355 stereo upgrade

What about just perforating the leather professionally with no grill? I'm running a MB Quart 10" shallow sub. Bridged the PPI amp to power it. It is about 3" deep but I still had to box it at 12x12x6 to stay within their recommendations. I'm not thrilled about the trunk placement, but then again, I've never put anything in there so it really shouldn't bug me.

I too feel as though the db6501 system is a great one. I'm cheating at the moment as I have yet to replace my a/d/s crossovers and tweeters so I'm running a mis-match right now. Think that is ok or should I get the rest of the polk equipment in there?

 

Exactly. If you recall, Ferrari was offering a VERY expensive unit was a McIntosh head-unit, amp, speaker, and sub as an option. The sub was mounted in a removable enclosure in the trunk area facing toward the interior of the car. I spoke to them about loss of response and sound quality and they reported it was negligible. Subsonic frequencies are not directional; hence it should not be a problem.

 

Okay so you upgrade the door speakers, but when you put the door panels back on aren't you essentially covering the speakers with a thick piece of carpet? Try placing a carpet over your home audio speakers. Do you hear the deadening?

My installer suggested replacing the carpet on the door panels with speaker cloth fabric to maintain acoustical transparency as they say. Having black interior/carpets would be ideal.

http://www.speakerworks.com/speaker_grill_cloth_fabric_s/25.htm

 

I agree, it does have an effect on sound quality.

Thanks for the link to the speaker cloth.

 

I agree as well about the carpet, however, I'm not modifying my door panels in the name of hi-fi; just trying to make it better without irreversible changes.

 

I have never even attempted to turn on the radio/stereo in any of the three Ferraris I've owned. Music's in the back ;-)

 

I hate driving with the radio off. Sure I may turn it off and let her rip here and there to enjoy the engine sound but it's nice to put the radio on once in a while and have some decent quality sound.

 

I totally agree with you. When I started upgrading my system I was kind of laughing because I know that I'll hardly ever use it. However, sometimes my wife and I just go for a drive to a dinner or just to take it out without really driving it hard. It is then that I use the stereo and when I did it was horrible. My wife would kill me if I drove with her the way I drive when I'm alone . . .

For me this project is more or less to just have it when I want it; not to have it because I desperately needed it.

 

My Lotus is so bare that it has no carpet, sound deadening, and the radio/speakers are carbon plates. For the 355 I wanted to preserve the luxury aspect and modernize it. And I wanted NAV, bluetooth, etc. all the features I have in my daily driver so I went with an all in one head unit and got all of that in one shot. Sure it spends the majority of the time turned off but if I am going to C&C and have a solid hour of 65mph cruise I like to have the ability to punch up some Buffett or Nena.

 

Did you go with a single DIN unit? Does it have a pop up screen? I thought about going with on of those, I was worried it would block my gauges above it.

 

There is a Power Acoustik head unit that has a flip down 9" screen I'm thinking about trying. You can even get it with NAV. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_43653_Power-Acoustik-PD-931NB.html

I guess it doesn't actually flip down... It's always out and down.

 

Single din pop up screen, and that was after an exhaustive search for a flip down that works well. Even finding a good flip up single DIN with all the features turned out to be a challenge, the market is just largely ignored. It came down to two choices, a decent name brand that had horrible reviews or a semi name brand that had descent reviews. There is no getting around the gauge issue, If your using NAV you just have to accept it, and if your using music you can close the screen and the unit will continue to play.

 

I still dont own a car yet but most of the ones I have looked at are lacking audio wise. I am a bit of an audiophile so this will most likely be something I will change. I came across this install on one I am looking at.

I guess the pop up covering the gauges is a negative.

Here is the link to the model from Clarion

http://www.clarion.com/us/en/products/2010/multimedia/navigation/NZ500/us-en-product-pf_1259394334515.html
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I am considering a pop-up GPS screen unit on my F355. The Pioneer Premier ithat is currently installed is not to my liking. Thanks for the pic of it covering the gauges. This is not a biggie, but is somehting to take into account. I was thinking of the Pioneer or an Eclipse.

 

How does it sound without the sub? I'd like to put decent speakers in mine but not at the expense of weight and using up room for a sub.

 

I havent physically seen that car so I dont know how things sound. I dont see a sub in any of the pictures I was sent, just the amp in the trunk. It looks like a nice installation though at the head end. I would assume the speakers were at least replaced.

 

I added a custom sub box and 8" sub... Sound isn't award winning but sure adds character.
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That is sweet!

 

Does anyone have a picture of this McIntosh option from Ferrari? I'm curious if that's what my car has that I'm about to throw away.

 

No doubt this is a well put together custom job but it's just too in your face for my liking. My NSX has similar sub location problems to my F355. Here is a solution that I preferred for that car:

NSX > IPP > ScienceofSpeed Subwoofer Enclosure

You need a low profile sub for it to work and be ok with losing a little passenger footroom.

Erik

 

That is a pretty good solution. I'm at the point where I am thinking of adding a modest stereo just for the sake of having something functioning in the car. Has anyone tried a all in one slim sub inclosure mounted to the bottom of one of the seats?