My build log/review for the lincoln mark vii

[flakko 1]

okay got the HU in. the stock jbl speakers are running off HU power so im getting the scosche thingamabobber that will let me use the aftermarket amp. when i have time, ill be hookin them up to a usamps md43 with lots of headroom.

HU wired up and installed.

[update 03-07-08] Added some videos

Ipod control:

Color demo:

-------------------------------------

Initial review

- equip: Alpine 9887 + iPod directly connectged, stock jbl speakers, amp defeated.

Some things that might hinder the performance:

- of course under powering with 18wrms each speaker <--------NO MORE! 03-05-07

- right front speaker was rattling. replacement paid for will hopefully be on its way soon

- the foam "baffles" that are used to isolate the back wave is gone

- still in the process of tweaking the sound

- used my ipod some songs were lossless but some were mp3's

------------------

Some of my reference material used was:

the almighty Eagles - Hell Freezes over *cd* (tequila sunrise and hotel california)

why: you know why

Joe Bonamassa - Blues Deluxe *cd*

why: guitars yo!

Norah Jones - Come away with me *cd* (Don't know why)

why: needed some soft jazz in there for

Bob marley - Chant down babylon *cd*

why: the bass

Lil Flip ft manny fresh - What it do

why: the bass

Imogen Heap - Speak for yourself *cd* (Hide and Seek)

why: this song is a trip. its imogen heap singing on one key, but she uses like 3 or 4 different synthesizers on her voice to accompany her non-synthesized voice

Al Green - Let's Stay Together

why: wanted to try an older recording

Aqua - Dr. Jones

why: dont ask why i played this lol

Pink Floyd - Wish you were here

why: that intro is sexy. a single acoustic guitar plucking at the center of the sound stage

Some Chopin and george winston

why: piano music

Black Sabbath - I

The Agony Scene (i forgot what song i used)

why: need some metal in there!

Mozart Violin Concertos*

why: Its classical need some strangs up in here.

Late Night Alumni - Empty streets*

why: Amazing house group. very well produced music

I also listend to some random techno songs i had in my pod but not too in-depth. ill do some more of that listening later.

* added 03/05/07

---------------

oh my what a delite to my ears. these speakers sound sexy...most of the time. It seems like with mostly everything i like about it, theres something i don't. a little feed forward: these observations were all taking at the volume about half way up.

- Dang these speakers belt out non-distorted guitar notes liek nobody's business. its got a very warm sound on the lower notes, but when that high string is plucked, it sent a jolt of aural pleasure into my brain. I dont know, while sitting in my car tweaking, i subconsiously closed my eyes just to listen to the music (that only happens when i like something )

- its a mixed bag when it comes to the distortion in electric. for example with Joe Bonamassa, the bluesy style of plucking it sounded fine, but when i listened to Black sabbath and thier heavy guitar rifts, the music sounded dead, and had little to no impact. I didnt get the "i want to run a baby over with my car" feeling i ususally get when i listen to the song,

[update with stock jbl amp + tweak 03/05/07]

guitar actually got better for the electric rifts, its still a little cold, but its livened up a good bit. At least my reaction changed to positive with the DIO song

- synthesizers sounded great on this system. if youve ever heard a good trance song, it gave me that awesome feeling of being enveloped in the song (yea its kind of hard to explain lol). Imogen heap's song actually gave me chills down my spine however...

- vocals dont do too well in this system. there's terrible peaks valleys in almost every song i listened to with vocals (well not rapping lol). when i listened to the eagles, the "S" an SH" sounds were ear piercing, as was some of the upper midrage. some of the valleys are the mid-midrange (around 1-3hz). no impact at all. yea i didnt like the vocals. however somewhat digitized vocals sounded decent. its weird. (D)

[update with stock jbl amp + tweak 03/05/07]

didnt get that much synth listening in, mainly vocals. Im very happy to say that the majority of the "S" and "SH" sounds are no longer shrill. got better. (C+)

- Piano. HO HO HO the piano. It sucked. flat out. SUCKED. so far, this system did chopin a great disservice. i dont want to listen to a piano on these speakers again until i fix some of its shortcomings. F- for now

[update with stock jbl amp + tweak 03/05/07]

WoW what a difference. No more harshness, the music sounded actually good. still not where i want it to be tho

[///M5 2,833]

The imprint is unnecessary, you'd be much better off just running active since you have the capability in that h/u

[todd.brust 29]

Nice little write up. The stock JBL in some of the Lincolns isn't bad stuff. The JBL sound system in my Town Car was surprisingly good by my standards for a stock stereo. The cutouts were for a 5x7 but was basically a 5.25 and a tweeter enclosed in some kind of plastic shell.

I have a few quick questions, when you say "Use the stock amp (if not, aftermarket)" do you mean the factory JBL or the HU amp? And Secondly, what do you plan to run for your front stage? Active please?

[flakko 1]

Nice little write up. The stock JBL in some of the Lincolns isn't bad stuff. The JBL sound system in my Town Car was surprisingly good by my standards for a stock stereo. The cutouts were for a 5x7 but was basically a 5.25 and a tweeter enclosed in some kind of plastic shell.

I have a few quick questions, when you say "Use the stock amp (if not, aftermarket)" do you mean the factory JBL or the HU amp? And Secondly, what do you plan to run for your front stage? Active please?

thanks, heck yea man i was pleasantly suprised when i heard the same system in my buddys mark vii with a stock cd player. i was blown away. yea its pretty cool how much time and effort they put into those systems. ill get some pix when the replacements come in the mail.

to answer your questions, i meant stock JBL and aftermarket Usamps MD43. I actually plan to run a set of seas neo metal tweeters and some 5.25 Alumapro ALC mids. the mids are said to be as good as the rainbow profi van's so we will see! just lyin on top of my dresser right now. until i run the md43 and test my stocks out a little, im gonna stay stock. but not to worry, i will run active, because like mr m5 said, i got the capability, use it

right now my goal is to get the most out of my stock system see how good i can get those speakers to sound.

[todd.brust 29]

Alumapro huh? I had a set of Alumapro 10" subs, and i loved them! Alumapro makes a quality product. The local shop reps them and I almost picked up a set of their 6.5" Comp sets before i decided on the XRs.

I can't wait to see this project come along! Glad to hear you will be going active!

[///M5 2,833]

Glad you are seeing the light Jeremy. If we can help with tuning or such ask. I won't be in LA land for a couple months, but I'd be glad to do what I can onsite as well.

[blue86f150 0]

Flakko where do you live by chance in socal? I live about 30 miles east of LA, i would like to see this when its all done.

[Acidburn 10]

Flakko where do you live by chance in socal? I live about 30 miles east of LA, i would like to see this when its all done.

Alhambra, IIRC

[flakko 1]

Alumapro huh? I had a set of Alumapro 10" subs, and i loved them! Alumapro makes a quality product. The local shop reps them and I almost picked up a set of their 6.5" Comp sets before i decided on the XRs.

I can't wait to see this project come along! Glad to hear you will be going active!

ive always wanted to try some of thier subs, but i honestly didnt like the looks of them i was chatting with one of the dudes that helped design the woofer, and they are actually made in germany which is a big "+" IMO. and for 55 bucks on the pair, cant beat it

yea and whats cool, i only need to feed wires. no fabrication

Glad you are seeing the light Jeremy. If we can help with tuning or such ask. I won't be in LA land for a couple months, but I'd be glad to do what I can onsite as well.

sweetness. i really appreciate it. the GUI on the 9887 is kind of confusing on the xover section. i like pictures. this ones all numbers lol. actually if you are in town, lets meet up. i wanna hear what a REAL system looks like!

and yes i am in alhambra. like 5 minutes east of East LA. zip is 91803 if you need

[flakko 1]

Okay, I put the scosche thingamabober in and when i first did it, i got this terrible alternator whine coming from my rear right speaker. My first time hearing it...its not pretty. turns out there was a bad crimp so i re-did it, and no more noise. next, while putting the sucker in, i had forgotten there was the exposed ground terminal so all of the sudden, i saw sparks, and the lights went out. I was very very angry. like screaming and yelling and hitting the steering wheel angry. the last time i was that angry was when i totaled my car. I thought I had blown up my radio after my head cooled, I decided to check the fuses in my car and sure enough one was blowed. I replaced it, and everything was happy again. Needless to say, that exposed ground terminal isnt exposed anymore. Now on to the sound testing:

night and day improvement when using the Stock JBL vs the HU's internal. The bass was even MORE crisp and had a heckuva lot more impact than before, these things dug even deeper. the midrange was tamed down A LOT, and piano music was actually listenable. THe music was more alive and didnt sound as mechanic as with the HU's amp. I enjoyed listening to songs even more than before.

After a couple hours of listening and tweaking, i finally calmed down the "S" and "SH" sounds a little. and the piano is even more listenable. The highs are even MORE detailed and it seems like the soundstage has been drawn forward in front of me instead of behind, not to mention the midrange/midbass gap between the front and back has also closed A LOT.

I put on some mozart violin concertos, and it was amazing. If the improvement in sound was this much from going internal HU to stock amp, I can't believe what an aftermarket amp will sound like. I am still amazed at what these stock speakers can do. Like i want someone to listen to it. Ill put little updates in my original post

next step is to deaden, or replace the speaker. whichever one comes first. or i can deaden when i replace the speaker. yea ill do that. eh sorry thinking while typing

[flakko 1]

updated with the bold

[mikecdm 0]

hmm, intersting. I'm thinking about buying this head unit but I'm not completely convinced on the direction I want to take. How well does the ipod interface work? I am also curious on what other colors can it display. I have an older alpine that does either green or orange.

[todd.brust 29]

Sounds like you are getting a little excited over this! When do you plan to go through and sound deaden, replace speakers, and install the aftermarket amp, because i want so see this all go down . Also i forgot to ask in one of my previous posts, but do you plan on eliminating the rear fill speakers or are you going to use the HUs time correction and mess with the soundstage that way?

[flakko 1]

hmm, intersting. I'm thinking about buying this head unit but I'm not completely convinced on the direction I want to take. How well does the ipod interface work? I am also curious on what other colors can it display. I have an older alpine that does either green or orange.

it handles the ipod VERY VERY well. just like using an ipod with your head unit except you use the "play" button to enter and the "back" button to go back. i wish they would have used the push the big ol knob in to enter. eh just nitpicking tho. Ill get a vid up of the ipod in action through the head unit.

this hu has 5 different color schemes also which i will include with the movie. i wish it had all green tho

actually let me go get my camera right now. BRB

Sounds like you are getting a little excited over this! When do you plan to go through and sound deaden, replace speakers, and install the aftermarket amp, because i want so see this all go down smile.gif. Also i forgot to ask in one of my previous posts, but do you plan on eliminating the rear fill speakers or are you going to use the HUs time correction and mess with the soundstage that way?

indeed very very excited. my first REAL sytem. ask everyone around here. i had a set of bastardized passive components in ghettofied kicks. I plan to deaden the doors when my replacement stock speakers come in. ill order a roll of raamatt when the guy ships my speakers. in deadening the rest of the vehicle, i plan to do it when i run wires through my car for the amp. that wont be until i get my car cosmetically fixed up (re-paint, replace headlights, shine up the trim, clean up the engine bay etc.). you will probably see everything go down this year lol.

the rear fill. I was thinking about it, and i REALLY like the bass of the by nines, so im just going to cut them off at around 100-150hz (5.25" i dont think will go super low) and use them as subs off of a separate amp. if i dont like it that way, ill just take them out and run a sub (teh new mag is what im aiming at). im flexible.

lol its great i actually hope for stop lights so i can listen to the music. ive been deprived of music ever since i got this car.

[flakko 1]

vids are up on youtube. the ssa video section aint working. sorry if the ipod one is a little long, i had fun listening to the music

Ipod control:

Color demo:

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

When you get the MD43 and the HU active, should sound awesome. MD1 and SD-1v2 for sub stage?

[mikecdm 0]

Those videos worked out nicely, thanks for taking the time to make them. I think one of those orange colors will flow well with the interior lighting scheme of my bimmer. I also enjoyed listening to the music on the color demo. Haven't heard that music in a while, out here in TX nobody really listens to that and they don't even play it on the radio. When I lived in cali they'd always have stuff like that on 99.1, and I remember on the weekend they'd have the art leboe (sp) stuff playing for hours. I do have one more question though, does the radio let you just shuffle the entire ipod library. Thats how I usually have it in my car right now, I just put it on random and skip through all the songs I don't feel like listening too.

[flakko 1]

When you get the MD43 and the HU active, should sound awesome. MD1 and SD-1v2 for sub stage?

i was going to try to run the stock by-nines off of an md21. love the way they sound. if that dont work for me im gonna do a mag off an md1d. or what i can do is run 3 md21's lol that will look cool.

Those videos worked out nicely, thanks for taking the time to make them. I think one of those orange colors will flow well with the interior lighting scheme of my bimmer. I also enjoyed listening to the music on the color demo. Haven't heard that music in a while, out here in TX nobody really listens to that and they don't even play it on the radio. When I lived in cali they'd always have stuff like that on 99.1, and I remember on the weekend they'd have the art leboe (sp) stuff playing for hours. I do have one more question though, does the radio let you just shuffle the entire ipod library. Thats how I usually have it in my car right now, I just put it on random and skip through all the songs I don't feel like listening too.

cool. no problem man haha yea i started getting into that music last year. was listening to wefunk radio that plays all the old funk, underground hip-hop and old school hip-hop. its really good stuff. nice i love GQ. like you i wish they played nore of that stuff on the radio instead of "Apple bottom jeeeeeeeens (jeans), boots with the fuuur (the fuur)" :shiver:

to answer your question, take a look at the end of the video around 2:27 where i pushed and held the "MIX" button. it does mix all your songs