Fiberglass/Audio Project

[FolkertSX]

My current project is redoing all the audio in my car and doing some fun fiberglass work. Im looking into schooling for car accesories and custom fabrication so i figured why not try it myself and get some practice. I first started with attempting to make a fiberglass sub box. This was my first time working with fiberglass so I learned alot. It was alot of fun though. Heres some pictures. Sorry I missed a few I got so caught up in the project. Step one was to mask off the area I would be laying down resin. Then put tinfoil over that to act as a releasing agent. This way the mold would pull out easier instead of sticking to the masking tape. Then I layed down mat and resin and so forth but forgot to take pictures. Then pulled that out and cut it to the right shape I wantedNext I made my speaker rings with a handy router I bought. It took me about 15 times to get 2 rings that were almost perfect. Before this I didn't even know what a router was so I wasnt very good at it. hahaThen I suspended the rings where I wanted them with wood dowels. Now comes the fun part. But also the most difficult in my opinion. I had a weird a** shaped box which made it super hard for me. I'm no uphostlry professional. Now you can really see it coming togetherThen lay resin. mat and do all that crap. I dont have any pictures after this up untill the final product but basically just do some layers of fiberglass, then lay some bondo on, smooth it out and repeat untill its almost smooth. Then i used a spray filler which was pretty nice. Do that a couple times untill its super smooth and your good to go. Prime and paint! Walahh. Done. I have a lot of time into this but it was worth it. Everytime I look at it makes me proud of myself. Anyplans plans are now to make a false floor with a cutout with glass over a amp and to make another fiberglass amp rack to go on the other side of the trunk. Then make some fiberglass speaker holders including the kick panels, door panels, and the where the rear speakers go. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I also want to say thanks to Toby for showing us his work with a full detailed writeup. That is what inspired me to do this in the first place. Thanks!

[StandardProspect]

Wow, pleasant surprise. Looks clean.Nice work man

[float_6969]

Wow, that's pretty awesome. Good work!

[FolkertSX]

thanks guys. I would love to be able to finish this project before I get my license in 4 weeks. But I'm broke and cant even afford wood and resin.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

How much are the materials for fiberglass?

I was thinking about making some pieces on the side and selling them.

[FolkertSX]

How much are the materials for fiberglass?

I was thinking about making some pieces on the side and selling them.

ha, I thought the same thing. Make em, sell em, make money...easy. right? yea well i have 40+ hours into this thing. And about $100 in supplies. I'm sure my second one I could do twice as fast but I don't think its worth it. plus is anyone on nico willing to pay $300-$400 for a custom sub box when they could buy a square one for $20? i highly doubt it knowing us. It's one thing to do it for your own car, but I make more money cutting grass then I would selling these.

[K3Fallout]

Which JL speakers are those?

[FolkertSX]

Which JL speakers are those?

W1v2 series 8"

[keith0486]

came out very nice got any plans for the amp?

[mrgreeneyes]

excellent work.

my only critique:

you have angled them in the worst acoustic position possible. you want them to fire back into the rear wall and reverberate forward. i ran an audio shop for 2 years and was lead tech for 3 years prior.

that said, i am THOROUGHLY impressed by the craftsmanship.

[FolkertSX]

mrgreeneyes, i did not know that. I've seen many people point them in different directions so I figured it was fine. I even read an article debating what was better, to face them pointing back or towards the front. thanks for the tip

[FolkertSX]

came out very nice got any plans for the amp?

making a false floor, then cutting out a rectangle and replacing it will glass so you can see the amp underneath. Then im getting another amp which will go on the other side of the trunk on a wall made of fiberglass painted gloss black to match the box. hopefully i can get started on that soon

[K3Fallout]

I am idiot with audio stuff, but what about the amp and sub?

[Hoffman5982]

nice, I have the same amp(s). I have an 1800x4 powering my 2 12s and a 1400x4 for my speakers. alot of people hate on crunch, but they're cheap and do a pretty good job

[FolkertSX]

nice, I have the same amp(s). I have an 1800x4 powering my 2 12s and a 1400x4 for my speakers. alot of people hate on crunch, but they're cheap and do a pretty good job

i agree. right now i have the 5 channel amp. which will power one of my subs and 4 speakers. then im going to get a 4 channel crunch amp which will power one sub, my components up front and then ill have one left over channel. they seem to be decent amps. i know they dont put out the claimed wattage. so you always have to figure that when buying one. but they sound pretty clear. when i hooked it up to my components up front it made a huge difference.

[mrgreeneyes]

you two MAY wanna brush up on what type of amp is for what applications.

1 channel = subs2 channel = sub OR mid, not both3 channel = weird setups....4 channel = mids only5 channel = 4 speakers, mild sub

single channel = monoblock = power supply engineered to handle big sub hits. terrible for mids.

multi channel amps power supplies are generally smoother and not as hardcore, as mids dont create huge drains at once. terrible for running subs, will overheat quickly.

RMS is the wattage number you should be looking for.

PEAK is a bulls*** number they throw on the things to make people buy them. NEVER have i seen an amp hit peak values.... and live to see another day.

carry on. questions? ask.

[Broadfield]

That looks really good man!.... I'm proud of you. You took your time and taught yourself. There is no better reward than fabricating something on your own. Now it's time to step up to something a little more difficult

Oh and don't worry about them firing forward, sideways, whatever.... that really only matters in a vehicle with an actual trunk. Hatchbacks are fair game!

[nitsujvg]

looks great man!

props, i always have respect for people who do their own work. it really is a rewarding experience to teach yourself something.

[Chugpuppy]

[thread derail]Since we're on this topic, I bought two Alpine SWR-1240D's (the older 12" Type R's) a while ago, but I'm currently running one on a 4-channel 150 watt amp... severely underpowered =(. Recommendations for cheap (without sacrificing quality) amps to power these? They are 300 watts rms each, dual 4 ohm voice coils. I just got into car audio and I'm still trying to get a setup going...[/thread derail]

[Broadfield]

Alpine MRP-M500....damn, never mind. I just saw that you had two of them. I saw that it said you were running one on a 4 channel and thought you only had one at first. So you would need either a mono-block that outputs the same at a 2 ohm and a 4 ohm load, or you would need a mono-block that is 1 ohm stable, or you would need a 2 channel amplifier. None of those are going to be as cheap as a standard 2 ohm stable mono-block.


Modified by Broadfield at 12:51 AM 2/24/2010

[mrgreeneyes]

That looks really good man!.... I'm proud of you. You took your time and taught yourself. There is no better reward than fabricating something on your own. Now it's time to step up to something a little more difficult

Oh and don't worry about them firing forward, sideways, whatever.... that really only matters in a vehicle with an actual trunk. Hatchbacks are fair game!

subs, for me, have CONSISTENTLY sounded deeper when rear firing, no matter the car design. hatches ive noticed the largest difference in.

[Broadfield]

Actually I like subs firing up in a hatch the best. I'm looking at sound quality though..... you may be looking at overall output.

[Chugpuppy]

Alpine MRP-M500....damn, never mind. I just saw that you had two of them. I saw that it said you were running one on a 4 channel and thought you only had one at first. So you would need either a mono-block that outputs the same at a 2 ohm and a 4 ohm load, or you would need a mono-block that is 1 ohm stable, or you would need a 2 channel amplifier. None of those are going to be as cheap as a standard 2 ohm stable mono-block.

Modified by Broadfield at 12:51 AM 2/24/2010

damn...Any recommendations on amps that would power both of them adequately? Are they worth getting an amp for, or am I just going to be spending money on outdated technology?

[mrgreeneyes]

Actually I like subs firing up in a hatch the best. I'm looking at sound quality though..... you may be looking at overall output.

if only you understood the customers i had to cater too.

MAX VOLUME OR GTFO kinda people. we sold decent product, they wanted it loud....

im a basshead at heart still. altho my coupe has minimal audio again. kinda miss it. maybe once i get a new lock set, ill be more apt to venture into the trunk.

[motoman399]

i think im going to have to attempt this now.

hey broadfield and greeneyes, is there an alternative that might work better than the foil?

[zerepdivad]

Not bad at all. looks good. How's it sound though? The enclosure within recommended specs for the subs at all? Either way it looks good. Should post up in the car electronics/security section of the forum. We need more traffic in there.

[amakadius]

excellent work.

my only critique:

you have angled them in the worst acoustic position possible. you want them to fire back into the rear wall and reverberate forward. i ran an audio shop for 2 years and was lead tech for 3 years prior.

that said, i am THOROUGHLY impressed by the craftsmanship.

very true but i think that he just wanted the looks instead.

[FolkertSX]

you two MAY wanna brush up on what type of amp is for what applications.

1 channel = subs2 channel = sub OR mid, not both3 channel = weird setups....4 channel = mids only5 channel = 4 speakers, mild sub

single channel = monoblock = power supply engineered to handle big sub hits. terrible for mids.

multi channel amps power supplies are generally smoother and not as hardcore, as mids dont create huge drains at once. terrible for running subs, will overheat quickly.

RMS is the wattage number you should be looking for.

PEAK is a bulls*** number they throw on the things to make people buy them. NEVER have i seen an amp hit peak values.... and live to see another day.

carry on. questions? ask.

what is the difference between running a mono amp for a sub and using a 4 channel amp to power a sub? if they put out the same wattage then whats the difference? also why can you run 2 subs with a 2 channel amp but not 1 sub and 1 speaker? also yes i know rms is the most important number. crunch is very decieving with their wattage output. they always use their peak numbers which are never even true, and neither are their rms. which is why i always get a little more "so called powerful" amp than i should.

Not bad at all. looks good. How's it sound though? The enclosure within recommended specs for the subs at all? Either way it looks good. Should post up in the car electronics/security section of the forum. We need more traffic in there.

i don't know how it sounds yet as I still need wiring and another amp to power the other sub. Size is correct. I had to spray some expanding foam sealant stuff to 1. seal cracks, and 2. take up space.

[Tsukiko]

generally a monoblock or a two channel amp's guts will be powerful enough (capacitors? correct me if im wrong on that, and im sure theres more to it) to handle the power demands of bass drivers, whereas a 3/4/5 channel is made to handle mids and highs which dont require as much electronic beef internally to sound good. Bass drivers move. a LOT. This means that their motors use more power.

[Broadfield]

Well, there does need to be some clarification. If you are running a really good amplifier, then it doesn't matter if it's a mono-block or an 8-channel, you can run whatever speakers you want off of it. Most of your really good mono-blocks are full range. And most of your really good multi-channels are actually multiple mono-blocks under one cover. So Mrgreeneyes is simply stereotyping your average amplifier on the market..... and he is correct on those. But not all amplifiers are created equal. I would say the JL Audio Slash series and HD series are at the very low end of getting into a really good amplifier. When I need a lot of volume out of a mid-high setup, I will actually run a JL Audio HD750/1 to the left channel and one for the right channel. Now this is a pretty extreme setup where I am running a very high-end component set with it's own passive x-over setup. So that's 750 watts to each front door. But your average mono-block isn't full-range, so you couldn't do this. Some of the old Rockford Fosgate 4-channel amplifiers were used for subwoofers quite often. The ones I'm talking about are almost as old as some of you, so you might not remember them.... but they were great amplifiers back 15 - 20 years ago.

Now if you want to talk about really good amplifiers, then we would be talking about TRU Audio, ARC Audio, Audison, Genesis etc. I may even throw Zapco in there. But JL Audio's high-end stuff would definitely be below these.