Fortunately, for Babson and Braverman, due the closeness of the woofer to the door panel, the rear doors easily accommodated another set of the three-ways. "These door panels did not require the same modification as the front," Summers explains, as they only required an MDF baffle and sound deadening. Up in the C-pillars, another set of pods was created for the high-frequency speakers. "This location was chosen to give the widest possible image and to yield the best low-frequency response," Summers says. "The mid and woofer are far apart, but I was able to correct for this with time alignment in the F1 processor and polarity at the passive crossovers."
5.1 Necessity
The center channel location, Summers notes, is quite large in the C-class, large enough to accommodate a Morel Ovation hybrid 4-inch woofer, CDM-88LE midrange and MT-24LE tweeter. Despite the generous amount of space, Braverman still had some modifying to do. Using fiberglass, ABS, and body filler, he reformed the factory mounting plate for the midbass and midrange. To make room for the tweeter, the OEM grille took a trip to a metal fabricator and had a dome pressed into it.
Utilitarian Solutions
As a daily driver, this Benz had to maintain a certain level of practicality. Summers wanted to retain the cargo space, as well as the spare tire and emergency equipment. Fortunately, Braverman knew how to get creative with the rear deck. He cut through holes into the metal structure and attached enclosures made from 3/4-inch MDF, fiberglass, body filler, and CA glue. Each 1.18 cubic foot box holds a JL Audio 10W6v4 subwoofer. Lastly, Braverman got out a caulk gun and some Dynamat to seal up any cracks.
The amplifiers also had to be out of the way, so Braverman devised a way to mount them in between the two subwoofer enclosures. Hidden behind a shroud created from more MDF, fiberglass, and body filler, a pair of Alpine PDX-4.150 amps and a single PDX-1.100 power the system. (The 4.150's pump 150 watts each to the front woofers, front pods, rears, center midbass and center midrange, and tweeter.)
If amps and subs weren't enough, the construction hanging from the rear deck also incorporates the pair of Alpine F1 processors. "The processors are easily accessed via a USB cable located in the fuse compartment on the left side trunk area," Summers reveals. Lastly, since the enclosure/amprack/processor rack obscures the original trunk light, Braverman added three LEDs triggered by the trunk switch.
The floor of the cargo space didn't escape the custom touch. Summers wanted a place to mount the Morel speaker's passive crossovers. Using the plastic spare tire cover as a mold, Braverman made a pan from fiberglass, MDF, and body filler. Inside, it's painted black while the underside is carpeted. This creative solution provides an accessible place for the crossovers while keeping the spare tire free.
Given the level of attention to detail and sound design, Summers could put up a fight on the sound quality circuit. "If serious SQ competition ever returns to the West Coast," he says, "I would consider competing again!" For now though, he just wants to keep on tuning and enjoying listening the music, which by the way, is 90 percent stereo sound. Even though he built a 5.1 car, Summers prefers to listen to old-fashioned two-channel! What about films on that monitor up front? "I do not ... watch movies in my car," he emphasizes. "That I leave for the studio."