# 2015 Porsche 911 SQ Build - Musicar Northwest



## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

This client is a home hi-fi guy, who was happy to learn that there were some folks who understood high fidelity and could create it in a car. He had high expectations, but he didn't want the car rebuilt or compromised. That said, his goals were lofty.










*Factory Overview*

The 911 came with the stock Bose system. The amp/processor gets its signal from the PCM via MOST fiber-optic. There were dash tweeters firing upwards, cone midranges and midwoofers in the door, and a sub inside the dash near the "firewall". The sub is a 5.5" cone driver with a 2" voice coil, an Fs of 82, and a Zmax of 45. The highest Q woofer I've ever seen!










The door midwoofers were Bose flat 8", and the mids were a newer 4" cone design that actually looked more expensively made than Bose drivers usually look. 



















The rear of the cabin:










Here's the electrical signals out of the stock amp.

Subwoofer: 










Front mid tweeter pair (in parallel with a series cap on the tweeter):










Front woofer:










It is possible to knit the highpass and door woofer signals back together, counteract all this EQ, and make the car sound good. We didn't do that, though, we used a Mobridge DA1. More on this below. 


*The System*

For a source, we used the Porsche PCM nav receiver, and replaced the Bose amp/processor with the Mobridge DA1. The DA1 takes the SPDIF stream in the MOST, strips off all the MOST wrapper, but applies a recalc to the SPDIF stream so that the volume setting of the stock head unit is applied in the digital domain. There is a slight tradeoff of dynamic range for this, but in a car, dynamic range is the least useful spec there is 

This way, stock steering-wheel controls are retained, and the noise floor is as low as possible. 

The Toslink SPDIF out goes into a Mosconi 6to8V8 DSP/DAC/Preamp. We use all 8 channels - highs, mids, midbass, and sub. 

*Doors*

For mid and midbass, we use the stock locations. The mid location isn't my favorite, but this was the hand we were dealt. 

First Tom treated the door with some CLD tiles and a sheet of Mass-Loaded Vinyl:



















Then he machined mounting adapters out of high-density polyethelene to stiffen to door steel and properly mate to the back of the door panels:





































However, the stock location wasn't good enough for the tweeters. We wanted an on-axis location, farther apart than the dash location.


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

*Subwoofer*

The subwoofer was quite a challenge. The client doesn't run a subwoofer at home - he has full-range towers - so we weren't looking for "subwoofer" bass the way a lot of car guys think of it. 

Tom prepared concept drawings before anything was built. 



















The sub is a Morel Ultimo Ti 8.










We had to make the subwoofer work acoustically, remain below the rear window line, and look stock:


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

*Electronics*

All the amplifiers and the DSP/DAC/preamp went under the bonnet. We took about half the volume - you can still put a suitcase or a couple of duffels in there. 

We used Mosconi - an AS200.2 for the subwoofer, an AS100.4 for the mids and the midbasses, and a Class A on the tweeters. 

We made our own RCA interconnects with star-quad balanced cabling. 












































































































































































*Subwoofer controller*

A standard subwoofer knob just wasn't appropriate for this build. Tom made one:






































*Conclusion*

The results? Car sounds better than he expected a car could. Wide stage, deep and high image, and linear low-end that is exactly what it needs to be. Very happy with how this turned out.


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## knever3 (Mar 9, 2009)

I am in awe!! Beautiful work on those adapters and tweeter pods. I love your picture quality, it mirrors your work.


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## jasonjordan584 (Apr 27, 2009)

Wow amazing Work! what kind of tweeters were used?


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

Holly **** merry Christmas!!! The sub slash amp mount and tweeter pods are beautiful!!!!!! They really and I mean really look oem'!! Wow guys just wow


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## diy.phil (May 23, 2011)

Yeah, that is awesome work there!!


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

curious about the tweeters as well, and the midbass used since if I've read correctly, dept is a problem in those doors.


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## VP Electricity (Apr 11, 2009)

MD102s, nude. 

The midbass are E650s.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

You guys still making the custom iPhone docks


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

Some days Tom's work makes me strive for better, some days it makes me want to go be an accountant. This is one of the latter. lol

I saw pics of this on a FB group and was trying to figure out how the sub had enough air space to work, but one of the pics here answered that question for me. 

Such a beautiful install.

Great job guys.

Jay


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Beautiful work. Very well done.


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## odj23 (Jul 13, 2010)

Jesus christ..... well done guys!


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## Mlarson67 (Jan 9, 2015)

Tweeter pods are AMAZING! All of it is beautiful. Just when u think you've seen it all somebody comes along and does THIS!!!


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## High Resolution Audio (Sep 12, 2014)

Better than Porsche.


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## Kazuhiro (Apr 28, 2015)

That suede Porsche imprint is drop dead gorgeous!


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## WhiteL02 (Jul 25, 2014)

Very beautiful work!


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## danno14 (Sep 1, 2009)

The "Aria" logo is truly indicative of the artistry here..... Well done!


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## robolop (Mar 10, 2008)

Respect


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

Stunning work as always!

As an aside, while on holiday a few months ago, I had the pleasure of visiting this shop, just to say hi.

Everyone was super gracious, and let me tell ya, their install book is simply mind blowing! They don't show off nearly enough.

Thanks for sharing!


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## What? (Jun 5, 2008)

Stunning. The planning and time it takes for each step is huge. Just being able to sell that install is amazing. Doing it and making it awesome is unbelievable.


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## hot9dog (Mar 23, 2013)

several things pop out in your pictures, your lay-out on raw materials and concept sketches are SPOT ON!! Aerospace attention to details.... The tweeter mounts and sub box are forward thinking in execution. You guys are KILLING IT!!!!!! damn, damn, damn


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## Novadad (Dec 26, 2015)

So yeah... imma grab up my little scraps of wood and shuffle on... I'm real new to this stereo building .. I had no idea people were doing this kind of work.... very impressive. ..


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

wow. Love it


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## brother_c (Sep 21, 2015)

Your work blends perfectly with that car. Wonder about using leds inside the lexan/acrylic pods. Nice.


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## mark620 (Dec 8, 2010)

Wow amazing attention to detail . Amazing car and amazing system to go with it .Nice work


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## BP1Fanatic (Jan 10, 2010)

Awesome build!


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## rockinridgeline (Feb 2, 2009)

Beautiful work gentlemen. Mr. Porsche would be proud.


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## JoeHemi57 (Mar 28, 2006)

Incredible work and attention to detail. The tweeter pods and sub enclosure are creative and elegant. I'm planning to get back in to car audio soon and the motivation is builds like this and what comes from Bing and crew. I know mine won't be anywhere near the level you guys are at but it gives everybody something to strive for and we appreciate getting to see the experts at work.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

I just fell out my seat! Factory!!!


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## Black Rain (Feb 27, 2011)

Excellent work. How does the midrange sound being that it is on the door more or less shooting across at chest level?


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

absolutely amazing.

why cant high-end auto manufacturers see stuff like this and make quality OEM locations.

I don't think this could have been done any better, by anyone. its perfect.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

no one is worthy of Miller Designed!


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## u4styx (May 6, 2011)

Damn...this is amazing.


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## asianinvasion21 (Sep 24, 2012)

Wow the tweeter integration is probably the best I have ever seen. Awesome build!


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## DJTrevLuv (Apr 15, 2008)

Awesome work!


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## 1FinalInstall (Oct 13, 2013)

In my 20 years of car audio addiction, these tweeter pods are hands down my favorite! This install made me want to start my build over..... again.

Quick question, do you guys etch these plaques yourself or have someone do them? If outsourced, the name of the company would be greatly appreciated. First I thought it may be vinyl but it looks much nicer than that. 

From conception to sketch and finally execution, stellar job Musicar & Tom, incredible! :biggrinflip:


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## KrautNotRice (Nov 2, 2015)

Most impressive. Thanks for sharing!


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