Well we all know him and all know his builds but this is the end of the beginning because a new project is on the horizon and if this project was any indication the next will be a bar raiser.

Here is the link for the progression of the builds until now.

Nelson is at again. 530i build log take 2. Project Individual V.2

Since the car was sold to his cousin and the system stripped Nelson wanted something simple but still something that allowed the car to live on. So with that Focal, Arc Audio and AudioControl were sourced for components.


Focal 
Access AS 165
Access AC 100

Arc Audio
Arc 12
XDi805

AudioControl
DQ-61


Typical to BMW installs I ground the top of the plug to pass the wire through and then added a relief to the outside plastic to compensate for the thickness of the wire. Straight Wire Wave Guide speaker cable was used throughout. 

With one door done the other was done the same way.

With the doors wired the door speakers could be mounted into the doors. The tweeters from the Focal Access AS 165 were placed in the OEM locations. Due to their design to drop into OEM locations the tweeters went into the OEM pods without modification. They're held in with industrial hot glue. 

With the tweeter mounted even the OEM foam barrier goes on without worry.

Quick disconnects allow the tweeter to be unplug in the event that the panel needs to be completely removed from the car. The connections were heat shrunk with colored heat shrink and the wire zip tied.

The same process was performed on the other door.

With the tweeter in place the midrange from the Access AS 165 kit could be mounted into the door. Some slight modifications were needed to the door pod because the basket was a touch bigger than the Esotar E650 and new mounting holes were drilled. After that they dropped in. The terminals were heat shrunk with colored heat shrink. 

#8 flush style screws mount the speaker to the pod. 

To protect the speakers for daily driving removable grilles were made.

With one door done the other side was next.

Once the doors were completed the wire runs to the back could be started. Hush Mat Quite tape was applied every 6-8" when a zip tie wasn't used.

The door wires run to the underseat subwoofer enclosure where the passive crossover network is housed. The OEM subwoofers were removed on the first version of the install so it made a great place to house the crossover network. All connections were terminated with spade terminals and heat shrunk.

As the wire runs to the back it takes advantage of the OEM wire routing.

With one side done the other side received the same treatment.

With the front done attention turns to the rear deck. For some rear fill a set of Focal Access AC 100 were used. To mount in the OEM location one of the mounting tabs was shaved off but after that they dropped right into the OEM areas and used OEM mounting.

As the all the wires reached the trunk care was taken to insure the runs did not run parallel to the OEM power wire. The wires were strapped down using Hush Mat Quite tape.

The subwoofer enclosure and amplifier rack were designed to be one unit. An Arc Audio XDi805 powers the whole system keeping with the simple set up.

As much as I like using them a barrier strip was used to give a quick access point to extend the wires for the DQ-61 to allow tuning at the driver's seat

The enclosure mounts to the floor board from the previous install using #8 wood screws. The speaker wire was wired parallel and soldered.

The Arc 12 resides in an .75cuft enclosure but thanks to Stuff enclosure fill from Black Hole the subwoofer is seeing 1-1.25cuft.

The subwoofer connections were soldered and heat shrunk.

The speaker wire leads were also soldered.

With all the wiring completed the trunk trim panels could be attended to. With the previous side panels still being used a design was needed to integrate the new with the old. The same perforated aluminum was used for the subwoofer panel and back lit with white LEDs. A center accent piece trims out the subwoofer and amplifier. It was wrapped in vinyl that matched the OEM plastic trunk trim panel. The main part of the trim panel was wrapped in the same genuine Alcantara as the side panels. The side panels received a similar accent piece with the BMW roundel logo embossed into them. 

For more daily driving purposes a removable grille can be placed over the subwoofer.

For an added layer of protection a removable carpet was made. With it in place it completes the look of the floor hiding the system from view.

Before I get into the description of how it sounds I want to apologize because I might be all over the place.

Comparing the car now to what it was wouldn't do it service so I'm just going to go off of what we have here. For a basic drop in system I must say I'm impressed. The Focal Access have plenty of punch with crisp highs. The Arc subwoofer fills in the lows and the XDi amplifier provides plenty of power for the entire system in an all in one package. The front stage Is about 2-3" off the dash but good given the OEM locations. The AudioControl gives the car a center image but its not a defined center image. Given the way it sounded it sounded like it adjusts the phasing of the speakers. No matter what I did I couldn't get a well defined center image like the full digital DSPs I'm used to. The one thing it did well was getting the bass up front and given the subwoofers location it couldn't get any further away. The few EQ channels it has allowed me to dial in the system a bit but I think given the troubles I had with the center image a lot more tinkering is in store before I'm satisfied. All in all what I would take away from the car is that given their price point the Focal Access give you a lot of bang for your buck and gets you into the Focal brand. And. For the money I would rather spend a few more bucks and get a full digital DSP than ever do the AudioControl piece again. This is sad given the fact that I'm a HUGE AudioControl lover. They just got lost in the times and now have to play catch up.

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