The long and involved process of upgrading my 2016 Macan S stereo system

Its still cold, raining and/or snowing here in Southeast Michigan. So, I have not been outside a lot to mess with my car. However, I have done some planning.

Thinking about sub-woofer options. Look's like I can fit two 10" drivers or three 8" drivers. I'm siding more towards a set of 10's. My idea is to create a false floor and mount the drivers to it. The picture here is a single 8" driver sitting on the sub-floor of the cargo area:



Now onto other things. The front doors have stock 8" mid-bass drivers mounted to the door sheet metal and 3" mid-ranges mounted to the plastic door card. I'm thinking about keeping this configuration but swapping for improved drivers.



The front dash has a set of tweeters to the far left and right sides plus a center channel. Once again, I plan on keeping this configuration but replacing with upgraded drivers. Yes, I plan on running a center channel and hope that Helix has a decent center channel algorithm.




The rear doors are currently configured for 6.5" mid-bass drivers and 1" domed tweeters. However, there is unused space to mount a 3" mid-range as well. I plan to eliminate the rear tweeters. I will start by trying out the 6.5" drivers as L-R rear fill. I'm not sure this is the best option. I may disconnect the 6.5" drivers and add 3" mid-ranges to take over rear fill duty. Those of you who know me know that I feel real strong about using this rear fill configuration to help widen the listening space and increase the over-all room depth.




I also have another possibility for adding rear fill that I may experiment with. There is also room for mid-ranges in the D pillars behind the rear seats. Hmmm... Maybe place rear fill drivers there instead?


Ge0

OK. I figured I need to start somewhere. May as well pick the easier tasks first while the weather is still cold and nasty. Time to do the tweeter install. While not a terribly complicated job it did have its tricks. Doing things in the wrong order can damage the vehicle. So, I decided to document the process step by step.

Remove fuse box cover on both sides of the dash. These are easy enough to remove by hand. Just pace your finger in the access tab near the red arrows and pull outwards. If you don't want to chip your nail polish then you can use a plastic trim tool .



Next, let's tackle the A-pillars. This is perhaps the most difficult step. I've read about folks cracking their windshield trying to get these out. First, remove the access plugs labeled AIRBAG in the upper A-pillar. I found this easiest to do using my finger nails. My plastic trim tools were a little too wide to wedge in there. I didn't want to use a metal trim tool since I didn't want to scratch the plastic finish. Once removed you need to extract the torx head bolts. This is tricky. Loosen the bolt so it is almost out. Then reach in with needle nose pliers to pull it out. Be careful or you might drop the bolt inside the a-pillar.



The next step is important. Pop the upper portion of the A-pillar trim loose by pulling it away from the A-pillar towards the center of the vehicle here (white arrow). Don't try to pull it free. Just pop it loose.



Next, pop the bottom portion of the A-pillar trim loose here (red arrow) then gently push up (green arrow).



You should now be able to remove the a-pillar trim by carefully pushing up the bottom and pulling the top free from the vehicle. Careful, it's rather flimsy in the center where the two pieces are bonded together (red arrow).



Finally we can remove the speaker grill. Some say wedge a plastic trim tool between the speaker grill and dash here:



However, I found it hard to wedge my trim tool in there without risking scratching the dash board. I found it easier to grab the rubber piece here (red arrow) and pull up on it (green arrow). This lifts a corner of the speaker grill so you can get your trim tool in there:



Remove the grill and set it aside. Take note how the rubber part of the trim seats into the dash channel prior to popping the grill back in.

Next, popping the tweeter out is kind of difficult. Push the metal tabs outward away from the tweeter here (red arrows). You can then get a trim tool under the tweeter to pop it up and out. There are no hidden latches in the tweeter connector. Just grab by the connector body and give it a firm tug. Just like your mom always said, don't pull it loose by the cord!!!

I didn't feel like cutting the wire harness on a $65K car. There was not enough length to crimp on quick disconnects in the tight space between dash and windshield. Therefore, I decided to sacrifice the cheap factory tweeters to make my own OEM connector.

This job was somewhat easy. The connector body was glued on to the back of the tweeter. Just de-solder the connections to the tweeter then pry the connector loose with a Xacto knife and flat head screw driver. Next, trim off the excess plastic with a pair of wire cutters then solder on some pig-tails.



Ironically, the body diameter of the new tweeters was very close in size to the factory supplied ones. The factory installed metal clips hold the tweeter in nice and snug. Installing the tweeters could not be easier.



The factory trim was snapped back into place without interference



Ge0

The Scanspeak tweets offer a lot more detail than the cheap plastic Bose units. I can now actually hear parts of music the Bose tweeters could not replicate. However, something still seemed off. I could still hear shrillness in some songs that should not be there. Hmmm... What's going on?

Then it occurred to me. There is another set of Bose tweeters in the rear doors. Let's take a peek.

You can remove the rear door mid-range and tweeter grill by hand. Just grab by the red arrows and gently pull towards you.




I found this interesting. I popped off the grill on the passenger side and noticed this tweeter was damaged from the factory:



It's easier to remove these tweeters. Just put your finger through the empty midrange hole (red arrow) and push on the tweeter from behind. Next, release the plastic clips (red arrows) with your trim tool and the tweeters will pop out.



I tried listening to the system with and without decent tweeters mounted in the rear doors.



Having high frequency content near your ears right behind you was screwing up frontal imaging. So, for now I am going to remove tweeters from the rear doors altogether. The signal going to them is full range. I can probably use that for something else in the future.

The door also has 6-1/2" mid-basses mounted below. I may end up using the 6-1/2's for L-R rear fill in the future. Either that or I will install 3" mid-ranges in the factory supplied locations. Either way, the rear fill will be band limited from 250Hz to 2.5KHz. But, that's a project for another day. I don't have the amps I need to complete this configuration yet.

Ge0

OK. time to check out the center channel situation. Mainly because it is easy to do

Start by pressing the lap clock towards the windshield (red arrow). This will lift the trim piece up enough for you to get your plastic trim removal tool under it (green arrow). But, just break it lose. Don't try to remove yet:



There are two J-hooks you will need to release before you can pull the vent panel out (red arrows). The trick to doing this is to leave the vent panel lowered so the J-hooks clear their locking point. Press away one side then lift that side slightly. Then do the other side. The vent assembly will then lift so you can do other goodies. This is the hardest part. Clear it and you are on your way.



The only thing holding you back now is to release the connector to the LAP clock. Just push in the retainer tab (red arrow) and pull the connector out. Once this is done you can set the vent assembly aside:



Now you have a clean view of the center channel speaker



You'll need to remove those torx bolts. But after that you are home free. I managed to get my Bosch cordless screw driver in there with the appropriate bit and still clear the windshield.



Again, press against the connector retention clip to release then loudspeaker. Easy peasy.

Looking inside the hole I see a somewhat sealed 1 liter enclosure formed by the A/C vents. This may be useful...



It looks like you can add a mid-range with up to a 3" cut-out into this hole. Also, depth does not seem to be any problem for such a driver.





At my photo limit per post...

Ge0

The Porsche Macan center channel is a 2.5" driver with a 3.5" oversized flange.








Here is what it looks like both sides



Extracting dimensions I can think of numerous aftermarket replacement drivers. For the time being I am considering the 4 ohm version of the ScanSpeak 10M. Keep following to see how this works.

Other aftermarket solutions by HAT, FROG, BRAX, and others would also work. But at their cost to performance ratio is unacceptable to me. I enjoy this hobby. But have a realistic budget to consider.

Ge0

I plan to use the same mid-range drivers for the center channel and doors. Here are a few of the early highly rated contenders that have me interested:
















Shameless plug to a friends website since I snagged a few images from him

I'm hoping to order the ScanSpeaks by the end of the week. I'll let you know how this turns out. The Eaton's are an 8 ohm driver. While very efficient they may not draw enough power from an amplifier channel to properly level match with the rest of the system. I may need to hold off on buying these until I have a higher power aftermarket amplifier in place.



Ge0

Time to tear into the front doors. Let's see what we can do with these:

You need to start by removing a few trim pieces to access retention bolts.













Under these trim pieces you will find 3 Torx head screws you need to remove:







After you clear this just lift up on the door panel. It will slide up about 1 inch and then pull away.

You will need to make 3 disconnections. The door handle wire pull and two electrical connectors. I could not take pictures of this because it required two hands.

The door handle pull is a little tricky. You need to push two long white retaining clips outwards while pulling the white connector towards the back of the door.

The electrical connectors are easy. The first that plugs into the Continental Door Zone Module has a pink lever. Flip it to the left towards the front of the door and it will release.

The second electrical connector you need to pinch two tabs inwards while pulling the connector left towards the front of the door. The door panel is now free and you can set it aside.




Ge0

Midbass investigation!!!






Midbass front depth is 1-3/4" or 1.75 for you engineers



The cut out diameter is 8"





Limiting rear depth is another 1-3/4" or 1.75 at the bottom before you hit the window-lift regulator. OUCH!!! Pretty shallow. My last vehicle gave me 3 inches.










Ge0

Here is the midbass speaker. This has been typical Bose design for the last ten years. Too bad they had to cheapen it up so much. Midbass output is strong but very sloppy / muddy. They must hold a solid patent on this design. Putting $20 more dollars into this driver could make it awesome. Maybe why other aftermarket companies have not replicated it and improved it. Anyway, I can't work with this so I'm going to replace it.










The magnet extends 1/4" or 0.25" above the speaker frame



Main speaker frame depth is 1-3/4" or 1.75" above the mounting surface baffle. Just like mounted measurements showed.



Here is the cut-out template:






Ge0

My sub came in:



Not really impressed with the push terminal locations on a shallow mount sub. Hoping I won't have an interference fit one the recessing rings go in. I may need to rotate the sub but then the logo will not be aligned:



All I need is for my prefabbed recessing rings to come in so I can get started on my baffle:


I'll let you know how these rings work out. They were very fairly priced from a domestic seller on Amazon:

10" JL AUDIO TABBED FIBERGLASS SPEAKER JL 10TW3 SUBWOOFER RING SHALLOW SUB:Amazon:Car Electronics

Ge0

Here is my idea for recess mounting a shallow mount sub in my cargo area sub-floor:





This is a functional idea if your sub had a good enough surface to flush mount to its top face. However, sub manufactures have went the way of making their stuff look cool with pretty design features vs. being functional. Meet the JL Audio 10TW3-D4:




They rounded the surface of the top plate to make it look cool. However, in the mean time they only left a 1/8" freaking lip to seal the sub against a baffle from the top side:


This is weak as hell and I don't trust it. So, what is one to do? Mount it like it is supposed to be mounted from the bottom side of the flange?



But, this solution is clunky and requires a mounting ring way larger than the diameter of the sub. In some cases this may work. But, in my case it prevents me from using this sub.




Even after loosening the spare tire and sliding it 2" forward there is still a tight press fit due to collisions. I can only think about how much this will rattle when put into use.



The recessed mounting option made the effective diameter of the 10TW3-D4 greater than the diameter of a 12" sub. This is a huge disappointment to me. I was geaked about using this sub but it just won't work for me.

Ge0

All other dimensions were in check even with the screwy wire terminal binding posts:





So, let's re-think things. Another sub option for me was the Sundown Audio SD4-10 D4.











It models just slightly better than the JL Audio 10TW3-D4 in my available space. But, the most important feature it has that made me switch was a flat front mounting bezel. No fancy plastic rounded flares. Now I can work with this.

Ge0

Lets take a peek at some options:

Premise:

• All drivers driven with 500W
• All drivers mounted in a 2 cu/ft enclosure
• All drivers are 4ohm DVC tied in parallel with the exception of the SBA driver which was 3ohm DVC tied in parallel
• No high pass set on any driver. All lowpass set at 200Hz 24dB/octave
• No expectations set for cost vs. perfomance
• This is only a modeling program used to select the top few drivers I should evaluate. It by no means suggests sound quality of one driver over the other.

Sundown audio SD4 D4


The Sundown is the champ here by a small margin. It closely resembles the response of the JL 10TW3-D4 but a few dB higher with the given power. The Dayton sub is 1dB higher at 100Hz but that does not matter for most sub installs. It is equal to the Sundown at 70Hz and falls quickly from there. Interesting sub though. Hmm. I didn't mention the SBA sub because it fell behind in all simulations.

JL Audio 10TW3-D4


The 10TW3 is a great sub. But, it falls behind both the Sundown and Dayton by a very small 1 --> 2 dB margin. There is more to audio than raw numbers. One or two dB is hard to tell the difference. I'll need to revert to subjective data to say for sure.

Dayton Audio LS10-44



Much better performance than I expected out of a budget brand. Worthy of a closer look. By simulation in my vehicles environment it slightly beats the JL Audio 10TW3-D4


SB Acoustics shallow mount from Madisound


Not going much further with this driver. It came in last by a small margin. But, the Dayton is cheaper and clearly out performs it. Why would I select this?

In the end I already own a 10TW3-D4. I plan on ordering a Sundown SD4. Is it enough just to compare these two? Or should I grab a Dayton LS10-44 as well?

Ge0

Okey doke. I have more drawings to share.

Here is the JL Audio 10TW3-D4 crammed into place



There are more than a few clearance issues here. Now, what if I shave off 1/4" off the OD of the mounting ring?



Now I can push the sub out from hard interference's. However, the mounting rings are pretty darn thin. Hmmm... Try to make it work or not?

Just for ****s and giggles I drew up what the Dayton LS10-44 would look like. Damn, I bet I could fit two of these in my sub floor.




Options and more options...

Ge0