durwood

Ok, so now that the new computer has been in the car for a week or two, I finally had a couple hours to straighten out the wiring. It's still no where near "clean" but at least it's getting organized somewhat. I need to get two more barrier terminal strips for the speaker wiring. There is a whole crap load of speaker wire wrapped up at the moment as you can see in the pic. I have to wire up some relays to turn the speaker outputs off because my one amp is so old, that there is a slight turn on pop no matter what. So, the only way to rid myself of the pop is to turn the speaker outputs on AFTER the amp is on, and turn them off before the amp turns off. Yuk!




Here you can see where I decided to install the PC. Since I went with a microATX, it just wouldn't fit under the passenger seat anymore, not liek the ITX. Oh well, now I can show it off more at shows though . Right now you can see this big honking board across it, it's there to keep my sound card in place until I get some more metal mesh to use as the cover. So it's temporary. Also, the hard drive is mounted underneath the rear deck. I used rubber grommets to cushion the drive against bumps and it's in a removable 5.25" drive housing for easy removal if I need to add large files, or just back it up.

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durwood

Also, the factory sub is still in there, but when I have time I am going to remove it and replace it with a ultra quiet 120MM fan to exchange air between the cabin and trunk for cooling, and warming purposes in the winter.

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dmsuperman

Very cool setup.

I've wanted to something similar to this since before I decided what kind of car I want (I'm only just 18, but I'm planning for when I actually have money).

I plan on putting a majority of it in the glove box, leave a bit of room for registration and such but other than that I never use it, so I'll put it in there to be closer to everything else. In the Mitsubishi Eclipses, there are buttons behind the steering wheel (on the back side) to control the music, I want to cut up a mini USB keyboard and stick buttons in the back to control like that, plus a touchscreen in the dash like yours. I want to completely replace the in-car control and go 100% computer though.

How feasible do you think it would be to put the computer in the glove box if I can get some sort of ventilation going in there?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/w...RCCODE=WEBWISH

That's what I'm thinking about for it, not 100% sure but that's what I saw when I looked through. Where'd you get your touchscreen?

durwood

I have run nothing but carputer for my source unit for over 3 years, although a little help from some car audio gear for tuning. The integration of factory controls will make me very happy. THe touchscreen is cool, but it's a little high and hard to reach for safe operation sometimes. Plus, it's old and it is not transreflective so it's kind of hard to see during the day. I bought it on ebay when there were only two otpiosn back then, Xenarc or lilliput. There weren;t many dealers, so I got it on ebay for about $300. Now you can pick it up for $260 in the mp3car store or find one used int he classifieds for under $200. Although, you might want to save up and get the tranreflective if you want the screen to be useful during the day. Read up in these forums, soak in knowledge and plan. It will help you in the long run.

As far as that setup you posted, That very large and going ot be difficult to fit in a glove box. Heat will be an issue, and you will have alot of fan noise. Fan noise is amplified in a car vs the home. You'd be surpirsed how loud a typical processor fans sounds in a car. Also remember cars reach over 150deg depending on your area. Stick with the lower powered ITX systems or used a laptop if you want to do a glovebox install. That's just my opinion.

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Felix509

Hey there, Are you planning on using the delays built into Allocator or seperate ones?? I see everyone listing both Allocator and also Voxengo Delays in there setups, was wondering if the Allocator delay was not working correctly?

My Install starts this week, maybe tomorrow.. Hopefully functional within 10 days.

Laters

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Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to.

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Current SYSTEM
AMD64X2 2.5
Xenarc
ZAPCO DSP-6
ARCAUDIO SE Amps
Rainbow Profi CS365 & Profi Vanadium 12"

durwood

I'm not using the Allocator delay because it delays both pairs of speakers which is no good in the car. Good idea for delays of drivers in the same plane or enclosure and you are spaced evenly in the middle of your speakers, but no good for car use. You need something that delays each side seperately. The resolution on the Voxengo Delay is perfect and you can do each L and R seperately.

Cool on your install. You'll have to let us know how it goes. I want to switch to all software processing this weekend. What card are you using?

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Felix509

I didn't look too close at the allocator But now i see it is for a stereo pair.... That would have made it pretty easy..

I Will be using the Echo Audio LAYLA3G Audio Interface.. Really great specs if you have room. It has 8 channels outand Mic preamp for the WinMLS software, pretty much everything i need until a better solution is found.. Not cheap though..

Laters

__________________
Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to.

___________________________________
Current SYSTEM
AMD64X2 2.5
Xenarc
ZAPCO DSP-6
ARCAUDIO SE Amps
Rainbow Profi CS365 & Profi Vanadium 12"

durwood

Oh ya I forgot you said that in your email. That's cool because you could RTA right in your car with that card since it has phantom power on the mic. You got the MVC ok right?

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durwood

I've been very busy lately, mainly with my audio part of my setup. I have been testing a few things for the carputer but no real advancements in that area except for integrating my factory volume knob control. I'll get into that a bit later. For now here is what I have been up to....new speakers! here is what I put in my door for midbass-a SEAS L18RNX.



The only problem I was worried about since these are home drivers, is that the voicecoil is open for water or whatever else trys to fall in there.

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durwood

So I picked up some of these foam baffles from partsexpress to use as rain shields.




I then chopped off what I didn't need from the back of the driver and the bottom so that the sound is not sealed in.

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durwood

So now it's time for them to go into the door.

Here is my door with the panel removed. Note how mazda did somethign cool, there is a plastic composite panel that you can remove to access the interior of the door.




Removing the window



And finally a naked door

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durwood

Next up is the Raammat I bought from Rick. I don't get too crazy with it like some people. I usually only apply one layer and maybe beef up areas close to the speaker or in the center of large flat panels. I don't run alot of power to my speakers so I usually don't get too many vibrations, plus Mazda builds some pretty quiet doors on their own nowadays.





Then right behind the speaker area in the door, I applied a small layer of Ensolite which I also got from Rick at Raammat. This will help to absorb waves from the rear of speaker. He suggests not using too much of this behind it because it could overdampen the speaker.



Next a few spots on the interior door panel where it vibrates. Notice how mazda put this white felt stuff to help reduce vibratiosn. Kudos Mazda-I was going to apply the ensolite here too but this was a pleasant surprise. That white stuff was not there in my 2004 Mazda 6.



Also of special note, Mazda also put a gasket around the edges of the door so it does not vibrate against the metal of the door. It's no wonder I wasn't in any hurry to deaden the door. Mazda did a good job in reducing it for me.

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durwood

And finally with the speakers mounted:

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Custommx3

Nice work!

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2007 Mazdaspeed 6

Dennis5587

sweet, your getting me anxious... another 3 weeks till i get to start work on mine, so where do you compete anyway?

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