New project

This is the amp rack design I will be copying. This is especially attractive to me since I dont have to raise my trunk floor. This will be a very easy amp rack to make with MDF. I might go with 1/2" MDF or Birch for weight savings, but 3/4" MDF is probably the proper thing to use..



I have done a system in a spare tire well, about 8-9 years ago:



I will be keeping my factory deck since i already have a nice Blaupunkt harness for it.

I will then decide on amps. When I consider spending $2000-$2500 on a TRU, it just makes me sick. I just can't do it. Not to mention they would not fit well on my rack anyway. So I returned my ARC mini 125.2 for full credit today, and ordered an ARC Mini 500.1 sub amp. I also ordered an Audio Control LC6i while I was at it.

What about my front stage? Well, I accidentally won a McIntosh 50x4 amp today. I wasnt expecting to win it for minimum bid. I forgot I had a snipe out on it, and won it before I remembered to turn it off. So, the McIntosh will be my front stage amp IF it fits on that rack somewhere. If it doesnt, then I will continue with my plan to buy an ARC 125.4.

Speaker choices will be last, once everything else is 100% done. That is because my system will still be functional without changing the speakers as i decide on my sets. The speaker choice is the hardest decision for me usually, because I am so picky.

Sounds like a solid plan you've got there.

Just remember that the 08's and up have that big hump in the middle of the spare tire well so you might not be able to fit much in there. It really hinders the amount of room you have to work with. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

That being said, I still managed to fit my spare tire, an amp, a PC and all my wiring and distribution blocks under my hatch floor and only had to raise it a smidgen. There certainly space under there, but less than you might think.

As for the amps, I agree on spending an outrageous amount on amps. Great quality used and better built amps can be had for cheap around forums and such, DIY mobile audio being one of my favorites. I got my PPI Sedona 630IX (circa 1992) in near mint condition for $125 shipped. Hard to beat on a 6x30 RMS amp, and the sound quality is amazing. All you have to do is know what you're looking for and where to find it.

Speaker wise, I could likely give you some good recommendations, although it sounds like you already know your way around car audio pretty well. I myself like Daytons for the midrange and midbass applications (if you're going active). Granted you will have to modify your doors a bit to fit the mids, but they are well worth it. I went with RS100-4 mids and they sound great. I've not yet tried the RS225's that everyone raves about for midbass. I likely will get them soon though. They are an 8" driver but they will fit in the doors with some MDF baffles and a bit of trimming on the foam in the inner door skin. If you don't want to do all that the RS180's are 7" driver and should fit right in place. For the tweeters, you can't go wrong with some Vifa or Seas tweeters. I'm sure you can read about them over on diy mobile audio. They get good reviews over there and are relatively inexpensive.

If you're going passive I don't really have any good recommendations. Haven't been passive myself in some time so I don't know what's the "hot" shit now. Just know that for the price, Dayton drivers are near impossible to beat. If you go to www.partsexpress.com you can find great deals on them too. I think $55 a piece or so for the RS225's and then $30 or so a piece for the RS100's.

darcness said:

Sounds like a solid plan you've got there.

Just remember that the 08's and up have that big hump in the middle of the spare tire well so you might not be able to fit much in there. It really hinders the amount of room you have to work with. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

That being said, I still managed to fit my spare tire, an amp, a PC and all my wiring and distribution blocks under my hatch floor and only had to raise it a smidgen. There certainly space under there, but less than you might think.

As for the amps, I agree on spending an outrageous amount on amps. Great quality used and better built amps can be had for cheap around forums and such, DIY mobile audio being one of my favorites. I got my PPI Sedona 630IX (circa 1992) in near mint condition for $125 shipped. Hard to beat on a 6x30 RMS amp, and the sound quality is amazing. All you have to do is know what you're looking for and where to find it.

Speaker wise, I could likely give you some good recommendations, although it sounds like you already know your way around car audio pretty well. I myself like Daytons for the midrange and midbass applications (if you're going active). Granted you will have to modify your doors a bit to fit the mids, but they are well worth it. I went with RS100-4 mids and they sound great. I've not yet tried the RS225's that everyone raves about for midbass. I likely will get them soon though. They are an 8" driver but they will fit in the doors with some MDF baffles and a bit of trimming on the foam in the inner door skin. If you don't want to do all that the RS180's are 7" driver and should fit right in place.

If you're going passive I don't really have any good recommendations. Haven't been passive myself in some time so I don't know what's the "hot" shit now. Just know that for the price, Dayton drivers are near impossible to beat. If you go to www.partsexpress.com you can find great deals on them too. I think $55 a piece or so for the RS225's and then $30 or so a piece for the RS100's.

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I investigated my spare tire hole today and tested a cardboard cutout. Tire will be removed of course. I have enough room for an amp rack and amps without going over the stock height. The MDF would sit on the hump, and be secured with the plastic spinner.

I would probably go passive, since I am using the stock deck. I dont want to add any extra components like crossovers. I can change things later, but I want to start with something basic. I will only have 50x4 to work with on a front stage, so i cant go too huge. The first stage will be just running all 4 doors off my 50x4 on stock speakers. Then I will decide if the rear speakers are getting cut out in favor or more power to the front stage. All depends on what speakers I go with. I liked Focal K2P a lot more then Dynaudio 240GT. I probably didnt let my Dynaudios break in long enough though..

I just want to get something started, as its a lot of work ahead of me. Once my 3 amps are here, I will work on that install for a few days and try to get it up and running.

Sounds good man. Definitely post some pictures of your work and the progress. I always like seeing a DIY audio build.

Yeah, my setup is the exact opposite of simple right now. CarPC, active 3-way + sub, and all the goodies/extras that go along with that. It was a major pain in the arse to install, but it's all worth it now that it's done.

I think you'll be fine with 50x4, especially on the OEM speakers. Just expect them to sound a bit muddy towards the louder volumes. The OEM midrange and midbass (front) are the weakest link in the chain. Rears aren't too bad. I don't like rear fill myself so I omitted it, but if you're staying OEM for now, it's nice to have the added midbass of the rear drivers. The fronts are so weak it's pathetic.

Obviously with your plan, I'm sure you'll be adding a nice passive set in the future, meaning you can bridge that 50x4 into 2 channels and get some real power to them.

That's one reason why I prefer active. Takes much less power to drive your speakers. Passives need power like whoa. You'll be fine with that amp though. Bridged I'm sure you'll be pushing plenty in a x2 application.

Damn... the Mac is not going to fit.. 14" is way too long. Thats a pretty big amp..

I'm gonna make absolutely sure before I buy something else. The Mac wont be here for at least a week.
Then I go buy my ARC 125.4 like originally planned. Not as nice SQ for a front stage, but nice footprint..

You could sell it to me. :wink:

Although I don't know what I'd do with it. I don't have a use for anything 4 channel right now.

darcness said:

You could sell it to me. :wink:

Although I don't know what I'd do with it. I don't have a use for anything 4 channel right now.

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i'll probably be selling it. I am in discussions with the ebay seller in case he wants to refund me. He didnt think it would go that cheap either. I gave him the option of refunding my money if he wants. He will give me his decision tomorrow.

If I get the amp, and its as cherry as the pics show, i would not lose any money on it. I paid $480 shipped..

Yeah, I'd love a Mac amp, but I've never been one to be that spendy. A good used one next time I'm in the market might not be a bad idea. I like those US amps you had in your old setup. Nice amps produced in America. They don't make them like that anymore, that's for sure.

Edit: USX series right?

ya those were the US Acoustic USX stuff. i had like 8 of them in my early experimentation. The 150Wrms x 2 had a lot of punch.

Yea, US amps were good back in the day. Back when they knew how to make good amps. I want to get my hands on some of the old Zed Us amps. Hard to find, but I see them on Ebay from time to time.

Pics of the amp I won:

Mcintosh MC420m 4x50 Car Amp

Rough draft. This is to show you how easy it is, and how anyone can do this.

Made a template out of cardboard. Simply taped two box pieces together. Traced my tire on it for a starting point.





The McIntosh footprint, and why it wont fit on this rack:



You have a good 4" of depth without raising the floor. (After adding 1/2" thick rack, you would still have over 3" depth.)



Showing an old piece of MDF which was here in the garage when we moved in 3 years ago. Was a good size to make another practice template:



some fine tuning and adjustments for when i have the final piece cut:



I am torn between making this rack out of HDPE, or birch. The HDPE would probably be heavier, but also stronger.

The HDPE is way expensive, i will be going with birch.

Just ordered supplies:

(1) 4 gauge AGU fuse holder for battery
(2) 4 gauge to 8 gauge platinum dist blocks
(8) 4 gauge ring terminals
(16 feet) 4 gauge power wire
(8 feet) 4 gauge ground wire
(6 feet) 8 gauge power wire
(6 feet) 8 gauge ground wire
(2) 1.5' RCA cables

Round about $135 shipped for everything.

Some questions I will have on my install which I will need to research:

-How do I get my door sills off? I have tried just pulling them off a few times with no luck. Looks like I have to take off the center panel between the 2 doors before i take off the sills. Maybe I just wasnt pulling hard enough..

-Where to attach my master 4 gauge distrib block ground cable? It can be "up to" 8 feet from my amp rack, (the amount of cable I bought), and hopefully more like 1-2 feet. I read somewhere to NOT ground it on a seat belt bolt which is what I usually do. Maybe I read that in the ARC manual??

-I can buy a subwoofer remote level knob for either the Audio Control unit or the ARC 500.1 amp. I think the preferred method would to buy the amp remote. It seems more direct than getting the "RCA level control" that comes for the Audio Control unit.

I will probably wait until I have everything in hand before i start. I want to remove my seats only once and do it all in one shot.

eh, loosing a spare for some amps... at least make sure you always keep one of those emergency slime kits in your car so you can possibly get to a gas station or something.

a blown tire and your finish, but the slime kit will keep you rolling from a nail or something like that.