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The Biggest Project I Have Ever Taken On by Myself :) SQ TL version 3.0 - 500+ pics!!

56K views 131 replies 71 participants last post by  BuickGN 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey Guys,

Haven't posted anything to the install log section in about two and a half month; mainly because since the last project, I have been working almost nonstop on the biggest project I have ever taken on by myself. Just finished the car and had a great competition debut at my Norcal MECA event this past Saturday. With my long awaited vacation coming a few days away, I figure I better finish this humongous install log and post it up before I leave. :)

The car is one that long time members will recognize, it is Mike (ChicoOG)'s 2005 Acura TL, it is the third time I am working on the car and the fourth or maybe 4.5th system in total. But I am fairly certain that this time, I will be the last iteration...maybe small pieces will change, but the bulk of it is gonna stay.

Before getting to the log itself, I want to make sure to thank the following people, for without their guidance, support and expertise none of this would have been possible:

• Scott Baughman for setting up the entire deal with ORCA• Nalaka and Duane from Orca for all their technical and sponsorship support
• Scott Welch for his superb tuning ability and dedication on working deep into the night.
• Justin and the team from Oznium.com for their help with LED lighting products
• Steve (Whiterabbit) for his awesome soldering skills in fabricating RCA cables for the project.
• Lucky from AAMP for providing us with Stinger products at a sponsored rate
• Natan Budiono for providing us with the internal schematics of the OEM TL headunit
• Matt Roberts for working his magic using those schematics and supplying us with the "best sounding Acura headunit in the world" :)
• Kirk Proffit for lending us his old stock HU to modify
• Clay with Polaris for his help setting up with AAMP
• Shelly and Aaron from Zapco for their help with the dual dsp6 and simblink products.
• Jeff from photoshootmycar.com for making such an awesome display and system diagram.
• Various guys on DIYMA such as Niebur for helping with tips and tricks.
• Robert Rugani for additional help with Zapco related questions
• Various installer friends like Jon Kowanetz, Jon Webb, Troy McGregor, Brittney Parker and other for offering their help and encouragement during the project.
• And last but not least, Mike for trusting his car to me once again. :)


I am sure I forgot some people, so for that I apologize.Let’s get to the system itself.

As usual, goals:

1. To create a system with a high level of sound quality and a car that we can eventually take to world finals and SBN.
2. To create a system with a classy visual appearance augmented with a few unique touches throughout.
3. Focus almost obsessively on attention to detail, things that are beneath the surface but can be fully appreciated by fellow installers and install judges.

In other words, we wanted to build a car that can post very respectable scores for SQ and install, and look good doing it. That’s it! My common MOs such as stealth and space savings were completely thrown out of the window… Very quickly I realized this would be the most involved project I have ever taken on since I started working by myself; with many challenging aspects that I would need to overcome as a one man operation, but in the end, it is just about keeping my head down and keep on working until it’s done. I truly believe that given my very limited ability and experience, this IS the best effort I can put forth at this time.

I want to warn you now that there are well over 500 pictures in this log...and because of that, I will not be able to devote as much info to each picture or the whole thing will take forever. I will also break down the log into a few sections, with the completed pics first, and then followed by various sections of construction pics.

The project involves quite a few brand names and products, but partial sponsorship came from Focal, Mosconi, Stinger and Oznium.com.



COMPLETED PICS

The signal starts with what appears to be a normal OEM Acura TL headunit, all the stock functions will work as before, rear view camera, radio and CD play back:



Pop open the glove box and a rack housing a Zapco DRC-SL remote control unit and a digital voltmeter is revealed. The outer portion is trimmed in OEM cream ivory vinyl while the trim is a red suede like material. Having the DRC up front enables front seat tuning and instant preset adjustment:



The front stage utilizes Focal's Utopia Beryllium No.7 three way component set. The 6w3 Be woofer is installed into fiberglass kick panels, molded off the stock panel and wrapped in ivory tan vinyl. Here they are with the Focal grilles snapped in place:





The 3" Utopia midrange and the TBe tweeter went into a set of custom molded A pillar pods, with the two drivers on the same plane firing across. The mod is trimmed in tan grille cloth. Here they are with the Focal grilles in place:





A shot of the entire front stage with grilles attached:


And here is everything with the grilles removed, showing off the Be drivers in all their glory:










Moving onto the trunk, here is what you see when you lift up the lid. A complete boxed trunk design with all new panels was fabricated. All the outer panels are wrapped in graphite colored Alcantara, while the trim is the same red suede like material found on the glovebox rack. Three Mosconi amplifiers reside in a vertically oriented U-shaped rack, with a AS300.2 on the left sending 300 watts RMS to each kick panel mounted Utopia midbass woofer, a AS200.4 in the middle powering the midrange and tweeter with 200 watts a piece, and another AS300.2 on the right sending 1100 watts RMS bridged (4ohms) to the subwoofer. The sub – a Focal K2P 33KX 13” subwoofer, is inverted on the floor, while dual Zapco DSP6 signal processors take up the rack in front. All the major pieces of equipment sit in their own wells lined with red “suede”, with vertical sidewalls that is interrupted by a layer of frosted Plexiglas. On the roof of the trunk there is another panel with a small red strip at the back trimmed by more red “suede”; (We will get to that later) while a opening on the room panel allows bass to vent into the cabin properly.

It’s a bit hard to proper describe the overall look with words, so I will just post the pics…it was hard for me to find the right angle to make it look right, and I do believe that this pics really don’t do this one justice.























So now let us take a closer look at the lighting. The frosted Plexiglas rings are all edge-lit with Osmium’s Million colored RGB water proof LED ribbons. Over 40 feet of the stuff was used throughout the trunk. A two channel RGB controller allows me call up virtually any color under the sun via credit-card sized remote control. The Little red strip at the top of the trunk is actually a programmable LED signboard I took out of its original casing and molded into a new rack. Using another larger remote control, I can program up to 9 custom messages to be scrolled across the screen…a feature that I haven’t really seen before in car audio and something I thought could add a little creativity and uniqueness to the overall project.

Here is everything fired up:


 
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#28 ·
Bing, this is one I did'nt get to see in person, but the pics are worth more than a thousand words! This install left no-stone-unturned!

Excellent Job!

Bluenote
 
#31 ·
Bing, the one this I'm not feeling is the side amps, but those amps look huge, so I understand what you did. But other than that, great install, no screws, man that's awesome work.. Need to review the pictures again and rethink my trunk..
 
#32 ·
Holy ****, thats all I got to say about that.

Great job, How long did it take you to build this ride???

I don't even want to know how much all is worth!


Great Job
 
#33 ·
WOW....this is a great install Bing! I don't know how much I actually helped, but thanks for the props. It looks beautiful, you are truly a master at what you do. I hope one day I would be confident enough to go through all the work you did.

I do have 1 question.....these factory HU have been failing at an alarming rate (hence one of the reasons I changed mine out), and it seems to be the CD mechanism, along with other issues, did Matt look into this problem at all? I know he could probably do any repair needed, but it would be very embarrassing to have this happen at a show. Failing Head Units seem to be popping up daily over at Acurazine.
 
#35 ·
in my experience, with TL headunits, its a hit or miss thing, some are extremely unlucky and have multiple failures of headunits, others goes strong for ages. i have seen it both ways.

This particular unit was in Kirk Proffit's car for a few years and worked flawlessly, winning him world championships in the process. I dont think we looked into the cd mechanism persay...but there isnt much you can really do about it is there? :) i dont think anyone can spot a part that may fail in the near future unless its very obvious.

cant worry about having it fail at a show really, i mean, i have see way more failures of processor and speakers at comps than an OEM headunit of any make...the chance is always there, but it shouldnt be that significant of a problem hehe

fingers crossed :)
 
#40 ·
Damn Bing! My computer locked down with 439 items left to download....LOL. I'll check this when I get away from the crappy motel internet service and back in ATL.

I was out in Milpitas, CA doing some work. I wish I would have known about this. I was driving over to San Jose a couple of times a week meeting with a home audio friend there. He introduced me to a cool old Asian man who built a little tube amp at his dining room table as we talked audio. Took him about 1.5 hours to get it playing music.

Nice build from what I can see so far.

Chuck
 
#41 ·
The wiring throughout the car and the entire trunk build exhibits incredible attention to detail. Both the LED strips and scrolling sign really do set it off.
The modifications to the stock source unit are also especially trick. I like it - I like it a lot.

To be honest, I'm not wild about the grills on the front stage drivers. Personally, I think color matching them would look much better.

Awesome work for sure, and I bet it sounds even better than it looks. :cool:
 
#43 ·
THIS IS the best installation i have ever seen.

Your meticulas attn to detail.

If you could id send my car to you from Australia just to do.

Congratulations on a job well done.

With the acrylic, what thickness is it, and are the edges sanded to a smoky finish or they the polished clear.

I have the same amps goin into my car, alot less room thought:)
 
#44 ·
thanks guys :)

this is by no means the best or anything close to the best install hehe, this is just my best effort and being anal about little details...

the plexi is 1/2" thick, i clouded the edges with 60 then 150. though i do wish i had a sand blaster :)

the point about grilles is a good one, i am gonna ask Focal if they make or can make a set of grilles with tan cloth. the way they work, its really most ideal to use their grilles, especially on the midrange and tweeter.
 
#45 ·
Gorgeous install!

Quick question about the LED strips, is the double sided tape the width of the plexiglass or a little less? I was thinking if it was full width, how would the light get through?

I just realized I am flying into your necks of the woods this evening. It would have been a wonderful experience to see and hear your car. I hope it brings you much success (and business)!
 
#48 ·
the double sided tape i used is transparent :) its about 3/8" so slightly thinner than the plexi. you flying into San Jose area or you flight to Chico? where the car actually is? you are welcome to stop by my place and listen to my car, but it doenst sound nearly as good as this one.

as for weight, i have no clue, but i think this system actually weighs less than the previous system, those DIYMA12s were no joke and those huge sideboxes werent either.
 
#77 ·
the double sided tape i used is transparent :) its about 3/8" so slightly thinner than the plexi.
Were you able to place the led strip directly on the tape or did you have to use some sort of spacers to keep the actual led from touching the tape? Why use the doublesided tape at all if you tape the back side anyways? Doesn't seem like they could move around.

I'm asking because I'm edge lighting a 3/8" piece of acrylic. I've studied all your installs and hopefully mine comes out nearly half as good.
 
#49 ·
Incredible install Bing. Just so thorough. I really admire the dedication to not use a single screw. Super labor intensive, but there is no greater testament to your attention to detail (and ensuing clinical insanity) than that feat. Well done sir. PMing you a specific question.
 
#53 ·
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