Matt Richard at 18 has an ear for vintage music. His 2004 Honda Civic EX is a testament to his taste and car audio maturity that belie his years. "I built this vehicle to prove that a world-class sound quality vehicle could also still be functional as a daily driver," he says. "The install is extremely functional and still allows the car to be daily driven year-round." The judges seem to agree. At the USACi World Finals, its first show after the completed install, the car took first place in Advanced Consumer, second place in "Q" Customer Class, and overall Best of Show for Advanced Consumer.
Richard gives credit to the capable teams of Stereo One in Cape Girardeau, MO, led by Kevin Brown, who handled the installation, and Jeff Smith and Calvin Thomas of Atlanta's Audio Designs. "Both teams of installers played key roles in making the car what it is today," Richard explains. He flinches a bit when he reveals the cost of the system - more than $15,000. But its ability to soothe his daily commute - a 75-mile trip to and from school five days a week - has already paid off. He even looks forward to long drives to shows or to visit relatives, "because it's a relaxing drive just listening to the music."
Driver ProfileMatt Richard's playlist typically includes blues, classic rock and country, frequented by favorite artists Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Johnny Lang and Robert Cray. But it wasn't necessarily sound quality or the screaming SRV leads that drew him into car audio about three years ago. It was, however, those primal frequencies that initially draw in so many of us. "Car audio interested me not only for my love of music, but simply because I was fascinated by the bass. Although sound quality is my main focus, we all get into car audio so we can turn up the bass just a little."
Dual MB Quart 15" subs (PWE-354) sit in an infinite baffle configuration in a custom fiberglass tub, with the guitar neck mounted between the subs. Note the sub wires mimic guitar cable on down to the 11/44" plugs that plug into dual jack plates. The subs are mounted on 31/48" thick acrylic rings edge-lit with blue LED tubes. A hidden lock cylinder under the rear deck releases an access panel for service.
Seven-inch F#1 Status midbass woofers rumble from door panels heavily fortified with fiberglass, body filler and Dynamat Extreme. Echoing the guitar theme, the panel inserts were painted with the Fender logo and flanked with swatches of grille mesh from a Fender amp.
An Alpine F#1 Status DVI-9990 source unit is joined with a 7-inch motorized monitor (TMI-M900) in the dash. Both units mount to the factory brackets, with a Duraglas trim ring painted in the Civic's exterior color providing a flush appearance. Volt gauges just below monitor the charge on the system's two batteries.
A-pillars were rebuilt with Duraglas and body filler, then texture-coated and dyed to match the interior in order to house the Scan Speak tweeters
After removing the metal, dampening the area with Dynamat Extreme and fabricating a baffle, Alpine F#1 Status 4" mids (SPX-Z18T) were mounted in the kick panel areas.
With eight Zapco amps on the job, Richard's system doesn't lack power. Four of the six Reference 200.2 amps are mounted here in the rear seat quarter panels, two on each side. The other pair is mounted in the trunk quarter panels. Each 200.2 amp is bridged to a single speaker.
Every component installed in the car - from relays and speakers to amps and fans - was mounted with stainless steel, theft-proof hardware.