Recent content by Mercury

You should set the gains with a multimeter. If you google "How to set car stereo amplifier gains with a mulitmeter" you'll find tons of instructions. If you have access to an oscilloscope you can do an even better job. It involves setting your head unit to a high volume, pushing the...

They make pods you can install in the rear next to your bench seat. You *could* make pods and install them anywhere you like. I have a buddy with a TJ that has several attached to his roll bar on the sides, big 10" speakers, and they work for him. My suggestion would be 6.5" pods that go...

It's a rabbit hole, but a fun one! Are you using the JL Twk DSP? I had one for a few years until it burned out, but I loved it. Just wish it could do shelf filters and all-pass filters with phase change. I'm using the Dayton 408, which so far has held up very well. What enclosure are you...

Fun fact: car audio and home audio, hifi or not, is pretty much the same. It's just the listening environment is a lot more difficult to control in a vehicle. I'm not sure why you think the physics of sound somehow changes between a home and car application. " Reflections: Reflections...

Most speakers are not made to be free air speakers. You lose a lot of mid-bass if you go free air in a speaker not designed for it. I tested my speakers with the factory open back design and again in pods, and I nearly doubled the midbass output. Most people that have switched to pods in...

That looks awesome! Some of those old subs play well better than the stuff we have today. I have a few ideas for my TJ. The next step is building kick panels for a pair of 8" midbasses I picked up. It'll be my first time playing with fiberglass, so now I'm just trying to figure out how to get...

Here's a good example of an IB build: Instead of needing a massive enclosure for this sub the vehicle itself acts as the enclosure. A box for a sub this size would take up most of the back cargo area, but with this setup the back of the sub empties directly to the outside. It lets you...

They're too small to get the most bass and midbass, but with the size constraints of the dash we're stuck with them unless we want to get really custom with our install. Sealing around the sides definitely helps. I use a layer of butyl rubber between the plate and the pod, it made a...

Infinite baffle is not the same as open air. Infinite baffle assumes that the baffle, or the mounting surface, is infinite, meaning the front and back waves emanating from the speakers never meet. If you cut a hole in the floor of a sealed vehicle and install a speaker there that would be...

Well, if it's just $50 to get a junkyard replacement I may just go that route.

Okay, spent ten minutes with my lady turning the wheel stop to stop while I laid under the Jeep and not a drop leaked out. It also didn't leak out overnight like the night before. I have no idea what's different this time, the other night I filled it up after I parked and it all leaked out...

Roger, I'll do that tomorrow. How easy is that to replace?

Thanks for the diagram! I got the cover off and neither of the fittings for the two lines are leaking, the hoses aren't, so I'm guessing it's something inside the box. I had hoped it would be as simple as tightening those with a flare wrench, but it doesn't look like it's leaking at the...

Hello! So I'm losing power steering fluid. I filled it up yesterday and half has leaked out, there's a puddle on the ground under the Jeep. I'm trying to figure out where it's leaking, but the whole gear box is covered in fluid. Would someone tell me where the likely leak locations are...

The whole open air design from the factory is wonky, you get so much cancellation. Having those enclosed pods makes such a difference. Hard to say how much benefit you'd have topless. I run a hard top year-round since my Jeep is my daily. It was a substantial upgrade to audio quality, and...