# 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & SkizeR)



## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & SkizeR)*

I've been mildly into car audio since I was 16 (in 1991), and had a few basic and some not-so-basic systems over the years. When I got a too-good-to-pass-up deal on the Porsche in December, I said "This will be the first vehicle I've ever owned that I won't be modifying." Yeah, that didn't last. At first, it was just "let's add a sub to the Bose system, that'll be acceptable." That quickly grew to "Well, can I just replace the drivers & add a sub?" to what it's morphing into, thanks to my new favorite crack dealer, Nick from Apicella Auto Sound, AKA SkizeR. Nick saw that I was looking for a Mobridge DA3, and offered his assistance. That's where things have gone horribly wrong for my budget (originally $2k), and wonderfully right for everything else.

We have to keep the stock "PCM 3.1" head unit as it provides the display in the gauge cluster, as well as the usual XM, park assist tones and display, Bluetooth streaming, USB in, and has a small-ish 40GB HDD for storing music. With the DA3, we've been told that Bluetooth phone calls will have a terrible echo and be all but unusable, so I bought a Jabra Freeway. I can live with that while getting to keep the steering wheel controls.

Here's the basic rundown:

MObridge DA3 - intercept the MOST signal to the Bose amp, providing DSP, TA, and crossover duties.
Zapco ST-6x SQ - front stage
Zapco ST-500XM II - sub
Amps will be mounted in front of the spare tire area
Stereo Integrity BM mkV sub - initially in a .55 cu.ft prefab box, but will eventually be molded into the driver's rear corner of the cargo area once funds permit.
Audiofrog GB25 and GB10 in sail panel pods by Nick
ScanSpeak 22W/4534G00 Discovery 8" midbass in the factory door locations
Tuning by Nick
Wiring and amp install by me, provided my work isn't deemed unacceptable by Nick. 
Acoustic treatments by Sound Deadener Showdown

The Cayenne is not only the nicest vehicle I've ever owned, but it's also the quietest. However, it can always be better! I'm starting with the front doors.

By the way, the 3.0 diesel / 8-speed is a HELL of a drivetrain, even after the whole dieselgate scandal and the resulting "fix". For a 5,000lb. vehicle that's rated to tow 7,700lbs, gets ~30mpg on the highway, mid-20's in town, and (after a simple & safe ECU tune) belt out 300hp and 500lb-ft, it just defies physics, and is just amazing to me. It's quiet, smooth, and I'd recommend it to anyone. The VW Touareg Tdi shares the same drivetrain (and body shell for that matter), and is an excellent choice as well.


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Doors:

Here's the world's most useless windows, whose space will be occupied by the sail panel pods, once complete:















Moving to the midbass location. The stock Bose midbasss units are a good size (8"), but VERY shallow. 








Behind the driver is this piece, which I was sure will reflect sound back at the driver, but worse, reduces available depth to just over 2", which won't do.








So, Rich thinks he knows more than German engineers and cuts the damn thing out to give us ~3-5/8" of mounting depth to work with. But now, the bottom of the window track is unsupported. It didn't seem to be that big of a deal while putting the window up and down, but it also rattles when you shut the door like an 80's Chrysler. Following the K.I.S.S. principle, I used a few bolts, spacers, and a bit of aluminum strap to make a support for the window track. Alles güt.















I didn't take photos of the CLD tiles going in, but there's a bunch of it on the outer door skin (in addition to the factory stuff), some on the plastic door panel that seals up the door nicely, and more on the back side of the door card, probably 8 per door. 
I'd like to do some MLV between the card and the panel, but the door card is anything but flat, and I don't think I'd be able to get it in there. We shall see if Nick has other ideas come install time.


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

nice midbass choice! no mucking around there..


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



Lycancatt said:


> nice midbass choice! no mucking around there..


Both Nick and I really wanted to do the Audio Development W800neo, but I've blown the budget bad enough as-is. Nick assured me that the Scan's will still kick ass, and save us a bunch of cash.
Worst case, they're probably the easiest thing to upgrade in the future if the bug bites me. Changing the mids and tweets? Not so much, so we figured let's do something top-notch from the get-go. Pay more, cry once...


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



Eskimo said:


> "This will be the first vehicle I've ever owned that I won't be modifying." Yeah, that didn't last.


lol




Eskimo said:


> thanks to my new favorite crack dealer, Nick from Apicella Auto Sound, AKA SkizeR. Nick saw that I was looking for a Mobridge DA3, and offered his assistance. That's where things have gone horribly wrong for my budget (originally $2k), and wonderfully right for everything else.


lol




Eskimo said:


> So, Rich thinks he knows more than German engineers and cuts the damn thing out.


and double lol :laugh::laugh:

glad to see it coming along


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

This will.be awesome to see !


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## JWAT15 (Mar 6, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

damn german cars lol. Those 8" scan discovery mids are excellent in my opinion. especially mating them with the FROGS. i use the discovery 8s at home in a 3 way


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Gutting the hatch - So far so good - I only broke one tab from a panel! Got most of the pieces removed I'll need in order to run wiring, and that was a nerve-racking experience.. Installed some riv-nuts for the power distribution blocks, and will be doing the same for the amps.









Also laid out the amps. My car had a sensor/box mounted RIGHT where one of the amps needed to sit that I hadn't seen in any of the Touareg builds - I'm not sure what it's for, perhaps the auto-leveling headlights? In a stroke of good fortune, there was lots of extra wiring length, so I was able to simply relocate it rearward about 6", and it's now secured beside the metal brace for the cargo floor. Seemed to work just fine on my trip last weekend, and no codes in the computer.

It's tweaking my OCD to have one of the amps flipped around, but the wiring will be much tidier this way... I'll probably end up flipping the ST-500 to match the orientation of the ST-6X and deal with the wiring, but since they're going to be completely hidden anyway, I don't feel the logo on both being "upside down" is a big deal.









Oh, lookie, here's the super-duper Blose sub. There's LOTS of room to work in there. Even though it's a 'phase 2' idea, getting a .55 cu.ft. enclosure in there should be NO problem. I hope we can even get it completely behind the trim panel and just modify the grille opening to be larger.. That should keep it very stock-looking and not affect cargo-carrying at all! (Hell, there's enough room for a more conventional 12" sub in there, but the SI BM mkV will be cake)























Look at all this room! (Added a little piece of CLD I had left over, since I was in there anyway)


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

I've been away from home a lot lately, so I haven't gotten much done, but this past weekend was beautiful outside, so I locked myself in the garage!

First, I tapped into the constant 12v+ and ground leads on the Bose amp to power the DA3 - soldered into the wiring and added the weather-pack connector you see here, wrapped in some Tesa tape to match the OEM wiring. You can see the orange MOST 'wire' above.









Speaking of the DA3, I mounted it in the rear corner on the passenger's side. There's a trap door for access to this area conveniently (the emergency release for the fuel filler is in here), so the USB port and valet switch will be easy to access. It's mounted to a piece of HDPE, and conveniently enough, there were 3 threaded holes already in the car. I wrapped the RCA's with some Tesa tape too just in case one of them wanted to loosen up.









Up front, the battery is under the driver's seat which was a blessing (don't have to go through the firewall) and a curse (royal PITA to get to). You can see the wide wiring channel the factory thoughtfully provided towards the bottom of the picture.. this runs from the firewall, under the front seat, and to the rear seat. I took advantage of this and ran the speaker and power wiring in it.








With everything buttoned back up, the main fuse holder is accessible through this factory opening in the carpet. (The plugs for the driver's seat wiring are right in that area)








With the cargo area floor installed, the whole system will be hidden, but I really wanted to try my best to make this look presentable since it's a <1 minute procedure to expose all of it, and didn't want Nick to shake his head when he sees it in person. My goal was for him NOT to feel the need to point out "Customer did the wiring!" (He probably will anyway)
I don't think the ST-500 amp is crooked - I'm not sure why it looks this way in the photos. 








With the floor in place, all that's really visible is the + distribution block - not that I've ever had to change one of the fuses, but I wanted it accessible.
Nick really could have done some cool stuff under here if that dang DEF tank wasn't in there! (But I won't trade the MPG or torque of the diesel to not have the tank!)








Moment of truth.. Power everything on, no magic smoke released. That's a good start! Connect the laptop to the DA3 and... It's alive, despite Mobridge saying it's not compatible. Pretty cool that the "surround on/off" in the factory head unit (selectable on a per-source basis) toggles between 2 presets on the DA3. That might be useful!








So once I get the SI MKV sub (hopefully in the 2nd week of May...pretty please!), it's basically ready for Nick to work his magic up front and tune it to perfection!


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Dropped off the car with Nick this past weekend (not to mention he REALLY went out of his way to get me out of a jam with the rental car! Thanks again!), now it's time for the magic..


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



Eskimo said:


> Dropped off the car with Nick this past weekend (not to mention he REALLY went out of his way to get me out of a jam with the rental car! Thanks again!), now it's time for the magic..




He's good dude. He answers all dumb questions I text him. 


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

And shes all wrapped up! 

copy and pasted from elsewhere..

Rich recently contacted me about doing some work in his newly acquired Porsche Cayenne. Turns out, Rich used to be an installer back in the day and left all the messy work to us. 

In this car we installed a pair of Audible Physics NZ3AlBe wideband driver in sail panel enclosures, and Scanspeak Discovery 8's in the doors (sorry, no pictures of those). To be honest, ive always been weary of using wideband drivers in customers cars due to the fact that they can be a bit picky, unforgiving, and unpredictable vs a traditional 3 way setup. This is my second wideband setup done here at the shop and my first time ever using the NZ3AlBe and i have to be say, im very happy with how it all turned out and how it sounded. I highly recommend these NZ3AlBe drivers.

Rich installed the Mobrige DA-3 (heads up, you will need an external bluetooth piece to handle calls since this car is not fully supported), Zapco ST-6X SQ, Zapco ST-500xmii, And SI BM MKIV.















This car did not come with any sort of sail panel. These had to be fabricated from scratch. here we are taking a mold of the small triangle window area where it meets the door panel.















Here we have the baffle for the Audible Physics NZ3AlBe
























Molds pulled and trimmed, and baffles aimed and secured















A trim ring to cover the NZ3 mounting flange and hardware















Done and installed. Eventually added some grill cloth to the back of the trim ring to hide the drivers better.




















































A little edit on the first finished photo















And my personal favorite photo.. i think hes a happy camper


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## BlueAc (May 19, 2007)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



SkizeR said:


> And shes all wrapped up!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Top notch as usual... 


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



BlueAc said:


> Top notch as usual...
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks. One of my favorite ones so far

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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Looking REALLY nice.

I can't tell from the pics, did you mount the left and right NZ3 drivers at different angles (axis to the driver)??


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



seafish said:


> Looking REALLY nice.
> 
> I can't tell from the pics, did you mount the left and right NZ3 drivers at different angles (axis to the driver)??


Both aimed at headrest level between the two seats

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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Your sail panels are a work of art...pure and simple. And this one is the best one yet. slow clap!!!


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



miniSQ said:


> Your sail panels are a work of art...pure and simple. And this one is the best one yet. slow clap!!!


thanks!


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## brewmastr (Jul 3, 2015)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

HAWT DAMN! Too bad you are clear across the nation from me.


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## D34dl1fter (Jun 23, 2016)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Nick 
What else can I say that hasn't already been said...looks like they came with the high end car...stellar work...

To the guy that said about him being across the country he has had cars shipped in....costly? Hell yes! The work that's done by nick *PRICELESS*!


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## Bluenote (Aug 29, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Beautiful Work...what was the power distribution with the Zapco6SQ?


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



D34dl1fter said:


> Nick
> What else can I say that hasn't already been said...looks like they came with the high end car...stellar work...
> 
> To the guy that said about him being across the country he has had cars shipped in....costly? Hell yes! The work that's done by nick *PRICELESS*!


I'll remember that last part when I write up your estimate tonight 

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## JamesRC (Sep 18, 2017)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Those look _so_ good!


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## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

That work is impressive Nick!


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

I wish I had you down here to do those widebanders in my sails


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*



Bluenote said:


> Beautiful Work...what was the power distribution with the Zapco6SQ?


He bridged channels 3&4 / 5&6 to give more power to the 8's.


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## Eskimo (Jan 13, 2008)

*Re: 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel build thread (Audiofrog, ScanSpeak, SI, Zapco, & Skiz*

Nick knocked it out of the park, kept me in the loop the whole time, and delivered on schedule (which was important, because I put a LOT of miles on this car). It's my first 'modern' system with a DSP and just..wow. As someone who's had Klipsch speakers at home with plenty of amp behind them for 20 years, I'm used to loud. This system gets loud but stays SO clean and clear while doing so! It feels like it never runs out of capability. 
More than being dynamic, I'm also really enjoying finding things in the music I hadn't heard so clearly before, and even listening to a few tracks I wouldn't have previously, just because it sounds so damn good to my ears.

It was important for the the sail panels to look damn good because that's what I see every time I get in the car, and they truly do. They're as appealing to the eye as they are to the ear.

Thanks again Nick!


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