2016 Porsche Macan S - stealth SQ build

G

Ge0

Noob
Howdy all,

I have a new vehicle and I'm back to my old addiction. I feel the need to gut this sucker and refine the stock audio system. Meet my latest project:
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It looks like there is ample room to place subs and amp(s) in the rear hatch:
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The hatch floor is recessed almost 2" below skid plates. This could come in handy for building a false floor:
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A reasonable amount of space under the hatch:
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Even more space with the 8" plastic factory sub removed:
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Unfortunately I don't believe this sucker is going to fit.
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Just too deep if I want to recess it. Also, the diameter is too big for a good fit.
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I'm thinking two 10" drivers or three 8" drivers would work well. More on that in a bit.

Props go out to phroenips for giving me some ideas and inspiration to work on this vehicle.

Ge0
 
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Thanks BigAl205. Many of you know me from another site. I'm old and crusty around there. But, a fresh start here.

Unfortunately it is f'king snowing here in metro Detroit again today. No inspiration to go outside and screw with my vehicle. That and there's germs out there look'in to get ya.

Ge0
 
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Its still cold, raining and/or snowing here in Southeast Michigan. So, I have not been outside a lot to mess with my car. However, I have done some planning.

Thinking about sub-woofer options. Look's like I can fit two 10" drivers or three 8" drivers. I'm siding more towards a set of 10's. My idea is to create a false floor and mount the drivers to it. The picture here is a single 8" driver sitting on the sub-floor of the cargo area:
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Now onto other things. The front doors have stock 8" mid-bass drivers mounted to the door sheet metal and 3" mid-ranges mounted to the plastic door card. I'm thinking about keeping this configuration but swapping for improved drivers.
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The front dash has a set of tweeters to the far left and right sides plus a center channel. Once again, I plan on keeping this configuration but replacing with upgraded drivers. Yes, I plan on running a center channel and hope that Helix has a decent center channel algorithm.
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The rear doors are currently configured for 6.5" mid-bass drivers and 1" domed tweeters. However, there is unused space to mount a 3" mid-range as well. I plan to eliminate the rear tweeters. I will start by trying out the 6.5" drivers as L-R rear fill. I'm not sure this is the best option. I may disconnect the 6.5" drivers and add 3" mid-ranges to take over rear fill duty. Those of you who know me know that I feel real strong about using this rear fill configuration to help widen the listening space and increase the over-all room depth.
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I also have another possibility for adding rear fill that I may experiment with. There is also room for mid-ranges in the D pillars behind the rear seats. Hmmm... Maybe place rear fill drivers there instead?
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Hoping to make my first modification this weekend if temps climb above 40 degrees and it stops raining. I'm going to install a set of these in the dash to get rid of the shrill Bose plastic dome tweeters. This may tame the "totally sucks" factor out of the factory system until I can make further mods:
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These tweeters are older but still one of my favorites.

Ge0
 
OK. I figured I need to start somewhere. May as well pick the easier tasks first while the weather is still cold and nasty. Time to do the tweeter install. While not a terribly complicated job it did have its tricks. Doing things in the wrong order can damage the vehicle. So, I decided to document the process step by step.

Remove fuse box cover on both sides of the dash. These are easy enough to remove by hand. Just pace your finger in the access tab near the red arrows and pull outwards. If you don't want to chip your nail polish then you can use a plastic trim tool :).
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Next, let's tackle the A-pillars. This is perhaps the most difficult step. I've read about folks cracking their windshield trying to get these out. First, remove the access plugs labeled AIRBAG in the upper A-pillar. I found this easiest to do using my finger nails. My plastic trim tools were a little too wide to wedge in there. I didn't want to use a metal trim tool since I didn't want to scratch the plastic finish. Once removed you need to extract the torx head bolts. This is tricky. Loosen the bolt so it is almost out. Then reach in with needle nose pliers to pull it out. Be careful or you might drop the bolt inside the a-pillar.
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The next step is important. Pop the upper portion of the A-pillar trim loose by pulling it away from the A-pillar towards the center of the vehicle here (white arrow). Don't try to pull it free. Just pop it loose.
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Next, pop the bottom portion of the A-pillar trim loose here (red arrow) then gently push up (green arrow).
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You should now be able to remove the a-pillar trim by carefully pushing up the bottom and pulling the top free from the vehicle. Careful, it's rather flimsy in the center where the two pieces are bonded together (red arrow).
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Finally we can remove the speaker grill. Some say wedge a plastic trim tool between the speaker grill and dash here:
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However, I found it hard to wedge my trim tool in there without risking scratching the dash board. I found it easier to grab the rubber piece here (red arrow) and pull up on it (green arrow). This lifts a corner of the speaker grill so you can get your trim tool in there:
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Remove the grill and set it aside. Take note how the rubber part of the trim seats into the dash channel prior to popping the grill back in.

Next, popping the tweeter out is kind of difficult. Push the metal tabs outward away from the tweeter here (red arrows). You can then get a trim tool under the tweeter to pop it up and out. There are no hidden latches in the tweeter connector. Just grab by the connector body and give it a firm tug. Just like your mom always said, don't pull it loose by the cord!!!
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I didn't feel like cutting the wire harness on a $65K car. There was not enough length to crimp on quick disconnects in the tight space between dash and windshield. Therefore, I decided to sacrifice the cheap factory tweeters to make my own OEM connector.

This job was somewhat easy. The connector body was glued on to the back of the tweeter. Just de-solder the connections to the tweeter then pry the connector loose with a Xacto knife and flat head screw driver. Next, trim off the excess plastic with a pair of wire cutters then solder on some pig-tails.
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Ironically, the body diameter of the new tweeters was very close in size to the factory supplied ones. The factory installed metal clips hold the tweeter in nice and snug. Installing the tweeters could not be easier.
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The factory trim was snapped back into place without interference
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Ge0
 
Ge0 said:
Hoping to make my first modification this weekend if temps climb above 40 degrees and it stops raining. I'm going to install a set of these in the dash to get rid of the shrill Bose plastic dome tweeters. This may tame the "totally sucks" factor out of the factory system until I can make further mods:



These tweeters are older but still one of my favorites.

Ge0
Click to expand...

Nice car and nice work! Alpine tweeters made in Denmark... first time I have seen that.
 
Not that I expect you will but if you ever decide to sell those Alpine tweeters, keep me in mind. I used to own a pair in 2010. Loved them. Changed installs and they were sold.
 
The Scanspeak tweets offer a lot more detail than the cheap plastic Bose units. I can now actually hear parts of music the Bose tweeters could not replicate. However, something still seemed off. I could still hear shrillness in some songs that should not be there. Hmmm... What's going on?

Then it occurred to me. There is another set of Bose tweeters in the rear doors. Let's take a peek.

You can remove the rear door mid-range and tweeter grill by hand. Just grab by the red arrows and gently pull towards you.
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I found this interesting. I popped off the grill on the passenger side and noticed this tweeter was damaged from the factory:
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It's easier to remove these tweeters. Just put your finger through the empty midrange hole (red arrow) and push on the tweeter from behind. Next, release the plastic clips (red arrows) with your trim tool and the tweeters will pop out.
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I tried listening to the system with and without decent tweeters mounted in the rear doors.
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Having high frequency content near your ears right behind you was screwing up frontal imaging. So, for now I am going to remove tweeters from the rear doors altogether. The signal going to them is full range. I can probably use that for something else in the future.

The door also has 6-1/2" mid-basses mounted below. I may end up using the 6-1/2's for L-R rear fill in the future. Either that or I will install 3" mid-ranges in the factory supplied locations. Either way, the rear fill will be band limited from 250Hz to 2.5KHz. But, that's a project for another day. I don't have the amps I need to complete this configuration yet.
 
erinh said:
Not that I expect you will but if you ever decide to sell those Alpine tweeters, keep me in mind. I used to own a pair in 2010. Loved them. Changed installs and they were sold.
Click to expand...

Sorry man. It took me forever to find these. I have a death grip on them :).

They are starting to get frail after years of being in and out of installs. One of these days I'm going to need to find a new alternate solution. But for now I really dig these.

Ge0
 
DavidRam said:
Nice car and nice work! Alpine tweeters made in Denmark... first time I have seen that.
Click to expand...

These are re-branded Scanspeak 2904/60001's. They were part of an Alpine F1 component set a long time ago. They have been my "go to" tweeter since 2008. However, they have been out of production for quite some time. They are getting harder and harder to get a hold of.

Scanspeak tweeter on the left, Alpine on the right
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Ge0
 
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erinh said:
Not that I expect you will but if you ever decide to sell those Alpine tweeters, keep me in mind. I used to own a pair in 2010. Loved them. Changed installs and they were sold.
Click to expand...

I think I bought one of my sets from you around that time.

Ge0
 
Ge0 said:
I think I bought one of my sets from you around that time.

Ge0
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Who knows, man. Who knows. I've bought/sold so many things over the years. Then re-bought and sold them again. I'm approaching a record of about 8 months with my current install not changing anything. If I hit the 1-year mark I think I get a chip or something. :D
 
erinh said:
Who knows, man. Who knows. I've bought/sold so many things over the years. Then re-bought and sold them again. I'm approaching a record of about 8 months with my current install not changing anything. If I hit the 1-year mark I think I get a chip or something. :D
Click to expand...

I'm sitting on a mountain of stuff I would like to sell too. However, my state is on lock down. My region is a cesspool of disease. I can't ship anything therefore I am not going to sell right now. I'm just going to sit in my house with my tin foil hat :).

Ge0
 
OK. time to check out the center channel situation. Mainly because it is easy to do :)

Start by pressing the lap clock towards the windshield (red arrow). This will lift the trim piece up enough for you to get your plastic trim removal tool under it (green arrow). But, just break it lose. Don't try to remove yet:
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There are two J-hooks you will need to release before you can pull the vent panel out (red arrows). The trick to doing this is to leave the vent panel lowered so the J-hooks clear their locking point. Press away one side then lift that side slightly. Then do the other side. The vent assembly will then lift so you can do other goodies. This is the hardest part. Clear it and you are on your way.
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The only thing holding you back now is to release the connector to the LAP clock. Just push in the retainer tab (red arrow) and pull the connector out. Once this is done you can set the vent assembly aside:
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Now you have a clean view of the center channel speaker
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You'll need to remove those torx bolts. But after that you are home free. I managed to get my Bosch cordless screw driver in there with the appropriate bit and still clear the windshield.
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Again, press against the connector retention clip to release then loudspeaker. Easy peasy.

Looking inside the hole I see a somewhat sealed 1 liter enclosure formed by the A/C vents. This may be useful...
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It looks like you can add a mid-range with up to a 3" cut-out into this hole. Also, depth does not seem to be any problem for such a driver.
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At my photo limit per post...

Ge0
 
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