# 2009 BMW 335i SQ Build Log



## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I got this car around 2 1/2 years ago to replace my 540i wagon. I miss that car, but this one is lighter, has a motor that's just as nice, and has a clutch pedal. Add in a Dinan suspension, and it's as close to an ideal daily driver for me as you can get. 

I wanted a system that maintained the stock appearance of the car but that also had a bit of flash underneath, and there's a few installs in this forum from the fine folks at Simplicity in Sound that caught my eye. And after hearing the blue F30 that they did, I really didn't have to do a lot of research for what components I wanted. A big thanks to Bing for being a great vendor for all the speakers, and for the system demo.

Equipment list:
- Helix DSP
- Arc Audio XDi 1200.6
- Arc Audio XDi 600.4
- Morel MT-350 tweeters
- Morel Hybrid 4" midrange
- Gladen 8" underseat woofers
- Audiofrog GS10D2

So, spoiler alert, there's not going to be a lot of originality in this install. I don't have the time right now to reinvent the wheel (although I'd like to) and I know the potential. I've got a good amount completed and will be posting some progress updates shortly.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

That is a beautiful looking car, looking forward to seeing all that will be done with it.


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## Chris12 (Sep 20, 2018)

I wanted a 335i (or a 135i) so bad a couple of years ago, but never pulled the trigger.

Looking forward to seeing the build!


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Great platform! Loved my e46 325i - I bet this one is fun to drive - strong engine and manual tranny! 


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## EmptyKim (Jun 17, 2010)

Love the E90 platform. M-Sport is a great looking car. 

I have a passenger trunk enclosure (side loaded) for the E90. If you want it, I’ll make you a great deal on it. I used the same woofer in my car and just removed it. DM me if interested.


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## S.DeYoung (May 1, 2011)

2009 335XI manual owner here, I haven't touched the audio on it yet. Interested to see how your install goes. Nice equipment choices.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

It really is a fun car to drive. It's been reliable with the exception of, uh, having to replace the rod bearings at 83k. It seems that when something breaks on these cars it's a big ticket item. I'll probably have it another 2 years which is why I want to go the tried-and-true method on this install.

EmptyKim thanks for the offer, but I'm actually just finishing up building the enclosure! Will post pics on that in a bit.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Here's the start of the enclosure. I've done fiberglass work before but it's been quite a while, and I haven't done this type of enclosure before. I'm also using the big box garbage resin (but this is the last time for that) so it's been a bit of a learning curve.

I did the whole process of taping off the side area and used car wax as a mold release, and protected the rest of the trunk with painter's plastic (steps not pictured), and put down two layers of big box (thin) chopped mat. Lessons learned: 
- Use good resin
- Use 1.5oz chopped mat
- Get a roller
- Don't mix the resin as hot when you have to put 'glass on vertical and overhead surfaces
- Pre-cut the mat into shaped pieces and not generic squares
- Take your time on this step

After the initial mold cured, I pulled it out and put on another 5-6 layers of the 1.5oz mat. If you look closely at the last pic you can see places where I didn't get the first layer down all the way at some edges, but these spots were filled with body filler afterwards. If I had to do it again I'd use smaller pieces, or at least stretch the mat before I put it down. By the last layer I had finally started to get the hang of things again. I know the top edge follows an odd profile, but more on that later.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I just opened my Parts Express package with my trunk liner in it and found that sometime over the last few years they changed the color of the gray carpet. So instead of a the perfect match of some left over stuff I have, it's much lighter now. Does anyone know of a source for carpet that matches BMW gray trunk lining? I saw some stuff on Amazon but it was latex backed.


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

ejeffrey said:


> I just opened my Parts Express package with my trunk liner in it and found that sometime over the last few years they changed the color of the gray carpet. So instead of a the perfect match of some left over stuff I have, it's much lighter now. Does anyone know of a source for carpet that matches BMW gray trunk lining? I saw some stuff on Amazon but it was latex backed.


Joann’s Fabric


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

Fellow e90 owner here following for results! Always like to see a nice setup. 

Here’s my “SQ” build, not nearly the level of equipment as op. 

Pioneer HU
JL 700/5
JL 500/1
Audio system 3 way kit (tweeter, 4” mid, 8” under seat woofer)
JL 12W3 in an IB through rear ski pass


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

Before the IB I had a custom enclosure in the compartment under the trunk floor. One of the benefits of not having the 335


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

strong*I*bumpin said:


> Joann’s Fabric


Oh, I'll check there, thanks for the tip!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Ali-323i cool idea making that storing partition into an enclosure. The one on my car is completely useless. I originally wanted to do something with the amps and processor down there without making a false floor, but it was too shallow and 8ga. wire is about as big as you can fit without pushing up the floor.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I recently bought a Porter Cable router and a circle jig and this was the perfect time to try them out. Man, sure beats having just a jigsaw. I cut a speaker baffle out of 1/2" MDF, and then two trim rings out of 1/2" and 3/4" and glued them together. I then routered a quarter round on the outside of the trim rings. 

Since the sub is pretty heavy, it took a while to get the ring positioned just right. It also helps to use a good glue gun... After that was done I made a bracket out of an old steel bike rack bracket I had laying around. A notch was cut in the enclosure with a Dremel and a small cutting wheel (thanks for letting me borrow it, mom!) and then the bracket was bent on a vice with a hammer and trimmed. Finally, I bolted the bracket in and sealed up everything with silicone. This will be what holds the enclosure to the car on the top, where one of the existing plastic carpet rivets will go through. 

With that out of the way, I wrapped fleece around the whole thing. I also learned that you have to really soak fleece with resin otherwise it won't go all the way through. Off came the first piece and on went a new one along with almost a quart of resin, then two layers of fiberglass mat. 

After that was allowed to cure, I put a thin layer of body filler on and did a lot of sanding with a belt sander and an orbital to get it trimmed.

When I routered the baffle/trim ring, I accidentally set the bit just a hair below the surface. Not that it would have made made a real difference if it were flush, but it turned out to be a good thing because it left a small step before the round, so when I sanded away the fleece it was easy to see where I should stop sanding.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

When I went to test fit the enclosure in the car, I found that the edges had shrunk in almost 1/8" on some sides making it fit pretty loose. Is that common with fleece in general, or is that a result of using poor-quality resin?

A good solution I found was to put a small strip of trunk liner on the edges where it was loose. I'd rather not have to do that, but it actually looked great when I tested it with a piece of trunk liner.

Yesterday I put on another layer of filler and sanded it down, so now the thread is caught up to my progress. The next steps are to 
- test the volume with water
- add the sub mounting hardware
- upholster the whole thing
- add the speaker wire. 

I'm still trying to figure out how complicated I want to make the sub grille.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I've also been doing more investigating on the trunk liner. Joanne's has some stuff that is an exact color match that they call "felt", but it's about half the thickness as trunk liner. It's looking like I will have to dye it what I have, but does anybody else know of a matching material? 

Ali-323i, for reference, where did you get your trunk liner that you used for the enclosure under the trunk floor? What was the color called?


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I really like the look of that enclosure! I think you did an excellent job on it. I can’t give you any technical assistance, I can only encourage 


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

bertholomey said:


> I really like the look of that enclosure! I think you did an excellent job on it. I can’t give you any technical assistance, I can only encourage


That's quite a compliment coming from someone who has a sub in their glovebox!

There's nothing wrong with a little encouragement, so much appreciated.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Tonight I was able to install t-nuts, paint the speaker baffle, and check the volume of the enclosure with water. The box that Audiofrog suggests is 0.7 cu. ft. gross volume, or about 20 liters. I ended up with 24 liters, so I made a block off plate out of MDF for the top right and sealed it off with silicone. I was also able to fill a couple pin holes at the same time. 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to carpet it and install the speaker terminals.


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

put damping plates onto the enslosure walls...it will prevent Fibreglass enclosure ringing!

also enclosure walls are looking pretty thin to me.....


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

ejeffrey said:


> I've also been doing more investigating on the trunk liner. Joanne's has some stuff that is an exact color match that they call "felt", but it's about half the thickness as trunk liner. It's looking like I will have to dye it what I have, but does anybody else know of a matching material?
> 
> 
> 
> Ali-323i, for reference, where did you get your trunk liner that you used for the enclosure under the trunk floor? What was the color called?




First of all, the progress is looking good!! I commend you on a job well done!

The carpets I used in my sealed enclosure, and the back of my IB baffle, were done by a couple of different audio shops. Guessing typical carpet they would normally stock. 
It’s not a match to the oem liner but it’s close enough.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

LBaudio thanks for the feedback. I've given the thickness some thought throughout the build, testing flex and such. The curved surfaces are super strong due to a good bit of overlap when laying in the mat (and also due to the obvious nature of fiberglass), and I've added extra material on the flatter surfaces. I'd say that it's probably about 7 layers. Given that, do you still think it might be too thin, or is that good?

I do have some damping material that I will be applying, too. I didn't realize how much of a ring these enclosures had!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Got the enclosure upholstered today! Going to try to add the speaker wire and sound deadening tomorrow.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out where to put the amps and DSP. There have been a couple family trips where the trunk was literally full, so raising the full floor wasn't something I wanted to do. The rear seat doesn't fold down, but giving up 3-4" on the back wall was a bit too much. 

In the end, I settled on putting the DSP and 600.4 under the floor in the space where some BMW processors would normally go, and the 1200.6 where the stock amp is (underneath the subwoofer).

There's not much in the way of bolts/studs/etc. for an amp baffle to grab on to underneath the floor, so I had to get a bit creative. First, I cut and trimmed two plates to lay flat. Then I made some aluminum tabs that bolt to the plates via t-nuts on the outside edges underneath. These fit into the slots on the sides of the "tray". 

I then made a T-shaped holder that bolts to the two studs in the middle of the trays and presses down on the inside edge of each baffle. On each side there's a locating pin that corresponds to a hole in each baffle so everything is properly lined up. 

The pieces were then painted black, hardware attached, and bolted in the car.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Yes!! I found the trunk liner I was looking for - Rontex TL 1040 GM Light Heather. It's an exact match for what I have. Big shout out to Joe at J&J Auto Fabrics for sending the samples


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Made some progress on the sub grille


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

This week I finally had some time to work more on the sub grille. I've never pressed a grill before so I really didn't know how it was going to turn out, but to my surprise it was exactly as I envisioned. Super, super happy with how it came out.

I made a jig from just 1/2" MDF and glued it together, then used the circle jig and the router (absolutely loving these new toys) and made the male/female pieces. 5/16" bolts were more than sufficient for the force required to form the aluminum. If I do another grille like this, I'd say that without a press, 3/4" MDF would probably be better, especially if the press height is anything over 1/4". Putting a 1/8" round on the inside (male) disc ended up working out well, and I think you'd definitely need to do that for press heights over 1/4".

Both pieces are now primered with high-build and sanded, and are awaiting a final primer coat and sand. That should be finished tomorrow, but I'll have to wait until Monday to get the right paint. I thought I had something that would work but it's not quite right. More pics to follow soon.


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## ToNasty (Jan 23, 2013)

It would have been nice if I had known months ago you were able to do this!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

ToNasty said:


> It would have been nice if I had known months ago you were able to do this!


Haha I'm just figuring this stuff out on the fly!


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

nice work on enclosure,....did very similar enclosure couple of months ago
https://www.diymobileaudio.com/foru...trunk-side-enclosure-jl-10w3v3-4-lbaudio.html


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

LBaudio said:


> nice work on enclosure,....did very similar enclosure couple of months ago
> https://www.diymobileaudio.com/foru...trunk-side-enclosure-jl-10w3v3-4-lbaudio.html


Thanks! I saw your thread and commented a while back - very nice work!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Tuesday I was able to get the right paint for the sub grille, but due to the weather and the holiday I had to wait until today to get it painted and assembled.

I also finished making signal cables. For the actual wire I used Canare L-4E6S, and the ends are Switchcraft 3502ABAU. Markertek had great prices on both with the added bonus of free shipping, so I was able to get custom cables for about $90.

The next step is to get power wire measurements and order up all that stuff.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

I am stoked to see rest of this !! Your cables came out awesome!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

optimaprime said:


> I am stoked to see rest of this !! Your cables came out awesome!


Thanks! I think I have about 4 1/2 hours into the cables - it's good stuff but stripping a jacket and 4 wires on each end is tedious work. 

The cable itself isn't as flexible as some signal cable, but it's more than sufficient to get around really any tight bend. I like the look and quality of the ends (I used the right-angle versions on my previous build) and the price is right if you look enough, but I wish that the ground had a slot in it so the wire could be left the same length, bent through and soldered on the bottom. It would also leave more room to solder the drain. A small tradeoff of a shorter body is that things are a bit tight, but they fit in the car easier and it's workable.

I'll have more pics of the trunk floor pretty soon. Just need to upholster it and add a grille to the amp DSP cover.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Looking forward to seeing the next chapter of your quality work.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

ejeffrey said:


> Thanks! I think I have about 4 1/2 hours into the cables - it's good stuff but stripping a jacket and 4 wires on each end is tedious work.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




More pics please !!! 


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Not too much progress as of late with the holiday and the atrocious (well, for CA, at least) weather. I found that the metal part of the sub grille would rattle the slightest amount when tapped on, so remounted it with some very thin foam which fixed the issue. It's fastened with small nails instead of the preferred staples because the lip is only 1/4" thick, and I didn't want to chance a staple going through or cracking the top.

I was also able to finalize my cable routing plan and measurements today so I ordered up all the power wire and hope to do some wiring work next weekend.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Came home to a package full of wire and accessories Crutchfield yesterday! And a nice bonus was that I got 4ft. of 1/0ga cable instead of the 1ft. I ordered, so that will save some money on a future install. The Crutchfield power cable looks to be really good quality and it's reasonably priced. While the T-Spec (Metra) distribution block isn't terribly sexy, it also seems to be good quality and it is going to be hidden anyway. 

I did immediately find that crimping a ring terminal is a massive pain without the proper tool, but thankfully I was able to make it solid with an old allen wrench, a vice, and a ton of brute force.

I made a bracket for the fused distribution block out of some scrap aluminum. First, I made a rough template out of some cereal box cardboard, then made some adjustments and transferred to another template. This was transferred to the aluminum, cut out, and bent to shape and holes drilled. Things take longer when you don't have a metal shop at your disposal, but that's how it goes. 

I also painted it satin black but the picture didn't turn out too well. I'll likely have it mounted in the car tonight which means I can run more wiring.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Got a lot of wiring done. Most of the work of running the power cable is finished and the signal cable is laid in to where it will go. Still need to run turn-on and power/ground for the DSP, but that should go pretty quickly. The zip ties that don't have the end clipped yet are a bit loose to allow for some adjustment when I wrap everything up. I had to do a lot of thinking about how I wanted to route the power and signal cable to the amp in the side panel to minimize noise, but I think this should be good.

And yes, that is duct tape which I'm not a fan of, but I wanted the ground cable to be recessed in that channel and cable tie mounts would have pushed it up too far. I got the tape from a friend that works in HVAC and it has held really well in my attic so I'm not worried about it.

I had made a mount for the 1200.6 amp a while back out of 1/2" MDF that is mounted to the factory amp bracket. I had to trim the factory bracket a bit to get it to fit, but it doesn't affect the factory amp so I can very easily go back to stock.

I'm to the point in the install now where I'm probably going to have to go without sound for a while. I need to run the wire for the front speakers so those can be put in, and I need to finish the new floor trim so I can permanently mount the amps and DSP. All that involves having more than the trunk apart. Thankfully starting Saturday I'll be on vacation for two weeks (traveling for 8 days) so hopefully the timing will work out well if the weather holds.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Had to make some changes to the power/ground wire paths to accommodate fitment, but made more progress on getting everything connected and tied down. DSP is fully wired and the 600.4 only needs speaker wire which I'll run when I install the front speakers.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Since I'm trying to keep the floor height as low as possible, I made trim panels out of 1/4" MDF. The lower one in the first pics has spacer blocks which support it at the front and locate it with the same dowel/hole arrangement I used for the amp and DSP baffles. It's covered in 3M 1080 vinyl in brushed aluminum finish to match the interior trim. It's hard to bend the vinyl around sharp corners like that without it tearing, so if I were to do it again I'd probably put a 1/8" round on the top (which would probably look better, anyway) and use a hair dryer instead of a heat gun for better and more even heat control.

The upper piece was pretty straightforward, with the flip-up in the back attached with glue and filler. The front curve was formed with stacked MDF and smoothed with more filler. This panel also locates with the same dowel/hole arrangement.

The flat floor panel just mimics the factory one. It would be nice to have the same pull handle as the factory one, but it's permanently mounted and BMW wants a ton of money for a new one so I can do without. The storage space is useless, anyway.

The next tasks are to carpet the new floor panels, install the front speakers, and mount/wire the 1200.6.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Lots of work this past weekend and yesterday. All speaker wire is run to the front doors and to the underseat midbass, and the cable is run to the center console for the subwoofer level control. The constant power wire for the DSP had to be relocated to tap into the 600.4 amp because the constant power on the factory amp harness turned out to be constant only most of the time.

Underseat midbass installed and enclosures dampened, midrange installed in the door panels with 1/4" MDF adapters, and the tweeters snapped into the factory locations. 

Seeing the pics now I realize that I shouldn't have zoomed in so closely, and there are lots of pics that I wish I would have taken for the front door wiring. Getting two 16ga. cables through each door was really tough. The plugs didn't have enough space to drill anything out, so I ran the wires through a small notch in the bottom of each plug but space was at the very limit. WD-40 helped ease getting them through the boots. Once inside the doors, I wrapped the wire in tesa tape and zip tied to every factory anchor point.

I tried to get the 1200.6 mount bolted in the car, but there's so much wiring that I had trouble routing everything properly and I ran out of time. Really all that's left is installing that amp, upholstering the floor panels, and installing the sub level control.


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## Frequency (Nov 29, 2011)

Looking good dude.
I had the same thing with the 3m vinyl I used especially on the smaller radius curves. Adding that extra relief with a 45 degree chamfer (or rounder) definitely helped but I still ended up with a couple of small imperfections.

Keep up the great work


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Frequency said:


> Looking good dude.
> I had the same thing with the 3m vinyl I used especially on the smaller radius curves. Adding that extra relief with a 45 degree chamfer (or rounder) definitely helped but I still ended up with a couple of small imperfections.
> 
> Keep up the great work


Thanks man, really appreciate it. 
Yeah, there's a couple small wrinkles in a couple corners if you really look for them, but I was recently able to stretch out the main offender and the others are on the near side so I'm calling it good.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Got the wiring all finished yesterday.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I finished up the sub level control knob today. I should have finished the trunk floor trim panels, but I got tired of not having my center console in the car and I wanted to try out my new flush trim router bit.

The first pic is of the stock rubber insert. I took this out and cut out a piece of 1/4" MDF to match the shape, then added two layers of MDF (3/8" then 1/4") to the front of the panel to raise it up so the circuitry of the knob would clear the vent underneath. This was my first time using filler to make a piece like this fit perfectly and it wasn't too bad. To secure it, I used one screw in the front and bent a piece of aluminum and used it as a clamp in back.

To finish the panel I sprayed on some high-build primer and then some Landau Black SEM paint. I was originally going to use some SEM texture finish to give the panel some texture, but since the inside is smooth (and I didn't have any texture) I ended up not sanding the final coat of primer. I'm not terribly happy with the result on this, and I think I know why people use acrylic for this type of thing. The paint has too much sheen on it and it highlights some otherwise minor flaws. In the end I'm just going to keep it because it's hidden and I rarely open the armrest anyway.

If I'm honest, it's a horrible place for a level control because it's awkward to get to. Ideally it would be in front of the gear shift, but I wanted that space open. Using only part of it and trimming the rubber insert was my first idea, but because it's a BMW that piece of rubber costs about $50 shipped to my house. So based on principle I opted to keep things hidden.


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## imickey503 (Dec 16, 2015)

On the BMW handle, those things are maybe $10 bucks at a junkyard. Can you just get one there? That would be a good budget option.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

imickey503 said:


> On the BMW handle, those things are maybe $10 bucks at a junkyard. Can you just get one there? That would be a good budget option.


Haha too late now, but you're probably right about the junkyard. A quick online search for the part number didn't yield any results so I took the quick way out. Probably for the better since I would have had to redo it in acrylic and find different paint. So right decision for the wrong reasons I guess! It was a good learning experience and I'm pretty sure I can nail it next time.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

I have sound! 

After a bit of time I was able to figure out the Helix software and get a basic configuration in the car. Very happy to report no charging system noise. The noise floor is pretty high, at least compared to stock, and the noise of the CD player is actually not quiet at all. I do know it was present in the stock system but I'm wondering if there's a way to reduce it. Sub is super quiet but gains are not yet set.

Now the real work begins. I've never tuned a car with a DSP before and my ears are really out of practice. I'm just going to get the system broken in a bit this week, and I've started with crossover points at 80Hz @24dB, 250Hz @24dB, and based on the Morel's passive crossover design 2200Hz at 12dB (Butterworth). I'm very open to any suggestions here.

Time alignment is set by crude measurements but thanks to Nick Apicella's tutorials I think I can get a handle on that.

Another issue is that I have really only set gains before by ear. I'm not going to pop for a distortion detector so I'll have to read up on how to set gains another way. Which will probably involve purchasing a fancy multimeter.

This is the first time I've seen the sub enclosure in the car and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Today I was able to get a really good tune in the car with the help of the Helix auto-EQ function and the car sounds great!. Even better, I can tell there's quite a bit more potential as well. The gains are set properly so the system noise is acceptable and the gong volume is only slightly louder than stock.

Another cool thing I haven't touched on yet was the park distance control. I wanted to have it function like it does with the stock system but I didn't want any rear fill. I was able to do this by running the front outputs of the head unit to the DSP and then on to the amp inputs for the front speakers and the sub, but the rear channels go directly into the amp with the gain turned all the way down (rear speakers are stock, of course). The fader is all the way forward so the music plays with no rear fill, but the head unit ignores the fader for PDC so everything functions like I hoped it would. It's also nice to have the option for rear sound when someone (my kid) is in the back.

There's quite a bit to learn with a DSP and I still have a long way to go, but it's been really fun learning about all the theory and how to get just the basics set. One of the best things I have read so far is the Audiofrog tuning guide:


https://testgear.audiofrog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/A-Straightforward-Stereo-Tuning-Process-and-Some-Notes-About-Why-it-Works.pdf



And a massive thanks to Nick Apicella for the video on how to use auto-EQ, which can be found only on caraudiojunkies.com.

All that's left fabrication-wise is to carpet the trunk floor panel which I should have done next weekend. Go 49ers!


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to get some (a lot) of help from Nick (nadams5755) who knows a thing or two about tuning, and the sound on the car is pretty much dialed in. 

We were able to drop the crossover frequency on the midbass from 80Hz down to 60Hz, and the sub now plays 45Hz and down. The bass is really up front now, and a nice bonus is that the 80Hz rattle he found in the rear deck is now gone. I'm really surprised at the performance of the Gladens and I guess Nick was a bit as well when we started to tune them: "Is the sub on? There's no way those things play flat down to 20Hz."

Turning up the amp gains would give a bit more detail, but that would require retuning so I'm going to leave it for now. At least I know how to adjust the input gain in the Helix software now... There's always something that can be done to make your system sound better, but this is far and away the best sounding system I've had.

Now about that trunk panel that isn't upholstered yet...

(We forgot to save the midbass graph, but here's a couple before and midway graphs)


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

Got the trunk floor panel carpeted today. To mimic the stock panel that lifts up (to reveal laughable storage space) I sewed two pieces of carpet together to sandwich the panels. The match looks poor in the photos but it's actually really close in person. I may experiment on a scrap piece to see if I can dye it closer.

With this, I'm calling the fabrication on this car done! Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I definitely learned a few things that will help out for the next build I do, whenever that is. 

I'll probably play with the tune a bit with the intention of just learning more. After quite a bit of listening I have a feeling it's going to be hard to improve on Nick's tune that's in there now, though.


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## ToNasty (Jan 23, 2013)

ejeffrey said:


> Got the trunk floor panel carpeted today. To mimic the stock panel that lifts up (to reveal laughable storage space) I sewed two pieces of carpet together to sandwich the panels. The match looks poor in the photos but it's actually really close in person. I may experiment on a scrap piece to see if I can dye it closer.
> 
> With this, I'm calling the fabrication on this car done! Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I definitely learned a few things that will help out for the next build I do, whenever that is.
> 
> ...


Contact me one day when you have time. I want to see this in person 

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

ToNasty said:


> Contact me one day when you have time. I want to see this in person


Definitely will do! Would love to see your truck, too.


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

That’s a clean looking trunk,good job.


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