Hassen's Ford Focus 1.6 Tdci Build Thread

[Lenny]

Never thought of that. Great idea Lenny. Might get it wrapped in black carpet, same colour as the boot to keep it tidy. One more to add to the to do list and this should be a cheap mod to do. Cheers :)

Btw, if you are in the Midlands visiting, you should come have a listen to the new sound system. I am around Athlone, Mullingar and Tullamore during the working week :)

thanks mate will do,

Cant see myself traveling in the coming months as im out of work with my back past month and getting married in 4 weeks time,

Pending a back operation after CT scan in euromedic yestersay and third baby due in November

They give me a CD yesterday with my CT images on it lol gotta upload to photobucket some time this week when i find out whats going to happen.

[b4zz]

looks like you have been a very busy boy hassen

looks like a very tidy job you are doing any chance of up loading a video once you are all finished with the install

[Hassen]

Lenny, look after yourself mate. You need to take it easy and loads happening for you. Congrats again on the upcoming wedding and new addition to the family. Does that mean you will need to get a station wagon now? :P

I would offer to help with the CT images as a doctor but sadly I deal with Mental Health and I would have no clue what I was looking at. I heard Valium are great for sore backs ;)

[Hassen]

looks like you have been a very busy boy hassen

looks like a very tidy job you are doing any chance of up loading a video once you are all finished with the install

Thanks man. It's been a very tedious job but totally worth it in the end. I plan on uploading a 1080p video of the whole thing in action once I have the project completed. I am hoping the dSLR camera's mic will be able to pick up the sound better than a phone mic. It has in the past when doing guitar recordings, so here is for hoping.

As for the sound from the component Speakers, I am blown away and when it comes to music gear, that rarely happens. My commute to work today was highly entertaining. I was grinning and laughing while listening to music on the motorway. Very clear articulated highs and punchy mids. The Speakers have not even been run in and they have that distinctive Focal sound. I am hoping that once I get the rear doors sound deadened and connect the subwoofer to the monoblock amp, there will be some further improvements :)

[Hassen]

This afternoon kept on working on the car. Without too much trouble, I managed to wire up the JL Audio JX250/1 amplifier. Took me about 1 1/2hr with lots of disruptions from the kids jumping in and out of the car. Was still fun though. Once wired up it worked from the start without any issues.

Quick picture of the new setup:

The wiring will need to be tidied up once I am done. The sound from this amplifier is a lot cleaner and more powerful than the bridged mode off the Blaupunkt GTA470. I had to turn down the Bass Boost function off it to 0 as it was too overpowering all the rest of the music! Together with the rest of the system, it does blend very well.

I made a quick video off the camera phone but don't know how good it was able to capture the music. Once it's uploaded on Photobucket, I will post it :)

[Hassen]

Video finally uploaded but I think the sound quality is not great off it. In person, the system sounds a lot better :)

http://vid1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag131/demisonic/VIDEO0096_zpshnzov8s6.mp4

[Hassen]

Quick update: Didn't do much the last few days. This afternoon, rewired the Blaupunkt GTA470 with a nice set of Vibe 4 AWG kit. Thought might as well upgrade the whole electrical system and clean up the mess of wires since I wanted to get the most out of the Speakers.

Took an hour as well to fine tune the sound to my liking. Lots of knob tweaking and listening to subtle changes. WIth the new wiring, the annoying hum/whizz that was present before is nearly all gone. I had repositioned the power wire as well. Happier now that I know that the wiring can supply clean power to both amps without any issues. This covers it as well for future upgrades regarding electronics :)

Tomorrow, depending on weather, I plan on stripping the rear doors, sound deaden them, install and wire the rear Vibe Slick 6 Speakers. These will only be used for very light rear fill. Thought there was no point in getting anything fancy and I already had them.

[Hassen]

Quick pictures of what I did today. Sound deadened the rear doors and wired the rear Speakers to the amplifier. Project sound system overhaul is about 80% completed. Left with 7 sheets of Silent Coat which I plan on putting in the front footwells of the car to try to reduce some of the vibrations coming from the engine. Then, once funds allow it, I will get more Silent Coat and do the bonnet and rest of the car floor. That's still up for debate though.

Also, thanks a million to the legend that is Lenny. He donated a pair of Boom mats to my project and I plan on fitting them once I get the new clips for the front door. Saves me taking off the door cards twice. Reckon the Boom mats will improve bass response even further. Thanks again Lenny :)

Boom mats from Lenny

Door card being taken off

Stock rear Speakers

Stock speaker carefully ripped out with a hacksaw :P and Silent Coat sparingly applied as opposed to what was done to the front door.

Vibe Slick 6 speaker wired up to amplifier.

That's all for now folks :D

[Lenny]

Looking good mate,

Didnt need to give me a mention there so thanks for that lol

I reckon another set of boom matts on the rear would help base response too,

The vibe Speakers look tidy in the doors too.

[Hassen]

That's the least I could do man :)

To be honest, the front Speakers are doing most of the work. The rears are just barely heard for rear fill and I think that will stay like that as they tend to muddy up the sound if I do it 50/50 front/rear. I just wanted to have working rear Speakers to be used when I do have passengers in the rear, which isn't that often. Once I get the clips next week, I will take off the front door cards and install the Boom mats. Can't wait to fit them and hear the difference.

[PaulR1993]

I just fitted some cree sidelights will put up pics when it gets darker :)

http://bit.ly/1rMPIBx

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[Hassen]

Today had a little bit of time and there was no rain. Got the Boom mats that Lenny sent over. It was not that hard to do as I have removed the panels way too many times before. Guess I could do it in my sleep at this stage :P

Small hole in the Boom Mat, thread the wire through and connect to Speakers. Refit Speakers and test before putting the panels back. Also, I fitted some new clips which I had bought off eBay to replace the ones that were broken. No more rattles in the doors now. Few pictures :)

[Lenny]

Looking Sweet mate,

Im sure the reduce the level of noise heard from outside the car,

But do you notice any improvement in base response inside the car after fitting the boom matts,

Are they worth fitting?

[Hassen]

They do look very sweet! So far, the bass response is a bit tighter but I haven't driven the car yet. Will give you an update tomorrow. Rattle from the door is gone, which is brilliant :)

My thoughts about the Boom mats were to buy them to protect the Speakers 1st of all, to reduce any rattle and to improve bass response. So far, I think it ticks all those boxes.

[Hassen]

Drove the car today after putting the Boom mats in yesterday. Improvement in the tightness of the bass while driving. Put this song on and was definitely surprised how clear and articulate it all sounded. Also, had tweaked the whole system to my taste yesterday. Had to reverse the polarity of the sub as the bass sounds were coming from the back more prominently and didn't blend with the front Speakers. Now the whole soundstage is in front of me and it's a lot more cohesive as a whole.

This is the song I was listening today in the car. It's very well produced and recommend it to test a car audio system. Ryan Hemsworth - One For Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_L8ZVoWA8

[Lenny]

Recommend you try this one mate particular favourite and each tone comes together one by one,

Should sound good from tweeters aswell

[Lenny]

[Hassen]

Have to stick this on the ipod. This is epic for driving in the morning. Would definitely wake me up :p

[Lenny]

Have to stick this on the ipod. This is epic for driving in the morning. Would definitely wake me up :p

its the first track from Tiësto album Elements of life quite a good album to purchase. Released in 2007 has more main stream tracks that you would be likely to have heard on the Radio,

[Lenny]

[Hassen]

Added on my list of albums to get along with Lianne La Havas that I only heard of yesterday. Any more music recommendations, send them my way. Still breaking in the Speakers. Loving them so far :)

[Hassen]

Small update. I have had the new setup for a few weeks now and I think the Speakers are well broken in. Still not 100% satisfied as on the motorway, the ambient noise levels are quite annoying. Apart from that, I am very happy with the sound quality in the car.

I have a few questions though:

1. My current amp is rated at 70W rms x 4 channels. My Front Speakers are rated at 80W rms (Focal 165KR). Will I notice any improvement by upgrading the amplifier? Reading up online, suggestions was to have an amplifier pushing around 120W rms to extract the most of my Speakers. If this was true, any 4 channel amplifiers that you guys could recommend that will not break the budget?

2. Been doing a bit of research online after hearing about the Audison Bit Ten processor. Very tempted to get one. Any thoughts about it?

Next planning to try to record the current system in 1080p and also get more Silent Coat to lay on the floor of the car.

[FOCA]

Small update. I have had the new setup for a few weeks now and I think the speakers are well broken in. Still not 100% satisfied as on the motorway, the ambient noise levels are quite annoying. Apart from that, I am very happy with the sound quality in the car.

I have a few questions though:

1. My current amp is rated at 70W rms x 4 channels. My Front Speakers are rated at 80W rms (Focal 165KR). Will I notice any improvement by upgrading the amplifier? Reading up online, suggestions was to have an amplifier pushing around 120W rms to extract the most of my speakers. If this was true, any 4 channel amplifiers that you guys could recommend that will not break the budget?

2. Been doing a bit of research online after hearing about the Audison Bit Ten processor. Very tempted to get one. Any thoughts about it?

Next planning to try to record the current system in 1080p and also get more Silent Coat to lay on the floor of the car.

Hi! -

The Focal 165krs are very high end Speakers, they have the flattest frequency response of any car speaker i have seen, they seem to be built for quality, and although not inefficient at 91db, the cone material is optomised (and probably the overall design) for sound quality rather than efficiency (or maximum loudness) they are 4 ohms, 80w nominal and 160w peak - the kapton former and quality construction means the power ratings are probably conservative, and they could be driven hard (but not into clipping) for long periods with no trouble BUT - you won't notice a big difference (as much as you might think) between 70w and 120w as the increase is less than 3db

Are you using the passive crossovers on the front Speakers? - active crossover(s) and seperate amps can increase power, as well as reduce intermodulation distortion and the distortion introduced by the passive crossovers (generally clipping/ overload distortion and phase distortion) - if you used the 70w for the tweeter and 120 for the woofer (190 in total - you would need an active x-over though) that would noticably increase power (and quality) - dont forget to check the power output realative to the ohms (varies)

It is possible to fit an infrasonic filter to cut the low bass on the front Speakers - this can increase power handling/ headroom on the amps and speakers + reduce multi-point phase distortion from the various different low-bass sources, - the sub would handle all the low bass, the speakers and sub x-over would have to be matched and carefully set/ selected and the sub would have to be powerful

If you could describe in detail your complete setup and the way it is wired

I have found a low cost but high-power (not super high-end but decent) amp manufacturer online but have lost it again (cant even remember the name - nothing id heard of before but the specs were good) :( - i will see if i can find it again

Processors are great but you are only as good as your weakest link and if you have any underlying deficiencies (like its not loud enough, or the bass isnt deep enough) it will still show through, best to get the core system sorted then add a prossesor (in my opinion)

[Hassen]

Thanks for all the info Foca. I knew you were the right person to ask.

Once I am home, I will post the wiring diagram for the current setup and it's a lot easier to explain then. Using the passive crossovers that came with the Speakers and they are doing a good job so far. 2 amp setup - JL Audio JX250.1 for the sub and Blaupunkt GTA470 for the front and rear Speakers. Both front and rear Speakers are rated at 80W rms and subwoofer is rated at 300W rms

As for processors, that's what I thought so and I think I need to beef up the whole system before investing in one. They are not cheap and that Audison Bit Ten was £300!

Would be great if you could find the name/brand for that amp. I just feel that at the moment with 70W rms for a speaker that is rated at 80W rms nominal, it's just not extracting the best out of it. Plus, the amp that I have is a bit old and it would be nice to get something a bit more efficient. So far, with my research, one of the contenders is the Alpine PDX-F4 (100W rms @4ohms) would seem to fit the bill but it's not cheap either.

Any more advice/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Pictures of the current setup in this thread :)

[Hassen]

And, in regards to the Focal 165KR, I just couldn't resist getting them while on holidays in Mauritius as in the end they were cost price. Previously wanted the Focal PS165 but these were a big jump from the polyglass ones. Very happy now that I have them. Makes a big difference :)