- :
- 06 LS MS6
07 BM GT (shell has been struck from the roll)
HOW-TO install amplifier and speakers in GT Photo Essay
Greetings,
after much investigation (reading all the BLOSE posts) and procrastination and credit card abuse (see bose signal processing thread)
I have finished my install(dance)
Goals Being
1 Flat and clean response 20-20K
2 strong front stage
3 reduction in door buzz and hum
4 increased power
5 dead stock appearance
background; I like audio, I have a fair understanding of what makes it pleasing to human ears, and what factors come into play in the home vs car environments.
step 1
figure out why the stock sound is bad
educated guess : low power system with odd ball circuitry in the stock amp
replacement of stock HU uneeded unless VERY clean CD audio OR very good FM reception is needed. stock HU is ess flat so JL cleansweep or eq will not produce much bang for the buck
Dash was never touched in this install
SO
pull the door panels off
this has been covered, but I want to make some points.
(If you are an audiophile, and want to pick this apart, PM me. I am trying to dumb down, sugarcoat, and analogify a complicated subject for the majority)
a speaker makes sound when the cone moves. when it moves forward, a positive wave comes off the front, while simultaneously a negative wave leaves the rear.
the enclosure exists to keep the rear from cancelling the front. this is very freq dependent because the physical length of the wave is the cancelation factor
three basic enclosures exist
infinite baffle ) a board with a mounting hole prevents cancelation down to wavelengths equal to the distance around the edge of the board
bass reflex ) a sealed box. rear of the cone is never heard
ported) box with a tube releasing energy from the rear of the cone . dia and lenght of tube in relationship to box size influence the freq response
car doors are of the bass reflex style, except when the window is roled down, then there is a 1/4 x 20 inch port / whistle
when you make an enclosure, one main goal is to build a nice stiff sealed box. This prevents the walls of the box from acting as passive radiators of the rear wave, and stray squeks and whistles from escaping gaps and holes.
standing waves. ever see the shot of the SR-71 blackbird , with the stripes in the exhaust ?? standing waves bad, make some areas of the room or encloseure "boomy" best shape for the enclosure is a sphere, kills all the waves.
SO, with that brief background, lets look at the MS3 speaker enclosures
Now, I have yet to figure out how to embed a photo, and no one has told me, so, sort thru the attachments (moon)
pic1
this is the inside of our door
there is NOTHING stiff or sealed about it. the folks at Cerwin-vega do not make sub enclosures from thin sheetmetal and injection molded plastic
it is the farthest thing from ideal.
SO enough ranting, lets deal with what we got!
MITIGATION
nothing is perfect and bad things can be made better
pic 2 and 3
deaden vibration and damp waves
now we have a crappy enclosure that at least does not buzz and vibrate like it did before. we can now slam it with rear waves, without a ton of passive radiation and stray non-musical sounds
we move on.
front stage
Humans are VERY sensitive to the physical location of sound, and much more so when the freq is higher, the phase of the sound matters most with lower freq
this is why the rear door speakers are not much help, they are behind you. Why tweets in the rear sails are useless, they distract your brain terribly
set it up like your home stereo. a pair, of well balanced full range speakers equidistant, and level with your ears. Placed in a room with non reflective walls.
ha ha
Oops, we are in a car. front speakers by our feet. left tweet 18 inches away, right is 4 feet away a large amount of the surface is glass, volume is littered with reflective/absorbitive objects
what to do?
use the tweets as much as you can. (lower xover point) this raises the frontstage up to be more level with your ears. use the rears at a lower freq and lower volume, essentially just a bit of fill
this requires a real good tweeter that can take some power, we added power with the new amp, AND funneled more of the total portion of load to it by lowering the xover point
pic4,5,6,7.8
Greetings,
after much investigation (reading all the BLOSE posts) and procrastination and credit card abuse (see bose signal processing thread)
I have finished my install(dance)
Goals Being
1 Flat and clean response 20-20K
2 strong front stage
3 reduction in door buzz and hum
4 increased power
5 dead stock appearance
background; I like audio, I have a fair understanding of what makes it pleasing to human ears, and what factors come into play in the home vs car environments.
step 1
figure out why the stock sound is bad
educated guess : low power system with odd ball circuitry in the stock amp
replacement of stock HU uneeded unless VERY clean CD audio OR very good FM reception is needed. stock HU is ess flat so JL cleansweep or eq will not produce much bang for the buck
Dash was never touched in this install
SO
pull the door panels off
this has been covered, but I want to make some points.
(If you are an audiophile, and want to pick this apart, PM me. I am trying to dumb down, sugarcoat, and analogify a complicated subject for the majority)
a speaker makes sound when the cone moves. when it moves forward, a positive wave comes off the front, while simultaneously a negative wave leaves the rear.
the enclosure exists to keep the rear from cancelling the front. this is very freq dependent because the physical length of the wave is the cancelation factor
three basic enclosures exist
infinite baffle ) a board with a mounting hole prevents cancelation down to wavelengths equal to the distance around the edge of the board
bass reflex ) a sealed box. rear of the cone is never heard
ported) box with a tube releasing energy from the rear of the cone . dia and lenght of tube in relationship to box size influence the freq response
car doors are of the bass reflex style, except when the window is roled down, then there is a 1/4 x 20 inch port / whistle
when you make an enclosure, one main goal is to build a nice stiff sealed box. This prevents the walls of the box from acting as passive radiators of the rear wave, and stray squeks and whistles from escaping gaps and holes.
standing waves. ever see the shot of the SR-71 blackbird , with the stripes in the exhaust ?? standing waves bad, make some areas of the room or encloseure "boomy" best shape for the enclosure is a sphere, kills all the waves.
SO, with that brief background, lets look at the MS3 speaker enclosures
Now, I have yet to figure out how to embed a photo, and no one has told me, so, sort thru the attachments (moon)
pic1
this is the inside of our door
there is NOTHING stiff or sealed about it. the folks at Cerwin-vega do not make sub enclosures from thin sheetmetal and injection molded plastic
it is the farthest thing from ideal.
SO enough ranting, lets deal with what we got!
MITIGATION
nothing is perfect and bad things can be made better
pic 2 and 3
deaden vibration and damp waves
now we have a crappy enclosure that at least does not buzz and vibrate like it did before. we can now slam it with rear waves, without a ton of passive radiation and stray non-musical sounds
we move on.
front stage
Humans are VERY sensitive to the physical location of sound, and much more so when the freq is higher, the phase of the sound matters most with lower freq
this is why the rear door speakers are not much help, they are behind you. Why tweets in the rear sails are useless, they distract your brain terribly
set it up like your home stereo. a pair, of well balanced full range speakers equidistant, and level with your ears. Placed in a room with non reflective walls.
ha ha
Oops, we are in a car. front speakers by our feet. left tweet 18 inches away, right is 4 feet away a large amount of the surface is glass, volume is littered with reflective/absorbitive objects
what to do?
use the tweets as much as you can. (lower xover point) this raises the frontstage up to be more level with your ears. use the rears at a lower freq and lower volume, essentially just a bit of fill
this requires a real good tweeter that can take some power, we added power with the new amp, AND funneled more of the total portion of load to it by lowering the xover point
pic4,5,6,7.8
Attachments
Last edited: