Buzzman's 03 Mercedes S500 system overhaul

[handcrafted]

This system was built by a shop in California before the owner of the vehicle moved out here to Arizona. The goal of the build was all SQ and, while some of the fabrication was okay looking, alot of it simply did not match with the quality of the sound . Also, it was pretty difficult to get to all of the amplifiers or the bit one if you needed to.
So, the new goals for the new build were to dress up the trunk a little bit more so that it's style would be complimentary to the vehicle and to the sound systems. The door pods needed to be redone to accept a new size speaker . The tweeter pods in the a pillar needed to be completely rebuilt to allow for a much larger overall tweeter whose angle could be adjusted after the fact. The dash panel needed to be reworked because it was simply textured and painted black and everything was held together with hot glue! Needless to say, it was not something that could be removed many times before the MDF structure was ruined. Well, enough babble, here's the breakdown.


This is what it looked like before hand. It had a carpeted piece that covered it all up when he didn't want it to be shown. The sub enclosure hangs down in the middle. Behind the amps on the sides are the other amps and the Bit One. like I said, pain in the ass to get to.

Here, I started to mock up the new amp rack which would be welded out of steel. The MDF is placed up against the same mounting points that the existing system used.

This piece is the mock-up of where the Bit One will sit in the end.

I used this piece to ensure the location of each "amp" when I reassembled it outside the car.

Kinda like that.

Here, I am adding the piece that will trim out the amp.

As you can see, I got the whole front trim piece done and then welded it to the frame. This piece is at an angle so that the Bit one can be seen easier once everything is assembled and to add some style.

Kind of a rough idea of what it will end up looking like.

I wanted to mimic the shape of the trunk with this piece, so I used a piece of 1/4x1/4 mdf and glued it in place. This then became my piece to flush trim with and later, as a template.

Here's the rack being test fitted.

[handcrafted]

This is where I used that piece as a template to turn the shape into a two part piece. Now, I can wrap the majority of it in one material and have a press in insert from another material. You can also see where I tapped the steel for mounting points.

Here's the insert piece.



In the areas where we could not use screws, I used these 1/2" by 1/8" metal dowel rods which were glued into the bottom of the plastic panel and then fit into the 18" holes in the steel.


Here is the top piece all wrapped up. We used a headliner like material which will be used in other parts of the trunk. The aluminum is simply laminate.

here you can see the nice edge left on the bottom because of the 1/16 x 1/2" rabbet I used.

[handcrafted]

Here's some almost finished shots. Note how the wiring is hidden underneath the panel and everything seems to be kinda floating.

So, these new tweeters are freakin huge so i had to think outside the box a bit when it came to incorporating them into the a-pillar. Plus, I have always thought it would be cool to mount a tweeter on a ball & cup kind of mount so that it could be adjustable after the fact. So, here's what i did.




Yes, that was completely necessary!

[handcrafted]

Before I taped these down, I glued an MDF trim ring to the foam so that the fiberglass would bond to that.


Ha ha

We were able to get most of the foam out of there.

Then we just ran some acetone on the inside to get rid of the rest.




We wrapped em in that same headliner material without a seam! Then the speaker mounts and you get an idea of what it's gonna be like. I wasn't too happy with the way it looked at this point because the difference in diameter between the speaker and the ball. It was only like 3/16" but still it was weird. So I made these.

[handcrafted]

Kinda looks like an acorn right?
The existing dash kit was a two part piece. It had one piece that went into the dash opening and was secured with screws. Then it had a trim piece that covered up the mounting screws and trimmed everything out. I pretty much just refinished what was already there.

As you can see, I painted it black, just cuz. Also, you can see the two magnets that are sunk into the piece.

And you can see these two magnets

Here's the dash kit, all wrapped in matching vinyl and magnetized in place. Now, he can remove the dash panel easily if need be without having to pry against the hot glue.

the car is due back any minute to do some more work on it, I'll post more pics when i have them.

[FartinInTheTub]

Great fab skills. Looking forward to some more pics.

[odj23]

I remember reading the article on this car thinking the layout/fit and finish was pretty poor for such a high end install. I'm glad to see this level of work going in. Looks great thus far

[handcrafted]

Thanks guys. Hopefully, we will be done with most of it by Saturday. I'll be sure to post more pics.

[simplicityinsound]

cant wait Jon cant wait

[bertholomey]

Fantastic! The sound was spectacular when I heard it last. Great equipment and Buzz worked tirelessly on the tune. The improved install will certainly take the Benz to the next level. Looking forward to thr finished tweeter pods. I hope to hear the car after everything gets installed.

[Arclight]

Awesome build. I like the plastic/steel amp rack in the trunk...very functional and sturdy and probably lighter than MDF.

[JayinMI]

I like it, but the only thing that stands out is the dash bezel. It NEEDS to be hydrowrapped to match the woodgrain. Wouldn't change anything else!

Love it.

Jay

[Buzzman]

Guys, thanks for all the nice comments. This project is unfolding better than I had envisioned. I had a great foundation in place, but I knew there were things I could do to improve the aesthetics, which, as Jon said, did not equal the SQ of the car in a number of areas. I also knew there were some things I could do to improve sonics in certain areas. I had specific objectives in mind when I came to Jon and I owe him many thanks for taking my ideas (taken from my home audio experience and some of which probably had him scratching his head) and utilizing his creative insight and fabricating talent to execute things in ways I did not contemplate. I definitely didn't want the Vegas lounge look, and emphasized it had to be modern in look and feel, while not being ostentatious. This has been a truly collaborative effort and I am so happy with the results so far. Everything is an improvement over what I previously had. We encountered a glitch which slowed down the completion of the work, but are hopeful Da Benz will be done this week and ready to roll.

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by JayinMI

I like it, but the only thing that stands out is the dash bezel. It NEEDS to be hydrowrapped to match the woodgrain. Wouldn't change anything else!

Love it.

Jay

Jay, it's so funny you would say that. Jon suggested hydrowrapping the console piece from the very beginning and I agree that would be best. But, it was going to take a little more patience to get that done as quickly as I wanted and Buzzman can be impatient when he doesn't have music in his car. But, that is something we plan to do down the road. Thanks for your feedback.

[JayinMI]

Glad you took it the way I meant it. I always enjoy Jon's work, and read the article on your car from CA&E, who had great things to say. Hydrowrapping is one of the coolest things I've seen for finishing off the integration of a system, and a friend of mine just started doing it. If I had any woodgrain or anything, I'd be looking into it. Luckily, the trim in my car is just silver.

Jay

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by JayinMI

Glad you took it the way I meant it. I always enjoy Jon's work, and read the article on your car from CA&E, who had great things to say. Hydrowrapping is one of the coolest things I've seen for finishing off the integration of a system, and a friend of mine just started doing it. If I had any woodgrain or anything, I'd be looking into it. Luckily, the trim in my car is just silver.

Jay

Jay, I knew exactly where you were coming from with your comment. It was a thoughtful piece of advice. As you can tell, I wanted an execution that really complements the style and image of the car, and having that woodgrain finish on that piece will definitely be in keeping with that objective, and maintaining the factory look. So, we will definitely be pursuing the hydrowrapping.

[bertholomey]

Originally Posted by JayinMI

Glad you took it the way I meant it. I always enjoy Jon's work, and read the article on your car from CA&E, who had great things to say. Hydrowrapping is one of the coolest things I've seen for finishing off the integration of a system, and a friend of mine just started doing it. If I had any woodgrain or anything, I'd be looking into it. Luckily, the trim in my car is just silver.

Jay

Sorry to stray off course a bit, but I'm curious about this hydrowrapping thing you all are talking about. I have woodgrain in my BMW, and I have thought about the carbon fibre wrap of these pieces, but never was convinced I would like the final look. Can you direct me to a website that would demonstrate examples of what you are referring to?

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by bertholomey

Sorry to stray off course a bit, but I'm curious about this hydrowrapping thing you all are talking about. I have woodgrain in my BMW, and I have thought about the carbon fibre wrap of these pieces, but never was convinced I would like the final look. Can you direct me to a website that would demonstrate examples of what you are referring to?

Jason, actually, the question is on point. Perhaps we shouldn't have referred to it as "hydrowrapping" because there is a company called Hydrowraps that does a lot of this work on boats. I think Jay and I are referring to the same thing, which is a vinyl wrapping process. The challenge is getting something to actually match the wood grain in your car (i.e., color, direction of grain, etc.) Check these out:

How To Wood Grain - Dashboards, Panels, Installation Kits

Wood Grain Vinyl - Wood Grain Wrap - DINOC Wood Grain Vinyl Wrap - Woodgrain Vinyl Decal Laminate

There may well be other ways to try and achieve this, so I am sure someone else will chime in.

[JayinMI]

The first place I ever saw that did that was from Phoenix Imaging.

Here's a link that explains more about the process:

P.I. Hydrographics

Jay

[Luke352]

Originally Posted by handcrafted

Kinda looks like an acorn right?
.

Looks nice and the quality looks supurb but from an SQ point it bad, bad, bad. The front face plate has alot to do the with the final frequency response of the driver and hence it's sound and adding that trim piece will play silly buggers with the response and you'll get lots of reflections etc...

If SQ is the goal get rid of it.

[subwoofery]

Originally Posted by Luke352

Looks nice and the quality looks supurb but from an SQ point it bad, bad, bad. The front face plate has alot to do the with the final frequency response of the driver and hence it's sound and adding that trim piece will play silly buggers with the response and you'll get lots of reflections etc...

If SQ is the goal get rid of it.

You're talking about diffraction, right? Not reflections.

Kelvin

[xxx_busa]

it depends on the depth of the ceramic cone, it may be set back far enough not to matter at all, thing is looks like they'll come off and you'll know immediattly.

[Luke352]

Originally Posted by subwoofery

You're talking about diffraction, right? Not reflections.

Kelvin

Yes, sorry.

[Buzzman]

Originally Posted by Luke352

Looks nice and the quality looks supurb but from an SQ point it bad, bad, bad. The front face plate has alot to do the with the final frequency response of the driver and hence it's sound and adding that trim piece will play silly buggers with the response and you'll get lots of reflections etc...

If SQ is the goal get rid of it.

The "cap" is purely cosmetic, is pressure fit and removable (), and was designed with diffraction considerations in mind. It's inside edge is a little more than 1/2" from the inside edge of the faceplate, and is chamfered exactly like the face plate, specifically to reduce any possible diffraction. Jon can confirm it's thickness, but I believe that including the vinyl, it's 1/8" thick. I doubt there will be any audible issues, but if so, it's off in an instant.

[trojan fan]

Jon, do you have anymore pics to share?