Apicella Auto Sound Demo Vehicle - 2019 Volvo S60 R Design

[SkizeR]

I did it. I finally did it. Got myself a new to me big boy car with the sole intent of making it a marketing tool for my shop, while also being my daily driver. Frankly, I only did it because I've been losing sales because my current car isn't relatable to customers and doesn't make them feel "warm and cozy" inside even though it sounds great. I ended up choosing this 2019 Volvo S60 R Design for a few reasons. It checked off probably the most boxes in my requirements/wants list, which wasn't very long. List in no particular order..

. Nice car that my target market can relate to and feel comfortable in? ✔
. All black interior? ✔
. Center channel from factory? ✔
. Quality OEM radio or something that can take an aftermarket radio? ✔ (has a nice oem radio)
. Pillars/dash that give me enough room to allow me to really show off what I can do? ✔
. Trunk space that would allow me to have some fun while still allowing the trunk to be usable? Ehh, kinda. Its enough to make it work, but not as roomy as one of the other options on my list of cars
. Enough room for kick panels? ✔

Bonus points for this car? Has awesome oem locations that actually made me not want it at first (didn't want to see multiple speaker grills all over the car), but then I got the bright idea to do not only one demo system, but TWO demo systems in one car. One of them will be what we refer to as a "Stage 2" sound system at Apicella Auto Sound. It will include our most commonly used speakers, the Audiofrog GB60, GB25, and GB10, as well as two GB25's and a GB10 in the center channel. The next system, which is what I wanted to do from the start, will most likely be what we refer to as a Stage 4 system. Our top of the line offerings (minus Brax amps and DSP, as I cannot afford those after this lol) will be used in this system and feature very intricate custom fabrication in the pillars, kick panels, and trunk.

To be honest, I'm still working out how I'm going to pull this off but I think I have an idea to pull it off properly without needing to have two directors or wifi modules.. OEM system, coax, and/or any other sources into DSP Ultra. Have this handle *everything* for the signal. On the last two outputs though, send full range out to a Helix V Eight Mk2 to power the 3 way door speakers, and center channel. I might utilize the Harmon Kardon upmixer that is already in the car for the two seat tune. Im not sure yet. We'll see.

I also plan on doing ceramic coating, tint, extensive radar/laser countermeasure system (hoping to do a Stinger, but not sure I can afford it right now). I'm hoping to pull out the big guns on this car right out of the gate so I don't have to do this car more than once.

Tommorow night after work I'm going to start taking the doors off and see what I'm working with. This should be fun

[Grinder]

Very nice! Congratulations! Looking forward to following along.

[Kevin K]

Nice car, love the color, and look forward to seeing what you end up doing with it. Congrats.

[avidedtr]

looks good. congrats!

[Blu]

Sweet! Eager to see what you come up with.

[goatpanda]

Congrats! I'm excited to see what you do with this car.

[Stycker]

This may be the only Volvo in the USA with Death Metal pounding through the windows. I think thats a great idea to have two systems in one car. The everyday customer probably doesn't want custom anything. Keep it clean and free of debris, that will be tough to do in a daily driver. Kevin just got a new job--clean Nick's car everyday. Just kidding Kevin, don't hurt me. Congratulations Nick.

[SkizeR]

This may be the only Volvo in the USA with Death Metal pounding through the windows.

I genuinely laughed lol

[mauian]

Awesome, Nick. Congrats


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[SkizeR]

Started on the build a bit while i had some free time.. Last night before i left the shop, i decided to test out the OEM system as far as acoustic output goes. I realized when i set it to "Driver", it actually had good imaging and staging and tonality actually wasn't bad. After some EQ and balance, i ended up with a solid center image, and decent tonality. Problem is, there might be a limiter or something, idk. Something sounds a bit off. But there is a linear frequency response minus a few exceptions, as you can see in the graph below.. again, this is after a bit of eq on the OEM radio. With no eq, it had less of a rise on the low end.



















What i started today before i go home was checking out the pillars to see what i can do for the big bad system (i already took the doors off to see what was possible.. easy drop in for Audiofrog GB 3-way in OEM locations). What i did was make a mock up of some Focal Utopia M 3.5's and took off the pillar to see what would fit. Honestly, its a bit tight. Tighter than i had originally thought, but i have worked with worse. After that, i took the baffles for the Tesla Model S pillars i did and enlarged them and then modified them to fit Focal Utopia 3.5WM. Again, its tight. But i think i can pull it off how i want. Itll come down to the millimeter though. If you see the AC vent, i do NOT want to block that in any way. Remember, some of my potential clients may be turned off by that, even if we're not doing pillars in their car. It may come off as lack of attention to detail, or can come off as poor design, or anything of that sort.