2006 Civic sound dampening project

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Originally Posted by chylld

well given what i've heard about lifestyle, i doubt they'd do a bad job, so $200 for dynamat material + dynamat installation + speaker installation sounds quite reasonable. does that include installing the amp and running the wiring etc.? what about tweeters? from what i've read, installing non-standard (i.e. in Aus, any) tweeters in the stock positions at the base corners of the windscreen is a major dremeling job.

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Might've poorly worded my post so I'll clarify;

$340 for either the RF P162S or MBQ DSF216
$140 for installation of splits (inclusive of wiring, etc..)
$200 for the Dynomat + Installation

As for the tweeters, if I went the RF, I'd probably put one in each corner of the windscreen and run the second one as a coaxial... but I'm actually leaning towards the MBQ DSF216. After listening to them side by side with a variety of songs I like, the MBQ are far and beyond superior (considering they are same price). Only one song had the RF's sounding a bit better, but once it went past the introduction, the MBQ gave a much more balanced and less shrill sound which I thought would be more suited to my needs. Sure it won't be as loud as the RFs, but I felt they were alot better.

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Originally Posted by chylld

also have they dynamatted an 06 civic's doors before? it's a hugely messy affair with the goop, check out my first RR door pic above. i'd ask about this as well as the tweeter installation.

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Apparently they did a full system for an 06 Civic recently and they will upload the photos shortly. Everything from creating a new dash to rebuilding the boot.

Btw, on another topic!... what do you guys think of this;

I have my HU with 4 speaker outputs. The rear speaker lines are connected up to a line-out converter (with the speakers also plugged in). These line outs are connected to my 4ch amp, which has 2 channels in use for the sub. If I were to use the other 2 channels for the front speakers; is this a good idea? It'll save money in terms of no need for an additional line-out, but it means my HU's front 2 speaker channels won't be used... what do you think?

glad u found splits that u liked... u gotta show me once they're installed :) i've just decided not to buy a 32" lcd tv and a sound system for my car (2k each) as i'm trying to not let myself get too carried away :) i might buy one of those 24" dell monitors though, they're going for 1200 (normally 1500) and should serve as a tv well enough (i have a small room)

lifestyle did a full custom on an 06? damn... gotta see that!! i'm interested even though i intend on keeping my 06 looking 100% stock inside and out. obviously they know what they're doing, given the hassle i went through with the dynamat install, the $200 is probably worth it.

however (there's always a however) i suggest you check out raamaudio's door sd howto to see what should be done for a decent sd job - if lifestyle's only doing dynamat then make sure they do the outer skin too (the front door needs 2 layers on the outer skin alone!) and reinforce the sd over the access hole, because our 06's have awfully big ones...

Ensolite has arrived!

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2249/ens11yn.th.jpg
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/4848/ens20cb.th.jpg
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2934/ens34sn.th.jpg

i ordered 6 yards of the stuff, so about 8.4 square metres - should be enough to do the entire car with maybe an additional layer on the floor and in the doors.

it's essentially a special 3mm-thick closed-cell neoprene foam developed by nasa. it wasn't specifically designed for the purpose of acoustic absorption, but experience says that this is some of the best stuff you can put in your car.

smells a bit funny though, hope that doesn't stay :)

I'm planning on asking them to give me a more detailed explanation- but yeh, Lifestyle said they fully modelled an 06 and are planning to upload the photos shortly!

As for the Dell LCD... only problem with the 24" is, by the time you go to buy it you'll think- hmm... the 30" isn't that much more expensive and will probably drop in price within a couple of months; can I hold out? That's because that's how I felt back when I was planning to buy a 17" LCD many years ago- and then 19" dropped, and then 20" dropped, and then 24" kept hitting the <$1200 mark (from Dell)- I read Icon every week >_> ... in the end I bought the 19", and said when 30" becomes a bit more affordable, I'll buy my mother one for her birthday or something.

i decided to hold out on the LCD... at the moment i have a perfectly good 17" lcd and a 51cm tv to watch stuff on... neither are problematic so there was really no justification to buy a 24" :)

Just a few questions and maybe a suggestion,

1. Did you clean off all your body parts with wax remover before applying all that dynamat ?
2. If you really want to make the car dead quiet then what you should consider is getting think lead sheeting, you can get thsi from plumbing stores, put the lead sheeting inbetween the layers of dynamat or inbetween the dynamat and the acoustic foam.

No sound penetrates lead, and lead is only harmful if consumed or touched on a daily basis, so if you apply it with some gloves, you should be good to go.

Also I'm wondering have you had a chane to check out how easily the dash would come out ?

isn't lead heavy as?
lol.

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Originally Posted by VTECACCORD

Just a few questions and maybe a suggestion,

1. Did you clean off all your body parts with wax remover before applying all that dynamat ?
2. If you really want to make the car dead quiet then what you should consider is getting think lead sheeting, you can get thsi from plumbing stores, put the lead sheeting inbetween the layers of dynamat or inbetween the dynamat and the acoustic foam.

No sound penetrates lead, and lead is only harmful if consumed or touched on a daily basis, so if you apply it with some gloves, you should be good to go.

Also I'm wondering have you had a chane to check out how easily the dash would come out ?

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1. Didn't use wax remover, just used 99.5% isopropyl alcohol.
2. i'm thinking of doing this for the floor - at the moment the floor is just dynamat, next weekend i'll be adding ensolite and was originally going to just lay the carpet back down on top of the ensolite but am now thinking about adding a barrier layer there, some cheap lead/similar sheeting from bunnings or something would work well. so essentially my car floor from bottom up would be spray, metal, dynamat, ensolite, lead, carpet. as opposed to just metal, carpet.

the front bits of the dash come out easily enough, some good (official) manuals at collegehillshonda.com (look for accessory installation instructions) so removing enough to install a new stereo/similar should be quite simple. removing enough to get to the firewall though is another matter altogether... i couldn't even pull the carpet up around the pedals (it's stuck down somehow.)

Lead would be heavy yes, but the lead sheeting is very thin and pliable, so you can basically get it to work very well.

I don't think it would add more than 50kg to the car, but for those interested Lead sheeting is a far superior sound barrier than dynamat, dynamat absorbs vibrations by adding mass. With that being said Dynamat is safer and easier to use.

I'm not sure how Lexus get there cars so quiet but I would imagine a lot of sound deadening and possibly lead may be used, that combined with superior aerodynamics.

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Originally Posted by VTECACCORD

I'm not sure how Lexus get there cars so quiet but I would imagine a lot of sound deadening and possibly lead may be used, that combined with superior aerodynamics.

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that's something i'm greatly interested in as well - how do some manufacturers make their cars so quiet out of the factory? the hard part is finding a lexus/mercedes owner if you can dismantle their car for a bit :)

i did however catch a glimpse of the inside of a mercedes s-class door panel on the UK show Top Gear - the inner skin was entirely covered with this yellowy sponge/foam looking material. looked fairly thin as it was very immaculately moulded to the contours of the inner skin.

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Originally Posted by chylld

defense pak sound protection (official honda accessory)
what is it: wax/tar compound sprayed onto the underbody of the car, including wheel arches
result: noticeable drop in road noise. if you split up road noise into the deep 'rumbling' sound and the more white-noise sound of tyres running over tarmac, then you could say it cut down the latter to the point where it can no longer be heard over the former.

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how expensive was that accessory? sounds excellent and im tempted to add it to my civic....

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Originally Posted by oms

how expensive was that accessory? sounds excellent and im tempted to add it to my civic....

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the defense pak sound+rust protection cost $495. if i had ordered it along with the car it would have only cost $200 but oh well.

in my opinion, there was a noticeable reduction in noise, but it wasn't magic by any measure. the good thing about it is that it comes with a lifetime warranty if you do it before the car is 1 year old, and it protects against rust too which can be a long-term problem if you get a bad ding from a stone flying up from the road.