# Simple SQ Build - 08 Lexus IS250 - Mosconi & Morel



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Out of all the cars i have worked on, the 2nd Gen Lexus IS is perhaps one of the most common models I see...with this particular one, a 2008 IS250, as my 20th or so install.

However, it has been well over a year since my last IS build, and with some new products being avaiable, it is pretty exciting to try them out in this familar car.

First up, the goals:

1. Produce an decent level of sound quality on a somewhat modest budget, with a focus on smooth top end response

2. take up as little room as possible while retaining the spare tire

3. a simple clean and functional set up in the trunk that is stealthy and not affect daily usage

lets get started:


The OEM lexus headunit serves as the signal source and a Mosconi 6to8 processor provides all the tuning functions. With the optional bluetooth dongle, i can tune the car wirelessly anywhere with in a few yards of the car...here is the software running while i am doing final listening in the vehicle:










as mentioned, smooth highs was a key requirement as the owner is very sensitive to high frequencies. To that end, the new Morel Virtus 6.5" two way compoenent was the perfect choice. The tweeter was molded into the A pillars, spaced up above the instrument shroud to reduce reflections, and becuase the oem material is almost impossible to duplicate, as the norml with my IS installs, the pillars are wrapped with dash matching black vinyl:





































Here are some quick build pics of the pillars...due to the relatively odd shape of the Morel tweeter bracket, i first had to build a small oval shapped ring with a flush mounting wall, they were then aimed and secured to the stripped OEM pillars:










then mold cloth was pulled, resin applied, allow to harden, and then reinforced from the inside via duraglass/resin mixture, making the pods virtually solid:










then filler was applied and everything sanded smooth to blend together:



















and then they were wrapped with black vinyl:



















then the morel mounting cups were secured to the pillars via the supplied hardware, from here, the pillars just need to be snapped back into the vehicle, and the tweeters themselves pressed into place:



















The Morel virtus 6.5" midbass went into the stock location, first the doors were sound proofed and a new pair of speaker wires run into each door:










then i made up two spacer baffles and treated both sides with truck bed liner to protect them against the elements:










The baffles were then bolted up:










and the virtus midbass installed:



















for once the virtus has a small enough motor that no foam was needed around the magnet to prevent the banging sound when the window briefly touches the magnet at the bottom of it downward travel 

the same treatment was applied on the passenger side:


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

then comes some pics of the wiring bundle as it travesl from the front to the back of the car...

on the driver side are the left side speaker wires, an extra pair of RCA cables which the customer specified so he can add a secondary signal source later... and the Mosconi remote bass controller cable, and on the passenger side went the passenger side speaker wires, the remote turn on wire (tapped into the fuse box ACC), and the main 0 gauge power cable (tucked beneath the carpet for most of the run.

all the cables are secured to OEM looms every few inches and passes into the trunk via two OEM grommets:



























































































the owner had already removed the OEM subwoofer from the rear deck so no picture of that.

moving to the trunk. as mentioned above, the spare needed to be retain, and we wanted to take up as little room as possible. so the obvious idea is a rearward facing amp rack and a side mounted sub.

open up the trunk and here is what you see...the fabulous Science of Sound/Boxology custom fit 12" subenclosure built by my good friend Nick Johnson sits on the passenger side of the trunk. (this is the box that when i reviewed for CAE, i said i cannot build a better box regardless of budget)...and a rear ward facing wall with a press fit cover is at the front of the trunk. the Enclosure comes with its own press fit grille:



















remove the grilles and here is what you see.

two Mosconi Gladen one amps sandwich the Mosconi 6to8DSP in a rack upfront, trimmed in an aqua blue vinyl that matches the exterior of the car. A Morel primo 12 occupies the sub enclosure. Total space take up is about 3" at the top, and about 5.5" at the bottom...nothing crazy just simple and clean.

The Gladen one 120.4 on the left sends 120 watts to each tweeter, and 350 watts to the sub, while the One 240.2 powers the door midbass with 240 watts rms a piece.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

onto the build pics...but first, some OEM signal analysis. Having not done a NON Mark Levinson system equipped IS for sometime, i wanted to see just waht kind of signal i am dealing with out of the OEM amp, as with the ML systems, i tend use only the front door woofer and higns signal. 

So what i found out is that the non ML system seems to be a lil different. Here is the front door mdidrange/high signal:










here is the front door woofer signal, note how high it extends to and the rapid drop off relatively high in the frequency range:










and here ist he OEM sub signal, pretty flat all the way down but notice again how much overlap:










so the decision was made to sum all three signals to produce a single full range signal.

Back to the build pics.

First, here are the wiring bundle as they pass into the trunk, and routed close to their final destination:










The signal wires were tapped at the oem amp's output, and bundled:










this bundle then travels across the back of the trunk (to keep them as far away from the main power cable which is ont he passenger side):










and then back up to the driver side:










Next is the amp rack that holds all the equipment. I basically built it outside the car and did as much wiring as i could with it out of the car to make my job easier. Note the Mosconi HLA-SUM summing device. normally, the 6to8's 6 channels of input is enough for this car, but the customer wanted to add a future signal source and thus they will take up an extra pair of channels on the DSP, thus the HLA-SUM was used to presum the woofer/subwoofer signal.

Everything is organized, ziptied, and secured, ready to go into the car:





































Here is the awesome enclosure with the Morel Primo 12 loaded out side of the car:




























Here ist he trim piece around the amps before and after vinyl:



















and the outter wall piece, along with vented grille, before and after carpet:





































and finally, here is the amp rack secured to the car and all wired up:










so..how does it sound? quite nice...i absolutely love how the Virtus sound, good midbass impact, solid midrange and warm and buttery smooth highs...i can turn it up with out fearing fatigue. the Primo 12 continues to impress as well, the customer had a JL10w3 in the car before, and i tested it out using the same amp...the morel has a lot more presence, extension and output...excellent sub considering the modest price tag 

width is pillar to pillar, depth is not too bad, center image is pretty good and stages very high, a few inches below the rear view mirror. 

This is the response curve i got out of it after about 3 hours of playing around with it:










overall, very happy with the outcome. 

Cheers,

Bing


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Very nice. I like the use of the One series. I really like the One series amps. Very clean.


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## Kellyo77 (Dec 5, 2009)

And another sick install Bing. Even though it seems like a simple install to you, it looks amazing to me. Incredibly well done. 
Hurry up and get to work on another install. I'm anxious to see the next one!


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Install like this scary me away from starting my own. t love the rack and sub box.


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm still waiting for you to remove the floor mat and show something. :laugh:


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## wdemetrius1 (Aug 16, 2007)

^^

X2!!!


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## iasca judge (Jan 5, 2010)

Annother awesome install!


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

Well you did it again,another install to stare at over & over & over....


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## Tnutt19 (Dec 22, 2010)

Nice build Bing! My last car was an is350 so having worked a lot on them I can respect this build looks perfect!


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## papasin (Jan 24, 2011)

jtaudioacc said:


> I'm still waiting for you to remove the floor mat and show something. :laugh:





wdemetrius1 said:


> ^^
> 
> X2!!!


That totally cracked me up... 

Just out of curiosity, what's the Virtus crossed at?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

sub: 80hz @24

midbass: 80hz @24 [email protected]

Tweeter: [email protected]

smoothest curve on the RTA.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

lol, dont think it like that Jon, think of it as a fake floor, pivoted 90 degrees lol


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Nice clean work as usual.

One thing I've always wondered about is when you do an A-Pillar and use the resined cloth for the overall shape and structure.

You mention that you reinforce the panel from the back with a Duraglass/resin mixture.

Do you poke a few holes from the back and pour a Duraglass milkshake in there? Otherwise theres no way to get to the back of the cloth structure to reinforce that.

Every set of A-Pillars I've built I just fixed the speaker baffle into place then I just Duraglassed the piece into the pillar and sanded until blended.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

GlasSman said:


> Nice clean work as usual.
> 
> One thing I've always wondered about is when you do an A-Pillar and use the resined cloth for the overall shape and structure.
> 
> ...


if you look at the pillar build pic you see the little mounting ring has a hole cut behind it, so i can pour resin mixture into the inside of the pod via that opening and the space between the pillar the mounting ring 

b


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## elm3c (Dec 1, 2010)

Looks great, Bing - nice design! Will this one be hitting the SQ comps?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

hopefully can make it to the comp i am hosting on the 25th in san jose  u comin?

b


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

simplicityinsound said:


> if you look at the pillar build pic you see the little mounting ring has a hole cut behind it, so i can pour resin mixture into the inside of the pod via that opening and the space between the pillar the mounting ring
> 
> b


Ok thats what I figured....I just don't remember you pointing out that detail.


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## shutmdown (Aug 24, 2008)

quick question bing, how is the amp rack attached? looks like you have brackets on all four corners. did you use existing stock holes or make new holes?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

no exiting holes around there, so new were were tapped.


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## Rs roms (Jul 12, 2012)

Too Good and very well done


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

quality work as usual Bing


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## ISTundra (Jan 3, 2009)

Question: I read on CL that there is a clip behind the pillars that essentially breaks when you pull the pillars off and that you need to buy a new clip to resecure them. Truth? Any pics of the pillar minus cover, and the backside of the cover backside? I want to pull my pillars off to have a lookie but would like to get them back on too.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

ISTundra said:


> Question: I read on CL that there is a clip behind the pillars that essentially breaks when you pull the pillars off and that you need to buy a new clip to resecure them. Truth? Any pics of the pillar minus cover, and the backside of the cover backside? I want to pull my pillars off to have a lookie but would like to get them back on too.



i know hwat they are talking about but i have been able to pop those off and get the pillar to go back on on all the 2gen ISs i have done. i dont have a pic of it...but its a clip that hooks onto the pillar on one side, and clips into the metal on the other. 

but i have never busted it and it goes back in and still holds pretty securely i believe, at least i havent seen them fall out after 2-3 years.

if you release the bottom clips you can see that particular contraption

b


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

Stellar work Bing!

Did the sub come with that grill or was it something you
sourced out. If so where did you find it? 

Thanks,
Scott


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## trojan fan (Nov 4, 2007)

The enclosure came with it's own grill, according to Bing....check it out

Lexus IS 250/350


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## whatuusay1 (Feb 2, 2012)

Its also worth noting you can't actually get this sub box anymore.. so its an awesome sub but you cant get one.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

very nice bing!! your installs look like it rolled from the factory that way i love it !!!!


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

whatuusay1 said:


> Its also worth noting you can't actually get this sub box anymore.. so its an awesome sub but you cant get one.


yeah I convince him to do make one last one for me...though the next time i get another IS, i may try to bribe Nick to make me another...lol

b


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Why u have to live so far away Bing? 
Your install always looks so damn simple by looking at the picks lol... love it 

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


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## shutmdown (Aug 24, 2008)

when pulling grill cloth over the a pillars whats the best method to attach the cloth to the a pillar? Also other than sanding do you use a special method to ensure proper adhesion of the grill cloth to the pillar?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

i form the initial shape using spray adhesive, and then where i dont want it to release a bead of CA glue.


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## rgiorgio (Nov 21, 2012)

Id like to hear how you feel about those amps. If you could PM me i would appreciate it. I am looking for SQ and volume.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

i am indeed a big fan of the mosconi ones...

they are compact, stylish, easy to incorporate into designs, clean, decently powerful and fan cooled so good for stealth designs.

in other words, everything i can ask for out of a mid-priced amp. i have done 40-50 of them without a single failure of any sort. 

one thing i felt was missing from the line up was a 5-600 mono block, but that is now coming


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

Bing 

I see that you tapped the signal after the OEM amp, is it because the volume control is in the OEM amp? What kind of signal feeds the that amp from the head unit? Is it full range? Would it be possible to use that signal into a processor with volume control like a PXA800?


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## Tnutt19 (Dec 22, 2010)

gsxrtin said:


> Bing
> 
> I see that you tapped the signal after the OEM amp, is it because the volume control is in the OEM amp? What kind of signal feeds the that amp from the head unit? Is it full range? Would it be possible to use that signal into a processor with volume control like a PXA800?


In that car there is a mute function, if you try and tap into the signal prior to the OEM amp it will mute the signal. You either need to tap into the signal how Bing did or replace the stock head unit. It is possible to replace the stock head unit. I did this back in the day when I owned an is350 and was daring. You have to take the stock head unit apart and retain the circuit board and can ditch it behind the glove box in order to retain Nav and ac controls exc..


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

I actually have a 2014 IS. Been trying to search the internet but haven't found much info. I found the OEM amp in the car. It looks exactly the same as the one in this build. Same location too. Could you explain more about the muting circuit?


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## Tnutt19 (Dec 22, 2010)

Oh nice car! Well it's been a few years but of the oem amp was unhooked it automatically mutes the audio signal. I'm not sure if they changed it in 2014 with the new body style. I would imagine it is really similar.


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## FLYONWALL9 (Nov 8, 2009)

Bing, 

As always, love your installs. How simple you make them 
look and how difficult it is to do that in many cases. 

I do have a question that may sound pretty stupid. Years 
ago when I used to compete I'm sure you know we tried to 
achieve as flat of an RTA curve as possible. But as many 
will agree, or least me, with the source material they had 
us play; that flat curve sounded like arse. That said, do 
you have the one preset for your flat RTA setting and 
others for listening to various styles/types of music? Also, 
have you used the preset to later go back to see what 
changes have occurred say in a couple months time after 
the drivers have broken in?

Cheers,
Scott


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## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

Tnutt19 said:


> Oh nice car! Well it's been a few years but of the oem amp was unhooked it automatically mutes the audio signal.  I'm not sure if they changed it in 2014 with the new body style. I would imagine it is really similar.


I'm still driving my 2006 IS250 with the standard base audio system. I tied into the four signal wires between the head unit and the amp and ran them into the RCA inputs of my Alpine H701 processor. The signal was not muted and was flat and full range according to my RTA. In the base system all signal processing (volume control, eq, time delays for seating positions, crossovers, fader, balance, and mute) are done in the base factory amp. Unfortunately there is no "remote turn on" wire between the factory head unit and the factory amp, so my H701 and amps turn on via an ignition wire. The factory amp stays on with the ignition no matter if the factory head unit is off or on. The factory amp is out of the car and the base factory head unit sounds as good as a quality aftermarket unit. After all it does have a "manufactured by Pioneer Electronic" sticker on the bottom of it. And as a additional note, the "dealer" installed iPod module that works with the factory head unit has a "made by Alpine Inc." sticker on it also.

The ML system is probably different since there is a digital signal cable running between a ML head unit and a ML amp.


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

cmusic said:


> I'm still driving my 2006 IS250 with the standard base audio system. I tied into the four signal wires between the head unit and the amp and ran them into the RCA inputs of my Alpine H701 processor. The signal was not muted and was flat and full range according to my RTA. In the base system all signal processing (volume control, eq, time delays for seating positions, crossovers, fader, balance, and mute) are done in the base factory amp. Unfortunately there is no "remote turn on" wire between the factory head unit and the factory amp, so my H701 and amps turn on via an ignition wire. The factory amp stays on with the ignition no matter if the factory head unit is off or on. The factory amp is out of the car and the base factory head unit sounds as good as a quality aftermarket unit. After all it does have a "manufactured by Pioneer Electronic" sticker on the bottom of it. And as a additional note, the "dealer" installed iPod module that works with the factory head unit has a "made by Alpine Inc." sticker on it also.
> 
> The ML system is probably different since there is a digital signal cable running between a ML head unit and a ML amp.


Thanks for the reply. This is exactly what I was looking to do. Could you possibly tell me what the wire colors are from the head unit? Also how do you RTA the signal? Thanks in advance...I'm still learning.


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## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

gsxrtin said:


> Thanks for the reply. This is exactly what I was looking to do. Could you possibly tell me what the wire colors are from the head unit? Also how do you RTA the signal? Thanks in advance...I'm still learning.


At the amp on one of the middle plugs there are four 22 or 24 gauge wires that are wrapped together in a foil shield sort of like an shielded RCA cable is done. The colors are as follows:

Right + = Red
Right - = Green
Left + = Black
Left - = White 

Tap into these four wires and solder on RCA terminals. Run the positive wires to the center of the RCA and the negative wires to the outside ring of the RCA. Then just plug the RCAs into you aftermarket system. The signal level is about 1.3 to 1.4 volts at 1 Khz. 

As an added bonus there is a small 22 or 24 gauge orange wire on the top left of the same plug that the signal wires go into that can be used as an ignition turn on wire for the aftermarket system. As I said before, the factory amp in the base audio system stays on with the ignition regardless if the head unit is on or not. 

I have an old Coustic brand RTA from the early '90s that has an RCA input on the back of it. I simply plugged in the newly attached RCA cable in the RTA's RCA inputs and played a pink noise track off of a CD. The signal was completely flat from 20 Hz to 20 KHz on both left and right channels. 

If you a looking for a stand alone volume control, the JL Audio RC-RLC is excellent. It will take the 1.3-1.4 volt signal from the factory head unit and boost it to 7.5 volts and give you a really nice remote volume control knob to mount somewhere on the dash. In my system I actually have three RC-RLCs linked together to one knob on the high, mid, and sub outputs of my H701 to give me a master volume control of my whole system. I don't use the H701's controller unless I am making tuning adjustments because there is no really good place to mount it on the dash or center console in the IS.


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## Tnutt19 (Dec 22, 2010)

cmusic said:


> I'm still driving my 2006 IS250 with the standard base audio system. I tied into the four signal wires between the head unit and the amp and ran them into the RCA inputs of my Alpine H701 processor. The signal was not muted and was flat and full range according to my RTA. In the base system all signal processing (volume control, eq, time delays for seating positions, crossovers, fader, balance, and mute) are done in the base factory amp. Unfortunately there is no "remote turn on" wire between the factory head unit and the factory amp, so my H701 and amps turn on via an ignition wire. The factory amp stays on with the ignition no matter if the factory head unit is off or on. The factory amp is out of the car and the base factory head unit sounds as good as a quality aftermarket unit. After all it does have a "manufactured by Pioneer Electronic" sticker on the bottom of it. And as a additional note, the "dealer" installed iPod module that works with the factory head unit has a "made by Alpine Inc." sticker on it also.
> 
> The ML system is probably different since there is a digital signal cable running between a ML head unit and a ML amp.


Wow no kidding that is awesome to see. I spent a lot of time on this back in the day and thought it couldnt be done.


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

A Coustic 33? I was bidding on one on ebay last week. Lost out last minute cuz I was at work and couldn't get on the computer. 


I found your car on CLublexus when you had the F1 setup.


Why did you take out the alpine hub? I haven't gotten that far in that thread yet


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## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

gsxrtin said:


> A Coustic 33? I was bidding on one on ebay last week. Lost out last minute cuz I was at work and couldn't get on the computer.


Yes, that is the RTA that I have. 



gsxrtin said:


> I found your car on CLublexus when you had the F1 setup.


I bought my F1 new and in the next four years I had to send it back to Alpine three times for various repairs. SQ wise it was the best processor I have ever used. The last time it broke I had already stopped competing and just did not really care to get it fixed again. 

I joined Clublexus in early 2006 after I bought my IS250 in Dec of 2005. I had to quit posting there because I was getting so many audio system questions from people that did not know or understand anything about car audio installation. At one point I literally could have spent 3-4 hours a day trying to answer questions to people that had no car audio knowledge or experience. The IS' audio system is a fairly difficult system to work on if you are not an experienced installer. Plus I got fed up with people posting questions like "I just bought an IS350, but I really wanted a M3, did I make a mistake?" or "Why is my IS250 is not as fast as my buddy's BMW?". 

From what I have seen, the 2014 IS is basically the same as the 2nd gen ISs that started in 2006. They have the same chassis, engine, and probably most of the same electronics. It looks like only the body and interior have changed for 2014. 

My 2006 IS250 is not a luxury car or sports car. But I wanted a good, small, everyday use car that had a little bit of luxury, got good gas mileage, and would last to at least 100,000 miles. With over 80,000 miles on it now I have had very little problems and still get about 34 MPG on the highway. I'll drive it past 100,000 miles before I get something else.



gsxrtin said:


> Why did you take out the alpine hub? I haven't gotten that far in that thread yet


The video port on the hub stopped working. By that time Alpine had discontinued the unit and I had gotten tired of trying to use it with my Ipod.


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## gsxrtin (Nov 28, 2007)

thanks again for all your help. you saved me a lot of headache having to choose a dsp. i was worried about the summing of signal and all that. i already have a 701 combo. will use the Pure unit to send optical from my ipod.


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## colled96 (Feb 2, 2010)

Very nice tweeter install. Elegant and clean. Over the install in top notch as usual. Love the attention to detail on the amp rack wiring.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

FLYONWALL9 said:


> Bing,
> 
> As always, love your installs. How simple you make them
> look and how difficult it is to do that in many cases.
> ...


hey guys, sorry for the lack of response.

i am in the middle of moving (from my house) to a new location, that and working at the shop is sucking my time dry like Bill Compton on sookie...

oh dang...lol 

i never aim for a flat response, i got a target curve that i try to after on the rta, then i sit in there and make some changes by ear...most of the customers are happy with the tune that i actually never see the car again, unless they are back for a get together or meet, some do come back for a tune but since i myself am more of a introductory tuner rather than an advanced tuner like Jim or Fred, i generally recommend those peeps if they want more in depth tuning


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## "that boy asad" (Feb 15, 2008)

If only adding a sub to the ML system, do you have a better response tapping into the sub output or front woofers?


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