cheap-as-chips audio install (update Sub added)

[stargazer30]

I'm broke.  Nothing new there.  New 2 needed some audio as the stock stuff, well least said about that the better.

So here we go, full system on the cheap.

Edge Street ED306-E2 components - ebay/new - £30
Sound deadening - B&Q - £14
Adaptors - just gutted the stock speakers as they have the rain guard on them.




Head Unit - Ebay/Used - £35
Wiring Adaptor - ebay/new - £4
The surround and brackets are stock


Amp - Edge ED7300 2 channel - ebay/manufacturer refurbished - £35
Wiring kit - I managed to cobble one together from bits left over from prevous installs    s:P s:P   - Free


Budget didn't stretch to a sub but hey ho.

Total dosh spent - £119

Doesn't sound half bad either, pretty good for a days work.

[s12vea]

A good days work!

[1979scotte]

Well done.
Very mighty car mods.

[ayresyboy]

Excellent work

[JoeCool]

That'll be a darn sight better than 50 quid speakers and 50 quid head unit with no amp! Like the cable tidied too, very pro.

I lucked out with my corolla donor car. It's got the engine and gearbox obviously, but it also has a pioneer sat nav double din head unit and some nice focal components, and a focal under seat sub. Together that worth more than I paid for the car!

So my '2 will be getting sat nav, blue tooth and dab.
pro.

[Anonymous]

Wow great work for little money. Good to see.

Joecool; nice find  s:D s:D

[cabbydave]

I have been thinking about door speakers and just how good vag systems sound. vag's have all got a metal or plastic section that bolts to the door making the door into a sealed box effectively. So to this end if you were to cut some alloy shapes out to cover all the holes in the roadster door then bolt pop rivet whatever them to the door itself how good do you recon that would sound as there would be nowhere for the air to escape

[JoeCool]

I have been thinking about door speakers and just how good vag systems sound. vag's have all got a metal or plastic section that bolts to the door making the door into a sealed box effectively. So to this end if you were to cut some alloy shapes out to cover all the holes in the roadster door then bolt pop rivet whatever them to the door itself how good do you recon that would sound as there would be nowhere for the air to escape

YEah, this is what you do with pretty much any door you want to sound 'decent'. You mass load the outer door skin with sound deadening, then 'seal' the inner door skin as best as possible. MDF (weather proofed with paint) or even perspex sheeting just riveted in work surprisingly well. Then you cover the lot in sound deadening also, to mass load it.

The problem is this adds a lot of weight. In a '2 I'm certain it's not worth it. You've got a cloth roof and a loud engine behind you. Could be amusing to shut the door and rear the rolls-royce 'thud' though.

I've competed in IASCA in my more youthful days. THings like BMW's, Mercs and some VW's are made for it. You need something solid with lots of acoustic deadening in them already. Unless you're going back to a bare shell, you're never going to better what they do at a factory.

Ultimately, I'm convinced that a 'great' car stereo in a car isn't worth it. If it sounds half decent when driving, you've won. I had a stereo in a 328i that sounded absolutely incredible when stationary, and bloody good when driving, but the effort to get there was just too much! I had about £3k's worth of gear (carefully sourced second hand) in a £700 car.  I've also had the entire interior and dash out of a Mk1 MR2 to put a stereo in it. Total waste of time! Sounded good standing still, but on the move it was lost to engine noise and tinny ness! I'd expect the Mk3 to be the same, only perhaps worst because of the cloth roof.

If you put in a decent head unit, an amp, and decent components, and sound deaden the outer door skins, you've had the easy wins in terms of car stereo performance. Anything more, you're into a big investment of time or money, and not one I'm sure is worth the return especially in sports cars.

[stargazer30]

As much as I hate to admit it, Joe Cool is right here.  That's the one of the reason's I have gone cheap this time around.  My previous MR2 I'd had high end amps, rainbow components, UD subs, focals etc.. the more you spend the better it sounds but you're always up against the cars acoustics and engine/road noise.  The best install I've done was in my FN2 Civic type R.  I put a full JL install in it, no sub, just amp, components front, coaxials rear and sound deadened it all.  Sounded absolutely superb.  However the car had a roof, and plenty of sound insulation to start which meant you could actually get the full benefit from the branded (and quite pricey) audio.

Also an interesting audio comparison, my other car is an electric Zoe.  Its on PCP so I can't modify it but the stock audio system is pretty decent, a world better than the stock disaster the MR2 has.  The car is totally silent on the move other than tyre noise so even though the system won't go loud as such, it sounds good regardless of how quick the cars moving.

Having said all that, if I had to go out for a drive on a dry day without the kids in toe, I'd drive the MR2 any day   s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:  , road noise, rattles, engine and budget audio regardless.  At the end of the day you don't drive an MR2 for the audio!   s:bounce: :bounce: s:bounce:

[1979scotte]

Have to agree spending mucho mullah on ice for an MR2 seems a bit of a waste.
Head unit was the first mod I did. Can't cope without BT and USB.
Still not sound deadened the doors or fitted second hand speakers.
Had the bits for a year probably.

[andyroo104]

Might as well fit them now Scott whilst your car is awaiting parts,always nice to work on a project even if it is for something minor.

[stargazer30]

Well continuing the audio on the dirt cheap trend, Sub added today.

This is a bass face 8.1 base tube off Amazon which costs the staggering amount of £25 whole English pounds brand new   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:  
I've temporarily swapped my fronts onto the Head Units internal amp and used the Edge amp to drive the sub.  Just until I can get a cheap 4ch amp.

So here's the finished product...




Okay so maybe its not that easy.   The sub as you buy it has two problems, first its ported as its a cheap chav sub, ie loud and a bit muddy/street bassy.  Second its 8cm too big to fit well in the MR2.
Thankfully its also very light for a sub.    

So it did require a bit of a DIY trim down....
* First job was to take the sub, port and binding posts out.  Dead easy they screw out and come off.
* Carefully cut round the tube (port end) with a sharp knife and peel back the covering from the tube.  Its actually a very thick cardboard, which acoustically is better than plastic and easier to cut.
* Cut the tube down to 40cm (is normally 48cm).
* Remove the end panel from the cut off  8cm section of the tube.  
* PVA glue and stick the fabric back on and fold it in
* Re-insert the end panel tapping it in lightly (its a tight fit)
* Replace the port, binding post, sub.  I actually used silicone on the inside too to make it air tight
* Last job is to plug the port with foam, very important this or it will sound dreadful and now the enclosure is smaller at around 0.3 cu ft, it really should be sealed.

So fired it up and so far so good.  It gives a good amount of bass and much less muddy/chavy.   With the roof down a bit is lost but that's the same with any sub, except for the UD units.
Whilst I has the sub out, I checked it over.   Its non branded obviously, but has a decent magnet and construction.  No worse than the subs you get for about £30 off ebay.   At some point if it dies I will throw a JBL in or the like.
I need to run it in and test it some more, but so far for £25 its an absolute steal.  

As a side note I'm fairly impressed that the edge components don't sound too bad off the HU either.  Not as good as having them amped but still decent.

[StuC]

Liking the modification to the modification.  s;-) ;-) s;-)

[vx220]

I've temporarily swapped my fronts onto the Head Units internal amp...

As a side note I'm fairly impressed that the edge components don't sound too bad off the HU either.  Not as good as having them amped but still decent.

How much difference would you say the amp makes to components? I have some Pioneer components waiting to go in, and the amp I was going to buy is out of stock, thought I'd just get the deadening done and the components in with an active sub mounted Underdash?

Does it give a 10% improvement? 20%? My Pioneers only have in-line crossovers (HPF & LPF) on the speaker leads and the head unit is allegedly high power (4x52w max)

Cheers

[JoeCool]

Amp makes a huge difference. Night and day. Head units all lie about peak power, none of them are capable of more than 10W a channel (work it out: 10amp,fuse on 12v system = 120watt max draw, 50% efficiency in a class B amp means 50W total split across 4 channels).
 
An amp provides the power you need to move big cones with authority and control. That gives you proper mid-bass and sub bass. Combined with sound deadening, it's the only way to go. Too often people ft a sub and then expect the sub to fill in a yawning gap from 100hz to 500+hz because the mid bass speakers are ineffective due to being under powered. A sub should be felt not heard, and crossed over at 120hz tops.

Given the choice I'd amp 6.5" components rather than fit a sub. It's a.more balanced, compact and light weight solution, and it will sound better too.

[stargazer30]

How much difference would you say the amp makes to components? I have some Pioneer components waiting to go in, and the amp I was going to buy is out of stock, thought I'd just get the deadening done and the components in with an active sub mounted Underdash?

Does it give a 10% improvement? 20%? My Pioneers only have in-line crossovers (HPF & LPF) on the speaker leads and the head unit is allegedly high power (4x52w max)

Cheers

Pretty much what JoeCool said above   s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:    If you don't have an Amp yet , by all means sound deaden the doors and fit the speakers into the stock wiring.  They will sound better than the stock speakers, even running off the HU  This is assuming the speakers are designed to be run from a HU.  The more expensive components typically are not, they have a minimum RMS input rating of say 30w RMS and a lower sensitivity.  Speakers like that will sound terrible if under powered.

[stargazer30]

Too often people ft a sub and then expect the sub to fill in a yawning gap from 100hz to 500+hz because the mid bass speakers are ineffective due to being under powered. A sub should be felt not heard, and crossed over at 120hz tops.

Given the choice I'd amp 6.5" components rather than fit a sub. It's a.more balanced, compact and light weight solution, and it will sound better too.

Very true, but based on my experience, MR2s tend to need extra need support in the bass range, outside even what a good set of amped components can provide.   The simple fact is convertables are really crap for bass.  The soft top doesn't do us any favours as the cabinet doesn't pressurize and once the roof goes down the bass freqs bleed away into nothing.

What we typically use on here as "subs" aren't really subs in the true sense.  Most folks seem to use 6" and 8" drivers so they tend to extend into the lower mid bass as well as the higher end of the sub bass freqs.  As an example the "sub" I am running is actually running about 60hz to about 350hz to re-enforce those ranges from the front speakers.   I've set my EQ to roll off anything 60hz or lower to all channels, sub included as the very low stuff (ie the stuff you feel) just doesn't do an MR2 any favours.  Our cars are rattly enough as it is   s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

[JoeCool]

Yep, I encountered all those problems and more with my MK1. I tried a JL 10" sub which worked well but took up the entire passenger footwell, then moved onto a CDT ES8" which was fantastic... Baring in mind I was using horns and had 5" speakers mounted i nthe dash. Weird set up that never really sounded right.

In the Roadster I'm going 'KISS'. Front 6.5" components, and a nice little compact 2 channel amp. I honestly think that with the limited storage space, a Sub is a luxury I can't afford. And I know how good a simple set up can sound though I'm not expecting wonders in the Roadster. Just the ability to enjoy some music on a good drive. I lucked out because the Corolla T-Sport I bought as an engine donor came with a £800 Pioneer Double din sat nav head unit. Not a Sound Quality HEad unit by any means, but it'll be really nice to have (I'm awful with directions!).

I never ever want to reach this point in the name of car audio again:



The phrase diminshing returns springs to mind!

[StuC]

Dang! That is messed up!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Which little 2 channel are you going for?

[JoeCool]

I've found an Audiosystems Twister 130 for £40 which should do the trick, 60W a channel. Sadly one of the Focal speakers from the Corolla is FUBAR (and I think they might be fakes anyway) and I sold off all my DLS amps when we moved countries for a while. NEver liked Focals anway, so I'll be looking for some silk dome tweeters components. I'm going to try and keep them under £100.

[StuC]

I've found an Audiosystems Twister 130 for £40 which should do the trick, 60W a channel.

Interesting tip.
220mm x 180mm x 50mm. Where are you thinking of putting it?

[stargazer30]

@ Joe's Pic above.  Now that is some serious dedication to car audio!  My hats off to you sir!

Just finished setting up my new 4 channel JL class D amp and JL components.  First Class D I've ran.  These things are great!  Its small, light and it'll still do 4x70w RMS!   The only trade off so far is interference/engine noise.   Its only a tiny amount and only noticable when there's no other background noise but its there.  I guess its a necessary evil given how these Class D amps work.

I tried the JLs without my sub in first, very good speakers, impressed.  Same old problem though, roof down and bass just bleeds away.  So I've connected up the sub to give it extra omph from about 200hz down.  So far so good, sounds very good.

[stargazer30]

I've found an Audiosystems Twister 130 for £40 which should do the trick, 60W a channel. Sadly one of the Focal speakers from the Corolla is FUBAR (and I think they might be fakes anyway) and I sold off all my DLS amps when we moved countries for a while. NEver liked Focals anway, so I'll be looking for some silk dome tweeters components. I'm going to try and keep them under £100.

Been there too with the focals in my first MR2.  Those aluminium tweets can get painful!  U2's Pride on full chat could make your ears bleed lol!  Still good speakers but in the finish I swapped them out for Rainbows, silk dome tweets are less harsh.

[JoeCool]

I've found an Audiosystems Twister 130 for £40 which should do the trick, 60W a channel.

Interesting tip.
220mm x 180mm x 50mm. Where are you thinking of putting it?

I'm going to see if there's room behind the head unit on the central tunnel, failing that up against the firewall behind the glove box, or even under the passenger seat. I want to avoid filling the storage boxes if at all possible. We'll see. Priority is getting the car on the road, then I can worry about tunes!

[vx220]

I'm thinking about one of these...

 m http://www.thompsonsltd.co.uk/car-audio ... r-amp.html m

...taking those power figures with a pinch of salt!