RexNuts Subaru Forums

Hey guys.

Id like thank everyone for the warm welcome, so i thought id throw up a few pics of my ride and its progress to date.

As some of you may or may not know, im pretty heavily into car audio (who would have thought hey? haha), which means that this car is predominantly going to be a top notch Sound Quality car, before its going to be a track car or dyno queen. I have quite a reputation to live up to in car audio circles, especially given my last car's stereo performance at Sound Quality competitions Australia wide. For those not in the know, in a short 3 year stint on the competition circuit, it netted a total of 17 trophies, with 9 of those being firsts, 3 seconds, and 3 thirds, with the others being Judges Choice awards and other miscellaneous awards.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out two more things before i go any further.
1. When i refer to stereo competitions, i refer to excellent sound quality in terms of tonality, staging and imaging, and reproducing the audio source as it was originally intended and recorded. I do not compete in decibel competitions (unless for sheer fun), and this isnt your typical doof doof stereo, if that makes any sense.
2. I often do a bit of work in conjunction with Fhrx Studios, from helping out with installations when the boys up there get busy, to assisting with tuning of some of the crazy SQ cars that they churn out, which brings me to my next point - this car will be built as a Fhrx Studios demo car, aswell as a formAUDIO one.

Anyways, enough chit chat, without further ado...

The car is a 1998 MY98 WRX Version 4, in Subaru's own 'Light Silver' (406).

As far as i know, performance mods are 'APS Stage I Kit', including:
APS 3" Turbo Back Exhaust
APS in guard CAI duct
TMIC water spray kit
UNICHIP piggy back ECU
18psi tune
131.3kW at the wheels @ Port Hacking Automotive in March 2010 (with non functional water spray)

In addition to this, the car has:
Selby/Whiteline 22mm front swaybar
Selby/Whilteline 22mm rear adjustable swaybar
Pedders Sports Ryder springs front and rear
Autometer Phantom boost gauge (white face to match OEM cluster)
17" Speco Racing II wheels
Electric sunroof

Thats how we bought it about 2 years ago with all mods completed and 140,000km, in immaculate condition inside and out, with log books, a folder full of receipts of mods, services, replaced tyres, wheel alignments, you name it, that date back to the day the car was bought, and of course, log books. My dad picked it up really really cheap off a friend of his that was going to trade it in on a brand new Lancer, so my dad offered him the same money as the dealership, and he took it. My dad owned it and drove it for about 18 months or so, and i bought it off him in February 2010.

Since then, ive done a couple of little things, with the first being an awesome alarm system, installed by none other than Fhrx Studios, and after that, replaced the gearbox and rear diff (i wonder why?! LOL), with a 4.11 STi gearbox, and 4.11 LSD rear diff. Slow progress has started on the stereo, which you'll see in the coming days.

I do have a few other plans for the car though, however it will be built in stages. I am planning on keeping it mostly Version 4 spec'd, rather than doing what 99% of people do and install a Version 6 front bar, lip and rear spoiler. Hopefully the end result will see something a little different from the norm and slightly unique (well, as unique as you can get, for a WRX anyway! LOL)...

Stage I:
STi Taillights (bought)
Frosted side indicators (bought)
Frosted front bar indicators (bought)
Colour coded door handles (painted and installed)
Version 6 front grille (bought and painted)
Version 6 crystal headlights (bought)
Version 6 crystal foglights

Stage II:
MY04 WRX Bronze 17" wheels and good tyres
OEM Version 6 front 4 pot brake calipers
Slotted disc rotors front and rear
Bendix Ultimate pads front and rear

Stage III:
Orciari Version 4 STi front lip
Paint front lip and factory side skirts in satin black
Apexi PowerFC (bought)
ProcessWest TMIC
VF34 or VF23 Turbo
V4 STi 440cc Injectors
PSR Silicon turbo inlet pipe
Walbro fuel pump
Tune


And that will be pretty much it. Having come from a N/A 1.6L Corolla, the car is more than fast enough for me, but with adding a little bit of weight with the stereo and sound deadening and what not, im hoping to achieve some good performance results to compensate, when those added mods happen. Hopefully with a safe tune it will still be able to be daily driven, and keep me more than happy. I am open to suggestions as well though.

For now, heres some of the car as i bought it, and one from its debut cruise last Sunday.

And before anyone asks, those plates came with the car, and are what the car was first registered with even according to the cars log books.

Comments, criticism and feedback is welcomed and encouraged.

Cheers,
Rick.

Nice
So what plans have you got audio wise?
What brand/model equipment?

Haha! Totally left that part out! I was too busy trying to remember all my other plans for it. My bad!

Proposed Stereo setup, will be something very similar to this:

Source: Alpine CDA-9835
Processing: Audison BitOne.1
Front Speakers: Crescendo Opus 9.9, which consists of
MB-6 6.9" midbass driver
MB-3 3.6" midrange driver
T3R 1.1" tweeter
Subwoofer: Boston G512-44
Amps:
Left CH:
1x Genesis Profile Ultra Two (Bridged to left Midbass for ~225wrms @ 8 ohms)
1x Genesis Profile Ultra Four (Bridged to left Midrange for ~150wmrs @ 8 ohms and left Tweeter for ~225wrms @ 6 ohms)
Right CH:
1x Genesis Profile Ultra Two (Bridged to left Midbass for ~225wrms @ 8 ohms)
1x Genesis Profile Ultra Four (Bridged to left Midrange for ~150wmrs @ 8 ohms and left Tweeter for ~225wrms @ 6 ohms)
Sub:
1x Genesis Profile Ultra One (1000wrms @ 2 ohms)
Sound Dampening: Dynamat, Dynapad, Dynaliner, Dynazorb
Cabling And Accessories: Stinger HPM Level 3 interconnects, Stinger HPM accessories/distros/fuseholders/etc, Stinger HPM 0ga and 4ga power and ground throughout.
Other: Setup up and run fully active, door mounted midbass, custom fibreglass kick panel mounted midrange, custom fibreglass A-pillar mounted tweeters, crazy engine bay wiring setup including earth kit and custom fuseholder mounting and what not. The boot is still undecided, but initial idea is going to be custom fibreglass 1.75cu/ft subbox, custom amp rack/bath in the boot for the 5x amps.

Facts and figures:
13 channels total, bridged down to 7 channels.
Total Power in WRMS of all 5 amps @ 4 ohms: 1950wrms
Total Power in WRMS of all 5 amps @ 2 ohms: 3100wrms
Total Power in WRMS @ 4 ohms bridged for front stage amps only: 2100wrms
Total Power in WRMS usable for front stage (due to impedance variances): 1200wrms
Total Power in WRMS usable for sub @ 2 ohms: 1000wrms
Total Power in WRMS usable for completed system: 2200wrms

Any questions?

Wow I'd love to hear that setup
8ohms give you better sound hey?
My little setup sounds great I can't imagine what that's like.

Its not necessarily a better sound as such. The speakers themselves present this impedance load to the amp, but the amp isnt working as hard to produce the power (most car audio speakers are actually 4 ohm, with some being 3 ohm (some Boston) and 2 ohm (some Focal), whilst others are 8 ohm (some Crescendo), as well as other brands of course. Head room is good to have, and obviously ample power is on tap at the drop of a hat. At lower impedences, the amp is working harder to produce the power and then things like THD (Total Harmonic Distortion), damping factor, and slew rate, rise, and can effect the sound/signal.

Then theres Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio which you want to be up high (usually a fixed spec in the amp though), and stereo separation, which as the name suggests, is the amplifiers ability to keep its left and right channels separate. I've basically overcome this, and achieved perfect stereo separation by running my left and right channels from separate amplifiers.

As mentioned, at higher impedance loads, the amp is living an easy life so to speak, so gains remain lower, as does THD, damping factor and slew rate, resulting in a cleaner signal. The cleanest you'll get in a car anyway. Thats not to say that 4 ohm or below speakers are bad etc, but this quite a detailed discussion, hopefully you get what i mean with the minimal info ive provided.

Setting it up and tuning is going to be fun. Control of gains on amps, time alignment, active crossovers, and levels in processing, for 7 individual speakers in order to get it all sounding awesome, is no easy feat. Lots of things to potentially get wrong and stuff up, but get it right, and hopefully we shall have sonic bliss and pin point staging and imaging, and most importantly, audio reproduction, true to the source and as originally intended/recorded.

Oh and of course auditions will be welcome! Just dont expect it to happen anytime soon. Personally, i operate via a few simple motto's when it comes to this stuff.

They include:
'Perfection takes time', and
'Do it once, do it right'.

Needless to say, there will be no rushing this build and im sure you can understand why. hehe.

Can't wait to c all this always good to see a nice clean classic go to a good owner..
Btw. It's fast enough... At the moment ha ha

Loving that style mate. Makes the system I'm coming up with look a bit silly! :p

Thanks guys.

I forgot to add, the car also now has a 4.11 STi gearbox, and 4.11 LSD rear diff... Who wants to guess why? LOL

Likeing the amp set up.
it is not that hard to fit 5 amps in the rear of a subaru it just add's alot of weight.
you should put some pic's up of the amps cause that look fantastic.

I was just thinking why not just put the front stage down low in the kicks and not brake them up so much, might look abit cleaner and be a deterent form HATER'S.

Richard

Blew the box i bet ya!

Thanks Richard. Yes, i love how you have the TRU's in your boot! It wouldnt quite work with the Profiles though i dont think.

Pics will definitely be coming soon. Im going to have them on my website soon. Just working on a Products and Specials page first.

I had speakers in my kicks in the last car, and it worked brilliantly, except i could never get the corners of the stage on the dash, id always have a slight slight rainbow. I then changed crossover points and put the tweeters up on the a-pillars and it fixed it, whilst also giving me a more focused centre image and suprisingly a little more depth (that would have been attributed to the change in midrange frequency though). Anyways, im aiming for the same setup this time. Fingers crossed it works as well as it did before.


One whole tooth from 2nd gear, whilst up in Singleton one weekend, some 400km from home! Car trailored it home at 1am, got home at about 6am, unloaded the car/trailor etc, went to sleep at 7am, woke up at 8am, went to work for 9am, and to add insult to injury, worked overtime that day until 6pm. Far out i was wrecked, but it makes for a good story now though! haha

Hows it coming along? Figured out your boot layout?

I haven't figured out the boot yet, still been focusing on getting all the deadening and dampening sorted first. I'll post pics of progress so far tonight if I get a chance.

I've also been fitting the "Stage I" mods and I must say that the car looks so much cleaner with the deletion of all the orange indicators all round, and addition of the crystal headlights.

Just ordered all my new brake parts today too. RDA slotted discs and Bendix Ultimate pads all round. The 4 pot calipers I bought ages ago have also been cleaned and givens freshen up with a new coat of paint, ready to be installed in a week or two when everything else arrives.

Looks like you'll be busy for awhile with that list of plans :-p

only thing I'd change is to keep the side skirts colour coded. But props to you for daring to be different.

Thanks mate. You're not wrong, but my two main mottos when it comes to this sort of stuff is, 'perfection takes time' and 'do it once, do it right'. For those reasons - especially the stereo! - it can take however long it takes.


Thats the whole idea mate, i do want something a little different, and hopefully eye catching.

To be honest, i was inspired by these three cars. So im going for a combination of all of them. The red and black looks stunning and would definitely be a head turner, but something just doesn't look quite right about the V4 STi lip in silver, in my opinion.

Thoughts and opinions welcome of course!

Seen this car around a fair bit

Yeah mate, i see it almost every day on my way to and from work! haha. One day i pulled over and took some snaps. Looks like a nice clean car, female owner surprisingly.

Pretty rare to see clean V4's going around, most people with them upgrade to V5/6 front bars and lips. Im trying to keep mine V4 looking, despite going to V5/6 headlights and grille.

If i achieve something near as nice as the red one i posted above, then ill be more than happy.

OK guys, so its long overdue, but i did promise a bit of an update with some progress on the car.

Ill try to keep the words pretty short and let the pics to do the talking!

Stage I of the install involves carefully planned and thought out sound deadening and dampening of the entire car to ensure a nice smooth and quiet ride, to allow me to enjoy the stereo as best as possible later on.

Yes, this will be adding weight to the car, but as i explained in the first post, the car is going to sound good first, go fast second. Besides, i will be adding performance mods later to compensate, so dont worry! haha.

So without further ado, it began...

Some selective deadening on the firewall and floor pan, with trusty old Dynamat Extreme. I could have went for super overkill if i wanted and deadened everything, but i am still mindful of adding too much weight, so i didnt.

Firewall


Passenger side floor pan


Drivers side floor pan


On top of this, and below the factory carpet, a layer of Dynapad MLV was applied. The primary purpose of this product is to be a sound dampener and essentially block sound, such as road noise, exhaust note and so on. Remember, im trying to make the cabin nice and quiet so i can enjoy the stereo.



Moving on the the mid section of the car, and a 'knock test' on some panels told me which were tinny and required attention with Dynamat.


And on top of that, a layer of Dynapad. This area was crucial, and where i noticed the biggest difference with Dynamat and Dynapad.

Moving up to the rear parcel shelf, we get presented with the factory shelf and suprisingly factory speakers. These were quickly removed.


Since the metal parcel shelf is the most flimsy and prone to rattling with subbass and what not, it received a generous amount of Dynamat, to reduce its resonant frequency. And so did the wooden shelf trim itself.



A layer of Dynaliner was added to the shelf before refitting the wooden shelf, to help cushion it.



And then the shelf refitted, as per factory appearance. The rear speaker holes were left open to allow subbass to vent into the cabin, and two more bolts added to the additional child restraint bolts to secure it.


Thats all for now. More to come soon!

Mate, about how much would that sort of sound deadening set you back?

Not cheap i could imagine!

Clearly cheap and this install do not go together WHATSOEVER!

LOL! Thanks guys - i think?

The Dynapads RRP for $199 each, and so far ive used 3, and have a 4th one to go in the boot.

And i've used about 1 Bulk Pack of Dynamat so far, which RRP for $299. I think all up ill be using about 1 and a half Bulk Packs though to do the WHOLE car well.

Its all about selective and effective execution. Oh and lots of time! haha...

The results should be well worth it though.

Jealous..