E55 Sound System Build Thread - Christmas Time!!
#179
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Takes the bus.
The 880 had the pico issue for over a year and was fixed by my tech, I despised that HU when it occured. One of the rcas (left midrange) got a wicked short that would pop short when moved at all, so this had to be the reason only that channel blew on the 880, since the 880 has separate op amp circuits for each channel. The double dins blew out every channel back to back within a couple minutes of being turned on once the wire was moved at all by my buddy fixing a rats nest in the back. Sadly continued to install HU by HU till we started diagnosing finally. lol
#183
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'13 GT-R AMS Alpha 9+, CLA45, E55
#187
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Viper SRT-10, 68 Camaro
Hey guys, sorry about the delay, my family are in town so I have been chauffeuring them around and haven't had time to get any of the kinks worked out of the system.
There has been no tuning whatsoever, and it's still running off of the Dynavin HU (my 9980 arrived on thursday and is going in the car this week ) and it sounds incredible! The rears and subs are now also hooked up and it's just remarkable how high the sound quality is.
I cannot wait to start playing around with the parameters of the DSP6, that's going to be a truly fun (but time consuming) experience haha.
Driving around is even more enjoyable! With the windows up and with all of that sound deadening it is coffin quiet in there, I can barely even hear the longtubes (don't worry with the windows down it still sounds just as beastly), it also absorbs a lot of the reflections and unwanted dispersion from the music and makes it sound like I am traveling in a studio. The music is just so perfectly recreated, I can only imagine how it sounds when tuned correctly.
I will be posting pics of the setup this week with GOOD quality pics from my good camera (not the iPhone), so look forward to them! haha.
Don, I REALLY like how your amps are setup in there, do you retain the spare tire and battery all in stock location? I am really considering doing that!
Sorry for taking so long to reply, hectic week and have only been able to make small posts!
There has been no tuning whatsoever, and it's still running off of the Dynavin HU (my 9980 arrived on thursday and is going in the car this week ) and it sounds incredible! The rears and subs are now also hooked up and it's just remarkable how high the sound quality is.
I cannot wait to start playing around with the parameters of the DSP6, that's going to be a truly fun (but time consuming) experience haha.
Driving around is even more enjoyable! With the windows up and with all of that sound deadening it is coffin quiet in there, I can barely even hear the longtubes (don't worry with the windows down it still sounds just as beastly), it also absorbs a lot of the reflections and unwanted dispersion from the music and makes it sound like I am traveling in a studio. The music is just so perfectly recreated, I can only imagine how it sounds when tuned correctly.
I will be posting pics of the setup this week with GOOD quality pics from my good camera (not the iPhone), so look forward to them! haha.
Don, I REALLY like how your amps are setup in there, do you retain the spare tire and battery all in stock location? I am really considering doing that!
Sorry for taking so long to reply, hectic week and have only been able to make small posts!
#189
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'14 F15 M, '06 E55, '20 Highlander, '18 M550
Yessir. Line8 and distribution is back there as well. The pair of DSP6 are in the OE navi spot. Full trunk minus about 4" from the back of the seat.
Terrible pic up there though. I will try to take a better one shortly.
#190
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Update - Finally the family left town, so could drop the car off to have some more work done. We got the new kenwood 9980HD installed (What an incredible unit, literally the best HU I've ever used) and it looks amazing. The pic doesn't do it justice of how good it looks, and how well the dash kit is made.
The dash kit was made using 4 pieces of MDF all specifically cut and measured to fit perfect in the dash. I went with a Satin/Matte black paint on it to match the AC/center speaker look that is directly above the wood panel. I think it ties it together great, I am going to get some better pictures today!
The sound is absolutely amazing, it really does sound great in there, still haven't had the time to tune it but the kenwood really improved the SQ a lot! I caught myself taking a really long way home last night (around 30 extra miles) just so I could listen to it, the stage is amazing, it is so wide and high, it really does sound phenomenal!
We are having some issues with the battery though, we replaced the OEM with a Kinetic battery but it keeps turning the convenience features off when it gets too loud, which is very annoying to say the least. I am going to replace the Aux battery today as well, does anyone know of an upgrade to the aux battery, or can you only get equal replacements?
I am also going to be dropping it off in a week to have the amps relocated to the back of the seats, and have a new setup over there, as I'm not 100% thrilled on where they sit now and how it all looks. Plus I will get to put the battery in the OEM location and have my spare tire back! yay! haha
The dash kit was made using 4 pieces of MDF all specifically cut and measured to fit perfect in the dash. I went with a Satin/Matte black paint on it to match the AC/center speaker look that is directly above the wood panel. I think it ties it together great, I am going to get some better pictures today!
The sound is absolutely amazing, it really does sound great in there, still haven't had the time to tune it but the kenwood really improved the SQ a lot! I caught myself taking a really long way home last night (around 30 extra miles) just so I could listen to it, the stage is amazing, it is so wide and high, it really does sound phenomenal!
We are having some issues with the battery though, we replaced the OEM with a Kinetic battery but it keeps turning the convenience features off when it gets too loud, which is very annoying to say the least. I am going to replace the Aux battery today as well, does anyone know of an upgrade to the aux battery, or can you only get equal replacements?
I am also going to be dropping it off in a week to have the amps relocated to the back of the seats, and have a new setup over there, as I'm not 100% thrilled on where they sit now and how it all looks. Plus I will get to put the battery in the OEM location and have my spare tire back! yay! haha
#191
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you can replace the secondary battery with whatever bigger amperage battery you can fit there but not sure that will help solving the issue as the two batery do not work in combine when stereo is on.
if you can't have a strong enough main battery, you could try fooling the battery control module BMS the way somebody did here (but feedback still not clear ..)
https://mbworld.org/forums/audio-ele...p-install.html
if you can't have a strong enough main battery, you could try fooling the battery control module BMS the way somebody did here (but feedback still not clear ..)
https://mbworld.org/forums/audio-ele...p-install.html
#195
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update - Car is back in the shop this week for its final round of installation! We are converting over to a fully active system for the esotar2 front and subs, and retaining crossovers for the rear esotec 242gts.
To do this I am splitting up the amps accordingly:
Tru Technology 4100 stage 3 will be giving 2 channels to esotar 110 (tweeters L+R) and 2 channels to esotar 430 (midrange L+R)
Tru Technology 2200 stage 3 will be giving 2 channels to esotar 650 (midbass L+R)
Tru Technology 2200 will be providing esotec 242gt in the rear (mid+tweet crossover rear)
And because at this stage on the build I have frankly run out of money to spend on baller *** amps for the subs, I am going with 2 JL Audio 500/1 v2 run to each sub. From what I have heard these amps are awesome for being cookie cutter amps, and hopefully should sound great until I get get my hands on some premium amplifiers!
We are moving the amps from the tire well to the wall on the back of the seats, lining them vertically, with some lighting. Nothing too fancy or over the top, just enough wow factor to make them look good, nothing over the top!
Also have replaced the DSP6 with the Audison BitOne, which I actually love, and can control volume again with a knob, instead of having to use the up down controls on the kenwood. I think it looks absolutely great. The BitOne can only do 8 channels of control, so we hooked the rears up their own line driver and have that controllable from a separate knob next to the bit one. The rears are just fill so not as important as the fronts or subs, so most of the time the volume will be off for them, just when people get in the car in the back I will at least be able to turn it up for them!
Now onto the pics!! Audison BitOne arrived!
We replaced the Aux battery up front with a Kinetik 600 battery, which should provide more than enough power, and stop the battery error messages on the dash! I was emtremely surprised that it was a direct replacement!
2 Kinetik 1800 batteries in the rear, that should definitely help with any power draining issues
Had the headunit surround finished off, looks even better now with the straight edges on it! Have I mentioned how much I love this headunit?? haha
And here is the Audison BitOne DRC up front where the ash tray was, the Escort 9500ci controls, the rear volume knob, the voice activation button for the kenwood HU, and the cigarette lighter in case I need power for external sources! I love this little command control area haha!
Cannot wait to get the car back! probably won't be until next week as I'm going out of town for the weekend, but I'm excited!
To do this I am splitting up the amps accordingly:
Tru Technology 4100 stage 3 will be giving 2 channels to esotar 110 (tweeters L+R) and 2 channels to esotar 430 (midrange L+R)
Tru Technology 2200 stage 3 will be giving 2 channels to esotar 650 (midbass L+R)
Tru Technology 2200 will be providing esotec 242gt in the rear (mid+tweet crossover rear)
And because at this stage on the build I have frankly run out of money to spend on baller *** amps for the subs, I am going with 2 JL Audio 500/1 v2 run to each sub. From what I have heard these amps are awesome for being cookie cutter amps, and hopefully should sound great until I get get my hands on some premium amplifiers!
We are moving the amps from the tire well to the wall on the back of the seats, lining them vertically, with some lighting. Nothing too fancy or over the top, just enough wow factor to make them look good, nothing over the top!
Also have replaced the DSP6 with the Audison BitOne, which I actually love, and can control volume again with a knob, instead of having to use the up down controls on the kenwood. I think it looks absolutely great. The BitOne can only do 8 channels of control, so we hooked the rears up their own line driver and have that controllable from a separate knob next to the bit one. The rears are just fill so not as important as the fronts or subs, so most of the time the volume will be off for them, just when people get in the car in the back I will at least be able to turn it up for them!
Now onto the pics!! Audison BitOne arrived!
We replaced the Aux battery up front with a Kinetik 600 battery, which should provide more than enough power, and stop the battery error messages on the dash! I was emtremely surprised that it was a direct replacement!
2 Kinetik 1800 batteries in the rear, that should definitely help with any power draining issues
Had the headunit surround finished off, looks even better now with the straight edges on it! Have I mentioned how much I love this headunit?? haha
And here is the Audison BitOne DRC up front where the ash tray was, the Escort 9500ci controls, the rear volume knob, the voice activation button for the kenwood HU, and the cigarette lighter in case I need power for external sources! I love this little command control area haha!
Cannot wait to get the car back! probably won't be until next week as I'm going out of town for the weekend, but I'm excited!
#196
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Andy ! You are robbing the whole point of those subs ! Take the JLs and rtun em to the rear bud, but PLEASE don't take the 2200 from the subs !! I beg of you !
#199
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Yeah it seems like I would be doing the subs a big injustice, I'm just trying to figure out a good pair of subs that doesn't break the bank!
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