I've always admired German vehicles for their engineering and styling, particularly the BMW M3 (E30) that launched in 1987. Extremely sexy and bold, it just begged for attention or a nice racetrack to be driven on. Since its introduction, BMW has launched two more styles of the M3, adding to its legendary status: the E36 in the mid '90s and, from 2001 to present day, the E46.
Jeffrey Juanlu felt the same way I did and, after finishing medical school, he chose his weapon: the E46 M3. With a passion for car audio and performance, Juanlu was ready to begin a project of sound and performance. For his first step, he enlisted the help of Ernie Onate and Daniel Campos at Sound Innovations of Hayward, CA, who are no strangers to car audio in general, or to this magazine.
The first step, even before the design, was to quiet the interior by using multiple rolls of DynaMat Extreme. Everything - trunk, floor, side panels and doors - was insulated to help keep rattles and resonance to a minimum.
Perfect Placement
Heading the system, a Pioneer AVH-7500DVD with 7-inch touchscreen provides navigation and more. A custom bezel had to be made because the standard aftermarket kit would have placed the unit to the left of the panel and not in the center. Campos and Onate pieced together a mixture of a factory bezel and ABS in order to position the unit right where they wanted it: smack in the center of the dash.
On the passenger-side foot well is a dedicated midbass enclosure designed to provide better upfront impact for sound quality. The Sound Innovations team molded the box to the contour of the foot well using fiberglass and 1/2" MDF. Vinyl wraps it all up to make a finished product. The enclosure measures only 5" in depth and contains two Focal Polyglass 21 V2 8" drivers. But since Sound Innovations removed the factory carpet, Juanlu only lost 2" of foot space to gain his up-front bass.
Just Baffled
Front stage consists of Focal Utopia No. 6 components (49mm tweeter, 6 1/2" driver). The speakers are all located in the factory locations, but not without modification. Securing the driver onto a better mounting point than the factory setup was a must since the factory driver was mounted to the door panel and not the door. Campos used fiberglass and wood to make a baffle and modified the inner door skin to properly mount the driver. The highs were relocated at the factory midrange location because it could accommodate a 49mm tweeter. The rear deck houses another set of Focal Utopia No. 6 components, which were modified into a coaxial speaker to utilize space.
Give It The Boot
Moving to the trunk, an amplifier rack was built into the spare tire compartment. The amps appear to sink into a pool of Imola red paint and are highlighted with a white light ring. Fiberglass and reinforced body filler were used to contour the look of the amplifiers into the rack, which contains an Audison VRx 4.300 to power the front and rear Focal Utopia No. 6 components; and an Audison VRx 1.500 to power the Focal 33 KX 13" subwoofer, located just forward of the amplifier rack. A suede cover lies protectively atop the amplifiers; and has three screens for ventilation and to prevent overheating. Hidden behind a modular suede-upholstered side panel lies an Audison SRx 1 powering the Focal midbass drivers along with the Focal component crossovers and system power distribution.
Anything but your average subwoofer box would do in this vehicle. Two clear 3/4" acrylic panels showcase the Focal 33 KX 13" subwoofer, the front piece being where the subwoofer mounts. Two 1/2" aluminum plates were CNC'd with the Focal insignia painted in the middle. It was created for structure, but also to accent the enclosure. Three-quarter-inch MDF was used to secure the rest of the 1.7ft3 enclosure.
The CAP made by AlumaPro has a 15-farad capacity to help the system maintain a constant voltage supply and the 12-disc Pioneer CDX-P1200 changer keeps Juanlu listening to music all day. Half-inch acrylic was sandblasted to frost the rings and white neon was used to light the acrylic. The entire trunk interior was accented with BMW Imola red paint and covered in beautiful suede. Audison speaker wires and RCAs were used throughout the installation.
A 15-inch monitor is housed on the rear trunk lid to add that last bit of show. The bezel was formed from sheet metal to make a frame for the monitor to hold in place. The panel surrounding the monitor was made from the factory trunk lid and molded using fiberglass and fiberglass-reinforced body filler for strength. The cover was wrapped in suede and the sheet metal painted to match the rest of the highlighted panels.
The Other Half
Performance for this ride began with some accents on the front lip and roof spoiler made by Strassentech. A RevoZport CSL trunk lid and rear diffuser along with custom carbon front and side grilles add more customization. This car sits on HRE 841R custom anodized black 19" x 9" front and 19" x 10 1/2" rear, with an H & R Evosport tuned coilover system for the suspension. The engine modifications consist of an AFE cold air intake, AC Schnitzer front strut bar, Eurobahn ECU and a full exhaust system with Eisenmann Race mufflers.
Juanlu would like to thank his wife Naoko for helping him make his dream come true and to Ernie Onate and Daniel Campos of Sound Innovations for the detailed installation.