carbon fiber console.

[Bill Wyko]

Most of you know me for turning and humidors. But, you don't know me for what pays the bills around here. Well here's a little example of what I do for a living. This is a wood console that is shaped then outfitted with a carbon fiber shell on the outside. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.

http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL2109/11908737/23572979/400407297.jpg
Ant the carbon fiber woofer box & bed kit. This is done by making a wood skeleton then stretching speaker grill cloth over the frame. Then I lay up fiberglass over the cloth and body work it to a smooth surface. Then I upholster it. Since this picture, the interior of the woofer box has been changed to Carbon fiber. I'll post pics once I put it back together.
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL2109/11908737/23572979/393302165.jpg

[Tad Capar]

WOW - that's custom built! Very interesting how custom car stereo installation have progressed over the years. Back in early '80's I had started to supplement my income by making speaker boxes for couple local custom car stereo businesses. Back than black "Formica" was the popular choice of finishes. Is that a "pexiglas" on the woofer box or is it left open to see through? Please post more pictures and explain the "carbon fiber".

[Bill Wyko]

That is 3/4" plexi glass that we bent here in house. The whole thing is coming together next week so I'll post a lot more pics asap. This animal has 16,000 watts using 9 JBL amplifiers. It has 4 batteries and actually can listen to itself and tune itself for perfect sound reproduction. We can control the whole system from a touch pad outside the vehicle. When it's not in use, it motorizes away in the console. We also made the steering wheel controls run the touch pad as well. The back of the console houses thre x-over networks and are covered by a bent piece of polished 3/4" plexi.

[Jason Adkins]

do i see w12gtis?

[Bill Wyko]

Good eye. It has 4 JBL GTI 12" subs in a 5th order band pass box. When the new doors are done, it will have 4 sets of the new JBL 660GTI component speakers. I'll post the amp racks next week but it has 8 of the new digital 4 channel amps. Each amp goes to one mid & 1 tweeter. each pair of channels are bridged to one speaker. This thing literally moves the concrete floor but the sound quality is mind blowing. Not all bass by any means.

[John A. Callaway]

What head unit, and what tuning system are you referring to ?

also while I got you ..... did you ever mess around with the Alpine 9887 head unit, and more specifically the imprint system ? I have it, and after doing some mic location changes and sub woofer settings I ran about four imprints total .... I have a soundstage that is pretty darn sharp for what the setup cost.

Also, Do you know which cable setup works with the iphone 4S my old nano charges, but my new one doesnt, although all controls work fine.... my iPhone arrives tomorrow, and It would be nice to have it charge while docked into the head unit....

[brian c miller]

I would guess it's an audyssey unti doing the calibration. It's pretty simple concept really... play and known frequency and listen with a calibrated mic then adjust. In practice there's a LOT more goin on due to the fact most of what you are hearing is reflected of some other surface. I think that the alpine imprint use the audyssey background software.

Bill, great job on the install & the Monsoon turning, the turquoise was stunning.

[Todd Burch]

I have no idea what you all are talking about..., but the interior looks pretty fine! More pics on the process please Bill! Isn't the carbon fiber strong enough to not need the wood guts? What do you use for wood? Ply? Or something lighter like poplar or basswood?

[John A. Callaway]

yes, the imprint is audessy based, but dumbed down for guys like me that want it to work, with out messing with every little setting, because mostly, guys like me will only make it sound worse if i try to go in and set speaker delay and eq gizmos....

The imprint is just a plug it up, position the mike and turn it loose kinda deal.... when it finishes, you just upload the mapping and put the imprint brain and wires in the cabinet in the house.

[Trevor Walsh]

Thermoforming 3/4" plexi is no small feat, is there a particular need in this application for it to be that thick? From experience I would tend to want to make that out of 3/8" at the thickest.

[Phil Thien]

How do you apply carbon fiber to wood?

[Jeff Monson]

How do you apply carbon fiber to wood?

Thats what I'd like to know? Inquiring minds would like to know Bill.

Very impressive BTW

[Bill Wyko]

I actually build MDF sides and use 1/8" bender board to create the initial curves. Then I use body filler to create the rest of the shapes. Next I lay up the CF like fiberglass but I use epoxy instead of resin. Then lots of sanding and a few coats of automotive clear coat.

As far as the thickness goes, we cracked the 1st piece of plexi. The box itself is recieving 8000 CEA certified watts of power. 3/8 wouldn't last 5 minutes due to the flex. This system is an animal. It moves the concrete in the building. I'll post some pics of the amp racks asap.

[curtis rosche]

got any video of the flex is makes?
what does a set up like this run?

[Bill Wyko]

Sorry, no flex. This thing is built rock solid. 10 boxes of Dynamat and all sorts of bracing unseen in the pics. This thing is hitting in the high 150 db range and we deadened it so well that it has virtually no rattles what so ever. Sorry I can't divulge what he paid, but it wasn't cheap I can assure you.

[Carl Babel]

Out of curiosity, why 16,000 watts? I was at an iMax theater not too long ago and they touted their 12,000 watt sound system. It shook the theater during serious "rumble scenes". Is 16,000 just for bragging rights or is their some significant benefit?

[Harry Hagan]

Out of curiosity, why 16,000 watts? I was at an iMax theater not too long ago and they touted their 12,000 watt sound system. It shook the theater during serious "rumble scenes". Is 16,000 just for bragging rights or is their some significant benefit?

I’ve heard it’s a conspiracy by the audiologist’s lobby to drum-up more business.

[Carl Babel]

I thought that I should clarify my question. For the sake of argument, let's say that someone is willing to listen to music (for some extended period of time) at 105 dB. That is 45 dB below the 150 dB that you indicated. Assuming that measurement was taken at 1 meter away from the sound source, then by my (admittedly very rough) calculations, the listener would need to be about 200 meters away from the car. :eek:
That's over 2 football fields away.

[curtis rosche]

I thought that I should clarify my question. For the sake of argument, let's say that someone is willing to listen to music (for some extended period of time) at 105 dB. That is 45 dB below the 150 dB that you indicated. Assuming that measurement was taken at 1 meter away from the sound source, then by my (admittedly very rough) calculations, the listener would need to be about 200 meters away from the car. :eek:
That's over 2 football fields away.


SPL competitions. plain and simple. above 130dB you go deaf

[Bill Wyko]

I can assure you, there is no theater that sounds like this system. This vehicle has tuning capability to reproduce the words of a vocalist coming off their lips in a specific location on a stage. The sound of a guitarist plucking the strings of a guitar from a specific location on stage. To create a system that can reproduce true staging & imaging requires clean power. This vehicle was built & designed to win sound quality competitions, reproduce sound in a way that will make all your senses rise to the occasion, and create an installation that will win car & truck shows by a wide margin. The bonus is, it'll be kept in my shop because I'm the one with a big enough garage for it. I get to use it to show customers what we're capable of. If you ever make it to Tucson, I'll give you a sound experience like you've never heard. It'll make every hair on your body stand at full attention. This isn't my first system like this, I have systems like this in my shop all the time. check out www.tucsoncaraudio.net (http://www.tucsoncaraudio.net). There are a few other ones like this.

This is not an SPL vehicle, it is loud but it is a SQ car. I did build the loudest street legal vehicle in the world in 2002. A blazer with 48000 watts(that's 48 thousand, twice the power of the San Diego stadium which seats 70,000 people. The Blazer sat 2). It did 176.5 DB and I can still hear. A comparison is the launch pad of the space shuttle on take off at 180db. It was so loud that it would cause florescent bulbs to break out of the light fixtures in the shop and everything not secured ended up on the ground. It was truly a monster but it wasn't driven much.
People come to my shop for extraordinary sound systems, we're not a normal shop. We have 7 awards for installer of the year and we build 14 mfg's demo vehicles. we also win just about every show we go to. And ready for this, there's only 2 of us that do all this. Makes me wonder how I ever make time to do wood work. (Thank God I do though.)

[Bill Wyko]

Thats what I'd like to know? Inquiring minds would like to know Bill.

Very impressive BTW

I basically build a wood/bondo/fiberglass console then I apply the CF using an aerospace epoxy that has a high build. Once the epoxy is thick enough that I can sand it back, I spray it with an automotive clear coat. That also has a UV protectant to prevent yellowing. In this case the CF is ornamental

[Carl Babel]

Bill, if and when I do make it to Tucson, I would love to come see (and hear) your shop / creations. Thanks for the pics and description here, as well as the gallery tour on your web site. Awesome stuff!

[Bill Wyko]

Thermoforming 3/4" plexi is no small feat, is there a particular need in this application for it to be that thick? From experience I would tend to want to make that out of 3/8" at the thickest.

There would be way too much flex with 3/8" The box has over 12000 watts going to it. Even 1/2 inch wants to break on boxes like this. I've built hundreds of plexi boxes over the 26 years that I've done car audio. When the plastic vibrates, you loose output from the box.


As far as applying the CF goes, I do a layer of fiberglass first, then the CF using an aerospace epoxy.

[Ian James Webster]

Suddenly your tag line (or is it signature line) makes sense!!!!!!

[Bill Wyko]

LMAO, you noticed that. I've been asked by Mfg's to sell that to them.