# Newest member of the SiS Team + her first build log! :) 08 C350 - Focal-AM-Mosconi



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Hey guys,

Have a pretty exciting announcement for yall.  About a month ago, we officially added a new member to the Simplicity In Sound family! Julia has been in the industry for a while, working as an installer and fabricator; her current SN on diyma is "innovative sound" but will soon become "[email protected]". We hope to take her existing knowledge in metal working and general fabrication and infuse it with our own know-how and experience and create some kind of monster super duper female installator extradinaire! 

Anyway, with us being so busy, there was no initialization period, she got thrown directly into the deep end on this 2008 Mercedes C350 for a simple active SQ build. She performed virtually all the work and fabrication on the vehicle with some gentle guidance from Joey and I. What better way to introduce our newest team member than a build log of her first project! 

Please keep in mind that it will take her sometime to get used to how many and where to snap all the pics during the build, so this particular log may be somewhat scarce compared to my usual shenanigans. hehe

onto the goals:

1. achieve a decent level of overall sound quality improvement fro the oem stereo

2. integrate a customer supplied ipod dock that links to the dsp via a digital output module

3. keep the trunk 100 percent oem looking

so lets get started  

First thing on the car for her was to fabricate a metal fuse holder, and she did a simple beam, tapped and locates a single stinger mini anl fuse holder using the factory bolts:










here is the holder after painting:










next up was the ipod/phone docking station which will act as a secondary signal source in addition to the stock headunit. The customer wanted the piece integrated into the factory ashtray area, but still be able to hide it out of view when not in use. So here is the normal view of the area, which is 100 percent stock:










slide the tray door back and here is what you see, a plate with a precisely cutout opening to fit an i-device, along with two knobs populate the area. one knob goes to a Mosconi 4to6SP-Dif DSP and acts as master volume, while the second knob is a remote bass level adjuster. 



















here is a test iphone 5 plugged into the dock:



















A Final look at the center console area, show the motorized oem display:










here are a few quick build pics of the holder/tray:

here is the area before any mods:










then Julia took a piece of thin black ABS, marked the shape to be cut out:










and then trimmed it out with a router. here you see the plate with the customer supplied dock:










here is the roughly cut plate ontop of the dock:










after some additional sanding and trimming, the combined piece was painted black:










and then fitted to the astray assembly:










here you see the two knobs secured in place:



















Moving onto the front stage, which is a set of Focal 165FX FLAX cone drivers. the tweeters were installed into the oem sail panel location, here you see the flax tweeter in one of them, with the oem tweeter in the other:










after both tweeters were secured, the oem foam piece went back on and the sails went back onto the vehicle:



















Julia then turned her attention to the doors. the door panel received a liberal coverage of STP cld damper, and a new pair of speaker wires were run into the door:










then Julia created a spacer by match routing the oem speaker basket:




























the spacers were then coated with several layers of truck bedliner to protect them against the elements:










then the spacers were bolted back on using oem locations and the focal flax midbasses installed:










the same procedure was repeated on the passenger side:




























while the outter door cards also got some CLD damper:










Julia then ran the wire bundles from the front to the back, but the only pics she took was at the back seat (as the bundles were otherwise inside a factory channel and carpet), but they are ziptied and organized neatly throughout:



















here is a picture of the soldered connections at the oem amp's output plug that provides the signals needed:










so tahts it for the interior, Julia also removed the rear deck subwoofer and speakers to gain additional venting into the cabin.

onto the trunk, as mentioned, the idea is to look 100 percent oem normally, so here is that view, as you can see, nothing has changed


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

lift open the factory covering panel, and here is what you see. instead of the spare tire, a new fake floor enclosure/amp rack is in its place. the main floor is trimmed in black carpet, while two audiomobile GTS 10" subs and a single Focal FPD 900.6 6 channel amp is trimmed in black viny. Simple and clean is the idea. The focal amp powers the subs with 600 watts, while sending 4x150 actively to the front stage.




























a better look with the factory floor panel completely removed:










i heard virtually no difference in bass response with the stock board over the subs and without, which isnt too surprising given how thin it is and my experience in the past 

so, the build pics of trunk. 

First julia cleaned out the spare tire well, and installed some rivet nuts that will anchor the foundation boards later:










next, the entire well area received some CLD coverage to help reduce unwanted resonance:










these are the two foundational boards, bolted into the car, that will provide a perfectly level point-of-attachment for all that goes above them:











here is the 1.5 ft^3 sealed enclosure that Julia built:










test fitted in the car with the amp boad in place:



















and then the top of the subbox was secured:










next, the trim layer and the final top panel was fabricated, and test fitted with the equipment to ensure proper fit and finish:



















here is the trim panel and the top floor board before carpeting:



















and here they are after upholstery and combined together:




















one little detail that Julia did was to take the amp apart and reverse the focal logo, so that in the layout int he car, it is still facing the right way, here ist he FPD900.6 normally:










and finally, three wiring pics of the amp rack, note now the focal logo is orienting the other way 






























so thats it, IMO turned out pretty nice. i was quite surprised by the output of the stock amp acting as a signal source. there was no summing needed as front output is a full range (from about 80hz up) and the sub is a 100hz down affair, both are relatively flat, with the exception of a subsonic filter on the subwoofer channel, and more importantly, it didnt seem to have much dynamic eq from the oem volume knob.

overall tonality is very pleasant as we have grown used to with the Flax set, good detail but still very natural and smooth. the midbasses really seem to free up after about an hour or two of pink noise and high level listening, providing solid impact and good extension. center image is decent, not laser pointer focused but in the center of the car, width and height is both very nice and depth is not bad. the sub blends well with the front of the car and provides good bottom end reinforcement. The ipod source will be the better of the two sources in terms of bass response due to its lack of a sonic filter.

Overall, pretty cool, and a good start with our new teammate.  So feel free to give Julia a shout out if you like it. 

cheers,

Bing


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## TheDavel (Sep 8, 2006)

Nice! It's great to have a lady on the boards with fabrication skills, mucho respecto!


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## Kevin K (Feb 11, 2013)

Very nice work. I love the OEM look.


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

JOey wouldn't make the false floors anymore, you needed to bring in the new blood! 

Well done, Julia!


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## mires (Mar 5, 2011)

Welcome Julia! Car looks awesome and it looks like you do awesome work. And for you Bing. Still waiting on that Morel Tempo review and build log. Get on that would ya? :laugh: Oh, and if you have any more openings just let me know. I'm not much of a fabricator but I can push the hell out of a broom! I hear Cali is beautiful this time of year. And every other time


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Once again a finely executed build deserving of the companies' name. It's nice to see that you've added a neither piece to the equation to make SIS the company that it is.


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## GSlider (Jun 11, 2009)

Congrats Julia! It's always nice to see women enjoy our passion and hobby! Love the build on the Benz.


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## Bluenote (Aug 29, 2008)

Welcome Julia! You've joined a great team!


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## damonryoung (Mar 23, 2012)

Great job Julia! Look forward to watching more good things come out of that shop!


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Awesome! hats off to 0.01% in 99.09% male occupied industry. 
I`m sure we all can learn a thing or few from Julia.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

Victor_inox said:


> Awesome! hats off to 0.01% in 99.09% male occupied industry.
> I`m sure we all can learn a thing or few from Julia.


No doubt! Just the other day she was giving Bing some pointers on his mascara!!! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## dobslob (Sep 19, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> No doubt! Just the other day she was giving Bing some pointers on his mascara!!! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:


I don't know if that is funnier knowing Bing or Julia...


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

dobslob said:


> I don't know if that is funnier knowing Bing or Julia...


mascara tips from Julia, hair tips from doug, pretty soon i will look just like a serial killer


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

Very cool. I look forward to seeing more of Julia's work in the future. Another quality member on the team means even more build logs to check out!


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## mrmill (Feb 11, 2013)

Nice clean install....what we've come to expect from SiS. 


Sent from under your mom's bed


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## Big_Valven (Aug 20, 2008)

Congratulations to Bing, Joey and Julia. This sounds like a fantastic opportunity for all three of you!

Nicely built also, Julia. It definitely seems you have the style of the other two


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## Black Rain (Feb 27, 2011)

I likes her work so far. Looks like Julia is going to be a great addition to the SiS Team.


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## [email protected] (Nov 7, 2010)

Big_Valven said:


> Congratulations to Bing, Joey and Julia. This sounds like a fantastic opportunity for all three of you!
> 
> Nicely built also, Julia. It definitely seems you have the style of the other two


We are gently guiding the young padawan in the ways of the SiS...


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> We are gently guiding the young padawan in the ways of the SiS...


Who needs a router when you have lightsabers?


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## quietfly (Mar 23, 2011)

Nice Job!!!


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## captainobvious (Mar 11, 2006)

Well done Julia. A very clean, OEM look typical of what SiS puts out regularly. It looks like you will be a nice fit for that team. Good luck to you all and keep up the stellar work!


-Steve


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## dgr932 (Mar 31, 2011)

Nice work Ms. Julia. I love the install. especially the fabrication of the ipod dock and controls.


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

cool beans! welcome to the foum! the install looks great!


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## sydmonster (Oct 5, 2009)

great install.. then SIS look is definitely there!

Appreciate that Julia had to also work on a Merc,... anyone who has worked on these will understand just how much more time consuming everything is. There's just more of everything in the way to deal with.


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## eddieg (Dec 20, 2009)

I wish to join the welcome. 

It is sure nice to see that SiS are now armed with GIRL POWER - Julia's work seems absolutely OUTSTANDING!


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## colled96 (Feb 2, 2010)

Nice.......


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## [email protected] (May 18, 2012)

Thank you everyone for the kind words and for the welcome! I can't wait to see what else these guys have in store for me


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## Mr. C (Oct 17, 2008)

Beautiful work!! really looking forward to future build logs.


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## plcrides (Mar 21, 2014)

i dig the location of the bass knobs,you don't even see them.better than the way mine is.


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## RocketBoots (Apr 16, 2011)

simplicityinsound said:


> mascara tips from Julia, hair tips from doug, pretty soon i will look just like a serial killer


With all that prep work and plastic, can anyone say Dexter?? I'm betting Bing has a boat somewhere (with a kickass system, of course) ...


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