bfowlers new ride and install!

[Bfowler]

i know all of you have been losing sleep wondering what the shit i have been up to. well wonder no more!
i have had this car almost 2 years now, but only know got it to the point i can be happy with it and post some pictures.

first off...the car. i looked a long time for exactly this one. 2006 mazdaspeed6, white on "oreo" leather. ive done every mod you can do to the car short of an upgraded turbo, and serious engine internals. as she sits shes putting down 300hp/310tq on a 4 wheel dyno with a safe 14.5lbs of boost

gear list:

kenwood bt955
roadster66
rsdc12d4
ti eq215x
tidd10
rsd 6.5cs

[Bfowler]

first thing, was to run cable and quiet the thing down. mazda didnt put much deadening from the factory in it. and the tires, exhaust, and hard suspension dont help

i read the articles suggesting that 25% coverage is enough to get most of the benefits....well i went ahead and covered everything anyway almost 100sq feet of roadkill ended up in this thing. i also lined the floor and doors with 1/4 neoprene to absorb sound

[Bfowler]

doors:

[Bfowler]

for a h/u in this car...mazda really wanted to fuck with the aftermarket crowd. the stock h/u is on the same circuit board as the climate control. so i had to get creative. the car came with a dash pocket (picture1). so i yarded that out, and with some some fiberglass and bondo...fabbed up the headunit-in-a-pocket.


when the cover is closed it looks very stock (the flash made the color difference look like more than it is) for the deck is a kenwood bt955. i didnt have room for any fancy cover motorization. but the usb port holds up the cover when there is a usb drive in it.

[Bfowler]

as far as signal and accessories go, im running a ti-eq215x and my trusty dd10 (not that im using it even close to capacity!) i'm powering my h/u, eq, and hardwired a phone charger and radar detector.

the eq is getting a front signal in, and right now, no crossover use. in the future i'm going to go with a 3-way front stage and use its crossver. but for now im just running rsd 6.5's up front.

i wanted to save as much space as passable, so i mounted them on the back of the seats. i ran a layer of roadkill across the back of the seats and 1/4 abs to mount the devices to

[Alfaholic]

Nice build you got going on here, i like that car i have not seen that mazda before dont think the got that one in my country.
I also see you are using equalizer is there much difference in the sound?.

[Bfowler]

more accessories. in the last pic you can see the seats folded up. the amp now covers that view (which you can see in other pics) i didnt get any pics of the mounts for the amp rack. but i used 3/4 x 3" strips of birch plywood, and attached it to the sheet metal using anchors that mushroom out when you put a bolt through them.

the mounts for the power distribution and crossovers were done using the same achnors

[Bfowler]

i forgot to take more pictures of the trunk construction, so this is what you get! the box is birch ply and 1.4cf sealed.

[knightrider358]

Love that install man, nice and clean! Even loving that rsdc! Brian how do u lile the sound of that sealed w the birch w that rsdc?

[Renovatio]

my opinion, the more you use eq the more sound looks like dead, instead of fixing holes with eq in sound i play with speakers places more by measuring many times.

[dwnrodeo]

Awesome car and awesome install! I have a very similar setup in my Neon, Roadster 66 powering RSd6.5's and RSDc124. The only complaint I have is the lack of midrange detail, but it sounds like you're going to address that in the future by going 3-way.

[AVICJR]

Badass Brian!!! Very nice work!!

[twisted]

looks good brian!!! hows it sound?

like the speed 6 too.....

[Bfowler]

a few more miscellaneous pics. some of the trunk without the beauty panels, and some of the battery/main power

[Bfowler]

Nice build you got going on here, i like that car i have not seen that mazda before dont think the got that one in my country.
I also see you are using equalizer is there much difference in the sound?.

thanks! they may have gone to norway. they were called the mazda mps in europe. (although they lost about 15hp from emissions)


the eq helped a ton for me. as Renovatio said, too much eq can make speakers sound very "clinical" and boring.

for these, i played with speaker phase first. the mids are both out of phase. they brought my sound stage up a ton, and help with the sense of left/right separation

the rsd's have a range from about 300-550 they they just seem to not want to play. that was the major area of eq'ing for me. a few other small adjustments.

1/2 the reason i used the eq was because its also a crossover and i plan on going with a 3way front stage as soon as i can build some kick pannels

[Bfowler]

Love that install man, nice and clean! Even loving that rsdc! Brian how do u lile the sound of that sealed w the birch w that rsdc?

thanks! i love the rsdc...so much low end extension. the box was braced a ton, and stuffed full of polyfill, so i can't really tell the difference in the box material. i do know i saved about 20lbs from not using mdf for everything!

[Bfowler]

Awesome car and awesome install! I have a very similar setup in my Neon, Roadster 66 powering RSd6.5's and RSDc124. The only complaint I have is the lack of midrange detail, but it sounds like you're going to address that in the future by going 3-way.

yep...totally have the same problem. even with the eq, the rsd's just do not want to play the ~250 to 500 range.

if i eq that area too much i get humps at 200 and 600 while still having a dip in the middle.

i am either going xenon 1-5-6 or rsd 1-5-6. with the tweet and 5.25 as a passive component set, and the mid on its own

[Bfowler]

looks good brian!!! hows it sound?

like the speed 6 too.....

it only sounds ok right now...the rsd's are a good all around speaker...but they just wont cut it for someone like us who has had their hands on really nice gear over the years. they are better than stock, but really just a stop-gap until i can build new tweeter pods and kick pannels

[ttocs]

wonder if an enclosure would help?

[Bfowler]

wonder if an enclosure would help?

its possible. the door location is pretty dead, the back wave is pretty sealed off from the front. and the baffle is quite strong. i think its just a characteristic of the drivers. the midbass is quite good though!

i think when i am building the kicks, i will make them into a sealed enclosure, and if i dont like the sound i will start cutting away the back and see what happens

as far as the doors go...they are as good as they are gonna be! making the door panel into an enclosure is just too much damn work at this point!

[knightrider358]

I tried my rsd's in an enclosure and they sounded pretty flat, then i sealed the door and WOW! they came alive.

Brian what pg battery terminal is that w those 2 fuses, ive never seen one and would love to get one like that for this next install

[Bfowler]

I tried my rsd's in an enclosure and they sounded pretty flat, then i sealed the door and WOW! they came alive.

Brian what pg battery terminal is that w those 2 fuses, ive never seen one and would love to get one like that for this next install

its called the tmc.902 (and has a ground counterpart tmc.901) they are pretty hard to find now

[knightrider358]

Thanks man!

[dwnrodeo]

wonder if an enclosure would help?

its possible. the door location is pretty dead, the back wave is pretty sealed off from the front. and the baffle is quite strong. i think its just a characteristic of the drivers. the midbass is quite good though!

i think when i am building the kicks, i will make them into a sealed enclosure, and if i dont like the sound i will start cutting away the back and see what happens

as far as the doors go...they are as good as they are gonna be! making the door panel into an enclosure is just too much damn work at this point!

I started my RSD woofers in a sealed enclosure (with WAY too little airspace) and it killed the midbass. I opened up the enclosures and have them set up in the doors just like you and it helped a ton. It still won't fix the midrange issue though. If you can find a driver to compliment the RSD component set, I think that would be the way to go. The RSD tweeter is great in my opinion and the woofer has excellent midbass. I like your idea of the RSD 5.25 passive with the 6.5" woofer active. That setup should be great!

[stipud]

Excellent install dude