# The Stereo Integrity 2006 Audi A4 Avant IB-24 Stealth Install



## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

I'm going to preface this thread with the fact that I'm NOT a shop.

I don't run a business, I'm just lucky enough to have enough garage/shop space at my house that will allow me to build/house my own cars and work on cars for friends.

The cars I get are typically cars that are the big projects that sit in the back of a regular car audio shop and collect dust. I have one that was shipped down from PA because the owner had spent so much time and money on the vehicle only to be disappointed in both the sound and quality of work. He knows I have a high level of attention to detail and won't let anything leave that I'm not happy with.

Other times I'll have people contact me to do things that they've been told can't be done.

When we first moved to the place (a couple of years ago this past March) I had a guy that wanted to have a vehicle delivered here. Told him to wait because I needed to get the wood shop built.

He didn't wait. lol I ended up going through his build while trying to make progress on the wood shop. Then the Audi showed up.

So before I go too far...

First few pics are of "the shop". This is the first floor of the house.

That's the front door on the right. The glass door goes upstairs to the living area.










From the front door you see the 3-car bay.









From the back corner of the 3-car bay looking toward the front door. you can also see the 2-car bay with the yellow-ish lighting in the distance. The area on the left of the image is where I planned to put the wood shop. In this state the place was a 7-car garage.










The garage sink, some cabinets, and a 1/2 bath is down here. The walkway to the left of the sink/cabinet area was originally a doorway. The current 2-car bay was a carport when the house was built. The open wall on the left was an exterior wall when the carport was open.









This is a shot standing inside what I planned to be the wood shop and looking out into the rest of the garage.









Looking from the front of the 2-car bay towards the long, open wall and the space behind it where the wood shop would go.









Getting tools situated and started work framing the new walls.


















I decided to go larger than my original plan and 45 one corner of the shop. That gave me the ability to put a large double door opening in. Thanks to COVID the doors and windows I want are out of stock.









So I'm re-uploading images that disappeared and now it'll only allow 10 images.

There's a full shop build album here. It's still a work in progress.

So anyway, that's a quick rundown of "the shop". I had two cars brought here before I could get fully set up. The Audi is the first "big" project. That's the focus of this thread.

I call it Batdog Garage because my service dog is a German Shepherd the Batdog nickname stuck.

Audi info incoming...


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Now...the Audi.

I first met Nick at the Sundown show in North Carolina. I had to drive down from Northern VA to compete at the Sundown show for the VA State Finals. I was competing with my '66 Chevelle that ran Stevens CompNeo mini horns, Stevens MB8-2s, and a pair of DD Audio 3015 ESPs in a 4th order blow-through in the rear deck.

Nick saw the car and introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Nick. From Stereo Integrity"

I was like "Cool" and kind of left it at that. I really didn't know anything about SI other than what I'd read here on DIYMA.

So that was pretty much our interaction. Just a "Hey" at the show and we moved on.

Fast forward to my wife and I moving to GA and getting the new place. Since we had the space to have a good-sized get-together I invited everyone here for BBQ and a meet. Also got a MECA judge to attend so guys could get points.

Nick asked if he could bring some stuff to display and I was like "sure".

So Nick is here, sees the big van project I have here, and we went over the equipment list that was in the monstrosity. He told me he has subs (HST-15s) that would walk all over the 13W7s that were in the build. I looked at them online, told him I didn't believe they're SQ subs, and would have to get hands-on before I could recommend/suggest new subs to the van owner.

A short time later I had my laptop and my SysTune rack loaded up and went to Nick's place to tune his Passat. Had issues with his Zapco processor and didn't get to do the full tune but he loved it.

I came back with a HST-15 to mess with.

Everything he told me about the HST-15 was true. Holy crap, what a sub.

A short time later he asked if I'd be interested in building his Audi.

Nick's plan was to run the SQL-15 in a 2ft^3 sealed enclosure in the spare tire well. Hidden, under the floor. Since the previous owner had cut openings for some 3-inchers in the kicks we discussed running a full 3-way setup in the front.

At the time Sundown's SALT monoblock amps were hitting the market but what people didn't know is that they were also working on multichannel amplifiers. I was given three Sundown SALT multichannels to power the car.

So...here's the guinea pig.

2006 Audi A4 Avant. Getting a full stealth build.










The first step of the build was to drill out all of the spot welds that held the hump in the spare tire well in place. On the underside of that hump was the EVAP canister for the fuel system. Had to remove that as well and think about a future home for it.

It was at this point that I knew I couldn't just put a SQL-15 sealed in the car. It HAD to get an IB-24.










And the IB-24 that's going in. You can also see in this image how the floor looked from the previous install. Ian had a suitcase sub in the car.









Making a template for the subwoofer baffle.









This template provided me with the OD and ID of the 24" basket. Put that in place to better lay out exact sub location. Flush trim bit and I have a better idea of how things are looking.









Went to a local metal shop to get stuff cut on the CNC plasma from 3/16" steel plate. They made the sub cutout on the CNC plasma and the rest was cut on the shear so I could get exact fit at the house with my plasma cutter.









Hand cutting the final perimeter shape of the baffle with the plasma. Mandatory safety sandals on.









Upper baffle and lower ring dry-fit in place.










A lot of you have seen this image. Insanity.


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## OCD66 (Apr 2, 2017)

Awesome shop. I think I've seen your stuff on Pirate.


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## MythosDreamLab (Nov 28, 2020)

Thanks for the awesome post, it was very cool the way you stepped thru everything!

Keep it coming...


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

As much as Nick was hesitant to use a Helix, I convinced him it was the way to go.

One of the things I wanted to do to keep the stealth install was to hide the Director. I decided to put it in the factory ash tray/coin holder/whatever that sits under the HVAC controls.

I sent the Director housing through the table saw and cut it down to the point that there was just the face of it left with the chamfers at the top and bottom. Then the circuit board was reattached and I started the modification process of the Audi's ashtray/coin holder/lighter socket/whatever. The recesses on either side of the unit were filled in and I created an angled pocket for the Director to sit that would allow it to be seen from the driver's seat and allow the lid to open/close without issue. This is a LARGE controller to fit in here. Took quite a bit of work to make happen.


















To make tuning easy I installed a mini-USB plug on the right side of the Director. Here's an initial shot with the dry-fit plastic filler panel with the plug dry fit.









Progress.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

A shot I took for those that were worried about how much the IB-24 would hang down under the car. The mufflers are lower than the motor. I will be adding some layers of protection for the sub, but no big deal as far as clearance is concerned.




























The two main goals with this install was to keep everything stealth and keep it all serviceable. I welded nuts to the bottom of the baffle with the sub bolted in place to ensure that all of the nuts were located exactly where they needed to be and there was no chance of one being ever so slightly off if I had tried placing them without the sub bolted in place.









The baffle was then welded to the car. I can't remember, but I believe this was after the first pass. Took forever to get this welded in. We made three passes on the top side and three on the bottom side. It was imperative to me that we had continuous metal and didn't have to go back with body filler to smooth things. This led to social media welding inspectors bitching about the welds being "bird **** welds with no penetration" without understanding that we were intentionally welding some passes with intent to knock it back down to have a smooth, continuous metal surface.









I got curious and bolted the sub to the baffle and powered it up. The sub was getting between 60 and 72 Watts (measured in real-time using the AMM-1's live power feature) and was shaking the house.

The cabin vents in the back corners of the car posed a problem. When playing infrasonic frequencies they'd flap like mad.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

MythosDreamLab said:


> Thanks for the awesome post, it was very cool the way you stepped thru everything!
> 
> Keep it coming...


I realized I never posted a thread here.

As silly as it is, I figured it was worth the post.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

A buddy of mine, Sumo, is a boilermaker. Spends his days welding heavy wall pipe. He came to do welding in the back of the car.

It took a minute or ten for him to get over the silliness of what we were going to be doing.

This is his "Ooh, this is going to be fun" face. 😂

This image also shows the metal ring/flange for the bottom compared to the size of the opening from removing the hump in the spare tire well.










When your subwoofer cutout houses a large Samoan...









Had to remove a couple of odd bits from the bottom of the spare tire tub. The recovery point (long area removed on the right) was also removed to allow me to build things the way I wanted.









Getting the flange welded in. Tacked it in a few places then re-worked the bottom of the spare tire well to re-shape it to blend into that lower 3/16 flange the way I wanted. Lots of work with an air saw and hammer/dolly to get it perfect.









Bottom view with it tacked in. You can also see filler panels in place where we cut out the factory recovery point and another piece that had to go.









Remember those cabin vents that made noise? We cut some filler pieces on the plasma. This piece of scrap was tacked to the filler panel to serve as a handle while we tacked the filler panel in place.










With this handle I could hold the piece in place while Sumo tacked a few spots around the perimeter to lock it in place.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Here you can see the filler panel for the passenger rear welded in place. The copper color is SEM's Copperweld - a weld-through primer. I wanted to prime all of the parts that I was installing to keep any possibility of rust at bay.









Driver's side cabin vent block-off plate installed.









Between my inability to focus and my OCD, I decided that something had to be done with the exhaust tips on this thing.


















The new Director housing was prepped for flocking then flocked.
End result. The top was treated with SEM's texture coat then SEM satin black prior to applying the flocking.










Got to this point and decided that it needed to be redone. Didn't like the finish at the transition between the flock and the rest of the surface. Little things that bug me. Can also see the USB connection for the Director here.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Stupid Sonic Barrier. Never, ever use this stuff. It melts. It stuck to my jeans when I sat in the cargo area of the car.

WD-40, a putty knife, and a nylon mesh pad removed it.









Start of internal construction of the spare tire well. There's 3/4" square tube around the spare tire well at eight locations that span the distance between the upper 3/16" baffle and lower 3/16" ring/flange where the protective material for the sub will be installed. These 3/4" square tubes create an I or H beam structure that reinforces everything and will eliminate flex in the baffle.

Ram board was used to make templates between each of the square tube supports then transferred to steel. Had the metal shop roll the steel for us. I gave them a diameter for the top, a diameter for the bottom, and a height and they rolled a tapered cylinder to fit the car. As a whole unit the cylinder didn't fit, but once we cut pieces from it that were sized to our templates, they all fit perfect.

Notice the nuts on the bottom were welded to that 3/16" steel ring. Again if, by any chance, an issue comes up where a nut has to be replaced, the nuts are on the inside of the wall we're building and easily accessible. Can be cut out and new ones welded in.





















This shot shows where we blocked off an area to install a SMD terminal cup. This was blocked off to keep foam out and give us an area to run cable from the cabin area to the back of the terminal cup.










At this point we could do the big foam pour.

We filled the void between the wall we created and the walls of the factory spare tire well with a 2-part urethane expanding foam from US Composites with a density of 16lbs per cubic foot.

Since we were working blind during the foam pour and couldn't see exactly where the foam was traveling, I broke out the thermal imager so I could see progress as the foam expanded in the void.









The holes that were drilled in the baffle for the foam pour were then plug welded shut. Also notice the 3/16" plate welded in for the SMD terminal cup. Still have some final touch-up welding and smoothing to do in that spare tire well in this image. You can also see heat-affected areas (discoloration in the Copperweld) where the inner wall was welded to the baffle. Good penetration, good, solid welds.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

My gosh who would ever have thought Ian’s old car would be at this level audio wise. I love the fact that it’s been allowed to keep going on, as opposed to just sitting in a corner of a shop somewhere. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## RedSwede (Aug 11, 2017)

Obviously very impressive - the workshop space as well!

I'd be concerned about sealing those vents though. You will end up with very little, to no, airflow through the cabin. I guess you will have to crack open a window to have any AC/heat through the vents.


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## LBaudio (Jan 9, 2009)

Nice "shop" and nice work on that IB sub


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## Kpierce1986 (Jan 17, 2021)

I've been wanting an S4 Avant for a while. Love the sleeper look of a wagon with a big ol V8 under the hood. I'll be adding this thread to my notifications. Very impressive install!!!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

RedSwede said:


> Obviously very impressive - the workshop space as well!
> 
> I'd be concerned about sealing those vents though. You will end up with very little, to no, airflow through the cabin. I guess you will have to crack open a window to have any AC/heat through the vents.


That's one of those things that I've heard reactions go both ways. Some say "It's going to be an issue when you close the doors. They're going to be harder to close."

Saw another person say that they knew someone that blocked the vents and the pressure busted a window when they closed the door. Probably knew someone that blew out their windshield with Kicker 10s, too. 😂

Have had people say the same as you - that it's detrimental to the HVAC system due to not having an exit.

Have had others say that they blocked their vents and the HVAC system functions just fine.

Before we welded these shut I asked Nick if he wanted to remove the flaps or block them off and we discussed all of the things that could happen. 

We decided to block them off because of front wave/back wave isolation.


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## BigAl205 (May 20, 2009)

As big as the Audi cabin is, I doubt there would be much of an issue closing the door. I had a Nissan Hardbody standard cab that I fiberglassed over the vent holes...one summer, I slammed the door and it shattered the back glass.


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## RedSwede (Aug 11, 2017)

I think shutting the doors will be fine. That enormous sub cone will move enough anyway to accommodate the pressure hit on closing the door!

The airflow issue will be very much dependant on how well the car is sealed - and worst case, you will have to crack the windows to get good airflow. The other thing that could be an issue is differential pressure across the sub. Under the floor at the rear will be a relatively low pressure area, in fast moving air and near the back. Without the vents, the cabin will be pressurised from the high pressure air coming in at the front. This will push the sub down, and the force may be quite significant given the vast surface area.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Coppertone said:


> My gosh who would ever have thought Ian’s old car would be at this level audio wise. I love the fact that it’s been allowed to keep going on, as opposed to just sitting in a corner of a shop somewhere.


Yup, one of the reasons I was so happy Nick bought it. From talking to him many times I knew he'd take care of it, the install it's getting is icing on the cake.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Coppertone said:


> My gosh who would ever have thought Ian’s old car would be at this level audio wise. I love the fact that it’s been allowed to keep going on, as opposed to just sitting in a corner of a shop somewhere.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Have a link for Ian's old build thread here? Would be interesting to look at.


So in the time the car has been here there's be a lot of "When's it going to be ready?" discussion.

That has come from both Nick as well as those that know the car is here and are excited to see it completed. Heck I'm anxious/excited to see it completed.

The trick is that the build of this car has led to development of some new items in the Stereo Integrity lineup and the plan for the car has changed several times along the way. First it was a full stealth build. We were going to do the SQL-15 sealed in the spare tire well with his tweets in the factory door location and the M3s in the kicks. Then Nick was like "Let's put the tweets and mids in the A-pillars". I despise the current A-pillar monstrosity trend. I absolutely did not want to go that route so I stayed away from working on the front of the car and focused my attention on the major fab work in the rear.

When we first started the build with the full intent of a stealth install, one of the first issues I found when planning/designing the build was the fact that Nick's original tweeters were too deep to be mounted behind the factory tweeter grilles. They simply wouldn't fit.

I gave Nick my honest opinion of his tweets. They sound great, but the pyramid/cone shaped surround with three recessed screws wasn't really a good looking design. (Hybrid is guilty of the same thing with their Unity U1SE and Legatia L1V2s) They were also too deep. Unnecessarily so. I disassembled one of the old tweets and found there's an air gap in the old tweets that doesn't serve a purpose. Just makes the tweeter deeper.

I told him that if I'm having an issue putting *his tweets* in *his car* there are plenty of other folks that are having/will have the same issue. And for every person that looks at the depth of the tweet and realizes they won't fit in their car - that's a lost sale. Doesn't matter how good they look or sound if they won't physically fit the location.

So I told him to make new tweeters. Make them sound as good or better than the old ones, make them shallower than the old ones, and make them look good visually.

This is the result. The new M25 Tweeter. Nick knocked it out of the park. Love these things. The ones in the image are prototypes that have Stereo Integrity laser engraved where my thumb is, but the production units won't have that. They'll just have the Stereo Integrity S logo in the center as pictured here.










Back side of the tweeter with push terminals.









And I know you guys have seen these. If not, these are Class AB amplifiers from Stereo Integrity.









For some-odd reason when I posted images of the prototype units there was a group that wanted to find out who was building them, thought they could get them cheaper, and so on. Derek (Big D Wiz) tested both the inferior product as well as the Stereo Integrity 200.4 on the amp dyno. As Big D's video shows, the SIQ amps are overachievers as far as output. When it comes to more technical specs, there's some info from Audio Precision tests on the amplifier page on Stereo Integrity website. I've been bugging Nick to get more info up on the website, but he's a small operation and spends a large part of the day jockeying between building subs and handling phone calls/email. BUT I do believe more info for the amps will be coming to the website when he has time.

You can get'm in 75Wx4, 125Wx4, 200Wx2, and 200Wx4 models. The three I was initially sent were the 75.4 to power mids and tweets, a 125.4 that I was going to bridge to two channels to power the midbasses (that has since changed and we're just going to run the 200.2), and the 200.4 that will get bridged down to two and send 845 Watts to each coil of the IB-24.



So the smaller, more compact Class D Sundown SALT multichannel amp idea was nixed and the larger, sexier Stereo Integrity Class AB amps are going in.

This amp change presented two new issues:

1. *Packaging*. The SIQs have a much larger footprint than the Sundown SALT multi-channel amps. I was going to have to figure out where I could physically place these amps, have them easily accessible, and still keep with the whole idea of a stealth install.

2. *Subwoofer Connection. *With the SALT multi-channel amps we were initially going to use I only needed a single wire pair for subwoofer connection. At the point that the SIQ amps came about and it was decided we were going to run the SIQ 200.4 bridged to two channels for the sub, I now needed connections for two wire pair...


But the Audi had already been built to house the round SMD terminal cup that has a single wire pair.








😂

Initially I contacted (more accurately _tried_ to contact) Steve Meade and explain what I needed. When I didn't get a response I got on the computer and designed a terminal cup for a DVC setup.

This image is from when I was laying it out and looking at tool paths for the whole thing. I labeled coil 1, coil 2, and tossed in the Batdog Garage logo.










Then I got my first experience with 2-sided CNC machining. Decided to start with some scrap MDF and go through the learning process with it instead of plastic that I'll use on the final unit.

Back side machined. This is just rough machining without a chamfer. No need for it here. My main goal was to get things sorted out so I could quickly and accurately perform 2-sided machining without issue.










The front side machined.










The test run of the DVC terminal cup next to the SMD cup without chamfers cut.









Since I didn't have my laser yet a buddy of mine cut the label insert for me.










Now with hardware installed.









So that's the rough build-up of the new terminal cup.

I have much more to add, but I have to work on the car as well.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

BigAl205 said:


> As big as the Audi cabin is, I doubt there would be much of an issue closing the door. I had a Nissan Hardbody standard cab that I fiberglassed over the vent holes...one summer, I slammed the door and it shattered the back glass.



So the busted glass thing *CAN* happen. Interesting. I seriously equated it to the old "Yeah man, blew my windshield out with them there Kickers." 😂



RedSwede said:


> I think shutting the doors will be fine. That enormous sub cone will move enough anyway to accommodate the pressure hit on closing the door!
> 
> The airflow issue will be very much dependant on how well the car is sealed - and worst case, you will have to crack the windows to get good airflow. The other thing that could be an issue is differential pressure across the sub. Under the floor at the rear will be a relatively low pressure area, in fast moving air and near the back. Without the vents, the cabin will be pressurised from the high pressure air coming in at the front. This will push the sub down, and the force may be quite significant given the vast surface area.


The Audi will slightly lower the window glass when opening/closing the doors. Once the door is closed the window slides back up and seals.

Ultimately the decision came down to speaker performance and getting front wave/back wave isolation by sealing off those vent locations made the decision for us.



naiku said:


> Yup, one of the reasons I was so happy Nick bought it. From talking to him many times I knew he'd take care of it, the install it's getting is icing on the cake.


Ian, I'm sure you've seen the videos on YouTube. I'm pointing out some things that I've found (wiring, use of Sonic Barrier that melts) during my time with the car. Please don't take any of the things I point out personally.

Running cable between the factory connector and sheet metal happens a lot. I pointed out that it was done in this car, problems that it can cause, and how the average guy at home can run extra wire pairs through the connector in a factory manner.

Nick DID say you warned about him about the door wiring. 😂 I didn't get that warning, but more of a choose-your-own-adventure storyline as I went through them. 😂

So I'm not trying to talk down on the previous work at all, just using it as an educational moment to show people that there's a better way. Kind of like the responses that I've been getting on the sound treatment videos where everyone wishes they had seen my videos before they treated their doors.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

No worries, I've enjoyed the videos. It's neat seeing the DIY vs Pro type of things as well, the door treatment was especially interesting to watch.

I felt bad for you with the Sonic Barrier! It was recommended to me and I couldn't believe it when I noticed some melting. Thankfully, Parts Express refunded me fully (I think I'm still the only negative review on the site)



JI808 said:


> Have a link for Ian's old build thread here? Would be interesting to look at.


I'm try to find it, I half heartedly kept one running!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> No worries, I've enjoyed the videos. It's neat seeing the DIY vs Pro type of things as well, the door treatment was especially interesting to watch.
> 
> I felt bad for you with the Sonic Barrier! It was recommended to me and I couldn't believe it when I noticed some melting. Thankfully, Parts Express refunded me fully (I think I'm still the only negative review on the site)


Dude...the reviews of Sonic Barrier on the PE website were overwhelmingly negative months back when I encountered that mess. Last time I looked they had purged some of the negative reviews.

Nick didn't want me to mess with the Sonic Barrier. "Just leave it" 😂

As much as I didn't want to mess with it, removing it was the right thing to do because better door treatment will make the car sound better.

My goal is to show the "DIY guys" how to get Pro level results for things that they may think are complicated - like re-pinning door connectors.


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## BigAl205 (May 20, 2009)

How NOT to build your 2006 A4 Avant system


I didn't even know you had a build thread. We need more snow days so I can keep up. :cool: No, no more snow days. Not after having several warm days!!




www.diymobileaudio.com


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Not great that they purge reviews, mines still there under the Sonic Barrier MX4.

Al... you beat me to it, was about to post that thread of shame!! Learned a lot though 🙂


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

BigAl205 said:


> How NOT to build your 2006 A4 Avant system
> 
> 
> I didn't even know you had a build thread. We need more snow days so I can keep up. :cool: No, no more snow days. Not after having several warm days!!
> ...


I hadn't seen that thread. Definitely a funny read that I think we can all relate to. We've all been there at some point.

It also explains some of the things I've found while gutting and reworking the car. I'm sure Ian's skillset has improved since he started that adventure.

Ian, here's how the kicks look now. In my rebuild of the car every interior piece is getting cleaned or re-upholstered as it goes back into the car. I deep cleaned the carpet twice before putting it back in the car. It will get a 3rd cleaning before delivery.

Quick discussion on the kick panels...

The uncleaned driver side kick vs the clean passenger side kick. It's crazy to see how much dirt accumulates on surfaces over the years. This is, after all, a 2006 model.









I spent time re-working the grilles for the kicks. Minor things to make them fit nicer and look better. The images here and the work I did will be in an upcoming video.

The "stock" kick panel with the grilles Ian had.









The cleaned kick and re-worked grille. The grille is a tighter fit to the kick panel and a little grille cloth makes it blend in so much nicer with the rest of the interior than the grille mesh.


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

I like using speaker grille cloth for these applications as well. It helps fill any gaps in the opening too.


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## 95 993 (Jun 20, 2021)

this thread is amazing... and a nice compliment to the videos. thank you!


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> It also explains some of the things I've found while gutting and reworking the car. I'm sure Ian's skillset has improved since he started that adventure.


I'd hope so!! Learned to not rush things quite so much, that's for sure. 



JI808 said:


> Ian, here's how the kicks look now. In my rebuild of the car every interior piece is getting cleaned or re-upholstered as it goes back into the car. I deep cleaned the carpet twice before putting it back in the car. It will get a 3rd cleaning before delivery.
> 
> Quick discussion on the kick panels...
> 
> The uncleaned driver side kick vs the clean passenger side kick. It's crazy to see how much dirt accumulates on surfaces over the years. This is, after all, a 2006 model.


The video of when you cleaned under the rear seats gave me a laugh, I remember about a week after buying the car one of my kids spilled something back there. Glad it's not too filthy, but it's also really cool seeing how clean you're getting everything. 

The kick panel updates are looking excellent, I can't wait to see and hear it finished. 

I think I asked Nick this, but are you replacing the headliner or having a shop do it?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> I think I asked Nick this, but are you replacing the headliner or having a shop do it?



I'll be reupholstering everything from the window line up. A, B, C, D pillars, headliner, and sunroof. 

Have a little metal fab work to do in the back and then those interior parts can get reupholstered and go back in. Don't want to do them beforehand and accidentally dirty them up.


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## Old'sCool (May 16, 2021)

Dude. I'd kill for a shop that nice! 

Sweet install so far. If it was a Bimmer, I'd shame you for cutting holes, though. 🤣


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## Kpierce1986 (Jan 17, 2021)

Did I miss the YouTube link? Would love to watch videos of this install.


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## clange2485 (Dec 10, 2020)




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## Kpierce1986 (Jan 17, 2021)

clange2485 said:


>


Thank you!!!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Kpierce1986 said:


> Did I miss the YouTube link? Would love to watch videos of this install.


Here's the channel.



https://www.youtube.com/c/batdoggarage


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## solo8788 (Feb 12, 2021)

Nice work, can't wait to see the rest. What is the plan for power supply side? H.O. Alternator, batteries, caps?


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## Kpierce1986 (Jan 17, 2021)

solo8788 said:


> Nice work, can't wait to see the rest. What is the plan for power supply side? H.O. Alternator, batteries, caps?


I'd you find an HO alternator for the Audi/VW 2.0t let me know, I've looked and couldn't find one. Think they're 140amp alternators to begin with.


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## mfenske (Feb 7, 2006)

This is SO COOL!!!


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

The new tweeters do look better. Is the grill easily removable?

One thing I don't see the logic of using on any tweeter are push spring terminals?

Especially if the goal was to significantly decrease the overall size & depth to allow them to fit in more space-constrained locations?

It seems like the overall depth & diameter of the rear chamber could have been reduced even further while maintaining the same chamber volume if the push-spring terminals were deleted.

And IMO, push-spring terminals are a waste on any driver. The only thing they really offer is a convenience factor, along with a higher price tag.

I don't know about others, but I don't think most of us plan to swap our drivers in & out very often. So the convenience factor of push-spring terminals becomes somewhat of a moot point.

And you don't see push-spring terminals being used even on the best and most expensive large format high-end tweeters, such as Dynaudio's Esotar2 110, Scanspeak Illuminators, Morel Supremo Piccolo v2 or Elate Atlas, or Focal Utopia TBM, etc.

I'm really glad that Nick decided not to use them on the small M3 Carbon mids. So I was a bit surprised to see them on the new tweeter, especially since you've indicated that the primary goal was a compact form factor.

Anyhow...

Fantastic work!

It looks like both a fun and frustrating install, haha. It's tough when the equipment keeps changing mid-install which forces you to chase a constantly moving target.

Hopefully it looks as if that part of it is finally settled and you can get to the meat & potatoes of the install. Otherwise Nick may never get his car back. 

And I somewhat agree on your disdain for A-pillar mids & tweeters. Tumor-like A-pillar pods really distract me both while listening and while driving. It really depends on the specific vehicle, the installer's design, and the form factor of the drivers on whether or not the mids & tweeters can be implemented with a low-profile, non-obstructive stealth look in A-pillars. I've seen some that were very thoughtfully designed and that really blend in nicley with an OEM look. But again, your at the mercy of what the vehicle allows.

One thing that A-pillars and sometimes Sail Panels can offer (if designed properly) is getting the midrange and tweeter's center-to-center spacing as close as possible and also in a vertical orientation, and preferably on the same baffle or mounting plane.

Whether in home or car systems, having the midrange and tweeter vertically oriented and with the proper center-to-center spacing (usually quite close) in relation to the intended crossover frequency ALWAYS results in sharper focus and better imaging & soundstage, especially in terms of Depth & Layering.

This has also been my and others experience in regards to using concentric midrange & tweeter drivers such as the KEF UniQ and BMS 5CN162HE. They always seem to bring the special sauce when it comes to soundstage image depth & layering. IME, it's nearly impossible to achieve this same level of 3D soundstaging when the mids & tweeters are separated by any significant distance, and/or are not oriented on a vertical axis to minimize lobing.

Just my .02 as I see the kickpanels are currently designed just to house the lonely midrange drivers and am assuming the tweeters will go in the OEM upper door locations some distance away.

Thanks for sharing your progress and fabrication/installation techniques!


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## dumdum (Feb 27, 2007)

Kpierce1986 said:


> I'd you find an HO alternator for the Audi/VW 2.0t let me know, I've looked and couldn't find one. Think they're 140amp alternators to begin with.


If it’s a typical vw/audi/skoda alt like in the pics below with four lugs there is a Renault fitment 210a alt that will do 250-275amps with a transpo 911r Reg fitted and charge upto 21v if ran into a 16v bank, we do loads of these in the U.K. since I started modding them years ago! It’s quite a common fitment in europe, drop me a pm if interested and I’ll dig you some numbers out 😎 if not I can put you in touch with a guy who can sort it whatever 👍🏼


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## solo8788 (Feb 12, 2021)

dumdum said:


> If it’s a typical vw/audi/skoda alt like in the pics below with four lugs there is a Renault fitment 210a alt that will do 250-275amps with a transpo 911r Reg fitted and charge upto 21v if ran into a 16v bank, we do loads of these in the U.K. since I started modding them years ago! It’s quite a common fitment in europe, drop me a pm if interested and I’ll dig you some numbers out 😎 if not I can put you in touch with a guy who can sort it whatever 👍🏼
> 
> View attachment 304151
> 
> ...


Wow, thanks this is awesome. I will start another thread on HO alternator options for VW/Audi.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Old'sCool said:


> Dude. I'd kill for a shop that nice!
> 
> Sweet install so far. If it was a Bimmer, I'd shame you for cutting holes, though. 🤣


I'm ex-military. Wife is still in. So I guess _technically_...



solo8788 said:


> Nice work, can't wait to see the rest. What is the plan for power supply side? H.O. Alternator, batteries, caps?





Kpierce1986 said:


> I'd you find an HO alternator for the Audi/VW 2.0t let me know, I've looked and couldn't find one. Think they're 140amp alternators to begin with.


Have an XS Power battery for it and a 390A alternator from JS Alternators.

Should be plenty of supply side power for the car.



bbfoto said:


> The new tweeters do look better. Is the grill easily removable?
> 
> One thing I don't see the logic of using on any tweeter are push spring terminals?
> 
> ...


Tweeter grilles. I haven't tried to remove them and have no need to do so. They're literally the only two in the country.

The push terminals. They don't bother me. They're far more robust than spade terminals and there would have been zero difference in mounting depth between push terminals and spades.

I saw development images/CAD drawings of these before these test units I have in hand were made. I asked Nick to make a run of raw drivers (without the the aluminum housings, mounting ring, grille) so I could have just the raw driver for the install and he said that they would have a different frequency response than built units. The reason is that the rear chamber you're talking about is actually a tuned chamber.

I'm not going to pretend to be a speaker engineer/manufacturer so I can't say this way is better than that, but fact is that Nick's measurements come from Klippel testing.

So if he says there's a reason for that chamber being there, I'm not going to argue with him. 😂

Here's an image of a production run of housings with that chamber visible. Maybe Nick will come in with a better/more in-depth explanation.










Now...back to install discussion and stealth installs.

I've had people tell me (adamantly, I might add) that *THE KICK IS A* *HORRIBLE PLACE FOR A MID. IT'S NEVER GOING TO SOUND GOOD. IT WON'T SOUND NATURAL. YOU'LL NEVER MAKE IT SOUND RIGHT. FEMALE VOCALS WILL SUFFER*

I'm over here like "Challenge accepted. I guess we'll just be stuck listening to male vocals." 😂

Here's what people are overlooking with this car - and one of the main reasons I wanted to do (was adamant about doing) a complete stealth install. It really comes down to something I call visual listening. People that let their eyes influence what they're hearing.

Too often people get into a car and make assumptions about how the car is going to sound before the first bit of information is played.

I've heard:

"Oh, it's an Audiofrog car."

"It's in your face." That person blamed the "in your face" thing on the tweets being in the sails. It was a 2015 Camaro the tweets were in the factory location. Often times people see speaker placement and let that influence their sense of depth a car has.

I had a judge get out of my Chevelle and I asked him how he liked it. "Not as bad as I expected" He said he typically doesn't like horn cars (I'm running Stevens CompNeo minis and Stevens MB8-2s) but mine was better than he expected. So it was good to hear that it was better than he expected, but a bit frustrating that he'd made an assumption before ever listing to the first track. I get it, though. There have been a lot of bad horn cars over the years.

Here's a good visual listening story: Had a guy tell me that he was running his mid/tweet in the kicks. Judge told him that the car sounded good, but the stage was low. If he'd put his tweets in the sails or A-pillars the stage would be higher. So he went to the junkyard, got some A-pillars, put tweets in them, and never hooked them up. That same judge got in the car after the pillar swap and said that the stage was nice and high now - the way it should be...even though they were still listening to the same tune being played by the same drivers mounted in the same kicks. Of course he never told the judge what he had done. 😂

Gerald Costa's bread truck is another great example. The first time I saw it I didn't know what to think. Speakers all over. 10" (or were they 12"?) midbasses on the ceiling, even. Looking at it I was torn between thinking it was built by someone that knew a little about audio but didn't really know how to install, or "this guys knows something I f'n don't and I'm about to to get schooled in this thing." I saw speakers, but couldn't ID the drivers. In my head I was thinking "this is going to go one of two ways; It's going to sound bad/weird as it looks or it's going to blow me away"

So you know what I did? I closed my eyes and listened. I LOVE that bread truck. One of my favorites. It's an unconventional install, but it's a great vehicle to listen to. Gerald, if you're seeing this, _high five_

I've had installers, shop owners, and other guys online comment about specific brands. I built a Toyota in Hawaii that was running all Focal components, a JL 13TW5, and he used a Rockford 3Sixty.3 for a processor. I got a comment about "Why ruin all of that nice gear by using a 3Sixty.3?" Told the guy to send the processor he felt the owner should be using and I'd install it. Fact is not a single person reading this is going to be able to get in that vehicle and ID what processor is in it by listening.

And that's a challenge I've thrown out several times. "This is the best sounding amp I've ever heard. It's so much better than X."

Told the guy I'd build a complete system in a car and if he could get in, do blind listening, and correctly identify a single component by brand/model he could have the entire system. He didn't take me up on the offer.

I've been offering that challenge for years. Have yet to have someone take me up on it.

There are many more examples, and we've all seen this happen. People make assumptions about a vehicle based on what they see in the car. Not a fan of a specific brand? You're likely going to find more negatives about that car than one that's running gear that you like.

So again...stealth installs.

I prefer stealth installs over the flashy, in-your-face stuff that looks good in pictures. With a stealth install you have the advantage of added security, you typically keep all of the factory cargo space and vehicle function, but another benefit is that it forces people to do blind listening.

Anyone that gets in the car sees factory (or what appears to be factory) speaker grilles. The only thing in this car anyone will see that will stand out as not being factory is the head unit.

So let's talk about speaker locations and the way the car will be set up. Ian previously modified the kicks for a midrange driver. I don't know how well it worked out for him, but since the kicks were already modified I wanted to make use of them. Specifically because I knew the new M3 Carbons were on the way and I have this whole "visual listening" thing that I know people do (whether they admit it or not) that want to put to a test.

I'll be able to run this car with the front set up three different ways:

1. 2-way with midbass and tweeter in doors
2. 2-way with midbass in door and wideband (M3 Carbon) in the kick
3. 3-way with midbass in door, M3 Carbon used as a midrange in the kick, and then the tweeter in the door

So let's look at option 1:
There's a factory tweeter and midbass location in the doors. They're X distance apart. Let's say the crossover between the two drivers is 2,500Hz. Tons of people run a similiar setup in their cars and it's never discussed as being an issue. That midbass is playing up to 2,500. No one ever complains about separation (distance) between midbass and tweeter.

Now, Option 2:
Running the Midbass in the door up to say...300 or 400Hz and then let the M3 Carbon handle everything from that point up. Shouldn't be a huge issue/debate here. Guys have ran midbass/tweet combos in kicks for years and performed well with them. The big question is how well will these M3 Carbons function as a wideband driver in the kick? We're going to find out. I bet they kick ass and surprise a lot of people.

Now, option 3:
This is the one that has stirred up the most conversation/controversy. Midbass in the door, M3 Carbon as a midrange in the kick, and tweeter in the door. So let's say we run the midbass up to 300 or 400Hz. From there the M3 Carbon takes over and handles everything up to 2,500Hz. At that point the M25 takes over at 2,500Hz. The discussion is that the M3 Carbon (midrange) is too far apart from the tweeter and that's a problem.

But...

Look at the below image again and think back to Option 1. All frequencies below 2,500Hz are coming from the midbass that is X distance from the tweeter. In Option 1 the handoff is between midbass and tweeter at 2,500Hz. In Option 3 the handoff is still at 2,500Hz but it's now between the M3 Carbon (midrange) and tweeter. Same crossover freq, essentially the same distance apart as the midbass/tweeter combo in Option 1. We can argue theory until we're blue in the face and angry at one another, but *IS* it going to make a difference that people will hear? We're going to find out.

The beauty of this car (and Ian putting those locations in the kicks) is that we have the opportunity to take Nick's tweets, Nick's M3 Carbons, and his TM65s and run them in a variety of combinations in an installation that looks factory. When you get in you won't know what combo you're listening to. I think it's the ideal build for a car that will showcase Stereo Integrity's gear. The full line-up of components will be installed and with a change of tune on the processor you can listen to any combination you'd like. Oh, and there's that big honkin' 24 in the back. With that we get to show how accurate/fast/musical/clean/transparent big subs can be.

I mean...what better scenario could you have for a factory demo vehicle?

And it's all because Ian put some stupid midrange locations in the kicks. Dangit, Ian! 😂


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

dumdum said:


> If it’s a typical vw/audi/skoda alt like in the pics below with four lugs there is a Renault fitment 210a alt that will do 250-275amps with a transpo 911r Reg fitted and charge upto 21v if ran into a 16v bank, we do loads of these in the U.K. since I started modding them years ago! It’s quite a common fitment in europe, drop me a pm if interested and I’ll dig you some numbers out 😎 if not I can put you in touch with a guy who can sort it whatever 👍🏼
> 
> View attachment 304151
> 
> ...





solo8788 said:


> Wow, thanks this is awesome. I will start another thread on HO alternator options for VW/Audi.


Check it out:









Audi


JS Alternators specialize in alternators, specifically custom high output alternators. We can custom build a high output alternator for almost any vehicle from 170 amp to 420 amp. We specialize in easy DIY bolt-in high output solutions for your vehicle, boat, motorcycle, etc, with custom options...




js-alternators.com


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> And it's all because Ian put some stupid midrange locations in the kicks. Dangit, Ian! 😂


You're welcome. And, as you're well aware, there won't be any issues with mids down there, I never had any issues with stage depth or height. I tested some pods on the dash, but like you, prefer stealth installs, so ended up with kicks and zero complaints and no one knowing they weren't factory.


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## Davidian (Sep 30, 2020)

Curious about weight. When you’re all done ,do you feel the suspension will have to be modified to deal with everything you’re doing. Thanks


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## solo8788 (Feb 12, 2021)

JI808 said:


> Check it out:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks I'll reach out to them, but the pictures of the alternator for the 2008-13 audi a3 look different than whats in my car.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Davidian said:


> Curious about weight. When you’re all done ,do you feel the suspension will have to be modified to deal with everything you’re doing. Thanks


I installed coilovers when I owned it, I'm guessing the ride height will need adjusting, but don't think the weight will be an issue.


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## dumdum (Feb 27, 2007)

solo8788 said:


> Thanks I'll reach out to them, but the pictures of the alternator for the 2008-13 audi a3 look different than whats in my car.


Id think yours will be more like the 2008-2009 TT with the black brackets around the alt which I’m guessing is done to replicate the picture I posted perhaps


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> You're welcome. And, as you're well aware, there won't be any issues with mids down there, I never had any issues with stage depth or height. I tested some pods on the dash, but like you, prefer stealth installs, so ended up with kicks and zero complaints and no one knowing they weren't factory.


You know how it is. It's different from the norm. When you break it down and look at it in the most basic of terms, at a given distance and crossover freq it shouldn't matter if a 6 1/2" is handing off to the tweet or a 3-incher. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm an idiot. Either way, we're going to find out. 😃




Davidian said:


> Curious about weight. When you’re all done ,do you feel the suspension will have to be modified to deal with everything you’re doing. Thanks


Good question. Overall weight addition rarely gets looked at. Like Ian said, it's on coilovers. It'll be good, but numbers are fun to look at - and something I can reference later in a conclusion video on the build.

I've used 66 sheets of Second Skin's Damplifier Pro. Truth be told I haven't used every sheet yet, but I know what I have left will definitely go in the car. Maybe a little more.

Second Skin says a sheet is .7 lbs. That's 46.2 lbs of Damplifer Pro.

I've added 4 1/4 lbs of lead per front door. We'll use that same 4 1/4 lbs for the rear doors. That's 17 lbs of lead on the inner door skins.

The stock front door cards weighed 8.6 lbs. When done they weighed 18.8 lbs. That's _just the interior door cards_. That's an additional 10.2 lbs of material added to each front door card.

Since there are no drivers being used in the rear doors I didn't go as overkill on the rear door cards. I did everything to the rear door cards that I did to the front door cards with the exception of the foam pour around the speaker location. Again - no drivers used in the rear doors. I also only used a single layer of Luxury Liner Pro on each rear door card. I didn't weigh the rear door cards, but I'd say they're at 16 lbs or so each after treatment. If I had to guess I'd say I added 8 lbs per rear door.

On the floor I used Second Skin's Heat Wave Pro. This serves as a thermal insulation/radiant heat layer as well as a decoupling layer for Second Skin's Luxury Liner MLV. I'd guess there's 34 sq ft or so of Heat Wave Pro and Second Skin says it's .188 lbs per sq ft. So 6.4 lbs of Heat Wave Pro.

Luxury Liner. MLV. While Second Skin offers a 2 lb/sq ft material, I used 1 lb/ sq ft on the floor. Again, I'm guessing on the sq ft used, and since it was installed over the Heat Wave Pro, that's 34 lbs of MLV on the floor pan.


Other sound treatment products used are the Rockwool Safe 'n' Sound and Mega Zorbe. I used three sheets of Mega Zorbe per front door and two sheets per rear door. Weight of the Mega Zorbe is negligible but a full pack of the Rockwool is 35.6 lbs.

There's also Second Skin's Spectrum spray that's something you guys will see in an upcoming video. 13.4 lbs per gallon. I have two gallons here for the car.

Steel. Lots of steel. I DID weigh the 3/16" steel baffle that the sub mounts on. I believe it was 18+ lbs. Then there's the lower 3/16" ring, all of the 3/4" square tube, the steel used to build that cone/wall, and then the 16lb/ sq ft density expanding foam that fills the void in that spare tire well.

So let's start adding...

46.2 lbs of Damplifer Pro used throughout the car
17 lbs of lead to the inner door skins
20.4 lbs of sound treatment to the front door cards
8 lbs of sound treatment to the rear door cards (estimated)
6.4 lbs of Heat Wave Pro to the floor pan
34 lbs of MLV on the floor pan
50 lbs (estimated maybe 60 lbs) of metal and foam in the spare tire well/sub enclosure
30 lbs or so of Rockwool
26.8 lbs for Spectrum Spray

So that's 238.8 lbs in fabrication and sound treatment.

The next biggest item is the IB-24 which is listed at 60 lbs. After that it's the three amps, processor, fuse block, and cabling.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

solo8788 said:


> Thanks I'll reach out to them, but the pictures of the alternator for the 2008-13 audi a3 look different than whats in my car.


If you get an alternator from him, he's been busy and like everything else right now, he's having issues getting parts. He'll order 300 of something and get 100. 

COVID has screwed everything up.

He's shipping pallets of alternators out weekly. He's been posting updates on Facebook. I even saw he was offering free powdercoating at one point for those that were stuck in the COVID-induced wait cycle.


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## jheat2500 (Mar 1, 2021)

Those coilovers will likely need new springs. Sure you can crank down adjusters to compensate for a loss in ride height, but you may well end up with coil bind at that point. When the car is complete it would be best to get the corner weights and order the appropriate springs that take into account the proper spring rate, collapsed, and extended lengths of the shocks. This will ensure the best possible ride while avoiding the possibility of damaging the current springs. Depending on what springs are currently on the car of course. My guess is the rears will be the primary concern. Just my .02...

The car looks like a really fun and interesting project! Can't wait to see the finished project.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

jheat2500 said:


> Those coilovers will likely need new springs. Sure you can crank down adjusters to compensate for a loss in ride height, but you may well end up with coil bind at that point. When the car is complete it would be best to get the corner weights and order the appropriate springs that take into account the proper spring rate, collapsed, and extended lengths of the shocks. This will ensure the best possible ride while avoiding the possibility of damaging the current springs. Depending on what springs are currently on the car of course. My guess is the rears will be the primary concern. Just my .02...
> 
> The car looks like a really fun and interesting project! Can't wait to see the finished project.


I'm sure new springs won't be an issue if he needs them.

Here's something I found. Was looking for these images for the earlier post about the tweets.

Side by side images of the older M25s and the new units.









Again, the production units won't have Stereo Integrity lasered on the trim ring.


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## THX0849 (Sep 24, 2019)

For me that's a much nicer looking tweeter of it's going to be exposed. I wonder why do many tweeter grilles have that pattern or similar.

Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

THX0849 said:


> For me that's a much nicer looking tweeter of it's going to be exposed. I wonder why do many tweeter grilles have that pattern or similar.
> 
> Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk


Fibonacci spiral.

You can search Fibonacci radial pattern and you'll see a lot of patterns that look like speaker grilles. I've searched for them for custom grille patterns to make on the laser and saved a few.


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

JI808 said:


> Tweeter grilles. I haven't tried to remove them and have no need to do so. They're literally the only two in the country.
> 
> The push terminals. They don't bother me. They're far more robust than spade terminals and there would have been zero difference in mounting depth between push terminals and spades.
> 
> ...


Haha! Yep, what was Ian thinking when he put those mids in the kickpanels??!!  You know I'm just messin' with ya, Ian! 

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful reply!

I'm going to apologize in advance as I'm well-known for my unnecessarily long-winded posts! 😊

I know that I often come across as argumentative, but it's just my OCD and always wanting to push for the best possible design of installer-friendly car audio products for consumers, and for the best results with the equipment that is chosen and installed.


*TWEETER GRILL REMOVAL:*

Understood. Was just curious in regards to being able easily remove them in order to paint them for custom color-matched installs. 

*DSPs:*

I've used the RF 3Sixty.3 extensively over the years since it was released. It certainly had/has it's quirks and issues, but it was one of the more versatile and feature-rich DSPs available for quite a while, and at a fairly reasonable price. If you understood how to deal with its particular quirks, you could always achieve excellent results with it.

Before using the 3Sixty, I was using several of the Sony ES XDP-4000X DSPs, and then I tried the Alpine H700/701.

Although the Alpine was a bit more versatile and much easier to tune than the old school Sony, I wasn't really all that impressed with the Alpine's SQ and the results I achieved coming from the Sony.

While the Sony was simply a detail, clarity, soundstage, and dynamics monster, the Alpine seemed to be just a bit "veiled" in all of the above departments compared to the Sony, and it definitely didn't have the Sony's black background. That much was easily apparent.

Some of the same applied to the 3Sixty. It was much easier to tune and more versatile than the Sony, especially in regards to the available XO selections & the available PEQ bands...but (to my ears, and in my own systems), the Sony still outclassed it in terms of raw SQ, providing you could apply the necessary XO points.

In all of the above systems I was either using the Sony Mobile ES CDX-C910 or CDX-C90 head units. But I later transitioned to the Pioneer Premier DEX-P9 and ODR D7X-III when the Sony C90's began to have issues due to age and their crappy displays. But I'm still running a C90 in one install and have 4 backups on hand in case of failure, LOL.


*STEALTH!:*

Yessir, I am all about STEALTH installs for ALL of the reasons that you pointed out...

i.e. Security, and listener's preconceived biases about the equipment or brands and the locations being used, etc. 95% of my vehicles are and have been completely stealth audio installs.

With my business, over the years I've had to park my vehicles and leave them unattended for hours, days, and weeks, mostly in the Los Angeles area, and in locations ranging from Beverly Hills and Malibu, to East L.A., Watts, Compton, and everywhere in between. Surprisingly, both of the extremes in terms of locations resulted in very similar numbers of theft incidents, just with different priorities or motives.

So security was and is a huge factor, and keeping my installs Stealth, "low-key", and as unassuming as possible has always been a high priority for me.

I probably have kept more vehicles than the average Joe, as my father is a huge car collector...sort of a Jay Leno wannabe, LOL, and was one of the 4 partners that first brought the original British Lotus brand to America back in the '50s, so I've been fortunate to spend time in some very nice vehicles.

But I have also consistently maintained at least one "undesirable" beater vehicle to drive and haul my photo gear & surfboards in, such as the homely and ugly as sin late '80s & '90s era AWD Ford Aerostar vans.  These came with fairly dark, factory-tinted windows aft of the 1st row seats, and allowed me to roll with an unassuming low-profile, while keeping all of my pro photography gear locked in the cabin and out of the elements, complete with the TOTL Clifford remote alarm system of the day.

Those vans were definitely a choice of pure function & utility prioritized over performance, form, and aesthetics, haha. I've always done lots of hiking & camping combined with my photography as well, so these vans functioned nicely in that regard, too.

Because I spent the majority of my time driving this van for work and camping/hiking/surfing/skiing excursions, it received the most attention in regards to the quality of car audio system, at least in my early years. And my father wasn't too keen on me hacking up some of the nicer vehicles he'd acquired for me. 

So high-quality stealth installs in my daily drivers as well as other vehicles have served me extremely well.


*LISTENING WITH YOUR EYES:*

Though I have never had the time or desire to compete (way too many other hobbies), in sort of an inverse way, I learned early on that when demo'ing my stealth & OEM-looking car audio installs, many people would have preconceived expectation biases about the equipment and speaker locations.

Especially when giving demos to people who were familiar with "good audio systems", such as my musician/surfer buddies from _Incubus. _

They have sat in a few of my vehicles for demos back in the day and always asked, "Okay Billy, WHERE The F#*k are all the speakers & subwoofers!?!" because the vehicles all looked pretty much bone stock, but the soundstage and imaging always had a focused center image that was forward and high, and often imaged just outside the windshield, with some elements appearing out over the hood occasionally, and with that detailed & punchy "upfront" bass.

They were confused because they just expected to see the typical flashy RF or JL car audio gear everywhere on display throughout my vehicle like the audio systems in their own much nicer vehicles, and they couldn't comprehend how the soundstage appeared where it did, and with such impact & realism when they couldn't even see the speakers or subwoofers.

With my OCD focused on maintaining a completely OEM stealth look in the vehicle, I had even dismantled the OEM single-DIN cassette head unit and epoxied its plastic faceplate panel and all of its buttons & knobs to a 1/16" thick rectangular piece of sturdy photo framing mount board, and then epoxied a few tiny Neo button magnets from Radio Shack to the back of it so it would snap into the Sony C90's metal removable faceplate opening.

The single "dead giveaway" to thieves that you had a nice stereo system in your vehicle was having a nice shiny aftermarket head unit in the dash, or one with the faceplate removed, which further tipped them off that it was one of the more expensive stereo models.

With my faux OEM Ford cassette stereo faceplate attached to the front of the C90, you'd never know it wasn't anything but stock. I have never had any of my vehicles broken into to steal the car audio gear.


*KICKPANELS*:

So it seems as if my point about the M3 mids being located in the kickpanels was somewhat misinterpreted.

The majority of my systems "back in the day" were 100% KICKPANEL installs, or OEM door locations + kickpanels, which provided an excellent deep & wide soundstage that floated just below the rearview mirror and often beyond the windshield and side mirrors.

I would usually cover my kickpanels in black or color-matching grill cloth because it was easy to hide all of my rough install work and also hide the gear from prying eyes.

I didn't fully realize why I tended to achieve a deep and wide soundstage with my kickpanels at the time, but due to the usual space constraints in the kicks, my midrange & tweeters were always mounted very close together. They were also vertically oriented whenever possible because I instinctively thought, "well that's how they are always arranged in the best home audio speakers and studio monitors, so that's how I should arrange them in my kickpanels".

However, there were those times when I upgraded to "newer & better" drivers and decided to try the midwoofers or midrange in the kicks and/or doors, but instead try placing the tweeters on or in the dash corners, or at the top of the doors, the A-pillars, or sail panel area.

I found that while these separate tweeter locations usually raised the perceived stage height and sometimes improved the width, there was more of a discontinuity between the lower mids+midbass and the highs, and the focus of individual instruments & vocals along with the depth _to_ the stage + the front-to-rear depth layering always suffered.

So, again, I have absolutely no issues with the M3 mids being in the kickpanels, and I fully understand that the various midbass/midrange/tweeter location combinations that you outlined as options #1/2/3 can and will work successfully to varying degrees providing the proper tuning is applied.

My point was that (IME), any time I have physically separated the tweeters significantly from the midrange drivers, and especially when they were not vertically aligned on the same baffle, the individual image focus, 3D depth & layering, and the space between instruments & room ambience suffered.

Again, this is the main reason I believe that well-designed coincident midrange/tweeter drivers like the KEF UniQ's perform so well in terms of soundstaging.

I've had several installs like Nick's car that evolved over time to have multiple possible speaker locations and combinations to play with, and 90% of the time I could demonstrate that whenever I was able to keep the midrange and tweeters in close proximity & vertically aligned, the overall soundstage focus, width, and particularly depth improved, providing there wasn't some other detrimental acoustic factor in play when using those specific locations.

This is because having the midrange and tweeter's ¢-to-¢ spacing separated by more than 3"-5" (dependent on XO frequency) creates vertical lobing and a huge phase mismatch and null in the response centered within the XO region, especially if you are not perfectly on-axis and perpendicular to the plane of both the midrange and tweeter.

Unfortunately, the one scenario that the currently chosen mounting locations in Nick's car don't provide an option to test or demo is having the midrange and tweeter mounted in close proximity with minimum ¢-to-¢ spacing in a vertical alignment.

I will say that I also have some reservations about how well the M3 mids will work as widebanders in the kicks without any tweeters. If they were angled more on-axis to the listening position I would agree that they could work quite well.

But IME I think that the disparity between the Left & Right M3's on- & off-axis angles relative to the listening position will be tough to overcome as the frequency increases beyond the beaming point. Like you said...We'll see or know when it's all said and done.

Another thing that I might suggest if you really don't want people to "listen with their eyes", is to simply enlarge the opening and grill size in the kickckpanels to at least 6.5".

As it is, it's fairly obvious to anybody viewing those kickpanels that it must contain either a small midrange, wideband, or tweeter. An the probability of using a separate tweeter in the kickpanels is unlikely due to current convention, so that leave people to surmise a midrange or widebander. 

Using midbass drivers in the kickpanels is much more "accepted" and proven to provide excellent midbass response. So with larger kickpanel grills, most people will probably assume that the midbass drivers are there, and not in the OEM door locations. I guess this bias could be perceived either way, so it's somewhat of a double-edged sword that could work for or against any visual preconceptions. :shrugs:


TWEETER TERMINALS & The "TUNED REAR CHAMBER":

I'm familiar with the importance of a "tuned rear chamber" in regards to a tweeter's response. The Fs and low-end response & roll-off of a tweeter can be affected by the rear chamber volume, just as a subwoofer's response is affected by the enclosure volume it is in.

So yes, the response of the tweeter can be "tuned" somewhat by the rear chamber's volume, and it's shape can have an effect to some degree.

The pressure modes and destructive interference/standing waves under a tweeter's dome diaphragm can cause IMD due to the acoustic environment under the dome or diaphragm, and the rear chamber is a design consideration taken seriously by nearly all high-end tweeter manufacturers.

My main point regarding the use of the spring terminals was that, as clearly shown in the photo that you posted of the tweeter's rear cups, the volume of that chamber is significantly reduced by the inclusion and placement of the spring terminals.

If basic side-mounted blade terminals were used instead, or just simple preattached pigtail wires, the rear cup and the tweeter's overall mounting depth _and_ diameter could have been reduced even further (the main goal) _while also keeping the rear chamber volume identical_.

End result? A tweeter with a smaller overall form factor that is easier to fit in tight locations, as was your intent.

EDIT: In the new profile photos that you posted of the old & new tweeter designs, the depth of the new tweeter is significantly reduced, but the _diameter_ of the rear chamber looks to have increased.

When you have to install a tweeter at an angle against a flat rear mounting area, the increased rear cup diameter essentially pushes the tweeter farther out, requiring more available mounting depth in these situations.

I realize that for the particular OEM tweeter installation location in Nick's Audi this won't be an issue, so you are most likely indifferent to the increased rear diameter.

It's obviously too late now as the rear cups have already been manufactured in quantity, but IMO, deleting the spring terminals would have allowed both the rear mounting Depth *and* Diameter to have been reduced.

I don't claim to be a transducer designer/engineer either, but the concept of tuned & damped chambers in tweeter design is fairly well understood and ubiquitous at this point in time.

And sure, there have been a few tweeters made by highly respected manufacturers that used simple blade or spade connections which were prone to failure.

But those issues were very limited to particular tweeters and mostly due to a design that was meant for installation in simple home audio enclosures where the wiring wouldn't be subject to nearly as much lateral stress or force during installation.

In addition, car audio installers tend to use unnecessarily oversized thick, heavy, and stiff wiring on the tweeters that don't help in this regard. So there's that.


*THE WRAP-UP *(finally!):

You're doing next-level fabrication and installation work here, man, and being very meticulous throughout the process!  I'm just being super nitpicky and critical about some of the install details and considerations, which is not at all uncommon for those that know me. 😊

Again, I'm just wanting the best possible outcome for this install since so much time, energy, and money is being being dumped into it.

I'll stop here before I muck up the thread any further! Mods feel free to delete!

Carry on, soldier!

Cheers!


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

THX0849 said:


> For me that's a much nicer looking tweeter if it's going to be exposed. I wonder why so many tweeter grilles have that pattern or similar.


AFAIK, there isn't any real acoustic advantage. It's just a very high-tech and pleasing design element IMO.

I agree that it looks cleaner and more minimalistic without the full Stereo Integrity logo on the bezel.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

bbfoto said:


> If they were angled more on-axis to the listening position I would agree that they could work quite well.


There's some room down there that they can be angled on-axis to a degree. The mids aren't physically attached to the kick panel (at least they weren't when it was my car) but mounted on a plastic bracket (which I'm sure will be improved upon) where I was able to angle them up a little.


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## Electrodynamic (Nov 27, 2007)

Kpierce1986 said:


> I'd you find an HO alternator for the Audi/VW 2.0t let me know, I've looked and couldn't find one. Think they're 140amp alternators to begin with.


JSAlternators is who we went with.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

bbfoto said:


> Haha! Yep, what was Ian thinking when he put those mids in the kickpanels??!!  You know I'm just messin' with ya, Ian!
> 
> Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful reply!
> 
> ...


Holy wall of text. 😂

The tweeter grille thing - I have no need to remove them so there was no need for me to try.

Stealth installs and blind listening...

I've also had instances where, because the car appears stock, it can be detrimental. Instances where people don't like/enjoy it as much as they would if you showcased the equipment because it looks like you've not done anything. Again, visual listening.

On the flip side of that coin, I've seen the same car score differently when entered in different competition classes. When entered in the Stock class it scored lower than when it was entered in the Street class. Even though it was (literally) a completely stock factory audio system with a sub added. The only difference was the class the vehicle was entered in. It scored higher in the higher Street class than it did in the lower Stock class. Same judge, same tone/balance/fader/sub level settings. I attribute that to a higher level of expectation in Street Class vs Stock.

As far as


> wanting the best possible outcome for this install since so much time, energy, and money is being being dumped into it.


How do you think I feel? I'm the one building it. 😂

I think one of the *worst* things someone can tell me is to "Build it like it's your own car"...and that's _exactly_ what Nick did. So I over-think things and design/redesign, build/rebuild a time or ten if I'm not 100% happy. I went through three versions of kick panels in this car on the passenger (easy) side.

After Nick's Audi leaves I have a BIG build I'll be starting for a friend from PA. He had $100K into it. I've completely gutted it. Another "build it like it's your own" situation. 

I also have two personal builds I want to work on. Actually, I _need_ to for my own sanity. I've not built or done anything for myself in years.

My Chevelle and my xB. The Chevelle is my SQ/BOBOS vehicle and is another stealth install. It hasn't has audio in it for over two years.

The xB will be an SPL vehicle that will blow peoples' minds. The large majority of people won't even comprehend what they're looking at. Another of those "it won't work" situations. It's going to be absolutely brutal. I'm going to build ONE personal SPL vehicle and this will be it. There won't be a need for another. 😂




naiku said:


> There's some room down there that they can be angled on-axis to a degree. The mids aren't physically attached to the kick panel (at least they weren't when it was my car) but mounted on a plastic bracket (which I'm sure will be improved upon) where I was able to angle them up a little.



Ian, remember that big-ass group of connectors that was taking up so much space in the driver's side kick? That mess is gone. All of those connectors were removed and relocated into the void behind the aluminum dead pedal.  The passenger side had (if I remember correctly) only three connectors to deal with but there were 10 or so on the driver's side that had to go. Both of the large, plastic housings for those connectors that attached them to the kicks are also gone. That freed up quite a bit of space.









The visual look of the kick panels doesn't tell the story of what's happening behind them. The mids *are* on-axis to the driver's listening position. *Both of them*. You guys will see that in the next video.

The passenger side kick wasn't too difficult, but the driver's side took a little thought. Both are also built so that they're sealed/gasketed to the kick panel with some (for the lack of a better term) waveguides. I know the waveguide idea isn't "ideal" (and I'll likely catch hell for it when people see them) because of the distance from the face of the driver to the back of the kick, but to get proper aiming compromises _had_ to be made. *shrug

Again, I think it's one of those situations where, if I didn't point out what I was doing and why I'm doing it in the video (and on here), no one would know about it or have anything to say when listening.

The other two options were to mount the mids so that they were firing directly across the car (absolutely not happening) or not make the waveguides that come up to the speaker grilles in the kicks. That also wasn't an an option I was going to consider. So...waveguides it is.

But that's pretty much the way it is in car audio. A game of compromises. You just have to choose which ones you're willing to accept.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Ian, remember that big-ass group of connectors that was taking up so much space in the driver's side kick? That mess is gone. All of those connectors were removed and relocated into the void behind the aluminum dead pedal.  The passenger side had (if I remember correctly) only three connectors to deal with but there were 10 or so on the driver's side that had to go. Both of the large, plastic housings for those connectors that attached them to the kicks are also gone. That freed up quite a bit of space.


I thought I remembered seeing a picture, maybe on the Car Audio Junkies thread, where it looked like you had moved all of those connectors. When Dave Smyer and I were first installing those mids down there we briefly looked at moving them, but decided against it (managed to move a couple around and squeeze the mids in). With those out of the way I'm sure you not only got more space, but also more options to mount and aim the mids. Looking forward to the next video!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> I thought I remembered seeing a picture, maybe on the Car Audio Junkies thread, where it looked like you had moved all of those connectors. When Dave Smyer and I were first installing those mids down there we briefly looked at moving them, but decided against it (managed to move a couple around and squeeze the mids in). With those out of the way I'm sure you not only got more space, but also more options to mount and aim the mids. Looking forward to the next video!


Man…I forgot about Car Audio Junkies.

I need to update there.


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## ejeffrey (Oct 8, 2015)

There is a lot going on here. Loving it!


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Looking forward to the rest of this lol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Making progress and shooting video. Working on multiple things at one time and shooting/editing two separate video projects on the car along the way.

Last thing I did today was start the process of stripping the factory interior panels for the left and right sides of the cargo area. Fun stuff.

Run the 3" Roloc to start the process of sanding into the factory carpet and, if you're lucky, you'll sand an "edge" in the carpet that will allow you to start pulling/tugging/yanking it off the backer. If not, just keep running the sander. Fibers everywhere. Wearing a mask and running air filtration for sure.

When I get these rebuilt the entire interior will get new upholstery from the window line up as well as the entire cargo area.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Not sure what is happening, but pictures are not coming up 

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

Every other time I check in the pictures in the thread don't pop up.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

quickaudi07 said:


> Not sure what is happening, but pictures are not coming up
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk





Theslaking said:


> Every other time I check in the pictures in the thread don't pop up.


Weird. I'm not seeing them either. 

They were uploaded to DIYMA.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Dropped the Helix Director into the factory ash tray/cigarette lighter location.


Had to rebuild the entire unit to house the big Director. Also sent the Director housing through the table saw to cut it down to just the face and mounting points.









Progress shot. Still a bit more filler work to do here.









Tuning port for the Director.









The exterior surfaces were shot with SEM texture coat followed with satin black.

The recessed area where the Director sits was flocked in black.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

quickaudi07 said:


> Not sure what is happening, but pictures are not coming up
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk





Theslaking said:


> Every other time I check in the pictures in the thread don't pop up.


Going through and fixing them now - starting with the first post. 

Will take time to get them all back to functioning.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

So I've been going through adding images. 

I've hit my limit for editing posts - 10 posts within 7 days.

So I guess in 7 days I'll update 10 more posts to get images functioning again.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

Hit up an admin like Big Al. I believe they can help with that.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Dropped the Helix Director into the factory ash tray/cigarette lighter location.


Knowing how much room that tray takes up and the size of the director, this looks really cool, being able to close the lid still is excellent. I managed to get a USB from the Kenwood into there (you probably found the hole!!) but that was about the extent of my abiility.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> Knowing how much room that tray takes up and the size of the director, this looks really cool, being able to close the lid still is excellent. I managed to get a USB from the Kenwood into there (you probably found the hole!!) but that was about the extent of my abiility.


😂

That thing was cut down to the point that the entire assembly was flimsy and I was worried about breaking it (and having to fix it) while making the Director fit...and that was AFTER I cut the Director housing down to get it to fit.


There are so many unseen, simple looking parts of this build that are time consuming projects. Funny that "simple stealth install" was part of the thought process when this project began.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Been fighting getting the headliner and A/B/C/D-pillars wrapped.

I ordered what was said to be the closest match headliner material on the market and...it wasn't. Was way too light.

Contacted the vendor and he said that it must've been mislabeled.

So now we have a new material for everything from the window line up in the car. 




























So now it's time to get all of the upholstery and finishing details sorted out. 

Lots to do still.

Details matter.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> I ordered what was said to be the closest match headliner material on the market and...it wasn't.


I spent who knows how long looking for a carpet match, contacted Audi asking for a name and color code, they told me..... "beige". That's it, super helpful!!

That interior is going to look excellent once finished! New fabric with all the deep cleaning, going to be really nice!!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> I spent who knows how long looking for a carpet match, contacted Audi asking for a name and color code, they told me..... "beige". That's it, super helpful!!
> 
> That interior is going to look excellent once finished! New fabric with all the deep cleaning, going to be really nice!!


Luckily the carpet cleaned up and looks nice.

One of the issues I’m running into during cleaning is Audi’s stupid soft-touch coating. That stuff wears off over the years and it’s something I had to be mindful of during cleaning. I hardly cleaned areas on the center arm rest because the soft-touch coating was already bubbling and lifting.

The buttons above the radio in the center console have the same coating and they’re scuffed. Nothing I can do about that. 😕

Hard to believe Audi would be that generic with their color codes. 

Even Ford has a more diverse color pallete than that. Parchment, light parchment, medium parchment, medium dark parchment…

Ask me how I know. 😂


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

JI808 said:


> One of the issues I’m running into during cleaning is Audi’s stupid soft-touch coating. That stuff wears off over the years and it’s something I had to be mindful of during cleaning. I hardly cleaned areas on the center arm rest because the soft-touch coating was already bubbling and lifting.


My BMW has the same soft touch material but in black. I sanded it off and resprayed with plasti-dip. The sanding was time consuming and gooped up the paper so you had to clean it or move to a clean section of the sandpaper.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Nick called last night:

"Hey, I realized that the 24th is my anniversary. I can't go to SVR."

Since it's his first anniversary I understood. 

He told me I'd have to take the car.

With my back injury and associated sciatica making the trip would be a (literal) pain in the ass. It's 11 hours plus stops from here to SVR. 

So we decided that the Sundown Show on August 14th will be the first show for the car. 

That will also allow me to slow down a bit, not push too hard with the back pain, and make sure everything is done to the level that I want. 

So for those that want to see it, the Sundown Show will be the first event. 

I know Mic, Ian, and Bertholomey will be there. I'll be there as well. Will be good to get out of the house and see folks again.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Working through pain. I said I was going to stop two hours ago, but this is the final stopping point for the day.


Head unit went in for the final time today. It's a Kenwood 9906XR.

Fixed some wiring issues I found. First was that the head unit never had a ground through the connector. It would only power up when the radio antenna was plugged in. 😂

Confused the heck out of me. I hadn't touched the wiring behind the HU because it was working when it came in, but I plugged it in to check reverse camera input and when it wouldn't power up I knew something was (obviously) up. 

First step of troubleshooting is to check power. It had power, but no ground.

After finding that there was no ground I wondered how it had been powering up in the past. Yup, antenna connector.

Fixed that, verified steering wheel controls worked then reinstalled the HVAC controls.

In these images you can also see the M3 Carbon in the kick. It's on-axis to the listening position. 





















Since the car didn't have a reverse camera, I added a reverse camera that replaces the factory liftgate switch and license plate light assembly.




















The sunroof cover was wrapped in suede and reinstalled.










Then I installed the sunroof, adjusted it so it sits flush with the roof of the car, and then ran it through an operation check to make sure it functions properly.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Odd about the head unit, glad it was an easy fix! Not gonna lie, before Nick was buying it from me I just threw the stock head unit back in there and some awful Boss speakers so it had something for any other buyer. So, apologies for any crap you might find. 

That's an excellent head unit though, I miss it terribly now that I'm stuck with the OEM Volvo unit. 

Can't wait to see this at Hickory, booked the Friday off work to prep and head down.


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

JI808 said:


> Working through pain. I said I was going to stop two hours ago, but this is the final stopping point for the day.
> 
> Head unit went in for the final time today. It's a Kenwood 9906XR.
> 
> ...



Nice progress.

I kind of LOL'd...It looks like you just press fit that M3 into a giant marshmallow in the kickpanel, ha! Where can I buy those?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

bbfoto said:


> Nice progress.
> 
> I kind of LOL'd...It looks like you just press fit that M3 into a giant marshmallow in the kickpanel, ha! Where can I buy those?


Yeah, those are two separate pieces. One that mounts to the vehicle and house the M3, one that's the "waveguide" that comes up to the back of the kick panel.

Those pieces are built from PVC. Stupid easy to work with. Goes together with CA. 

The angle and lighting make that piece look weird there.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I’m anticipating my long demo in this Audi for sure!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## BigAl205 (May 20, 2009)

Dang...I was looking forward to seeing you guys at SVR. I'll have to see if I can swing the NC shindig


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

bertholomey said:


> I’m anticipating my long demo in this Audi for sure!


I'm sure demos will be long since he can play the front with three different sets of drivers.



BigAl205 said:


> Dang...I was looking forward to seeing you guys at SVR. I'll have to see if I can swing the NC shindig


You know, not going to SVR paid off. I was in the garage Monday night/Tuesday morning until about 12:30 doing math because a crazy idea came into my head when I was mentally sorting out the build for the cargo area of the car.

Texted Nick about the idea and he HAD to call to discuss it. 😂 

Initially he was hesitant, but when I explained why I wanted to do what I was suggesting, he agreed that it made sense.

So...time to order _*more*_ parts so I can make a simple portion of the build into something that's overly complicated.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> So...time to order _*more*_ parts so I can make a simple portion of the build into something that's overly complicated.


But, not so complicated as to miss Hickory?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> But, not so complicated as to miss Hickory?


Tried calling you.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Tried calling you.


I get awful cell signal at home, it's pretty much non existent (usually wifi calling works, but for some reason Sprint / T-Mobile pushed some kind of update which now prevents that working either). Which is a shame, as I'd love to talk to either you or Nick about what the new trunk will look like! I'm assuming you got my number from Nick?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> I get awful cell signal at home, it's pretty much non existent (usually wifi calling works, but for some reason Sprint / T-Mobile pushed some kind of update which now prevents that working either). Which is a shame, as I'd love to talk to either you or Nick about what the new trunk will look like! I'm assuming you got my number from Nick?


Facebook Messenger. Give me a call.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Will do in a bit, got some work meetings in the way currently.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

So here's change 6,472.

While working in the back and moving the 1/2" MDF floor panels Ian made I decided that manually lifting those pieces out of the car and putting them back in sucked. It's going to suck even more when I build the new floor from steel. Not only that, but after all the work put into the build it just didn't seem right to force Nick to have to remove and re-install the floor panels every time someone wanted to see the 24...and people will definitely be wanting to see it. 😂

I thought something automated would be a better solution.

So I got the geometry and correct stroke length sorted out for some linear actuators that will be controlled from a key fob. These actuators will raise and lower the two floor sections of the cargo area above the subwoofer and the 200.4.

The actuators will bring both floor sections to a 50 degree angle.


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## BigAl205 (May 20, 2009)

I was wondering if you were building another faux suitcase  

I'm interested to see how this turns out


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

BigAl205 said:


> I'm interested to see how this turns out


Me too. 😂

I mean, it looks good in my head.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

BigAl205 said:


> I was wondering if you were building another faux suitcase


I wonder if Nick still has that thing laying around!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> I wonder if Nick still has that thing laying around!


I think remember hearing him say he sold the sub. Not sure if that included the case or not.


Started the floor for the car.

Kerf cut some 1/2” square tube, shaped it to the rear of the car, and tacked it together before moving to the welding table to finish the welds along the rear, curved piece.

Now to get the rest of the frame cut and built.

I used Ian's old floor to support the square tube.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

You're damn crazy! But I love it... 

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## LaserSVT (Feb 1, 2009)

So much win!!!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Started welding the floor together. I cut the piece at the rear to the proper length, but screwed up and cut the center sections 1/2" too short. 

Fortunately I can still use that material as bracing through the interior of the floor. Was looking forward to having this big piece fully welded and cleaned up today. *kicks dirt


Clamped the pieces in place on the welding table. 










Welded and cleaned up. Still need to clean up the inside corner at this point. I only hit the bits I could knock down while it was still clamped to the table. 









Test fit in the car. 

You can see the center pieces are 1/2" too short. I want to get correct length pieces in the center before I weld the curved rear section (at the back of the car) to the rest of the floor.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Good news. The linear actuators arrived. These have the motor built into the housing so they're more compact than units that have motor above/below the worm drive.

These guys are 1 3/4" square and will lift 44lbs each.

The smaller one is a 2" stroke, the bigger one is a 4". They both travel at 1.8" per second.













Video:


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I love the idea, and I’m stoked to see it at Hickory!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Made a trip to pick up a new shop truck. My 2002 F250 was totaled and I needed a new truck to pick up wood and such.

Decided to get an older truck that will go up in value instead of a modern truck that will depreciate for years to come.

'70 El Camino will do.



















The pickup location was about 25 minutes from Stereo Integrity's facility so I stopped in.










Nick and Josh were busy building 24s and shipping orders.

Here's four 24s on the assembly bench.









Josh holding a carbon cone for one of the 24s.










After a short visit I hit the road and headed back home so I could get back on the Audi.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Current situation:

Working on the side panels for the cargo area.

To package the larger SIQ class AB amps (and still keep everything "stock" looking) I needed to gain space behind the left cargo area panel. The right side didn't have an inset in it like the left with the cargo/storage net so the left requires a bit more work.

Here's the stripped left side panel. You can see where I already cut out the recessed lower section with the air saw. The inset area around it is where Audi had one of their cargo net attached. Those stupid things stretch out over time, sag, and look like ****. Unfortunately they're also on the back of the front seats.

If you're wondering why I'm only cutting out the bottom in this series of pictures it's because I wanted to reduce twisting/distortion of the panel. If I cut out the entire center section in one shot the perimeter that would be left would easily twist and distort.

Working in halves prevents that. There's also a slight panel line at my horizontal seam between the lower and upper sections. Working this way will make it easier to keep that panel line and reduce the amount of work to do so.











With that recessed section in place you can see how it eats into space behind it.



















More space now.










Made an insert from 1/4" PVC sheet and bonded it in place with Fusor.











Sanding and blending the edges of the PVC before I move on to the top section.





























Now to work on the upper half.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

I'm jealous of that shop truck! Cool garage shot with the Chevelle and Camaro there as well.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

When I was in HS, my best friend bought an El Camino - candy apple red, Chevelle front end, 350 Corvette motor, slightly lifted in the back end, Velour interior - to a HS kid, that thing was amazing - rowdy sound to it too! 

Your Camino fits right in with the other vehicles in the stable! I love the progress in the Audi! 


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

This one is ready for carpet.

The gap for the handle opening was made larger to fit the new carpet that's going it. It's about 3x as thick as the stuff that was in the car so I had to make larger opening in the stock right side access panel as well as the new one for the left side.


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## alpinem (Nov 25, 2006)

Updates?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

alpinem said:


> Updates?


All of the interior is reupholstered with the exception of the passenger rear cargo panel and the floor I'm building.

Haven't gotten nearly as much done as I've wanted. Been down with sciatica. Hurts to stand, hurts to sit, hurts to walk, hurts to cough/sneeze/take a deep breath. Sucks. I'm laid up on pain meds now. Can't even bend over to pick up stuff off the floor right now.

The passenger side cargo panel I had "fixed" and looked perfect on the side that you see. The factory piece had bowed/cupped inward towards the wheel well and looked like crap when looking through the rear hatch into the car. So I foamed it, covered it with filler, and it wouldn't fit back into the car because the back of that bowed piece hit the wheel well. Cut all of that out and I'm going to rebuild it with plastic.

Have videos I've been shooting of the progress and have been editing them as I go. Trying to break them into separate videos and focus on one aspect of what's going on per video.

I also swapped the TM65s that were in the doors for new units that will go into production *and *there's a new 24 that should be here this week to go in the car.

This car has evolved so far from what was intended when it came here. Not a single driver or amp in the car was part of the original plan.

I had some folks over for BBQ this past weekend. They got in the car to check it out. Just looking at stuff like Director location, tweet, 3" mid in the kicks, the fab work in the back, and all of the suede in the car.

The one comment I kept getting was about how quiet the car is. "It's so quiet it's creepy", "I can hear my heartbeat", "I don't hear anything but my tinnitus", stuff like that. One guy said it's like sitting in a small closet full of clothes, but quieter.


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## alpinem (Nov 25, 2006)

Hope you feel better soon. Enjoying the build.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Feel better as we all know our health is more important then a build.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I hope that sciatica flare settles down - my brother-in-law suffers with that and has a similar experience - hurts to just be - sitting, standing, lying down. 

Sending encouragement your way - I’m really hoping to experience this car with Nick at our gathering in SW Virginia in November. It will be wonderful to take in the aesthetics of the car, build, and to hear the fruits of your labor and Nick’s fantastic products. 


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

bertholomey said:


> I hope that sciatica flare settles down - my brother-in-law suffers with that and has a similar experience - hurts to just be - sitting, standing, lying down.
> 
> Sending encouragement your way - I’m really hoping to experience this car with Nick at our gathering in SW Virginia in November. It will be wonderful to take in the aesthetics of the car, build, and to hear the fruits of your labor and Nick’s fantastic products.
> 
> ...



You know how long my driveway is. 

I went out to check mail and wasn't sure I was going to make it back. 

I'm fairly immune to pain (found out it's from nerve damage in my back thanks to military), but pain cause by the nerve...there's no escaping that. 

Working on the parts on the CNC and laser today. Light duty stuff.


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## Myface (May 21, 2021)

JI808 said:


> You know how long my driveway is.
> 
> I went out to check mail and wasn't sure I was going to make it back.
> 
> ...


Man, I could relate. Went to a friend's house sat in his soft chair for a while got up and bam , right to the floor! He wanted to call 911...so much pain! I've been taking oxycodone for 10yrs or so helps alot...takes the edge off. 

Now with fentanyl, heroin killing most people there're blaming everything on big pharma, because that's where the money is!


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## BigAl205 (May 20, 2009)

JI808 said:


> I'm fairly immune to pain (found out it's from nerve damage in my back thanks to military), but pain cause by the nerve...there's no escaping that.


Are you sure it wasn't from the beat-down Kountz gave you?  

I'm curious if you or Nick happened to weigh the car before doing all this work. It's spectacular


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Back at it. Been hobbling around and hurting like crazy. I allowed myself to get distracted today and messed with the pods I built a while back in the kicks.

The pods in the kicks for the M3 Carbons have the drivers aimed to the listening position so they're both on-axis to the listener. This meant a bit of an unconventional build behind the kick panel because I built "waveguides" of sorts to funnel sound from the driver to the back of the kick panel and direct everything into the listening space instead of just bouncing around behind the kick panel and leaking into the cabin.

But...I had a couple of concerns about the pods.

My first concern was that since I built the pods from PVC sheet they needed more mass. PVC is light. I applied a good bit of Second Skin's Damplifier Pro to the exterior of the pods and applied Mega Zorbe inside the pods to absorb reflections. The "waveguides" were treated with Mega Zorbe as well in an effort to absorb reflections.

I also applied a layer of CCF to the face of the pod where it contacts the kick panel so that it will be decoupled from the plastic kick, seal to the kick panel, and direct everything into the listening space.

I didn't plan on messing with these today but I had to take some time to listen to and measure them before I decide there's nothing else to do before the kick panels go on for the final time.

Anyway, here's one of the M3 Carbons playing Norah Jones. 😂


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

For those that would like to hear something other than Norah Jones, here's Colter Wall.

This is a single TM 65 MkIV and M3 Carbon. Just running audio direct from the laptop into the amp. A quick (by ear) level adjustment and that's it.

Top graph is full range, lower graph is focused on midbass region and up.


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## oekundar (Dec 31, 2018)

Great thread!!!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Stuck another video online that covers just how much the build plan for the car has changed since it came here. It's been one long, ever-evolving project.

Fortunately all of the gear that's here for the car is nothing that will change again so now it's a matter of upholstering three panels in the rear, building the floor, and as show in the video, re-upholstering the A-pillars. Those things looked great when done but the suede release from the foam backing two days after they were wrapped.

Anyway, here's an update. I think it's cool that the mic picked up just how different things are out of the car vs in the car.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Very good to outline the changes and the positives that are resulting from those changes. Very cool to ‘hear’ how quiet the interior is. I’m looking forward to seeing the quality of the interior that the suede provides. 

Hoping to hear it in November in Virginia. 


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I am soo trying to get there in November, but after this second accident I’ll have to see how well I do travel wise.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Still plugging away. The A-pillars, D-pillars, and one panel above the rear seat were all stripped and re-upholstered.

When I originally installed the head unit I ran the USB cables to where they were when the car came to me - in the glovebox.

I started thinking about how awkward/cumbersome that would be when people get in to demo/judge the car and installed a dual USB port in the center console under the folding arm rest.

A USB drive or USB cable plug in just fine and have plenty of clearance below the arm rest.











I have a XS Power battery for the car and since it's nice and white it didn't make sense to leave the engine bay dirty and install the clean, white battery.

So...I gave the engine bay some quick detailing. I had previously steam cleaned the engine bay to get the majority of the grime off, but the area where the battery sits was still dirty.























































Now to get the cargo floor built, install amps, and tune. 

In the home stretch.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Oh...funny story.

Shop AC went out. Capacitor this time.

While the guy was here he was checking on the Audi. He had seen it before when he came for service.

I went over things. Showed him the interior pieces I had rebuilt and had ready to go back in, metal work I had done, kick panels in the car, Director in the center console, and went over all of the sound treatment in the car.

I had explained the build idea with him when he came in the past, but he's seeing the final stages of it and was commenting on how crazy it is.

I decided to let him sit in the car to hear how quiet it is sitting in the thing.

He got in, closed the door, and for some reason started laughing.

I told him to say something out loud while in the car.

He spoke, put on a weird face, and got out shortly after.

"Closing the door, it feels so solid and tight. It's like being in an armored vehicle. It's so solid I felt like there was no way for air to get in or out. When you told me to say something I could hear your voice, but couldn't tell where it was coming from."

I pointed out that there was no sub in the back of the car and there was a massive hole in the rear floor so when I spoke to him he likely heard the majority of it through that hole - even though I was standing outside door where he was sitting.

"I'm not claustrophobic, but I felt like I needed to get out of there. That messed with me."

He said he definitely noticed how different his voice sounded inside the car vs outside of the car.

I should've recorded his reaction. I could tell it actually messed with him. Lots of nervous laughter after being in the car.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Found an issue with the driver front door a couple of days ago.

I had pulled that door card to remove the TM 65 MkIV and new M25 for the video where I went over the changes in the build and the products that have been developed.

So I put the door card back on (it weighs 19.2 lbs 😂) and performed a function check before buttoning up the door card for the final time.

...and I wasn’t getting power to the door. Nothing working. Windows, mirrors, locks, fuel door release, nothing.

So…pulled the door card, removed the main power plug that plugs into the control box on the door, and had no power feeding it.

Turns out that the door/male plug between the door and cabin wouldn’t lock into the female/cabin side of the plug.

I think the wiring that the previous owner had ran outside of the plugs (between the plug and sheet metal) kept things squeezed together enough that the male/door side of the plug didn’t come out as the door was cycled open/shut.

With those cables removed the male/door side plug would work itself loose enough after cycling the door open/closed that the door would lose power.

Went to the parts yard today, grabbed a harness from a 2005 A4 (the only Audi on the yard), and reworked it.

Installed it, plugged in the door card, checked functions, and assembled it all.

Glad to have found this issue now instead of having it become an issue days after returning it.

A few pics showing what was wrong.

This is the door/male side connector. This plugs into the female side at the body. There should be a shoulder on that locking tab.









The opening in cabin where the female plug snaps in. You can see there's still a hair of deformation where the aftermarket wiring was ran between the plug and sheet metal. I fixed that last bit after this photo.









So I messaged/called Nick and let him know what I found. Told him I had looked online and saw a 2005 A4 on the local yard. I'd have to go see if the harness from it would work and, if so grab the harness from it.

He suggested hardwiring the door to the cabin.

I refused to do that.

So...took the boy to school, went to Lowe's to grab some stuff, and then went to the yard and waited for them to open. Nice being there early.










I pulled the door card and immediately knew I could use this harness. Good thing, too. This was the only Audi A4 on the lot.


















The 2005 harness (top) and the 2006 harness (bottom). You'll notice there's a difference in wiring between the two. That's because the 2005 didn't have accelerometers in the doors for side impact sensors to trigger the airbags and I had previously added a wire pair for the tweeters.

In hindsight I saw the damage to the connectors at the time that installed the wire pair for the M25s, but thought nothing of it - after all, it had been working.









So I de-pinned the tweeter and airbag wiring and moved them to the 2005 harness. I had to blow apart both harnesses to rebuild one good harness.

The completed harness ready to go in. Just need to add wire ferrules for the TM 65 MkIV.









So that was today's adventure.

The new harness snaps in nice and secure with a positive _click_ that the old plug didn't have. Performed a function check of power windows, mirrors, and locks as well as fuel door and hatch release. Everything functions as it should. Also double-checked wiring for both the TM65 MkIV and M25 to make sure they not only function, but polarity is correct.

Glad I found this issue now vs days after sending it back to Nick. While it was good initially, cycling the door open/closed ended up in no power to the door.

It was destined to fail. Best for it to fail here.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Today's update:

Spent a lot of time cleaning the shop. Bunch of trash (cardboard mostly) finally made it to the curb.

Front of the car is completely together for the final time.

Well, I MAY rip the glovebox back out one more time. It was broken and the previous owner had tried fixing it. I used some panel bond hoping it would work but it also let go. So...it's back in for now. I can always come back to it after the car is together. I fixate on that broken thing every time I open the passenger door.

What you can't tell in this photo is how much cleaner the car is here vs when it came in. And you can see the sagging glovebox door.











Got to work on my little welding table building a false floor for the car. I really need to buy a bunch of nuts and weld to the bottom of the table for these clamps. As it is I have to move the clamp and nut from location to location.

Anyway, here's the perimeter built. I'm cutting/fitting pieces for the interior and welding them in. I clamp everything in place, weld it, and let it cool before unclamping it to keep the floor from being distorted.












Started adding the internal structure to the floor.

The arc in the foreground matches the contour of the car near the liftgate.











Adding more internal structure










Dropping the last row in. There will be more added before this is done.










Dropped in the car so people can see how it'll all work.

I modified the linear actuators today to get better mechanical advantage. The pivot pins were on the same centerline. I rotated the cap on the end where the motor is so they're offset to one another. Now it'll naturally want to push upwards/at an angle vs a straight push like it would've done otherwise.

There's much more square tube that'll go into this. This is just tonight's stopping point.


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## OCD66 (Apr 2, 2017)

Love the build. Get yourself a dozen of these. 








FixturePoint™ Inserta Clamp


FixturePoint™ Inserta Clamp Lock the Inserta Clamps into any of the the 0.63" (16mm) holes on the FixturePoint Tabletop for fast and easy clamping. The FixturePoint Inserta Clamps have a notched end that locks the clamp into the table holes for stable hold down clamping. Note: If you have a...



www.arc-zone.com


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

OCD66 said:


> Love the build. Get yourself a dozen of these.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, that's a better solution. 😂

I never thought about buying more clamps. 🤪


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## jheat2500 (Mar 1, 2021)

I second the new clamps...welding a bunch of bungs or nuts will be a pain, and you'll likely warp the table.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

jheat2500 said:


> I second the new clamps...welding a bunch of bungs or nuts will be a pain, and you'll likely warp the table.


That was a random thought while working. I just typed it thinking about what a time suck it was moving the clamps and having to tighten them each time.

Will order some like OCD66 posted.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Well, I MAY rip the glovebox back out one more time. It was broken and the previous owner had tried fixing it. I used some panel bond hoping it would work but it also let go. So...it's back in for now.


Ah yeah, one of the common problems with the A4 (as well as the armrest latch). That metal bracket was the fix most used with the Audi, I hated that it never fit quite right or held fully. In the end I just ignored it and never used the glove box. 

Nice to see the front all back together, hoping you get it done and out to the meet next month.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Lots of work. Lots of welding.

Welded top and bottom of each joint for the floor then welded the vertical seams.









Cleaned up some steel expanded metal...









Then started tacking it in place before cutting off excess.









Still have more welds to finish. Every point where the mesh contacts the frame for the floor needs to be fully welded to ensure the mesh doesn't rattle against the frame of the floor.









I grabbed a scrap piece of carpet that I'm upholstering the cargo area with and put it in place to see how I liked the overall height of the floor in comparison to the carpeted left side. Looks good.

This also gives everyone a full picture of what's being done.

Having the right side cargo panel out makes it easier to get the floor in/out of the car right now. I can just drop it in and slide it left into place instead of having dirty metal accidentally come in contact with freshly carpeted panels.

I love how this is going to hide an absolute monster of a sub/amp(s), look completely stock, and still retain full use of the entire cargo area.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Love it! 
Home Stretch! 
Let’s see / hear that thing in November!


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

BTW - that amp looks AMAZING right there! 


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

GORGEOUS BUILD!!!

No way in hell would I cover up all the beautiful work and gear with a piece of carpet !!!

I mean I like stealth installs too ... but that work is sickly beautiful and NOT show off at all...ONLY form and function chasing each others' tails ...which is exactly why it NEEDS to be shown off !!! LOL!!!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

bertholomey said:


> BTW - that amp looks AMAZING right there!





seafish said:


> GORGEOUS BUILD!!!
> 
> No way in hell would I cover up all the beautiful work and gear with a piece of carpet !!!
> 
> I mean I like stealth installs too ... but that work is sickly beautiful and NOT show off at all...ONLY form and function chasing each others' tails ...which is exactly why it NEEDS to be shown off !!! LOL!!!


You guys will love this area when it's finished. 

Will be simple but cool looking.


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## OCD66 (Apr 2, 2017)

Are you tigging the mesh?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

OCD66 said:


> Are you tigging the mesh?


MIG.

I’d spend forever running TIG on that mesh.


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

It's actually quicker. You can just tap the pedal and you're done. No cleanup like you'll have with mig


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

pwnt by pat said:


> It's actually quicker. You can just tap the pedal and you're done. No cleanup like you'll have with mig


I’m new to TIG. I feel like I’d spend forever doing it due to learning to run the thing. Maybe I’ll try it when I make the floor panel that will cover the amp.

There was hardly any cleanup MIG on this panel. What did need to be cleaned up I got with a flap wheel. Took about three minutes to go over the entire surface and knock down what few high spots there were.


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## mfenske (Feb 7, 2006)

This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

mfenske said:


> This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome!


Thanks. I'm glad to be this close to having it done.


Update.

Hundreds of welds done. Top and bottom of this thing.

It is now fully welded at each point where the mesh comes in contact with the frame.

Despite doing everything I could to prevent/minimize distortion, it still bowed on me.

So I took it outside and used the big shop press to straighten it.

That means I ran it over with the '66 Chevelle.

Tomorrow I get to do it all over again when I build the floor section that will cover the amplifier.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

JI808 said:


> So I took it outside and use the big shop press to straighten it.
> 
> That means I ran it over with the '66 Chevelle.


I've used my Silverado press on many occasions over the years. Works great.

I imagine if you had a Yaris it wouldn't smooth out a piece of paper.


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## OCD66 (Apr 2, 2017)

I figured you were mig. You could have zapped all of the intersections with the tig and no warpage. 20-30 amps straight. If you have pulse, hit it with 100 and just zap tack it. No filler. Zero cleanup with tig. Flap discs are for prep, not for hiding welds. You're bad ass at everything, but if you're welding thin stuff, practice with your tig. #twofingerpiratesatute


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

That’s the trick, I haven’t used the TIG enough to be proficient with it and I’m wanting to have the fab work done by the 31st. I did try using the TIG yesterday to see if I could zap it together faster than the MIG. 

MIG gets it done faster. Even with what little cleanup I have to do the total time invested is less with the MIG.

I can practice after this is done.

:fo2:


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Last photo until it's wrapped up.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

^^^^
OMFG
!!!!!!!!!!!


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

JI808 said:


> Last photo until it's wrapped up.
> 
> View attachment 314396


Boom!


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

Wait a minute now...I see a table saw burn on the wooden support to the right of the subwoofer...NOT cool!!! 😂


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

Its like the whole rest of your install is superfluous. That thing is just BAM.
Wish I could experience it. I always though an 18" IB sub in a car would be ridiculously awesome. 

I think driving around annoying people with bass is juvenile and stupid, but if I owned that, I wouldn't be able to help myself - I'd stop at red lights and just play 20-30Hz tones and other weird ****.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

seafish said:


> Wait a minute now...I see a table saw burn on the wooden support to the right of the subwoofer...NOT cool!!! 😂


Local guy came over to cut some stuff. I used his scrap for mock-up.

I'm not sure how you burn stuff on a SawStop.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

preston said:


> Its like the whole rest of your install is superfluous. That thing is just BAM.
> Wish I could experience it. I always though an 18" IB sub in a car would be ridiculously awesome.
> 
> I think driving around annoying people with bass is juvenile and stupid, but if I owned that, I wouldn't be able to help myself - I'd stop at red lights and just play 20-30Hz tones and other weird ****.


That's the thing. The rest of the install isn't a showpiece at all.

I don't have a way to show off the tweets, mids, or 6 1/2s because they're behind factory panels...or in the case of the mids, panels that look factory.

The Director is tucked away but can be easily viewed from the driver's seat.

The back, though...that's where the party is. Can show off a little back there, at least.

And all of it will be hidden and look factory until Nick opens up the panels.


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## dgage (Oct 1, 2013)

preston said:


> Its like the whole rest of your install is superfluous. That thing is just BAM.
> Wish I could experience it. I always though an 18" IB sub in a car would be ridiculously awesome.
> 
> I think driving around annoying people with bass is juvenile and stupid, but if I owned that, I wouldn't be able to help myself - I'd stop at red lights and just play 20-30Hz tones and other weird ****.


Few things.

1. Not sure if you realize but that is a 24" (IB) driver. 
2. The car is owned by Nick Lemons of Stereo Integrity, who builds that 24" and other subwoofers so is it is more of a demo vehicle. 
3. I have measured the sealed 24" HS-24 drivers in quite a few home theaters and it has been flat to 7 Hz in-room with one room being flat to 6 Hz. And it is a quick and articulate driver. If you hear it, you would never think it is a single 24" driver as it is just so articulate and accurate. At least until it is turned up and then it will be something most have never experienced before.

And yeah, I wouldn't be able to keep my hand off the volume control as it would just bring a smile to my face every time. It would be hard for me to remember to save my hearing.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Last photo until it's wrapped up.


Awesome. I can't wait to see and more importantly hear this in a couple weeks. I bet Nick is hopping up and down with excitement to get the car back.



JI808 said:


> I don't have a way to show off the tweets, mids, or 6 1/2s because they're behind factory panels...or in the case of the mids, panels that look factory.


Honestly, this is what makes it so damn cool. No one looking in there, even with the trunk and doors wide open, will see anything other than a Kenwood head unit. 



dgage said:


> 1. Not sure if you realize but that is a 24" (IB) driver.


I think that what he is saying is that he always thought an 18" IB would be awesome, but that a 24" IB will be even better.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

dgage said:


> Few things.
> 
> 1. Not sure if you realize but that is a 24" (IB) driver.
> 2. The car is owned by Nick Lemons of Stereo Integrity, who builds that 24" and other subwoofers so is it is more of a demo vehicle.
> ...


He didn't mean anything disparaging. Just saying that he'd be annoying everyone because he couldn't help himself from cranking it to 11.





naiku said:


> Awesome. I can't wait to see and more importantly hear this in a couple weeks. I bet Nick is hopping up and down with excitement to get the car back.


It's been a long build. I'm ready for it to go back but at the same time I'm going to miss it. 

I know I'll want to spend a lot more time than I'll have available listening to all those hours of labor.



naiku said:


> Honestly, this is what makes it so damn cool. No one looking in there, even with the trunk and doors wide open, will see anything other than a Kenwood head unit.


That was always the goal, and that's the craziness of this build. Completely stealth with a big honkin' 24 back there that will absolutely get down and never be seen unless Nick allows you to see it. Heck, you won't even be able to lift the panels and look for yourself.



naiku said:


> I think that what he is saying is that he always thought an 18" IB would be awesome, but that a 24" IB will be even better.


Likewise. Just saying he'd be all over the knob and enjoying it.


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## dgage (Oct 1, 2013)

JI808 said:


> He didn't mean anything disparaging. Just saying that he'd be annoying everyone because he couldn't help himself from cranking it to 11.


Sorry if my post came across as admonishing him as that certainly wasn’t my intent. Just wanted to make sure he and others realized what was in the car, why, and how damn capable that big subwoofer is. Some may not realize those details in an 8 page build log that I thought would be a good reminder for those new to the thread. 

I also do wonder how obnoxious such a big driver ported directly to the outside is. Sub 10 hz bass waves can travel a long way.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

dgage said:


> I also do wonder how obnoxious such a big driver ported directly to the outside is. Sub 10 hz bass waves can travel a long way.


We're certainly going to find out. 😂


Alright...last pics before it's done. 🤪

These don't show anything going on in the back so whatever.

Had a guy come over for some tuning today. He checked out the Audi and was creeped out by it.

Knocked out his tuning then got the rear seat cleaned and installed.

Need to do some touch-up cleaning, but it’s clean(er) and in the car. Most every part of the car has been cleaned multiple times. The exception being the center console. Especially the arm rest. That soft touch coating is an issue so I had to be very careful with the bubbling soft touch on the arm rest. Light cleaning and that was it. The Germans really failed with that idea. 

So now that the rear seat is in for the final time, I can now build the false floor section over the amp so it properly clears the seat back.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Here's another update I'll post.

I'm working on the floor and the keyfob design has bugged me since I first saw them. The buttons are backwards from how they should be oriented when held in your hand.









So a few quick cuts to the silicone that encases the buttons and they were rotated 180 degrees. Much better.









And there's a spare.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

^^^
I always say that a little bit of OCD goes a long way in making things right.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

seafish said:


> ^^^
> I always say that a little bit of OCD goes a long way in making things right.



Ian will like this one:

I also just fixed the issue with the driver's rear seatback not latching.

I know Ian had an issue with that and since Nick had the car for a week or so before bringing it down for work, he never got to it.

I told Nick that since I've completely cleaned/reupholstered the inside of the car and fixed all of the little things that were wrong with it, when he gets the car back I'm going to be like "Here's your new 2006 Audi". 😂

This rag was clean before I used it to clean this door panel.


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## jheat2500 (Mar 1, 2021)

That's awesome. I feel like taking an older car and making it feel new again is so much more gratifying than simply buying something brand new. Especially when you can do it in a matter that makes it "better" than it was when it rolled out of the factory.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

jheat2500 said:


> That's awesome. I feel like taking an older car and making it feel new again is so much more gratifying than simply buying something brand new. Especially when you can do it in a matter that makes it "better" than it was when it rolled out of the factory.


The exterior styling of this car makes it hard to believe it's a 2006. 

Clean lines on the outside. The instrument cluster and HVAC controls do appear dated, but hey...

Older cars are all I have. They'll all getting modernized.


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## jheat2500 (Mar 1, 2021)

This build convinced me my wife needs an Avant. I showed them to her and she really likes them now, lol.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

jheat2500 said:


> This build convinced me my wife needs an Avant. I showed them to her and she really likes them now, lol.



There's a full album here.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Ian will like this one:
> 
> I also just fixed the issue with the driver's rear seatback not latching.
> 
> I know Ian had an issue with that and since Nick had the car for a week or so before bringing it down for work, he never got to it.


👍👍👍



JI808 said:


> The exterior styling of this car makes it hard to believe it's a 2006.


Yeah, the design aged really well on those, hard to believe it's a 15 year old car from the outside. Even the inside doesn't look old, OK it's missing the latest and greatest tech, but at the same time that helps it not look dated.



JI808 said:


> There's a full album here.


I should post a picture of how it looked the day I brought it home.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> 👍👍👍
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Post up. Would be cool to see a full history of the car.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

I'll dig up some more pictures tomorrow, this one's from early 2009. No window tint, stock wheels and ride height, halogen headlights etc.










I know I've got some of the interior somewhere.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Here's a picture when it had S4 Avus wheels (that met an untimely end thanks to debris on I66).










And one of the last pictures before Nick bought it, after it had just been cleaned.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Beautiful!!! Love the way it sat in that last pic


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

As promised, some fresh interior pictures. 



































The wood interior trim was swapped for the brushed aluminum in there now, at a later date I learned that the wood (Birch Blonde) was somewhat rare and while I preferred the aluminum, a part of me wishes I had kept the harder to find wood set.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

I definitely like the brushed pieces over the wood.

Here's a bit of today's shenanigans.

Sorting out mounting points and making brackets for the floor.

This is a single actuator and the pivot point that will connect to the floor is too low from the floor right now. It's just clamped in place with a bracket that came with the actuators.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

A little frustrated.

Spent two days trying to get the actuators to work within the confines of the space I have. No luck.

Need more vertical separation between the pivot points.

Which means more metal work UNDER the floor.

So for now it'll be without the actuators.

Trimming everything behind the beige panels with black suede.


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

You could use a spring pin to push the floor up for better leverage on the lid and an electromagnetic solenoid to latch the lid down. A little wiring might save you a bunch of work cutting the floors to lower to actuators. Or use a cam on your upper pivot point to roll the top mount higher in the frame at the very bottom of the actuator stroke. Think like an automatic garage door opener attachment arm.


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## seafish (Aug 1, 2012)

^^^

I know that electric automation is cool and everything, but IMO those actuators were too loud and too jerky

I also realize that you're not looking for anyones advice either (LOL) , but have you though about just using just plain gas spring lift struts with a simple latch to keep on the panel to keep them closed ??

They'd be super quiet and dependable...turn or pull the latch and up it goes...

close it, latch it, done.

Just my .02


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

pwnt by pat said:


> You could use a spring pin to push the floor up for better leverage on the lid and an electromagnetic solenoid to latch the lid down. A little wiring might save you a bunch of work cutting the floors to lower to actuators. Or use a cam on your upper pivot point to roll the top mount higher in the frame at the very bottom of the actuator stroke. Think like an automatic garage door opener attachment arm.


Yup, thought of stuff like that. Have very little space and I've used every bit I can get. 

It's better to get the car wrapped up and I can work on motion while Nick has the car instead of delaying things trying to sort it out.



seafish said:


> ^^^
> 
> I know that electric automation is cool and everything, but IMO those actuators were too loud and too jerky
> 
> ...


Gas struts were a thought, but I don't have the time to invest in them right now. We're planning on being at a meet the 5th.

If actuators had been part of the original build plan I could've easily built them into the design instead of adding them after the baffle is built and backfilled with that 16lb density foam.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Close to wrapping this thing up.

Got the rear bumper cover on and it looked like a complete car again last night. I was making final connections for the relocated EVAP canister here.










This morning I took it out for a shakedown run and fuel. This is going to be amazing to drive with all of the sound treatment it's had.









Cleaned the 2-car bay and moved it back in for final assembly.










Started all of the wiring in the back then took a break and moved up front to mount the MRBF fuse holder.

Had to modify the mounting base of it so it would nest into the stock battery terminals. I love how compact these are.

Most people won't notice it. 










So for the rest of the afternoon it's all amp wiring and tuning.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Time consuming details.

Planning cable routing and cutting the left/right "walls" of the floor before wrapping them in suede.

This amp is comically large. 200 x 4 class AB. It's actually two separate amp boards - that's why I have two sets of power/ground mocked up.
Instead of 200x4 I'll bridge this 4-channel down to two channels and run 875 Watts x 2. That means each coil of the 24 will see 875 Watts at full balls. 1,750 total.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

More progress.

Since the 200.4 is powering the IB-24, I needed to install the terminal cup for it.

The tub walls are 3/16" steel. That means that I have to drill/tap for the terminal cup mounting screws.










I made a new file for different hardware and ran a test on some MDF before moving to delrin.









I'm 6' 1". This sub cutout isn't.



















Doing one hole at a time. The socket head cap screws recess into the face of the terminal cup. 

Stupid detail stuff that no one will ever see.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Tonight's stopping point.

The speaker cables for the subwoofer were fed through the floor I made for the car then through the car's metal floor. Grommet was used, obviously.

A long zip-tie helped here.

Also notice the neoprene layer on the metal floor of the car. This serves as a gasket for the subwoofer and decouples the suede covered floor from the metal floor of the car.



















A little adhesive lined marine heat shrink on the ring terminals.









Ring terminals installed with adhesive lined marine heat shrink, and it's ready to go.










Honestly, a hole with a grommet would've been faster.

But it wouldn't have been cooler.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Gain and crossovers set. No EQ, no time alignment, and no sub.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Sub install.

With a floor jack. 😂


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

JI808 said:


> Gain and crossovers set. No EQ, no time alignment, and no sub.


Almost there !

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

JI808 said:


> More progress.
> 
> Since the 200.4 is powering the IB-24, I needed to install the terminal cup for it.
> 
> ...


Jason i won't say anything but your poor feet are little dirty 
Beautiful work bro!

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

When you start testing that sub I hope to feel it out here in Seattle.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Listened to this yesterday, not going to give too much away, but it's incredible, an amazing vehicle for Nick to demo his company's excellent products and is going to blow some minds!!

Jason, when I sold the car to Nick, something I said to him was that I'm really happy to see it going to a good home. Seeing the time and workmanship you've put into it (a lot of which many won't even see) was great, the little pieces that have been cleaned, adjusted, fixed etc. Excellent. Truly, excellent. Seeing it so well taken care of, knowing Nick and his family will get enjoyment out of it all puts a smile on my face. 

Can't wait to see the Siclone project.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

I’m absolutely tired.

Got it together and put some quick tunes on it so we could hit the VA meet.

Didn’t get the cosmetics of the car 100% complete but Nick and I wanted to let people hear the car anyway. After all, we're listening to the system, not looking at it.

Nick's first impression was "It's like driving a studio". We were rolling at 80 on the highway and Nick said he was talking in a lower voice than he would be at home in his living room.

When we pulled up people started gathering around the car. It was like a post-race scene from Fast and Furious or something.

People really seemed to enjoy it. I had multiple configurations of the front stage and really shocked some people when I let them listen to the car, ask them for feedback, then told them what drivers were playing.

This is going to be a great car. It's pretty decent now, but getting the cosmetic stuff wrapped up in the cargo area and getting more time with the different tunes will make it great.


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

Looks great already. The 24 boggles the mind but those amps are looking mint. Would love to hear it (but I'm in Washington).


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

preston said:


> Looks great already. The 24 boggles the mind but those amps are looking mint. Would love to hear it (but I'm in Washington).


You don't know Jason.
Jason is a master at what he does, his mind is beyond some young punks with vision in mind.

If you talk to him for few minutes you know you're not talking to 5 year old.
This has been a master piece for both of them..

I wish them both the best .. and this is just a a short adventure of Audi and SI demo vehicle 

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I was very impressed with the build and the 24. It was a fairly quick tune that Jason was able to put on it to make it to the meet, but the sub stage was transparent. All the bass was centered up front to include the low frequencies, and it was completely balanced with the front stage set at the SQ position on the Helix Director - dead center on the display. 

It conveyed the sense of the soundstage as it should without ever localizing or making a nuisance of itself. I’m looking forward to my next demo!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Pics from Nick.


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## SQ_Bronco (Jul 31, 2005)

I love this so much. Wish I lived close enough to see/hear it.

Thanks for sharing every step of the way. Great job!


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

I feel very proud to say, Nick has my DSP  

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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

quickaudi07 said:


> I feel very proud to say, Nick has my DSP
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


So it was you that loaned the Mosconi to him for the Passat after the Zapco failed?


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Lol lmao! Good thing he has a Helix 

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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

quickaudi07 said:


> Lol lmao! Good thing he has a Helix
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


Yup, Helix in the Audi and he picked up a MiniDSP with Dirac for the Passat.

I warned him about the Zapco when I went to tune it, but he thought I was just giving him grief.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

I actually talked to him and mentioned Mini DSP Dirac Live. Maybe he listen to me  

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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

JI808 said:


> So it was you that loaned the Mosconi to him for the Passat after the Zapco failed?


No it wasn't me! I never owned Mosconi DSP.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

JI808 said:


> So it was you that loaned the Mosconi to him for the Passat after the Zapco failed?


No it wasn't me! I never owned Mosconi DSP.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Nick posted a video of some 16 Hz pipe organ in the Audi.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Julio got a demo of the car this weekend. A couple of other guys shot video of it as well.

Here's Julio's video. He's not a SQ guy at all, but I still gave him some basic SQ stuff and then let him hear what he was really there for...that 24.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Finally got SPL numbers on the thing. Every basshead that has sat in it asked "What's it meter?"

Now we know.


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## humandrummachine (May 17, 2010)

Very impressive.


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

Cool video ! Install looks great and those SI amps are really cool.

Isn't that a little hard on your ears when shirts and sheet metal is vibrating like that ?


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## DaveG (Jul 24, 2019)

preston said:


> Cool video ! Install looks great and those SI amps are really cool.
> 
> Isn't that a little hard on your ears when shirts and sheet metal is vibrating like that ?


IKR! Saw his ears fluttering too! That thing is violent!


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## SPAZ (Jan 7, 2009)

Amazing. If i could fit a 24 in the car I would after seeing this lol


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Been busy.

A few more videos.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Got this thing back from Line-X.

The 1/2" square tube frame was fully welded then expanded metal was cut/fitted/welded to the frame.

Every. Single. Contact. Point. Welded top and bottom. Hundreds of welds.

Line-X ensures that if, by some-odd chance a weld breaks, it won't rattle at all.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Since the floor is built from 1/2" square tube steel, this allowed me to put squares of 1/2" thick Second Skin Mega Zorbe in under the main section of the false floor to absorb road noise. The cone of the sub was the only thing to block road noise through the hole in the floor.

This doesn't bother the output from the sub and the floor is nice and flat between the frame and Mega Zorbe.









Black foam-backed suede was installed on the entire bottom of the false floor.









Then it's just a matter of the same Mercedes carpet on the top side to finish it off.


















Two 20" 35 lb gas struts were used to raise the floor.









Took it to Stereo Integrity yesterday and met with the owner and crew of Second Skin. They also did a Sundown After Dark episode with Bryan.









I also brought back a nice intake from ECS Tuning that will go on the car.










With the false floor in the car still gets windy and still moves your hair/clothes. 😂 

Had surveyors in front of the house today and they heard it playing as I pulled up. I let them hear it and gave them the windy SPL demo.

"What on earth do you have in this car?"

I opened the hatch and showed them that I was carrying the ECS intake. One of the guys thought that was the enclosure. I removed the intake from the car and they were scratching their heads. Lifted the floor and they were blown away.

This car is a lot of fun. Going to be a ton of fun messing with people now that the floor is in.


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## pwnt by pat (Mar 13, 2006)

How bad was the road noise through the floor? I've been thinking of outside venting my IDW's but the road noise fear is the only thing potentially holding me back.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

pwnt by pat said:


> How bad was the road noise through the floor? I've been thinking of outside venting my IDW's but the road noise fear is the only thing potentially holding me back.


Nothing that was noticed. Just added the Mega Zorbe because it was an additional layer of treatment in an otherwise untreated area.


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## Dan750iL (Jan 16, 2016)

Was Nick in an accident? There is a banner on the SI web page.


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## Notloudenuf (Sep 14, 2008)

Dan750iL said:


> Was Nick in an accident? There is a banner on the SI web page.


Yes. I don't know any details.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Oh wow, well as anyone finds out please keep us informed.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Dan750iL said:


> Was Nick in an accident? There is a banner on the SI web page.



Yes. Him and his son. Son is fine. Nick is hurt pretty bad.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

In the Passat, not the Audi - but had a nice install in the wagon area. He was stopped, she was messing with her phone at 45mph.....airbags didn’t go off for him......I need to remember this whenever I want to futz with my phone......


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Broken sternum for Nick, Tyler is fine.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

So without surgery he is looking at about 10 weeks recovery time. If surgery is needed, add time to that. 


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Coppertone said:


> So without surgery he is looking at about 10 weeks recovery time. If surgery is needed, add time to that.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I went up and visited with him Thursday and the smallest of things is extremely painful. A hiccup, cough, a simple movement with an arm while eating...laughing.

He has a green stripe across his body from the seatbelt.

I asked about whiplash and he said he's been told that with the intensity of pain he's dealing with now, he likely doesn't feel the whiplash.

The car is bent from being crushed between the two vehicles. You can see it in the roof line and along the rear door gaps. Rear doors don't open. His son had to climb through the car and get out through the front.


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## FAUEE (Jul 22, 2010)

JI808 said:


> Yes. Him and his son. Son is fine. Nick is hurt pretty bad.
> 
> 
> View attachment 331829


Looks like Gastonia on 321. Always was afraid that'd be me in that area.


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## mumbles (Jul 26, 2010)

Best wishes to Nick and his son!


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## tfunk182 (Jun 3, 2019)

Is this a daily driver or just a demo/comp car?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

tfunk182 said:


> Is this a daily driver or just a demo/comp car?


A bit of both.


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## tfunk182 (Jun 3, 2019)

JI808 said:


> A bit of both.


Excellent work.


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## tfunk182 (Jun 3, 2019)

Did the added weight affect the gas mileage?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

tfunk182 said:


> Did the added weight affect the gas mileage?


It’s really no different than having another passenger in the car.

Installed a new intake from ECS Tuning yesterday.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I’m not a fan of cold air intakes, but that definitely enhances under hood great job.


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

If the car makes it the NCSQ Meet - there are 5 tracks I just added to my meet disc that I have to hear on this car!


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Coppertone said:


> I’m not a fan of cold air intakes, but that definitely enhances under hood great job.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


This one uses the factory intake location at the front of the engine bay and directs air in. No idea if there’s a performance increase, but I noticed that you can hear the turbo with this one vs the stock intake.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

bertholomey said:


> If the car makes it the NCSQ Meet - there are 5 tracks I just added to my meet disc that I have to hear on this car!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


It will be there. What tracks?


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

I'm sure the answer is here somewhere in this thread but how high (slopes ?) are you running that sub ? I seem to remember the mid-bass are only 6.5" ?


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

JI808 said:


> It will be there. What tracks?


I just added a few from the Dune OST and from Daddy was a Milkman 


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

preston said:


> I'm sure the answer is here somewhere in this thread but how high (slopes ?) are you running that sub ? I seem to remember the mid-bass are only 6.5" ?


I had it on a LR4 at 70. Currently trying a shelf.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Recent photos.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Quite impressive on all fronts.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Coppertone said:


> Quite impressive on all fronts.


We'll break that 150dB barrier soon.


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## JohnnyOhh (Feb 19, 2015)

stealth indeed, then bammo 24" in your face! - dang, 16Hz >> 146db 💚


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## Stycker (Jan 31, 2018)

Makes my 12" SQL's look like midrange speakers


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## Sounds_Insane (8 mo ago)

Stycker said:


> Makes my 12" SQL's look like midrange speakers


That 24 has more cone area than a pair of 18's, or four 12's. That's a lot of air.


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

I want one…… that is bad ass


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

JacobViral saw this forever ago at Seaport Showdown. This was prior to the floor and side cargo panels being 100% done so they weren't installed. I DID have the passenger side cargo panel with me to show people, but left everything exposed with the hatch open to draw attention to the SQ car lost in a sea of SPL builds.

He posted his video yesterday. Lots of editing due to YouTube's copyright algorithm, it seems.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

preston said:


> I'm sure the answer is here somewhere in this thread but how high (slopes ?) are you running that sub ? I seem to remember the mid-bass are only 6.5" ?


Sorry I missed this post. 

70/300/2500 LR4s in the car.

24 playing 70 and down any time it's on.

TM65 MkIVs playing 70-300 or 70-2500 depending on if it's a 3-way or 2-way tune selected

M3 Carbons play 300-2500 as a midrange in the 3-way tune or simply high-passed at 300 when they're ran in a 2-way with the TM65s

M25s are at high-passed at 2500 any time they're playing. 

As an additional note, on the tune where only the TM65s and M3 Carbons are playing (no sub), the 6 1/2s play from 30-300 and the M3 Carbons play 300 and up. I can't stress enough how much I DO NOT suggest crossing the TM65s that low.


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## Freakquency (8 mo ago)

I still LOVE this car. I swear if I get a wagon ever in life...don't care if I'm 55....I'm getting this exact same install done. It makes absolutely no sense to me how good it sounds...just none.

It is both machete and scalpel.

The amount of **** talking I see about it on IG just makes me laugh that much harder knowing that 99.9% of the people talking haven't had the opportunity to hear it nor have they heard anything close.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Freakquency said:


> I still LOVE this car. I swear if I get a wagon ever in life...don't care if I'm 55....I'm getting this exact same install done. It makes absolutely no sense to me how good it sounds...just none.
> 
> It is both machete and scalpel.
> 
> The amount of **** talking I see about it on IG just makes me laugh that much harder knowing that 99.9% of the people talking haven't had the opportunity to hear it nor have they heard anything close.


Thanks, man.

Machete and scalpel is a new description. I've seen someone describe it as a ballet of violence.


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## Freakquency (8 mo ago)

JI808 said:


> Thanks, man.
> 
> Machete and scalpel is a new description. I've seen someone describe it as a ballet of violence.


That was also me lol


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Freakquency said:


> The amount of **** talking I see about it on IG just makes me laugh that much harder knowing that 99.9% of the people talking haven't had the opportunity to hear it nor have they heard anything close.


Oh I always get a kick out of the comments on IG as well, half the time I end up texting Nick to laugh about them. They usually have a theme along the lines of "that sub will get ruined in the rain and the magnet will suck up all the metal in a 5 mile radius"


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## Freakquency (8 mo ago)

naiku said:


> Oh I always get a kick out of the comments on IG as well, half the time I end up texting Nick to laugh about them. They usually have a theme along the lines of "that sub will get ruined in the rain and the magnet will suck up all the metal in a 5 mile radius"


Exactly....I got called a dick rider because i basically spoke to how foolish the comments are and that I've heard it in person unlike pretty much everyone in those damn comments. Ridiculous


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> Oh I always get a kick out of the comments on IG as well, half the time I end up texting Nick to laugh about them. They usually have a theme along the lines of "that sub will get ruined in the rain and the magnet will suck up all the metal in a 5 mile radius"





Freakquency said:


> Exactly....I got called a dick rider because i basically spoke to how foolish the comments are and that I've heard it in person unlike pretty much everyone in those damn comments. Ridiculous


What's crazy is that with all of the stupid, repetitive, snarky comments that people post...when Nick gets snarky back they piss and moan about how he's firing back at them and arguing in the comments.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

It pissed me off when I built the thing because I'd do videos to show people the how/why of what I'm doing and no matter how much I tried to teach people, they wouldn't listen.

I could give them info about the car I'm building and get "yeah, well, I saw so-and-so says blah online so I'm going to believe them". 

It DOES get infuriating when you try to teach/educate people and get constant BS for it.

The big problem with this car is that people simply don't understand it.

All of the things that people say won't work...works.

How many times was I told the 3s in the kicks wouldn't work. Then people hear nothing but the 6s and 3 playing. 

There's a reason that 6/3 no sub tune is on the car.


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## Freakquency (8 mo ago)

JI808 said:


> What's crazy is that with all of the stupid, repetitive, snarky comments that people post...when Nick gets snarky back they piss and moan about how he's firing back at them and arguing in the comments.
> 
> Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
> 
> ...


Nail on the head.

My mind was blown when I learned that the same damn Carbons that I have running in my car were running in the kicks?!....I couldn't wrap my head around it and I was in the damn thing. It was easy to fall in love with the bass side of things but I stopped paying attention to that and focusing on the soundstage, especially learning that everything was below the damn window line yet sounded just as clean and good as everyone else's system (minus mine) at the meet. Madness.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Freakquency said:


> Nail on the head.
> 
> My mind was blown when I learned that the same damn Carbons that I have running in my car were running in the kicks?!....I couldn't wrap my head around it and I was in the damn thing. It was easy to fall in love with the bass side of things but I stopped paying attention to that and focusing on the soundstage, especially learning that everything was below the damn window line yet sounded just as clean and good as everyone else's system (minus mine) at the meet. Madness.


Have you seen what I've been doing with my xB?

"It won't work."


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## Freakquency (8 mo ago)

JI808 said:


> Have you seen what I've been doing with my xB?
> 
> "It won't work."


Yeah...it's a bunch of armchair installers and all that crap. So stupid.


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## Sounds_Insane (8 mo ago)

JI808 said:


> Have you seen what I've been doing with my xB?
> 
> "It won't work."


Your xB build make me kick myself for selling mine. I loved how much room there was for install in that car. There was even space under the front seats, imagine that! 

There is a white '05 down the road for sale, I stopped to check it out and the car is probably 100 pounds lighter than stock because of all the rust. I'm not even sure what is holding the side skirts on at this point. it's too bad. xB's are hit and miss, either people loved them and took good care of them (like I did) or they thought of them as a beater and destroyed them.

I recently posted a pic of mine in the old school thread from it's first install in 2006.


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

JI808 said:


> We'll break that 150dB barrier soon.


yeah that 16hz score made me smile ear to ear

150db at 10hz lmao , I would be ****in thrilled


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

oabeieo said:


> yeah that 16hz score made me smile ear to ear
> 
> 150db at 10hz lmao , I would be ****in thrilled


I’m thinking 150 at 10Hz is beyond what the car will do. 150dB at 16Hz should come easy.


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

JI808 said:


> I’m thinking 150 at 10Hz is beyond what the car will do. 150dB at 16Hz should come easy.


i was kidding , 16hz is low enough.

that’s absolutely silly amounts of low bass….

does the dash jello out ?


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

oabeieo said:


> i was kidding , 16hz is low enough.
> 
> that’s absolutely silly amounts of low bass….
> 
> does the dash jello out ?


We're currently at 130dB at 7Hz. 

I've seen movement, but can't really tell if it's my eyes or the dash. When you look at the head unit it appears to move, but again...could be the eyes.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> Have you seen what I've been doing with my xB?


I was just wondering how the xB was going, I have not seen many updates recently. Looking forward to getting together again sometime next year and seeing the progress with it.


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

naiku said:


> I was just wondering how the xB was going, I have not seen many updates recently. Looking forward to getting together again sometime next year and seeing the progress with it.


Haven’t messed with it much. So much other stuff going on. I may make the February meet in Pulaski.


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## juvehab (Oct 14, 2010)

whats the IG account?


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

JI808 said:


> I may make the February meet in Pulaski.


Nice. Hopefully you can make it, and hopefully, even though I know it'll be cold, the weather will be at least cooperative!


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

juvehab said:


> whats the IG account?


@stereointegrity

@batdoggarage is "JI808" here.









Project Siclone


Neat finish idea, Jason




www.diymobileaudio.com


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## JI808 (Nov 20, 2013)

Bruce (OG Magnum) got a demo earlier this year:


__
http://instagr.am/p/CmcHAzQvn9K/


__
http://instagr.am/p/CmcHt9WLPcQ/


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## Freakquency (8 mo ago)

When you get Bruce grinning, that lets you know something


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

So , I would totally rock that sub IB , fully vented , fully exposed , and let snow and **** get on it , I wouldn’t care ….. I bet it can handle it for one , and for two , if something happens , just swap it ….. I ain’t no broke n***a 

that sub is the baddest ever

I so badly want one….. and done just like that….


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