[simplicityinsound]

for the guys that know me, you will prolly know that for my personal preference, when cosmetics and stealthiness goes up again SQ in the most strict sense, I will personally almost always side with the former. for this reason you will very rarely see me do on axis tweets, or ovely large kick panels with more than two way comp sets, in other words, if an installation method mean that it could net slightly better SQ, but at the risk that it will stand out drastically from the vehicle, iwill usually not do i... I guess its a strength and a weakness depdending on what crowd you ask

So i guess it was refreshing to depart from this value that i hold so dear once in a while. The biggest departure from my norm for this car, was the moldiing of large format tweets on axis on a relatively thin A pillar

acutally it was acutally very relaxing in a sense beucase i just had to follow orders, basically i installed things the way i was told to by the customer and his adviser so please dont ask me why something was installed a certain way, instead, ask Mr. whatzzap and Senor Eng, as they are the owner and adviser to this build...respectively...

The vehicle is a new general infiniti G35S sedan. Since i have so much experince with the old Gs, it was great to finally get my hands on the new version so i can famaliarize myself with it.

so i will dispense with the normal goals and hwat not, as the obvious idea here is to create a system that sounds very good and look clean...also of note is that Ron provided virtually every piece of equipment and supplies. so any questions on gear choice please ask him hehe...most of his choice was top class, but a few umm...decisions related to wiring...cuased me some grief...more on this later


lets get started...

the signal chain starts wtih the stock headunit, there is as of yet, no way to add a new heaudnit via adapters to the stock dash. So the signal is tapped between the bose headunit and the bose amp. I should note that this isnt hte first install in the vehicle, so some of hte work was already done, including hte signal tapping.

from the stock bose output, the signal goes first through a soundgate LOC, and then into an alpine H701 processor, controlled via the C701 controller. I wanted to install the controller in a location that is hidden, but can be easily accessed to sit back and tune in the front seat. so i came up wtih this mounting.

normally, the controller is velcroed to the arm rest top, out of hte way of all the stuff in the amrest holder:

when tuning, just unattach it, and you can sit back, relax and tune all you want from the seat:

the front stage is a set of Scanspeak Alpine F1 status 3 way comp set. the midbass were installed into the stock lower door location, there was already dampening on the door, quite a few layers infact...so i just made the baffle, ran new wires into the door and put in the speaker:

 

[simplicityinsound]

the midrange, was installed into cusotm molded kick panels, aiming on axis at opposite listener. briefly, we thought about molding it into the A pillar as well, but with the think A pillar of the G, it would be very tough to get the needed air space for the mid, not to mention it would look aboslutely insanely bulky. So kicks were used instead...

here are some build up pics of the kicks:

first hte initial mold and dampening

baffle aimed and attached:

wrapped in fleece and resined:

filler and sand

hard to see the next two pics but the insides were reinforced, and the modeling clay added and then another layer of dampening:

test fitment in the vehicle:

 

[simplicityinsound]

vinyled with black vinyl:

left kick attached, wires run through...(here you see part of the wiring choices that I disliked )

Left driver installed:

same for the other side:

 

[simplicityinsound]

now comes my favorite part...the tweeter build. two of the reasons why i never wanted to do large format tweeters on axis was one, it looks really bulky and eye-catching, and two, i have seen very few large format tweets covered in material that isnt wrinkly, stiched or other wise non factory matching. this is of course, due to the extreme angles the pod makes, when molded to a relatively thin A pillar.

for a while, i thought about painting the pillar with SEM to match the dash...but a quick epiphany and some testing allowed me to pull something off all together. and in the end, i feel that i achieved a finish that was very close to matching stock colors and texture, with absolutely no wrinkles in the finish or stiches more on this below...but first, the finished product.

as you can see, the material and finish is almost completely stock matching, its darker than the stock material by a shade, but very close indeed the alpine tweeters, like the mids, were aimed on axis with opposite listener as i am instructed.

now the build up pics of hte pillars:

first the mold:

then test fitment in the car:

then they were strengthened and sanded smooth:

and dampened from the inside

and now comes the fun part, the finish...the stock headliner/A pillar material is basically grille cloth finish. but it is of a very unique color. its halfway between beige and light gray. when i try to get beige vinyl or headliner material, its not gray enough, and when i try to match it to light gray, well, its not beige enough...absolutely annoying...

then i remembered that i had some expeirnces dyeing grille cloth...and the trick in doing that was when a certain color grille cloth was sprayed with SEM, it doesnt become the color of the paint, but rather, it forms osmething that is in between the two colors.

add to that grille cloth, is about hte only thing flexible enough to wrap this shape in one piece, completely wrinkle free

so...armed with that theory...i first wrapped the two pillars with light gray grille cloth...no wrinkles

then, i sprayed them with light beige (off weight) SEM, and after a few coats, viola! the light beige bonded with the light gray and formed a color that is very close to stock...

here is one of the pillars dyed, next to the original:

this was perhaps the most satisfying part of the install...

and finally...the front stage as a whole:

 

[simplicityinsound]

two quick shots of HUGE 11 guage twisted speaker wire Ron gave me to run...i hate oversized speaker cables, and i HATE twisted speaker wires even more...bleh...

so...moving to the trunk...and i really have to say i cant take pictures worth shit, but here goes...

the main trunk has two pieces, with an upright subwoofer section, and an in floor amp section. normally, two vented grilles protect the two sections. Ron will get a custom floor mat cut to go on the floor.

the two vented grilles:

remove the grilles, and hwere is what you see. the top layer of floor and wall is covered in graphite alcantara, a great material looks wise but very hard to work with.

two scanspeak 9" subs face backwards, they sit in a 2 cubfeet sealed enclosure (1 cubfeet sealed per sub!!), two Abyss amplifiers and an Abyss cap/Dblock sit in the floor. both the subs and the amps are trimmed in white vinyl.

there is acutally an additional abyss mono amp below the main amp rack, and poweres the two subs with 800 watts total, one of hte abyss amps sends over 150 watts to the midbass, while the other amp powers the mid and tweet with 75-100watts(i think...ask Ron lol)

so here comes the other complaint about wiring...the HUGE ASS knukoncept rca cables...with super long ends and very unflexible...they may look cool but makes the installer's job, espeically when trying to fit a lot of things into a small space, HELL!...thanks Ron!!!! lol also, i was given ...12 foot? rcas when a 3 footer would have worked...trying to hide 8 gigantic rcas in an already tight space made me curse a lot

that is why the rca cables are routed the way they are, if i made then run straight, it would have made the amp rack too wide for the other components installed beside it...

anyway, the top of amp rack is a routed and polised piece of plexi, to allow the amps to vent

pics:

if you look at the wall of the amp rack, and the cutout around the subs, you will see a plexiglass border...they light up with a flick of the swtich...with UV/purple LEDs

of course, the idea is to see it at night, however, regardless of how i tuned my POS camera, i couldnt capture the effect of the purple UV lighting glowing onto the white vinyl, causing a slight reaction and casting a slightly more BLUE hue to theentire rack...

so i only have these shitty pics...you can sorta see how the color the vinyled area is more blue than the edge...but not really...bleh...oh well i guess you just have to see it in person hehe

 

[simplicityinsound]

well...thats it...all build pics from now on...Leon helped tune it up a bit and we will do some more tuning down in LA tommorow, so you socal guys can check it out at the meet as for how it sounds, i think its tonally qiute good, but i will let Eng, Leon or Ron talk about it after all three has seen/tuned it...

anyway, subbox build pics, due tot he awkward shape of hte trunk, this is how i squeezed 2 cubfeet out of it, a 1.6 cubfeet middle section wtih two .2 cubfeet side...he L brackets are not hte only thing holding the sides on...obviously, they are air nailed in, the brackets are for extra support...

THIS FOLLOW PIC I DEDICATE TO MR. RON WHATZZAP

front vinyled:

front baffle covered in alcantara and edge lit plexi border attached:

leds attached to the outter edge and then black taped to make sure there is no light leakage...here is halfway through that process:

here ist he bottom amp rack wtih the abyss mono amp on it, along with a crossflow fan...its mounted this way so we can still get at the gain controls:

a second tier support was ten attached, and the main amp rack sits on this:

the amp rack itself is acutally five separate pieces

first, the bottom plate, with the holes drilled out for grommets:

then it was covered in vinyl and grommets snapped in. various holes are drilled in the area below the amps, this will serve to secure the amp rack to the support platform and then the amps go on top of these holes.

here is the insane wiring job below the amp rack, where each individua wire, going into their grommets, has to be attached in a way that lead them to their eventual destination, and yet never overlap more than oncebeucase the thcik speaker wires and rca cables, should they stack together more than once, it would make the wiring too thick to fit with in the 3/4" spacers..

this took me quite a few hours...

and the top side wiring action:

now here is the wall of the amp rack, made of four pieces of routed out MDF and plexi.. first are two stacked 1/2" mdf pieces, then the plexi piece, then a 3/4" mdf piece, to form a 2.25" high surrounding wall wtih a plexi edge lit sandwich:

the inner edges of the pieces were vinlyed white to match the floor:

and the entire rack together:

both the subbox and the amp rack was then attached to the car:

and everyhting was wired up...note the gigantic bundle of rca cables on the driver side...i call this...taming of hte anacondas lol

as you can see, other than the amps, there is also the H701, a Tru line driver, and a PG remote line Dblock...the idea is to mount everyhting so that ALL the pieces can be accessied, diagnosed, tuned without removal of anyhting else...this dicated each piece's location in the maze...

and finally...the top fake floor piece with the plexi attached:

okay, thats it, i am going to go pass out from exhaustion now and get ready for my trip down to socal tommorow.

pardon me for the more than normal amount of typos...too tired to care right now haha

cheers.

Bing

 

[ArcL100]

Great work as always from you.

Are the kicks only attached by the OEM trim?

-Jerry

 

[strong*I*bumpin]

We'll be just repeating ourselves,again,as always great install

 

[simplicityinsound]

yeah, the oem clips and the stud in the back is plenty to hold it in place

back after a nap to watch F1 practice for GP of shanghai lol

 

[lyttleviet]

WOW... I am most impressed with the detail in the trunk!!!!

One question, is the passenger side A-Pillar droopy or is it the camera angle?

 

[simplicityinsound]

not sure whcih pic you mean? but htey should be both aligned, unless the car's shape is different left to right hehe...if you look at the pics where they are laying sideby side, at the same position, you will see that the baffles are aimed the same way...

it could be from the fact htat the pic were taken from dead center, but beind the driver seat a bit...but i cant tell hehe

b

 

[lyttleviet]

not sure whcih pic you mean? but htey should be both aligned, unless the car's shape is different left to right hehe...if you look at the pics where they are laying sideby side, at the same position, you will see that the baffles are aimed the same way...

it could be from the fact htat the pic were taken from dead center, but beind the driver seat a bit...but i cant tell hehe

b

Sweet... I really like how you used the LEDs.. It looks like custom neons but probably a LOT cheaper...

Can you PM me what you guys charge out there to do something like that? Everything that is.

 

[moosejuice]

Very nice install Bing. It shows another level of your talents to be able to do just about any type of install...

B-

 

[seddon]

Another amazing install

 

[MaXaZoR]

SICK>>>SICK>>>SICK....your installs are amazing. Simple, clean, and inspiriing. Great work again...

 

[simplicityinsound]

hehe, the leds arent cheap at all...about 200 bucks of leds is used inhtis car...

neons cant really blend around corners tat well, and cold cathode is just too dim usually and also too loud with the inverter

as for cost, its hard to say, i usualy throw a big discount for diyma guys...i only know that if this was a normal customer, i 'd prolly charge twice as much on labor, but then again, i cant imagine a "normal" guy wanting an install like this and is NOT on diyma

 

[lancer3]

very nice work man... i have been watching a few of ur installs and they are absolutely amazing....

 

[dvflyer]

Nice.... Looking forward to hearing more about how it sounds.

Now get some rest... you've got a serious install coming.

 

[dual700]

Big speaker wire is ghey. Big TWISTED speaker wire is very ghey.
Big fat, stiff RCA is ghey, and so does purple leds.

I can't wait to screw up the sound later tonight..

ooooooooooppppppppssssssss!!!

Good job, Bing. Drive safe, big guy.

 

[Irishfocus06]

It sucks...................