First things first, THANK YOU to Bing @ Simplicity in Sound (www.simplicityinsound.com) for doing an amazing job. If anyone in NorCal wants an aftermarket car stereo, he is the ONLY guy you should consider. I did a lot of research over the course of several months and I'm convinced this shop is the best in the area. I gave him a set of criteria and an outline of what I was looking for visually and he made my dreams a reality. He even added some really cool extras that I didn't ask for! Couldn't be happier with the results.
1. To do a sub system that is decently loud but not extremely space consuming in the trunk.
2. Have a slight show factor to it despite just having subs and an amp as the customer is in the process of upgrading the car cosmetic wise. Having a fully symmetrical setup was an absolute requirement.
3. To still have a usable trunk after the install so the setup needs to be durable and strong.
So...let’s get started. There isn’t much to see on the interior.
I installed a soundlinq iPod adapter to his stock headunit and lead out the plug in the armrest as he requested. The adapter was supplied by him as well:
The customer also supplied me with a JL HD750/1 sub amp, and I installed the JL remote bass controller in a blank panel on the driver side of the dash:
So everything else is stock. Moving on.
the original idea we had was to have the amp in the trunk along with the subs. but, after doing a lot of measuring and visualizing, I keep coming back to the conclusion that in the very narrow trunk of the IS350, having the amp on the same plane (to maintain symmetry) as the subs does two things, it crowds the space and makes everything look too busy, and secondly, it takes away available space to trim around the subs to make things look a little bit flashier.
So after much deliberating, I decided to go with a different approach all together.
Here is what I came up with m.
So here is the stock rear seat:
Flip down the center armrest and viola! The JL amp is trimmed in black CF vinyl, which goes along with the mods he’s already been carrying out in the interior - wrapping things in black CF. Above it, I put an F-sport equipped badge on a raised vinyl platform, as the car so far has F sport intake and F sport exhaust installed, with prolly more F sport to come.
A close up shot of the rack you can see the details of the panel with the CF, the routed edges and the F sport badge.
So he can hide it when it wants to and showcase it by flipping down the arm rest. This frees up the trunk for the subs and also maintains symmetry
A few quick build pics of this little rack:
First, I traced the stock ski pass through panel and cut it out of 1/4" mdf, with the holes dripped out to match the stock bolts, the raised logo platform was made using 1/8" hardboard, and is cut to be about 1/16" bigger than the actual logo all around:
Then, it was wrapped in black CF vinyl and the emblem plate attached:
And then it was bolted to the car. What I did was, using the 6 stock bolts, I got much longer bolts and ran them from the trunk side, through the amp rack into these holes and then through the cosmetic trim panel. This means the amp rack (a picture will show this later) is extremely secure using bolts and the trim panel is also tied into the same structure.
So that’s it from the interior, I also removed his stock subwoofer from the rear deck to promote venting, but didn’t take a pic of it hehe
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First is the fully hidden view, with all the trunk pics, it was hard to get the lighting right to actually show it, but oh well:
So as you can see, very little of the trunk space was taken up. I measured it to be about 7.5" at the floor and less than 4" at the top. You can see the new wall I built along with a cutout. There is a raised Lexus logo in the middle of the grille cutout plate but it’s hard to see with the lighting.
Pop it off and here is what you see.
3 image dynamics ID8 dual 4ohm subs are lined up in a box. I did some raised vinyl cosmetic trim around the subs to accent it a bit. The box is trimmed in silver CF vinyl, to match the exterior of the car and maintain the CF theme. The main wall panel is done in breathable non backed carpet and blends very well in the stock trunk.
Here is a shot of that grille cover so the raised logo can be seen a little better:
And a close up of the subs and the surrounding silver CF vinyl trim:
And the view of the trunk with the entire car in perspective:
So onto the build pics...
First is the wiring that runs back into the trunk, neatly organized and tied under the seat cushion area:
Now here is the amp rack. Basically, it’s a series of MDF platforms and spacers built together, bolted to the interior divider using the stock bolt holes as mentioned earlier. So when the amp is then slide into the opening, and the mounting feet secured, it spaces the amp just right and places it right behind the stock pass through hole.
On the driver side is a Cache Audio CLoc+D electronic lineout converter/line driver. In intentionally mounted off to the side so that after the sub box goes in, I can still reach it to adjust the gains.
This is a great little piece by the way, as Cache is under the same company as Diamond.
Here is the sub enclosure. As you can see, extremely thin. 1.25 cubfeet of interior airspace, so giving each sub about .4 net. You can see the raised vinyl accent done using 1/8" hardboard:
Then silver CF vinyl was applied:
Here is the main front panel:
And wrapped in black carpet:
And finally, the grille that goes over the subs. basically a MDF ring with HD metal mesh attached to it. To properly raise the logo in carpet, the Lexus emblem was cutout in 1/4" MDF:
And wrapped in black carpet as well:
So that’s it, I don’t get to do sub only system too often, but this one was enjoyable hehe...hope you like it.
The 3 ID8s get quite loud actually, sounding like a powerful 12. One thing to note is that the stock system has an undefeatable 35 Hz subsonic filter in place, so in a sense, it’s well suited to 8" subs to begin with. As mentioned before, the blending, especially at high volumes, could be better (as they make the interior speakers go down to 35 Hz as well), but it’s not bad at all
+1 for Bing, the guy has some mad skills and excellent installer. I drove my car from San Diego to San Jose just to have him installed the full sound system.
To the OP, clean installation and great choice of selecting the ID for sub. Believe me, your system would sound much much better had you replaced the OEM headunit for an aftermarket one.
98 LS400 Calipers, DrilledSlotted R1Concept Rotors, Techna-fit SS Brake Lines. 1/28/10 5Zigen Fireball Mega exhaust 2/12/10 Tokico HP bought from Hil (SCboy/SCMan) thanks! 3/20/10: DDM ApexCone Raptor 9006 5000K 55W Low Beam HID kit & H3 5000K 35W HID for Fog Lights.
Future: Torque Converter, LSD, Coilover (air bags or cups?) Vertex Lip kit Maybe 5spd if someone can figure out how to bypass tranny CEL and probably supercharger kit One at a time .
Custom Subwoofer Install (Lots of PICS!)
He even added some really cool extras that I didn't ask for! Couldn't be happier with the results.
Up Next: Daizen Control, steering, and sway bushings 
STOCK 
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2/12/10 Tokico HP bought from Hil (SCboy/SCMan) thanks! 3/20/10: DDM ApexCone Raptor 9006 5000K 55W Low Beam HID kit & H3 5000K 35W HID for Fog Lights.
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