here are things so far-

i am thinking it will be cleanest/best to stay with the same black vinyl i had in the trunk this year.

would you paint the front face of the enclosure silver, black, or the very light white/silver of the seats?

My current thought is to finish the front of the box in silver and have that front piece (currently just cardboard) that sits in front of the box in the same black as the trunk. I am very much going to take my time here and get everything absolutely perfect detail/finish wise and want it to be permanent here when i'm done.

What color would you finish things in?

lastly, the trunk is being redone, but i'm keeping the general layout (just adding some nice details) and leaving the equalizer rack completely untouched. I'm also no longer going to carry the spare tire (i mean, i hardly drive the car) and looking to utilize that space for some power adding fun.

thanks for any opinions

-drew









and a reminder of how it looked before in trunk-

hey man is that a 99 c43? im asking because in my car, the rear seats' armrest does not pass through to the trunk and it appears as though you have that option.

i would go with silver

Nice looking system.
I think there are three approaches you can take, it depends on what you want.

1- Factory stealth- finish it in black vinyl or carpet with a factory appearance.
2- Factory enhanced- factory looking silver
3- Show or highlight gold lame' with flashing lights...

I like the factory stealth look myself, but it's lost on a lot of people who prefer more flash. All depends on what YOU like.

Could you provide more detail about your sub system? ie is that a sealed box and how do you direct the input into the cab- through the armrest hole/do you leave the seatback unclamped?

Also have you posted any more details of your system- components, speakers etc? Looks really cool.

Steve

ps Mr Seeklasse- I have a 98 C43 with the split rear seats and fold down armrest that can allow for ski sack passage.

yeah, i've decided to do a lot of the pieces in silver paint this time around and the others in black vinyl.

my system consists of-

pioneer dvd etc. source
image dynamics idq31 equalizers (2 monaural eqs)
image dynamics idx24 crossover
3 mobile spec amplifiers (about 3k rms total)
image dynamics xs65 mids
image dynamics cd1-pro mini horns
image dynamics nx30? tweeters (just for some imaging help)
stereo integrity bm series 10s (3 of these)

look those things up if you are interested in audio but aren't familiar- some of that stuff is rare/interesting

also, I will be adding some 6.5" coaxials in fiberglass/painted pods that will flank the LCD on the trunk lid.

My new sub enclosure is sealed front firing. I have removed the back cover of the "pass thru" thing to help get more sound into the cabin. I've also sealed the subs off entirely from the trunk- you should absolutely do this if you front fire subs in a car as otherwise you will have cancellation. front firing is a bit more work but can provide better sound quality and less rattling etc..

so far as "what i want" i need to do it a bit more showy this time around. This last summer i was in quite a few shows where i had easily the best sounding stereo but didn't win "best install" type awards because other cars were more complete and more showy. I will not do anything super super gimmicky in order to change that, but it is important to me how things look. I think that just making my install as absolutely perfect fit and finish wise as possible and getting a little paint into it should be enough. I'm a big believer in the power of doing a lot of little things well rather than one or two big things. It's always best when as someone is drawn closer to a car they are happily surprised rather than the other way around. Thats why i love having a stock looking car on the outside too.

Thanks for the info
I know most of your gear- definitely top shelf stuff.

Whn you say you sealed the trunk- do you basically have the subs "slot loaded" into the ski pass? did you do any work to the rear deck and/or did you seal the sub enclosure to the rear seat?

i just fire the subs indiscriminately into the back of the seat, but do have that thing open to let a bit more out.

my old enclosure actually butted up to that opening with the port though- and that is a possibility to do.

a lot of work went into sealing the deck off and once the enclosure is done a lot of work will go into sealing it to the back of the seat frame. I use sound deader, some mdf and "great stuff" expanding foam.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...02#post3119802

added some more pics there- please reply on that thread. Didn't mean to get two that are similar going at one time.

-drew