Formentor insulation and audio upgrade

[lajchi]

Like most of the people, i was quite disappointment with the Beats system that came with the Formentor, and being a bit of a car audio "enthusiast" I could not let it go and started the upgrades.

First upgrade I did was opening the port on the Subwoofer, and the topic was posted here.

Next step are the doors. There are videos online, which show how to remove the door cards..
Since i want to do it propperly, i ordered 3 door sets. These are from a Finnish retailer, but can be found pretty much anywhere. I chose this material since it was affordable, and covered all aspects of door insulation.

CTK Premium 1.8 - 20 sheets used for front and rear doors
CTK Elastic 10 - 9 sheets used for front and rear doors
CTK WaveFix 15 - 8 sheets used for front and rear doors

Front doors:

First layer was the CTK Premium 1.8, which I applied to the inside of the door. I managed to cover about 90% of the surface, leaving my hands scratched quite a bit . After that CTK Elactic 10 was applied to the Premium 1.8 layer. The same was applied to the plastic covers for service asses within the door. After that, additional patches of Premium 18 were applied to the "outside" of the door, to reduce vibrations. I did not want to go super crazy here, as I wanted to keep the servicibility of the door components (not shut everything close, and avoid too much weight)



Front door cards:

Here, the first layer was the Premium 1.8, to reduce vibrations, and add some weight to the cards. I applied it where i could since the door card has a tricky pattern. After that, a layer of WaveFix 15 was applied, which serves as a good sound insulation, and also "creek" insulation since it compresses everything together.



I did not show it on the pictures, but I added a fabric tape to the door card clips in order to reduce any possible vibrations.

Rear doors and door cards:



Once all of this was done, there was a significant difference in road noise, and the bass and overall sound reproduction as well.
If you have the time and will, this is the first upgrade i would recoomend, before replacing the speakers or adding an amplifier.

Next steps will be the booth insulation, and front speaker replacement - which is in progress and I will write about later on.


I also wanted to add a comment about the Beats system overall loudness. It is quiet, but tehre are ways around it.
It does seem that the system is picky, and it depends which source is being used. FM radio is quite OK, while CarPlay is quiet. So far, the loudest option I found on forums was through Bluetooth, but than the seetings need to be changed. Once the phone is connected to bluetooth, go to sound / loudness settings, bluetooth audio, and switch it from Quiet to Loud.
This makes a massive difference, and the system sounds waay better, and it actually is loud. (I do not know if this was mentioned anywhere here, but I stumbled upon this on a german forum)

 

[pkaps]

Great job and presentation.
If you can spare the money you should add the Match 5.4 dsp from ARS since they are the only ones that offer a plug and play package with the connector harness for the Beats dsp amp. This will make a ton of difference, especially now that you have done the soundproofing.
Apart from having done the Match upgrade I have also replaced the Beats sub with a Vision VS1100P, which is also a direct replacement. Sound is great but I think it needs some fine tuning since the Match 5.4 dsp seems dedicated to the front door speakers and the sub. For anyone thinking of getting it, you will have also to bear a little louder signals from the side parking sensors which seem to go out from the front door speakers.
Next step now for me is todo the soundproofing, will most probably get the package for all doors by ARS24, its abt 140 eur plus shipping, although not as extensive as your package.
How much did your's cost?

 

[lajchi]

I am considering the DSP amp upgrade, but also some other options, as I have a "leftover" SQ system from my previous car. Let's see when I sleep couple of nights over it .

I think that 140eur for the ARS24 set is too much since you get half of the material for 40 eur more compared to the set I bought.

As for the sound proofing package, mine was:
99eur per door set (if you buy a double set, it is 190eur for 2) - i bought 3 sets and used about 2 for all of the doors + plus i bought additional 4 sheets of 1,8mm (additional 6eur per sheet which I used on the doors)
With that combination, i did all of the doors, and will have material left for the trunk - wheel arches, lid and coverings.
Also, i ordered 8 sheets of CTK Block Pro 2.0 which I will use for the trunk floor. - This one is quite cheap for 5eur per sheet.

I bought all of the material here (Not sure if they ship outside Finland though)

So in total, the material cost was 353eur. Time wise, to do all 4 doors it took me about 10 hours - I was careful disassembling everything plus there is a lot of cutting of the sheets.

 

[lajchi]

Today there was some spare time, so I treated a part of the trunk.

I have added 7 sheets of CTK Block Pro 2.0 to the bottom of the trunk. In order to get to the sides, the covering of the wheel arches had to be partially taken away. This is not complicated, there is 1 bolt behind the seat bench leaver, and 1 bolt where is the "hook" for securing., and 1 plastic cap on the bottom forward (close to the seat) which secures plastic trim piece. The rest is done by pulling the carpet and the plastic covers away using brute force . It was a bit harder on the right side, where the 230V socket is located, since I did not know how to take it out, but there was enough space to do to same treatment as on the left side.

While there, I have added some sound deadening material to the wheel arches until where i could reach (I was not really in the mood to disassemble that part completely) Some small patches of deadening material were added where there was space, as well as the back bottom of the trunk - and the plastic that covers it was treated as well.

I have added CTK WaveFix 15 to the inside of the carpet which covers the wheel arches with the hope of reducing outside noise.



In the next days, i will be soundproofing the trunk lid, and work on replacing the front speakers - unfortunately i have a delay here as I ordered the wrong speaker adapter, and it seems rather difficult to find the correct ones. - the outside diameter of the speaker ring should be at least 235mm, while the most common adapters are 200mm. I ordered a new one today made from MDF which should fit, but waiting for the delivery.

 

[Jaco2k]

Nice! Want to come do my car in Tampere next?

 

[lajchi]

Well, it is not out of the question as it is not far away from Turku. Historically the only problem is quite a blurry memory after visiting Tampere

 

[lajchi]

Part 3 - Front speakers

I had 3 way set lying around from my previous build, which was Black Hydra HBC-3.28.


Since it was a bit complicated to sell, and it is a good quality set, I decided to use it in a "non proper" way, where I would use only 1 mid range speaker, and replace the center speaker of the Formentor, while the rest would replace the tweeters and the lower mid's.

Tweeters:
The A pillar is easy to remove, just use a bit of force on the top, and once the pillar cover pops out for couple of cm, push the metal clip behind the airbag up with a plastic pry tool, and pull out the pillar. To remove the the original tweeter was easy, just pry it out with a flat had screw driver on the 3 connection points. The new tweeter, I had to take out of the aluminum housing, and use it without, as it was too big to fit. I did have to wrap a bit of fabric tape around the tweeter, to create a snug fit in the existing recess of the original speaker. I have ordered a connector set, which I used to connect the tweeter to the original connector of the car. After that, i taped the tweeter over with some fabric tape for extra security against falling out, event thought the fit was quite tight. I did not add any capacitors to protect it from the low frequencies, since the original tweeter did not have any either.



Connectors used for the tweeter can be found HERE

One problem with replacing the tweeters is that the original ones are 8ohm, while most of the aftermarket car audio tweeters are 4ohm or less. This means that the amp is "producing more power" on lower impedance, and the tweeters are louder, which is too loud compared to the original ones - I had to lower the 5khz and 10khz frequency to minimum in order for the high tones not to be owerwhelming, so it almost certain I will need to add a DSP amp to set everything up properly,

Center speaker:
Center speaker mesh /cover is easy to remove, just start on the left hand side, slide in the plastic pry tool, and slowly pop out the mesh from "clip to clip" To replace the center i ordered a ring/adapter which fit the new mid range speaker, but that had to be modified as well, since the ears of the ring were too long, and the original bolt positions were to narrow as well. The end result does not look the best, but it works. I have added some window insulation tape below the ring, to create a seal with the cup it is sitting in, and some foam between the ring and the speaker to create a seal as well. 4x M3 bolts were used to connect the ring and the speaker, and I painted the bolts with a black sharpie not to reflect through the mesh. Not the most professional solution, but it is what it is.



Connectors used for the center speaker can be found HERE
Speaker ring used for the center speaker can be found HERE

Mid speakers:
The door panels are easy to remove, with the instruction video linked to the first post during the sound deadening. The replacement of the speakers was like a TV drama, as I ordered the wrong speaker rings 1 time, and the speaker connector 3 times (without success).
Anyway, speaker adapter ring needs to be prepared a bit. I have added window insulation tape on the back side, and foam on the front side so everything is as air tight as possible. Holes for the speaker screws had to be pre-drilled, and I have also drilled a small hole for the speaker cable. Once everything was assembled, the speaker install was easy. With this thick MDF adapter, new bolts for the securing of the whole "speaker assembly" are needed, and for that i used stainless steel M5 30mm long bolts with washers. A bit of sound deadening material was used to plug the 2 holes around the speakers, which the new adaptor does not fully cover. Since I could not figure out the correct speaker adapters, I twisted the speaker wires tightly, and inserted them on the back of the original connector, where they have a snug fit, and good conductivity, and secured them with a fabric tape. While this is not ideal, I could not be bothered anymore and wait 2 weeks for another failure...



Speaker adaptor can be found HERE

In this mid speaker replacement, there is a problem again, where the original speakers are 2ohm, and the replacement speakers are 4ohm, so now the new speakers are getting less power, and play quieter compared to the original speakers. The sound overall is better, but it is hard to set up to sound to it's full potential, so like said in the tweeter part, a new DSP amp is basically a must when doing this upgrade on a beats system.


Next step of the upgrade will probably be an DSP amp, and I will continue with the trunk lid isulation.

 

[lajchi]

And the story continues.

As I could not live with the sound the speakers were producing from the stock amp, I decided to go with the Match UP6 DSP, with the wiring harness already made, from this web-shop.

Installation was easy, really plug and play, just connect the connectors . I added the UP6 DSP on top of the Beats amp plastic cover, even though on some pictures it was added directly to the beats amp, and the cover removed.



The DSP came tuned to the Beats system, so it did not sound good with the aftermarket speakers, however, the loudness dramatically increased, which was expected. I did some modifications, mainly to the crossover frequencies, but it is not 100% to my liking yet. Next step here will be the purchase of a RTA microphone, and let the DSP do the magic. All in all, it is a good piece of hardware and considering all of the options, well worth the money (even though the price tag is quite hefty..)

Now that the original subwoofer had a lot of power, it did sound much better but not good enough for me, so i bough an 8" subwoofer.
(NOTE: if you modified your original subwoofer enclosure to Bass Reflex by cutting hte end of the channel - you need to go to the DSP settings and un-reverse the polarity, as the original tuning comes with the shifted polarity and the woofer does not play good at all)

It was a rather cheap upgrade of 190eur, and it is a DD LE 208.1. It is an 8" ported enclosure subwoofer, with 2x2 ohm configuration and 350w RMS, which is perfect for the UP6 DSP which I added, as it gives 2x 160w RMS on 2 ohm. Unfortunately, the subwoofer is wired to 1 ohm from factory, so the terminal needs to be taken out, and re-velded so the woofer can be propperly connected to the amplifier. I made an extension cable with the original connector, so no of the cables had te be cut, and taking out the additional subwoofer is now plug and play. I left the original subwoofer in the spare wheel, so I can use it when the DD woofer is out.



Now the bass hits quite low, and this being a 8" driver, it plays higher bass notes great as well. All in all I am quite pleased with the sound.

Next step will be the DSP RTA Tuning and some more sound deadening.

 

[pkaps]

Maybe you should remove the Beats sub and place a spare tire passive sub. This way you will not lose and trunk space and you will also have better bass. Its worth the try since you have invested so much money. It may not be as good as a trunk sub but its the next best thing.
Isn't the 8 inch a little small for the amp and the system? The Formentor is quite long inside. I have an 11 inch spare tire sub and I feel I could use an even bigger. Then being in the spare tire place and positioned downwards definitely looses some oumf.
Although the bass in now everywhere, loud and very clear , especially from the front Beats speakers, I would have loved some more, the kind that you feel in your stomach.
Most probably I have to tune the Match dsp as I believe it came set to the Beats Sub and not a more power aftermarket one.
Maybe to also power it directly and not through the Beats dsp, as it stands now, where its at 50% of its potential.

 

[lajchi]

I do not mind having a sub in the trunk, as I am driving "empty" 90% of the time. Plus there are no kids, / no big family just a GF and a dog, so rear seats are often used for shopping bags, and with this sub there is plenty of space for cargo as well.

8" is a good size woofer, this is a popper brand, and the boxes they make are quite good. It has a port tuning of 35hz, and the box is about 37liters net, so it does move some air, but being smaller, it does have a lot of kick, which is great in songs with lots of drums.

Anything bigger would just play lower (which is not needed), and take more space.

I think the problem with your woofer is that it is in a sealed enclosure, so it is playing low, but does not have so much kick. Also, if you want stomach kick bass you need way more than 160w, i would say even more than 500w. I occasionally get it with my setup, so it would need more power as well.

But yeah, try to connect to the DSP and see how the woofer frequency was cut, what is the gain, polarity, etc, so it might help. If you went with the bigger DSP, you would be able to add a subwoofer amp easily, as it has a dedicated subwoofer output through RCA and a remote out, and match actually makes a subwoofer amp, the UP 1FX which has 900w at 1ohm.

 

[pkaps]

My sub is 150 w rms/300 max, my Match output is 1X90 rms at high/mid power output at 4 ohms and 1x160 rms output at 2 ohms. My sub specs show 2+2 Ohms for 150 rms, so it should be at 4 ohms, don't know its confusing, so if that's the case then the 1x90 configuration maybe a little too short on power. My guess is that although my sub has 3 inputs (2 inputs, each at 2 Ohms, and a center one where the wire connector plug is (modified the Beats wire connector) the set up may have been for a 2 channel amplifier when the Match should power the sub as 1 channel amp.
Have to go back to my guy at the shop to sort it out, as when the sub was installed at the shop, the Match amp was still not in. as I didn't have it at the time. I then connected the amp myself, without changing the sub connections, so my guess is that the sub has to be reconnected to suit the new amp.

 

[lajchi]

Old beats amp had 2 pairs of wires running to the sub. Original beats sub has 2x2 ohm coils, which does correspond with your new woofer. Your amp has only 1 output (1x+ and 1x-) If you did not change anything, and installed the match amp, there are 2 possibilities. Either you are running the sub with the coils connected to parallel on 1ohm, or you just have 1 voice coil connected running on 2 ohm. (To reach 4 ohm, you would need to connect the coils in series, which is very unlikely that you or the installer did especially when this was done when you had your beats amp). I bet you are running at 1ohm, since they are selling woofers that are 2x4ohm with the amp you have, so that the end result there is 2 ohm connected in parallel. To run on 1 ohm is still possible, but i noticed that the match DSP is ducking when it is about clip, so you end up with a weird bass where you feel that it starts plying great, but than quiets down immediately (you can hear that something is not right), however it works well on lower volume. If you are running only 1 coil of the woofer, it is not that bad, and it should play quite good.

This is probably even more confusing, but hope it makes sense

 

[pkaps]

Thanks for your time, now I'm sure that something may not be just right, although the sound in general is great. Will take it up at the shop, I'm sure we will find and fix what's wrong, if anything is. Only problem is to find an opening, these guys are so busy you have to book weeks ahead!

 

[lajchi]

No problem at all, if you need any "remote" assistance, send a message.