Audio Upgrades in Lambos: Examples, Q &A

There seems to be a need for this thread.... All of us ugrade our car's performance, and most do something about the substandard audio systems - but these cars are difficult to get to sound good (please hold the "engine is the music" comments.. Post pics, experience, questions, answers, etc here... I'll start, since I am in the process of redoing the system in my '06 Murci.

 

The car had a JL Audio system (aftermarket) in it with a JVC head unit, but it sounded tinny and broke up at higher volumes (high enough to hear in a roadster on the freeway). I'm a bit of an audiophile, so I am upgrading to the following:

 

IVA-D106 Head unit : single din space CD/DVD playerwith pop-up screen, Ipod compatable, with Sirius, GPS, and back-up cam (see photo)

Two McIntosh MCC302 Amplifier. One running 150w x 2 for the door speakers and the other bridged to one channel running 600w to the subwoofer behind the seat. (see photo)

Morel Elate 6.5 "LE" seperate woofer/tweeter combo in each door (see photo)

Alpine SWR-T10 "flat" subwoofer (requires very small enclosure to fit behind passenger seat) The sub in the photo is a JL Audio 8", but the enclosure is being rebuilt to accomodate the MUCH higher power handling Alpline 10".

 

The amp pictured is a JL Audio 450/4 running 150w x 2 and 150w x1. It doesn't have the headroom I require and isn't near the quality (ot the price) of the McIntosh.

 

I will post photos of the remaining equipment to be installed (it goes in Monday, 8/8) when I get it back. Excited!

 

 

After this round of work, the next thing I think I'm gonna do is a built in K40 Calibre with front and rear detectors and dual front laser detectors/dispersors (IR apparently disperses laser). Any one have experience with these???

 

Please keep this thread going guys as I get lotsa questions locally about how to upgrade the system in exotics...

The biggest issue in the murci is theres not a whole lot of room for anything! The pop out touch screens block your a/c controls, theres only a little room behind the passenger seat for an 8 and then you loose your changer if your worried about that. We usually set up the murci's the same way you have but thats about all you get. They make a license plate frame that has a camera built into it that looks a little cleaner than cutting a hole in your rear grille like that but we cant use them in AZ anymore cause theres a law that we cant block the Arizona on the top of our license plates and that plate frame does so we are back to the same setup as you.

 

The Gallardo's we have a pretty hot setup we stumbled across kinda by luck when building the Killer Bee but that thing SLAMS! Its not the loudest system in the world but everyone that hears it says its definately the loudest system in a Lambo! Also on the Gallardo's when we do the Super G wing then you get a clean little camera mount that fits in the wing so customers usually go with that.

The biggest issue in the murci is theres not a whole lot of room for anything! The pop out touch screens block your a/c controls, theres only a little room behind the passenger seat for an 8 and then you loose your changer if your worried about that. We usually set up the murci's the same way you have but thats about all you get. They make a license plate frame that has a camera built into it that looks a little cleaner than cutting a hole in your rear grille like that but we cant use them in AZ anymore cause theres a law that we cant block the Arizona on the top of our license plates and that plate frame does so we are back to the same setup as you.

 

The Gallardo's we have a pretty hot setup we stumbled across kinda by luck when building the Killer Bee but that thing SLAMS! Its not the loudest system in the world but everyone that hears it says its definately the loudest system in a Lambo! Also on the Gallardo's when we do the Super G wing then you get a clean little camera mount that fits in the wing so customers usually go with that.

 

The pop-up screen isn't that much of an issue, cuz you can get it to retract for like 10 seconds, then go back up one touch of the "open" button. As far as sinngle din goes for the Murci, I don't think there's a better choice (IMHO).

 

The Apline flat 10" sub will be a bit of an experiement, as it's a new sub and it hasn't yet been attempted in the car. Apline's enclosure specs suggest it should work and get pretty low before any significant rolloff (given enough power). I will let you know how it goes...

 

I decided to go with the cam in the grille to get it a little higher off the ground because I have it wired to work when the car is in motion, thereby using it as a rear view mirror... kinda.

 

The G sounds cool. Any links to what you guys did to it?

There seems to be a need for this thread.... All of us ugrade our car's performance, and most do something about the substandard audio systems - but these cars are difficult to get to sound good (please hold the "engine is the music" comments.. Post pics, experience, questions, answers, etc here... I'll start, since I am in the process of redoing the system in my '06 Murci.

 

The car had a JL Audio system (aftermarket) in it with a JVC head unit, but it sounded tinny and broke up at higher volumes (high enough to hear in a roadster on the freeway). I'm a bit of an audiophile, so I am upgrading to the following:

 

IVA-D106 Head unit : single din space CD/DVD playerwith pop-up screen, Ipod compatable, with Sirius, GPS, and back-up cam (see photo)

Two McIntosh MCC302 Amplifier. One running 150w x 2 for the door speakers and the other bridged to one channel running 600w to the subwoofer behind the seat. (see photo)

Morel Elate 6.5 "LE" seperate woofer/tweeter combo in each door (see photo)

Alpine SWR-T10 "flat" subwoofer (requires very small enclosure to fit behind passenger seat) The sub in the photo is a JL Audio 8", but the enclosure is being rebuilt to accomodate the MUCH higher power handling Alpline 10".

 

The amp pictured is a JL Audio 450/4 running 150w x 2 and 150w x1. It doesn't have the headroom I require and isn't near the quality (ot the price) of the McIntosh.

 

I will post photos of the remaining equipment to be installed (it goes in Monday, 8/8) when I get it back. Excited!

 

After this round of work, the next thing I think I'm gonna do is a built in K40 Calibre with front and rear detectors and dual front laser detectors/dispersors (IR apparently disperses laser). Any one have experience with these???

 

Please keep this thread going guys as I get lotsa questions locally about how to upgrade the system in exotics...

 

Nice work, looks good.

 

Good to see audiophiles, especially car audiophiles.

 

I haven't heard the limited edition Elate, only the standard version.....should be pretty good. If you're satisfied with the Elate LEs when you get them, that's great. But if you're not and you would be open to tinkering and messing around with speakers, you can try Hertz Mille, Seas Lotus, DLS, and Hybrid Audio Legatia L6 line. I'd probably go with the Hybrid over all of these but the woofer is 7.1" and may be too big for the Murci door.

 

Not sure what your tastes are exactly, but if you like smooth/warm/full I'd stay away from Focal Utopia, Morel Supremo, and Dynaudio as well, notwithstanding the fact that they charge a ton of money for them.

 

Phass is an interesting company that has a small US presence and appears to make great products. I've heard only one of their speakers from way back and it sounded pretty nice.

 

But IMO, the amps are more important. The McIntosh amps should be good...Audison LRX line is also pretty good. Phoenix Gold seems to be on a revival, but their vintage stuff is far more proven and powerful. The JLs as you know just don't cut it in the grand scheme of things.

 

There's always the option of the Milbert tube amp, but don't know how crazy you wanna get.

 

Sub wise, there's not a lot of good subs these days; too much excursion in most subs to really be fast and musical. JL hasn't made SQ subs in at least 10-15 years, and I doubt Alpine is any better. This is all relative of course, since with subs I've found that they are ok until you've heard better then can't go back.

 

What kind of music do you listen to? It could have an influence on what size subs you should get.

 

 

 

 

As far as sinngle din goes for the Murci, I don't think there's a better choice (IMHO).

 

As far as usability, and the ability to have DVD, NAV, iPod direct connection, Satellite radio, HD radio, etc...it's hard to beat the Alpine.

 

If you want/need all of that, then there's not much choice really unless you look at what Kenwood or Pioneer has.

 

I've been an Alpine whore since 2001 when I first started playing with car audio, so I can relate. However, these days I don't see Alpine being necessarily the top company in car audio especially since they dropped their F#1 lineup.

 

 

Nice work, looks good.

 

Good to see audiophiles, especially car audiophiles.

 

I haven't heard the limited edition Elate, only the standard version.....should be pretty good. If you're satisfied with the Elate LEs when you get them, that's great. But if you're not and you would be open to tinkering and messing around with speakers, you can try Hertz Mille, Seas Lotus, DLS, and Hybrid Audio Legatia L6 line. I'd probably go with the Hybrid over all of these but the woofer is 7.1" and may be too big for the Murci door.

 

Not sure what your tastes are exactly, but if you like smooth/warm/full I'd stay away from Focal Utopia, Morel Supremo, and Dynaudio as well, notwithstanding the fact that they charge a ton of money for them.

 

Phass is an interesting company that has a small US presence and appears to make great products. I've heard only one of their speakers from way back and it sounded pretty nice.

 

But IMO, the amps are more important. The McIntosh amps should be good...Audison LRX line is also pretty good. Phoenix Gold seems to be on a revival, but their vintage stuff is far more proven and powerful. The JLs as you know just don't cut it in the grand scheme of things.

 

There's always the option of the Milbert tube amp, but don't know how crazy you wanna get.

 

Sub wise, there's not a lot of good subs these days; too much excursion in most subs to really be fast and musical. JL hasn't made SQ subs in at least 10-15 years, and I doubt Alpine is any better. This is all relative of course, since with subs I've found that they are ok until you've heard better then can't go back.

 

What kind of music do you listen to? It could have an influence on what size subs you should get.

 

Thank you for the intelligent post. I listen to literally everything, so I opted for a musical system with lots of headroom, so I can adjust settings for my mood and not blow anything up. I am aware of the ultra high end tube amps, etc., but I believe there is just too much ambient noise in a topless lambo to justify going beyond the McIntosh amps..

 

The door on the Murci is pretty tight - I wouldn't recommend trying to go bigger than a 6.5... the nice thing about the Carbon fiber Morel is that they can almost be run full range. I'm truly impressed with the driver. The tweeter is a little bright above 15kHz, but I plan to address that with a parametric.

 

I chose the Alpine SWR-T10 mostly due to it's range in a small enclosure. It should stay relatively flat into the 40's before it drops off a cliff. If it sucks, I"ll try something else... I just know that the 8" JL has got to go.

 

I will report results

The biggest issue in the murci is theres not a whole lot of room for anything! The pop out touch screens block your a/c controls, theres only a little room behind the passenger seat for an 8 and then you loose your changer if your worried about that. We usually set up the murci's the same way you have but thats about all you get. They make a license plate frame that has a camera built into it that looks a little cleaner than cutting a hole in your rear grille like that but we cant use them in AZ anymore cause theres a law that we cant block the Arizona on the top of our license plates and that plate frame does so we are back to the same setup as you.

 

The Gallardo's we have a pretty hot setup we stumbled across kinda by luck when building the Killer Bee but that thing SLAMS! Its not the loudest system in the world but everyone that hears it says its definately the loudest system in a Lambo! Also on the Gallardo's when we do the Super G wing then you get a clean little camera mount that fits in the wing so customers usually go with that.

 

Thanks for your input! You should definately post some pics of your work so the G owners can get involved (and maybe even send you some business!) I would love to see what you've done.

As far as usability, and the ability to have DVD, NAV, iPod direct connection, Satellite radio, HD radio, etc...it's hard to beat the Alpine.

 

If you want/need all of that, then there's not much choice really unless you look at what Kenwood or Pioneer has.

 

I've been an Alpine whore since 2001 when I first started playing with car audio, so I can relate. However, these days I don't see Alpine being necessarily the top company in car audio especially since they dropped their F#1 lineup.

 

The F1 stuff was hot, but some of that technology has made it's way into today's products... I am marrying the "Imprint" module to the head unit, which give you parametric adjustments, higher output (circa the 7909) and more. I still think they are on top (in the head unit world), if you add the neceesary additional components.

The only issue I find in the murci is the soundstage is too low. We have done a few tricks in cars to raise the staging up to give a better over all sound. To address the sub options. I have a 10inch hertz hi energy sub behind my passenger seat. The sub is about as big or maybe bigger than a 10w6 so there is plenty of room for a sub in the car. I am running a 5 channel Audison amp which powers the front components active and the sub..

Was actualy looking for a Murcielago that DLS? made as a show car for them (a few years back i sweden) but couldn't find it, anyways stumbled upon this: A Murcie with a complete system, it seems to have som very special tweeters.

 

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/product-disc...murceilago.html

 

 

 

The only issue I find in the murci is the soundstage is too low. We have done a few tricks in cars to raise the staging up to give a better over all sound. To address the sub options. I have a 10inch hertz hi energy sub behind my passenger seat. The sub is about as big or maybe bigger than a 10w6 so there is plenty of room for a sub in the car. I am running a 5 channel Audison amp which powers the front components active and the sub..

 

Soundstage too low? That's weird. How low is it?

 

I would have figured that since the speakers (esp. the woofers) in the Murci are closer to ear level than on most cars, this wouldn't be an issue.

 

I guess you could put a custom tweeter mount by the rear view mirror or on the a-pillar, but would prefer it in stock location for better coherence.

 

How large an enclosure do you think you could build behind the seats for each sub?

Soundstage too low? That's weird. How low is it?

 

I would have figured that since the speakers (esp. the woofers) in the Murci are closer to ear level than on most cars, this wouldn't be an issue.

 

I guess you could put a custom tweeter mount by the rear view mirror or on the a-pillar, but would prefer it in stock location for better coherence.

 

How large an enclosure do you think you could build behind the seats for each sub?

The soundstage is a little low - you can kinda make up for this with dsp, but I don't like the digital sound and processing gives the system.. So I'm going to deal with it as I don't want to carve up the car by mounting speakers on the a pillars or dash. As for the sub enclosure, it looks like we're going to get .48 cubic feet in the space behind the passenger seat. I could get more if I were willing to give up some passenger leg room, but I'm going to go with this for now. The installer is taking progress shots for me and I will post them when he sends them to me.

 

According to the spec sheet on Alpine's site, the .48' will be enough for this sub with enough power (the MCC302 delivers 600w rms bridged mono). That oughta do it. The box will have to be sealed, as to be able to reasonably port this sub, you would need .75 cubic feet (unless you want a 23.5" long port.... Which we entertained - lol). There's car behind the drivers seat, so you can't put anything there. The other possibility is to move some electronics in the passenger footwell and shoehorn an 8" in there. (did that to an nsx way back when)...

 

 

Was actualy looking for a Murcielago that DLS? made as a show car for them (a few years back i sweden) but couldn't find it, anyways stumbled upon this: A Murcie with a complete system, it seems to have som very special tweeters.

 

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/product-disc...murceilago.html

Holy crap! Ok.... Well there's the next level everyone

The F1 stuff was hot, but some of that technology has made it's way into today's products... I am marrying the "Imprint" module to the head unit, which give you parametric adjustments, higher output (circa the 7909) and more. I still think they are on top (in the head unit world), if you add the neceesary additional components.

That Audison is a hell of an amp. Are you happy with the output you are getting from the sub?

That Audison is a hell of an amp. Are you happy with the output you are getting from the sub?

 

 

I get amazing output in my car because of the small cabin. I believe my box is well over .48. On my last Murci I did the tweeters in the rear view mirror and it worked out amazing. I did not do it the LP640 bc I put the Valentine 1 in the mirror.

 

 

Thanks for your input! You should definately post some pics of your work so the G owners can get involved (and maybe even send you some business!) I would love to see what you've done.

 

Man I have so many pictures of so many cars I have built and even had profesional photos done but just no time to post them up! I do most of the designing of the project with the customers and the mechanical work but when it comes to the audio I leave that to Slick Rich my audio guy. I will get some more info from him on what we have used on some of our projects. I think what scares some guys from going into the stereo projects is they think they have to spend a fortune to get good sound but theres definately room for improvement for not alot of money on most of the Lambos.

I have a question about the door speakers... for you guys doing DIY, are you just making your own brackets from MDF to mount speakers? Or are there some fiberglass or composite brackets being offered? Every car I've ever owned often had at least one person on the community forms who offered prefab brackets. So I thought I'd check first before I deal with the ol jigsaw.

 

Are they any recommended "direct fit" high quality replacements for the door speakers?

 

Thanks!

 

I have a question about the door speakers... for you guys doing DIY, are you just making your own brackets from MDF to mount speakers? Or are there some fiberglass or composite brackets being offered? Every car I've ever owned often had at least one person on the community forms who offered prefab brackets. So I thought I'd check first before I deal with the ol jigsaw.

 

Are they any recommended "direct fit" high quality replacements for the door speakers?

 

Thanks!

 

Apologies for the dual post. Lambopower is having some kind of issue? It often "dies" on me and will not refresh. This time it occurred while I was saving a post, so there are now two.

 

Also, Lambopower does not let me edit my posts after they have been in existence for 30 seconds or more? Very odd. I've never seen a forum do that.

 

Sunspots today?

Guys, from personal experience there is only ONE shop that I trust for Lambo car audio. Al & Eds in West Hollywood.... www.AE54.com

 

Here are some pics of that they did on my 06 Murci... I cannot say enough about the quality of work they do. The system looks pretty factory and sounds AWESOME!!

That piece between the headunit and Lambo script looks very awkward, is it factory?

I have a question about the door speakers... for you guys doing DIY, are you just making your own brackets from MDF to mount speakers? Or are there some fiberglass or composite brackets being offered? Every car I've ever owned often had at least one person on the community forms who offered prefab brackets. So I thought I'd check first before I deal with the ol jigsaw.

 

Are they any recommended "direct fit" high quality replacements for the door speakers?

 

Thanks!

 

MDF baffles? Only real audio guys go this route....hehe.

 

Don't know the situation with these Lambo doors....if a custom baffle will have a hard time fitting. Also don't know about prefab brackets for Lambos.

 

BTW, If you do get the opportunity to build your own, I'd recommend plywood over MDF....void free baltic birch, FTW.

 

 

MDF baffles? Only real audio guys go this route....hehe.

 

Don't know the situation with these Lambo doors....if a custom baffle will have a hard time fitting. Also don't know about prefab brackets for Lambos.

 

BTW, If you do get the opportunity to build your own, I'd recommend plywood over MDF....void free baltic birch, FTW.

 

Thx for the tip! I'd always used MDF because it was easy to work with. I've never tried the birch.

 

By the pics I've seen of the doors it looks like a straightforward install begging for 2-way components. I just don't know what sizes everyone tends to stick with for "an easy fit". I don't mind fabbing stuff up to get an install done. But, especially for a Lambo, I would want everything to be as close to plug and play with as little of my own fab work as possible. But I also want nice tunes, so I'm just seeing what's available already. I figure the Murci has been out for 8 years...someone must have built something to streamline the DIY efforts by now.

 

 

AL & Eds are very talented and do some amazing work, but I would not say they are the only ones capable of doing audio work on Lamborghinis. They just have the clientele in that area to do a lot of them. I have done plenty of audio work in Lambos without a problem. Your install does look great.

AL & Eds are very talented and do some amazing work, but I would not say they are the only ones capable of doing audio work on Lamborghinis. They just have the clientele in that area to do a lot of them. I have done plenty of audio work in Lambos without a problem. Your install does look great.

 

 

Every major metropolitan area has someone decent from what I've seen...

 

BTW, there's much more emphasis placed on cosmetics than sound...industry wide. It's a sad thing for those who care.