Mercedes Benz E55 AMG goes Sundown Audio

[P-Dizzle 1]

Nice work on the car !

How was the sound and performance before?

Hell of a car. Great work!

The original install (not shown) was one of the worst, if not the worst sounding system I have ever heard due to the poor install.

You changed all the components of the system because the install was bad ?

What ever happened to the VRx's ? I'm curous what kind of problems you had with them...

I changed the components after performing a head to head test. I keep a lot of equipment on tap just for this reason. Even after fixing with wiring errors and tuning the system properly the Focals did not match up. My client told me it was the biggest difference he had ever heard in speakers going from the Focals to CDT's.

[P-Dizzle 1]

Very nice work, you did a good job making it look good too. I like stealth.

Thanks. My client wanted a usable trunk as this is a daily driver. A 700 horse daily driver.

[P-Dizzle 1]

looks great

does this crimp 0/1 ga wire? where can i get one

That is 1/0 wire in the picture and yes it will crimp it with ease. This crimpers measures just under 2 feet in length and can crimp all size power wire.

Large crimpers typically run 100-$150. Kustomized Boom use to carry them but I don't know if they still do.

866-532-7767

[email protected]

[sundownz 197]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

[P-Dizzle 1]

holy mother of pictures...

looking very good. Mind if I ask how you find the KNU cables.. am looking to get some of the flex and some speaker wire from them.

Knu makes pretty good products.

The Kolossus is nice and beefy and dwarfs most wire out there.

The KLMX isn't that great to work with but it is a good price.

The Kolossus Fleks is the same as Rockford and Kickers Hyperflex which is the best wire made IMO.

There compression products are pretty nice but the threads could be a little stronger.

Knu's RCA's are fairly good across the board. The Krystal wires are girthy and the solder points are strong.

Edited January 21, 2009 by P-Dizzle

[P-Dizzle 1]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

And you should be. The only wires going to the factory head unit is a pair of fiber optic cables that run to an amp in the rear fender. The rest of the factory wiring in the car is low voltage so stay clear of fiber optics and low voltage and you should be good. Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

[Adrian_D 520]

Nice work on the car !

How was the sound and performance before?

Hell of a car. Great work!

The original install (not shown) was one of the worst, if not the worst sounding system I have ever heard due to the poor install.

You changed all the components of the system because the install was bad ?

What ever happened to the VRx's ? I'm curous what kind of problems you had with them...

I changed the components after performing a head to head test. I keep a lot of equipment on tap just for this reason. Even after fixing with wiring errors and tuning the system properly the Focals did not match up. My client told me it was the biggest difference he had ever heard in speakers going from the Focals to CDT's.

I can't blame hime for not liking the Focal tweeters

Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

That's the bad thing about cars like that, some panels just won't come off because of all sorts of hidden screws.

[P-Dizzle 1]

What ever happened to the VRx's ? I'm curous what kind of problems you had with them...

First off the VRx amps are great and the multichannel extensions give you plenty of options and control. What happened is the VRx 1.500 started having problems shortly after the original install. It would go in and out of protect and then eventually stayed there. We sent the amp back to Italy for repair and waited two months to get the amp back when I first redid this install. They made some repairs to the pc board but never said what exactly went wrong. When I got the amp back I noticed only one input was working on the amp so I contacted Audison and did not hear back from them. I went ahead and installed the amp, let the customer pick up the car and the amp started going back into protect within a couple days. A couple weeks later we sent the amp into Elettromedia. The amp sat there for at least a month and they claimed nothing was wrong with it. I spoke with the tech on the phone and through email and got nowhere. They told me that they have never had a VRx come back for repair. This was the second time this amp was sent in for repair so they blamed it on the car and wiring. Nothing ever went wrong with the two other VRx amps in the vehicle but they still blamed it on the car.

Since the amp first took a crap the install was completely redone. All new wires, 3 new batteries, custom built Alternator, new voltage regulator, new BCM, new subs and everything else. The only component that remained the same was the head unit so I was fairly confident it was not the car or the wiring. After I received the amp back from Elettromedia I through it back in the car. It went into protect within 30 minutes and of course only one input was working. I pulled the amp out, threw it on my test bench and had the same problems. I put an old ZED Audio Opti in the car and didn't have any issues. Since this time I have contacted both Audison and Elettromedia a half dozen times and never heard back from anyone. This was about 3 months ago and they still have not taken care of anything. This is why I pulled the Audisons and installed the Sundowns. I will NEVER use or promote another Audison product again.

[Adrian_D 520]

It's actually sad they did such bad repair on the amp. I know a similar case with the amp going randomly in and out of protect after it was "fixed".

That's the price you pay for over-engineered stuff. You just can't beat simplicity and good customer service.

They told me that they have never had a VRx come back for repair

If it was an italian office, they were definately not honest.

Any plans to change the head unit on the car ? Maybe an active front stage ?

[P-Dizzle 1]

It's actually sad they did such bad repair on the amp. I know a similar case with the amp going randomly in and out of protect after it was "fixed".

That's the price you pay for over-engineered stuff. You just can't beat simplicity and good customer service.

They told me that they have never had a VRx come back for repair

If it was an italian office, they were definately not honest.

Any plans to change the head unit on the car ? Maybe an active front stage ?

I hate D3's but the dash is built specifically for it. I am sure we will be replacing it some time.

The Front Stage was active and he was running 3 amps. CDT's EX-560i crossovers are tough to beat though. They can handle a lot of power without cutting frequencies so I don't see us going back to active. We are pretty much tapped for space as far as amps go and you need to be careful with how much current you draw in these cars so you don't trip the convenience feature warning.

[natetate 0]

I have done a couple installs on Mercedes and I don't plan on doing anymore for a while. Like u said, the amount of hidden screws will drive you insane.

[c0smo kram3r 0]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

And you should be. The only wires going to the factory head unit is a pair of fiber optic cables that run to an amp in the rear fender. The rest of the factory wiring in the car is low voltage so stay clear of fiber optics and low voltage and you should be good. Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

VERY nice install. Do you have any experience with Range Rovers? My brother has an '04 & would like to put a set of subs in 'er. He's going to keep the stock speakers for now just to see what they sound like. Do you think that we could do it, or take it to a special installation shop? Keeping the stock HU is a must so we figured some LOCs. Would using these have any effect w/ the Fibre optic cabling?

And I'm considering getting an '01 or '02 Range Rover. Do these also have the same cabling?

Edited January 31, 2009 by kram3r

[Kanaworm$ 292]

Very nice and clean install!

[P-Dizzle 1]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

And you should be. The only wires going to the factory head unit is a pair of fiber optic cables that run to an amp in the rear fender. The rest of the factory wiring in the car is low voltage so stay clear of fiber optics and low voltage and you should be good. Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

VERY nice install. Do you have any experience with Range Rovers? My brother has an '04 & would like to put a set of subs in 'er. He's going to keep the stock speakers for now just to see what they sound like. Do you think that we could do it, or take it to a special installation shop? Keeping the stock HU is a must so we figured some LOCs. Would using these have any effect w/ the Fibre optic cabling?

And I'm considering getting an '01 or '02 Range Rover. Do these also have the same cabling?

Thanks. What kind of range rover?

[efxtruck 0]

nice custom install

[c0smo kram3r 0]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

And you should be. The only wires going to the factory head unit is a pair of fiber optic cables that run to an amp in the rear fender. The rest of the factory wiring in the car is low voltage so stay clear of fiber optics and low voltage and you should be good. Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

VERY nice install. Do you have any experience with Range Rovers? My brother has an '04 & would like to put a set of subs in 'er. He's going to keep the stock speakers for now just to see what they sound like. Do you think that we could do it, or take it to a special installation shop? Keeping the stock HU is a must so we figured some LOCs. Would using these have any effect w/ the Fibre optic cabling?

And I'm considering getting an '01 or '02 Range Rover. Do these also have the same cabling?

Thanks. What kind of range rover?

Well, it's an '04 Range Rover HSE. I'm also considering buying an '01 or '02 HSE. Do you have any experience w/either of these?

Edited January 31, 2009 by kram3r

[P-Dizzle 1]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

And you should be. The only wires going to the factory head unit is a pair of fiber optic cables that run to an amp in the rear fender. The rest of the factory wiring in the car is low voltage so stay clear of fiber optics and low voltage and you should be good. Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

VERY nice install. Do you have any experience with Range Rovers? My brother has an '04 & would like to put a set of subs in 'er. He's going to keep the stock speakers for now just to see what they sound like. Do you think that we could do it, or take it to a special installation shop? Keeping the stock HU is a must so we figured some LOCs. Would using these have any effect w/ the Fibre optic cabling?

And I'm considering getting an '01 or '02 Range Rover. Do these also have the same cabling?

Thanks. What kind of range rover?

Well, it's an '04 Range Rover HSE. I'm also considering buying an '01 or '02 HSE. Do you have any experience w/either of these?

They are not that bad to work with or take apart. Remote starts are pretty time consuming to do but you shouldn't have a problem with the stereo. You can fit aftermarket double din radios in without an issue. I don't think they made the switch to fiber optics until 2005. The fiber optic cables will only be found between the head unit and amplifier anyway. If you tap after the amp you should not have any problems adding an LOC. If the amp has built in crossovers you may need to tap multiple channels and use a unit to sum the signals rather than an LOC.

[c0smo kram3r 0]

I'd be really nervous working on that car

And you should be. The only wires going to the factory head unit is a pair of fiber optic cables that run to an amp in the rear fender. The rest of the factory wiring in the car is low voltage so stay clear of fiber optics and low voltage and you should be good. Removing the interior is three times the work of an average car so you must be patient.

VERY nice install. Do you have any experience with Range Rovers? My brother has an '04 & would like to put a set of subs in 'er. He's going to keep the stock speakers for now just to see what they sound like. Do you think that we could do it, or take it to a special installation shop? Keeping the stock HU is a must so we figured some LOCs. Would using these have any effect w/ the Fibre optic cabling?

And I'm considering getting an '01 or '02 Range Rover. Do these also have the same cabling?

Thanks. What kind of range rover?

Well, it's an '04 Range Rover HSE. I'm also considering buying an '01 or '02 HSE. Do you have any experience w/either of these?

They are not that bad to work with or take apart. Remote starts are pretty time consuming to do but you shouldn't have a problem with the stereo. You can fit aftermarket double din radios in without an issue. I don't think they made the switch to fiber optics until 2005. The fiber optic cables will only be found between the head unit and amplifier anyway. If you tap after the amp you should not have any problems adding an LOC. If the amp has built in crossovers you may need to tap multiple channels and use a unit to sum the signals rather than an LOC.

Ok man, thanks.

[sholiz 0]

Amazing install! Thanks for taking the time to detail the build.

[P-Dizzle 1]

Amazing install! Thanks for taking the time to detail the build.

Thanks! Sure thing...

[Mark LaFountain 1,054]

This ride made it to the rides page.. enjoy

http://sundownaudio.com/rides_e55.html

[sundownz 197]

This ride made it to the rides page.. enjoy

http://sundownaudio.com/rides_e55.html

Excellent. This one definitely needs to be seen!