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Any car audio junkies here?
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| Lazgti |
My car has been broken into twice now at the GO Train station...Toronto peeples know...
I am thinking about building a car stereo that is less visible and less prone to theft. Considering using fibreglass to enclose a single 8" sub. Anybody have some experience with this? Probably should post in a car audio forum but i thought i would give u guys a shout first. |
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| Fraggle |
hmm...sux to hear ur car got busted into :p:p:p
well...dunno if u know this, but there's a nice little unit from sony...
hehehe, i have the minidisc version, but also i think kenwood is making a similar thing now, where the whole thing just looks like a blank panel
well, apart from that i don't have much experience, just lucky to have a couple of mates who work in the car audio industry :D:D:D
get an alarm would be a good thing i guess...tho kinda hypocritical as i've been putting it off for a few months already :(:(:(
hmm hope u find some neat stuff then!!!
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| IllusionalDream |
hi
i know a fair bit
What sort of enclosure you want?
Most cases i know of subs and fibreglass is where its in a door, and its a fibreglass "pod" that sticks out. if its totally closed you would need to have a sub that is designed for that, and the fibreglass enclosure would need to be pretty god damned thick or itll just shatter... Why would you want to do this? and you intending to mold it yaself?
i would imagine it would be pretty difficult. Just stick to a MDF box in boot and bolt it through the chassis, and then grind the top of the bolts and screws off... be pretty difficult for scum to nick it without means to undo it... hehe, then again, they would probs just nick the whole car... damn
prolly didnt help ya much, soz/ |
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| boy_luke_y2k |
| Just a car would be good for me, seriously though why not put the speakers in the boot so u can cover them up? |
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| Lazgti |
Fraggle...funny the pic you posted. I had the same model of CD player. It sounded incredible. Looked insane. Well looked so insane that some pricks took it and the amp and sub from me.
First time my car got jacked I swore at myself for hours because I had the choice of installing an alarm the same day I had the components installed but I did not want to dish out the extra $400 and I was impatient and was dying to hear Greece 2000 on my new system. So it lasted a month and got stolen except for the CD player (the lovely unit you have pictured). I went out and spent about $500 for a Clifford alarm and thought I was invincible. Two months later they took my Sony. One of the top o' the line units. Damn people with no respect for their neighbours' belongings...
As for mounting in the boot...my original system was conigured that way and was so easy to take. My new system will be less visible and flashy that way I can hopefully keep it for a little longer. Smaller sub...I insist on mounting in the hidden spare tire. The amp under the dash covered by a panel. The CD player is going to require some ingenuity...hopefully a stroke of brilliance will strike me. Haha. I doubt it...how many idiots get their cars broken into twice and decide to go put another stereo in again? |
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| Lazgti |
I don't know much about it yet...but I have seen some enclosures made with it. Supposedly, the walls can be made quite thin without fear of cracking or shattering. The key is to use multiple layers of cloth or fibreglass matting (strands are not cotton but glass fibres) and then applying an epoxy resin to this. It hardens and creates an airtight enclosure with decent amounts of strength. I just don't know how to go about setting it up and molding it...if you guys hear anything about it please let me know.
Cheers, |
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| Fraggle |
hehehe, sorry Lazgti
ya i hear u 'bout the no respect :p:p:p lotsa happening that people should be shot for :p:p:p
damn, really i'm really po'd when i hear stuff like that
hmm, mine's a pretty old car now so i know the security is almost non-existent :(:(:(...but it doesn't sound good that u got a $500 alarm & they still nicked off with ur radio! :(:(:(
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| ABTsportsline |
the key is to use cheaper stuff that is just as good.... (i.e. no point in getting PPI amps when Radio Shack's Optimus will do... no, seriously!!)
something a friend of mine did, was to make a custom frame/bracket around his head unit.... then he cut (with some sort of cutting tool, maybe a dremel?) the face off his old, stock radio. Then when he disconnected the face of his aftermarket radio and locked it in the glovebox, he's *snap* the cut-off face of his stock radio over the aftermarket one.... VERY ingenious, but will take a little effort.
FYI Kenwood was the first to come out with the revolving-face technology.... they call it MASK... they introduced it before JVC and Sony came out with their's.... but Kenwood's is better - when it flips around, it shows a flat-black backing, which looks like nothing.... whereas JVC and Sony show a gloss-black backing, which any moron would figure out... those head-units are mainly just for being trick....
The Kenwood is the real anti-theft one.
As far as the sub, a simple 8" (or 8" tube) you can buy at a swap shop, and a cheap amp (no need to get name-brand stuff here, are you competing!???).... then like you said, HIDE them.... a popular place for amps in my last GTI ('96) was under the back seat.... make sure you put a fan back there - buy one at Radio Shack and hook it up +/- to the amp... as for the sub(s).... just put them in your hatch... you have the bootcover covering the compartment... thieves can't see it. If they are going to break into your car without seeing it, they're going to break in anyways, so no point in spending all the extra $$ in building some fiberglass enclosure.
Car alarms are waste of money, don't even waste your time. Real thieves have a million and one ways around them. Even the best car alarms don't have a chance. The best anti-theft device is to NOT have anything nice in the car. or at least don't advertise..... DON'T put any Fosgate or whatever stickers on your car....
DON'T bump your system anywhere near your house..... or in bad neighborhoods..... etc...
the rest is common sense. :)
Cheers
-ABT- |
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| Lazgti |
Hey dude... please tell me details on how to mount the amp under the rear seat. I think the Mk3s and Mk2s used similar rear seating so this technique would work for me.
Its a shame that everything you mentioned earlier, I did. The boot cover was ALWAYS on. The deck was in fact covered by a fake faceplate (I just unsnapped the face off the VW OEM deck) and the system was never really cranked especially near the train station that I parked at (where it was jacked). Also, the system only consisted of a single sub and small amp. I insist on using high end components and using the minimal equipment because I find there is no comproise for quality. My friend had a cheaper quality amp and it constantly engages the thermal shutdown. Its rated at 200W and it drove 2 Kickers in my friends GTI (exact model as mine, different color only). My single 12 outthumped his 2 12's. I was very surprised by the thump I got from my system. All I was after was a fuller sound since my 4x6s were not cutting it. My amp was Orion rated at 44W rms. The amp was one of the smallest amps made by Orion. It sounded great no matter how loud I played it and never shut down due to overheating. I already bought the successor to that series of amp (looks the same, has double the power - which will be definite overkill)
But if you could provide some help installing the amp under the rear seats that would be awesome.
For the deck I think I have figured a way to bypass a new CD deck. I am going to get an add on CD player (no full featured deck-its Sony so my aunt can hook me up for half the reatil price) That will be hidden in the glovebox. The digital signal from that will be fed directly to an equalizer such as Audiocontrol. This EQ has a master volume control, EQ, and balanced line driver giving me high output preamps. The preamps will wire directly to the hidden amp(s). The factory deck will stay in the dash. The fibreglass sub pod will hide in my spare tire (I measured it...I can fit an 8 with adequate airspace) and the trunk will be recarpeted. Everything will be totally hidden and I'll remove the boot cover so the dumbasses looking for a stereo will see no tube, no box, no wires just a flat trunk and a stock headunit and will move on. I am excited.I'll keep ya posted on the install as it progresses throughout the winter. |
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| ABTsportsline |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lazgti
Hey dude... please tell me details on how to mount the amp under the rear seat. I think the Mk3s and Mk2s used similar rear seating so this technique would work for me. |
heh, there is no "secret" to doing this... just lift the bottom of the seat up, drill holes for the amp in the metal under the seat.... run the wires, hook up a fan from Radio Shack to the remote switch(blue wire, which will act as your +), and the - (ground).... then put the seat back over it.... only works when you have a smaller amp. Orions are the best, i've always used them... unfortunately now i have an Xtant... but those are powerful and small too... whatever is small and powerful.
| quote: | | Its a shame that everything you mentioned earlier, I did. The boot cover was ALWAYS on. The deck was in fact covered by a fake faceplate (I just unsnapped the face off the VW OEM deck) and the system was never really cranked especially near the train station that I parked at (where it was jacked). |
d00d, if you did all that and it was STILL jacked, they are going to jack it no matter what... no point in wasting your time and all that money going through all of it again. If they can see everything looks stock, and still break in, whats not to stop them again? especially with the CD player situation... you even HAD your stock faceplate over the aftermarket and they stole it.... what makes you think hiding it in the glovebox will do anything? sounds like maybe the "thieves" in this scenario are people you know :) |
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