1989 FERRARI 328

Anyone Who's Prepared A manufacturer's demo vehicle for a major trade show knows about the time pressure, late hours and stress such a project entails. When the installation involves fitting a large volume of equipment in a small space, topped with a restriction against making any permanent modifications to the car, the task becomes even more challenging.

So when Bob Goodman and Mark Drake of Southern California-based AuraSound wanted to turn the company's 1989 Ferrari 328 into a CES show car, they turned to an old friend whom they knew was up to the job: Isaac Goren, owner of Sounds Good Audio, Security & Marine in Woodland Hills, Calif.

"They asked me to make sure we could install a 10-inch Aura Force subwoofer in any way, shape or form," says Goren, who knew that designing the Ferrari's system to highlight Aura's Force series of amps and speakers as well as its Bass Shaker line would be a challenge given the vehicle's size. That wasn't the only challenge either: Goodman and Drake had also asked Goren to integrate the Bass Shaker Plus bass-enhancement system into the vehicle so that it could be demonstrated and viewed, provide optimum sound quality, set up the car with adisplay hookup, and eliminate the need for keeping the key in the ignition to demo the system.

  Team Spends Two Days Restoring Car to Stock Condition

The car already had a basic sound system, an aftermarket alarm and a radar detector, all of which had been installed by another shop, Goren says. So after spending a full day just planning how the components would fit into the Ferrari, Goren and, his team spent two days removing the old aftermarket equipment and soldering and heat-shrinking the factory wires back to their original state.

Some of the panels had been cut for the alarm's LED and others had begun to peel. Goren's team took them apart and sent them to an upholstery shop where they were wrapped in imported leather and restitched.

Once the car had been restored to its stock condition, Goren and his staff addressed the power requirements. After replacing the main battery with an OPTIMA 800U, the installers placed a circuit breaker protecting the four-gauge power cable going to the back of the vehicle. The team then added a disconnect on the negative post of the battery, allowing it to be disconnected during the Consumer Electronics Show.

Adding the disconnect was important for two reasons. First, because the car is not driven every day, disconnecting the battery prevents it from being drained. Second, not only is it a good idea to use an external power supply when exhibiting at a trade show, fire safety laws require that any vehicle displayed indoors must have its main battery disconnected.

Keeping Car in Original Condition Required Modifying Components

Goren chose the Eclipse 5303 CD receiver as the Ferrari's new head unit in part because the unit features a separate subwoofer control on the radio, allowing the sub's polarity to be changed easily. "The unit also comes with a wireless remote control, allowing us to control the system from outside of the vehicle," Goren says. "The other reason why we chose that radio is because the voltage coming out of it is five-volt at 55 ohms, and we wanted to make sure the system runs extremely efficiently."

From the head unit, the team took three signals to the back: one to the Aura Force 250 amplifier, which powers the Aura Force 10-inch subwoofer; the second signal to another Aura Force 250 amplifier, which powers the front speakers; and the third - the radio's rear output through an Aura remote level control unit to the digital amplifier powers the system's Bass Shakers.

Goren says wiring the Bass Shakers with their own digital amplifier allows anyone who demos the system to turn down the volume of the subwoofer through the radio and turn up the Bass Shakers separately, allowing the listener to compare the bass coming from the subwoofer with that from the Bass Shaker bass-enhancement system.

To put the Bass Shaker remote level control in a convenient location, Goren's team loaded it into the spot formerly occupied by the cigarette lighter in the center console. The only modification to fit the controller into the cigarette lighter location was to the controller box itself.

The Bass Shakers' remote level control wasn't the only component that required modification to keep the car in stock condition. Though Goren used the factory locations for the Aura MR 6.1 component set, some customization was required. The stock door locations, for example, were uniquely sized.

"We couldn't modify the door, so instead we trimmed the actual speaker," Goren says. "We ground the back of the speaker just enough so that it would not change the performance of the speaker, yet would allow it to fit perfectly in the factory location."

To get the tweeters to fit in the factory dash locations, Goren custom made tweeter brackets.

  Custom Enclosure Uses Several Innovative Installation Techniques

Perhaps the project's greatest challenge was finding the space to install a 10-inch Subwoofer into the Ferrari To accomplish this, Goren designed a custom enclosure to sit against the back wall of the passenger compartment and curve into a protrusion between the two seats that joins with the center console. Constructed of MDF, Masonite and perforated aluminum, the enclosure was finished off with fiberglass.

The space between the two rear seats is just seven inches across, so the 10-inch sub sits several inches behind a six-inch grille (which actually came from one of the MR 6.1 six-inch speakers) that was flush-mounted in line with the seats.

In keeping with the no-permanent modification policy, Goren designed the enclosure so that it would fit in the vehicle without the use of additional screws. "The enclosure is made to fit so precisely that the only way to move it would be to slide the seats up, fold them forward and then lift it out," he says. "When the seats are in their normal positions, there's no way for the fiberglass enclosure to go anywhere."

Goren provided easy access to the 10-inch subwoofer for service or replacement via an access hole in the back of the enclosure. The opening is covered by a panel and held in place by 12 screws, which were treated with a sealant to maintain the enclosure's sealed design.

To maintain the integrity of the Ferrari's factory leather, the entire enclosure was wrapped in foam and stitched with imported leather that matches the original seats.

Though this type of enclosure worked well for the Ferrari, Goren believes the same technique would work well with other small vehicles with space constraints, such as BMW Z3s, Mazda Miatas and Dodge Vipers.

Given the car's intended use as a showcase for Aura equipment, the company naturally wanted all the components placed in such a way that they could be seen. Yet the optimum placement of Bass Shakers is underneath the car seat. To get around this conundrum, Goren decided to install an active pair of Bass Shakers underneath the seats as well as a display only pair behind each seat.

Though Goren designed the enclosure so it wouldn't require modifying the car, it does conceal a small storage compartment and the clamps that hold the car's detachable roof piece.

  Amp Rack Designed for Easy Removal

The rear of the vehicle houses the system's three amplifiers as well as the one-farad Scosche/EFX capacitor. Goren designed the amp rack so that it would fit in the rear compartment so tightly that it would not require any screws. Made from red Formica and carpeted with Ozite material to match the trunk area, the team bolted on the two Force 250 amplifiers as as well as the Bass Shakers' digital amp. The passive crossovers for the separates, which have separate adjustments on them, are mounted underneath the amp rack. Should they ever need to be readjusted, the amp rack can be lifted out.

All of the connectors, power cables and circuit breakers were from Scosche/EFX. The car is fully damped with Scosche's Accumat damping material. Extra layers were added to the wall between the engine compartment and the inside of the vehicle to prevent vibrations coming from the subwoofer which lays against it.

Goren's shop only had the Ferrari for about two-and-a-half weeks before completing the upgrade. Not only did the vehicle meet the challenges the system presented, it also sounds great. I think for only having two sixes, two tweeters, and one 10-inch sub, the system sounds incredible, even when you don't turn the Bass Shakers on," Goren says. "When the shakers are on, however, it gives you so much more bass than your eyes can see. it's been a long time since I was so impressed with a car that had so few speakers."

  Mobile Electronics Retailer June 1998