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With all thats going on now, it is hard to think back to when i first moved to california more than 10 years ago. Back then, all i had was a little garage in our townhouse with very limited tools and skillsets. it was also the time where i seemed to work on nothing else other than G35s and 350Zs since i was active on those forums. One of my earliest customers was Eugene who had me actually do two different builds in his G coupe.
now, many many years later, it seems we both have upgraded
as he contacted me to do a simple sq set up in his new bmw 435i Gran Coupe. We have done a ton of late model bmws, but this was the first GC for me...and it was a pretty cool experience.
the goals:
1. achieve a nice level of sound quality using oem locations
2. maintain as stock of an appearance as possible in the hatch area
3. integrate the subwoofer to a stealthy, low profile design.
Eugene supplied me with all the products except the subwoofer, and jesse performed almost all the work on this car.
lets first take a look at the car. though it does cut into the rear head room, i think the GC is a very attractive car...the swoopy profile paints a sportier picture than the standard 3 series, and the four doors make it more practical than the 4...compared to other four door coupes out there, this could be one of my favorite designs:
first up is replacing the factory underseat "woofers" with Gladen oem fitment speakers. and as standard practive, the enclosures were removed, full sound proofed inside and out, and the gladen drivers wired in and installed:
jesse installed the finished enclosures back into the car, and wired them up to the stock wiring:
the stock door midrange was replaced with a pair of hybrid audio carbon 4" drivers, and jesse made some adapter plates for them, painted them black, and secure it to the door. the area around the speaker on both the door panel and the door card were sound proofed:
For the tweeters, Eugene gave us a pair of morel MT350s from the elate titanium set, and these were secured to the oem location for a virtually stock fit:
jesse then ran all the wires to the driver side, away from the oem main power cable connecting the alternator to the rear battery. the bundle is ziptied and organized every few inches:
on the hatch side, the oem amp was removed, and a supplied adapter harness by Technic was used to get all the signal wires needed to the new amps, and the main power cable was run from the passenger side.
both of these bundles travel to right behind the back seat, and then comes back towards the back of the car, and entires the little storage bin via two dips in the metal. this made for zero cutting or drilling of the car for wire routing:
now, many many years later, it seems we both have upgraded
the goals:
1. achieve a nice level of sound quality using oem locations
2. maintain as stock of an appearance as possible in the hatch area
3. integrate the subwoofer to a stealthy, low profile design.
Eugene supplied me with all the products except the subwoofer, and jesse performed almost all the work on this car.
lets first take a look at the car. though it does cut into the rear head room, i think the GC is a very attractive car...the swoopy profile paints a sportier picture than the standard 3 series, and the four doors make it more practical than the 4...compared to other four door coupes out there, this could be one of my favorite designs:
first up is replacing the factory underseat "woofers" with Gladen oem fitment speakers. and as standard practive, the enclosures were removed, full sound proofed inside and out, and the gladen drivers wired in and installed:
jesse installed the finished enclosures back into the car, and wired them up to the stock wiring:
the stock door midrange was replaced with a pair of hybrid audio carbon 4" drivers, and jesse made some adapter plates for them, painted them black, and secure it to the door. the area around the speaker on both the door panel and the door card were sound proofed:
For the tweeters, Eugene gave us a pair of morel MT350s from the elate titanium set, and these were secured to the oem location for a virtually stock fit:
jesse then ran all the wires to the driver side, away from the oem main power cable connecting the alternator to the rear battery. the bundle is ziptied and organized every few inches:
on the hatch side, the oem amp was removed, and a supplied adapter harness by Technic was used to get all the signal wires needed to the new amps, and the main power cable was run from the passenger side.
both of these bundles travel to right behind the back seat, and then comes back towards the back of the car, and entires the little storage bin via two dips in the metal. this made for zero cutting or drilling of the car for wire routing: