Car Audio Fabrication - Learn to Master Car Audio - Design, Build, and Install your ideal Car Audio System. Step by step tutorials on how to design and build subwoofer boxes and make custom door pods, door panels, under seat sub enclosures, and more. Installing Car Audio items like amplifiers, head units, subwoofers, speakers, and wiring can be a challenge. Allow me, Mark of CarAudioFabrication, to help you! I love car audio and believe everyone should be able to enjoy their ideal audio system. From builds with massive amounts of bass any basshead can enjoy, to audiophile installs with carefully tuned signal processors I want to help you so we can all enjoy high quality sound together. Subscribe for new videos every week!
You sound like you owned/worked in a stereo shop before. Almost every type of music sounds better with a sub. Thanks for the tips, especially the firewall location.
Back in 1995 I built a similar box like that for the back of my friend’s 1980 RX7 but with four 8” Pioneer IMPP I painted the whole box with black rubberized undercoating.
Does anyone know of a place where I can get A Range Rover Sport autobiography (2024/25) fully customized? I'm not trying to do any of the work myself I want it to be done professionally. The sound/audio quality are a priority but I want it to knock too. I create/make beats & produce music for a living having another source to check the mix would be a bonus. But I'm looking for the best places for professional, high-end customization. Even if it means traveling outside the NYC tri-state. If I can get it all done at one place that would be even better. I assume I'd have to go to different places. One for the exterior & another for the sound system. Either way looking for a place that works on high-end vehicles all day. I want the whole thing murdered out. 24-in rims, tinted windows everything. That custom car show look & sound. There's probably people here, car enthusiasts & even people who do the work, that would know. This video caught my attention because I wonder why more people don't look for the vehicle 1st. The perfect ride the audio system you want to build. I even thought about an older SUV (like a 90s GMC) but since I don't need multiple cars it's not practical & I need a new SUV since I'll probably have it for a while. I even thought what about a new Range Rover that's already been customized but then figured why would a bunch if people have a new SUVs customized, then sell them?.Maybe that's a thing idk? I've rode the train for most of my life. There's actually a Range Rover Sport on the DreamWorks Motorsports page that's perfect. Not sure if it has a custom sound system still that's the look I'm after. Regardless, thanks for any info.
I ran various JL subs back in the day and one thing that always impressed me was the sound quality and ability to handle more than rated power. I started with 2 12W0 subs on a 600watt Crossfire amp in 1999. They were only rated at 125wrms each, but they took everything that amp could feed them without issue. I then moved to an 18W3 on the same amp in 2004, but had it in a Focus ZX3 hatchback, and that would tickle my butthole in that tiny car. No sloppiness at all from that big sub. Then I had two WX10's on a JX250. They sounded amazing for such a low powered setup. If I wanted to get another sub today, I probably wouldn't get anything more than a 12W3. But from what I understand, their TW subs are nothing short of amazing.
@CarAudioFabrication, i drive a 05 Pontiac gto and currently running 2 8inch Mtx thunder 4500 on a open air setup. I want more overall bass utilizing the same rear deck application but was wondering if you xan recommend a better option for subd in same size specs
hi. great videos. i was wondering if a slotted vent can be located on the bottom of the box instead of the side. rotated 90deg thus increasing the height and reducing the width of the box? i was hoping to build a slotted vent box with a slopped back to fit up against the seat. would this be possible?
I have had 2 tw13’s in my f150 crew cabs an ‘05 and ‘11. First setup was a 500/1 on each and the ‘11 has a single Kicker 1200w. Dang sure a quality sub! Also had 4-w6 12’s and a 13w6 in a ported box. All were good to me.
How do i get a distribution block for just 8 gauge wire I don’t want to change my wire size and do I need a distribution block for 10 gauge speakers wire
Feel free to ask JL themselves. Whenever possible they recommend having a flat signal into the DSP amp in order to save processing power on the tuning DSP itself.
I watched your video on wiring a dual amp system great video btw ty. I just purchased a HU, 4 speakers, a sub and 2 amps. My 4 channel speaker amp has A and B inputs for front and rear speakers and output rca Jacks. Should I connect my sub amps rca inputs to speaker amp outputs or directly to the headunits subwoofer outputs? What are the difference, pro/cons of each way. Im assuming I will lose the ability to tune the subwoofer through the headunit if I connect the sub amp rca inputs to the speaker amp outputs rather than headunit but that's only my guess. Any advice is greatly appreciated
Would this apply to the component speakers as well. So it’s best to have individual channels for each speaker. Tweeter,mid,mid bass instead of just using impedance blockers. Then further does a component system distribution box prevent this even though one leaf powers the whole block
Iv been asking for labor prices in my aream they 500-700 for installing 4 speakers and an amp. I don't remember it being this expensive back then. Is it me or is this super unrealistic?
I have to add the worst mistake. Not using a fuse on the sub amp main wire. I have been an auto tech since the 70s. Want to see how to burn you vehicle to the ground: don't fuse the main amp wire and then develop a short on that wire. Poof I've recovered several completely ruined vehicles because of this simple mistake.
I'm now going to a 8" Focal Bomba BP20. In order to get really balanced sound and at the same tame precise, very low frequencies, having a big sub with a lot of power can't give you a good sound at a level that doesn't leave you deaf. I had SPL oriented systems before and right know I aim to quality, not quantity.
Did you make that W7 box at the beginning of the video? If not where did you buy it. It looks really nice. 👍 Should it be facing into open cabin or be best closest to a wall. Like the back wall of an extended cab truck ❓🤔
I’m designing a similar setup for my 24 Chevy Silverado. For the Fix 86, can you please explain why you went with the turn on lead to it rather than using dc offset to turn on the unit? You can still use the turn on out to the amplifier correct? Or did you just want them all to turn on/off at the switch?
I like series connection because impedance rise and the sub will last longer and does not smell like pararrel connection the sub got hot quick and the sub smell
Also it helps to give yourself a little bit of space around the speakers like a net and clear markings on the carpet do not place anything because speaking from experience I have had my ex place too many things too close to my speakers before and then beat down the block
I have this unit in my 2007.5 6 speed Dodge Ram 3500 DRW 4x4 megacab. (The older diesels are just so much better) It is my tow-pig, project, and roadtrip machine. The larger screen is amazing for long trips touring the country on our anniversary road trips. The screen fits perfectly between the vents, sits just above the climate control, and tucks perfectly under the dash bezel. Paired it with some audison speakers, subs, and amps. The family can watch videos o on the screen through a roku plugged into the HDMI port i relocated into the cigarette lighter and have theater quality sound. This has definitely been one of my favorite mods I've done to this truck.
I've never heard a factory system that was better than a system with a 4 channel amplifier and a amplifier with a subwoofer. I have heard some factory premium systems that sounded "alright" but for the money spent you could do much better to just put that money towards a 5 channel amp, decent coaxial speakers, and a subwoofer.
Just had this exact discussion 2 weeks ago with some audio friends. We all came to the conclusion "at rest" is one thing but box discrepancies and woofer variations were going to be very bad once power was applied. Thanks for the verification!
Thanks for the great info on making my DIY install more professional! Highly appreciate all your good content and shared knowledge! What's the green transparent sheets you used to generate the patterns for the sound deadener material?
Interesting video! I'd say I learned something new! You really should have touched on the big elephant in the room: Impedance rise of series VS. parallel. After my experiences with my JL 13W7, I will avoid series connections altogether. What I noticed most was that the impedance rise of a series circuit vs. a parallel circuit was proportionally higher in the series circuit. With the subs coils in series, I was mostly seeing an average of 5 ohms across the board. In a parallel configuration, I was seeing an average of 1 ohm across the board. In the series configuration and using a SounDigital 3K (2 ohm version) I was only able to get 950-975 watts RMS out of a 3K. When I went with a 5K, I still was only able to muster 1400+ watts RMS. I would have tried an 8K, but didn't have the room, due to all the equipment being located in the spare tire well. This is when I decided to try a D4S JP23v2 and wire in parallel at 0.75 ohm. The results were staggering. Not only did I substantially increase my headroom, (2,980 watts) but I saw way less impedance rise. JL's maximum power rating of the 13W7 is spot-on. Beyond that and the voice coil bottoms out. Sorry for going off topic Mark!
Hi CarAudioFabrication, I've been following your channel for a while and I really appreciate all the in-depth reviews you do on car audio systems. I work with a company that specializes in automotive head units, and we’ve just launched a new car entertainment product that I think your audience would love. We'd love to discuss a potential collaboration with you. Can we connect? Thanks!
There's one advantage to series wiring the subwoofers - if the coil in one fails, both of them will stop seeing power. Why is this an advantage? If they're both sharing the same box volume, if one fails, the remaining working subwoofer is now seeing TWICE the effective box volume that it was previously seeing, and a huge "passive radiator" (the non-functioning subwoofer) in the box, and apart from sounding pretty bad, that could lead to over-excursion and mechanical failure of the subwoofer.
