Pure High Energy Super Natural Sound tightly on Safari

[stefanm]

Hi,

Just about finished my install for my Tata Safari, still need to fit some sound deadening and possibly go for an active front end as and when I get my Genesis profile 4 repaired.

Current specs, sounding quite respectable to my ears:

Subs-2no Hertz High Energy Hx250d Subs, wired to 1ohm
Front End-Rockford Fosgate P162s Components with the (stupid & Harsh,imo, although nicely tamed now) twin drive tweeters mounted near the stock locations
Rear Fill-Same as the front, but mounted currently coaxally
Head Unit-Alpine 9887 (USA version)
Front End Amplifier-Genesis Profile 2 (75wrms per channel, Pure Energy)
Rear Fill Amp-Head unit for the time being
Sub Amplifier-DLS A6 (Class A-1200wrms minimum@1ohm, Super Natural Sound)

I intalled all these components back in December, the fronts and rears in the stock locations mounted in the door card plastic, for the subs i built a custom double sealed box to fit in the dickie of the Safari whilst allowing the jump seats to be usable(very tight fit). One amp under each of the passenger seats.

The sound lacked mid bass and the tweeters were harsh, i was extremely dissapointed with the sound, i spent a good two days tuning the head unit and tweaking the gains to no avail, in the mean time i had made some speaker rings from 18mm mdf and glued 4 together, with the intent of mounting them to the steel of the door card, but was very sceptical about chopping the door cards up to install the speakers to the door. Afterapprox 2 months of dissapointment I decided enough is enough, started measuring the speaker pods and distances from the metalwork, then i cut the speaker rings at an angle to suit the Safari's door card for minimum cutting, then pre drilled the baffles, coated the baffless with silicone and then screwed self tapping screws into the metalwork, next i had to cut the speaker pods, trying to get a perfect flush fit was difficult, so i have some gaps between the door card and the speaker, this i will tackle when i get around to damping the front doors. I also moved the front component crossovers next to the Genesis, to allow me to go active if i choose to take that route.

The result was a major transformation in the sq, the mid bass came alive the tweeters sounded slightly less harsh, but still not to my liking, so I started fiddling with the parametric eq on the 9887, at this point i didn't realize that you can change the frequency on at least bands 1,4 and 5, after 20mins of tuning i discovered this by chance, the outcome of this was that the tweeters were very harsh at 4khz, amazed at my discovery, double checked my time alignment and crossovers etc and had the whole thing singing like a bird after 20mins. now i'm quite impressed with my set up, the sound is clear, balanced and most importantly the tweeters no longer give me ear/head ache

Next damping is required, i have rattles from the newly discovered mid bass, if i get my P4 up and running, will do the same mod for the rear doors and mount the tweeters low down, just above the woofers, as the rear door card has a nice flat area just above the speaker pod.

At this point i am very happy with my system, the bass hits hard and fast, the tweets are lively and sounding smooth, not biting anymore, not quite laid back, but balanced, the mid bass has a good kick and the front end has good stereo separation and the bass is sounding forward rather than coming from the rear, all seats, except the jump seats enjoy a rounded sound coming from the front.

Will post a few pics soon, if anyone requires specific picture requests please ask as i don't want to remove the door cards again unless i really have to.....

Regards,

Stefan

[abhinav.gupta88]

Congrats on the Setup.
Waiting to see some pics of the complete WIP and after work install.

Click all pics including damping, wiring , compos , spacers if any, stripped door, enclosure , sub , amp placement , etc.

[shreyasma]

congrats mate...there is 20 sqft of damping sheets available in the classiifelds.

[chipfoose]

congrats stefan.
Do post the pics. Damping will surely reduce the rattles. Where did you fix the amps?

[greenhorn]

apart from damping the doors using conventional damping, use foam/felt to damp your doorpads as shown below


this is a problem with tata vehicles alone, since their speakers are mounted on the plastic door panels as opposed to the metal frame of the door itself


EDIT: hey, wait , you've used wooden rings and mounted them on the frame itself? then its not so needed

[stefanm]

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Congrats on the Setup.
Waiting to see some pics of the complete WIP and after work install.

Click all pics including damping, wiring , compos , spacers if any, stripped door, enclosure , sub , amp placement , etc.

That's all you want to see?

I didn't take any WIP pictures, as i only had a few hours here and there to do the work, i wanted 2 clear days, but the family wanted the car in mornings/evenings etc.

Will take some pics asap and have to remove one door card anyway so will take pictures then. The idea of the install was to be as stealthy as possible, there is few more mods i want to do, to keep it looking as stock as possible.

[abhibh]

Stefan nice equipment and writeup. Waiting for the pics and prices.

BTW from where did ya purchase Hertz Subs ?

[live2drive]

Congrats stefanm for your setup.

Originally Posted by stefanm

Rear Fill-Same as the front, but mounted currently coaxally

Did not understand this. Can you please elaborate?

[abhinav.gupta88]

Abhinav , i think he meant that he is just powering the mid bass from the set of components directly from the HU without going through cross overs etc.

[abhibh]

Originally Posted by live2drive

Congrats stefanm for your setup.

Did not understand this. Can you please elaborate?

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Abhinav , i think he meant that he is just powering the mid bass from the set of components directly from the HU without going through cross overs etc.

The component set he is using is very well know for its capabilities for mounting tweeter on the midbass. Just like any 6x9 speakers.

[stefanm]

Originally Posted by live2drive

Congrats stefanm for your setup.

Did not understand this. Can you please elaborate?

Abhibh is correct, it's just a mounting option with the component set, the crossovers are still there, i'm thinking of removing the tweeters from the rear doors anyway and just leave the mids in place, as the highs are not really required for rear fill, they come from the front perfectly, funny enough the mid row in the Safari appears to be the prime listening position, have to play more with the t/a settings as i'm usually in the drivers seat.

Will be taking a few snaps tomorrow afternoon and will post by the evening.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Oh. My Bad. Thanks for the info Abhibh


Can we have more pics of the equipment please!

[stefanm]

Here are some photo's to start with, first is the all important head unit, Alpine 9887, second pic is the tweeters mounted near the stock location on the door, the rest are of the DLS A6 mounted on spacers and shoe horned beneath the passenger seat, extremely tight fitting. Please excuse the dust in the pictures, I tend to drive with my windows down as I don't really like AC very much!

[karankapoor]

good man atlast you had posted some pics of your install.pretty neat install post some pics genesis p2 amp and sub.

what is the benefit of 2 tweeters per side?

[stefanm]

Some more pics for now, First up is the Genesis Profile 2 and the crossovers for the front speakers, then we have the front speakers mounted and angled spacers directly to the door, this was difficult to centre excactly, will fabricate something to tidy it up, although you don't really notice when the stock grills are in place. Then another shot of the A6, just love this amp, so much juice and excellent SQ, then the rear compos, tweeters are mounted on the woofer and crossovers are in the door card for the time being. Then we have shots of the twin sealed wedge shaped sub box, as per the Hertz manual I have built the box with enough space to go ported if I choose, but I am enjoying it sealed for now.

Enjoy