I've mentioned before that I fabricate large car stereo systems as a job, and I took some pics today at work of one of my [b]many[/b] ongoing projects.

This is something I've been doing for 12+ years professionally, and I'm [i]so[/i] over it. I'm getting pretty burned out on building stuff in cars. I wish there were a way to make it fun again, but I've gotta keep on until I find something better.

This particular system is in a 2001 Ford Excursion. The customer brought most of the equipment in himself, so my job is strictly labor. I'm involved directly with the customer, from the point of pre-appointment planning, all the way to final tuning of the system to the customer's ears, and personal taste.

[url]http://community.webshots.com/album/17579453xiwbeLwucM[/url]


In this vehicle:

Alpine CVA-1005 head unit
Alpine DVD player
Alpine CD Changer
Playstation 2 game console
Video Cassette Player
PPI PAR-245 Equalizer/preamp
4 video screens, with individual source switching modules(any screen can be watching any of the video sources)
4 sets of wireless headphones
4 Cerwin Vega Amplifiers, 2 4-channel amps, and 2 bass amps
3 sets of JL Audio separates
6 JL Audio 12W3 Subwoofers
Sound deadening, 4 sheets of .75" MDF, 6 yards of vinyl, probably a mile of wire, etc etc etc.

About $7500.00 labor. Plus shop supplies, and materials.

[img]http://wsphotofews.excite.com/013/Uz/zu/v6/1e11112.jpg[/img]

There's a 110 VAC power inverter for the PS2, so a person could certainly run a Lunix based system if so inclined.

I've included PCs in systems on a few occasions, mostly before mobile MP3 players were available. It's amazing how much music you can get in the car on a big hard drive, when compressed to MP3 format.

[i]Winnebaaag-o Warrior[/i]

When are you going to give Busta Rymes his truck back.

[:D]

$7500 just on labor. [sigh] Think of all the guns he could have bought.  [BD]

No kidding. [i]I[/i] even think it's lame, and I'm the one building it.

Treetop, you SOB...  So [b]YOU'RE[/b] the one that makes all of those "boom cars" possible!  [whacko]

If I could get away with anything, it'd be an RPG directed toward each car that drives by my place with "AWWW, YEEAAH" - THUMP thump THUMP thump - "WOOOORRRDD UPPPP, BROTHA!" eminating from the rear of the vehicle.

[rocket]

Mike

Please don't hold me personally responsible. If I built race cars would you blame me for speeders?[;)]

The majority of my customers are not Bass-heads. I can't really turn someone away who is, though.

I was expecting W6 JL woofers when I saw them and expecting an amp for each of the three.

It's been awhile since I've kept up with the JL Audio subs, what's the W3?   4ohm coil or maybe an 8 ohm?   Or is a dual similar to the W6?

Hell, I didn't even know that Cerwin was doing amps now.



Is the vinyl used mostly around the sub box?  In the picture it looks like either fiberglass or fancified MDF, too hard to tell but usually the vinyl has a grain to it that you can see.   Anyhow, I HATE WORKING WITH VINYL, HEAT GUNS, AND THE GLUES!



I can say this though, I'm one helluva box builder and it's mostly a breeze building a box with a good dato head on a table saw.




Funny to hear your opinion on the truck though, 7k is a helluva lot of money.   But that's what you get when you're too lazy to build the shit yourself and instead you'd rather pay 25-35 dollars an hour to have somebody else do it.




Guys, Treetop isn't the only one that makes the "cars that go boom"(sorry but anyone who knows the band L-trim knows what I'm talking about).    Only my tastes in music are QUITE a bit different, usually it's country rythm or classic rock pumping out of my car and occasionally a bit of hard metal.   But whenever those idiots with the mind numbing rap music come by where all you hear is bass, instead of the entire song, I choose to play pipe band music.   Nothing cuts through those bass idiot's music better than a bit of Scottish bag pipes BLARING out the window at 400-500 watts continuous!



Damned, the good old days......    That reminds me TT, I'm about ready to install another system but this time I'll go lite and only run a 100-200 watt system :)   The old system used to tax my alternator so that my headlights would dim at the intersections when I was in idling in neutral.  Hehe, tell me you haven't seen that a couple dozen times down in the oxnard area?   I never used any of those damned 1/2 or 1 farad capacitors though as they scared the living hell out of me, and to think I knew guys who had 3-4 of those things wired in parrallel!




Oh, I also think that running cable or wires in a car is a TOTAL pain in the ass.   How much wire were you looking at in that truck?   I'm betting it was a helluva lot.   My old truck had around 130-140 feet of 14gauge wire running through it's doors and floor boards to the various seperates, didn't enjoy running the stuff either!   It took me awhile to achieve the imaging I wanted in my truck, had a pretty broad sound stage out across the front of my dash but my rear fill SUCKED!   Bass was brought up from the rear with a single 12 inch W6 running about 250 watts but I usually down tuned it for normal listening, that sub was more than enough for an extended cab Ranger.   Front stage was comprised of 6 speakers total with careful positioning, rear fill was just two mid range speakers and they seemed to get the job done just fine.   I never brought in any equalizers but the overall sound in the truck was VERY good as is without it.

He should spend a little on tires - "Gimme a 6 inch lift, and a set of Weld Typhoons but, I'll keep the factory General AT Grabber's"

Well while you're here Treetop - Have you done anything in a Superduty?

Treetop - you still here? KNOCK-KNOCK - lights are on but, nobodys home.

Aw, don't worry about it.  I guess I'll let ya live.  [:D]

I'm just going nuts out here because of some of the idiots who own those things.  If they want a special system, back the car up to a party, and use it as a stereo, fine.

If they drive around at 3:00 am playing rap music [or [b]any[/b] music, for that matter], I start getting cranky.

Mike

Top that Excursion off with a little DirectTV/Echostar.

[img]http://www.dtsi.com/images/index_30.jpg[/img]

uglygun, the W3 is the "super duper" sub. It's not a replacement for the W6, but it's got longer peak to peak excursion, and greater power handling. I've been pretty happy with the output of the W3s compared to the W6s. The W6s are still only available in dual 6 ohm, while the W3s are available in dual 2, dual 4, or dual 6 ohm. The ones I used here are dual 6 ohm, with each of 2 amplifiers running bridged into a 4 ohm load of 3 woofers(each woofer's 2 coils wired in series, each trio of woofers wired in parallel). It hits pretty good.
As far as the Sub box, I used .75" MDF, doubled up on the front baffle(s) to strengthen the enclosure. It's internally braced like crazy, and sound deadened internally. What you see in the pictures are actually trim panels used to cover the entire enclosure, made from 3/8" MDF and vinyl wrapped to match the interior of the vehicle.

I've used as many as [b]Thirty[/b] 1 farad Capacitors in a single vehicle, this one only uses 4. I generally use either a 5 farad or 15 farad Alumapro Capacitor in a larger system, but my current place of business doesn't carry Alumapro...


1GUNRUNNER- I've worked on quite a few SuperDuties, F250s and F350s, even F550s and an F750(if you'd even consider that a SuperDuty). In fact I worked on an F250 today, troubleshooting a video system that a customer screwed up trying to save a buck. What are you looking for?

prebans- I'm also annoyed by inconsiderate stereo owners. My quiet times are so few and far between, that I get irritated real quick if someone's just trying to show off by being loud.
Like everything, SPL has a time and place. Just not driving through the neighborhood late at night.

TREETOP,

Dang that's one a serious system.

I'm going to circuit city and demanding a refund for that system they sold me last week. They assured me I had the hottest rolling tune machine out there, they lied :(

Here:
[url]http://wsphotofews.excite.com/013/Uz/zu/v6/5J28800.jpg[/url]
This should be close enough for you to make out the texture of the vinyl.
[:)]

Like I said, I HATE WORKING WITH VINYL!   God, the stuff is just a bitch to work around corners and still managing to get it smooth without a god forsaken fold!   That looks really smooth, I was able to do the simple stuff with little worry but going around the thick corners of my door panels I just couldn't avoid a small fold but atleast I was able to hide them.


The door panels I made for my last truck sure did look good but there were two spots on each door where I could do nothing more than create a small fold on a spot where it wrapped over, they were thick pieces though.   God, those doors turned out great I just wish I had power windows in that truck as the installation and design would have looked even better, the manual window cranks really made it hard to design them and make them, especially out of MDF!    I really should have taken pictures of the old doors in that truck, after trying to have a shop build a set of door pannels for the truck I decided I could do it better myself.   My door pannels were also VERY good at eliminating road noise through the doors.



God, after the Mustang thread and this thread, I'm really wishing I could start playing around with this stuff again.   I should be starting a new job here in about another 2 weeks, we'll see in about a month from now after school starts as to whether or not I can swing it.

OMG. Where are the curb-feeler extenders?

I gave my 2-week notice today.
I'm sick of it.

Interesting place to mount the TV on the dash.  Here in Minnesota, state law says no TVs within view of the driver.

And you thought cell phone driving was bad...

The way I have the dash monitor configured, it will only allow video to display if the parking brake is on. The other 3 screens are able to be on at any time.