My Blue Sonic LT Hatchback with full Rockford Fosgate System

[andrew43082]

Greetings all,

I've been lurking this forum occasionally since getting my Sonic back in May. Thought it would be time to make an account and post some photos et cetera, to show what I've done and perhaps get some feedback or comments

About the car: Blue Hatchback LT, 1.8L Auto, 16" wheels, connectivity package and fog lights.

About the stereo:

• Stock Headunit (4ch line-level converters for 2 pair RCA's to the trunk)
• 0 gauge wire from the battery to the trunk (as part of RF dual-amp wiring kit)
• Rockford Fosgate P500-4 Amp for mids and highs
• Rockford Fosgate P400-1 for Sub (at 2 ohms)
• Rockford Fosgate P3D4-12 Subwoofer in carpeted, vented, side-firing box, with grille
• Rockford Fosgate Power T1652-S Components in front (100wrms, 200max each)
• Rockford Fosgate Punch P1675 3-way for the rear doors (55wrms, 110max each)
• HushMat speaker kits installed in all 4 doors. (no additional soundproofing in trunk, at least not yet.)
• Products bought at, and installed by Columbus Car Audio and Accessories on Morse Rd., in Columbus, Ohio.

Pros and Cons I've discovered
Pros

• Sufficient power for both amplifiers, with only the slightest headlight dimming when overly loud/low bass hits.
• Crisp signal from headunit, up to volume level 38 or so.
• OEM soundproofing is excellent. Minimal external rattle from the trunk. A cushioned license plate kit helps.
• When cabin is completely closed, there's almost no bass leakage.
• With the front windows (only) open, there's bass leakage to the front/diagonal corners outside the car. With all windows open, the bass envelops the whole surrounding area with great tonal accuracy and volume.

Cons

• Car chimes and signals are amplified. Cannot disable or turn down without reducing amplifier gain. Should be fixed if I get an aftermarket headunit and can use proper 6ch RCA outputs.
• Slight high-pitched interference when headlights are on, including the auto-on. Mostly noticable when not listening to music. I'd say it's around the 19-20khz range buzz. Turning off headlights remedies this.
• Rear view mirror rattles/resonates with certain bass tones and levels. I've taken to tilting the mirror such that one of its sides is pressed up against the headliner, which is totally effective if you discount visibility issues.
• Rear speaker (from line-level to RCA) either isn't tonally flat, or is at least underpowered from the headunit. I've tried to compensate using the fader and rear amp gain, to an acceptable state. Those speakers are mostly for rear-sound-filler anyhow.
  
  That's all I can really think of at the moment. If anyone has any recommendations, comments, or questions, feel free to ask!
  

Now, some pictures:
IMGUR Album: http://imgur.com/a/d0vFq/all
Front

Side

Back

Trunk

Subwoofer

Amps

PUNCH

0 Gauge cable and fuse block from battery terminal

Under the hood

(Stock) backseat speakers are within door. Conveniently, the 6.75" speakers fit snug!

Front dash. 6.5" mids and 1" tweeters in original locations. Crossover mounted behind door panels (never got a picture of that...)

Wireporn underneath the backseat

Backseats fold down to access amps (gain, EQ, and low/high pass filters)

 

[JimmyQ]

That's clean like the wire placement any worry about them getting to hot ?

 

[andrew43082]

That's clean like the wire placement any worry about them getting to hot ?

The amps? Yes they do get a bit hot with >2hrs extended listening at higher volumes. However, I've found that removing the rear deck cover works wonders for heat management.

 

[JimmyQ]

Should have thrown a t15k in there

 

[andrew43082]

Should have thrown a t15k in there

I would've if I had the trunkspace, money, and a spare set of eardrums

 

[JimmyQ]

Yeah thy amp alone is like what 20k? Haha

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

if the light dimming really bothers you i would get a capacitor, i would recommend at least 1 fared per amp and that will cut out any dimming and drop off at high levels

 

[JimmyQ]

Or say screw that and do a big 3

 

[andrew43082]

if the light dimming really bothers you i would get a capacitor, i would recommend at least 1 fared per amp and that will cut out any dimming and drop off at high levels

That's what I'll probably end up doing once I replace the head unit. Till then, I've been keeping the gains low enough that there's no dimming unless I'm really bumping dubstep or double-drop on dark roads. Gotta keep the mid/high gain down enough to not scare the bejeezus out of people with the turn signal volume.

Or say screw that and do a big 3

I'm leaning towards a 2F RFC2D cap, since the next step up is 10F and that's $450... I'm trying to keep it all Rockford Fosgate since having all RF plus being installed by accredited RF technicians gets me an extra year on the amp warranties (so up to 2 years from purchase, instead of 1). Which I've already taken advantage of when my first full-range amplifier (R600-4D, a big mistake) bit the dust and faulted out after two weeks. They upgraded me for free to the P500-4 (same price, oddly enough), and it's even rated at ~580wrms, so no compromises! We had to replace the front crossovers as well, since even after installing the new amp, the drivers side tweeter would cut out completely at loud volumes.

 

[StrictlyCustom]

Or just add a yellow top in the hatch....run that 0 ga. to the battery and then from the battery run 2 4ga. outputs to the amps...old post I know but an extra battery beats a cap any day in my book.

 

[AndrewGS]

Welcome! Nice audio!