RKD in OKC

Rob - Yep, like that. Only the Alpine amps were much thinner and it was flat and level so you didn't even notice it looking in the rear hatch.

Lizard928

What about using one of Bluapunkts amps that dont really need ventilation?

Rob Edwards

Here's one data point for a mostly-complete Sharkwoofer install in a GTS.

The 'late' version with cutouts for extra GTS spare tire-area harnesses:


Weight 23 lbs 13 oz, without amp:



Amp:



Empty spare tire area in the GTS, I was a little nervous 'cause of my extra remote fuel pump relay, but that was a total non-issue- what IS the potential issue is the big wiring harness along the top left of the spare well, at 10-11 o'clock. Mine may be an outlier because a PSI (previous stereo installler ) had run a speaker wire bundle along it with zipties. More on this below



So-

I started with a real mess of leftover stereo wires so step 1 was to figure out what was what. When the center console retrofit becomes available I'll probably pull the seats and do a real re-wire to get all the extra stereo crap out of the console, so for now I just butt-spliced into the existing speaker wires and covered everything with 3M polyolefin shrinkwrap. So this is still a work in progress.

I would be interested to see how people have run their Sharkwoofer wiring- Because the unit is a tight fit in the well, there needs to be some slack in the cabling so it can tilt up and move over in order to get to the battery. I currently have more length than I need, but figured I can always re-dress all the cables later. Would love to see other people's solutions!


Wiring with board tilted fully up:




The line-in cables in the car are streetwires with ZX3 connectors on them, but the subwoofer line-in connectors are ZX5's and are just a bit longer. The ZX3 fit ok as a direct fit but I put a pair of right angle RCA jacks on for the subwoofer inputs:. Note the curves in the sharkwoofer enclosure accomodating the need for the inputs on the amp....






Wiring for the cooling fan: I have a remote fuel pump relay in the well, fused battery supply to terminal 30, 12V to pump on terminal 87, switched 12V from the factory fuel pump harness on terminal 86, and ground on terminal 85.




So I put a pair of piggyback spade connectors on terminals 86 and 85, so the amp cooling fan will come on only when the fuel pump is running. Piggybacks and the 2-pin Molex connector can be had from Eagleday (got it from them 'cause I needed some 'correct' colored wire from another concurrent project) or I would guess, Radio Shack.




So the tight spot on my install was along where that harness runs along the top left of the well- there were ziptie heads that were interfering with the amp dropping in completely:






Because of this I have the wiring to/from the amp coming out the rearward side of the amp space and then wrapping around- I need to experiment with having a more direct rounting, perhaps right out at 12 o'clock and just deal with having the extra wiring lengths outside the well.





But with the factory harness pushed tight against the well the sharkwoofer drops into place. It is a very good thing that the sensitivity and LPF/HPF switched on the amp are recessed or I would fear for their safety.


Sharkwoofer in place:




The car already had a big fuse block and grounding block mounted under the hatch latch on the passenger side, so I decided to keep that for power. I still need to address the power and ground wires. Dumb question- is it ok to bundle the power and ground wires in with the line-ins from the head unit? This would simplify the cabling bundles but I thought maybe this would introduce noise. Any thoughts? (I am clearly not a car stereo guru nor an electrical engineer- any advice is appreciated)








So we've gone from this:




to this. The rear carpet is a repro made by Rob Budd- it's perfect for this job because it doesn't have the heavy backing on it (which is why it looks a little rumpled, I suspect it'll lay out after a while of actually being flat..) . I poked about 20 little holes with an awl from the top side down over the cooling fan.

Ducman82

nice install. what are you using as a head unit?

Rob Edwards

The car had an Alpine CDA-9835 in it when I got it. It'll work till there's a carputer to play with instead. Gonna have to figure out what sorts of audio connectivity there is on mini-ITX motherboards- hopefully there's something with multichannel RCA outputs for interfacing with conventional car audio hookups. I'd venture that this is headache #754 on Hans' to-do list....

Ducman82

So i have been chasing a problem that could have easily be fixed. I was getting engine noise from my sub pre outs that was being transmitted over my front and rear speakers. it was very VERY low and could only be heard with the volume really low, as in, my normal listening volume you could not hear it. but knowing it was there was driving me nuts (toss and turn at night :-( )

after speaking with Hans, i was able to narrow it down. i gave the head unit cleaner power, that did not work. but what did work was i had the RCA cables running near the harness on the passenger side rear quarter panel and it was picking up EM interference. i re routed the RCA's to the driver side.. No problems.

so it was all me......... but fixed now.

MGW-Fla

Kudos to Hans & Paul, that is first class work all the way!

I already have a custom sub set up in the wheel well of my '85, but seeing this unit has me thinking perhaps to put one of these in the wife's S4.

hacker-pschorr

12", 10", heck even an 8" will be an awesome setup.

Mike (Z) and I were taking Mac's car (complete with Stage III installed) to the gas station on Sunday. I turned on the stereo and much to my surprise the little 8" in back really pounded. Hatchbacks are really easy to get bass out of. IMO most people will be more than happy with a 10".

This coming form someone who has a pair of 12" PPI comp class subs in a 944

RyanPerrella

yup

im glad someone finally put this thing together!

blown 87

I also had to add a relay to mine to stop the noise that the fan induced.

hans14914

It seems as though the fan-noise issue is hit and miss. On some cars it creates an audible frequency, and in others it does not. I am looking into including a passive filter to scrub off the noise, but have been tied up with other projects recently. It is on my list of things to do though.

I hope to get together with a couple people who have these installed at SITM and get some feedback and try to improve anything that can be easily modified for th next batch. I have already recieved requests to notch or area clearance the mounting plate for easier cable exit. Will likely include that revision on the next batch. Also to be included will be a paper template for cutting the backing off the 89> carpet. Both of these changes can be included without changing the price of the kit, but inclusion of a passive noise filter will probably bump it a couple bucks, depending what I can get away with. Hopefully a simple filter network will work, and only and $5 or so to my costs.

Thanks for the support guys.

Hans

checkmate1996

In my experinece with car stereos and the 928, grounding seems to play a huge factor. For instance, I had a couple of items tied to the same ground and got the 'whine' or audible frequency coming through the system. When I put them on separate (dedicated 928) ground points, it went away....

my .02...

checkmate1996

Yeah, I agree, I have two 10" kickers and it's way more than I really needed...and hatchbacks definately resonate the bass better. Probably for the demographic, one 8" woofer would be sufficient to get the that little extra!

checkmate1996

Hans and Paul - You guys are such a credit to this community! Keep up the great work! Following your passion and innovation is awesome!

Courtshark

Another satisfied customer here... picked mine up from Hans at SITM and installed it immediately. I already had a woofer in the black car, so I used that amp instead of the Kenwood (which is going into the Kraken with the sharkwoofer) for now. I bought the 10" version. It absolutely POUNDS. Tight, deep bass; not boomy at all (unless you want it to be; can be accomplished by fiddling with the crossover on the amp/head unit). The fit and finish is spectacular. It's actually a shame it's so stealth; it's that impressive.

I can't imagine what a 12" sounds like. The 10" sub is more than enough for me. No, that is not what she said.