Chris' Mazdaspeed6 Stereo install log

[chuyler1]

For those not paying attention, this is what the pass-through on the MS6 looks like. There are two sets of cross bars. The ones in the corners get in the way and that was the reason for the shape of my amp rack.

Here is a test fit...

And what it looks like from behind...

To strenthen the walls, I soaked the back of the fleece with 8 fl oz of resin and then built it up with an additional 12 fl oz and fiberglass matte cut into squares.

And that's all for tonight. Next up, lots of sanding and bondo.

 

[chuyler1]

Finally had some time to work on my car again this weekend.

Step 2, Sound deadening

I added 1 layer of raammat and 1 layer of ensolite to the outer door skins. The 6 has a removable center section of the door which allows for easy access. I also added a little deadener to the back and front of the access panel and the back of the door panel. I will add more around the speaker cutout once I install my speakers. While I did this, I also ran the speaker wire. Note to self: never buy large guage speaker wire again. The wire doesn't fit through the door harness and I can't get them back in the hole. DOH! I'll figure something out later.

Stock door innards (no deadening)

Adding a layer of raammat (aka dynamat). I didn't go overboard because I didn't want to add too much weight. I covered about 75% of the area and that will take care of 95% of the resonation in the doors.

On top of that went a full sheet of ensolite closed cell foam. This stuff really works. It takes out all metalic sounds when you tap on the panel from the outside.

Added some more raamat to the back of the door panel. I will add more later along with some ensolite. The 6 already has padding (not shown) so I didn't go overboard.

I am showing this photo because I'm an idiot. I removed the plastic panel "before" removing the window. Big Mistake. I suggest to others the following sequence:
1) Remove outer door panel
2) Before disconnecting wiring harness pull the two plugs out (see below) and lower the window until you see the bolts for the window.
3) Now disconnect the wiring harnesses and put the door panel someplace safe
4) Remove the window by removing the two bolts (10mm). When they are out pull the glass up and toward you. Be careful not to let it scratch bare metal.
5) NOW you may remove the plastic panel by removing all the 10mm bolts around the edge and unhooking the wiring harnesses etc. Oh, another note. Removing the door handle is tricky. There is a plastic center pin with a knob on the top. Inside the center is a clip. Using a very small screw driver pull the clip out toward you and lift up on the knob. Your first inclination will be to push the clip in...but I assure you, it must be pulled out.

(me re-installing window glass)

Here's a shot of the passenger door

All told I spent about 6 hours doing this. That includes running a power wire, figuring out how the whole door goes together and what to remove and in what sequence. It also includes the bloody task of trying to get speaker wire through the door jam (my least favorite part of car audio installation). On the driver's side you have to remove the fuse box and ECU. I couldn't get the ECU all the way out but got it loose enough to reach behind pull out the foam and grab my wire.

Anyway, that's all for this weekend.

 

[Rainman]

Great work so far. I greatly appreciate your attention to detail. Can't wait to see the final result.

R

 

[mazdaspeed777]

subbin for progress

 

[jasony88]

subbin

 

[chuyler1]

Today's update comes in the form of a HOW-TO for other Mazda6 owners.
HOW-TO: Mazda6 Rear Door Panel Removal (Bonus sound deadening)

 

[chuyler1]

Tweeter Pods!

The stock angle just wasn't going to cut it for my install and the LPG 25nfa tweeters were a tight fit anyway. So I went the custom route (duh!). These took about 4 hours to make start to finish.

First step is to make a baffle for the tweeter. I didn't have the right size hole saw so I had to resort to my router and circle jig. Also note the size comparison between the stock Bose tweeter and my LPG.

I drilled a few pilot holes in the factory sail panel...

Then cut out the rest with a jig saw.

Using a hot glue gun and a laser pointer, I aimed the tweeters for ear level and just in front of your head on the opposite window.

Next I stretched grill cloth over them as tightly as I could using hot glue to hold it in place.

And soaked the cloth in resin, making sure to go right up to the edges but not over them.

Once the resin cured, I used a 40 grit disk on my orbital sander to smooth out any imperfections and shave off the back. Since these are very thin with a single coat of resin I couldn't do very much sanding.

Fortunately, I did have the right size hole saw for the cutout. The fiberglassed cloth was secured enough to the baffle to allow me to cut it out.

A quck test fit...things are coming together nicely!

And all that was left was to cover them in grill carpet again. I used a light coat of spray glue on the surface and then hot glue on the back side to stretch the clotch perfectly without wrinkles.

Finally, I added some raammat sound deadener to the inside to add a little weight to the very thin fiberglass. These pods are not very durable, I could prolly shove a screwdriver right thorugh them...but they are only pods and don't need to hold any weight. If you were building anything larger or intended to sand them to a silky smooth paintable finish I would recommend more than just a single layer of resin/matte. You can also beef them up from behind if you are careful with fiberglass reinforced body filler.

Anyway, enough with the talk, here are some installed pics!

Don't ask me how they sound. I'm not even close to hooking them up.

 

[Protege52003]

.....man, looking great chris. can't wait to see/hear in person!

-R

 

[chuyler1]

Finished up the Subwoofer install today.

Here's the stock Bose sub. They call it a 9". Its a little bigger than my 8" but it looks like they use some aperiodic membrane on the front. Cutout is 8.25" for anyone interested.

I made a baffle that started as 13"x13" and trimmed it down until it would fit.

Then I created another baffle to mount below that for my 12" DLS subwoofer.

The bottom and top of the rear deck was covered in raammat and a layer of ensolite was added to the top also.

Then the sub and baffle was hoisted up from below using my scissor jack and it was bolted in place with the factory holes and 1-1/4" drywall screws.

You can see the amp rack panel I previously constructed ready for amps.

Man it looks good...if only I had my amps installed so I could try it out. That'll have to wait I guess.

Up next, I have to install the midbass drivers, amps, and wire everything.

 

[SuperStretch18]

The tweeter pods (along with the rest of the install) came out sweet. Can't wait to see the final product...(hippy)

 

[khaosman]

(thumb) (thumb) (thumb)

 

[lisevolution]

I'm trying to figure out what method I'm going to utilize for my gf's mazda 6s. I too am going to keep the stock deck and possibly the stock door speakers initially but I am thinking either 2 10" woofers in enclosures taking up the sides of the trunk and either a false floor for an amp rack or something integrated into the sub enclosure on one of the sides. The other option would be 10" and then the amp on the other side. Either way it's going to be fiberglassed and painted to match the body color as her car is Blazing copper which is not common so I want to accentuate it as much as possible! Love reading this though because it gives me some nice tips. Let me ask you a question though, in terms of the sub you went for where did you buy one and how does it's performance in a free air set up work compared to something in a sealed space? My experience with free-air subs is such that they tended to play sloppy and loose as the the trunk air was generally too much to create the type of pressure needed to provide the tight punch of a sealed box...

 

[chuyler1]

For free air, you want to choose a sub designed for free-air or at least designed for a very large box. This usually means it has a high Qts and a low Fs. That is why people use 12"s and 15"s exclusively but I have seen it done with an array of 10"s or 8"s. The DLS OA12 is designed for this application... OA stands for "Open Air". I bought mine used from a diymobileaudio.com member but you can get one from www.mobilesq.com or your local DLS dealer.

With a free-air sub, right off the bat you will notice that the cone doesn't move as freely as a non-free-air sub. This keeps it from playing "loose" as you put it. The suspension is very stiff to make up for the lack of air pressure behind it.

You also want to deaden the trunk and seal up as many holes as possible between the cabin and trunk, and trunk and outside. That is where the raammat comes into play and also note that my amp rack seals off the rear seat area. I will add some ensolite to the back of my amp rack to create the best seal possible.

Finally, an EQ and crossover with a subsonic filter help dial in the subwoofer. You don't want it to play too low since it may cause the woofer to over extend below 20-25Hz and you really don't need that range at full volume anyway...unless you want to make yourself sick. And you can use the EQ to dial down above 50Hz where the subwoofer becomes very efficient (since there is no box to restrict it). I will verify all this when I connect everything and start tuning.

In the end, IB is far more difficult and time consuming than a basic sealed box. Don't be fooled into thinking less material = less time. There is alot of prep work and trial-and-error once things are up and running. I think it took me 6-7 hours on Sunday to complete everything...and I still haven't deaden'd the rest of the trunk.

 

[lisevolution]

I hear you on the IB set up, last time I worked with them I did 2 12" Kicker XPL FA's in the rear deck of my 90 Thunderbird. They sounded good for the first week or so but then it just became a mess. Too much resonance in the trunk, and just overall sloppy performance. I ended up building an enclosure around them still using the same location but it just was never right. That whole system was an experiment that went wrong... I was using one of the first Kenwood MASK decks and the face broke within the first month, the Infinity Kappa components in the front just did match the accoustics of the cabin... all a mess!

 

[chuyler1]

Another weekend update. The amp rack is finished and installed. I did a nice tuck job with the wires by suspending the amps about 3/8" inch using some plastic spacers I had. They came with the peg board hooks I bought for my work bench. I'm not exactly sure what they were supposed to be used for but they worked perfectly for my amp rack.

KnuKonceptz interconnects...

8ga power wire and 16ga speaker wire...

And on the back side I mounted my 1 farad capacitor/distblock and PPI DCX-730 processor. I tried to keep the wiring as clean as possible but I wasn't about to spend extra cash on tech flex or anything. I have some wire loom which I'll put on later.

The location of the cap and processor had to be precise...as you can see there isn't much room to work with.

To the left of the pair is my remote turn on and power grid. I've got two relays, one for remote turn on and the other for trunk lighting (to be added later which will be triggerd by the trunk latch).

To the right is my speaker wire grid. I connect all my wires running through the car to the grid so I can quickly remove the amp rack for maintenance.

And here's how she looks installed...

This is a major turning point for my system. I actually got to connect stuff and listen to it! I connected the LPG tweeters and DLS subwoofer. Since I'm not finished installing the midbasses I connected the stock Bose 2ohm 6" speakers for some midrange.

After some fiddling I chose an 80Hz 24db crossover point and a 3KHz 12db crossover point. The Bose speakers break up pretty easily so I've been fiddling with 2.5KHz too.

My first test drive sounded like the subwoofer was bottoming out but then I did some research and found out you have to turn the DCX gain to at least -12db. I currently have the input sensitivity at 2.1v, attenuation at -12db, and volume at -12db for subwoofer, -15-18db for tweeters (they are 8ohm), and -24db for the bose mids. All my gains were set to 4v on the amp (or about half-way).

Detail from the factory head is perfect. Once I dial in the crossover point and eq a few parts of the tweet I will be happy. The tweeter angle is a little left-biased in my face but I think part of the problem is the mids aren't keeping up at high volumes. I haven't messed with T/A yet either.

Sub hasn't bottomed out since I adjusted the gain. It blends seamlessly with the front except for a rattle I need to fix on the rear deck cover. It doesn't get as loud as I was expecting but I still need to fuss with the gains. It also isn't as tight on kick drum hits. The impact isn't what I had with my 8"s so I'll be expecting my Seas CA18WNX mids to pick up the slack in that department.

Overall, I can see the potential of this system and still having a full trunk will really be a blessing. Next weekend I'm going to Philly so we'll see if I can fit all our luggage in the trunk w/o using the back seat!

 

[chuyler1]

Midbass driver install

So I wanted an OEM look but without the crappy stock grills. Here's how I accomplished it...

First, the trim rings. I used a combination of router bits to create rings out of 3/4" MDF and painted them with two coats of rattle can primer, a coat of silver metal specs, and a final clear coat.

Next I removed the stock grills using a sharp utility blade. I removed the trim on the inside first to prevent the blade from going in its own direction.

I made a few passes with the blade from the outside using the inner edge as a guide.

Next, I made some mounting rings for the CA18RNX midbass drivers. Two coats of primer to protect them from the elements.

While I waited for the paint to dry, I mounted the rings to the door panels. I used hot glue and then applied a layer of raammat EG and ensolite to make sure they were on good and tight.

I installed the mounting rings next, and applied a layer of raammat around the outer edge and used the foam gasket from the stock speaker. This gasket will mesh up with the ensolite on the door panel to create a tight seal with the door panel.

Here's how they look installed. There is a small gap around part of it because the door panel wasn't perfectly parallel with the door skin.

And for a finishing touch, I made some grills out of 1/2" scrap birch ply (I was out of 1/2" MDF). I did a so-so job wrapping them with grill cloth. I couldn't get it to stick on the back side so I used hot glue. No one will see it...except you.

Ok, drum roll.....brrrrrrrrrrrrr



splash!

Listening impressions. After a quick 10 minute tune, I realized, these speakers can really play low. They have no problem with a 50Hz 12db crossover. They sound pretty good up to 4-5KHz but I'm hesitant to go further as the highs get a little mellow and unnatural. They do a much better job than the Bose speakers in the 1-5KHz region and play the sub 120Hz range with much more authority. However, I still can't dial in the LPG tweeters. I've been bouncing between 3.5-5KHz for a crossover but they still sound "sharp" as my wife puts it. There is a frequency right above the crossover point that digs into your ear just above low listening levels but mellows out at high listening levels (but with a little breakup toward the bottom end that can be heard as a constant shhhhhing sound). I haven't done any RTA work or touched the PEQ/TA so I'm sure I can track down the problem and clean up the response. Overall I am very satisfied with the install. My wife says there is much more upfront bass and I have to agree. These speakers put out more bass than the DLS Iridium 6"s in the Protege5...but I've got significantly more sound deadening in the MS6 and that probably helps out. With a 50Hz crossover point on the sub, I almost don't need it. I thought I would never say that but honestly, the sub is just filler now (except for techno/rap where it obviously plays a bigger role...but I rarely listen to that).

One other notable point. The Bose speakers were 2ohms while the Seas mids are 8ohms. I still haven't touched the gains on my amps since I installed them. To do this change-over I adjusted the volume for the mids on the DCX-730 from -18db to -12db and later lowered the tweeter volume from -20db to -22db. The sub stayed about the same.

 

[1sty]

Really nice work Chris.
Are the grills pressure fit only or are you holding them in with something?

 

[chuyler1]

They are pressure fit...

...and I haven't been able to pop them out yet. I'll have to put a screw or something into them so I have something to grab onto.

 

[zoom^3]

outstanding thread and great work on the install,
the amp rack looks great. I need to get a new router...

any chance you want to share the dimensions of the amp rack?
you attention to detail is outstanding and I understand if you don't
just consider me l-a-z-y

 

[chuyler1]

I don't have any exact dimensions for the amp rack because most of it was done by test fitting and marking. I can share the steps I used though...it is really easy.

* Start by measuring the width and height of the opening after you remove the stock panel. There is one bolt you will have to notch out of the top to get it to sit flush (just keep that in mind).
* Cut a piece of MDF to the size you measured and do a test fit.
* While the board is in place, trace the outline of the top and bottom clearance and support braces from the back side. Be generous with your markings because the last thing you want is an amprack that doesn't fit.
* Take the board out and check your markings to make sure you had the board centered properly.
* If your amps are small, you should consider making the cutout even smaller...again if things are close within an inch there is a potential it won't fit when you are done.
* Using a straight edge, mark out the opening in the panel. Use a compass for the corners if you want the rounded edges like mine.
* My spacers that I used to create the tub were about 3" tall but you can probably go as far as 3.5-4"...but measure carefully...and measure again to be safe.