Phoenix Gold Phorum

Things are finally slowing down a bit so I thought I'ld share some pics of what I've been up to lately.

I recently finished (well almost) this install for a good friend of mine, Charlie. He has a solid car audio background and once was an installer for Mike McNae. He now works for a home theater company doing very high end systems (like million dollar systems ) So basically the goals for this system were: keep it very clean and integrated (wiring included), make it sound fantastic, and keep at least half of the trunk functional & durable (hence the carpeted finish).

The later proved to be a challenge as I decided to go with 3-12's and two very large amplifiers. I had the car for three weeks, but was only able to really work on it for about ten days total. I wish I could have done a little more custom work, but the Audi had many obstacles of it's own that really limited and challenged me for time. The end result has what I like to call a "90's" feel to it, which is exactly what Charlie wanted and I'm glad he's happy with the outcome

Well enough babling.. on to some pics

Making the sub box







Getting some ideas



This is where the factory Nav/changer/amplifier reside. All of these were removed and this became a usable storage space



working some more on the box

Working on the amp rack

















It was getting pretty tricky at this point. Getting the two amps to fit in front of the sub box, AND still allow the whole rack to lift and allow access to the spare was a challenge. Wire management was very important here. There's enough slack with each cable to allow mobility of the rack. It's not fun, but it is still possible to remove the spare if need be. Here you can also see that nearly every cable in the system has been Flexed and heat shrinked.

Getting the xover wired up.. HEY IT'S EVEN PG

The doors have tuned enclosures for the Bose mids. A fair amount of modification was done to get the Elite's to fit. Nothing fancy to look at as the final product is hidden behind the door panel, but it was a lot of work nevertheless.



































These drivers have had a long, active life so I didn't feel too bad about mounting them this way

Charlie made a nice choice for a source. Pioneer's AVIC920BT. There's no plug and play dash kit for this vehicle so 1/8th inch aluminum was used for mounting brackets. This was then screwed into the dash's sub frame (also aluminum) and she was solid as a rock. Furthermore, a custom trim panel had to be made for the front fascia. This was started with wood and body filler was then used to trim the deck perfectly. Notice how the trim panel flows with the buttons that protude outward. This was then finished with SEM black. To the eye, the black finish matches the rest of the vehicle's instruments better than what the pictures show.

































Anyone who has installed one of these big bad boy multimedia decks knows that the wiring can get out of control real quick, so a lot of time was spent trying to keep it as clean as possible

lots of nice work there. especially the tuned pods!

making the trim for the amps









And here's where it's at right now. Still to come are: Aluminum grills and paint matched trim rings around the subs

OMG that is so great want to come to calgary and install a jetta..lol
looks great

never been a kicker fan but it is a clean install.

kg1961 wrote: OMG that is so great want to come to calgary and install a jetta..lol
looks great

Haha! I wish I could man. That would be fitting as I've been doing a bunch of V-dubs lately for some reason..lol

ttocs wrote:never been a kicker fan but it is a clean install.

Thanks man! I don't like the Kicker of late, but these amps are truly amazing IMO. These will walk all over the new Kicker in terms of SQ, and to be honest, I'ld put them right up there with some of the best sounding amps around. The XS/ZR line would definitely be in my top 5 for favorite amps I've had experience with.

Nice work Shawn , very clean and the gear installed looks great.

^^ Thank you sir!

Here's the making of the grills for the subs. Again 1/8" aluminum was used. I tried to match the pattern of the oem wheels as much as possible. It took me about an hour and a half just to get the drawing to look right with correct proportions These will be appoxied onto the rings once the rings are painted. Only one has been made so far. The other two are about half done. I don't have a heated garage to work in so we'll see when they get finished It was about 8pm and 40 degrees (faranheit) when I completed this first one. My hands were frozen and it just wasn't safe to continue with the the other two

Wow, what a bad ass install! I love the "90's" style. Super neat and tidy.

Great job!

Thanks man! Charlie was an installer a good decade or more ago. This is what he's use to, and exactly how he likes it. Plus he still has a fair amount of trunk space left for stuff. I'm not the biggest fan of carpet, but lately these installs required it for form & function. He's happy so I'm happy

nice job shawn.

^ Thanks a bunch!

nice, real pro job!

you got some Sirius talent there bud. Really like the pics

Thanks for the kind words guys

Obviously you have no idea what your are doing.

Ahsmo wrote:Obviously you have no idea what your are doing.

agreed, don't quit yer day job.

The aluminum grills are cool...how long did it take to router that out...not the whole design process...but how slow do you need to go?
Doubleside sticky tape to hold to mdf?

I have used sticky tape for alot of router projects. Use the 3m stuff and you will need to be carefull how much you put down for fear of not getting them apart.

I'm a "stay@homedad" so I don't plan on quiting my "day job" anytime soon

Working with aluminum is all about patience and definitely takes time. When making trim pieces or grills like these, I personally find it best to first rough cut the pattern using a jig saw with a metal cutting blade and go slow & steady. The blades won't last very long on 1/8" aluminum however. So don't be stingy and just pop a new blade in when you feel like you're having to force the saw too much. You could use some WD40 while cutting and get a little more life out of the blade, but I didn't bother with it here. I basically went through four blades ( $8 ) for these three grills, but it is what it is. The next key comes when routering. I find it works well to start with an oversized bearing on the flush bit. Never cut more than 1/16" at a time and spray the bit with WD40 for every 5-10 seconds worth of cutting. This takes a bit of time, but seems to work for me anyway and at the same time extends the life of the bit.

And yeah, I usually use either 3M (black not white) or Kent double sided tape to hold the jig and aluminum (or whatever) together. Don't be stingy here either. Form experience I can tell you the last thing you want is the have the piece you are working on "walk" on you when routering because there's not enough adhesive holding the two pieces together

FWIW: Just one grill took close to one & a half hours from rough cut to the finished beveled product. This doesn't include the time it took to make the jig either. I only have one router table (and it's a pretty basic one at that) set up right now, so a fair amount of time was lost just changing bits & bearings however. I'm sure I could have knocked off a good half hour with the set up I had in my old bay.