Audiophiles

Discussion in 'Gear' started by GoT, Apr 14, 2012.

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  1. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    ?

    its a phone. I think its like an iphone except Bill Gates gets a cut instead of that dead dude at Apple
     
  2. CRUDS

    CRUDS Moderator Staff

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    A bad dildo joke..
    I'm sure there are dB measuring apps for Andriod
     
  3. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    Thanks CC

    Ill see if my wife is willing to install one of the free ones at least for a while.

    Will be good enough for this one off situation
     
  4. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    The Ensolite arrived today. Other than a few odds and ends I have everything too procede. I hope too get going the 20th or 21st
     
  5. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    still might be on schedule for 20/21 start date.

    will be taking 4 before SPL measurments Fri & Sat.


    I have gotten everything I can think of before beginning, now I only have too wait and see what I could not think of and then buy that
     
  6. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    [​IMG]
    the Victim


    OK so for anyone who cares I am out just over $300 on cool hardware and around $425 on sound deadening. I will be taking baseline sound level measurments tonight and tomorrow. This aspect of the project is really why I am doing this whatever this thread is. I am curious if this crap works or not and I will know in a few weeks.

    My gut feeling is that it works but is probably not worth the PITA required too do the job properly. We shall see. If I get 10db loss I will be satisfied that sound deadening works and would consider it for future projects.


    small bit of a lesson in audio here.

    3 dB = twice the power - (what most hardware specs would use)
    6 dB = twice the amplitude (sound pressure)
    10 dB = twice the perceived volume (twice as loud)

    that final measurment of 10db seeming twice as loud needing more than 8x the power too produce is why sound deadening 'could' be so useful. If I achieved 10 db in noise loss thru sound deadening then in theory my 360 watt RMS system would sound like a 720 RMS system (dropping the noise floor 10 db would do wonders for the signal:noise ratio)

    Again this is the reason the project expanded from just replacing worn out hardware.
     
  7. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    the SPL Meter rig


    I have made sure the mic is exposed, FWIW its the pinhole in the lower left

    My daughter is none too pleased too be volunteering her phone for science, well psuedo science - which we all know is the best kind.

    avg 74 db high 88db on the drive in. About what I would have expected. Ranger currently has a thin sheet of metal and light upholstery being the only thing between me and outside noise.
     
  8. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    Made some targeted measurments so I know where the noise is comming from - all measurments are avg db / high db:

    driver feet 83/89
    transmission 82/86
    passenger feet 84/88
    under driver seat 80/83
    behind console 82/87
    under passenger seat 80/82
    driver window 80
    between driver legs 82/88 - not a useful location but an easy one to measure lol
    passenger window 80
    roof 75/80

    nothing here is shocking. Sound seems too be comming from beneath the vehicle where the engine/transmission and road/tires are.
    [​IMG]

    and some baseline measurments:
    parking garage windows up engine off 20
    parking garage windows up engine running 61

    city 70/77 windows down 75/81
    interstate 82/91 windows down 86/95
    rural 78/84 windows down 86/92

    you might be wondering why city is lower than rural. Well the stretch of 'city' I drive in is by the Nashville airport and speed limit is 35 whereas the rural section I drive on, Bill France and Hwy 231, I can go 55. But really the deltas are what are important

    I have to say these measurments pass the eye test anyhow. They seem reasonable, but the most important thing will be the delta when measurments are redone after the sound deadening is complete

    I am planning on starting tomorrow afternoon so I will be bringing my manual into work tonight to read up some on how too remove the interior of the ranger
     
  9. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    well I got started and ran into some issues. Luckily I had a torx 15 driver and a torx 50 socket handy otherwise I would have been at a standstill.

    I got the drivers side door panel, the passenger seat and passenger seatbelt clip half all off. There was some vibration damper inside the door. This was a pleasant surprise. And the weather barrier was closed cell foam. This tells me that at least Ford is aware of sound supression even on their bottom end vehicles. Inside the door revealed zero visible rust but it has been about 15 years since this the door was exposed and I gurantee nobody from HiFi Buys did any cleaning - lol

    So I got dirt and dust up as best as I could and tomorrow I will actually clean before I apply the dynamat damper inside the door.

    I still have too decide what I am going too do about the speaker wiring, but I am leaning heavily towards bypassing the factory stuff and running my own. After all how often will the whole interior be readily available?
     
  10. GoT

    GoT Strength and Honor

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    I got the damper installed and I decided to put in some insulation inside the doors as long as they are exposed. Besides some minor sound supression the insulation will also fill up the door cavity somewhat and provide temperature control to a small degree. I used Frost King duct insulation. They sell a closed cell foam self adhesive format but I wanted the volume of the traditional fiberglass. But the install with the fiberglass has been a PITA. The work inside the door panels is just as grueling as any of the build logs I have read describe. I made it far worse with my decision to put in the insulation.

    So after 3 days work, probably 10ish hours total, I have all the damper & insulation installed in the doors and I am about 40% done sealing the insulation with aluminium tape. This is really challenging as most of the time I have no way of seeing what I am doing so I have to install by feel plus there is absoutly zero guide as too how too install duct insulation inside a car door so I am just doing what seems right - lol

    Oh and I have decided too totally bypass the factory stereo wiring and sadly I have had too order another set of Kenwood KFC-C6894PS speakers as the 15 year old eclipseses' are too far gone too bother reinstalling.
     
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