slktyperice

Here's the upgrade:

From stock non-HK Audio 20 to:

Amp: Lightning Audio S5.700 (2x75, 2x125, 1x300)
Speakers:
Hertz Space 8 8" Midbass (run by 2x125)
Hertz HL70 3.5" Midrange (run through crossover)
Hertz HL25 1" Tweeters (run through crossover)
Crossover run through 2x75
JL Audio 12W3D2 (run by 1x300)

Pix:

BEFORE:


Stock 8" Midbass driver (cone is cheap and bendable)


Rear of stock 8" Midbass (notice shallow mounting depth)


Stock 3.5" midrange


Stock combo enclosure (notice 8" midbass faces into door and 3.5" midrange is aimed towards the driver)

AFTER:


New 8" driver and midrange installed (Hertz Space 8 and Hertz HL70)


Rear of setup (3.5" driver is silicon glued into enclosure just like the stock one was)


Stock 8" vs. Hertz Space 8


Rear comparison


Front of Space 8 Midbass


Lightning Amp in the back

Anyone in the SoCal area want to do this upgrade, call Mike at Automotive Entertainment 626-577-1200 in Pasadena and tell him Vince sent ya. We've done all the research and this is pretty much the best option (amp is interchangeable) for our cars because of fitment issues.

Comments?

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Looks good and I'm sure it sounds great. Are you still planning to remove the Audio 20 factory system and replace with the Pioneer AVIC-Z1 as you mentioned several months ago?

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--------SLK 55 ///AMG---------
THE MON55TER ON THE BLOCK

slktyperice

We'll see. I might be moving overseas to HK so I'm not sure if I want to take that plunge. I'm happy with just the sound right now. Don't want too many distractions when I'm tearing up the roads.

alroumi

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Congrats, enjoy the upgrade!

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06 Kleemann Designo Mocha Black SLK55 AMG
06 Porsche Cayenne S
07 Jaguar XKR Coupe'

I use the Torque and keep the HP for my Steak Sauce!

Sid

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Sweet! Always wanted to upgrade my system. How does it sound vs stock Audio 20?

Can I ask how much you paid?

Baron7700

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post pix!

I got the H/K Sound with 380 watts and it sounds great, only thing i thought about doing is putting a small 10 in the trunk somehow.

slktyperice

H/K is decent. Basically it's loud and clear even while going 100mph+ while top down. Bass and midbass hits very hard (can turn down if I want). Much more definition in sound in all ranges. Night and day compared to stock Audio20. If you wanna compare, Audio20 is to those old school Aiwa bookshelf systems whereas the properly amped Hertz setup is like a decent set of DynAudio towers.

Price? I had my setup done in 2 stages. The first stage was the amp/sub/AB switch for iPod, and that was $450, then the speaker install was a little over $1000. Just about the cost of the HK system, and I get iPod functionality (through a stereo cable direct to the amp) and speakers that sound twice as good. Doesn't look stock because of the amp in the trunk, but I'll deal.

Sid

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Rice,

Where'd you put your sub?

slktyperice

Sub's in the trunk, wedged right under the plastic trunk lid. Perfect fit.

Sid

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Hey rice, you still around??

Ynot

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he's around but he's over at benzworld.org most of the time.

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slktyperice

Yeah I'm here, sorry I've been busy every day and haven't had a chance to meet up to show you my system. I'll PM you.

MojitoLoco

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Thats a sweet setup! Did you have to rewire the car or were you able to use the existing factory wiring? With the stock amp replaced does the in-car volume controls, speed volume, etc still work?

slktyperice

Thanks. I told them to rewire the car with higher gauge wire since I'd be running more juice. You can use existing factory wiring, but the sound quality will suffer if you're using a lot of power. For the Audio20, the stock amp is inside the head unit, so I had to use a line level converter to convert the amped output back to a 4V signal to run to the amp. All functions are still functional because I'm tapping into the signal at the output and nothing in between. I'm not sure about speed volume, do we even have that?