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So a few weeks ago i posted the build log of the first of three cars we received from a client on the east coast, this is the 2nd build log from the collection.
Out here in Cali country, where gas prices are sky high, we tend to do a whole lot more cars than SUVs or Trucks, so this 2014 Grand Cherokee is something of a new territory for us. Regardless of anything else, i was kinda excited to work on a vehicle where i dont have to bend my back at an absurd angle to work on day in and day out
lets first visit the goals:
1. achieve a nice level of sound quality and bass output
2. maintain a classy and congruent appearance in the interior (truck already had full suede headliner and pillars wrapped prior to its arrival)
3. maintain a fully usable cargo floor but still have the ability to showcase the install in a classy manner, the customer also specified that he would like to have an infinity light and a scorpion logo (a good luck charm) integrated into the build.
4. integrate the Mosconi AMAS super high resolution BT streaming device into the mix as the oem headunit is not replaceable and its signal purity is so so at best.
lets first take a look at the car. The new GC is actually a vehicle we dont see a ton of here on the road, i kinda like it, way less awkward than some of generations before this. this particular car, is a top spec summit edition with the 5.7L "yall got a hemi?!"
first thing to show is the integration of the mosconi RC mini dsp controller into the center console. as the Mosconi AMAS streaming device will be the primary signal source, a controller is needed to do master volume when streaming, it also has the added benefit of subwoofer volume control and preset changing. Joey fabricated a cool mounting that fits seamlessly into a small picket behind the shifter, and it frames the RC mini and provides all the controls within easy reach of the customer:
in typical ahem, joey fashion, we are a bit scarce on build pics, but essentially, its a piece of acrylic carefully routered and shaped into a perfect fit for the pocket, and then painted black:
the side brackets you see here, allow an additional piece of acrylic bar, secured to the back of the controller itself, to bolt into these side pieces, thus securing the controller in place into the rack:
The customer wanted from the get go to have different front stage speaker choices for each of his three vehicles. the Genesis posted earlier got the Audiofrog 3 way set, this car went perhaps even a bit more exotic, and utilizes the Gladen Aerospace 3 way 6.5" component set. Seldomly seen in the US though it is available through ORCA design, the last and only time we used this set before was in the GTR show car from two years ago.
the 3" midrange was molded into the A pillars and wrapped in headliner matching black suede, while the tweeter was installed in the oem sail panel location. here is the finished product from various angles, note the dip in the A pillar mold above the speaker so i can recess the speaker a bit more without the shape of the pillar blocking it:
some build pics of the front mid and high stages, here is the oem tweeter location, with the stock tweeter and with it popped out. out of sheer luck, the tweeter location opening is IDENTICAL in size to the flange of the Gladen tweeter:
however, the opening of the stock tweeter location is too big for the gladen tweeter, so i routered two rings for the tweeters, and carefully trimmed off some of the material so it would fit dead in the middle of the oem opening. thus giving me an ability to secure and center the Gladen tweeters perfectly. this looks simple but actually, getting all the angles and shapes right while trimming those MDF rings took me quite sometime and two tries to get right:
once the adapter rings were epoxied in, the backside of the sail panel was smothered with CLD damper:
the gladen tweeters were then secured with provided set screws:
moving onto the midranges.
first, i trimmed and cut the pillar covers, aimed and secured the two mounting rings:
next, mold cloth was pulled resin applied, and i made a press using a few stacked mdf rings and strapped them to the opening above the baffle, this basically formed a rounded dip in the mold cloth. when it cured, and i pulled those presses off, it looked like this:
then basically its about filling, smoothing and shaping the pillars with filler until they had the desired shape and smoothness:
then came the fun job of wrapping them with a single piece of black street suede. it was pretty tough since there are some drastic angles in the pillars, but after sometime, i got the suede to behave and ended up with these:
the backside of the pillar also received some CLD damper:
and then, the gladen midranges were secured in place. note the grilles are absent from these pics, that is because they are not sold with the kit and had to be airshipped individually to me, and they are glued onto the metal mounting trim ring with supplied adhesive after the pillars were installed:
the last piece of the front stage is the Aerospace 6.5" midbasses, for these, jesse built a set of adapter plates for them that matches the oem speaker flange:
he then ran the speaker wires into the door, sound proofed the outter skin with blackhole tiles, and the inner skin with STP CLD damper, and mounted the adapter baffle with oem hardware after coating them with several layers of truck bedliner to protect them against the elements:
the Gladen midbass was then installed and wired up:
the door card also received a fair share of CLD damper to help with resonance:
the same procedure was then repeated on the other side by Jesse:
Out here in Cali country, where gas prices are sky high, we tend to do a whole lot more cars than SUVs or Trucks, so this 2014 Grand Cherokee is something of a new territory for us. Regardless of anything else, i was kinda excited to work on a vehicle where i dont have to bend my back at an absurd angle to work on day in and day out
lets first visit the goals:
1. achieve a nice level of sound quality and bass output
2. maintain a classy and congruent appearance in the interior (truck already had full suede headliner and pillars wrapped prior to its arrival)
3. maintain a fully usable cargo floor but still have the ability to showcase the install in a classy manner, the customer also specified that he would like to have an infinity light and a scorpion logo (a good luck charm) integrated into the build.
4. integrate the Mosconi AMAS super high resolution BT streaming device into the mix as the oem headunit is not replaceable and its signal purity is so so at best.
lets first take a look at the car. The new GC is actually a vehicle we dont see a ton of here on the road, i kinda like it, way less awkward than some of generations before this. this particular car, is a top spec summit edition with the 5.7L "yall got a hemi?!"
first thing to show is the integration of the mosconi RC mini dsp controller into the center console. as the Mosconi AMAS streaming device will be the primary signal source, a controller is needed to do master volume when streaming, it also has the added benefit of subwoofer volume control and preset changing. Joey fabricated a cool mounting that fits seamlessly into a small picket behind the shifter, and it frames the RC mini and provides all the controls within easy reach of the customer:
in typical ahem, joey fashion, we are a bit scarce on build pics, but essentially, its a piece of acrylic carefully routered and shaped into a perfect fit for the pocket, and then painted black:
the side brackets you see here, allow an additional piece of acrylic bar, secured to the back of the controller itself, to bolt into these side pieces, thus securing the controller in place into the rack:
The customer wanted from the get go to have different front stage speaker choices for each of his three vehicles. the Genesis posted earlier got the Audiofrog 3 way set, this car went perhaps even a bit more exotic, and utilizes the Gladen Aerospace 3 way 6.5" component set. Seldomly seen in the US though it is available through ORCA design, the last and only time we used this set before was in the GTR show car from two years ago.
the 3" midrange was molded into the A pillars and wrapped in headliner matching black suede, while the tweeter was installed in the oem sail panel location. here is the finished product from various angles, note the dip in the A pillar mold above the speaker so i can recess the speaker a bit more without the shape of the pillar blocking it:
some build pics of the front mid and high stages, here is the oem tweeter location, with the stock tweeter and with it popped out. out of sheer luck, the tweeter location opening is IDENTICAL in size to the flange of the Gladen tweeter:
however, the opening of the stock tweeter location is too big for the gladen tweeter, so i routered two rings for the tweeters, and carefully trimmed off some of the material so it would fit dead in the middle of the oem opening. thus giving me an ability to secure and center the Gladen tweeters perfectly. this looks simple but actually, getting all the angles and shapes right while trimming those MDF rings took me quite sometime and two tries to get right:
once the adapter rings were epoxied in, the backside of the sail panel was smothered with CLD damper:
the gladen tweeters were then secured with provided set screws:
moving onto the midranges.
first, i trimmed and cut the pillar covers, aimed and secured the two mounting rings:
next, mold cloth was pulled resin applied, and i made a press using a few stacked mdf rings and strapped them to the opening above the baffle, this basically formed a rounded dip in the mold cloth. when it cured, and i pulled those presses off, it looked like this:
then basically its about filling, smoothing and shaping the pillars with filler until they had the desired shape and smoothness:
then came the fun job of wrapping them with a single piece of black street suede. it was pretty tough since there are some drastic angles in the pillars, but after sometime, i got the suede to behave and ended up with these:
the backside of the pillar also received some CLD damper:
and then, the gladen midranges were secured in place. note the grilles are absent from these pics, that is because they are not sold with the kit and had to be airshipped individually to me, and they are glued onto the metal mounting trim ring with supplied adhesive after the pillars were installed:
the last piece of the front stage is the Aerospace 6.5" midbasses, for these, jesse built a set of adapter plates for them that matches the oem speaker flange:
he then ran the speaker wires into the door, sound proofed the outter skin with blackhole tiles, and the inner skin with STP CLD damper, and mounted the adapter baffle with oem hardware after coating them with several layers of truck bedliner to protect them against the elements:
the Gladen midbass was then installed and wired up:
the door card also received a fair share of CLD damper to help with resonance:
the same procedure was then repeated on the other side by Jesse: