Mercedes GL 550 Audio Build — Stock Look

The brief

Commission № 002 is a 2013 Mercedes GL 550, delivered back to its owner utterly stock to any eye. Vehicle: Mercedes GL 550. Level: Stage 3. The car looks exactly as it did when it left the showroom, and nothing about the cabin gives away the work carried out beneath it — the entire commission was completed in Kraków.

The starting point and the problems

For its class, the Mercedes' audio system sounded decent, but it had a number of serious shortcomings:

Bass. The subwoofer boomed: it robbed the bass of its dynamics and density and filled the whole cabin with a droning low end.

Speakers. The car came in with damaged speakers that reproduced sound incorrectly and needed repair.

Door panels. Poorly insulated door panels added a great deal of noise, resonating and rattling.

Overall impression. Decent, but the soundstage was flat, the booming subwoofer took away the dynamics, and the resonating doors took away the detail with unwanted overtones.

Work carried out

Speaker repair. The original speakers were repaired and kept in place.

Bass amplifier upgrade. The low-frequency amplifier was reworked using Jullia Audio's own know-how, keeping the original amplifier chip.

Crossovers. New crossovers for the tweeters were calculated and built.

Acoustic treatment. The doors were sound-deadened and the “Helmholtz resonator” effect eliminated.

Note: the main audio path was left in its original form.

The result

Bass and dynamics. Clean, fast, dynamic bass from both the speakers and the subwoofer. The subwoofer hits in time: never behind, never ahead, never booming.

Stage. The soundstage became very wide, engaging and full. A sense of presence appeared: of space, and of being inside the recording.

Drums and bass instruments. The kick drum and bass instruments play with real force, and the bass is felt with the whole body. Yet it sounds expensive, refined and detailed, never smeared: it arrives fast, leaves fast and draws you in.

Clarity. The unwanted overtones, drone and rattles are gone. The sound evened out and became pleasant, clean and detailed.

To hear this build in person, request a listening, or see the Chevrolet Volt build next.