This car is all about the love of music! Classical, blues, jazz, big band, latin, metal, rap, Irish folk music and even polka. My stereo plays loud (over 130 dB on the Term Lab) but I only play it that loud at car stereo competitions.

Stereo Equipment:

HU- McIntosh MX406
Wire- Kimber Kable
Front amp- Zapco C2K 6.0
Front speakers-Dynaudio 360
Sub amp- US Amps 1000X
Subwoofer- 12" Phase Linear Aliante LTD
Processors- none
EQ- none
Sound treatment- 3M Thinsulate, 3M damping tape, 50 lbs lead shot!
0 gauge power wire
Hooker- battery terminals, fuse blocks, and circuit breaker

Think your car can compete in SPL or SQ? www.mecacaraudio.com It is great fun to compete in MECA!

Dont talk about it.... BRING IT

This is my subwoofer. It is a loud and powerful sub that just happens to sound great, the Phase Linear Aliante Limited in a sealed enclosure

Good sound starts at the source and here is my Head Unit a McIntosh MX406. It is one of the very best available sound wise but absolutely void of operator features (no track time, no fast forward, no internal EQ, No Time Alignment). Sometimes I miss these features and hope McIntosh will one day include them. I think this is the best looking deck available with the classic McIntosh appearance that really works nicely with the sharp squared off edges on the interior of my car. The knobs are real, and have a great classic feel to them.

The stereo system has been assembled to be as accurate to the recorded music on the CD as possible. I have chosen not to use any EQ or DSP in the system. I am performing EQ, but I am doing it the hard way, through material selection throughout the build and by careful placement of the drivers. In theory this could provide better sound but only if done correctly... I am merely doing OK since the automobile is a very difficult sound space to control.

The image to the left is how the system was early last year. It was a much more common door build (door volcano) but there were issues. I couldn't lift the hood unless the door was open, the foot brake was a challenge to set, and the door volcanoes made it a pain to get into and out of my car. The fatal flaw for this design was the SQ, it did not image that well and the 8" MW170 Dynaudio driver really rattled the door. The white material in the floorboard is 3M Thinsulate, it is the finest LIGHT WEIGHT sound attenuator for frequencies above 400 Hz.

Below is my current midbass enclosure, it is made from MDF and is floor mounted. The sealed enclosure is in the area under your knees as you sit in the front seat and point�s straight up. The box was glass lined (L image) to add rigidity and to seal any air leaks, but this proved to be too lively an enclosure. The solution (R image) was to load the sealed chamber with 25 lbs of lead shot for damping, and treat with 3M rubberized spray to address back wave resonances. A small layer of felt was added instead of polyfill. Few system resonances and good driver control.

The amp rack is behind my rear seatback, completly stealth! You have to take the rear seat out to lower the amp racks

The rear amp rack (above) contains one US Amps 1000X (L) for bass and a Zapco C2K 6.0 (R) for the Dynaudio Comp set

All RCA/ DIN wiring is with Kimber Kable Silver Streak wiring and Speaker cable is Kimber Kable 4TC. Why use Kimber... it is just the best for car audio with great sound, small diameter, and a twisted pair design for noise cancellation. At home I also use Kimber and Wireworld interconnects. I bought a large run of Silver Streak from Cory Greenberg (formerly of Stereophile) and self terminated the Kimber in custom lengths.

Hey, in that picture above... who is the old guy by my trunk? From this picture you can see my standard set up last year with the 2 Aliante Subwoofers facing each other (that set up didn�t sound that good and wasn�t loud either) the woofers were very far back in the trunk and their sound cancelled each other and the weight threw off the handling. My 'special' competition feature was the 3/4 inch thick 1/4 sawn Oak I had lining my trunk. Almost 200 pounds of 'tiger' oak alone... it really slowed the 1/4-mile times. You can also see the US Amps TU600 and 1000X in my oak amp rack. The US Amps are reverse mounted to show off their circuit boards. Also notice the fine trunk lifter bar made of solid 1/4 sawn oak, it would slide and the trunk would slam shut if I burped the system with the trunk open. I replaced the TU600 with the Zapco C2K, I am sure the Zapco is a better amp but I am very happy with both lines.

Page 1 Where you were, the black car page
Page 2 you are here
Page 3 More car stereo stuff
Page 4 The Car Audio Competition Page
Page 5 CES 2005 home stereo stuff
Page 6 CES 2005 car stereo stuff
Page 7 CES and MECA/ IASCA finals
Page 8 MECA comp in Portsmouth VA
Page 9 MY SVT
Page 10 IsoMike