New car hi-fi build!

[Jac Hawk]

One observation i don't think anyones made is you're boot is almost unusable due to the woofer, if you have some sort of grill then it will give the bass bin a bit of protection but if not then you can't even put a bag full of shopping in there without the fear that it could tip over and damage something. A number of years ago i paid a small fortune on an Alpine and Infinity Kappa system in my old M5, the guy that fitted it put a fake floor in the boot into which the amps went and i had 2 x 12inch Kappas attached to an MDF panel hard up against the back seats, the reason he insalled it like this was so that i could still use the boot.

[Pigmy Pony]

No, he puts his shopping on the back seat - the boot is purely for the sub, amps, dead bodies and the intestinal gas purifying unit. Oh and the emergency adult nappies.

[Marco]

Dude check this out.

I am going to research getting this done on my Apogee covers. It is expensive, though. Not sure what is happening in this country. Just this minute discovered it.

https://youtu.be/RUBVrrk9y8U

Plenty of other Lumilor on YouTube.

Lol...Love it. Would be cool on an American muscle car, or something of that ilk, but not on the Brabster. That's just a step too far

Marco.

[Marco]

Hi Mike,

One observation i don't think anyones made is you're boot is almost unusable due to the woofer, if you have some sort of grill then it will give the bass bin a bit of protection but if not then you can't even put a bag full of shopping in there without the fear that it could tip over and damage something.

Firstly, my wife's car, which is a little A-Class hatchback, is used for (as she calls it) all the "shit shifting", such as when anything large has to be transported, or for trips with stuff to the skip, etc, in order to keep my car as nice/clean as possible. Therefore, out with of holiday times, [where we also employ the use of a roof rack] and when there may be suitcases in there (which I've tested for and fit fine), there won't be much going in the boot. When stuff is being transported in my car, the back seat will be used first.

However.... Just to test things, today we went shopping to the supermarket and happily put five big bags of groceries in the boot, some of which covered the surface of the sub, without any issues whatsoever, and whilst still listening to music on the stereo, sounding great. The subwoofer cone is significantly recessed into the boot floor panel, which pictures don't show clearly. Plus, the cone material used is a dense/hard plastic, which would be very difficult to damage, short of sheer carelessness, which thankfully isn't something I'm prone to.

Daftness, yes, when I'm in the mood! So worry not dude, it's cool!

Marco.

[Jac Hawk]

Don't get me wrong Marco, it looks the muts nuts and I'm sure it sounds good too, but I would never have installed it that way no matter how tough the cone is, I wouldn't want anything to fall or get spilled on it. My M5 had 4 amps a crossover and a fan to keep things cool under a false boot floor, 14 speakers including the 2 12" subs and apart from the Alpine rather than the stock Blaupunkt head unit you were hard pressed to see it, I could also stick anything I wanted in the boot and not have to worry about spoiling a superb car with a roof rack, admittedly it didn't look as good cos you couldn't see it.

[Marco]

Sure mate, I know where you're coming from, but trust me, it's really not an issue. At the end of the day, *I* am in charge of exactly what my car is used for and what gets put in the boot, so nothing will be going in there that could potentially damage the sub.

It's just my wife and I who use the car, and as I said, she's got her own car, which is also used for the bulk of whatever stuff we need to transport. My car is mainly just for fun purposes, and for me to preen and polish!

And yeah, cheers, the new sound system defo does sound like the muts nuts

Marco.

[User211]

Lol...Love it. Would be cool on an American muscle car, or something of that ilk, but not on the Brabster. That's just a step too far

Marco.

Nah. That and bouncy front wheels, surely, Low Ryder stylee:wink:

Imagine a hi-fi system decked out in it. Glowing amps etc. Somehow I feel Wilsons for the bill.

Actually I am really vaguely toying with the idea. A place near Birmingham does it. Big worried it might react to being close to magnet arrays, though.

https://wesprayanything.com/

[Jac Hawk]

Ok, in my case the M5 was my main car and back in those days car stereo theft was rife, so the under stated look was recommended, i remember going to the place where i had it installed, the guy had an Escort RS Turbo ramed with gear, like yours you could see everything and it looked awsome, i wanted it just like that but he talked me out of it. I get what your saying about it being a weekend car of sorts but having a boot is handy and by installing the kit in a slightly different way you would have had the same sonic performance without having to loose your boot, ohh and by the way I thought you were a grown man and not 20 year old Kevin from Essex, are the blue LED's really necessary, mid life crisis or what.

[Marco]

Haha... Aye!

Not exactly "necessary", but they look cool at night and illuminate the amp control settings in dark conditions, should I be fiddling with them (which has been the case recently, to get the sound spot on to my requirements). Plus if you scroll back, you'll see that there are plans to demo the system at bake-offs and meets, plus also perhaps at the Cranage Hall show next year, so with the boot open doing precisely that, the LEDs look good and show off the amps and sub nicely

It also matches the 2 x banks of four blue 'Brabus' LEDs, fitted under the driver and passenger door sills, which shine onto the ground when the car is stationary and the doors are open, or when you unlock the car with the key fob, so it all adds to the 'night-time light show'!

Like I said, I haven't lost my boot (used today in the normal fashion without issues), and that will continue. It's not a 'workhorse' car mate, by any means. I also live in a nice, quiet area, and no-one ever sees inside the boot, plus with the 'blacked out' windows, it's pretty hard to see inside the car itself, and if you do, it just looks like a normal factory-fitted stereo system, with a decent head unit. The car's also fitted with a very good alarm system.

S'all good!

Marco.

[Marco]

This video of the Brabster shows the LED 'door-sill lights' in question, and other bits and pieces, including the blue illuminated 'Brabus' front-door footplates:



You can see the four LEDs (per side) shining down on the ground (but not when the car is in motion). It's all part of the Brabus mods. It does look cool at night, when the car is first unlocked, as they come on, along with the Xenon headlights

Marco.