I love great audio, but the FT86 is not the best build of a car for high definition audio. Going from my old "so-so" system to a stock BRZ was disappointing. The stock audio was terrible and the rattles were awful. This time around I didn't want to trust any random shop to do my system; I wanted it done right.
After tons of research I came upon a local shop by a well respected builder named Bing. The place: Simplicity In Sound. After careful studying of their work I decided to reach out to Bing to see what they had to offer. Hands down the best customer service I have ever gotten anywhere for basically anything. Definition of cut out the middle-man. An absolute expert in the car audio field and with Joe Knapp the two make an incredible custom car building team. Excellent customer service, communication, friendly, a totally no nonsense approach to business (I had a ton of totally nonsense questions, and was met with unprejudiced honesty) and best of all the rates are as fair for the amount of work you are going to find anywhere.
Here is a build log of my current system and I will tell you it sounds like some of the best audio I have ever experienced car or not by Bing.
Written by Bing and posted on the DIYMA forums:
Someone asked if i get bored doing the same car over again, and the answer is, not really, especially when i can change things up a little bit here and there...tho that theory was dearly tested years ago after the 40th or so G35 or 350z
...
this brand new 2014 Subaru BRZ is probably the 12th or 13th FT86 we have worked on, but this time, is a little different...namely, for the midrange and tweeters, we went with a non stock location set up and moved them up to the A pillars...
the goals:
1. to obtain a nice level of SQ
2. integrate the midrange and tweeter into the A pillars but still keep them relatively subdued looking
3. keep as much trunk space as possible and build a durable fake floor
lets get started:
the signal source starts with a Pioneer AVIC 8000NEX headunit, installed via a beatsonic dash kit:
we also installed a pioneer rear view camera:
for the front stage, we went with one of my favorite set of speakers, a Morel Elate 603, the 6.5" midbass went into the stock lower door location
first, the door was sound proofed with CLD on the inner door panel and blackhole tiles on the outter door panel, and new speaker wires were run into the door:
then Jesse fabricated a set of Spacers baffles and coated them with several layers of truck bedliner:
then the baffle was bolted to the door using oem hardware, and at the same time, the rest of the door was covered with a layer of stringer foam barrier:
the Morel Elate MW6 midbass was then installed:
special attention was put on the door card of the car, and a lot of STP CLD damper went on the door card:
and then the whole process was repeated on the passenger side:
a tidbit on the midrange and tweeter location. this is the third 3 way FT86 we have done, previously, we have always put at least the midrange, if not both, in the stock location firing up at the dash, and for me, there was something always kind weird about the response and imaging. the last time we actually used this same exact midrange, the CD880, and it produced some interesting responses on the RTA that took a long while to sort out, so this time, with the right customer who was interested in moving them into the A pillars, we decided on this course of action.
being that its a sleek sports car, i wanted to make sure that i didnt build some monster pods that obstructed his vision or took away from the interior too much, so here are the final results, wrapped in oem matching black vinyl:
a few quick build pics of the pillars, first i aimed and attached the ring baffles for the speakers:
then mold cloth was pulled, resin applied, and the pods were reinforced from the inside via a filler/resin mixture:
when that cured, the pods received filler and were sanded smooth and blended in:
then they were wrapped in black vinyl:, the tweeter installed, and ready to go back into the car:
Jesse then added an arc audio remote bass knob in a blank spot on the switch panel to the left of the steering wheel:
he also ran the wires back, neatly bundled but forgot to take any pics of it
the only thing left to do on the interior was to treat the rear deck, which is known to be a rattle trap. first, the metal deck received a bit of CLD coverage:
then the underside of the deck cover got a lot of soft thick foam to act as a barrier:
and finally, some "simpliciflock" soft felt like material went on the outter edge of the third brake light to help with the light bouncing off the rear window:
the trunk lid also got some CLD attention:
so moving onto the trunk...as mentioned in the goal, the idea was to be stealthy and durable. so here is the normal view, as you can see, virtually no trunk space was lost, the entire floor came up by about half an inch. a single cutout is in the middle, but other wise, nothing really visible:
remove the breathable grille and here is what you see, two arc audio XDiv2 amps run the entire system, a 600.4 is bridged sending 300 watts rms to each mid, while a 1200.6 powers the midrange and tweeter actively with 150 watts a piece, and sends 600 watts to an Illusion audio C10 subwoofer. everything is trimmed in white vinyl, with the top baffle having some subtle lines to break it up visually:
pretty simple and effective.
onto some build pics of the trunk.
first, the spare well was fully sound proofed with STP CLD damper:
then i laid down a mold and added a top baffle and secured the two together, forming a sealed enclosure of about .5 cubic foot:
then i made a top portion to space the sub up to the level of the amps:
and then build a whole amp rack with spacers and secured it to the box:
this was then secured to the vehicle using the spare tire retaining bolt:
here are the two cosmetic trim panels before and after vhite vinyl:
and here is the top floor pieces before and after carpet:
and the top breathable grille before and after carpet:
and finally a shot of the wiring underneath the floor:
so thats it...compared to previous iterations of the 3 way setups, one thing right away ist hat this car was a lot more natural right out of the box...tonally its quite good, wtih very solid midbass the MW6 is known for with nice and warm mids and highs while retaining good detail. the C10 does a great job of filling the cabin with bass and can go low when asked. imaging wise, the car has good center image and width is pillar to pillar, with depth that is actually better than the stock location installs we have done. stage is high with no rainbowing compared to the stock location as well. A very nice sounding package overall.
until next time
Bing