Maserati GS, SQ enhancements

[Deacon Blues 0]

Disclaimer: In an effort to save time, the following is basically a similitude of a thread I've posted to another forum which I belong to...in addition, the pic's were taken using my crappy iPhone 4S, so they're not the best quality photo's 

 

 

 

 

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Okay, so after two years of scavenging for equipment and damn near four months of on/off installations; I think it's safe to say, that I'm pretty close to the completion of a decent stealth, SQ setup for my vehicle...

 

 

 

Platform:

2006 Maserati GranSport

 

 

 

 

GoalZ::
* To build a 5-way, hybrid [3-way passive front stage/active rear fill, bass, & sub-bass] sound system. 
* Very high level of SQ with stage height at middle of windshield.
* Clean/Simple install to resemble a factory appearance.
* Removable and returnable to very close to stock condition.
* Keep weight gain minimal to avoid affecting performance too much.
* Keep vibration transfer from sub to a minimum.

 

 

 

Equipment:
* Pioneer DEX-P99RS 
* Kuda iPhone Mount
* Red Wine Audio iMod {modified iPod}.
* ALO RCA to iMod cable {LOD}
* Focal Utopia Be No.7 kit w/ Crossblock {front stage}.
* (2) Focal Utopia 6w2 Be 6.5" mid-range/mid-bass woofers, to replace the factory 5x7" coaxial's {rear fill}.
* (2) Focal Utopia 13ws Be 5" mini subwoofers, to replace the 5" factory speakers in the rear deck {bass}.
* Focal Utopia 21wx Be {sub-bass}.
* Butler/Phaze Audio LD-2 [NOS circa '97] line driver {pre-amp}.
* Butler/Phaze Audio TD475 [NOS circa '97], 4-ch vacuum tube amp {powering front stage}.
* Butler/Phaze Audio TD750 [NOS circa '97], 2-ch vacuum tube amp {powering rear fill}.
* Hertz HDP4, D-Class 4ch amp {2 channels bridged mono to run the sub, w/ the other 2 channels powering the mini sub's}.
* Stinger 3 Farad, digital Capacitor {noise filter}.
* Odyssey 34R-PC1500T {deep cycle battery}.

 

 

Supporting Infrastructure:
*Deadening
*Wiring
*Power

*Cooling

 

 

Installation Basics:

* Install 3" mid's in stock tweeter location {extremely time consuming modification}. 
* Install Be tweeter's (as much off-axis, as space would allow...) in pods, directly onto the dashboard {an even more extreme mod, considering that the entire dashboard assembly had to be removed in order to install}. 
* Utilize Focal Crossblock to set crossover points, slopes & levels for the front stage.
* Utilize DEX-P99RS to set points, slopes & levels for real fill, bass & sub-bass components.
* Utilize DEX-P99RS to set T/A's on mid-range, mid-bass, bass & sub-bass components {T/A'ing tweet's, unnecessary}. 
* HushMat doors, side panels, trunk & gas tank. 
* Install sub-woofer in a stealth enclosure, on the left side of trunk {@ CD changer location}.
* Install Hertz HDP4 in factory amp location {right side trunk compartment, foreword of battery}.
* Install tube-amps & line-driver in spare tire well, w/ amp's mounted on specially designed heat deterrent amp rack...in addition, two (2) Xscorpion TF8 8" cross flow cooling fan's and three (3) 3x3' exhaust fan's, to be mounted inside the spare tire cover/floor of trunk {a necessary precaution, needed to prevent amp's from overheating}.

 

 

__________________________________________________ ________________________

The Build:
* Performed by Hurley's Auto Audio {Mclean, VA}.

 

 

 

A few breakdown pic's.

 

GoalZ::
* To build a 5-way, hybrid [3-way passive front stage/active rear fill, bass, & sub-bass] sound system. 
* Very high level of SQ with stage height at middle of windshield.
* Clean/Simple install to resemble a factory appearance.
* Removable and returnable to very close to stock condition.
* Keep weight gain minimal to avoid affecting performance too much.
* Keep vibration transfer from sub to a minimum.

 

 

 

Equipment:
* Pioneer DEX-P99RS 
* Kuda iPhone Mount
* Red Wine Audio iMod {modified iPod}.
* ALO RCA to iMod cable {LOD}
* Focal Utopia Be No.7 kit w/ Crossblock {front stage}.
* (2) Focal Utopia 6w2 Be 6.5" mid-range/mid-bass woofers, to replace the factory 5x7" coaxial's {rear fill}.
* (2) Focal Utopia 13ws Be 5" mini subwoofers, to replace the 5" factory speakers in the rear deck {bass}.
* Focal Utopia 21wx Be {sub-bass}.
* Butler/Phaze Audio LD-2 [NOS circa '97] line driver {pre-amp}.
* Butler/Phaze Audio TD475 [NOS circa '97], 4-ch vacuum tube amp {powering front stage}.
* Butler/Phaze Audio TD750 [NOS circa '97], 2-ch vacuum tube amp {powering rear fill}.
* Hertz HDP4, D-Class 4ch amp {2 channels bridged mono to run the sub, w/ the other 2 channels powering the mini sub's}.
* Stinger 3 Farad, digital Capacitor {noise filter}.
* Odyssey 34R-PC1500T {deep cycle battery}.

 

 

Supporting Infrastructure:
*Deadening
*Wiring
*Power

*Cooling

 

 

Installation Basics:

* Install 3" mid's in stock tweeter location {extremely time consuming modification}. 
* Install Be tweeter's (as much off-axis, as space would allow...) in pods, directly onto the dashboard {an even more extreme mod, considering that the entire dashboard assembly had to be removed in order to install}. 
* Utilize Focal Crossblock to set crossover points, slopes & levels for the front stage.
* Utilize DEX-P99RS to set points, slopes & levels for real fill, bass & sub-bass components.
* Utilize DEX-P99RS to set T/A's on mid-range, mid-bass, bass & sub-bass components {T/A'ing tweet's, unnecessary}. 
* HushMat doors, side panels, trunk & gas tank. 
* Install sub-woofer in a stealth enclosure, on the left side of trunk {@ CD changer location}.
* Install Hertz HDP4 in factory amp location {right side trunk compartment, foreword of battery}.
* Install tube-amps & line-driver in spare tire well, w/ amp's mounted on specially designed heat deterrent amp rack...in addition, two (2) Xscorpion TF8 8" cross flow cooling fan's and three (3) 3x3' exhaust fan's, to be mounted inside the spare tire cover/floor of trunk {a necessary precaution, needed to prevent amp's from overheating}.

 

 

__________________________________________________ ________________________

The Build:
* Performed by Hurley's Auto Audio {Mclean, VA}.

 

 

 

A few breakdown pic's.

 

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

This will be fun to watch.

[Deacon Blues 0]

NOS circa 1997...Butler/Phaze Audio LD-2 line-driver {kick ass signal booster}.

 

 

NEVER USED, Circa '97 Butler/Phaze Audio vacuum tube amps.

IMHO, these baby's are PRICELESS and I consider myself very lucky to have acquired them NOS...the rich, warm sound generated by these amplifiers, is nothing short of phenomenal  

 

 

The utilization of quality interconnects.

 

 

 

Hertz HDP4, D-Class 4ch amp {2 channels bridged to run the sub, 2 channels to power the mini's}.

 

 

Doors being prepped for sound dampening.

 

 

Sound dampening prior to sub-enclosure installation.

 

 

 

Focal Utopia 6w2 Be...6.5" midrange/midbass woofer, mounted on MDF baffles {replacing the factory 5x7" coaxial's, located in the rear panels}.

 

 

 

 

 

To replace the crappy 5" factory woofers installed in the rear deck, 5" Utopia Be mini sub's

[Sencheezy 689]

Oh man, this looks exciting

[gss 11]

The Tube drivers are awesome, had some once upon a time but stupidly let them go

[Deacon Blues 0]

Focal Utopia Be No.7 kit {Passive Crossblock, 6.5" mid-bass, 3" mid-range & 1" Beryllium tweet's}.

 

 

 

 

The inside 'guts' of the Focal Utopia Be No. 7 Crossblock.

 

 

 

Focal Utopia Be 21wx.

extremely accurate 8' sub.

 

 

Focal Utopia Be 21wx, installed in stealth box.

 

 

 

Focal Utopia Be 6w3 {6.5" mid-bass}...stealthily installed on MDF baffles, utilizing factory grille
Focal Utopia Be 3w2 {3" midrange}...stealthily installed on MDF baffles [factory tweeter pos], utilizing factory grille.

 

 

Focal Utopia TBE installed in pods, 'floating' on the dash.

A worthwhile, but very time consuming project...had to remove the entire dash assembly, in order to install these SOB's.

Beryllium tweeter.

 

 

 

Awesome carpentry work...a perfect fit!

 

 

 

Amp rack build progressing.

 

 

 

Phaze Audio LD-2 > TD 750, via XLR connects {i.e. balanced lines signals

 

XLR cables

 

Amp rack mission complete!

 

 

NOTICE the tube amps stacked a top each other, in the spare tire well: While they are technically 'hybrid' tube amp's (i.e. the tubes are only used in the preamp stage, as opposed to a standard/studio tube amplifer), those pucker's do produce a lot of heat! The unfortunate scenario of the amp's overheating was discussed prior to their installation, and counter-measures had to be taken, in order to offset the chance of such calamities. 

So, here's what the guys from Hurley's came up with...

To help dissipate some of the radiant heat, two pieces of aircraft grade aluminum were incorporated into the design of the amp rack...so the amp's, are actually sitting on top of heat shields.
There's also, two (2) [one for each amp] Xscorpion TF8 8" cross flow cooling fan's, strategically mounted in the spare tire well, which are moving a pretty decent amount of air around...and, there's 3 exhaust fans mounted to the spare tire compartment cover/floor of trunk, in order to suck out hot air...in theory, the counter-measures should be enough to offset the potential of any damage to the system, but we'll see once I get her back on the road 

Xscorpion TF8 8" cross flow cooling fan

3x3" intake/exhaust fan's

 

 

 

 

Odyssey 34R-PC1500T {heavy duty, deep cycle battery}...somewhere hidden behind the car's battery, lurks the Hertz HDP 4.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Deacon Blues

[95Honda 486]

Pretty neat!  I installed the same amps and line driver in my cousin's 71' Chevelle back in 1998...  They are great pieces of equipment...

[Deacon Blues 0]

3 Farad Digital Capacitor, to help filter the signal ingress caused by the car's battery [located in trunk] being in such close proximity to the amps...custom bracket, nicely hidden next to gas tank

 

 

 

Intake/exhaust fans, to help w/ cooling the amps. {disguised as Focal K2P tweet's}

 

 

HU install

DEX-P99RS w/ iPhone.

DEX-P99RS w/ iPhone.

 

 

 

 

Red Wine Audio modified iPod Video 5.5G w/ solid state 120GB HDD, housed in a 30GB back cover panel. The line out is improved by improving the signal path from the Wolfson Microelectronics DAC chip...requires a LOD with capacitors to handle the DC offset current.

 

A.L.O. {Audio Line Out} custom made LOD w/ built in capacitors...to be used solely in conjunction w/ the Red Wine Audio modified iMod.

 

 

 

Welp, after tinkering around w/ the system for a few weeks now, I've come to realize that the Pioneer DEX-P99RS (a head-unit, designed for an active crossover set-up) does not like being friends w/ the Focal Crossblock (a 3-way passive crossover).

 

  The issue I'm having w/ the Crossblock: It calls for the tweet's & midrange driver's, to be wired together.

The issue w/ the DEX-P99RS: The deck doesn't seem to comprehend the "tweet/midrange-wire-together" scenario, and is over-driving the signals going to those components...e.g. When I send tone through the system [1 db sine wave @ 1khz], I notice a bit of intermittent swank coming from the tweet/mid combo.

So, unfortunately, I had to go back to the drawing board, dis-assemble most of the wiring, then re-configure new power run's for the set-up. In addition, the re-config has forced me to purchase another amp to run the 21wx, located in the trunk (decided on a 500 watt JBL MS-a5001)...however, this time around (in order to send separate signal to the each individual tweeter and mid-range diver), I am bi-amping the Crossblock.
I'll be utilizing the four channel's on TD475 to power each tweet & mid-range separately, while the four channel's on the Hertz HDP4, will be assigned to run the (2) front mid-bass & (2) rear mid-range/bass components, respectively...so hopefully now, the other components will stop fighting w/ each other and play nice (pun intended), from now on 

 

 

 

 

 

W/ regards to the Crossblock: Try as I may, but it's seems that there's no way to configure a separation of the tweet/mid-wiring-scenario, w/o ramifications.  So, I  decided to go full active w/ the setup...leaving the crossblock installed in the trunk, simply to promote it's beauty~

 

 

 5 months of installations + 11 Focal Utopia Be speakers + 11 ch's of amplification (all being processed by the P99RS) = A HAPPY GUY  

 

[Deacon Blues 0]

Pretty neat!  I installed the same amps and line driver in my cousin's 71' Chevelle back in 1998...  They are great pieces of equipment...

Actually, I've actually been lugging that BK Butler gear ( I also have an unused LDX-23 X-over) around for the past 10 years...jus sitting in a closet, collecting dust.

[daviddto 90]

Thats a neat project! great work

[Deacon Blues 0]

Thats a neat project! great work

much obliged...my last build was performed back in 1988, so I'm a little rusty!  

[Shogen 325]

Work looks spot on. Love the vehicle as well. Nice clean lines