acsE30

Thanks for the compliments guys... I was fairly happy with this setup, but it wasn't punchy enough for me so I am glad I blew the VC's on the Type R.

Finally finished the trunk setup. I went with simple and old school looking. This was mostly to keep the weight down and have full access to the spare/jacks/jumper cables that I keep in the trunk. It came out to just under 85lbs, which is a little heavier than I wanted, but I am still very happy with the results. Hell the sub weighs 40lbs alone. I think the old school look really compliments the e30 though.

Well, been busy with customer and family vehicles so I haven't had as much time to work on this as I would like. But yesterday made a big step forward. I got the sub sealed off from the trunk's airspace. I know that I've read this is the "correct" way to do it, but holy crap does it make a huge difference. I gained at least 4db on alot of frequencies and on some others I gained as much as 9db!!! Now this is on a POS radioshack meter, but even still, that's a helluva difference. The SQ now is also much improved since it seems like there is a much flatter curve across the frequencies. I was blown away. Still no completed pics because I am changing the trunk floor out to a hinged unit to make it easier to access my spare and battery cables that I keep under there. Let me know what you guys think. Pics and videos are below. The vids aren't extreme like some of the ported boxes I've seen on here, but that wasn't my goal. I just wanted mid 120's and very good clarity. I am really happy with the results now. "SQ" video... Video 1 excursion video... I can push it harder, but this was already high 120's... more than enough for me VIDEO 2

They never got warm... always cool. These hard drive cooler fans move ridiculous amounts of air. The only downside is that they are quite loud. LOL on initial startup you can hear them big time. I took the car on a 22 hour (in a row, had to make a funeral) roadtrip and they never heated up past barely warm to the touch.

Here's the old setup I had in my e30 318is. It was ~1.4ft^3 ported into the cabin through the rear deck and tuned at 36hz if I remember correctly. A few members wanted to see pics soooooooo... I cut all this out of the car.... As always, questions and comments welcome...

UPDATE: Finished the middle passthrough. It came out pretty well... I could have sanded the sides a little straighter but it will get the job done for now. The important thing is that it lets all the bass into the cabin and lets me keep my back seat, which the wife was adamant about. Here is the head unit all installed. I have to say it is one ugly piece of design. If this was in any modern car I wouldn't let it fly, but for some reason it fits in with the 18 year old vehicle's interior. The illumination does match the amber interior of the BMW as well, which was a big factor in buying it. Of course it also has plenty of features that I was looking for like hands-free bluetooth phone operation, 6v preoouts, and plenty of Xover settings and time alignment stuff. I also managed to get my components installed and the bluetooth setup. Everything works great I just forgot to get pics of them. I'll take pics and update tomorrow/the day after. Hopefully going to finish the beauty board tomorrow so I can post finished system pics.

I didn't clip the type R into oblivion... Just over powered it and fried the voice coils. It was also in a ported box so I should have pushed it less. But as I said I as unhappy with the setup... it hit too hard low and not hard enough on the mids. I don't think my current amp can over push the Havoc , especially not in a sealed enclosure. UPDATE: Got the setup in the car yesterday and finished fiberglassing the ports through the back seat. I liked the way it sounded without the back seat in the car so I had to come up with a solution for getting sound into the cabin through the rear seat... Not the prettiest fiberglass work... but came out well for the first time doing it. Plus I used carpet so the finish didn't have to be perfect. The box is screwed to the firewall on the inside of the cabin so there is no chance of movement.... I hate boxes just rolling around freely. So far I am very happy with the setup. It hits much better and harder than the Type R although not as low. But that's the way I like to listen to music so this fits in much better than the ported setup. I can post pics of the other setup if anyone is interested. It was 1.4ft^3 tuned to 36hz ported into the car through the rear deck. More updates to come later and as always questions/comments welcome.

Been working on my new build in my 91 318is e30 BMW. You might have seen the budget build I did on my daily beater e30. This one will have much better fidelity and volume capabilities. Here is a list of the equipment going in: HU: Clarion DXZ785USB Front Stage: Rockford Fosgate Fanatic P 6.5" components Rear Fill: Eclipse 3 way coaxials (sorry forgot the model number) Interior Amp: Performance Teknique ICBM-774 4ch amp Sub: Ascendant Audio Havoc 12 Dual 1ohm Sub Amp: Performance Teknique ICBM-Digital mono amp I went with the Havoc on the advice of a member here who had one and could give me an incredible deal on it... must say I am very impressed with it's clarity and excursion. Here is what the Havoc is replacing... an Alpine Type R 12. Took me a year to toast this sub with the Performance Teknique. I never really liked the sub/setup I had built for it so I abused it pretty hard. Gave me an excuse to buy the Havoc. And here's the enclosure... 1.02 ft^3 before displacement with a 50% polyfil. I was trying to keep the enclosure small to save weight. Oh and I already moved the sub so it's right side up. The 4 channel.. . Remember this setup is supposed to be compact... so the amprack is built on the back of the box... Here you can see the distro blocks, relay to power the LEDs and turn on the amps and fans, and all the wonderful wire loom... On the bottom of the rack you can see the terminal strip for my speakers and accessory wires... That's all I have so far... questions and comments welcome.

Thanks again guys... much appreciated. As stated above, it isn't the loudest sub setup in the world... but it does a really good job of filling in the lows and low-mids on my system. Which is exactly what I wanted it to do since it's my daily beater car. Get's louder than I need it to (115-120db maybe?) and plays clean for long periods of time without over heating. BTW I've started my other e30 build with a 12" AA Havoc, clarion DXZ785USB receiver (one of the ugliest receivers ever, but fits the car's lighting and dash nicely), Performance Teknique ICBM Digital amp, Performance Teknique 774 4 ch amp, and rockford fanatic q 6.5" components. I'll start another build thread for that shortly.

Thanks for the compliments guys... I am really actually quite pleased with the quality of the JL Audio 12w4-4. It's an old @ss sub but it is quality. I got this one new remanufactured in original box for $80 bucks on ebay. LOL the box for this thing is hilarious circa 1998. Check it out below. I dog on the amp, but in all honesty, this sub only requires 250w RMS anyway. So it should do the job just fine. As long as it lasts longer than a year I'll be a happy camper. It really does sound quite clean as far as the low frequency reproduction is concerned. Sounds a ton cleaner and louder than just about anything ppl buy from Circuit City and cost less than a quarter of the price. If ppl who shopped there only knew quality builds make quality sound. LOL the other installers were dogging on me until they heard it. Told them they've only heard dirty bass from the stuff that CC carries. They've come around now though and ask for pointers. Only thing really suffering is my soundstage from the stock placement of the speakers. Can't wait to get to the "real" install going on my other bimmer. That one will be louder and cleaner (hopefully). I haven't had any experience with the AA Havoc 12, but I've heard really good things.

Here's a simple install in my 90 325i. I was on a budget since this is pretty much my daily beater car. Sub, amp, wires, and materials all totaled around $150 but still sounds clean and clear. Plays loud enough for my tastes as well. Guessing around 120db. Will use a cheesy Radio Shack meter on the dash to get a rough estimate when I have a spare moment. Main goal was to keep it compact and still sound good. Didn't need earth shattering, just clean and clear. I can still rattle my side views and rear view pretty damn good though if desired. Equipment details. Kenwood KDC-X889 HU. Alpine Type R 3 ways up front. JL Audio 12w4-4 bridged on a POS Sony Xplod (insert crappy model number here). I'm hoping the "800w" sony is putting out around 200-300rms to the JL which would be a nice match. Box is 1.25ft^3 sealed... I usually prefer sealed boxes as, to me, they sound cleaner. Wire are 8awg + and ground... can't imagine this POS requiring any more than that. If it has a problem overheating or something I'll go bigger. I'm only using it because I picked it up clearance with my employee discount at Circuit City. Yep, I'm an installer at CC... you want to fight about it. Just kidding... been doing installs on my own for about 5 years and only worked at CC for the last 5 months. So don't flame me too hard I was trying to bring some quality and credibility to the place. Impressions: Sounds surprisingly good for a budget build. Image is crap because the e30's speaker positioning is terrible. It would be much better with components and having tweeters on the door sail panels. Clarity is decent and output is pleasing. Reproduces at least 95% of the tracks I've thrown at it to my tastes. I listen to music from ALL genres so that's saying something. On to the money shots... btw I am aware you can see some bare wood if you look from the sides where the amp is. I am going to paint the box so that will not be the case in the near future. Thanks for looking, comments, questions and suggestions are more than welcome. Will post my other install when complete... that car gets the good stuff including a 12" AA Havoc and a few other goodies.

As everyone else said... the old sXXd series and sXXc series solos were amazing. I used to run 2 mint s12d's in my e46 bmw's and that is still one of my favorite systems for sq. Wasn't the loudest setup in the world, but it was uber clean. I'm curious how these new ones will perform. Hopefully they will be cleaner than the L5's and L7's. I just did an install on 2 12" L7's and man does it hit hard. I built the box to get them as clean as possible and did a decent job of it, but I could only do so much. Definitely interested in seeing how the new ones stack up.

Are these amps made by the same ppl as Performance Teknique? They look identical to my ICBM digital and ICBM 779. Just a different finish on the sink, and of course the logos. Even the boards look extremely similar.

Been checking out some sick installs the members have done here and thought I'd share a few of mine... fairly simple in comparison to alot of the stuff done on this board. But it sounds good and hopefully looks good to most. Did this for a customer a long time ago... about a year and a half ago now. He still has it in his car and loves it. Also installed components sealed in door panel the way they are supposed to be, not in the door skin the way bmw did it. Much better mids out of those than factory. Let me know what you think... 0.98ft^3 sealed. Takes up VERY little trunk room.

I will definitely keep everyone updated on build progress. I believe it's the new one, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I'll post pics when I pick it up on Monday. Thanks again everyone for the advice and input. I think I am going to be very happy with this sub... even if it is a bit heavier than the Q.