Ok, now that the car news is out of the way it's time to move on to my other passion - the stereo!
First let me start with a brief history of my car audio experiences - this will probably be boring, so feel free to skip straight to the next post
The first stereo:My first after market stereo was in my second car - a 1987 XF Falcon. I was a wee yougn' and not working at the time, so all I had was a set of Jaycar 4" coaxials in front and 6x9's in back. I knew nothing at all about audio at this stage, and thought this was pretty spectacular.
The first pro install:After a couple of years I got a job and I bought myself a Ford KF Laser. Since I had my first job, I decided it was time to get a real stereo! Off some advice from guys on Laserforums I got into contact with Marty at FHRX Studios, and he really game me a ton of useful information. It was my first job working full time hours, so i was enjoying the cash and lashing out - got a full system pro installed by Marty and crew running some Morel Pulse splits and an IDMAX subwoofer running of some nice Audison and ARC audio amplifiers. It was nice, but I got introduced to Car Audio Australia (now Mobile Electronics Australia) and their sound quality competitions, and things changed forever.
Going active:After going to a few comps I started to really get caught up in this 'sound quality' thing, and started to really spend a lot of time reading on forums and learning from others. After hearing some great cars down at Marty's I felt the need to jump up a level, and upgraded to some very nice Rainbow Profi splits. This lasted all but a few months before I went nuts and decided to go all out - I got myself a Clarion HX-D2 head unit with inbuilt 4-way active processor, and then splashed into a fancy custom front stage running Profi Vanadium mids along with Rainbow Power tweeters and midbass drivers. Money was fairly scarce, so I did all the install work myself...it was dodgy at first, but I learned as I went along. Entered a bunch of competitions and actually started getting some pretty solid results - a few 3rd and 4th places at some NSW events, and this wasn't bad considering there were usually 10-15 competitors in amateur class and the system was never really complete.
A brotherly inspirationAfter a while my brother got into the SQ scene himself - he had always been into custom sound, but never really did much with it. He insisted that he could get DIY hifi drivers for a fraction of the cost of my $2,000 Rainbow setup, and I mocked him in defense...strongly in the belief that you get what you pay for. He put together his $500 front stage using Peerless HDS Exclusive woofers and Scanspeak tweeters - it was dodgy as hell (with MDF brick enclosures on his doors) but even in an unfinished state the sound quality was inspiring. He didn't have the midbass of my 7" monsters, but he had a finesse and natural presence in his mids and highs that I'd never heard before...and thus the DIY interest began.
The DIY routeI got over having to fit 8 channels of amplification, monster midbass drivers and rediculous amouts of custom work in my car and decided to scale back to a simplew 2-way front stagefor the 7th and final round of NSW competition. After a ton of research I went for the best performing drivers DIY had to offer -7" Scanspeak Revelators in the kicks, and Scanspeak A6600 'AirCirc' tweeters in the Pillars. The sub was Peerless' ultra low distorion XXLS. My plan was to enter Pro class and take on the best - the professional installers and store owners. This was my first attempt at fibreglassing, and I built my own custom A-pillar trims and custom kickpanel enclosures for the woofers. I worked my butt off for days, but I had some setbacks and was crushed when they weren't ready for the final round of NSW competition.
Not one to give up, I knew what I had to do. I stopped at bunnings on the way to the comp and bought about 4 packs of blu-tac and about 6 rolls of masking tape - I was a man on a mission! I had a plan, but I had no idea if it would even be achievable. I made it to the event on time, and paid my entry - lucky Pro class was being judged last so I had time. At 8am in the Autobarn car park, I started building custom blu-tac mounts for my tweeters getting those angles just right...and then I turned my attention to the mids. Sitting the mids on the right angle, I started building custom kickpanel enclosures..out of masking tape! A good 6-8 layer thick coat of masking tape actually came out far more solid and airtight then I had expected, and it actually half worked. With all the 'custom fabricating' finished, I jumped in the drivers seat and stated a quick last minute tuning session...working frantically with the time alignment, levels and crossovers I finally got it as good as I possible could given the install conditions, and that very second the judge knocked on my window.
The results came out and I was amazed! Marty finished first of course, but I managed to beat another pro installer to take the second place trophy as well as encouragement award. This gave me the very first taste of just how good DIY gear can be even with a terrible install..and it gave me the motivation. I'd then go on to the National Finals, where I beat all NSW competitors to take 4th place overall.
The MX5:With about $8,000 worth of gear in my Laser, I one day got paranoid when I walked out of my work to find my window smashed, but dash in pieces, and my HX-D2 missing. This opened my mind to realising that it was ust to risky to have such expensive gear in a cheap uninsured car. It was also starting to give me problems, so I decided to fix the Laser and sell it. I'd always wanted an MX5, but didn't think I'd afford one...yet I managed to pick up my original 1989 NA6, and a new adventure began!
Since buying the MX5 I've switched to a pure DIY guy - over the years I've done countless hours of research and firsthand testing and listening. I've gone through different head units, several different mids and agood 7 or 8 different pairs of tweeters and along the way I've listend to a good 8-10 different sets of high end car audio splits ranging in price from $800 to as much as $3,500. One key thing I've learned through all this is that car audio gear, dollar for dollar, is no match for DIY hifi gear. Hard as it is to believe, it really is true that there are $150/pair DIY tweeters that absolutely blow away $800 car tweeters...hence why I've never gone back to car audio products.
Things have been really inconsistent for me - I had no money or time when I first got the car because I was studying, after that I had job issues and I've gone through masses of experimental setups, hence this page hasn't been updates. Now I've finally settled on a final system, and so I'm getting my update in
