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Np300 - SQ Install

(I.C.E.)In Car Entertainment - Mobile Audio and Video

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sMASH
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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby sMASH » July 10th, 2021, 9:53 am

^^ do u think it was too close to the windscreen to give that terrible sound?
if u move it away from the wind screen, would it sound different?

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Firewall
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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 10th, 2021, 12:36 pm

sMASH wrote:^^ do u think it was too close to the windscreen to give that terrible sound?
if u move it away from the wind screen, would it sound different?
Actually, from what I read up on it, the majority view is if you are dashboard mounting a midrange, get it close to the windshield as possible.

I would say that the faital sounded the way they did because they were so far off axis.
Tbh, I did't look at the frequency response graph to confirm this, so it's just a guess.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby nick639v2 » July 10th, 2021, 1:26 pm

I did silk domes in the OEM spot against the windshield.. I can agree the lower frequency come through wider and benefit of the bounce effect. BUT the higher frequencies got extremely bright. Nothing my EQ couldn't handle, I think 10-20k I did a 8db drop off slope and it worked well for my ear.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 10th, 2021, 5:59 pm

Installed the JL midranges.
They sound great, but I didn't like the fit of it, so i redid them.

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The fit is much better with these. Just have to make some grills.
Learnt a lesson from the underseat panel and used contact cement to upholster these instead of the spray glue.
ImageImageImageImageImage

I was planning to install the tweeters in the sail panel. However, in this last week alone I had to open the door in heavy rain a couple of times. If the tweeters were there they would definitely have gotten soaked.
Thinking that in the interest of not destroying any equipment I will mount them on the a-pillars instead since from previous reading, with dash mounting of tweeters, it is said to keep them away from glass surfaces,

For now I have them them stuck to the dash as pictured but not going to keep them there.

Image

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 10th, 2021, 6:22 pm

Also, close enough.......Image

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Rovin » July 11th, 2021, 1:20 pm

dont get me wrong i just asking : speakers too tall to countersink them lower into dashhole ?

if its too tall i wud try countersinking them above d dash surface with bevel edges & putting a grill cloth over it

... too much teef walking around & for uv protection too

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Firewall
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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 11th, 2021, 7:35 pm

Rovin wrote:dont get me wrong i just asking : speakers too tall to countersink them lower into dashhole ?

if its too tall i wud try countersinking them above d dash surface with bevel edges & putting a grill cloth over it

... too much teef walking around & for uv protection too
Nah man. I dont take it anyhow when anybody comment. Let me try to explain.

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This pic is watching directly down. The bit of insulation there is covering a piece of steel running across the dash. It's about 2 inches from the top of the dash. Removing the insulation gets you about 1/8". Also, pieces of the two ac vent supports were trimmed to make space for the speaker. It was a major pita to make enough space with both the dash and windshield installed.

I was trying to get the dash removed for better access, but it's way too involved for a personal vehicle. As it stands, it is installed the lowest that this speaker can comfortably go.

Like you read my mind with regard to bevelling the grill. I had Vulcan engineering 3d print an initial grill design. I will use it to get the fit right and maybe do a redesign. Haven't decided as yet.

As of now I'm working on the sub box.

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Pulled the cloth and trimmed it. Ran into some problems. The cloth was very thin and stretchy. For some reason it took a lot of resin to wet it through. This caused it to sag inward. Also, the resin was mixed to the usual ratio, but the weather was rainy so it took a lot longer to activate.

These problems were dealt with as follows.
The enclosure was tilted forward and set to let the weighted fabric pull back to level while drying. It took a long time to activate, so another much hotter batch was mixed and applied.
Now the front face is ready for mat. Trimmed up the pieces that I plan to use and have it ready.
Last edited by Firewall on July 11th, 2021, 7:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Rovin » July 11th, 2021, 7:47 pm

if u watch mark CAF on YT he went thru something similar recently & he ended up doing d above surface method i was talking about ...

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 11th, 2021, 8:27 pm

Rovin wrote:if u watch mark CAF on YT he went thru something similar recently & he ended up doing d above surface method i was talking about ...
Will do.


Replying from a phone to attach pics in order etc does take a little time, in case anybody read the post half way through and confused.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 16th, 2021, 6:51 pm

Small update.
The 3D printed grills will not work. I accidentally left them exposed to the sun for a couple hours. They warped quite badly. These won't stand up to the sun on the dashboard.
Full disclosure, they were printed semi-solid to keep costs down.ImageImage

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 16th, 2021, 7:20 pm

The box was fiberglassed, trimmed and sanded. Not going to use body filler to get it smooth as it will be carpeted and also going behind the seat where it will not be seen

Couple of things to note.

It is a tight fit, but it fits without any mods.

The base has about 1/2" - 3/4" free space between the box and the seat, however, with the grill installed, the speaker grill is in contact with the back of the seat.

The tight fit is as a result of the additional speaker framing done at the top which sends out the top by about 3/4" - 1".

Before fitting it behind the seat, it was tested to hear how it sounded.
There are 6 layers of 1.5oz mat and 3 layers of fiberglass cloth on the front and while sturdy, it vibrates a little when playing.
Instead of adding more layers, I put dynamat inside and outside and added some polyfill. This tamed the vibration considerably and helped to smooth out the response.

ImageImage

The box works out to a little more than 0.8cf which is around manufacturer recommended. I haven't dialed in any settings as yet, but it sounds good to start with.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Rovin » July 18th, 2021, 1:39 pm

i know u said u had d risers made a while back but if u watched d recent jeep install by mark caf u wud see where he chose a certain type of plastic that holds up against heat & uv

enclosure looks decent , i never had cause to mat in\out a box yet then again i dont like messing with fg cause of d health risks


im d kinda person that cant leave jagged lines or rough unsanded edges - my mutant ocd mind wont allow it but that is just weird me ....... :oops: ..... :P

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » July 23rd, 2021, 7:12 am

Rovin wrote:i know u said u had d risers made a while back but if u watched d recent jeep install by mark caf u wud see where he chose a certain type of plastic that holds up against heat & uv

enclosure looks decent , i never had cause to mat in\out a box yet then again i dont like messing with fg cause of d health risks


im d kinda person that cant leave jagged lines or rough unsanded edges - my mutant ocd mind wont allow it but that is just weird me ....... :oops: ..... :P


Hey, I saw the video that he did. Even though the material is available locally, the cost would be prohibitive. Would have been great to get a drop in solution though. This will have to be done now with mdf.

I will address the enclosure comments in another post in context of the subwoofer and install.

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Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » March 3rd, 2022, 3:43 pm

As usual I forget to update the post.
Basically a few things have been completed.

The dash mounted midrange was been reworked. There was a crack on the windscreen of the van for quite some time. It started to run and became significant enough to warrant changing. The windscreen guys said they did at home changes at no additional cost. We organized to remove the old one and put in the new one a couple days later.

With the windscreen removed, there was sufficient access to remove a minimal piece of metal to enable the 4" driver to sit low enough to be covered with the factory grill.
Image
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I sourced a pair of grills and drilled out all the holes (instead of just the space for the tweeter).
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Everything is back to looking OEM.
Last edited by Firewall on March 3rd, 2022, 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » March 3rd, 2022, 3:53 pm

With regard to the Subwoofer box.

I removed the fiberglass box, as it flexed a lot and fixing it would have been prohibitive in terms of time and money.
I remeasured the existing space and came up with a design.

For this design the vents needed to be sealed. I used sheet metal. Initially, I put silicone to form the seal. However, when looking between the tray and the cab, it looked like there was the chance for water to settle in the little channel made by the silicone.
I used butyl rope and attached the sheet metal to that, covering it after with dynamat for metal resonance and also to ensure it was sealed from the elements.

Image
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This worked perfectly. However, this means that the last door to be closed is significantly harder to close (if the glasses are up)

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Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » March 3rd, 2022, 4:05 pm

With regard to the subwoofer.

The 13tw5 was removed. It would not fit in the new design due to height restrictions and also material restrictions (i.e. 3/4" mdf). It may work if the box is a hybrid fiberglass/mdf composition.

A 10tw3 was used instead.
The box was constructed entirely from 3/4" mdf and tuned to 32Hz.
For the speaker to fit, a small portion of mdf directly behind the magnet needed to be routered out.

The box and speaker fits very snugly behind the seat. Needs pressure on the seat while bolting it back in. The grill or a spacer is NEEDED as a bar runs horizontally about 5" up from the base of the seat and will damage the speaker if the grill or spacer is not used. A 3/4" spacer mounted to the face of the box is sufficient even at full excursion to prevent the surround from contacting the seat or the brace.Image
Image

Will put up some pics with it installed.

While I am pleased with how everything sounds, I may have to change the box design to refit one of the vents as it bothers me how difficult the doors are to close.

If that was to happen, I might try a pair of the sundown sa6.5.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby timelapse » March 3rd, 2022, 8:28 pm

Pity you can't do a true IB where those vents are

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby nervewrecker » March 6th, 2022, 11:23 pm

Aren't these vehicles vented somewhere through where the kick panels are into the front fender?

I could be wrong but I think that's where the wiring harness into the engine bay passes. Both sides should have a gap where they enter into the front fenders.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby nervewrecker » March 6th, 2022, 11:26 pm

I saw someone do an install with subs in front the base of the back seat making the top flush mount with the floor. Just some food for thought.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby ~Vēġó~ » September 26th, 2022, 5:10 pm

This was quite a wonderful journey man Firewall....thanks

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Firewall
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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » September 26th, 2022, 8:20 pm

~Vēġó~ wrote:This was quite a wonderful journey man Firewall....thanks

No problem man.
Anytime I pass with the van you could take a listen if you free.

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Re: Np300 tomfoolery

Postby GixxerMan » April 17th, 2023, 6:27 pm

Firewall wrote:So I got through with a couple of things today. The wires are run to the dash and to the doors.
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The switch is installed.
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The doors strangely only have a 6" hole for the 6x9 speaker. I traced out the ring to hold the 8". Will cut it out and see how the fitment goes, and how much metal needs to be cut.
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The dash locations will require a bit of modification for the speaker to fit. I want to connect the speakers to test before doing any dash modifications. This way I will decide if it would be worth the effort to modify.
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Hopefully I don't have to cut any metal to get the depth required.



What was the original speaker size on the dashboard before you cut to modify?

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » April 18th, 2023, 7:26 am

It was a 1” tweeter.

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby GixxerMan » May 7th, 2023, 8:47 am

Firewall wrote:It was a 1” tweeter.
Thanks....do you have a picture of the tweeter you removed by chance?

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » May 18th, 2023, 9:20 am

[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230518/607bead8fd93f89881c2c54a4efdb8d3.jpg[/img]
[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230518/cd8a2dc47e211accbf3ef056c706290a.jpg[/img]

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby GixxerMan » January 5th, 2024, 10:40 pm

Firewall wrote:[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230518/607bead8fd93f89881c2c54a4efdb8d3.jpg[/img]
[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230518/cd8a2dc47e211accbf3ef056c706290a.jpg[/img]
Sorry for the late response.

Is that's the tweeter that comes in the dash from the factory?

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Re: Np300 - SQ Install

Postby Firewall » January 25th, 2024, 10:07 am

GixxerMan wrote:
Firewall wrote:[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230518/607bead8fd93f89881c2c54a4efdb8d3.jpg[/img]
[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230518/cd8a2dc47e211accbf3ef056c706290a.jpg[/img]
Sorry for the late response.

Is that's the tweeter that comes in the dash from the factory?

Yes

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