Car audio installer Dave Hary had just begun building the ICE system in this 2000 Audi S4 when he and a couple of friends went to watch the start of Playersrun, a rally for high-end cars. Having just completed some performance mods (listed in the Tech box later in this article), Hary and buds decided to see what the car could do. "We caught up to a Murcielago around the Caldwells on Interstate 80," Hary says. "The two guys in the Murcielago were screaming, 'What the @#*% did you do to that thing?!' after attempting to lose us." This little anecdote lets us know Hary's ride can haul ass, but this is CA&E - we want to know how good the audio system is when your hauling ass. Fortunately, Hary has another tale to tell: The Audi brought home second place in CA&E's ultimate show car competition, Trifecta. That's proof of merit enough for us.
Tricky Bass
From the monitors that have been smoothly slipped into the headliner to the amps submerged in the trunk floor, the Audi impressed our judges with clean finishes, superb aesthetics and great sound quality. Of course it didn't hurt having the twin turbos peeping through the hood. Perhaps the most impressive and certainly toughest to pull off section of the build was the rear deck. Looking at the Rockford Fosgate subs suspended midair in a baffle of acrylic, you can easily understand why this proved to be such a challenge. How'd Hary get the clear plastic to support the weight of the 15s? Reinforcing the deck with strong yet lightweight chromoly did the trick. "The car was not designed for SPL," Hary reveals. "But as a demo car for my shop, I needed it to move some air." To help achieve this, he sealed in the trunk by welding all holes and gaps shut and laid down Dynamat Xtreme (approximately 6 1/2 bulk packs of the sound-damping material smother the entire interior).
Power Aplenty
If the deck weren't so heavily reinforced, we'd fear that the giant sub magnets might eventually drop onto the pair of Rockford Fosgate amplifiers beneath them. Mounted onto a chromoly amprack attached to the trunk floor, the T30001bd runs at 1 ohm to the subs and a T15004 runs 2 ohms to the front and rear components. When it comes to juice, amps aren't the only fruit to squeeze. Hary backed up the install starting with the Tsunami high-output alternator. All cables and wires hail from Tsunami as well. "I chose to use Tsunami brand wiring throughout the car because of the flexibility and convenience of their nine-conductor speaker wire," Hary explains. Ought-gauge provides power, while 8-gauge runs to the subs. One of the two Optima YellowTop batteries resides in the factory compartment and the other hides in the spare tire well under the amps. As a final power supplement, Hary tucked the 100-farad capacitor in the driver's-side trunk panel.
More In The Door
Moving into the cab, Hary performed a bit of surgery on all four doors to install Rockford Fosgate Type RF components. The front doors received the most attention with a pair of 6 1/2" Rockford Fosgate midbasses and a pair of Type RF tweeters. The midbasses and one of the tweeters take up the lower portion of the built-out door panel while the other tweeter sits up in the factory location. The rear doors follow in the same style and build technique as the front doors, only they have just one set of Rockford Fosgate Type RS components.
What's Up?
Despite the impressive door panels, your eyes will probably glue onto the suede-wrapped headliner when sitting down in this S4. With 7-inch Farenheit monitors taking the place of sun visors, why wouldn't they? Also up in the headliner, Hary flushed in AudioControl's DQS right in front of the sunroof. This equalizer "allows you to perform all your tunings from inside the car," Hary states. The feed for the sound and the video comes from an Eclipse AVN5495 set into the dash.
After two months of work and more money than he can safely reveal ("I can't divulge that info otherwise my wife would kill me," he jokes), Hary achieved what he wanted: a show-winning vehicle that helps promote his business. Before hauling the car out to Las Vegas for the Trifecta Finals in November, Hary plans to change up the color, maybe tack on a wide body kit and upgrade the Rockford RF components with bigger Morel speakers all around, including a new center channel. We can't wait to see the results.
ShopDesign TechUnion, NJwww.designtechnj.com
Tech
Body ModsReiger RS4 front bumper, rear bumper and rear window wingATP filled and shaved sideskirtsVIS hood with custom turbo ducts and eyebrows molded into the hoodCustom metal trunk wing molded into the quarter panelsSuspensionH&R race springs with Koni adjustable strutsWheelsAVUS 901s 19" with staggered lipsTiresFuzion 235/35/19
Engine ModsCustom twin turbo (T04S), downpipes, intercooler and piping Smoothed and polished intake manifold and valve covers Tial 44mm wastegates and blowoff valve Wiggen clamps on all charge pipes Precision injectors Unorthodox lightweight flywheel Clutch Masters Stg 5 clutch
2nd place trifecta
Hary dropped the Eclipse AVN5495 head unit into the dash with a custom dash kit made of 3/4" MDF. The edge was routered so that the unit would sit flush with the dash. SEMS matte finish black paint helps it blend in. Connecting the receiver was easier, with RCAs attaching through the factory harness. AudioControl's The Epicenter maximizes the bass output. Three-ways in the front and 2-ways in the back almost sum up the high and mid speakers in the Audi. A 1/2" birch plywood baffle backed with a 1/8" piece of aluminum serves as a baffle in the lower portion of the front doors. Onto the baffle, Hary mounted a Phoenix Gold TI grille and then mounted the midbasses to it. He then fiberglassed the baffle into the existing door panel and built the enclosure for the speakers out of the back. The first tweeter was grafted in between the midbasses and the second stays put in the factory location. Cinder Suede wraps around the entire door panel.
Because he wanted to keep the weight down, Hary decided to mount the Rockford Fosgate T115 subs in a free-air setup. After ensuring that they would fit in the rear deck, he removed the deck and reinforced it with chromoly, a strong and lightweight steel alloy that Hary's drag-racing background made him familiar with. He then mounted the acrylic baffle, which lets you look into the trunk. Although the vehicle was designed for the SQ class, not SPL, it still exceeded his expectations.
Beneath an acrylic window, a pair of Rockford Fosgate amps sits on a chromoly amprack. Hary welded the 1 5/8" alloy and smoothed it out with body filler before painting it Dolomite Gray to match the Audi's exterior stripe. It mounts to the factory floor with nut inserts. Beneath the amps, one of the two YellowTop batteries hides. It gets backup from the Rockford Fosgate 100-farad capacitor in the driver's-side quarter panel. Making the most of space, Hary tucked a 205-amp Tsunami isolator behind the cap.
Driver Profile
A long time car audio enthusiast, Dave Hary started competing as a teenager at Spring Break Nationals and he currently competes in IASCA and MECA in the Pro Street SQ Plus class with the club New Image Motorsports. Given his passion, Hary's career as a car audio installer makes perfect sense. Although he primarily built the system himself, he did receive vital tuning help from Glenn Quatrochi, who gets much thanks. Other thank-yous go to Hary's wife Lily-Ann, the guys at Design Tech, NewImageMotorsports.com, Tony at S-Max Intercoolers, Rob at AVUS wheels, Sean at AudioControl, Petros at Tsunami, Mike Eachly, Nick and Jeff at Grafx, Eddie Bello at Acosta Racing, Beyond Image and TheSpeedLounge.com.