# 350z- DLS, Image Dynamics



## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Not quite DIY since I had an installer do it, but I thought those that DIY would like to see the progress. (copy and pasted per his approval). Mr X (Dom) is on ICIX and other forums.

Mike, DVFlyer on this forum, brought me his car a few months ago for a simple SQ setup.


It consisted of:

DLS RA50 amplifier
Alpine W200 w/ H701 processor
DLS Iridium 6.3s
-Midbass in doorpods
-Tweet and Mid in the kicks
DLS Iridium 10" Subwoofer

Shortly after picking it up, he started fidling with it. First, by relocating the tweeter to the bottom of the kick panel. The for some reason, he felt like he didn't have enough power. The thought process went from two A3 to power the iridiums to, hey I have the processing capabilites, might as well also pick up an A2 so I can run them active.

But of course, he felt that the substage was good, but not quite where it should be. His first solution was an IDQ 15 off a DLS A6. Again, he liked it, but it didn't have the low end oomph that his home theater is so good at.

So basically, its time to go big or go home.

The plan is two 13 Av.2s in fiberglass corner boxes with an integrated amp rack somewhere in the trunk. Right now the plan is to power the subs with the A6, so 600 conservative watts to each driver. I have an itching feeling sometime after it leaves my hands a second A6 will find its way into the car 

So to recap whats going to be in this car:

-Alpine W200
-Alpine H701
-Alpine Full Speed Ipod
-Alpine Bluetooth
-DLS A2 (tweets)
-DLS A3 (midrange)
-DLS A3 (midbass)
-DLS A6 (Subs)
-DLS Iridium 6.3 (active)
-13Av.2 (x2)


Anyways, here are the links to the past threads about his car, and some photos. First update on the build should be sometime late tonight.

http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=36018
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39347
















































[/QUOTE]



Mr X said:


> First, the garage was filthy, so that had to be handled.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

(cont)

One more thing, I was playing around with ideas for the tweets. I'm not a huge fan of the basketball grills, and I know Mike isn't. So I took a little bit of a gamble and attempted to flush the tweeter. This was an experiment and the vinyl is not properly glued/stretched, I really need to emphasize that  But I think it has some potential to look awesome. My only concern being set into the ring like this make a significant difference with how the tweeter disperses? Anyone have any thoughts on that issue?


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Then a little before and after of what 5 minutes with a random orbital sander can do 


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Today was a ton of conceptual work, rather than stuff that can have photos taken of it. Tommorow the amp rack will get built :beer:[/QUOTE]


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

(cont)

Some amp rack progress, she'll be done tommorow. The goal was to create both a solid amp rack, and a prime location for the helicopter to attach its hooks when Mike has the car moved around.

Left mounting position










Center mounting position (Bottom holes not drilled yet)










Right mounting position










Then we pull the car in










Tacked together. Before we did this, we disconnected the positive and negative from the battery, and grounded the welder right next to where the welding was going on.










Back bone of rack placed in it, we tacked these into the wrong spot so they're currently just flopping around, ran out of time to re do it.










A better view










The back of the amp rack is flush with the strut tower. Will probably make a nice beauty board for it.










Next we piece together the first tier of the rack.










All welded up, please note, it isn't in its final mounting position, I just set it somewhat in place to show you guys how it is all going to fit together.










Here the amps are sitting on it, I'm psyched to get this car together 


















Whats really makes me sad is I was able to summarize 10 hours worth of work in <20 pictures  

Any questions, feel free to ask [/QUOTE]



Mr X said:


> This is easily the coolest thing I've ever made.
> 
> Pix of the frame, for some reason I lost the photos of it out of the car. I'll take some tommorow when I'm brushing/painting it. From here on out the build log will become more detailed.
> 
> ...


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

(cont)

Started the day by yanking the old amp rack out.










Then brushed the front and side of it with the belt sander.










I really like the finish it produced, goes very well with the amps.



















Then test fitted the av2, to make sure it would in fact fit where I wanted it to. Low and behold, success.


























Then I taped it up for paint. The goal was to keep the front brushed and paint everything else black. And to protect the front a clearcoat would be applied.










































And the result, came out pretty nice if I do say so myself 


































Heres where my day turned to ****. Basically heres my advice, don't try and drill and tap something without a drill press, it results in sloppyness and frustration. The concept was great, but it took a crap load of tweaking to get the amps to line up correctly.

And before someone says I should've tapped before I painted, yeah I know that now  I thought it was going to be a simple drill tap screw done type of a thing.

Drill










Tap










Screw










Top done and looking good


































In the car


































And then I prepped it for fiberglass, which will begin first thing tommorow.


































The soda can was only in there to hold the ring in place for the photo  And don't worry, each box WILL be the ideal airspace.


















Hopefully tommorow goes better.[/QUOTE]




Mr X said:


> Today I did some work on the tweeters and the kick panels.
> 
> Started off by sanding them down all the way. I'm starting at this stage, because they were given to me half done to complete
> 
> ...


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Now for the kicks, mike brutalized these things playing around with tweeter positions so I'm going to fix them. Start off with the glue.










Spray on










Attach fiberglass matt. I would have preffered to use cloth, but I already had this.










Wet










Trim, sand, and fill.










Covered with 1/4" closed cell foam and vinyl. The loose part on the front is covered by a trim piece, and the tab in the back is covered by the dead pedal so it will look perfect when installed.










Then, the same thing was done for the other side.

Thats all for now. I'll post the fiberglass box progress shots once we figure out what we're doing with them.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

(cont)

Well as you all know, the 13Av.2s were too manly for me. The replacements came in on tuesday.


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Image Dynamics IDMax 12 D4s


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I can never get over how good of a job ED's cnc does. Alex went out of his way to get me these quickly, another example of how superb the service is over there.


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So now that all the new parts are in, its time to see how they're going to line up.


















Next I reinforced the mold, didn't snag any photos but you guys get the idea 

After that I needed to do get the proper shape for the boxes. In order to accomplish this I wanted to use the popsicle stick techinique that Ben v.2 used in the kick panel tutorial, only on a larger scale. I decided painters sticks would get the job done.

Home depot doesn't actually sell them, they only give them away for free. I think I abused the privelage 










Mike was very adament I used rubber ducky fleece, I tried to explain to him that it won't be visable in the final product but he just wouldn't give.










Box wrapped in it










The result






























































































































































































Keep in mind there are quite a few adjustments that need to be made to the fleece, but I think its finally possible to get an idea of how shes going to look [/QUOTE]



Mr X said:


>


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## kimokalihi (May 27, 2007)

Amazing work! I like it a lot. Very clean! I like how in the end the adjusting side of the amps was covered, looks much better hidden like that.


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## backwoods (Feb 22, 2006)

It looks great, but...

why'd you cover the fleece?


I could see the duckies just fine...


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## brandont (Apr 22, 2005)

One of the best 350Z installs I've ever seen.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

backwoods said:


> It looks great, but...
> 
> why'd you cover the fleece?
> 
> ...


Trust me, it is a point of contention between me and Dom.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

brandont said:


> One of the best 350Z installs I've ever seen.


Thanks. I'll make sure Dom sees this. It will make his day for sure.


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## fredridge (Jan 17, 2007)

looks great, Dom does nice work. Bing is working on my car right now, should have it back by Friday. Not as elaborate as your work, but I wanted one of his stealth style installs.

I will be running the IR6.3's similar. door midbass, kick midrange and tweet in a-pillar. 

How does it sound that way? Did you happen to run it passive that way first? and then active? If so, what was the difference?


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Bing does incredible work. I bought much of my stuff from him and he built my door pods (and kicks until I relocated the tweeters and Dom redid them).

Yes, I ran it passive at first, but I only had one amp, so comparing specifically the active change is hard since I added amps.... meaning it's hard to tell what made a difference... amps or active or both.. if you know what I mean.

Active is definitely cool because of all of the adjustements that can be made, but I'm also a tweak... albeit an uneducated one so I make more wrong adjustments than I care to admit to. 

From everything I've read, install, install, install is first. I think Bing's talent will have you covered there.  Then levels and phase adjustments and you'll be 90% good.


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## aneonrider (Apr 28, 2007)

Were is the midbass?  

Very nice install, some bling factor along with integration. I love it.

Also gave me some ideas for my trunk IB & amp rack install.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Midbass are those puny little 6.5's in the doors... I need at least two more of those.


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## aneonrider (Apr 28, 2007)

All that nice work could be complemented with some nice 8s


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## Locke (May 29, 2007)

thanks for posting great install, very professional


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

Very nice and super clean install. Do you have any pictures of the fiberglass subwoofer box build up?


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

what happened with the av2's that made u switch to the max's?


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## ocuriel (Oct 7, 2005)

Incredible install!


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Pseudonym said:


> what happened with the av2's that made u switch to the max's?


I have a feeling it was a lack of that made him change his mind.


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

o they still havent made them yet?


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## Preacher (May 8, 2006)

This installation is from planet krypton!


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## avaxis (May 23, 2006)

i'd give it a 9 out of 10, if you didn't cover the fleece it'd be a perfect 10.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

> Originally Posted by Pseudonym
> what happened with the av2's that made u switch to the max's?


The 13av2's would not fit because the excursion of the woofer would have hit the already welded amp rack.... only choice was to find other woofers or retool the amp rack. Since the av2's were not coming out until November, the decision was easy.


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## stormtrooper (Dec 10, 2005)

looks real good, how r u enjoying the car ?


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

avaxis said:


> i'd give it a 9 out of 10, if you didn't cover the fleece it'd be a perfect 10.


If I would have bought a Yellow Z, you can bet we would have kept the ducky fleece visible.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

omarmipi said:


> Very nice and super clean install. Do you have any pictures of the fiberglass subwoofer box build up?


I'll see if Dom has any. He usually takes a lot of pictures along the way so I'm guessing he has some.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

stormtrooper said:


> looks real good, how r u enjoying the car ?


I love this car. Best car I've owned to date. *knocking on wood*


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## forty5cal1911 (Sep 11, 2006)

Super clean install!  I would love to see the pics of the finished kick panels and a-pillar tweets.


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## jakesford (Jun 27, 2007)

Awsome install... 

Question: Any issues with the amps being mounted on a ground? Metal amp rack bolted to the chasis and the amps bolted directly to the rack...


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## Sephiroth619 (Jun 24, 2005)

I would swear I've seen your car in person at an autobody shop called Sinful Enhancements. I remember drooling over your wheels. 

Nonetheless, phenomenal car and phenomenal install. Hope to see it at the upcoming meet.


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## aneonrider (Apr 28, 2007)

jakesford said:


> Question: Any issues with the amps being mounted on a ground? Metal amp rack bolted to the chasis and the amps bolted directly to the rack...


There should be no reason for problems.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

jakesford said:


> Awsome install...
> 
> Question: Any issues with the amps being mounted on a ground? Metal amp rack bolted to the chasis and the amps bolted directly to the rack...


Thanks. That question was brought up a couple of other times too. The thoughts were that the DLS amps are designed well enough to avoid any grounding issues with the rack/ amp chassis.

That being said, Dom used nylon washers as a precaution.  No noise.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

sephiroth619 said:


> I would swear I've seen your car in person at an autobody shop called Sinful Enhancements. I remember drooling over your wheels.
> 
> Nonetheless, phenomenal car and phenomenal install. Hope to see it at the upcoming meet.


Not me, but thanks. Are you talking about the OC meet? I want to go, but that would make three weekends in a row of being in OC instead of home with my wife and kids..... We'll see.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

just dead sexy.

if i didnt use image dynamics HLCD's, id be up with the 3 way dyn's or morel. and i would absolutly love a pair of IDmax 12's and for a while i had an A5.

awesome equipment, even better install. i wish i had access to a welding machiene.

good idea with the beltsander and the steel. that effect came out great. although i wish you would have sanded down the welds on the back of the amp rack, and chopped off the top verticle 'nubs' that extended further above the top amp mounting rack.

otherwise, awesome stuff.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

just amazing.

if i didnt use image dynamics HLCD's, id be up with the 3 way dyn's or morel. and i would absolutly love a pair of IDmax 12's and for a while i had an A5.

awesome equipment, even better install. i wish i had access to a welding machiene.

good idea with the beltsander and the steel. that effect came out great. although i wish you would have sanded down the welds on the back of the amp rack, and chopped off the top verticle 'nubs' that extended further above the top amp mounting rack.

otherwise, awesome stuff.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Funny you mention the "nubs". He ended up having to cut them off.


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## sr20det510 (May 20, 2007)

Very nice install!


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

WOW LOVE IT!!!
       
Great work man
that maks my fave install's list..
I got some of the pix scrolling on my background now..
Peace troy


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## chuyler1 (Apr 10, 2006)

Awesome work! I've seen many 350Z installs and they are all unique. That arch across the back just screams to be integrated into a custom audio install. I'll bet those corner loaded subs pound the hell out of that car.

Note: I noticed that the smaller amp has a different coloring..only because I have the same problem in my car with my DLS A5 and A8. Its almost like they changed the brush technique or something. You don't notice it in person but under florecent lighting or when you take a photograph they just don't match right. It bugs me. Am I the only one who notices that?


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## Aznattic (Jul 4, 2007)

clean, amazed all that fits in the hatch of a 350z


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

I gotta give you prompts on this one!niiiiice very, nice!


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## whatzzap (Jun 16, 2006)

sweet install mike congratz


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Hey Ron .... recognize anything in those pictures?


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## whatzzap (Jun 16, 2006)

yes nice seeing those babies found a really nice home, I AM JEALOUS...


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## [email protected] (Jun 21, 2007)

Very Nice!


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Very Nice!


For those that don't know, Kwame was THE inspiration for my install. If you want to see an uber clean, unbelievably cool install in a Z, check his out on my350z. (can you say McIntosh???  ).


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## [email protected] (Jun 21, 2007)

dvflyer said:


> For those that don't know, Kwame was THE inspiration for my install. If you want to see an uber clean, unbelievably cool install in a Z, check his out on my350z. (can you say McIntosh???  ).


Haha, I'm thinking about naming my future kids MCC404M and MCC301M .


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

I thought you'd name them Mac and Tosh.....  All I know, is mine have to have the initials D..L..S.


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## ddsBMW (May 31, 2007)

Very nice install.


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## [email protected] (Jun 21, 2007)

I heard through the grapevine that there were some updates done on this car. lol...


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

HA HA! I forgot to update this thread. Thanks for the reminder, Kwame. 

I had Bing pull out all the stops and really show his expertise on an idea I had always wanted to try. I was never quite happy with the mids and tweeters being low in the kick panels (which is why I moved the tweeters up in the a-pillars.... but that still left the mids). Drum roll......

These are not pics of my car but the car Bing used to mold them. I'll get pics of them in my car (looks the same) at some point. They are not covered in suede in these pictures, but are now.


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## tr0y_audi0 (Feb 13, 2007)

Nice, should be nice stage like that eh..
keep us up todate this time will ya..


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Sound stage is great. With the tweeters in the a-pillars before, it was good and did a good job masking the fact the mids were down low. Now that both are up high, it really opened things up. More clarity, impact etc.


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## Mr X (Aug 27, 2007)

Re-hosted the pictures, here are the finished photos, if you want Mike, I can show you how to update the original links, but that might take a bit of time


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Thanks Dom.  I can update the original links. 

BTW- I'm going to try and take a set of photos this weekend of the whole system with Michelle's studio lights. Should be a fun experiment. Let me know if you want the full rez copies.


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## Mr X (Aug 27, 2007)

dvflyer said:


> Thanks Dom.  I can update the original links.
> 
> BTW- I'm going to try and take a set of photos this weekend of the whole system with Michelle's studio lights. Should be a fun experiment. Let me know if you want the full rez copies.


Yes I do 

As for upgrading the links, the folders and file names are all the same, just they're located here now, www.sbeuro.com/domhost/350z so you need to swap out the ivmai tag with that.


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## SRim23 (May 24, 2007)

if that were my car id be driving around blasting, "aint nobody dope as me im just so fresh so clean, so fresh and so clean, clean"

thats awesome


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## [email protected] (Jun 21, 2007)

Bump, from the dead for awesomeness. Mike, fix the pics in the first post! It took me forever to find pics of this setup to reference in another thread.


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