S2 Doorbuild Guide

[Alistair C]

well I look forward to hearing them 'in the flesh' sometime - I've still got my dyn 8s kicking around here somewhere, but I'm sure they'd be dwarfed by those morels!

I presume the waterproofing / soundproofing sheet has been modified in some way to allow the drivers to vent into the door. Have you come up with a good way of ensuring the rain can't find it's way in? From bitter experience with MDF and rainwater, I'd always suggest people use a marine ply for builds exposed to the inside of a door. (having said that - Jamos are MDF - but don't tell him!)

Good work there - lookforward to seeing them covered!

[Bibby]

The 'proofing sheet has a hole in it the same size as the hole in the doorcard. I use speed tape (metal aluminium tape if nobody knows what I'm on about) to reseal the plastic, then tape the edge to the doorcard.

I know what you're saying about water and mdf. They don't mix too well. Fortunately I've never had the problem of water getting through the doorcard and into a build, plus I always keep the wood on the side of the doorcard rather than cutting the 'card out behind the wood, if you know what I mean. Sealing off the rest of the door with either flashing tape or Dyanamat helps too.

Margarine tubs are good for adding a small rim to the upper edge if needs be, acting as a little gutter. Cut to shape they can sometimes be fitted on the inside of the doorcard.

[S2 Ant]

Excellent write up!!

Once the finished pics are there i'll copy to the How To section

[Greg_S]

excellent how to, ive stuck this one at the top of the thread.

[S2 Ant]

Do these builds require the hole in the door cards for these to work?

I would assume due to there size that they need the hole for the air to thump with, or would they run happily without the hole behind them?

[Bibby]

Ant, it'll be application dependent.

My drivers require the volume of the door to work at their best. You'll need to check your own drivers to see what volume size enclosure they work best in.

You'll find that most 6.5" mids will be happy with a smaller enclosure, such as that of a doorbuild. If the enclosure gets too big you may as well run them free air. You'll get much more bottom end extension using the door, but they'll be melting voicecoils in no time.

[S2 Ant]

Thanks

From looking at them, i want to build something but i want to avoid putting the holes in the door cards, at least fixing it to the doorcard can be done with a few screws which arent too bad, but ive not got big enough balls to cut holes in it!! LOL

[Jamo]

well I look forward to hearing them 'in the flesh' sometime - I've still got my dyn 8s kicking around here somewhere, but I'm sure they'd be dwarfed by those morels!

I presume the waterproofing / soundproofing sheet has been modified in some way to allow the drivers to vent into the door. Have you come up with a good way of ensuring the rain can't find it's way in? From bitter experience with MDF and rainwater, I'd always suggest people use a marine ply for builds exposed to the inside of a door. (having said that - Jamos are MDF - but don't tell him!)

Good work there - lookforward to seeing them covered!

WHAT!!!

New door builds then for me in the future :mischeif:

[brinskan]

awesome build up...

[coupegt]

very very nice how to.

will definatly be looking at this when time comes to my S2

[lynx]

nice work, but imo. one thing is wrong. I mean, tweeter position.
In Your' s case, the stage will be too low, and may cause distortion.

Ofcourse, I' m talking about SQ install, but imo. it' s better. The stage should be at in Your' s eyes (and as far as hood as it can), if You close Your' s eyes, you should feel like You are sitting at the real concert. This feeling is undescribable, it' s to real . . .

[Bibby]

Huh?

The stage won't be too low and I have no idea where you get the idea on distortion. Just because the tweeters are low down does not mean the stage cannot be high. It's all in the aiming.

Have you not listened to a properly set up install with mids and tweets down in the kickswells? Even lower down than in the doors but still maintaining a high stage.

In my last car I ran a 3-way front end. The midbass where in the doors and the midrange and tweeters were in the kicks on a common baffle. I had the tweeters below the midrange as this raised the stage higher than having the tweeter higher up!

All cars are different so there are no hard and fast rules. Experimenting with driver position and aiming, although time consuming, is the only way to get a good result.

Separation is unavoidable if you have the tweeters in the a-pillars or on the dash, with the mids low in the doors or in the kicks. That gives a very poor image. Stage is high simply through tweeter location, not setup.

Keeping the mids and tweets together helps retain a precise image. Aiming them gives you the stage height. As I mentioned earlier, EQ and crossover settings will also help with this but these should be fine tweaks, not a fix for a poor install.

[lynx]

Yes, You are right, but there are many different people and thoughts.

I have listen a one EMMA winner car, and my others SoundQuality cars (different classes) and most of them using tweeter at least as high as dashboard (sry for my english, it' s not my home language).

At the moment I' m using a DLS idridium 8.3 front stage @ DLS A8 (for more information You could check www.dls.se). I have triend many different ways, and it' s goes worse if I put tweeter lower that dashboard. I have dealed car audio for many years, and have done very different installs, and as You said, for every car have one solution witch may not wotk with others.


And one more thing. EQ and crossover are nice thing, but as far You don' t use time dealys, it' s 99% not possible to setup high quality front stage.

[Bibby]

Pods are back from the upholsterers, finished in nice black leather. Time to start fitting.



Before securing them to the doorcards I like to stick some draught excluder on the base, ensuring I get a good seal between the doorcard and the pod. The stuff I use is a flexible rubber material with a sticky back, like tape. You can get it from B&Q.



You can see here how it will squash down, making a good airtight seal.



Using self-tapping screws, attach the build to the doorcard from the rear. I use penny washers to spread out the load and avoid cracking the plastic of the doorcard.




From one side…



And from another. The funny lines are just sunlight off the lens.

All that remains is to refit the doorcards and then fit the drivers. No time left for that today, bloody 12hr night shifts.

They look ok, but I think in hindsight I should have removed the whole pocket, moulded it into the builds and had the lot trimmed, rather than leaving a bit of carpet.

In-car pics will come when they're in.

[Rusty]

Looking good. Hope you don't run into the problems I did when it came to refitting. I had to cut an allen key down to fit between the door build and arm rest.