benamg22

Well, after much searching and help from other members of the forum, I've purchased all the components for my upcoming stereo upgrade in my CLK55 Cab. Below is the component listing. I will take plenty of pictures, so stay tuned to this post. I expect to be finished by the New Year.

2 Pair Infinity 62.9i 6 1/2 2-way (front and rear door position)
-powered by JBL a1004 4x100
Single JL 10w3v3 2 ohm 10" subwoofer
-powered by JBL a5001 1x500
-enclosure ported through "ski pass-thru" behind the rear armrest

Pretty basic, but the goal is to keep the installation simple, yet provide a quality combination of mids/highs with bass capable of filling in the lows even with the top down as soon as spring arrives.

Stay tuned for pics......

Newjd2

Will be one of my upcoming mods especially since having a complete system in my other car...looking forward to how it all goes especially with the install of the hu, sub, and wiring...

Good luck!



Angelo

dynomite05

Sounds good.. Lol. Not going to change the HU? I will be doing my audio very soon also, so I'm interested to see how this turns out? I see great minds think alike, I am going with the same sub location.

Kevwood

Good luck! Looking forward to the pics.

midnight AMG

hey guys...how does the ski pass through work? is this available only on cabriolets?

I have a Rockford Fosgate T1 Series 12" with a 500x1 Rockford Fosgate Amp. it hits really hard ...sometimes too hard lol.

where are you going to put the sub again? are you going to mount it to the carpet in the trunk and have it point through this hole?

shape of box?

dynomite05

The ski pass through is in between the rear seats.

Kevwood

Yep, I've got it on my coupe, I think they all came with it.

midnight AMG

whats the shape of the box you plan?

do you plan to somehow connect the port with the ski outlet?

... I've been using my T1 Fosgate with the ski gate closed..i think with a strong enough sub you may not even need to keep it open!

benamg22

I've come up with what I think is a pretty unique design. Some of the real stereophiles may not like it, but because of the unique sound requirements of a convertible I want to ensure I can move as much low frequency sound into the cabin, even with the top down.

The sub enclosure is going to be 13d x 8.5h x 31w, a simple rectangular enclosure (with the required 1.25 cu ft). In the deepest part of the trunk there is a ledge that is about 10" deep, this will be unused (sadly wasted) space. In the back of the trunk there is an access panel which I will remove to expose the panel in the cabin. Behind the rear armrest is a plastic panel that folds down and provides cabin access to the trunk. Here is where I will cover in matching vinyl, cut a 3" port hole, and install a common 3" sub port. After strolling around through Lowes looking for ideas on how to connect the port in the cabin to the enclosure I found a 3" rubber grommet typically used in plumbing - the grommet will be inserted on the enclosure. I am going to attach a standard 3" dryer vent from the enclosure to the port, giving me both the flexibility of not perfectly matching the height of the box to the port in the cabin, as well as the added length to easily access and remove the sub enclosure.

I've read that any angles in a sub port can dampen the sound waves, but because I am using a 500 watt mono amp with a single 10" JL sub I should be able to generate enough volume to offset any dampening. I'm not a professional installer, and I figure a little compromise will still produce a satisfactory result.

I'm going to build a custom panel to drop in the well above the spare tire. There is just enough depth there to mount the amps, fuse holders, 12v distribution block, and a 1-farad capacitor. The sub enclosure will leave just enough room to access the amps beneath a new floor panel I will build.

Keep your eyes on this post because as I was learning through the forum I heavily relied on pictures. I am determined to take a number of pics to display for other forum readers to use.

Clkboi

Def take pic man. I would love to have a system on my car but the cost of having someone do it is stupid around here.

Good luck to you man

midnight AMG

hey dude..

what does the 1-farad capacitor do?

bzliteyear

+1 on looking fwd to pix.
btw, how much for the components thus far?
PL

Kevwood

It's a very quick discarging and recharging 'battery'. It is meant to be placed as close to the sub amp (via/inline positive line) to maintian a constant 14.4v/12.2v (or whatever the constant maintains) when under heavy sub load. It's only for short bursts but helps maintain constant power when needed.

I ran a 1 farad in one IASCA system but found it was really more for looks than practicallity. My next system (2nd IASCA world finalist invite) got a far larger powerline from the battery without a cap, it was a-okay.

bheng

unless your going for a hi powered sub and love hearing that deep knock, then a 1 farad cap is only looks... thats why i got the blue led nos bottle look-a-like =) although, id put one anyways...rather be safe than sorry kind of thing. .

benamg22

First, back to bzliteyear's question, I'm up to $1700 on compents. That includes amps, speakers, wiring, and finishing accessories (i.e. tools, trunk carpet, etc). The quoted price by a local installer was $3K to $4K, and that was no amp to the door speakers.

I ran my 4 guage power cable tonight. Took about 2 1/2 hours start to finish. Had to take all the door molding, front under console, and glovebox out. Once I got to the grommet I had to go back and forth from inside to outside to get my hole cut through the firewall. Lots of wires running through there already, so I was very meticulous about drilling and cutting. Finally made it through. From there under the side trim to the back. Removing the backseat was a breeze, and from there just ran the cable under the molding and fished it through on the extreme left (facing) part of the seat.

Next step is to cut and splice into the speaker wires coming from the factory amp. Once that is completed all of the hard work will be finished. From there it is a matter of building the enclosure and amp rack and wirng it all up.

I appreciate the comments on the capacitor. It was included free with my amp purchase, and is really more of a pain to install. Sounds like it may not even be worth the trouble. More to come.

dragon_27

aww man i miss the t1 subs. i use to run 2 15s with a rockford bd15001 amp in my previous car. the low bass on those subs are ridiculous! then for my last suv, i ran 1 12 and that was awesome too...

midnight AMG

Thank goodness another Benz driver who shares my Rockford t1 obsession

midnight AMG

anyone know how to open the ski port by itself on coupe?

benamg22

Finished running my power cable to the trunk and installing the 6.5 two-way speakers in the door. I really thought it would be harder to run the power through the firewall, but after I removed the glovebox door and got clean access to the grommet it was pretty easy. Drilling around all the wires made me nervous, but taking a little extra time proved positive.

The doors were a nightmare. I spent about five hours getting the passenger panel off, building the custom speaker frames -I was crazy and thought I'd be able to do without, even though every person that has ever done this install knows better, and getting them wired up. The panel gave me a fit trying to get it back on, but I got it. After that, the driver door was a snap. All-in and it took about an hour start to finish.

Next step is to build the sub enclosure and start the wiring from the factory amp - should be fun as well, not. I took the rear armrest and cover (to the trunk) completely out. I am leaning towards a custom panel to replace both so that I can leave the armrest completely out, and exposing the sub port permanantly - without the eyesore of the armrest always being down.

I debated, and decided to add a signal processor. The JBL amps are pretty intelligent, but I want to mix the center channel in with the front door speakers - so the signal is both amplified and to avoid signal loss from an unamplified center channel. I'm going with an AudioControl LC8i.

I've got some door speaker pictures, but they are on my iPhone, so I haven't gotten them available to post yet. Stay tuned.....

bheng

why did you need custom mounts? i was able to put the rear set in the old mounts... but JL audio's siteforgot to mention to me that their 6.5in component is actually a 6.75 and the 6" is really a 6.5" so i had custom mounts for that. they were a ***** and turned out kinda ugly. good thing they are hidden behind a door tho =P

benamg22

I made the custom mounts because I am using Infinity speakers, not JL, in the doors, and because I didn't want to disassemble the factory speakers. You are right....good thing they are hidden!

benamg22

What do you guys know about disconnecting the battery in the car? I keep reading I am supposed to unhook the negative, but I was hoping to just insert the main fuse as my last step before powering on my components. I can unscrew the positive cable without actually removing it from the battery to hook up my power cable. I don't want to mess up any of the electronics in the car, so any tips would be great.