[newBgeek]

In the late 80s I was deep into car audio and built a DIY competition system in a 280ZX turbo, which consistently won the best sound quality award at car audio events. I also had a chance to listen to dozens of other competition vehicles and I would like to share some of my personal secrets and opinions for fellow Boxster owners who would like to achieve the highest levels of sound quality in their vehicles. It's actually quite simple and there are only 3 main points that are really required for high sound quality.

#1. You must select the best sounding component speakers. While this may sound obvious, I can't stress enough that the speakers must take first priority above everything else. Do a lot of careful listening before selecting your component speakers and forget coaxials. There are no coaxial speakers that will get you to that top tier of sound quality, and only a small percentage of component speakers would qualify. It's also a mistake to think that more speakers are better. Ninety percent of the sound energy from the best sounding competition vehicles came from the front component set.

#2. Speaker location and enclosure design. While it's impossible to get great sound from poor quality speakers, it's easy to screw up the sound quality from great speakers with a poor installation. The best enclosure in my opinion is a sealed enclosure to stop back waves from cancelling front waves or adding harmonic distortion. Avoid using the door cavity as an enclosure unless you like boomy, distorted music. The tweeters should be located within line-of-sight, and as far away from you as possible for the best imaging and to minimize side-bias. In low-seated cars like the Boxster, my favorite location is the kick panels. If you think it's weird to install tweeters by your feet, sit in you Boxster and point to the dash speakers, then point to the kick panels. The 20 degrees or so of angle difference is insignificant compared to the extra distance you are going to get. The first question that every person who sat in my 280ZX was "where are your speakers?" because with proper imaging, you can't localize the sound.

#3. Plenty of clean power. While the internal head-unit power is fine for the average car stereo, it should not be used in a high sound quality vehicle. Head unit power is rated at a different standard than external and is always over-rated, while high quality external amps are always under-rated, so that competition vehicles can "cheat" by producing more power than their power class. The Alpine amp that I selected comes with a certificate of actual measured power, which is always going to be higher than the rated power. You will need this power to handle the dynamic peaks of music and to overcome road noise.

When done right, it's possible to achieve a level of sound quality which is comparable to a very good home audio system. When heard in a car, it is such a surprise because that level of sound quality is so unexpected in that environment. Imagine driving a lonely mountain road with your favorite opera playing with true-to-life sound quality, in perfect harmony with the singing flat six engine. It sounds like a commercial, but it can actually be quite an amazing experience.