Building a silly van.

[AdamInPerth 0]

Hi Everyone.

Newbie here with insufficient knowledge to make informed decisions.

I have a 2019 Volkswagen Caddy SWB van.  Plenty of sound deadening and carpet to go in along with many mechanical and cosmetic modifications.  Daily driver, sound quality bias, wide variety of music.

I’d like to keep the factory RCD330 head unit, put Evil 6.5”s and Evil tweeters in the factory locations, and have one or two 12” subs directly behind the front seats in what would be the rear passenger footwells.  No plans for rear fill.

The Evils will fit – tweeters out front on top of the dash, 6.5s in the front lower corner of the doors.   Might be able to position the tweeters in a pod on top of the dash, rather than keeping it under the VW dash grille.

A steel parcel shelf over the rear footwells is going to limit me to one 12” in a sealed box per side.

One sub is great.  Two subs for not-much-more is also great if it passes the cost/benefit test - but it will need smaller footprint amps so I can hide them elsewhere now that the spare footwell is no longer spare to mount the amps.

So here’s where I ask you to help me make a shopping list.

1. Line Out Converter – XPLOC or XFLOC
2. Evil 6.5s – 4ohm or 8ohm
3. Evil Tweeters - 4ohm or 8ohm
4. miniDSP(s) – 2x4?
5. 12” Icon(s) / Demon(s)
6. Amps

All help appreciated.  Thanks!

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Do a test first.  With the subs in the middle of the van you are likely to experience severe cancellation issues.  You usually want tge drivers as far firward or rearward as possible.

[AdamInPerth 0]

2 hours ago, Tirefryr said:

Do a test first.  With the subs in the middle of the van you are likely to experience severe cancellation issues.  You usually want tge drivers as far firward or rearward as possible.

Cheers for the interest!

Severe cancellation issues are something I'd very much like to avoid.  I don't have any gear to use for testing but if putting the subs all the way at the back is the rule then I can build boxes above the wheel arches I guess.  I'll go measure and see what depth that might allow.

Just before I go giving up on my hopes and dreams - do under seat subs always experience cancellation issues?  These would be mounted low, angled upwards into the backs of the front seats.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

It's not the fact that they're mounted under-seat, it's the fact of being in the middle of the vehicle which  is the issue.  I don't think it matters what way you fire them, you will just have reflections causing chaos.  I'm simply basing this on experience in SUVs and trunk mounted systems firing up right behind rear seat.  Hence my reasoning for testing.

You can simply buy a very cheap woofer and slap together a simple enclosure for testing.  Hell, you could use a home speaker even.

[Notorious97200 339]

A line output converter AND a mini dsp ? You can buy only a processor with high level inputs (your speaker cables), there must be something nice and simple for your Tundra.

That may not be cheaper, but if the head unit shut or lower the bass at higher volume, you won't like it.

 

I would buy 4 Ohms mids and highs only.

 

[///M5 2,833]

Mini DSP is not something I would generically recommend for you, IF you are new to this.

 

On 10/8/2020 at 8:30 AM, Notorious97200 said:

I would buy 4 Ohms mids and highs only.

Why?  Exact opposite for me.  Tons of 8ohm options and to design drivers to be 4ohm you regularly wipe out the efficiency meaning the overall response to the same power is not more.  That and any idiot can sell a 4ohm driver as it seems the average education in the car audio market is miles behind the home audio.  As with any rule there are exceptions, but out of the last 30 or so drivers (non-sub) I have bought for my cars only 2 were 4ohm.

[Notorious97200 339]

OP wants SSA mids and tweeters. 

[AdamInPerth 0]

It's definitely a Caddy and not a Tundra.

1.4 Turbo Petrol has been turfed in favour of a Golf R 2.0 Turbo with DSG, LSD and a great deal of handling and cosmetic mods that required wiring and coding - factory LED headlights, electric Recaro seats, folding electric mirrors etc.  I can put things together well - the factory Golf loom is spliced on to the Caddy loom before programming the computer.  

Okay cool, thanks for the input so far. 

• It sounds like I'll be buying the 8 ohm Evil 6.5s and tweeters which takes care of items #2 and #3.
• I've taken the point on having the subs located as far back as possible.
• I am fairly new to this, in a sense.  Wiring up entire-home AV systems and making them all interlink and work optimally is within my abilities, so is wiring and programming custom ignition systems on motorbikes.  If a mini-DSP is more complicated than that then I'm open to simpler suggestions.

[Notorious97200 339]

I think the wiring is not the problem, it is about the settings, I guess so. It's not very hard, but you need to know what you're doing !

8 Ohms speakers should sound better, ok, but it will be more expensive to find an amp with enough power at 8 Ohms. IF you want to play loud music in the van.

I'm not an expert at all, M5 is THE guy to follow !

Good luck.

 

[AdamInPerth 0]

C-DSP 6x8 is ordered.

I read the manual front to back before purchase.  Seems fine.

1-4 tackled.

5 & 6 to go.  Amps and Subs.

 

Sorry Notorious, missed your reply until after I posted this!  I've lurked here for a long while, I take note of his replies

Edited October 13, 2020 by AdamInPerth
Timing

[AdamInPerth 0]

I think I've decided on a single 12" ICON D2.  If I'm right I can power that with a Class D amp at 1 ohm.  Minimises space and power requirements, keeps the freight bill from the US to Australia down too.

So I'll pull the trigger on the 8ohm Evil 6.5s and tweeters, plus the ICON, then source some amps I guess.  Maybe locally, maybe second hand.  A Class D something-or-other that'll do 1500W+ at 1ohm and a quality 4ch A/B for the fronts.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

On 10/14/2020 at 4:37 AM, AdamInPerth said:

I think I've decided on a single 12" ICON D2.  If I'm right I can power that with a Class D amp at 1 ohm.  Minimises space and power requirements, keeps the freight bill from the US to Australia down too.

So I'll pull the trigger on the 8ohm Evil 6.5s and tweeters, plus the ICON, then source some amps I guess.  Maybe locally, maybe second hand.  A Class D something-or-other that'll do 1500W+ at 1ohm and a quality 4ch A/B for the fronts.

Nice choice on sub and speakers.  Amp wise, we might be able to do a combo deal for you.