I'm thinking about doing the following to my coupe:

-JL 10W7-3 in custom sealed enclosure
-JL 500/1 monoblock
-JL 450/4
-MB QSD 216 front
-MB PCE 216 rear
-Dynamat the doors, rear quarter panels, trunk, rear deck
-Remove the stock 6x9s

This should give me some great sound and with the use of one 10W7-3 give me enough bass without sacrificing my spare tire. I'm thinking about getting this done at a reputable shop except for the components/coaxials since they are ~$1300 a pair at such shops. I've seen sub $600 prices for these on the internet, but not sure if these are the real deal. Anyone know of a good site that sells the genuine MB Q and Premium series for a good price? Also anyone who have installed the MBs know about their mounting depth? I'm trying to use the stock grills and don't want shops to cut or rip anything inside my car to get these in. I think I've read somewhere that 62-63mm is the clearance on the front doors and a bit less in the rear. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks,

Shibalz

 

That would be a great system. Dont worry about the mounting depth on those speakers. I doubt there will be any issues. My speakers up front were about 61 mm and the speakers i used for the rear were the same. There were no fitment issues with the speakers.

With such a high quality system like the one you are going to install, you might want to put in a new head unit. Your head unit will severly limit the sound quality of your $3000+ system.

Check out the following thread for more info:

https://g35driver.com/forums/showfla...&part=all&vc=1

 

Point well taken. I do agree the speaker/amp setup will cause the head unit to be the botteleneck in terms of aural performance. After reading about the Double DIN issue, I may wait a bit on the head unit and see if some domestic aftermarket companies will start importing the retrofit kit and sell it here for a cheaper price. $400 for some metal cages, brackets, and plastic panels, with that AC/radio control PCB to me is a bit crazy. Then again dropping mad l3wt on stereo equipment can also be viewed as crazy... so to each his own. :P

Shibalz

씨발 Z: 코리안 프라이드
'04 TB 6MT Graphite: Aero Pkg, Premium

 

Hey shibal,
Took me a while to realize what your name stood for. :-)

Here's my two cents:
Save a few bucks and go with a decent set of coaxials in the back. If you go with comps, make sure that the tweeters are positioned to the rear so that you don't get any cancellation, etc.

Amp choices are great. I have the same myself.

In terms of clearance issues, I had to put in spacers both front and rear for proper clearance with my QM's and DKD Quarts. The stock speakers have a ~2" plastic spacer that gives them enough clearance. The audio shop will have those if you need them.

10w7 will be awesome with the 500/1. They're heavy sumb*tches but well worth the weight. You might try woofer's etc.com for them. They are not authorized (no online dealer is authorized) but they have the real stuff. You might also try to talk a shop down in price. I got my 12w7 for $600. You could probably get a 10 for $500 if a shop is willing to deal.

Dynamat: dynamat the rear tire wells also. A lot of road noise come through them even though the factory has put some deadening material on them already. Besides dynamating the rear deck, I got some foam packaging and taped them to the underside of the deck cover. That helps the cover from rattling against the steel deck.

Hope all of this helps and good luck. Let us know if you have any other questions.

 

Cool thanks for the suggestions. This is exactly what I need. I looked at the amp dimensions and I think I can fit the 450/4 on the rear seat back but there won't be room for the 500/1. How did you have your amps mounted? I'm trying to save the spare tire so I don't see grabbing that space as an option.

I think putting some extra insulation in the rear deck is a good idea since the 10W7 will probably rock the hell out of it. And I hear ya on dynamatting the rear wheel wells.

I'm still hazy on which online source would be a good place to get the MB Quart QSD components. Any suggestions? I've got woofersetc.com on my favorites so I'll check them out on the JL stuff. They also sell the MB stuff as well. Anybody have reviews of woofersetc.com for their MB stuff?

The PCE 216s are MB's premium line components, but they can be converted to coaxials with the tweeter mounts. Some audio guy told me that you can go with cheaper coaxials in the rear to simply rear fill the car with sound, but a friend told me that you want to go with similar quality coaxials in the back to match the quality up front. Who's right on this?

Also, can you go over that tweeter placement with me again? I'm assuming that you don't want the rear tweets facing forward toward the front of the car?

Thanks,

Shibal Z

씨발 Z: 코리안 프라이드
'04 TB 6MT Graphite: Aero Pkg, Premium

 

I've got the 450/4 mounted on the seatback with my crossovers on the sides. When you mount it back there, make sure that you put washers or a larger wood block to keep the amp from ripping through the very thin fiber board. I just took some 1/4 wood blocks for the backing. The 450/4 is heavy.

I'm getting a custom box made for my Infinity Perfect VQ 10d. I'm going to mount the 500/1 directly on to the back of the box to save room.

In terms of the rear speakers, who is right depends on what you are looking for. If you are geared towards sound quality (SQ), the audio guy is right. To get the utmost SQ, skip rear speakers except for your sub altogether. If you must go with rear speakers, a decent quality coax will do a good job and because of the tweeter positioning, they won't interfere too much with the fronts. Again, if you go with comps, in the rear point the tweeters to the rear of the car for best results up front.

QSD's: I'd get them from a reputable seller on ebay. I got my qm' and my buds qm's off of ebay without a hitch. About 1/2 of retail.

 

Are you sure a 500/1 will be enough to push 3 w7's? I may be mistaken but I do believe the 10w7's are rated at 1000w each. I'm pushing 2 10w6's with a 1000/1 right now and it sounds great. If it's a money issue on the amps you might be better off doing 3 10w3's with the 500/1 it'll be much louder. The only way you'll get the w7's to be louder is if you have the proper amount of power to push them to or near their peak. Or if you just wanna be able to tell people you have w7's than I guess just continue with your plan, but you won't be getting all you can get out of those subs. And you may be disappointed when some kid rolls straight out of Best Buy and blows your doors off with his cheapy Fosgates.

-Kawika


P.S.
For those who care. I drive a Silver Sedan 6MT CA license plate "KRZ HAYN" = "Krazy Hawaiian". A "Shaka" is always welcome.

 

Another heads up. I don't know if the Coupes are the same, but in the Sedans the rear deck is doubled, meaning there's 2 layers of metal. I'm guessing it's for added reinforcement. You may wanna point that out to the installers and if so be sure they squeeze some silicone between the the 2 layers and apply the Dynomat to both the top and the bottom of the deck to dampen it as much as possible. Even to the extent that I went thru with this procedure I still have a little rattle at high volumes, fortunately only to be heard from the inside of the car.

-Kawika


P.S.
For those who care. I drive a Silver Sedan 6MT CA license plate "KRZ HAYN" = "Krazy Hawaiian". A "Shaka" is always welcome.

 

the 10w7-3 is just the name of 1 10w7. The 3 is for 3 ohms. It's rated at 500 watts rms and 1000 watts max I believe. He's not going to run 3 of them.

 

al503, hook me up with your ebay connection to see if he has a pair of MB QSD 216 and a pair of MB PCE 216 he can sell for a good price. PM me the info. Thanks for the tip on the 450/4 block. I saw that unit at a audio shop the other day and it's HUGE!

As for Kawika's comment, I'm only putting in a single 10W7. The 500/1 is perfect for it as stated on JL's website and owner's manual.

From reading another thread, I am intrigued on the stealth idea and having my sub and amps put into color matching enclosures and falsed into the walls of the trunk. I like listening to good music, but not interested in advertising my setup to all passerbys everytime I open the trunk.

Shibal Z

씨발 Z: 코리안 프라이드
'04 TB 6MT Graphite: Aero Pkg, Premium

 

From some additional research and talking with a few installers I've decided to change my setup to the following:

-MB Quart QSD216 Components up front
-MB Quart QSD164 Midbass Add-Ons for the rear
-10W7-3 OR Two 10W6v2 subs in sealed enclosure
-JL Audio 500/1 to power the sub(s)
-JL Audio 450/4 to power the speakers

Any comments, suggestions, opinions appreciated.

I've also heard the new Boston Acoustics Z6 is HOT. Anyone has any comments on these components?

Regards,

Shibal Z

'04 TB 6MT Graphite: Aero Pkg, Premium