Dare to go bare - the ultimate installation
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 528
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From: living in Paris, France and San Diego ...
2002 CLK 55 AMG Coupé
Dare to go bare - the ultimate installation
I finally decided to go for a dream sound system, while preserving the factory look and functions of the original COMAND system.
You can follow the work of super installer Julio Da Silva (who also owns a 208 CLK!) of HiFiMobile here:
http://forum.hifimobile.fr/viewtopic.php?t=7844
He's updating this thread on a daily basis ; he's got a veritable fan club. For those of you who don't read French, the key components of the system will be 3-way Focal UtopiaBe speakers in front and a 33cm (13 inch) Focal sub-woofer in place of the spare tire. That's seven speakers in lieu of the original eight: the philosophy being keep it simple and make it the best. Julio advises that good placement of a stereo set-up in a fairly small car cabin actually makes for a better 'sound stage' than multiple channels and multiple speakers.
Power comes from a Brax 4x135 watt amp. Pictures of the amp and speakers are on page 2 of the link.
An Alpine "Imprint" digital processor will clean up the sound from the COMAND headunit and custom-equalize it for the CLK cabin. Last but not least, there will be TOTAL soundproofing, using Dynamat Extreme.
Julio does not not mess around. In just two days he and his team have already disassembled the car ... right down to the Bremen bare metal. Take a look -- butt naked! From designo to tin can! You can see that there is surprsingly little factory soundproofing.
The Dynamat blitzkrieg is now in full swing. Julio does not cut corners! I just hope he knows how to put it all back together....
You can follow the work of super installer Julio Da Silva (who also owns a 208 CLK!) of HiFiMobile here:
http://forum.hifimobile.fr/viewtopic.php?t=7844
He's updating this thread on a daily basis ; he's got a veritable fan club. For those of you who don't read French, the key components of the system will be 3-way Focal UtopiaBe speakers in front and a 33cm (13 inch) Focal sub-woofer in place of the spare tire. That's seven speakers in lieu of the original eight: the philosophy being keep it simple and make it the best. Julio advises that good placement of a stereo set-up in a fairly small car cabin actually makes for a better 'sound stage' than multiple channels and multiple speakers.
Power comes from a Brax 4x135 watt amp. Pictures of the amp and speakers are on page 2 of the link.
An Alpine "Imprint" digital processor will clean up the sound from the COMAND headunit and custom-equalize it for the CLK cabin. Last but not least, there will be TOTAL soundproofing, using Dynamat Extreme.
Julio does not not mess around. In just two days he and his team have already disassembled the car ... right down to the Bremen bare metal. Take a look -- butt naked! From designo to tin can! You can see that there is surprsingly little factory soundproofing.
The Dynamat blitzkrieg is now in full swing. Julio does not cut corners! I just hope he knows how to put it all back together....
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,056
Likes: 47
From: Orlando, Florida
E350 Sport/ML350RWD
Beautiful install. Those Focal Utopias are incredible. My wife would have my ***** if I spent $4000+ on a set of speakers. That is exactly what I was planning for my trunk (except the wood laminate).
