been a slight detour on equipment here unfortunately). Some boot floor and minor trim panels to wrap it all up


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Boot

Micro Update...


Got the boot floor cut and installed at lunch today, I still plan to have a floor mat made up, but the edges are surprisingly neat considering all the weird bumps on the factory floor.




















































These photos give a good indication of any storage space lost. And also why the floor couldn't be raised in the rear section near the sub grill


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Micro update... Managed to get the fill panel for the amps trimmed yesterday - it's an MDF frame with perforated steel mesh, wrapped in breathable carpet. Now I just need a boot mat to complete the boot


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## broadz (May 4, 2014)

Looking good mate, hope to be able to hear it real soon!


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

broadz said:


> Looking good mate, hope to be able to hear it real soon!


Thanks mate - unfortunately due to the massive issues I had with the PS8 and the long wait on delivery of the 6to8 after deciding to change, the car won't be ready in time for Summernats.

It's looking like early next year now until the system is complete :sad010:


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## brandl (Dec 23, 2014)

perfect job. very nice!


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## YIN (Dec 6, 2014)

Amazing!

I so want your front and rear bumpers and your enclosure lol.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Wow long time no update - truth is I've just been enjoying the car and the system 






















*A quick summary of last year to bring this thread up to speed for anyone that's interested?*

After a short wait my replacement DSP arrived and worked like a charm, no fuss no hassles. A quick photo prior to tiding up the cables. This setup is only temporary for proof of concept over the last year with a much neater solution underway as we speak/type 









After a quick tune the whole car just came to life, the factory deck is actually quite a good source - and only required minimal eq to smooth out the input.

Most people are amazed by the sound quality out of it, including car audio industry professionals that have demo'd the car at comps, and frequently listen to crazy good sources (e.g. HX-D2/DRZ9255, ODR, F1 Status, P99, DENON/Rockford etc... etc...). That said, the digital inputs that I use into the 6to8 have the edge, but only slightly - and noticeable to a trained and extremely critical ear with the car stationary, engine and all fans turned off - not too mention having a crazy rock solid install with quality gear.

The factory source is the absolute last thing I would change in this car for anyone *not* competing in SQ at a high level. I'm not sure about the Mylink unit, but the infotainment one in this car is decent. For 99% of installs in the Cruze, I would definitely recommend just sticking with the factory deck and running a mini-dsp or something with the ability to massage out the factory EQ, which luck has it - is free of volume dependant EQ scaling.










Good thing about this new DSP is that it actually has a controller. Which turns out to be a perfect fit for that useless little pocket in front of the shifter, perfect for when using the optical inputs on this puppy.










It was a pretty basic install.






























During the year I managed to source the dedicated 3-way version of my midbass drivers - so also took the opportunity to do some more treatment on the doors. I've got some 6.5" F.A.S.T. rings sitting on the shelf at home for next time the door cards are off, that should finish these things for good.






























I also sourced a gvif module that meant I could finally tick backup camera off the list of must haves for this car, I still can't believe they didn't ship these like this from factory. It works perfectly and opened up the door for the project I'm working on today.




















My wife surprised me last year with a 3D printer as a gift. I put that thing to use immediately fabricating some stuff that would be impossible for me to make by hand. 


Like these tidy little grill/covers to protect and hide my favourite midrange drivers.




















And interchangeable waveguide rings for competing - or just wanting to see those sexy bitches 










Some neat little mounting solutions for my new (smaller) scandinavia tweeters (the full formats were totally wasted in my 3-way setup), these will hide the mounting screws and hopefully help minimise diffraction around the edge of the mounting location.




















I've since printed a higher res ring, but you get the basic idea from this shot.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

So fast forward to today and changes are afoot.

A quick system diagram of the car for this year.









*DVD Changer*


First cab off the rank this year is getting a DVD/CD transport with optical out into the car.

TBH I use the AMAS in this car daily (USB from my phone connected to the factory deck for control via steering wheel/head unit and track info display on the factory screen, with the audio streaming directly into the AMAS digital input - it's a magic little setup and works for all the music sources on my phone (VLC, Music App, Pandora and Spotify). Note, photo taken before finishing my DRC install.









But the reality is, in SQ competitions over here it's generally easier to have a decent CD transport, and I'm also a little sceptical about the AMAS/iPhone getting the absolute most out of my system.

Luck has it that the GVIF module I used to integrate a backup camera and display onto the factory screen, also has up to 3 additional selectable video inputs. This makes a stand alone CD or DVD changer a prime candidate.

I managed to track down a second hand Alpine unit that had everything I wanted. A quick test fit and it looked like I could install this thing in a handy location.










Width wise I had a few mm to spare - no issue there:


















Some minor cutting of the rear of the door/pocket gave easy clearance at the back of the stacker, but I still couln't close the glovebox door...


Luckily Alpine kindly placed the power/av sub board in a seperate module bolted onto the back. Moving this would give me the depth I needed to close the glovebox.










So a little dremel action to create a new hole in the chassis to re-route the ribbon cables for this board. some drilling and riveting (no room for bolts or screws) and bam, we have a much shallower DVD changer 




















One handy thing about the Cruze is that the entire housing around the glovebox comes off with 5 bolts and in about 2mins. This made securing the changer to the vehicle much easier... And given the extremely limited space I was able to de-contstuct the entire glovebox on the bench, mount the stacker and rebuild it all around it.


Some dynaliner for good measure and this thing is ready to go back in the car.










That all important clearance at the rear.









Turns out it's now a perfect fit, and still plenty of storage space left.









The downside is that I'll have to pop out the glovebox assembly every time I want to change the cabin filter, but it's a very basic removal/installation process. And the filter only gets changed annually.


Now I just need to run the wiring (my most hated job) and this thing can go back in the car permanently. I'll need to take the seats out this weekend for my DSP project (more info to come) so that'll be the perfect opportunity.


Thank you for reading


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

It's alive!!!


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## Jaz (Jan 7, 2016)

Wow! Amazing amount of time, money and care has gone into this. Can't wait to see it in person if there is ever an Aussie Melbourne Meet


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Jaz said:


> Wow! Amazing amount of time, money and care has gone into this. Can't wait to see it in person if there is ever an Aussie Melbourne Meet


Thanks mate - it's a hobby of mine. I baught the Cruze specifically for an SQ build.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

*DSP Relocation*

I managed to finish up work early today, so time to get a head start on this weekends install plans.

I thought I'd get moving on relocating the DSP. Now that I am happy with the setup, it's time to neaten up the install, and address a few things that bugged me.

I modelled and printed up the parts for this a while ago, just waiting until I get a few hours spare to start the install.











The setup as it was.











The turned up floor mat that always bugged me.











Seat out and old setup removed.











Traced out the hole and cut through.











Caddy mounted and then DSP mounted to the caddy, so so much wiring.











Under carpet support collar fitted. This helps protect the wiring and sandwiches with the grill to lock onto the carpet for a solid edge all the way around.











Carpet all back in place, cable terminals can be inspected as well as the gain settings etc...











Grill screwed in place, now I know everything fits as intended I can print another one in hi-res and acetone vapour it or paint for a more finished look.











Everything is totally hidden with the seat in it's regular position.











Much better, and now I have somewhere to store my tuning laptop.











Rolling the seat all the way back allows for easy inspection and removal of the grill.










Now tomorrow I can move onto the next set of changes. ccasion14:


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

I'll just keep updating this just in-case anyone is interested.

OK, time to move onto the next item on my hit list for this year.

*Tweeter sail re-build*


First a shot of the previous setup. There's absolutely nothing wrong with these tweeters - and I expect the change to be a sideways step. But the finished result should be allot more subtle, and also free up the scan 1s to give me a complete 2-way specific DLS Scandinavia pair with my Scandinavia 6/2 I swapped out mid year last year (probably bound for my wife's new car? but that's another build thread).












Time to put those 3D printed parts to use, with some old school methods - things always look nasty rough at this stage.










Some stretched t-shirt material, ca glue and milkshake later - the sails are starting to take shape.




















Next to the midrange, not that they rake back on the same angle, but I've angled them upwards slightly. Something I couldn't do with the Scandinavia 1s due to their massive size.










Once finished I think these should blend in nicely and compliment the surrounding contours of the car.










With the new sails next to the old the size difference is more obvious. Note that the Scandinavia 30s are by no means a small tweeter with a 68mm diameter and 30mm dome. It's just that the Scandinavia 1s are larger (and heavier) than most midrange drivers.










I applied some fiberglass reenforced bog to build up the low spots and tweak the shape to my liking.




















Then a really light coat of body filler - and now I can start the ongoing cycle of fill, sand, blade putty sand, spray putty sand, primer sand, paint sand, texture paint and so on...


























A quick test fit of them in the car with the final shape.










And couldn't resist popping a tweeter in and placing the trim ring in to get an idea of what they will look like.









Also, while I had the sails off - I popped off the door cards and installed some fast rings I had waiting, I'm actually pretty impressed with the difference these have made.


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## Jaz (Jan 7, 2016)

Mate, this is awesome.

I had a '89 Prelude setup about 10 years ago for SPL, getting 162.2dB as my daily driver

But EVERYTHING was modified, and you could tell. These almost look factory


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

Wow 162.2 man that't up there!

Yeah factory look is my priority.


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## CalamityRS (Jan 21, 2016)

Impressive build here.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

CalamityRS said:


> Impressive build here.


Cheers mate - I'm really enjoying the Cruze.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

A sneak peak of the finished sail pods... Really loving that acetone vapour technique to smooth 3D prints. Piano black finish without the paint and hours of sanding...










More photos to come once they're in the car.


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## justdofit (Apr 17, 2014)

They're in the car and playing - I'll reserve judgement until I've had some time on them and a bit of a tune up, but so far I'm more than impressed.












There are some imperfections on the trim rings, due to bubbles while acetone vapouring. I'll print another set and work on my method to get a better result, but for now this set will do for testing and proof of concept.












I'm pleased with the way the overall shape turned out.


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## Cruze SRIV (Oct 26, 2013)

wow where did you get those fast rings from i am interrested in them


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