Audio Upgrade to BASE, 6 speaker sys in my 2006 M35

[marietta_ken]

Been doing all the obligatory research. Liked MYCROSS3's side of trunk mount best after all considerations. Since my factory sys is such the crappy model (though nicely simple w/o Bose stuff), I decided to go ahead and do a fully powered system. I just ordered all the components. Here's what I chose and why:

2 pairs of Infinity 6032cf's for front and rear doors. Went with these vs the shallow mount 6032si to hopefully have a bit more mid pop. Plan to cut out the factory speaker and use its frame to mount to accomodate extra depth -- as others have done. Good value. 2 Ohm.

1 pair of Infinity 1031t silk dome tweeters. Others have successfully installed these in factory location, so no risk there. I also like Infinity highs.

1 JL Audio 10W3V3-2 subwoofer. This is a 2 Ohm, pretty badass woofer for not too much. The reason cared about the 2 Ohm is that the amp I chose is 5 channel and can drive the 2 Ohm woofer at the higer power the W3 series likes. I considered the 10W1 series, which is 4 Ohm and not available as a 2 Ohm. Probably would have been fine, but for only about $60 more I decided to just get the more legit sub.

Alpine MRX-60V 5 channel amp. D Class, so small and cool running. Has all power I need. Handles the 2 Ohm loads. Accepts speaker level inputs, which simplifies and cleans things up a bit.

I'm a pretty handy craftsman, so I plan to build a sealed box enclosure to take as little space as possible in the right side of my trunk. I'll be covering the face plate with matching black carpet and trying to make all surfaces match very cleanly. I'll be installing the JL grill to eliminate any concerns about the trashing the sub when putting stuff in the trunk. Overall goal is to make a minimal visual impact on the trunk/car and get some inspiring sound where there currently is none.

Will update over the next few weeks as I get this stuff in.

BTW, total nut after some shopping around is just over $600.

[marietta_ken]

Oh yeah, I went with a 10" sub not only to keep the box size reasonable, but also because I'm figuring that'll give me a little more punchy bass (my preference) than the boomy sound I imagine comes from the bigger subs. I even considered the 8" JL W3 as it has consistently outstanding reviews. Chickened out as I didn't want to go to all the trouble to build the box and end up feeling the sub was a little to puny. Also, I had concerns about the all-in-one amp being able to adequately drive a 12" sub.

[a.blanco0905]

Good stuff Ken, keep us posted!!!

[marietta_ken]

Good stuff Ken, keep us posted!!!

Thanks, man. I've just been studying the heck out of fiberglassing a corner box. That's what I would really like to do for an optimal fit. If I do choose to give that a whirl, I suspect it might be one of those PIA jobs that you do once, check the box, and never do again -- ha!

Seriously though, I like learning new stuff and working with my hands to build things. We'll see...

[Hutty985]

You're going to be very happy with the sub... The W3V3 series in my opinion is the bet sounding(unless you do competitions). I've had 3(2 10's in my M45 and 1 12 in my truck. Very happy with the sound and punch.

[marietta_ken]

You're going to be very happy with the sub... The W3V3 series in my opinion is the bet sounding(unless you do competitions). I've had 3(2 10's in my M45 and 1 12 in my truck. Very happy with the sound and punch.

Thanks. Seems like a safe bet for what I want. My only concern is whether the 300W sub channel on my amp will drive it well enough. Based on JL's spec materials, it seems I should be OK. Do you agree?

[cruzad3r]

i just swapped my stock Bose to the 6032cf and I like it. if there's a way we can intergrate an eq into this system, that will help a lot

[marietta_ken]

Got the front door speakers and tweeters installed. Sounds better already. Can't wait to get the extra power behind them, and especially the sub I'm installing. Got the custom (fiberglass) sub box underway yesterday. This is my first time messing with fiberglass, but I think it's coming out well. Put two layers of glass down, then took it out of the car for the remainder of the build. Here are a couple of pics. One shows the back of the box, the other shows the inside of the back wall in a test fit placement done just after taking it out and removing the tape.

[marietta_ken]

This is a test fit before fiberglassing and carpeting the front. What you see is grill cloth stretched over the MDF rings. I'm hoping that the glass and carpet build up to just about a perfect fit along the lines on the left side.

[sunoco]

Hey Ken, very excited to see the end result of this. If all turns out well, would you be interested in doing another? LOL. I live in Newnan. I'll buy you lunch or someting man!!!! Ive been wanting to do this for a while.

Do you have an idea of the volume once the box is complete?
Where will the amp be located?

[06M4.5]

i just swapped my stock Bose to the 6032cf and I like it. if there's a way we can intergrate an eq into this system, that will help a lot

we need pics and more info

[marietta_ken]

Here's the finished product, less the grill I have yet to install:


I have a variety of pics and a few tips to share later today. Gotta run for now!

[a.blanco0905]

That looks so dope Ken... great job, I'm not into loud music anymore & this system is loud enough for me but if it wasnt I would definitely give this a run for its money.

[EniGmA1987]

Looks perferct! You should consider making some and selling them to other NICO members with Ms looking to upgrade their audio with a very OEM looking box

[NRGM45]

I'd buy one in a heartbeat if you started making these...

[dball]

me too.. ^

[marietta_ken]

Hey guys -- thanks for the props. It's nice to hear you appreciate the results I got. It was a good bit of work. No plans to make any others at this time. I'll post some stuff that will help those who are brave enough to give it a whirl. I actually got a good start on that post earlier, then my friggin IE stopped responding and ate what I had done. I'll get it back underway here shortly.

[marietta_ken]

So, here's some info and tips about what I did to substantially upgrade the basic, 6-speaker system in my 2006 M35. I'm purposefully going to try to be brief because it'll still be a pretty long post. Feel free to ask specific questions in response. I'm not really approaching this as a step-by-step how-to for all I did, but rather more of an overview and coverage of some specific things I questioned/feared.

Keep in mind I am just a DIY hack and certainly no authority on this stuff. However, I must say I'm quite pleased with all aspects of the results!

It all starts with the plan and equipment selection. That's covered in my original post. In retrospect, my original rationale for the equipment I bought was pretty much spot on for my needs.

The big decision I made was going with the fiberglass sub box. Very glad I did. Looks and sounds just like I wanted. Here's a link to a great write-up I used as my main guide: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showt ... p?t=374773. I followed this guy's lead on suppliers (http://www.uscomposites.com) and materials for the glass mat and resin. The 1.5 oz mat is, I believe, thicker than what you get at HD or West Marine. That, plus using the somewhat overkill 440 resin led me to do just 4-5 layers of glass for the front and back of the box. That took most of my mat (5 yds) and resin (1 gal). I read somewhere that the test of whether your box is strong enough is whether you can get it to flex with the push of a finger. Large flat surfaces tend to be weaker. The very broken up, curvy shape of the area of our trunks tends to make the box strong enough with fewer layers. You'll read about people using 6-8 layers. I assume that's with the thinner glass mat and/or larger boxes and cheaper resins.

First I did some rough measurements to assess about where I might be able to stop with the box and have enough volume for my sub. I put down some tape to roughly "frame" the expected area. Next I used some packing peanuts measured out in a box then transferred to a clear lawn/leaf bag to assess the volume requirements and see just how far out the box was going to have to protrude into the trunk:

Next I taped off the whole area with two carefully placed layers (in opposite directions) of 2" painter's tape and masked off the rest of the trunk with plastic. Even doing that, the car had a bad fume smell for several days. Two layers of glass were applied before pulling the whole thing out of the trunk. Note the tape adheres to box and releases from the trunk wall.




Tip -- once your tape is down, use a sharpie to draw your desired profile right on top of the tape. The fiberglass resin will pick up the ink and leave you with a nice cut line that will take all the guess work out of where to cut. My Dremel was too wimpy for trimming. I got good results using my 4" angle grinder with cut-off wheel.



Once you have the back done, you make the mounting ring out of MDF. I made a circle cutting jig out of a thin piece of luan type wood. Worked great, gave me really clean cuts/circles, and ultimately saved time since it was easy to make and made the cutting go so fast with no need to sand clean afterwards.I did route the top outer edge when done making the ring so that the fabric would roll off of it nicely.




Next you have to set the ring into place with some dowels and hot glue. Test fitting with the sub proved critical. See the pic below where the magnet was initally hitting the back wall. It would majorly suck to have not caught that until after the box was done.


I made adjustments, then test fit in the car to see how I liked the angle.


That suited me, so I covered the ring with speaker grill cloth (from http://www.partsexpress.com), applied a coat of resin, then glassed it up 4-5 layers.




Trimmed the edges, cut out the opening, and test fit the sub -- perfect!

Note, if you recess it like I did, be sure to leave some gap around the perimeter to allow carpet to roll over and yet not go under the speaker. The MDF surface for mounting the speaker needs to be really cleaned of any stray resin from the glassing process. I used my grinder.



To finsh up I applied 3 layers of bondo to the face to get the surface smooth enough so that the carpet wouldn't look wavy. Sanded that down, then used a textured black paint to paint the back side and the mount ring face in case the carpet didn't fully close the gap. Remember, no carpet under the sub mount flange! Last step was gluing the carpet (also from www. partsexpress.com) to the box and cutting out the opening.




I chose to not put a fancy mounting post type interface for wire in the box. I just drilled a small hole in the top left of the backside, squeezed the wire through, and applied a little caulk.

Here's the finished box, now with the grill finally in place!



I'll followup later with some details and tips on the amp wiring and installation. For now I'll just tell you that I chose to mount it under the rear deck on the passenger side. Some folks don't like to mount amps there since heat can't escape as well. However, I rationalized that my amp is pretty efficient and I won't be cranking it all the time. That, and I really just wanted it up and out of the way. So far, so good. Here are a couple of pics:

[CPJ LB]

very nice work...hats off to you!!

let me know if you think of mass producing...I will sign up to buy!!!

[arcyallen]

All this reading, but I haven't got my answer yet - where did you get the signal for the sub amp? I've got a Rockford mono amp for my 2 12W3s I pulled from my Subaru this winter, and I want to install it in my M35x. But, I've heard the rear speaker lines are bad to tap into because the BOSE system cuts the bass at higher volumes. So...?
ps - awesome enclosure!

[sunoco]

All this reading, but I haven't got my answer yet - where did you get the signal for the sub amp? I've got a Rockford mono amp for my 2 12W3s I pulled from my Subaru this winter, and I want to install it in my M35x. But, I've heard the rear speaker lines are bad to tap into because the BOSE system cuts the bass at higher volumes. So...?
ps - awesome enclosure!

Dude. Search.

2007-m35-subwoofer-installation-t529737.html

[marietta_ken]

All this reading, but I haven't got my answer yet - where did you get the signal for the sub amp? I've got a Rockford mono amp for my 2 12W3s I pulled from my Subaru this winter, and I want to install it in my M35x. But, I've heard the rear speaker lines are bad to tap into because the BOSE system cuts the bass at higher volumes. So...?
ps - awesome enclosure!

My signal for the sub is handled by my Alpine amp. It accepts my 4 speaker level inputs and magically crafts what it needs to send to the sub.

Note that mine is not the Bose system. I'm pretty sure I read, though, where someone did testing to show that the Bose system doesn't actually cut the bass at higher volumes. I'd search the topic well for accurate info.

Thanks for the props on the enclosure!

[a.blanco0905]

Damn Ken, you're one hell of "handy manny"

Great work man!!!

[marietta_ken]

Damn Ken, you're one hell of "handy manny"

Great work man!!!

Aww, shucks. I try, man. I try. I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing stuff like this.

[mdstahl1]

I also have the base system - curious as to how the system sounds in terms of upgrades? You indicated that by just replacing the door speakers and tweeters you got a better sound - in your mind, is it worth it to just do that portion of the upgrade? or do you really have to go all the way with an amp and subwoofer?

[marietta_ken]

I also have the base system - curious as to how the system sounds in terms of upgrades? You indicated that by just replacing the door speakers and tweeters you got a better sound - in your mind, is it worth it to just do that portion of the upgrade? or do you really have to go all the way with an amp and subwoofer?

It really depends on how you enjoy your music. I have a family (wife and two teens) who all enjoy music and like to play it a little loud at times. The amp and sub really give it the "body" that makes the music inspiring. However, just changing out your front door speakers and tweeters, which you can do fairly easily and for less than $150, you'll get sound that is just fine, and is more detailed/refined than your stock setup. You can still turn it up and enjoy "some" volume, but it'll just be limited in the depth of the sound.

If you don't like to crank a little now and then, I wouldn't bother with the amp and sub. I definitely wouldn't do the sub without putting an amp to the door speakers for OUR 6 speaker, non-amp'd setup. The guys with the Bose systems can get away with a sub only since they have more power already.

Hope that helps!

[mdstahl1]

Appreciate the response. Think I'll go with the six speaker upgrades initially - if that's not enough, then I can always go the amp / subwoofer route. Or, if I'm understanding you correctly, would it be too late to go back and install the amp / subwoofer? Meaning, it would make more sense to get the amp now and link to the door speakers? Just trying to avoid any rework if just the speaker upgrade 'doesn't move the needle' enough for me. Thanks

[marietta_ken]

Appreciate the response. Think I'll go with the six speaker upgrades initially - if that's not enough, then I can always go the amp / subwoofer route. Or, if I'm understanding you correctly, would it be too late to go back and install the amp / subwoofer? Meaning, it would make more sense to get the amp now and link to the door speakers? Just trying to avoid any rework if just the speaker upgrade 'doesn't move the needle' enough for me. Thanks

You can do the speaker upgrades and, if desired, add the amp and sub later -- all with no rework/wasted energy whatsoever. The speaker work all happens in the doors. The amp & sub work will involve pulling dash parts, trim panels, seats, etc.

[manolo87]

Need this custom box. Someone should mass produce this! Lol

[ThomasJatt]

Wow your box looks amazing. I want to do the same thing but will just use subs without a custom box like yours. I have a 2009 M35 with base audio. I want to upgrade all my door speaker and add an amp. I'm just a little confused on how to add the amp. Can you give me some guidance please.