Printer Friendly Forum Posts - SPL system for 00 Civic

Hi. I would like to pull out the mediocore system in my '00 Civic sedan. I am begining to prep the car for show competition, and would like the audio portion of the car to be able to compete in SPL comps.

Now, those of you that have built Civics before, givin the size and design of the car, what would I need to do to get the car into the 130+db range?

Thank you for any help in advance, I appreciate it!

Not much. 1 12" with 400watts in a good box.

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Really? Could you please elaborate? I have 2 12's in a sealed box with 400w rms feeding them, and while it does move your hair a bit and rattle your teeth, I know I would get my hat handed to me at any audio comp. How could I change the way things are set up so as to hit harder like that? I thought I would need way more power to really compete at that level.

What class are you trying to be in?

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That's my opinion. Take it, leave it, or correct me.

I'm not sure. I've had systems for years, but have never competed before. I do know that I would like to get the system output up into the 130-150db range. I want to learn more and go all the way...but I realize that it will take alot of time, money, and effort.

If you have the dedication and time to plan this out you can definately hit 140db+ with a single woofer and under 500 watts rms. I have a box sitting here for a old style Alpine Type-R 12" subwoofer that hit 143 db in an suv running off a Alpine MRD-M501. I built about 10 different box designs i belive and ended up with those numbers. Download WinIsd Pro from https://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=newdriver and play with the program designing ported box's for particular woofers.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

dzelaya18 wrote:

I'm not sure. I've had systems for years, but have never competed before. I do know that I would like to get the system output up into the 130-150db range. I want to learn more and go all the way...but I realize that it will take alot of time, money, and effort.

there is a thousands of dollars in difference between 130 and 150 db. and "going all the way" means your car wouldn't be legal on the streets nor would it be drivable more that a few yard. (ie off the trailer to the comp spot) if you want to go deaf just put a pencil in your ear and save some time and money. ;) sorry i type before i think, that last part was a joke.

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Wow. That was so helpful. Thank you. posted_image

We have "Gone all the way" in a 98 civic coupe. 2 kicker l7's 2 crossfire 1000d's one kenetik 1800 battery. 150.5db.......This is loud enough to set the world record in USACi basic Stock 301-900

We Still have the box and all designs, let me know if you would like some help.

We would change from the 2 subs/2 amps in the SPL box after every show to 2 subs in a streeable box with one amp.

on the dash the car was doing 148.9db, not a bad score for DB drag either, but outlaw USACi style it would do a 150.5

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

jeffchilcott wrote:

We Still have the box and all designs, let me know if you would like some help.

That would be great, thank you. I would really appreciate it.

Did you guys ever notice that the Civic coupe's seem to hit harder than the sedans do with the same gear? My buddy's '05 coupe has the same power output from the amp and the same 12's in the same box, and his car hits noticeably harder than mine. Granted, Honda puts much better sound dampening in they're cars than they did five years ago and the basic coupe design means less space for the bass to fill, but it still bugs me. I know its not electrical, because my amp reads a continuous 14.8 volts...

jeffchilcott wrote:

We Still have the box and all designs, let me know if you would like some help.

That would be great, thank you. I would really appreciate it.

well, what kind of equipment are you running now? are you willing for a whole rebuild for shows?

We had a guy in a 4 door accord with the same setup doing very close to the same #'s as we were doing. Things didnt really go up till we dropped everything into a CRX

Main tips for SPL in this car,

Face subs and port up with the box all the way at the back of the trunk, by the tail lights..so pointing right at the factory wing, i know its gonna rattle alot

Big Big battery, I know you can fit a kenetik 1800 in the factory battery location, with just a little work. I.E banging with a hammer

I need to know about the current equipment you are running, or if you plan to sell it and start over or not, before I go any further

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Placing the subs at the rear of the trunk pointing up will increase the SPL? I'll have to get some longer speaker cable and try that out.

About the battery: Once, I had shoe-horned an Optima Yellowtop, the huge kind like for an SUV, into my Civic. I had to take it out though, because for some reason, the car would not idle above 500rpm so long as the battery was in there. As soon as I took it out and put the stock-size battery back in, the problem was fixed.

In regards to the current equipment: Like I said in the initial post, mediocre. HU is a mid-level Pioneer, all-around Infinity inside, amp is an Audiobahn A2801T (only 450 watts RMS) feeding two 12" Cerwin Vega V-MAX series subs, SVC 4 ohms.

...and yes, I am willing to tear out everything and do a full rebuild.

If you really looking to get into SPL, and looking for a start.....Look into Kicker L7's    12's believe me the 15's will not help they will more then laikely hurt your scores.

Go with 2 12's, and look at the kx1200.1's      go to hifisoundconnection.com and they have refurbished subs and amps.

a pair of subs would be about $300, and the amps are about $300 each.      but that would be a system you could use and succed ll the way to finals with.

Let me know if you would need anymore advise or if you are looking for any comp grade equipment, includiung boxes.

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

What kind of box should those subs go into? Sealed or vented?

Ported, nice big slot port enclosure. (unless you can find a monster aeroport or are a master on the wood lathe to make one).

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

haha, rob rob rob......For SPL use only....if he was going to build a drop in SPL only setup, and then swap for street then the box needs to be little!

I know it sounds weird, maybe I will have to send you some pics of the box we used at world finals rob, you would be confused hahah

for these subs in this car for street use approx 2.0-2.5 cu ft per sub vented enclosure

For SPL use, for shows...use 2.5-3.0cu ft common chamber vented, large port

I would sell my box design for the civc that we used, it would produce 148-149db consistant. 150+ on good days with good charging and good days

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Let me see how much I can get the Kicker's for. I'm kind of excited, as the price seems very doable for me, and I should be on the road to hitting as hard as I want to...

Like I said, hifisoundconnection. has great deals on the Refurb kicker products.....and of all the subs we have used this season the Refurbs were stronger then the OEM subs....They take alot of abuse to take 3 times thier RMS rating for a full burp!

check them out im sure you wont be dissapointed

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Okay, I flipped the current subs so that they are facing up, and it does in fact seem to hit a little harder, so we're on the right track here. I also noticed some distortion that I couldn't hear before, so I lowered the gain a little on the amp to clean it up. I'm going to order the Kicker stuff pretty soon, I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

have you checked if the sub is able to be pointed up. here is a calculator to find out the sag of your woofer. if it is over 2% then you need to put it back the way it was at a 90 degree angle. you might already know this though gust seeing if that is why you are getting distortion. posted_image

Aaron

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Want to know some good equipment- JL,Adire Audio,Mcintosh,Brax,Helix,Eclipse,JBL,RE,Dimoand Audio,Zapco, pritty much anything DYhon,Forbidden recommend
On the12volt you give some info and you get in

There would not be an issue with firing the subs up...The downfire maybe....but firing up they will fire at the trunk lid and use the trunk lid as a baffle board......if the box is designed just right this is a major advantage in SPL, helps alot with air flow

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

This is my first post here on the12volt. jeffchilcott--i have a question about Kicker. I had the SL715 in my car with the MTX1000D running it. I just recently bought a 2001 aurora and wanted to upgrade. I liked the 15 but i was wanting to know about the Solo X 12inch sub. Have you heard it before? Is it worth the buy? I'd only have one and have the KX2500.1 running it. Thanks for any help and insight.

Your going to push one sub with a kx2500.1? Goodness...That will be heart stopping in the right box.

Yeah that is my intention..the solo x is rated at 2500 rms at 2 ohms. so the kx 2500.1 is perfect for that. The reason i am thinking about this is because i am trying to start my own small fiberglass/custom shop out of my garage and i want to have soemthing that nobody else really has around here...Everyone has JL audio, MTX, Rockford Fosgate, etc. and i want to be abel to say yeah that sound is coming from one 12inch sub. However, i have had multiple systems and i have never been satisfied with any of them...can anyone relate?? SO i just want someones thoughts about this setup...

I forgot to mention that i am goign to fiberglass the sub n amp so is it possible to fiberglass a box strong enough for this sub??

Yes use lots and lots of fabric.

As far as the solo x on a 2500, it should run very well on that amp.

I am partial to the 12" L7's though, I have tried the 10's and did very close to the socres I did with the 12's, but the 15's I was very displeased with.

You could run 3 12" L7's very very well with a 2500.1 or the one 12" Solo X

In my oponion I would go with the L7's

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Jeff, my buddy that owns an audio shop wants to do my little Civic with a false floor in the truck, fiberglassed, housing four 12's and one massive amp. What do you think about that? Too much for a little Honda? Its sounds cool, and of course it would be impressive to show off 4 12's in a Civic...but if I could hit 130 db with the set up that you were telling me about, wouldn't the four be really unecessary?

Some of the setups I have mentioned here, are for SPL use ONLY! YOu cannot drive with a pure SPL system on at all, you will do intense damage to speakers and or amps

For a Street/Show setup

1 solo x 12 and a 2500.1 or 3 12" l7's and a 2500.1 will easily do low to mid 140's and with the right box and charging system it could come very close to breaking the 150db barrier

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

sorry, this post has a few people in it, had to refresh myself.....For SPL only, 2 12" L7's and 2 KX1200.1's with the proper power I.E Alt upgrade, and Battery...You can do a 148-149 with the right box

With a street based setup. 2 12" l7's one kx1200.1 we have done a 147.1 so with a street box and the right items, a 140-145 is absolutly possible

4 12's that may be a little overkill for a civic, I noticed at about 149-151db the trunk starts to bend, the trunk lid is alot weaker then it looks.

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

See, thats what I'm thinking, there is no need to have four 12's in a little Civic. Hitting 140lb's with only two 12's is cool with me...and Wow! I sure as hell don't want to bend my trunk lid! That would be insane!

As tempting as it would be to have four 12's to show off, I think that in all reality it would be much better to have the two 12's for a street/show setup that wouldn't require constant swapping of the boxes.

Thanx again for the advice jeff, I'd still be kinda' lost without it (as you can see, my friends are big advocates of the "use four 12's and hit like a jack hammer" school of thought...I actually know several people with four 12's in they're cars, all done at this shop...). See ya' later.

As far as the suggestion with the L7's being a good route...i just dont know because i feel as if they blow so easily...i've blown the 15's in a matter of minutes...and i had 1000 true rms watts running it...i have prolly blown the sub 3 times on the simplest Lil John and Project pat beats....I found it hard to tell that it was distorting until i could smell the ever so pungent smoke that came leaking out of the port...by then the sub was basically ruined. I guess if you are going to go the route of L7's make sure that it is tuned exactly right because even one of the "SUPPOSEDLY" top ten rated master installers in the U.S. had the set the gains n everything wrong in my car. Just some words of advice if you are goign to spend the money....

We have never had problems with out L7's, we have used them in competition all year. We have ran a constant 1500rms for a full tilt burp and not had a problem, and also ran them in a 64 second death match, no problems

As long as you are not causing your amps to clip majorly we had no problem.

When we tried to push 1500-2000rms per sub, without breaking in the subs at all, we have had some issues...But that is to be expected, a sub that has not broken in trying to handle 2x its reccomended power it just insane anywyas

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place