rilot
06-07-2004, 07:44 AM
This is a fairly long guide so bare with me.
Whats the problem:
The stock RX8 hifi is a reasonable attempt at in car hifi but not as good as it could have been. The main issues are that there is very little definition with the high frequencies and the sub bass is very muddy indeed.
To liven up the low end we often turn up the bass on the head unit but this has the added effect of turning up the mid bass as well which makes the whole thing sound very boomy rather than tight.
To liven up the top end we often turn up the trebel on the head unit but this has the added effect of upping the upper midrange which makes the whole thing sound very crashy.
What are the reasons:
Compromise mainly. The 2 drivers in the doors are a 9" woofer and a 2" tweeter. This is not ideal as the 9" woofer does not have the dynamic range to accurately reproduce the midrange sounds. This means that the crossover between the woofer and the tweeter is a lot lower than you would expect (about 1kHz). The 2" tweeter has to do a lot of the midrange work which means it's sensitivity drops off massively at the very high frequencies (14kHz+).
Solution:
Add some extra tweeters to handle the very high frequencies while retaining the stock tweeters to reproduce the midrange.
Add an amplified subwoofer so we can independantly control how much sub bass we want. This has the added bonus that we can lower the bass control on the head unit and remove some of the boomyness from the upper bass frequencies.
You will need the following kit: 1 x subwoofer in a sealed enclosure, 1 x amplifier, 2 x tweeters, 5M 8 gague power cable, a lot of speaker wire, soldering iron, patience.
Subwoofer install:
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3021.jpg
I went with a Kicker 10" sub and a Rockford Fosgate Punch Power 100W amplifier mainly because I've had them kicking around for a few years (By the way, you will need an amp with speaker level inputs). 100W doesn't sound like a lot but when it's bridged in to a single 4 ohm load it produces nearly 200W.
I also purchaced some Kenwood tweeters for £45 from a local hifi shop.
The first thing you need to do is run the power cable from the front of the car to the back. The difficult bit is deciding how to route it through the firewall but I found a nice easy place.
Looking at the car from the front with the hood open, look to the left of the firewall. You will see where the hood release cable exits in to the engine bay. Thats where we are going to run the power. Jam a screwdriver inside the grommet to widen it and shove the power cable through (see below). It will enter the passenger cabin just above the throttle pedal so make sure when you finish up, you cable tie it out of the way.
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3032.jpg
Once you have it pulled through (with a little left in the engine bay to connect to the battery) we need to route it down the car to the inside of the boot. The panel that runs the length of the door opening comes off very easily. Just grab it from the inside and pull. Underneath are some really nice cable tidies that we can make use of. Push the cable through all 3 of them untill you have it tidy and the end resting on the back seat (see below).
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3025.jpg
Move to the boot. On the right hand side of the boot is a carpeted panel. Remove all the popper studs (6 of them) and take the panel out. We need to remove this as all our wiring is going to hide behind it.
Next thing to do is remove the bottom section of the rear seat. It's only clipped in place so just grab the front edge of it and pull up sharply. Once the seat is out, pull the side bolster away from the drivers side of the car and stuff your power cable up inside (see below)
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3027.jpg
Whats the problem:
The stock RX8 hifi is a reasonable attempt at in car hifi but not as good as it could have been. The main issues are that there is very little definition with the high frequencies and the sub bass is very muddy indeed.
To liven up the low end we often turn up the bass on the head unit but this has the added effect of turning up the mid bass as well which makes the whole thing sound very boomy rather than tight.
To liven up the top end we often turn up the trebel on the head unit but this has the added effect of upping the upper midrange which makes the whole thing sound very crashy.
What are the reasons:
Compromise mainly. The 2 drivers in the doors are a 9" woofer and a 2" tweeter. This is not ideal as the 9" woofer does not have the dynamic range to accurately reproduce the midrange sounds. This means that the crossover between the woofer and the tweeter is a lot lower than you would expect (about 1kHz). The 2" tweeter has to do a lot of the midrange work which means it's sensitivity drops off massively at the very high frequencies (14kHz+).
Solution:
Add some extra tweeters to handle the very high frequencies while retaining the stock tweeters to reproduce the midrange.
Add an amplified subwoofer so we can independantly control how much sub bass we want. This has the added bonus that we can lower the bass control on the head unit and remove some of the boomyness from the upper bass frequencies.
You will need the following kit: 1 x subwoofer in a sealed enclosure, 1 x amplifier, 2 x tweeters, 5M 8 gague power cable, a lot of speaker wire, soldering iron, patience.
Subwoofer install:
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3021.jpg
I went with a Kicker 10" sub and a Rockford Fosgate Punch Power 100W amplifier mainly because I've had them kicking around for a few years (By the way, you will need an amp with speaker level inputs). 100W doesn't sound like a lot but when it's bridged in to a single 4 ohm load it produces nearly 200W.
I also purchaced some Kenwood tweeters for £45 from a local hifi shop.
The first thing you need to do is run the power cable from the front of the car to the back. The difficult bit is deciding how to route it through the firewall but I found a nice easy place.
Looking at the car from the front with the hood open, look to the left of the firewall. You will see where the hood release cable exits in to the engine bay. Thats where we are going to run the power. Jam a screwdriver inside the grommet to widen it and shove the power cable through (see below). It will enter the passenger cabin just above the throttle pedal so make sure when you finish up, you cable tie it out of the way.
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3032.jpg
Once you have it pulled through (with a little left in the engine bay to connect to the battery) we need to route it down the car to the inside of the boot. The panel that runs the length of the door opening comes off very easily. Just grab it from the inside and pull. Underneath are some really nice cable tidies that we can make use of. Push the cable through all 3 of them untill you have it tidy and the end resting on the back seat (see below).
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3025.jpg
Move to the boot. On the right hand side of the boot is a carpeted panel. Remove all the popper studs (6 of them) and take the panel out. We need to remove this as all our wiring is going to hide behind it.
Next thing to do is remove the bottom section of the rear seat. It's only clipped in place so just grab the front edge of it and pull up sharply. Once the seat is out, pull the side bolster away from the drivers side of the car and stuff your power cable up inside (see below)
http://www.rilot.co.uk/rx8/IMG_3027.jpg