Almost done....
04-13-2009, 10:58 AM
#163
Just got my car back from Simplicity in Sound up in San Jose; Bing finished his first full on install with Exile amps, (previously have only used the shallow xt10 and the xt65 component a few times)
A note before i get started, if you are wondering about the mismatched interior colors, the car is currently under going a swap to all black interior from tan/beige and will go for a full interior retrim job soon
Goals for the system:
1. good sound quality, maybe show up at a few of the socal iasca events?
2. a classy and clean design that goes well with the relatively subdue nature of the car
3. a fully stealthy system that can be hidden out of view.
lets get started:
the signal starts with an alpine 9887 headunit, installed in the dash:
The car features a Zapco DSP6-SL for tuning, and the USB cable comes out of the arm rest, plugs into a laptop, for full front seat tuning capabilities. its hard to see but the ipod cable also comes out of there. note the Exile remote bass knob install into a aluminum panel i made to the right of hte cupholders
Front stage consists of a set of Seas Lotus Reference 6.5" two way component set. the tweeters were molded into the A pillars, off axis, and trimmed in black vinyl, again for furture interior conversion to black.
a few quick build pics of the pillars, first the pillars were scuffed with 40 grit, then rings aimed and attached:
then mold cloth was pulled and resined, and the pillars are reinforced from the backside by duraglass:
then they were sanded smooth and blended in:
and finally, black vinly applied, it was late in the day so the pics came out dark, sorry
The midbass were installed in the stock door location
first, the hole was enlarged to accomodate the beefy driver, and then doors ran though the factory rubber tube into the door, here is a pic showing in the middle of the wiring process, note wire coming out of hte stock tube:
then, a combination of foam sound proofing and mass loader was applied to the entire door, and the speaker installed in coated MDF spacer rings to the door:
and finally a close up of hte seas midbass:
same thing goes for the passenger side:
thats it for hte interior, the only other things i did was to remove the rear deck 6x9s for better bass venting.
moving onto the trunk.
as mentioned, the goal was to be stealthy when need to be, and clean and classy when the need arises for it to be displayed.
so here is hte normal view, everything hidden from view by a piece of carpet i cut out to match the floor:
remove the carpet and you see a dark vinyl fake floor, with two big cutouts, with carpted and breathable grilles protecting the stuff underneath:
pop off hte grilles and here is hwat you see, again, sorry for the dark pics...its been raining all day here
two racks, both trimmed in white vinyl, showcases the products. the front one, flushes three EXile X series amplifiers. a X300.2 is upfront, sending 75 watts a piece to the tweeters, a X1200.1, running at 2ohms, powers the subs with 600 plus watts, while a X600.4 is on the right side, bridged, sending 300 watts to each midbass. all edges are roundover routed for a classy apperance.
in the back well, two XT10 subwoofers reside in a 1 cubfeet sealed enclosure. also flushed with white vinyl.
in between the two racks, i did a small cutout, with a piece of brushed aluminum trim, that matches the amp's center pieces. on it houses the logo
the Exile logos on the amp lights up blue whcih is a nice touch:
close up of the center trim piece:
and a view from the back of hte car:
IMO the install looks much better in person, because of the narrow angle of the camera, i cant really get the full effect of the trunk all in one shot
first on the mods i did to the exile amps, as you all know, here is what the X series looks like:
what i did was to remove all the trim off the top off the amp, and remove the plate underneath the mesh, so one can see into the circuitry board. a very Adcom look IMO:
here are the amps after i modded them:
now some build pics of the back
here is a shot of the full install being mocked up, before to vinyl application, all the bare MDF showing:
and here are three shots showing the wiring below the floor, all the wires are bundled and routed cleanly, the zapco DSP6 sits at the far back on the passenger side:
and finally, a few peeps have asked me about the grilles, here they are being made, a rabet was routed into the cutout, and HD mesh attached:
then nonbacked fully breathable carpet was attached, allowing heat to excape and sub to perform normally even when covered
overall, quite pleased with the exile amps, Bing did some tuning with Eng last in LA, and these amps, for the money, are definitely pretty decent, they didn't run that hot with all the covers on the carpet on, during the 6 hour drive... overall SQ is not bad, though the really low seating position threw Eng for a loop hehe, where I, being much taller, have a higher listening position. midbass impact is pretty good, with decent overall tonality and staging/imaging. with some more tweaking, i think it will only get better
(this is the most pictures I've ever posted on any thread of mine, haha)
A note before i get started, if you are wondering about the mismatched interior colors, the car is currently under going a swap to all black interior from tan/beige and will go for a full interior retrim job soon
Goals for the system:
1. good sound quality, maybe show up at a few of the socal iasca events?
2. a classy and clean design that goes well with the relatively subdue nature of the car
3. a fully stealthy system that can be hidden out of view.
lets get started:
the signal starts with an alpine 9887 headunit, installed in the dash:
The car features a Zapco DSP6-SL for tuning, and the USB cable comes out of the arm rest, plugs into a laptop, for full front seat tuning capabilities. its hard to see but the ipod cable also comes out of there. note the Exile remote bass knob install into a aluminum panel i made to the right of hte cupholders
Front stage consists of a set of Seas Lotus Reference 6.5" two way component set. the tweeters were molded into the A pillars, off axis, and trimmed in black vinyl, again for furture interior conversion to black.
a few quick build pics of the pillars, first the pillars were scuffed with 40 grit, then rings aimed and attached:
then mold cloth was pulled and resined, and the pillars are reinforced from the backside by duraglass:
then they were sanded smooth and blended in:
and finally, black vinly applied, it was late in the day so the pics came out dark, sorry
The midbass were installed in the stock door location
first, the hole was enlarged to accomodate the beefy driver, and then doors ran though the factory rubber tube into the door, here is a pic showing in the middle of the wiring process, note wire coming out of hte stock tube:
then, a combination of foam sound proofing and mass loader was applied to the entire door, and the speaker installed in coated MDF spacer rings to the door:
and finally a close up of hte seas midbass:
same thing goes for the passenger side:
thats it for hte interior, the only other things i did was to remove the rear deck 6x9s for better bass venting.
moving onto the trunk.
as mentioned, the goal was to be stealthy when need to be, and clean and classy when the need arises for it to be displayed.
so here is hte normal view, everything hidden from view by a piece of carpet i cut out to match the floor:
remove the carpet and you see a dark vinyl fake floor, with two big cutouts, with carpted and breathable grilles protecting the stuff underneath:
pop off hte grilles and here is hwat you see, again, sorry for the dark pics...its been raining all day here
two racks, both trimmed in white vinyl, showcases the products. the front one, flushes three EXile X series amplifiers. a X300.2 is upfront, sending 75 watts a piece to the tweeters, a X1200.1, running at 2ohms, powers the subs with 600 plus watts, while a X600.4 is on the right side, bridged, sending 300 watts to each midbass. all edges are roundover routed for a classy apperance.
in the back well, two XT10 subwoofers reside in a 1 cubfeet sealed enclosure. also flushed with white vinyl.
in between the two racks, i did a small cutout, with a piece of brushed aluminum trim, that matches the amp's center pieces. on it houses the logo
the Exile logos on the amp lights up blue whcih is a nice touch:
close up of the center trim piece:
and a view from the back of hte car:
IMO the install looks much better in person, because of the narrow angle of the camera, i cant really get the full effect of the trunk all in one shot
first on the mods i did to the exile amps, as you all know, here is what the X series looks like:
what i did was to remove all the trim off the top off the amp, and remove the plate underneath the mesh, so one can see into the circuitry board. a very Adcom look IMO:
here are the amps after i modded them:
now some build pics of the back
here is a shot of the full install being mocked up, before to vinyl application, all the bare MDF showing:
and here are three shots showing the wiring below the floor, all the wires are bundled and routed cleanly, the zapco DSP6 sits at the far back on the passenger side:
and finally, a few peeps have asked me about the grilles, here they are being made, a rabet was routed into the cutout, and HD mesh attached:
then nonbacked fully breathable carpet was attached, allowing heat to excape and sub to perform normally even when covered
overall, quite pleased with the exile amps, Bing did some tuning with Eng last in LA, and these amps, for the money, are definitely pretty decent, they didn't run that hot with all the covers on the carpet on, during the 6 hour drive... overall SQ is not bad, though the really low seating position threw Eng for a loop hehe, where I, being much taller, have a higher listening position. midbass impact is pretty good, with decent overall tonality and staging/imaging. with some more tweaking, i think it will only get better
(this is the most pictures I've ever posted on any thread of mine, haha)
04-13-2009, 12:32 PM
#168
Senior Moderator
Regional Coordinator
(Mid-Atlantic)
Regional Coordinator
(Mid-Atlantic)
iTrader: (6)
One of the cleanest trunks I've EVER seen
04-13-2009, 01:14 PM
#170
Whats up with RDX owners?
iTrader: (9)
Awesome trunk!
04-13-2009, 01:59 PM
#173
thanks kev.
thanks.
yeah I am. I have no use for a spare anymore even if i ever get a flat. the spare doesn't clear the BBK.
i'm hoping to get my dash LED's swapped over to red like yours soon too. your gauges look really nice.
04-13-2009, 07:21 PM
#180
04-13-2009, 10:18 PM
#185
...
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Corona, CA
Age: 41
Posts: 1,217
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Very nice Brian. How are the sea lotus components? Never heard of them. What did you do with all your old alpine gear (F-1 status speakers, multimedia manager)?
04-14-2009, 10:59 AM
#187
Specs: http://www.mobilesq.com/store/produc...667be999df21d3
Old Alpine Speakers - Still have 'em - you want 'em?
I'd unload them for CHEAP.Multimedia Manager - Traded them for the Zapco DSP-6 and DRC-SL
Who swapped out your OEM Nav for the Alpine 505? I'm kinda curious how that all works - sounds kinda interesting.
thanks.
04-14-2009, 05:46 PM
#191
...
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Corona, CA
Age: 41
Posts: 1,217
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seas Lotus is a Norwegian brand of speaker. Probably one of the best SQ component speakers in the market right now.
Specs: http://www.mobilesq.com/store/produc...667be999df21d3
Old Alpine Speakers - Still have 'em - you want 'em?
I'd unload them for CHEAP.Multimedia Manager - Traded them for the Zapco DSP-6 and DRC-SL
Who swapped out your OEM Nav for the Alpine 505? I'm kinda curious how that all works - sounds kinda interesting.
thanks.
I was in San Jose for about an hour before he took me to the airport to get back to So Cal - I don't know if I'd even qualify as being in the vicinity. 
