After two months of research and cobbling together components from various corners of the Earth, I'm excited that my build finally started this week!

Here's what is going into the car:



I must admit that after my research and help from these individuals, I am installing components very similar to those used by niebur3 (Jerry), i hate cars (Matt), and gregerst. The system will consist of the following:

Dynaudio Esotar2 650s
Dynaudio Esotar2 110s
JL Audio HD 900/5
Arc Audio PS8 (sound processor)
Acoustic Elegance SPB 15s (2)
iSimple Gateway
iSimple HDRT HD Radio

The subs will be installed infinite baffle. Custom kick panels for the tweeters. The install will be as stealth as possible, and when complete the only visible change should be the kick panels. The kicks were provided by Jerry (niebur3). In fact, if you've read his build thread you may notice that my kick panels look familiar. In fact, these are the exact pair Jerry originally made for his TL. He is going to build new ones that will house both his 4" mids and his tweets.

One of the more difficult pieces of designing this system was finding an installer that was 1) willing to install components he didn't sell me and 2) comfortable/knowledgeable installing subs in an infinite baffle configuration. Fortunately I found such an installer in Dave Varga at Pro Audio in Provo, UT. I chose not to do the install myself for various reasons, but I'm glad I found someone I can trust that was very willing to listen to my specific requests and was very experienced. He has also been great sending pics of the process!

In addition to the audio install, I'm also taking steps to restore my car to as close to factory condition as possible. The car is not modded with the exception of the A-Spec kit. At 10 years from its manufacture date, the car is starting to show its age. Restoration tasks include the following:

• Paintless dent removal of door/hood dings
• Wheel refinish
• Console pillar garnish replacement
• Replacement of side mirror glass
• Paint chip repair
• Full paint polish/restoration/detail by a top detailer

The dent removal has been completed and was awesome! Unfortunately I didn't take any before/after pics, but those guys are amazing. The other steps will be finished in the weeks after the audio install and I'm planning on taking before/after pics of each step.

So now for initial pics of the start of the audio install:

The Dynaudio Esotar 650:



The Dynaudio Esotar 110 - supposedly the best mobile audio tweeter. Built like a tank - for a tweeter at least, even recommended to crossover at 2k with a 6db rolloff:



Seats, trunk wall, rear deck removed:



Audio processor and amp will be located under the front seats:





Kicks installed!





The PS8 has the ability to wire an external 3-way switch to switch between 3 preset settings. I also decided to use a remote bass control knob for the JL 900/5. After considering where to mount these, I decided on the smaller console compartment in the front console. I initially thought about copying Jerry's location in the extra switch panel area to the left of the steering wheel, but I felt the compartment location was more stealth. Don't want to tip off potential thieves!



That's the progress so far. More pics to come as things progress!

 

Nice! What kind of speaker wire is your installer using? With that high-end equipment, that speaker wire doesn't look on par with the rest of the system. Anyways, Im Jelly!

 

So I haven't seen you post in awhile. I thought you had dropped off the face of the earth and here you were scouring it to put together a top-notch system. If I ever need something researched I'm going to have you do it. lol
I've been having a lot of fun with my setup and decided now to go 3-way, probably with Dyn esotec midranges. Even though last month I was dead set against 3-way. Lol So where did you end up getting those kicks from? I assume those bad azz tweets are going in them? I'm thinking about making my own kicks just to try it. I've always been amazed by what people can do with fiberglass and it'd be cool to be able to do it.

 

^^^He stole mine from me....lol! Actually, he contacted me about building some and I was looking to make a few changes in my car, so he purchased my kicks that I made!

Looks good so far!!!

 

ah I thought they looked familiar. I'm considering whether or not I want to try my hand at fabing some. I think it'd be fun to learn. But if I chicken out I might be contacting you! lol

 

Thanks! I am not sure on the type of speaker wire - I didn't request anything special as I am pretty skeptical of the high end wire claims, as long as the gauge is correct. Some people claim really expensive wire makes a difference, but I'm of the opinion it would be minimal compared to having better speakers and a decent amp.

It's an interesting question as to how to weigh the importance of each of the following: speakers, amp, processor, wiring, install quality, sound deadening, and tuning. All are of some importance - I'm no expert, but I would put the wiring last on that list. Hopefully the material used will provide great sound even if it isn't super high end!

 

Haha, yes I got the trait of obsessive research from my father. Thanks dad! I'm interested in hearing this two-way system. I know Matt (i hate cars) ended up doing that exact thing with the 9" Esotec mid-bass. I'm sure it does add a lot in the 60-400 Hz range.

 

Looks nice n very stealth. Where did you get the processor from?

 

Thanks! Got the processor from the local Arc Audio dealer. I thought about buying used until I realized that there is no warranty transfer. Some early owners complained of some issues, so I wanted to be protected if that ever became the case, but I also found that besides the sales tax the price wasn't much different from the used market. There are very few of these out there right now, so not too many on the used market.

 

Today the 650s were installed and sound door sound deadening was completed, also moving of the trunk release, and installation of the iSimple and HDRT.

Door before sound deadening with factory barrier:



Door after deadening and with speaker installed:



Hood release relocated!



iSimple and HD radio working!



More to come tomorrow!

 

Yea that's what I'm finding, there's not too many floating around. Even if there was, the problems kind of scared me of from purchasing used. I'm not to familiar with the local dealers maybe I'll try to get one directly from Arc. Thx and good luck, I'll be following your build.

 

That looks like a great location for the hood release. I'm going to copy that when I do my kicks.

Keep the pics coming.

 

Honestly if I had heard the Esotar 2-way I probably would not have gone with a 3-way. While the 430 midrange is nothing short of amazing, the 650 and 110 produce midrange and upper midrange 95% as good or even closer. Really the main advantage to running the Esotar 3-way would be the ability to have the mids on axis and a smaller speaker to help with beaming and all vocals coming from one set of speakers for easier tuning, if you believe that vocals need to come from only one set of speakers which I don't.

 

How difficult was it to mount your tweeters? Did you have to remove the entire dash?

 

What about getting a deeper sound stage with a 3-way? With the mid range more forward in the kicks it seems to me that would be a big benefit and one of the things I'm aiming for.

 

We didn't have to touch the dash as the tweeters are what's in the kicks. Interestingly enough, though, I did recently have the entire dash ripped apart to replace it (was all cracked up). I didn't do it personally, had a certified Acura shop do it, but even they said it was a massive pain and took a full day.

 

The stock tweets are easy to get to. Just pry them up. I used a paper clip and bent one of the ends into a little L shape then stuck it through a grill hole and pulled them up.

 

I don't know if this is what you meant or not, but a 3-way front stage doesn't guarantee a deep soundstage. You can accomplish a deed soundstage with a 2-way or 3-way install. Install locations and tuning make all the difference.

 

right, with the midranges being in the kicks does it help deepen the sound stage?

 

Yes, it does. But if you had the woofers in the kicks or tweeters (like the op) you can accomish a deep stage as well. To be honest the stage is pretty deep with the tweeters the way they are. And then u have processing. You can have a midrange and tweeter on your dash firing right at you and still have a stage that goes out to the hood, if you tune it correctly.

A 3-way front stage helps with beaming from the door mounted midrange/midbass speaker and usually they are small enough to place in several locations that are much better than completely off-axis on a door. If your tweeter isn't able to play low enough (many aren't) then beaming can really destroy the sound. Also, with a midrange you can mount in a location that will more equalize the path lengths, I.e. the kicks. But tuning a 3-way can be much harder.

 

Well I'm about to get my feet wet real soon.. maybe one of these days when I think I have it sounding good I'll have to drive down there and you can tell me how bad it sucks. lol. I'm only about 6 hours from Omaha.

Have you done anything new to your system since you posted your build?

 

Love for you to come down!

I installed a 2nd Esotar2 1200 IB and in the middle of re-doing my front stage (or at least my kicks). I have a pair of Esotar2 110's and I'm working on a way to integrate without losing my 430's in the kicks. My plans are to either redo the kicks to house both (which may mean extending the relocating the fuse panel on the driver's side), mounting them in the a-pillar, or fabricating a smaller front plate and mounting them on-axis off the a-pillar. Obviously my factory look goes out the window with the last 2 options. I may end up keeping my setup as is if my other attempts fail or just don't appeal to me.

 

Two 1200's and possibly 110's.. oh lord I definitely need to take a trip down there just to hear your system if nothing else. Do the tweets sound bad firing up at the windshield in the the stock dash locations? Sure you have to cut the dash but you keep the factory look once they're mounted.

 

You would also need to cut into the air duct piping on that side. Neither is worth it to me (especially with how our dash can crack) to have those nice of tweeters bouncing off the windshield.

 

Perfect. Thanks for the tip!