[simplicityinsound]

long time followers of us here on diyma can prolly see the progressions of our builds as a company, going from a one man show in my garage to a brick and motar shop, adding lines of products and tools along the way, not to mention having the incredible skills of JOey on hand...but perhaps the biggest progression over the past coupla years has been the growth of Jesse, aka killahsharksjc aka Loserobilt He has always had the attention to detail (something i strongly believe you are either born with or you are not), but what kinda surprised both me and Joey is how fast he took to major fabrication...i would venture to say that he is for sure becoming more of a Joey than myself, with a more adventurous mind and the desire to do more complicated fab work while i tend to like to remain in my comfort zone and push the boundaries in a more evolutionary manner.

Most of you guys have seen a fair share of his work over the past year, and most of you would probably agree with me when i say that this year, i would like to nominate him for the Install of the Year challenge...i really do believe that not only does he deserve to be included in the top 100, but he should be in the top 50 or above...this is of course not saying that he is among the best 50 installers in the universe, but rather, based on what this award has been in the past, he imo, for sure deserves to be included.

So lately, i have been giving him more bigger jobs with VERY relaxed limitations to see what he can come up with; the idea being that these are the types of builds that will headline his bid for IOTY.

This brand new Tesla model S 90D, is for sure one of them.

The goals as i stated to Jesse before basically leaving him alone for the entire build:

1. achieve a nice level of sound quality while maintaining an oem appearance on the interior.

2. maintain a 100 percent stealth look in the hatch area

3. build a classy showy theme in the hatch to highlight not only the equipment, but also his skillset, but do it so in a way that is congruent with the SIS design theme.

So here is the result, the entire car other than the mosconi DSP controller mounting, was built by Jesse himself. IMO he could have done the controller mount as well, but JOey was here and we had to give the guy something to do!!!

so lets get started.

first a shot of the car itself, literally fresh off the assembly line less than 15 minutes away:

having worked on a P85D previously, i know that the stock signal source on the non premium system is quite decent, it is pretty flat except for a major drop off below 40hz...to make sure that the customer has the ability to listen to high resolution files while still maintaining a full bass response, we also decided to incorporate Mosconi's AMAS2 high defintion BT to Optical streaming module, so it can act as a secondary signal source which provides a truly flat signal to the system.

of course, this required the implementation of a Mosconi controller to act as master volume control when streaming, with the added benefit of being able to do change presets and subwoofer volume on the fly. Before even getting the car, i knew where the controller would go and the basic idea of how to mount it...so basically i communicated that concept to JOey, and had him go to work.

And of course, he came up with a very cool little curved pedastal to house the Mosconi RC-MINI controller, right infront of the stock center arm rest, within easy reach of the driver...here you see it in the interior and it is pretty unintrusive visually:

here are some build pics from joey. basically, the mount is a stacked fabricated set of acrylic, bonded together, that acts almost like a claw to hold the mosconi controller. here is joey making the first piece of acrylic off a wood template he designed:

several layers of routering later, we ended up wtih this:

then the mosconi controller's base plate was bolted to the acrylic, and the guts and top plate secured back on to test fit:

then filler was applied to fill in the gaps and sanded smooth:

then it was painted with SEM interior paint, the controller mounted, the cable ran through the factory panel on the front of the arm rest, and the whole thing snapped back into the car:

Moving onto the front stage. Again, our previous experiences with the Model S helped quite a bit...we already knew that a morel tweeter, with the mounting cups trimmed a certain way, can be secured to the factory pillar tweeter mounting in an almost oem way...and that is exactly what Jesse did with a set of MT350s:

For the stock top of the dash location, which is unoccupied in the non premium system, we went with a set of Illusion audio Carbon C3 midranges, these were hard to take pictures of due to the shape of the dash, but here is the best ones jesse was able to get:

for the door midbass, we went with a set of audiofrog's GB60 midbass. First jesse built a pair of adapter spacers for the speaker, coated them with several layers of truck bedline to protect them against the elements, and got them ready to bolt back into the car via oem hardware:

Then, jesse utilized what will become a new standard here at SIS, and that is Ferrules for termination of wiring on select projects. these little metal ends that can be crimped on to the end of wires ensure we dont have loose strands going all over the place, and while you wont see it on every single car, there are certain places, such into small speaker terminals or amps with small plug type terminals, where they will always be used. so here are set of ferrules on the speaker wires going into the AF GB60 midbass:

next, jesse ran new speaker wires into the door, full sound proofed the door panel with GP audio composite damper, and bolted in the adapter and midbass:

the outer door card also received its share of STP CLD damper to help with resonance:

the process was then repeated on the passenger side:

so that is pretty much it for the interior, now comes some wiring pics that show the fuse holder upfront next tot he 12v battery, and wiring bundles as they travel from the front of the car to the back, ziptied and organized every few inches:

 

[simplicityinsound]

Now its time for the main attraction...to refresh, i basically told jesse to "build it so its cool and classy, throw some lighting in there, but still make it fully hideable and the floor usable"...and walked away...

about two weeks later, this is what greeted me.

first, a normal shot showing what basically looks like a 100 percent oem hatch:

pop off the factory cargo floor cover and this is what you see. what looks like a pretty simple design actually contains a lot of details. there is a V shaped cutout designed to frame a custom routered and polished acrylic tesla T emblem...this cutout hovers of an Audiofrog GB10 subwoofer, while two trapezoid cutouts highlight two mosconi AS amps, the below the top surface there is a white vinyl trim panel that shows off a partially rounded profile of t he amps, and on that panel, are routered groves to add some 3D look to the surface. its hard to see in these pics, but the grille mesh over the cutouts are pressed to match the cutouts, and the center mesh, also has a compound press with a matching depression to fit the T emblem....a ton of little design details and i really loved how it came out:

there is also a layer of edge lit plexi beneath the top floor, it isnt mean to be direct edge lighting, but rather, as a frame that casts a smooth white glow across the entire surface, and here are the lights turned on in day light:

and here is what the hatch looks like, all lit up in a darkened garage:

in the past, in describing some of jesse's work, i have used the phrase "i dont think i could have done it better myself" a bit...on this particular install, i would even venture to say that if i had done the job, it may not even have this many cool design features...really, i am blown away by the overall aesthetics of the build...i think its one thing to have fabrication skills, but quite another to have a eye for design to execute something that looks pleasant in a classy manner.

 

[simplicityinsound]

so lets take a look at the builds pics for the hatch area.

basically, jesse built out the entire thing as almost a drop in moldule, with an upside down T shapped enclosure for the audiofrog GB10, with a two sides being much lower to accomodate the amps and dsp. two frames on either end hold up the top floor.

so here is the basics of that module:

though only two amps are visible uptop, there are actually three mosconi AS amps in the design, two AS200.2s power the midbass and sub, while an additional AS100.4 powers the midrange and tweeters and resides below the AS200.2 on the driver side. here is the pedastal that goes over the 100.4 that allows the 200.2 to be secured. note the precisely routered cutouts that still allow the fans to breath and the gain controls accesses from the top.

on the other side is a similar bridge that fits a mosconi 6to8V8 dsp, with the optical board installed for the AMAS2 input, under the other 200.2:

and here is the entire structre with the amps and dsp test fitted...and here you see that the entire shape is actually at quite an angle...this is becuase the top floor of the model S is at a drastically different angle than the floor of the well this module sits in:

and then the AF GB10 was test fitted as well:

then, everything was meticulously wired up out side of the car, this way, once its ready to go in, all the components were removed, the module bolted to the car, and the amps and dsp can just be resecured and the wires reattached:

a quick shot of the big ferrules used on the power and ground wires, these are crimped by the set screw on the amp's terminals:

this is th main vinyl trim board that will be covered in white vinyl, note the groves routered into the top surface, noting also that this is a two peice design:

this is the main top cover, you can see the extra channel routered to the bottom of it to attach the acrylic:

here is the routered and clouded acrylic ring that will help light up the entire build:

and here ist he ring test fitted to the main floor board:

here are the two pressed grilles for the side cutouts in primer:

and the center pressed grille in paint, note the compound pressing that allows a dip to precisely fit the T emblem:

and all three pieces painted black and ready to be secured to the main floor board:

the main floor was then wrapped in black vinyl, and the three pressed grilles secured:

then a strip of white LED lights was secured to the outter edge of the channel:

and the acrylic ring bolted to the board:

and finally, the lighting effect was test fitted on the bench:

so thats it...i dont think i need to say much more about how the project came out from an aesthetic standpoint...but thats only half the story.

there is no other way to put but this car to me, sounds REALLY REALLY good...right off the bat, without any eqing, it already sounded quite nice...with minimal work, it just did really well.

imaging was really great, with a very solid center image about half way up the windshield, the width is easy pillar to pillar and the depth is to the edge of the dash. but tonally, the car could be one of the best we have done in recent times...its really really smooth, airy and full of detail without ever bbeing fatiguing. midbass impact, midrange resolution, highs, and subbass, everything just blended together well...the single GB10 did a great job of filling the car with bass, it can get loud when called upon, and it can do the subtle stuff. on the AMAS when streaming CD quality files, it got even better, everything seemed very open, and the bass was a bit fuller due to the flat signal...honestly, i would be very happy if my own car could sound this good...

so thats it for now, i hope you guys can appreciate the detail and focus that went into this build, and please remember to vote for Jesse when the time comes later on this year

Cheers,

Bing

 

[odj23]

Brilliant work as usual, guys. I love the grill work you've been doing recently.

 

[Hanatsu]

Awesome install work! I'd like to get my hands on the crimp terminal over the strands (on the amplifier side) that you use. Know where I could buy such?

I imagine you want as power efficient system as possible in a Tesla.

 

[mark620]

Once again a great job.. I swear you guys are the subie ,tesla, and bmw MASTERS!!!!

 

[bigbubba]

Killer install again guys. Never seem to disappoint. Love the ferrules connectors. Will have to look into those.

 

[BigAl205]

Outstanding job!

I'm curious why he used stacked acrylic for the controller mount, but not for the door rings?

 

[simplicityinsound]

Awesome install work! I'd like to get my hands on the crimp terminal over the strands (on the amplifier side) that you use. Know where I could buy such?

I imagine you want as power efficient system as possible in a Tesla.

Google ferrulesdirect.com

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[simplicityinsound]

Outstanding job!

I'm curious why he used stacked acrylic for the controller mount, but not for the door rings?

We use acrylic in some interior pieces that's meant to be seen as acrylic suffers virtually no warping or shrinking with temperature...as for door speaker baffles, it's certainly doable and some do..but at like 30 or 40 times the cost of mdf, which when coated works very well in cali, it's more of a luxury than a necessity...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[Vidar]

Simply beautiful hatch area!

 

[strong*I*bumpin]

Wow how I miss this,absolutely amazing SIS!

 

[LBaudio]

Beautiful inastall

 

[bigharv]

Once again an SIS build log makes me tweak my upcoming install. Those ferrules are something I've wanted for years but didn't know they existed or what they'd be called. Amazing work as usual SIS.

 

[optimaprime]

Super ass build ! Love the amp rack!

 

[rockinridgeline]

Absolutely love the look of the hatch. Outstanding ability to visualize and execute, as usual!

 

[BP1Fanatic]

Awesome build!

 

[Babs]

Shazaam!!
Glad this one came back from that terrible fuel tank puncture incident back on the 1st. epper:
That slick little controller arm is bangin'!

 

[Victor_inox]

Shazaam!!
Glad this one came back from that terrible fuel tank puncture incident back on the 1st. epper:
That slick little controller arm is bangin'!

Fuel tank in Tesla?

 

[Babs]

Fuel tank in Tesla?

Inside joke from a FB post Bing made on the 1st of this month.

Ahtough in all seriousness I need more than a couple rivnuts in some places in my trunk for an IB build, and I actually have that concern. hehe