Nissan Cube SQ project with Focal Utopia M

Well I live on an island, getting new fish is NOT a problem. It might be a economical purchase in the long run.

Have to finish up another project, and when thar car is out of the garage, I'm planning on using spare time over the summer to get the new system going.
 
Finally done with the E60 build, so I can focus on this from now on.

After having a peek under the cover of my Helix P Two, I think I might just have to mount it inverted with a plexiglass cover. Same for the P Six, it's just as tidy as this.

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And talking of plexiglas, I also have this 100x50cm slab of 30mm thick plexi, made spesifically for backlit LED applications. Cost me about $500, bought to make lighted boat/yatch letters. For someone who changed their mind after getting said boat.

So have to repurpose it.

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From this:
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To something I can integrate into the install. Maybe some logos or backlit trim rings etc.
 
Dang, it happened again...

Sold off brand new equipment that was meant for this car. 3rd Helix P Six mk2 now :P Had one for about 4 years, with no intention of swapping it out. But a friend needed one NOW, and couldn't wait two days for a new one. So sold him mine, bought a new for myself, had it laying around for a bit before another one wanted to buy such an amp. So sold that one as well, since I could wait a bit and get a mk3. That was supposed to come out last summer. Summer became fall, and by September the release date was pushed back to Q1 2021.

So I bought a third mk2.. Still haven't taken it out of its sealed packaging, and now another friend wanted one for his semi-truck, this amp can also run on 24V. Last I heard now was that the mk3 was pushed back even further, we're in Q3 now and no confirmed release.

But the DSP Ultra is in stock, and those new Helix C series amps look very tempting... hmmm...
 
Hi there from a bit of a stalker on this site ;)

I wish Helix would hurry up with the P Six Mk3. I'm itching to sell my mk2 and get one, to use the ACO features and the fancy looking Conductor volume control.
The Director doesn't really fit anywhere in my car and the URC.3 is a bit rubbish, but I like the look of the Conductor.
 
Yep, but I think they (along with the rest of the world) are suffering from shortage of components, and just getting the current models made in a timely manner is getting more and more difficult. When I bought my last one, pretty much exactly one year ago, the p six mk3 and (another product)mk3 was set for a release in Q1 of this year. So I bought a mk2 since the mk3 was at least 3 months away. Now it's been 12 months and still no release date.

I had 2 of the M Four DSP amps, got them from the first production run back in December. Was going to install one in a car here, but changed a bit of the setup during the install, so had to have a BT streaming module. And that is not available on the M4 DSP, so changed it out for a regular M4 + a DSP Mini. Worked out well since I have a friend who have sold more M4 DSP's than he could get hold on, so sent him both of mine New stock were to come in now in August, but that has been postponed to October (as of yet). So not holding my breath for any new products in these times.

With that in mind, I think I'm just going to get a new p six mk2. I have a Director NIB, and space for it, so why not.
 
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Treated myself to this little thing today (happy birthday to me), 10 channel amp with 11-channel dsp (1 preout). 8x65w + 2x90 (160 in 2ohm) rms. Won't end up in the final setup in this car, but should be interesting to try it out at least :)
 
I like that wrap as well, which is rare for me. But more than that I am really feeling those 3 spokes on that thing. Vurry nice. And not something many these days are doing.
 
Found some time to mess with the CNC at work, and used up most of the usable area of my half inch acrylic sheet. Had to buy a full sheet (2x3m = about 65ft2), had it cut into 3pcs 1x2m, and still have two of them left. I made CAD files for the speaker adapters years ago, these use the OEM Nissan bolt pattern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl48ODwyxI4

I will have to make a few more rings and stack them, because I want the drivers to sit flush with the door card. Will also have to offset them a bit since the OEM grill is not directly in front of the OEM speaker mount. But not to bad, maybe half an inch off.
 
Haakono said:
Dang, it happened again...

Sold off brand new equipment that was meant for this car. 3rd Helix P Six mk2 now :P Had one for about 4 years, with no intention of swapping it out. But a friend needed one NOW, and couldn't wait two days for a new one. So sold him mine, bought a new for myself, had it laying around for a bit before another one wanted to buy such an amp. So sold that one as well, since I could wait a bit and get a mk3. That was supposed to come out last summer. Summer became fall, and by September the release date was pushed back to Q1 2021.

So I bought a third mk2.. Still haven't taken it out of its sealed packaging, and now another friend wanted one for his semi-truck, this amp can also run on 24V. Last I heard now was that the mk3 was pushed back even further, we're in Q3 now and no confirmed release.

But the DSP Ultra is in stock, and those new Helix C series amps look very tempting... hmmm...
Click to expand...

I'm quoting myself here, as this sale some months ago got the ball rolling on realizing a dream of mine... I've had this thing in mind (although not realistically) ever since I heard rumours about it a couple of years before it was released to the public. And when it finally was released it was with a hefty pricetag to say the least..

So put it on the bucket list, but not as a realistic purchase in any way.

Fast forward a few years still, and we're at the point as quoted above here. Sold my P Six, and over the last couple of years I've also bought my bucket list speakers piece by piece to finally have full setup of Utopia M drivers, 3-way components and 2x subwoofers. The P six is a great amp/dsp combo, but it's also 7 years old and the world moves forward - especially in the DSP development.

The bucket list item came to mind again, and after airing my thoughts to the distributor I got a very nice price (although a lot of money) for said item. This was a few months ago, and after mulling over it ever since, I finally took the big step of placing and order to my custom spec in January. About a week later it was built, and a few weeks after it arrived at the distributor who sent it down here.

So finally, here is my brand new Brax DSP!

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My personal spec for this was to have it equipped with 2x digital and 2x analog input modules, and 6x analog output modules (2ch each), and a HD Bluetooth streaming module. And anodized black finish (could also choose silver). Now this is the single most expensive piece of car audio I've bought brand new in the close to 30 years I've been into car audio (since about 15 years old). Brax has been around of all that time, but I guess it's more of a "grown-up" brand in the same way as a Rolls Royce probably isn't your favourite car when you're 18 or 30 or even 40 ;) For my own sake it's only in the more recent (5-10 years) it has been on the radar so to speak.

Hopefully this will be the heart of any system configuration I will have over the next 10+ years at least, and while the world moves fast when it comes to DSPs, this one is modular and has the potensial to be upgradable as time goes by. That, and the fact that Brax products come with a lifetime warranty for the original owner, help a bit to make this purchase (almost) justifiable....? In any case, it can now be crossed off the bucket list (yolo), and the want/need to upgrade can be crossed of its list as well ;)

For good measure, here is a video that maybe will help explain the joy/pride of ownership of such an item:
https://youtu.be/FigWRJra3XI
 
Yesterday I took advantage of having access to a great CNC and made all the pieces that goes into building this enclosure.

Started easy with all the countersunk bits, here in the middle of removing all of the body of a logo, before it goes around the perimeter to make clean lines.

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Then onto the various side pieces, 5 parts go together to make a complete layer. And 6 layers (x22mm). Turned out I was rather stingy on the material when setting the set point for the CNC, usually you set it a bit in from the material edge in both y and x axis, especially if the router bit cuts on the outside of the cut line like here. But it went well, it cut to about a few sheets of paper worth of clearance with the margins on the right side:

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Cut halfway on the first pass and the rest on the second pass. Here is between first and second ;)
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Finished routing, now it's only to collect all the pieces:

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And clean up the mess left behind!

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I also made holes for wooden plugs in the cut file, so it will be easy to align all the layers perfectly when joining them together:

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Puzzled together all the pieces for one layer to see if theory related to practice, and luckily it did:

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So now assembly remains, might get something done over the weekend. Hopefully at least :)
 
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