2014 EXPLORER Arc Audio, Morel Operation: Judgement Day

[Octave 10+ year member]

It's an honor when certain people take notice of your work. Like when Justin came to me to do a system in his 2014 Explorer. Justin is the a SQ MECA judge in Florida and former SQ/Install champ. So for him to ask me to do a system it was a honor to do so. With Justin being a judge. I give you Operation: Judgment Day



The system design was to be as integrated as possible with little modifications done to the structure of the vehicle.

Ford OEM Sony as audio source

Arc Audio PS8

Arc Audio XDi 1200.6

Arc Audio Black 12

Morel Hybrid Integra 4

Morel Elate 9

Straight Wire cabling

Focal BAM sound dampening

Hush Mat sound dampening

The main fuse was ran off the main power block up front and cover in split loom to give an OEM appearance.





The power was then ran along OEM lines zip tied every 6".





There was no grommet to run the power wire through so a Stinger waterproof clamping grommet was used to pass the power wire through the body.







Hush Mat Quite Tape secured the power wire run. (I do LOVE this stuff, lol)

Click to read more...

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

Once the power wire was ran the speaker wire was next to be done. Straight Wire 4/15 TPR speaker cable was used through the install. Passing the wire through the door's molex plug wasn't going to happen so the door speaker leads were cut and soldered onto the new runs.



The Morel Hybrid Intgera 4s were ran off of their passive networks. Terminals were color coded heat shrunk.



There was space for the networks to be placed within the kick panel area for future adjustments.



With the passenger side done I moved onto the drivers side.







The speaker wire was then ran and zip tied every 6".

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

With everything ran to the rear I worked on the leads that tap into the OEM amplifier for audio signal. The RCA leads were soldered then heat shrunk then heat shrunk again for a clear look.







After identifying that the OEM system wiring they were cut, soldered and heat shrunk onto the RCA leads.



Wiring awaiting the subwoofer enclosure to be installed.



With the wiring done I turned my attention to the doors. The outer skin received a layer of Hush Mat Ultra dampening in silver.



Then then inner skin received a layer of the Focal BAM mat. Another Octave service is to make removable ABS panels to seal up larger open areas in the doors.

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

10-24 rivet nuts were used to give secure mounting point for the speaker mounts.



The passenger door received the same treatment as the driver's doors.









As mentioned before no real modifications were to be made like cutting the speaker opening to allow for mounting of larger midbass. True to Octave form mounting rings for the Morel Elate 9s were milled out of plexiglass to ensure that moisture would not distort the rings over time. Treated MDF rings will still be effected be moisture over time. This is a guarantee.



Since I had 2 separate rings to space the Elates out to clear the door metal. I applied a layer of the Focal BAM mat between the layers to help decouple the mid bass from the door.



The door side OEM speaker leads were soldered and heat shrunk to the new speaker wire.



The speaker lead were terminated and color heat shrunk. A foam gasket was applied to he mounting surface of the Elates to provide a seal.



The Elates mounted.

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

With the driver side done the passenger side was next.











To add in directing the speaker's energy through the door panels Sound Connection F.A.S.T. rings were used. Their 6x9 models were used for the 9" Elates.

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

Between the door dampening and the F.A.S.T. rings I can say the doors have little resonance at regular listening levels and only slight resonance at high volume listening. You would think door mounted 9s would just make a door panel sing but not in this case.

Next thing for the front stage was to do the Morel Hybrid Integra 4 in the pillars. Justin has never done pillars before and was a little leery of it but they worked out fine.

The midrange pods vent into out of the pillar so to slow down and break up the back wave Black Hole Stuff was stuffed in the pillar area before the pillar was put back in.



More Black Hole Stuff was put into the pod itself. The speaker leads were terminated and color heat shrunk. Another install feature is the quick disconnects were done in one direction for the tweeter and then opposite direction for the midrange. This way no mistakes can be made if the pillars needed to be removed and reinstalled.



The passenger side was done the same way.





The pillars were wrapped in OEM matching material and black grille cloth was applied to removable grilles. The grille cloth even matches the texture on the pillars.







Here are the pillars with the grilles removed. Having the grilles removable allows for more critical listening without worrying that the grilles are effecting the sound.

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

Outside view. The Explorer has a big dash and a big windshield so the pods really don't stick out or hamper the view.



Front done the rear mounted subwoofer enclosure and amplifier rack could be attended to. The Arc Audio Xdi 1200.6 is mounted to the top of the enclosure and the Arc Audio PS8 DSP is mounted to the side. This makes for one compact complete set up. Straight Wire Musicable RCAs were custom made in house for the run between DSP and amplifier. No off the shelf RCAs at Octave.



The subwoofer enclosure was designed to mount in the OEM subwoofer location.





To keep with the integrated look a grille was fabricated and then covered in black grille cloth. The top trim piece is wrapped in color and texture matched vinyl. Angles and edges were treated to appear as though they are OEM.

 

[Octave 10+ year member]

With the seats in the "Normal" seating position the enclosure clears them allowing them to fold away without issue.







For some install flare the accent trim out for the Arc Audio XDi 1200.6 was mocked from the front cup holder area. The front cup holder area sports a chrome accent ring bottom lit with lighting. Here I milled and polished aluminum to get the chrome ring look then under lit it with LEDs through polished plexiglass. The infinite light effect was a nee effect from the amplifier.





A finishing touch for the install is some new branding. This Octave plate actually covers a mounting screw hole. Just like an OEM piece would.



System impressions.

Well let me first say I've heard the Morel Hybrid Integra 4 and Elate 9 combination before in 2 different SQ competitor's vehicles. Each one I was blown away by their performance. This vehicle was no different. I just absolutely fell in love with the setup. The stage was high at about half windshield which extends past the pillars. The center image is anchored to the center and doesn't move. Tonality……warm warm and more warm. I'm a warm speaker fan and these delivered. The mid bass just rocked it. The overall level of detail was quite considering the system is ran through a Class D amplifier. As I told Fred Lynch "These are NOT Class D amplifiers". Arc Audio definitely has something with these babies. The Arc Audio Black 12 for just being a single 12 in this system provides enough sub bass to fill the cabin and blend with the front stage. For me I was very pleased with the way everything came out and enjoyed the extended time I took listening to it.

Russ,

For more please visit Octave - Car Audio Orlando Florida

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Very clean work. I wish you'd have shown more pics of how you constructed those A pillars.

 

[XORstatus 10+ year member]

Very impressive.

 

[fsilverioel]

Beautiful work. Is it just one sub woofer?