As the title suggests, my father and I finished up my custom stereo for my 3GS. I have an 06 ML and Navi equiped car. I was happy with the stock stereo, but it was not up to par with my previous setup. So, I decided to take that and throw it into the 'new' ride. It's only taken a year and a half, but we finally got around to doing it. lol. I did not post the surround swap, as that has been covered previously by others. I am pleased with the result to this point; i should have it completed Saturday (have to golf sometime, since i'm on vacation. ). I have Boston Acoustic Pro series components for the surrounds, and Boston Acoustic 12" G5 DVC's for the subs, powered by Kenwood Excelon 25th anniversary amps (1100x1 & 125x4) with an AudioControl LC6 as the 'processor' to integrate the amps to the ML. I am waiting on my JBL MS8 to arrive to better tune the system.
A little background - dad is a 'weekend woodworker', with a shop he built above the garage to keep everything out of mom's way. lol. He built it from a completely open space, I beams included. We have done this sort of build before, but never to this extent, hence the post. I wanted a box that would leave as much trunk space as possible. Pretty pleased with the results to this point. On to the pics!
Shop


Subs - 1 cubic foot of air space needed


Face template and test-fit - notches are to clear the wheel well


Box without face test fit



Face on test-fit - I still have quite a bit of trunk space, which was the plan



Had to buy a whole sheet of formica to get what i needed. Guess i will have to built something else in the trunk to use the rest!

Contact cementing the surfaces, routing, and end result - there is plastic covering the surface, so there are actually no scratches





This has been a fun build. I still have the speaker surround to fabricate and leather wrap, as well as wrapping the remainder of the box. I wanted to do something different than everyone has to this point. I have seen neon, mirrors, cutouts, carpet, suede and everything else. I have yet to see someone do the burlwood and leather to match the interior, which is what i was going for..something a bit more 'upscale' to match the car. Hopefully the end result will show that. Look for a photo shoot Saturday with the end result and a few exterior shots, since i have not posted pics of the car outside of the NELOC section. Thanks for looking.

 

Mods, please move to the appropriate sub forum (3GS). No idea how i posted in 2GS. lol

 

its ok...we 2gs guys like what we see

 

thanks man

 

not bad,
wrong section or not I still wanna follow the Build !

 

awesome build!!!

 

wood grain box? thats pretty cool..something i havent seen before

 

that wood grain looks like ill match the interior wood thats pretty cool

 

that's pretty cool.. great job ryan. can't wait to see the finished product.

 

tight work on the sub encloser... cant wait to see what it looks like wrapped in leather.

 

Where's the son? Oh I get it, the son is taking the pictures... :P

 

Nice post so far Ryan, cant wait to see the final result and hopefully you can post a sound clip of the new system.

 

Nice work Ryan!

 

Sound clips of stereo systems are pretty pointless, no?

 

Right on, can't wait to see the how it looks.