2005 Mercedes C55 AMG Audio Build

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Today I started a sweet sound quality build on a c55. I have been in contact with the owner for over a year now, he finally pulled the trigger on the build.

The parts:

Front Image Dynamics CXS 6.5's

Rears Image Dynamics CTX65

Speaker amp Soundstream REF 4.920

Sub amp JL 1000/1 Slash

Subs 2 JL 10's

Wire Knu Konceptz 16, 12 gauge

Power wire Kicker 0 gauge

Dynamat

Audiocontrol LC6i

The build. I will say this, the Mercedes has one of the smallest trunks I have worked on with such massive amps. I am still figuring out the best way to mount them with the ability to still gain access to the spare tire.



After pulling out the floor mat and removing the factory amp cover plate, I planned the layout.



Template being traced out



New floor base down. Sanded and routed









The new floor goes all the way to the tab before the factory wiring starts.



Amps in to give me ideas





Subs in as well.

Click to read more...

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

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Stock speakers coming out, I have to say I was kind of impressed at the quality of them.



Stock tweeter removed









Dynamat installed in the doors





Starting to make the spacers

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Gluing the top spacer on before fiberglass and spray paint



The new tweeters actually have a same size rin to match up with the tweeter bracket. Gluing them in before glass.











Other spacer being glued



First spacer being glassed



Started running speaker wire.

 

[black05alti]

looking good so far.. i've seen you around on the altima forums //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

looking good so far.. i've seen you around on the altima forums //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Yep that would be me. Thanks for the complements.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Today was more like a half day, with most of the morning being filled with rain.

Finished the s front spacers with a coat of black paint.



The tweeters were actually to deep for how I wanted to mount them. after thinking it over they were installed flush mounted. I was going to wrap the panel in speaker mesh but the tweeter protruded past the mounting bracket so that was out as well.





Finished running speaker wire for both side, waiting on the order to come in to run them to the trunk.



Woofers soldered and heat shrunk.









Door panel back on

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Found out where to run the power wire





Rear speakers are out, looks like another 2 brackets have to be made up.

 

[LightsOut]

Looks good. Nice car!

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Today went smoothly for the most part, had to run out and get a step up but big enough for 0 gauge.

Started out installing the bass knob along side the existing v1 control.









Ran the wire under the carpet



Ran the power wire, perfect spot in the fire wall.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Using stainless steel bolts that use the same #5 as the fuse holder. Nice little touch





Just enough room





Rear spacers glue setting



While they dried I tackled the factory amp.



Found the wired I need, mercedes always twists the speaker pairs together



Soldered and wrapped



Tinted the ends going into the audio control.



Labeled as well, still need to disconnect the center speaker and attached the sub.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Front tweeters soldered and heat shrunk







Back together





Glassing the spacers

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

All the interior panels are put back after today's work. All speaker wires are ran as well as rear speakers installed. Sadly the ID CTX's do not fit, so the customer and I decided to install a set of Infinity's until a good set can be found to replace them.





Dynamat rear doors



Solder and heat shrunk







All wires ran to the trunk.



LOC in it's new location, using factory bolts to secure it.



Finally decided on the amp mounting locations. Will finish the the rack tomorrow, and tune!

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

nice. the only think i see missing is foam around the front of the new speakers so they seal against the panel - same as factory did. that seal is very important to prevent sound from getting between the panel and door and playing phasing tricks. it also allows the door panel to act as the speaker enclosure since the door's aren't sealed up. as-is, midbass response will suffer.

i like the attention to detail with the wiring.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

nice. the only think i see missing is foam around the front of the new speakers so they seal against the panel - same as factory did. that seal is very important to prevent sound from getting between the panel and door and playing phasing tricks. it also allows the door panel to act as the speaker enclosure since the door's aren't sealed up. as-is, midbass response will suffer.
i like the attention to detail with the wiring.

Thank you for that advice, I looked around my supplies and didn;t have any foam to go around the woofers. I will have to look into it for future installs and if I get called back from the customer.

 

[bigaudiofanatic 10+ year member]

Today was D day, started off wrapping the amp rack and installing the amps. It took two people to haul the thing from the basement to the car but it fit like a glove. After wiring everything up and supplying power, the system came alive perfectly. Too about a half hour to get things tuned in but once things were set all sounded great. Customer comes tomorrow to pick it up, I hope he is as pleased as I am with the system. This was my first incounter with a soundstream amp and I will say I was impressed. Very solidly built.









Audio Control hidden behind the factory door.