Lighter sound system?

[Exalta-STA]

As much as I've lightened the car and made some aero/mechanical/suspension enhancements, I'd still like to have a good sound system. I've shaved some grams of the metal casing of the metal amplifier and removed unneeded ports and wiring..I'm also using a small 10 inch subwoofer..unfortunately 3/4 inch MDF is real heavy...what other material can I use that'll be lighter but still have good sound quality results?

[Piwoslaw]

It doesn't get much lighter (or cheaper) than that.

[shovel]

I don't think wearing earphones/headphones while driving is a safe idea, because they can keep you from hearing safety cues around you (tires, horns, motors, etc ) that can alert you to hazards & give you time to make corrections to avoid them. Very loud stereos do this too, but at least they don't *block* the outside sounds.

Everyone has their own preferences in music listening, so it's hard to suggest a single ideal solution. Some things you can consider:

• Improving your 'full range' speakers, enabling you to eliminate the subwoofer entirely (this is what I have done, using MTX TXC6.1 components )
• Utilizing a molded resin enclosure, such as Thunderforms
• If you have a trunk, you could use a "Bass Pump" type subwoofer configuration, which does away with the box itself - these require careful attention to crossover and gain balancing in order to sound good, but they do sound fantastic when correctly tuned.
• Building an aperiodic enclosure using lightweight "Pro" (as in live concert reinforcement) drivers - this would allow you to make a very lightweight enclosure (less interior pressure means you can get away with much lighter material than 3/4 MDF), with a very lightweight driver... shouldn't be hard to make satisfying bass in under 10 lbs including wire - though the $$ is a bit prohibitive for that type of driver due to the cost of neodymium these days.

Another consideration for reducing both weight and alternator load is to use full range class D amplifiers for your full range speakers, as they tend to be much more efficient which reduces alternator load and reduces the overall mass requirement of their heat sink. Class A/B amplifiers tend to be 55-65% efficient (to produce 50w power, they would consume ~90w and turn ~40w into heat) while class D automotive amplifiers are generally between 70-90% efficient.

When shopping for speakers, try to find the highest efficiency (that is listed as a # of dB @ 1w/1m ) - for example a speaker rated at 93dB@1w/1m will be as loud when given 10 watts, as a speaker rated 87dB being driven with 40 watts. Most reputable brands list this specification in the basic product description. This can mean using a smaller amplifier, with the obvious weight and power draw reductions from that.

[mcrews]

shovel,
I would not have expected such a resourceful answer was availible for that question!
KUDOS!
THe great thing about free enterprise!!!

[Christ]

For a 10", you can use 1/2" MDF and filler without sacrificing too much bass or creating too much resonance.

There is a mfr that makes very light subwoofers, also. I can't think of their name, but they're for street/track vehicles so you don't have to remove them without sac'ing a bunch of weight for a "standard" system. Alpine?

If you don't normally use CD's, you can make an audio interface that links from your audio-out from the MP3 player to a channel separator (don't mind the bad terminology... I can't think right now) and has a line-out to the sub. You can get apps for most newer MP3's that allow you to control channel functions, and some MP3's even have 5.1 already (and require a cable that is longer than a headphone jack). For instance, I'm fairly certain there's a 5.1 dock for the iPod that you can wire your speakers to. Check on it.

For your door speakers, you can take the ridges off the speaker frames, and you can also drill the "legs" on the speaker frames to remove weight without weakening them.

A ported sub box uses less material, thus weighs less.

Even through all this, you're dead in the water unless you're dead set on losing literally 2-3 lbs, more if you change the sub box.

[Exalta-STA]

Wow thanks so much for the replies! Never thought there was that much options available! Thanks for the info guys, now all I need to do is research and compute which is more cost-effective. Again, thanks! I appreciate it!

Oh and about the headphones, they just approved a new law stating that motorists may not wear any headphones/earphones while driving...so that option is out and it's kinda dangerous too...

[shovel]

Originally Posted by Christ

For your door speakers, you can take the ridges off the speaker frames, and you can also drill the "legs" on the speaker frames to remove weight without weakening them.

With all due respect, I disagree that this is a good idea. We (manufacturers) already use as little material as we can get away with on the frames, because steel or aluminum and freight are expensive. The rigidity of the frame is necessary for intelligibility and clarity. There might be a little 'dead weight'... but probably much less than you might expect. The necessarily heavy parts of a driver are the magnet and pole piece, we use AlNiCo or ceramic on lower cost drivers because although neodymium is stronger and can be made much ligher... and it's not particularly rare (despite being called a "Rare Earth" magnet), its price has been driven unnaturally high in recent times. Apart from using neodymium, it's not possible to reduce the mass of the magnet structure and maintain the necessary BL to offer good performance from the driver.

Originally Posted by Christ

A ported sub box uses less material, thus weighs less.

Also disagree, in order to achieve port tuning below driver Fs on a ported enclosure it is necessary to make the enclosure larger than an equivalent 'Q' sealed enclosure. A "Bass Pump" (which is actually a type of bandpass arrangement with an extremely tight front chamber) or an aperiodic enclosure (like the front half of a small sealed enclosure, with a perforated back end) are the only two ways I know of to reduce materials vs. a sealed enclosure while still providing some form of wave suspension.

[Christ]

Ive drilled speakers before without any problems, and I missed the boat on the ported enclosure thing. That was my bad, wasnt thinking while typing.