# Quick log: 2012 Mercedes C63 AMG - Simple Stealth SQ - Morel Mobridge ARC Mosconi AM



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Lately we seem to have been working on a swath of late model german cars...but for the most part it has been products from audi porsche and bmw...mercedes seems to be a bit left out 

Luckily for us, one of our previous customers with a C55AMG has upgraded to a newer 2012 C63 AMG, and it was decided that we would transfer most of the system from that car to this one.

The difference between that system this system is mostly signal source and subwoofer. With this car's premium system, we decided to utilize a Mobridge DA2 MOST optical preamp to provide a pure signal source, and because we are retaining the spare this time around, we decided to switch to a single 10" sub versus the previous car's dual 10s. 

the goals:

1. achieve a nice level of sound quality while utilizing oem locations
2. maintain a fully usable trunk and retain the spare tire
3. keep all the equipment as far out of sit as possible to obtain a stealthy appearance. 

lets get started  all the world was performed by Jesse, while i did the final tweaking and tuning.

first up, the car, with its beefy appearance and of course, performance to match 



















the Morel tempo ultra 602 component set was retained from the previous install and mounted to the oem locations in the doors. first, new speaker wires were run into the doors, the outer door skin received some blackhole tiles, and the inner door got some cld attention, especially around the speaker mounting spot:










then the rest of the door was sealed and insulated with a layer of focal bam:










see fabricated some speaker mounting adapter rings and coated them with several layers of truck bedliner to protect them against the elements:



















the morel tempo ultra midbasses were then installed:



















the inside of the door card was also sound proofed with CLD:










the same treatment then went onto the passenger side door:





































while the morel tempo ultra tweeters were installed in the factory mounting location in the sails:










so thats the front stage, the only other alteration to the interior was that the oem sub on the rear deck was removed, and the rear deck sound proofed:










moving onto the trunk. as mentioned the goal was to keep things as tucked out of the way as possible. and to that end, here is the normal view looking from the back of the car standing at normal height...as you can see, looks very oem ish:










on the driver side, jesse removed his oem carpeted door which access the oem amp, and isntead, there is anow a vinyl trimmed grille with a press fit grille. behind it, peeks a single audiomobile EVO 2410 10" subwoofer. the camera and the lighting actually shows the sub more through the grille mesh than the naked eye. it is very hidden and takes up zero trunk space 




























if you kneel down and look up at the ceiling the trunk, you will see a simple rack housing an arc audio xdiv2 1100.5 amp, the mobridge DA2 and a mosconi 4to6dsp. the arc sends 150 watts x 4 active upfront, and 500 watts to the AM sub, while the dsp provides all the control for the system. simple, straightforward and stealthy:



















a few more shots of the components in the trunk:




























lets move onto the build pics of the sub enclosure. the amp rack is a simple board so not much to see. 

first, with the carpet removed here is what the area looks like behind it, with the stock bose amp taking up most of the space:










the stock amp was removed and CLD damper and foam laid down in the area:










then, jesse pieced together a very uniquely shaped enclosure of about .5 cubic foot let using many many pieces of mdf, bonded together using ca glue, and then reinforced from the inside with fiberglass. the front baffle was then attached, and final shaping and sanding performed to achieve a precise fit with the shapes of the car. and the front fascia painted black. this looks somehwat simple, but took a good day to figure out and construct:




























this was then bolted to the car using the oem amp mounting points, wired up, and the inside stuffed with blackhole stuff:










this is the vinyled border and pressed grill bonded together, before and after being bonded to the factory carpet:




























so thats it...a very simple sq build...but honestly, i really enjoy these types of projects. I think it really takes away so little of the car's utility and appearance while providing a drastic improvement in overall listening enjoyment.

so how does it sound?

truth be told, i was kinda expected it to sound like the c55 he had previously as it shared very similar components...maybe with a bit less bass. but i was really blown away.

for one thing, this car is far more solidly built with virtually no rattles or buzzes of any type...this already made for a very very quiet listening environment.

imaging and stating were very good, perhaps even better than the c55, with above average center, width, height and depth.

tonality wise, it was for sure a step above the c55, perhaps once again due to the interior difference. the midbass was very impactful and blends with the midrange and highs superbly, with just the right amounht of detail and finess. even the single audiomobile evo 10 surprised me...compared to his previous set up with dual audiomobile GTS10s, this set up didnt give up much on extension or impact, and perhaps just 30 percent or so on overall volume...maybe even less. someo f that has to do of course with the fact that the previous set up, despite having two subs, still ran the same amp with the same power, but i also feel this car was able to port the bass into the cabin a little better than the other car.

so i would say overall, this is for sure a step up in audio performance than the c55, so i guess that matches with the actual performance of the car swap as well. 


so thats it for a quick build log...cheers! 

Bing


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## Yawar538 (Aug 28, 2013)

*Re: Quick log: 2012 Mercedes C664 AMG - Simple Stealth SQ - Morel Mobridge ARC Moscon*

Pretty clean work yet again. Phenomenal install. Keep it up SiS


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## aholland1198 (Oct 7, 2009)

Do you get any audible noise using the factory source/mobridge setup?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## strakele (Mar 2, 2009)

Nice work as always. I really like these cars. How difficult was it to work on compared to stuff like Subarus?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

aholland1198 said:


> Do you get any audible noise using the factory source/mobridge setup?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


to be honest, all the cars we have used the mobridge units on has been superb...very quiet, very nice level of output voltage and just sounds really really good. i would easily put them on par with a good aftermarket headunit. its great as it converts cars, previous impossible to obtain a good signal from due to the integrated hu and amps, into great audio signal source cars


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

strakele said:


> Nice work as always. I really like these cars. How difficult was it to work on compared to stuff like Subarus?


like all cars, once you get used to them, they arent terrible.

i used to say german cars sucks compared to japanese cars, and a few specific brands would make cars that are great to take apart. 

however, with the newer german cars, it has gotten better to take apart. on this particular car, i would say the rear deck removal was perhaps the biggest pain, aside from that, it wasnt any worse than a japanese car.

subarus...are good in some aspects and not so great in others...chief among the bad parts are the clips that hold ends of the door sill trims, they are hard to get off and are fragile.


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## tjswarbrick (Nov 27, 2013)

Another nice clean build guys. And good to see another successful mobridge implementation.
Your grille in the trunk looks awfully familiar...
But to save space and maintain output you should have mounted that 10 up front!


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## JoeHemi57 (Mar 28, 2006)

These are some of the exact components i have been looking at for my next build. The Tempo Ultra are at the top of my component set list but don't know how much they go for. Glad to hear they are plenty capable.


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## vwjmkv (Apr 23, 2011)

awesome build. this guy is using similar gear that I'm thinking about. a 6channel for 3way front stage and a mono for the bass. keep it up SIS


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## Vidar (Jan 13, 2015)

Nice and clean, as always! 

Out of pure curiosity, why a mdf enclosure and not a fiberglass one?


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## klapkakid (Jul 24, 2011)

Incredible work! 
I have a 2013 that I'm looking to upgrade. The issue on the MB forums has been the Harmon Kardon amplifier. It looks like the Mobridge DA1 is a possibility if I use a nice DSP. Can you confirm that the Mobridge product works with H/K? You had called the amplifier bose but idk if that's a mistake. Thanks!

Are volume controls through the factory HU or through a mosconi controller?


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## DLO13 (Oct 24, 2010)

klapkakid said:


> Incredible work!
> I have a 2013 that I'm looking to upgrade. The issue on the MB forums has been the Harmon Kardon amplifier. It looks like the Mobridge DA1 is a possibility if I use a nice DSP. Can you confirm that the Mobridge product works with H/K? You had called the amplifier bose but idk if that's a mistake. Thanks!
> 
> Are volume controls through the factory HU or through a mosconi controller?


Vehicle Compatibility Guide | mObridge


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

At first I got excited because I thought this was going to be the build log for your car, Bing. lol

Jay


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

I ain't got no c63 ??

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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

I totally just saw Mercedes, AMG and Simplicityinsound. I JUST saw that it was a C class.

lol

Jay


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## ageggatt24 (Aug 17, 2012)

Amazing work. So clean


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

thanks! this forever will be one of those totally unexpected nice sounding cars. i mean i dont know what it was, but compared to the car the gear was in, the c55, this is like night and say better in all aspects.


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## ATXcyclist (Sep 19, 2020)

Super clean install. I love it. I am doing a SQ stealth install on my BMW M3 and hope mine comes out as clean looking and sounding.


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