The first round of my install didn’t go so well. So I set out to find a shop that I could have absolute confidence in meeting my expectations. I found Audionutz in Ocala, FL (owned by Steven Head, IASCA SQ world championship competitor). Mad props and many thanks to Steve, Dewayne and Beau for the fantastic service, outstanding craftsmanship and a truly professional install.

The components:
Stock HU using spliced RCA line outs direct to the amps (i.e., NO LINE OUT CONVERTERS)

CDT HD-62 component system (w/SatNet-560 X-over)
CDT M519S Upstage system
CDT SX1000 midrange attenuator

JL 300/4 Amp (bridged to power front component system)
JL 450/4 Amp (bridged to power sub)

DLS MW110 10” Sub (custom fiber glass enclosure)

Additonally they used Dynomat Extreme on Front doors, trunk, and rear deck stinger wiring.

This is the SQ sound system I expected when I first started out. Now it’s a beautiful thing. My intention was to get as close as I could get with my Denon/B&W home audio setup, which obviously a car audio system will not touch unless you want to spend an irresponsible amount of money. But this is the best I could do with my budget and constraints (such as added weight, fully functional trunk).

Now what you came to see.

The components

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Upfront Sound System (the attenuators are HUGE!)

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The trunk before

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The trunk after

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The fitted sub (custom fiber glass enclosure with vinyl covering matched exactly to the car interior vinyl, I have the Quartz interior)

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The sub detail

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300/4 amp covered detail

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The amps uncovered

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Looks great, dude! Congrats on the sound, the install, and finding the right shop!

BTW, I got your parcel today - many thanks and regards.

How do you like that DLS sub?

And all your noise is gone, right : )

 

that looks awesome

 

I was shocked at the amount of air that little sub moves. I'm wondering what the double magnet version would be like. But I'm not doing SPL so no matter.

The SQ of the sub is superb. It fills out the bottom beautifully and scales nicely when it's cranked all the way to 40 with zero distortion (obviously since it's being a tad sub optimally driven). But at normal listening levels (10 to 15) it's wonderful.

Yes, all the noise is gone, except for the alternator whine when the radio is off. Dunno about that one, but I can't hear the whine when the radio is on at any volume. Also, the buzzing I picked up when the radio was off is gone. The installer regrounded at a location closer to the amp and sanded down area to ensure a clean contact.

Now the only hiss or noise I hear is from track recordings. Obviously this setup was meant for a more concise and cleaner head unit, but what are you gonna do when you got the navi? But that's not to say things don't sound sublime. Listening to some favorite tracks I literally say "wow" at all the nuances I missed out on before.

 

wow! thats a clean install I wish i could make enclosures like that, i was gonna post picz of my setup, but they look ghetto compared to that.

 

Do you have pics of the interior install? That is a great install

 

Looks good man.. DLS is GREAT Stuff. My whole car is DLS, the Iridium series for everything... 3 way up front and 2 Iridium 12's in the ported enclosure and it sounds great.

Nice install but why not have them do the vinyl in the trunk with the same carpet to match the trunk. Just curious.... still nice..
How do you like the CDT stuff... I hear good and ok things about them but i wanted to go with DLS..

Ryan

 

I wasn't around to take pics of the interior and I'm too lazy to take of the door panels to check it out. But I think I'll need to make some adjustments soon with the upstage system so maybe then I'll grab some shots then.

I didn't really think about matching the trunk carpet. I guess that would have been even cleaner, but oh well.

I'm lovin the CDTs. Granted, I haven't had experience with many mid to high end car audio equipment but I've been impressed with the sound quality thus far (compared to my home B&W system). It's not common these days to find products that work as advertised, but I can say that these CDT components do and even exceeded my expectations.

I was very impressed with the DLS sub. Now I'm wondering what the components sound like!

 

I have my dls components, sub and amp on hand. I just need to set up an appointment at streeteffectz, i drive alot so its brutal not having a ride for a day. Now after reading this i'm more eager to get this thing done.

Thanks for the advice ed!

Hit you up monday Ron.

 

Nice install, My friend goes to Audionutz to get his car done. I got my done at Ultimate audio.

 

If you dont mind me asking, what do you pay for the install & custom enclosures?

 

Nice !!!

 

I noticed that you removed the 6x9s on the rear deck. Don't you experince any additional road noise (as oppose to with 6x9 in place) at highway speed 60-90 mph.

I asked because when I removed mine, the road noise was unbearable so I put the 6x9 back in (unplugged of course) and the noise goes away. However, the sub volume and clarity goes way down.

Any thoughts?

 

In one of those pics you'll notice that the 6x9 holes were dynamatted (extreme version) along with the entire rear deck, save the space around the nav unit/antenna thingy. No road noise issues. In fact now it's a bit more tame (hopefully some new tires will tame it even more). But it is a tad annoying seeing the aluminum foil reflected in the rear window through the speaker grills.

Indeed, initially I did find that the sub volume went down (when compared with the rear seats folded down) and the clarity was slightly muffled for me, but after some fine tuning I was able to get the bass volume and clarity to my liking. Luckily I had some great components to work with The DLS sub is quite a SQ performer!

 

Thanks for your response. Now I can see the black Dynamat through the 6x9 hole.

As for the reflective aluminum foil, I would try taping some black foam or felt on top of the exposed aluminum. While you are at it, may I suggest you do the same for the bottom so the sticky part of the Dynamat is not exposed , unless you want to use them as a fly or moth trap... he, he.

 

great tip! thanks!

 

Nice choice. I have the HD 63DTS braxials up front and CL6X in back and they rock.

Any opinions on these?

CDT M519S Upstage system
CDT SX1000 midrange attenuator

 

Anyone who wants to get the Cascade VMAX material from me will find that it is already black aluminum, but I like the adhesive better than the Super. It worked GREAT in my rear deck with the by-nines in it.

 

Thanks!

I have to say, be sure that you are indeed having a sound energy issue with your midrange/midbass before picking up the SX1000. I was having some weird things happening with certain frequencies, that I thought was attributed an overly energized midrange, but in fact it was due to a canceling of notes in the low midbass range. My sub crossover was interfering with the front components.

I say this because if the midrange is definitely overpowering your system after exhausting all other options in tuning, then you might want to look into picking up the SX1000. Otherwise I'd say it isn't necessary (at least in the TSX with 150w + RMS feeding the HDs). But then again, everyone has a different sensitivity to these things.

Now as for the Upstage system, I'll say it is quite amazing. All the sound is absolutely above the dash, splashed across the front windshield. No localization of sound in the front door locations at all (the main tweeters were mounted on the 6.5s with the “super tweeters” in the stock locations aimed across the windshield). It has dramatically improved the staging, however at the moment I’m limited to using the stock locations so the system isn’t set up optimally. I’m getting some right-side bias (which is somewhat mitigated by adjusting the HU balance over two clicks to the left), and the stage is stuck in between the pillars and doesn’t extend too far out from the front windshield, nor up high enough to be quite at eye level. This is a problem with the component locations NOT the components themselves. Given what has been achieved with things in the stock locations, CDT has made some very impressive stuff.

In my experience I’d say the M519 Upstage system is well worth it, but if you want to get optimal sound you’ll need optimal speaker placement. Right now I’m checking my options with Audionutz , they’re very hesitant to impede the side airbag curtain in any way which has limited the placement of tweeter pods on the a pillars. So other options are being investigated. One of which includes an Alto UCS Pro Digital Processing Unit

 

Looks awesome!!! Very very clean install! A couple of questions though. Why did you remove the 6x9's and cover up the holes? I would think that you would want to remove the 6x9's to let that bass flow through the holes. Why not just keep them and ad 2 more nice speakers to your system if you're just gonna plug the holes up? Next question, Was that sub box custom made, or purchased? and what is it made out of and covered with? Plastic? leather? And since you covered the 6x9 hole up how does the bass compare to haveing good 6x9's in the back dash? I just replaced my stock 6x9's with a pair of JBL's and am running them off the stock amp. I took a guy from work for a ride yesterday and he couldn't believe that it was just 6x9's making that bass. How does that 10 sound?

 

JUst curious how good the subs sounds facing side ways compare to facing the trunk???

 

Cjams still reads like his avatar...