Audi S4 Avant - Alpine, PG, Focal, ID (pic heavy)

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:20 am

I thought it was about time I let you know how my install is going. I've posted far too many pictures in my build thread over on Talk Audio, so I'll just put up a few random ones to give you an idea how it's taking shape.

Due to limitations on free time I've been at this for about 18 months, and it's the most complex system I've ever put together, but it'll be finished eventually

An Alpine 7944 head unit and CHA 624 changer will feed optically to a H700. This will throw the signals at a fleet of bridged ZX amps; a ZX450 running the Focal K2 mids & tweets (passively filtered), a pair of ZX350's, each running two Focal 13KS in the door enclosures, and a ZX500 running a 12" IDmax.

Post by **ttocs** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:54 am

lookin good mang! I too am taking on a long-term install that is well over my head. I was hoping to have it finished by the end of summer, not so sure that will happen anymore but sooner then later it will be done and rockin... Till then I have had my headphones with me in my car..........

Epoch · Post by **Epoch** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 12:41 pm

I was reading through this the other night on TA, great summary here though.

Really loving the sub and door enclosures and the layout of the finery

Shaping up to be a cracking looking project

the best bit's still to come... the listening

Jon

Epoch · Post by **Epoch** » Sun Apr 22, 2012 1:32 pm

Oh, what gauge of wire is your remote lead, looks perfect for the DD5 block (about as fat as you can go)?

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:38 am

Epoch wrote:Oh, what gauge of wire is your remote lead, looks perfect for the DD5 block (about as fat as you can go)?

Erm, I'm not actually sure. It was a roll of Halfords stuff I had lying around, rated at 8 Amps so way overkill! Comparing it to some other wires I'd say about 1.5mm or ~ 16 gauge.

Epoch · Post by **Epoch** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:25 am

paintguy wrote:
Epoch wrote:Oh, what gauge of wire is your remote lead, looks perfect for the DD5 block (about as fat as you can go)?
Erm, I'm not actually sure. It was a roll of Halfords stuff I had lying around, rated at 8 Amps so way overkill! Comparing it to some other wires I'd say about 1.5mm or ~ 16 gauge.

Lol cheers, I prefer the look of thicker remote wires (while needless it's part of a pure personal preference for symmetry, uniformity and over engineering for looks)

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:30 am

I would guess 16 awg.

marko · Post by **marko** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:47 am

lovin it, really coming on leaps and bounds now! all the hard work will some be paying off, we'll have to have a tune up session when your done, get nath involved too and get this puppy singing!!

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:29 am

Sounds good to me Mark - if you'll excuse the pun

I haven't even started on the A pillars yet, but they shouldn't take long as I've got a spare set already, plus all the materials I need. Still can't decide whether to just aim them like yours, or get all the wiring finished so I can power them up and play with angles.

It'll probably be the latter anyway, as I haven't got the room to work on more than one thing at a time. My shed is completely rammed at the minute with masses of cable, braiding, connectors, tie wraps, you name it. I haven't got space to do the pillars even if I wanted to!

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:03 am

looking good!!

I know what a huge job a big install can be........

SilverGT · Post by **SilverGT** » Sat May 05, 2012 3:14 pm

looks great man. should be a clean install when done. hope mine can look this good.

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Sat May 05, 2012 11:04 pm

Thanks guys.

I've been doing a bit of sound deadening lately, even though the Audi is pretty quiet as it is, and I'm still patiently cracking on with the cabling. I get very little time to spend on the install so it's taking a long time, but I'm getting there

Post by **ttocs** » Sun May 06, 2012 7:47 am

Its been too long, are the audi's interiors as tight to put back together as bimmers are? Some of those barely go back together after you tuck an rca cable under the carpet let alone sound damping. My second skin order is supposed to be here wed(damplifier, luxury liner pro and thermal block), hope to have the interior stripped and ready by then.

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Sun May 06, 2012 8:01 am

I'll let you know over the next couple of days!

This is how I'm rollin' at the minute

No carpets, and just the drivers seat!

I'm laying the last of the cables as we speak (popped in for a cup of tea), then I'm going to try and get the carpet back in. It was really hard to get out as it's backed by inches of foam in places, and has a layer of MLV bonded to it. Apart from the damping layer there isn't a lot of room for other deadening products (nor is there much need) but I'll be getting some thin CCF in wherever possible, and hopefully squeeze some luxury liner pro against the bulkhead/firewall.

Let's hope it still goes back together after that

Post by **ttocs** » Sun May 06, 2012 9:47 am

oh hell doing mlv too that could be fun to put back together. One advantage the mustang has over the imports for sure but I am replacing my carpet. Because I took out the back seat and will be putting equipment on the floor behind the seats I am just buying some regular black carpet to glue too the luxery liner.

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Mon May 07, 2012 7:10 am

Ah well, it only took me 2½ hours to get the carpet back in!

You were right - it was very tight indeed. I had to trim the foam in places where I'd laid new wiring, especially the 0AWG. Now to see if all of the plastic trim pieces fit!

Epoch · Post by **Epoch** » Mon May 07, 2012 7:25 am

Home run now, you'll soon be enjoying the endless nights of listening and tweaking:)

Post by **ttocs** » Mon May 07, 2012 7:42 am

yea I thought it was pretty well form-fitted and that the mlv would make it harder then hard....

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Sun May 13, 2012 10:35 am

Further to my post about RDDP to RMD, I made this little trinket up today

Which fits into the centre console with the LPL just in front. It's partly hidden under a folding armrest, but there's a stealth cover for when the car is parked up.

I have a plan to fill the rest of that panel with LED's in the future, replicating the power, thermal and overload ones on top of the four amps. In theory that's easy enough given that the amps already have the pin outs, but building it onto a PCB with RJ45 connectors would be the neatest solution. That's way above my skill level at the minute so it'll have to wait.

All the wiring is in bar hooking the main power cable up to the battery. I'm looking for a suitable fuse holder that will fit near enough to the positive terminal. There ain't much space under there!

H700 controller is now fitted, as is the head unit. A bit of an aiming session for the mids and we're just about done

Epoch · Post by **Epoch** » Sun May 13, 2012 12:41 pm

So close i bet you can almost hear it!

I like the information to the drivers seat planning too (when you get your status LED's)

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Sun May 13, 2012 1:21 pm

It's unlikely that I'm ever going to see more than 4 power LED's glowing at me, but the facility is there so I may as well make use of it

Plan is to get the thing making a noise, hopefully get Marko & Nath over to have a listen and see if I need to tweak the mid & tweet angles a bit ( and point out any glaring installation errors

), then finished off the fabrication and trimming of the front end.

Doesn't sound like much, but I'm sure it'll drag on a while longer yet!

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:32 am

I've been working lots of extra hours lately bringing in the pennies, but I've managed to get one of the door builds virtually finished

Just need to decide on a trimming material now. I'd originally planned on factory matching vinyl (a very dark blue) but having seen them in the car I'm wondering if black suede / alcantara would look better.

marko · Post by **marko** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:17 am

they look the dogs watsits, I like the stepped bit too and everything flows nicely

paintguy · Post by **paintguy** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:46 am

Cheers Mark.

The stepped bit started off as a necessity - the seats would catch if it wasn't stepped in like that at the bottom - but I decided to carry it on and make it a feature. I think I'll still need to modify the seat height handle though as it's pretty bulky, and is likely to foul the front part.

If only I could remember where I put it....

Post by **ttocs** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:56 am

I know that feeling..... Where the hell is that thingamabober?