Installing a Sound System in our Civic (while it’s broken)

We put $850 worth of stereo into our $500 Civic.

Donut = We like cars, and we like making videos about cars. Hopefully our videos make you like cars too.

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[G_Ozare]

LMAO This is how you know Zach's actually a car guy, installing a sound system while the car is broken. I love it hhahahahaa

[dr.doolittle]

How you spend 50k+ on a vehicle known for reliability and still don't make it work is a skill few possess.

[JoeyCarb]

Ive installed numerous subwoofers over the last twenty years of car ownership. Ive never had the foresight to put the box on my head. Jimmy is a gd genius. Protect that man at all costs.

[troyboyd]

Seeing Nolan properly using a rasp is the most proud dad moment of this channel.

[ghost]

Brings me back to the good old days when modifying your car meant installing an earth-shattering sound system.

[scottpohl]

Clearly a sound system helps the car run. Donut got their priorities straight.

[iamsam]

I've worked on car stereos in the past, and here are some things they didn't talk about: 1) even if speakers are the same size, replacement speaker magnets are probably larger, 2) on older cars, consider using dynamat to cut down on rattles and keep things tight, 3) speaker cable (gauge) is important, but you don't usually need to get expensive cable like Monster, 4) if you're really driving bass, you may need something like Thundercaps to hit the highs, 5) consider running component speakers than all full range - separate woofers & tweeters, but you'll need to cross them over, and 6) depending on the power of your system, don't run it off the battery too long unless you have a separate battery for the stereo.

[hughjass]

Can we do a series about the audio side of things? Beyond wiring, there’s crossovers, sound deadening, I’m really interested in seeing a custom fiberglass speaker door pod creation. That’s great sensory footage too!

[TheTulerie]

You guys are doing the most civic owner thing I could think of. Installing a bangin system when the car still doesn't run 😂

[jamessizemore]

Even if it is just ply wood, gotta respect Nolan’s sub-woofer tray fabrication

[nghgeo]

I think it is better to mount the amp to the car and secure the sub with ratchet straps. It makes things a lot easier if you need to remove the sub in order to carry something. And you can go to the track listening to music, remove the sub to make some laps, put it back and go home listening to music :)

[hujuh]

4:20 Dude our boy just violated that cars stereo dude, oh my god no hesitation no nothing. Straight menace💀

[anthonylopez]

Love how committed you guys are to this civic. Really being loyal to the car community lore and their love for this vehicle

[TekedixXx]

Love seeing more of this little nugget. I don't even care if it rips faster than a modern civic it's

[zukoHD]

as an at home audio engineer who's been building his own speakers for quite some time now, you can get away with a very nice sound system for way under 850 if you know what you are doing.

You can get as complex or simple as you want to, from using stock speaker wire and just splicing in the new speakers for an ok result to rerouting the speaker wire and doing a full bang up job to produce better results (i went for this).

Currently my daily driver runs 4 speakers, 2 4 way 6x9"s in the back running a peak of 450w a piece with an a 90 w rms. In the driver and passenger side doors i have two 6.5" 3 way speakers running 400w peak combined, 200 w alone, 400w combined which they are. My head unit came with a built in amp but i dont use it, it maxes out at 50 peak wattage which would be way too under powered, i just got it because its a pioneer and i have had a good experience with their audio processing equipment (this is what i spent the most cash on, about 200 bucks) its analog because i hate touch screens in the car. I have a used amp i picked up off craigslist for like 40 or 50 bucks, and its right in the goldilocks zone for my setup up (finding used audio equipment is easy) so i went with it. The speakers are also pioneer, about a little over 100 for the set of 4 (they are A+ series, the trick is not buying the ones registered for the us, buy the international market ones, same quality, same result, 50 to 70 dollars cheaper depending on the model). Hardest part of it all was routing the new wire, but if you use a little big of carful thought you can have an easier time than i did. before you remove your old wires, tie a string to them, and tie the other end to your new speaker wire. as you pull the wire out it will feed the new wire in and through, and you wont have to worry about the logistics of it at all (i didnt do this and spent like 3 hours trying to get my wires where i wanted them to be routed).

I dont have a sub because its really not necessary. with the 4 speakers i already have the car shakes enough to loosen the mucus you have stuck in your throat/ lungs lmao. If my car shook any harder i would be concerned about bolts and other cosmetic fasteners getting loosened.

Quality of head unit is above all else. its literally like 50 to 60% of the end result. no high quality audio processing, no good sound. period.

Next is the quality of the speakers, higher price = higher rms and peak, meaning you can have higher peak volumes, as well as higher sustained volumes, without loosing out on clarity.

Next in line is the amp. you dont need the best or most high quality amp. 99.99% of people will never even see a sound system that justifies the expensive amps they are looking at buying lol. just get a decent one, used even better. nobody ever sees it, after you set it up you shouldnt be touching it again unless you really know what you are doing, and so long as it can support the constant as well as peak draws, then there should not be any problem whatsoever.

oh, and one final word of advice. skip the component speakers. go with coaxials. Components are nice, and very high quality, but its a waste to put them in a vehicle. 1, the road noise is going to take away from the experience you get from component speakers. 2, they are expensive as all hell. 3, they are more difficult to set up, and require you to actually have some understanding of what is going on. 4, cars are no where near well sound isolated aside from high end luxury vehicles, throwing a pair of components in your door is a great way to hear every last loose piece of plastic trim vibrate like a mfer. 5, you are too distracted in the car to take notice. so long as the music sounds good and clear, thats good enough, you aren't going to be having a profound listening experience while weaving through rush hour traffic on your lunch break lmao.


All that being said, i am a huge fan of them. Component speakers belong in a room with purposeful acoustic panels, your favorite drink in your hand, sitting in a nice recliner. I have my own monitoring boxes. one set made with alpine mid subs and tweeters, and one set made with pioneer products. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. sound is a physical experience with these things man. a living breathing entity. anyone who is an enthusiast about music i highly recommend making, or picking up a pair for at home listening. I dont say this often, but the things changed my way of life.

[kanti]

Love this! My only complaint will be the missed oportunity to use james pop up headlights for testing😂

[luv-lost]

When I was young me and a friend had a little speaker shop in my garage. So many people had no idea what they were doing.
We had probably 30 cars in town we did and many more out of town. We would buy used parts and re use them.
If you had a system and wanted an upgrade, we would give a discount to trade speakers and head units.
It was super fun and taught me a lot about electrical systems in cars and making custom boxes taught me a lot about sound.
I have always been an "Audiofile" and would never take those few years back. Now I have nothing in my car and a gnarly system at home with 2 15" Solo-Baric's.
Makes my house feel like an earthquake.

[THEBLOODYBALLOON]

it’s possibly broken issue is the electrical system is struggling to keep up with the amount of current draw you have on it. even with the lithium battery you should look into upgrading your grounds and positives. also look into high output alternators

[BiggMo]

5:03 The aero press coffee maker actually is very good. Originally bought it as a simple camping coffee maker but now I use it all the time

[meade]

I would bet dollars to Donuts they just turned the gains and crossovers to some random setting without giving it a second thought. Should have used a DD-1 distortion detector and set it up properly. It would sound much better :)