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Stage 1 Gonna start an audio system upgrade on Qashqai J11 In many occasion, the first to upgrade a car stereo is the speaker, head unit and addition amp. Often sound isolation or acoustic treatment is being left out in the equation. There are 4 main things to consider in car audio. 1. Speakers. 2. Amplification. 3. Source.(head unit). 4. Acoustic treatment.(soundproofing). http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Vehicle-Car-soundproofing-deadening-Engineers-view-/10000000176936757/g.html Personally, I feel that Acoustic treatment is the most important as it form the frame work or foundation resonant frequency of the car itself. If Acoustic treatment were to be in the last stage, there is a possibility of retuning the system again. (dismantle of parts, cover, speaker etc .) Love hate relation with vibration Vibration we love How do speakers work? http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=54 The electromagnet is attached to a cone made of a flexible material such as paper or plastic which amplifies these vibrations, pumping sound waves into the surrounding air and towards your ears. Vibration we hate As the speakers are generating these musical frequency, its also generated vibration within the door panels chamber. Often these frequency are trapped within the door chamber and causes crosstalk of frequency. Not forgetting that vibration from the car itself during moving off. As a result, some frequency are loss and some are amplify. That why we often hear the ugly sound of bass banging onto the wall of the inner panel. As much of the frequency(force) is being reflected back. In addition , other lose frequency. Solution Method 1 Weight the car down. By adding enough weight we can reduce the vibration of moving parts. However, efficiency suffer as more horsepower is require to move the car. Bad fuel consumption. Method 2 dampening material http://www.crutchfield.com/learn/learningcenter/car/vibration.html Vibration dampeners and noise deadeners can improve the sound of your vehicle by lowering the amount of ambient noise when you drive. Here are a few ways how: Speaker grilles tend to resonate and buzz, road and engine noise can come through the firewall and floor, and a door panel missing a rivet can vibrate noisily. Noise deadeners can help reduce these annoyances. Just using an inexpensive door kit can make your speakers sound better by damping the resonance around the speaker area. If your vehicle has a lot of ambient noise, applying a vibration damper can give you a quieter, more relaxing ride. Method 3 Acoustic Insulation 3M Thinsulate Acoustic Insulation is a cavity filling solution for automotive sound insulation applications. Compressible, lightweight and conformable, this product can be readily processed by conventional techniques such as die-cutting, heat sealing and ultrasonically bonding High performance and low density making them ideal for mass reduction applications Each method has it pros and cons Most convention and common is method 2. However, I decided to go for the 3M thinsulate as it should be the most elastomeric materials (An elastomer is a polymer with viscoelasticity (having both viscosity and elasticity) and very weak inter-molecular forces, generally having low Young's modulus and high failure strain compared with other materials.) also being lighter of the 3 and easier to work with. It just like going to the boxing ring with mike Tyson and you gonna tired him out by draining his energy by all those empty punch being throw at you. A empty punch is more tiring then a punch which land on the opponent. UNDERSTANDING DAMPING TECHNIQUES FOR NOISE AND VIBRATION CONTROL http://www.earsc.com/HOME/engineering/TechnicalWhitePapers/UnderstandingDamping/index.asp?SID=62 Sound test Please dont ask the wife or girlfriend for feedback. They always reply : NO different , why waste the money. But to ours Trained ear it really make a different.. Day and night.. After 3 installation on Qashqai I m totally convinces it works. All the cymbals sound like crystal bells All the bass sound more beefy Mid all around.. no more messy sound Songs Tested Rebecca Pidgeon No rattle on the door panels / vocal just flow into your face Carpenter It going to take some times - Sweet voices of Karen just feeling so lushy full / Feel like there a drum set right infront of me / All the instrument sound at the right volume. Megadeth Dawn Patrol ( the ultimate Drum and bass ) My ear just bleed. However, dont expect the 3m Thinsulate to perform magic an turn the car to total isolation from the outside. Nevertheless, it a good platform to start with Stay tune for stage 2 ....