Ask SQ competitors which car they would most like to tear into and discover its secrets, and their answers would most likely be the same - Gary Biggs' seven-time World Champion Buick Regal. Everybody in the industry knows this car, in at least one of its many forms. Biggs' Regal is considered by many to be the most famous, or infamous to some, vehicle in car audio.
In an industry known for smoke and mirrors, the Regal's inner workings could be considered an automotive Houdini. What looks complicated and intricate is a simple faade, and what looks simple took serious engineering to facilitate proper acoustics. There are the usual tricks of the trade that garner points in competition - unique installation, sliding amps, lots of Dynamat. Then there are the over and above feats of engineering and acoustical design that really take the Regal to new heights. That is what makes this the granddaddy of all sound quality competition vehicles.
Recently, I had the extreme pleasure and honor of being the first journalist to see the Regal's inner workings. I spent a couple of days with Gary Biggs, getting the lowdown on what made this the world's best sounding car. Biggs opened up the Regal to show the world what it takes to be a seven-time world champion.
Sound DeadeningA key ingredient to any SQ car is lots of sound deadening. To that end, the Regal got it in spades. During the build, Biggs had the body on a rotisserie (a stand that allows the body to be rolled 360 degrees), and while upside down, the entire roof received 31/48" of fiberglass mat and four layers of Dynamat. The rest of the car also got the same four layers of Dynamat, creating an absolutely solid body that is devoid of any rattles or buzz. Biggs even went so far as to have a pad of lead septum sewn into his floor mats, helping isolate the listener's feet from the actual floor of the vehicle. This eliminated the chance of any vibrations coming off the floor to affect the listener's focus - a very cool trick.
Sound TrapThe next step in the build was creating the subwoofer enclosures and ampracks. There is more to this design than simply looks. The entire amprack and trunk area is designed to trap sound, minimizing reflections. The three PX300.4 amplifiers are mounted using aluminum stand-offs, creating about a 31/44" gap underneath the amps. This combined with the shape of the upper rack trap and trunk tunnel focuses the sound to the rear of the car, where it is basically trapped. This is an important part of the design, as sound reflections color the sound, reducing its clarity.
Path LengthEverything in the interior of the vehicle was taken into consideration during the design. While most other competition vehicle builders try to equalize the path lengths from the kick panels to the seats, nobody spent the time that Biggs did on the front seat's positioning. The seating positions are not only set back from the speaker positions, they were custom built and tuned to each other. The interior was divided into three equal sections. Then the seats were centered on the two middle lines. This creates equal positioning from the driver-side window to the driver's left ear, the driver's right ear to the passenger's head, and passenger's right ear to the passenger-side window. The effect of this design reduces the boundary effect, which modifies the perceived source of the sound due to reflections, and helps focus the imaging to the front and center of the vehicle.