When it comes to luxury vehicles, some people say, "Why mess with perfection?" Maybe they don't have the vision (or is it the madness?) to see room for improvement in a high-end luxury car. Or, maybe it's the thing that attracts us to these vehicles and also makes us not want to change them. How ironic that the element of desire that brought the SL55 to life and inspired its quintessential beauty is also the nemesis of the true audio enthusiast - that person who always wants to add a personal touch to their ride. To Rudy Zitserman, owner of Best Sound and Security in Flushing, NY, there is never too much of a good thing. In 2005, he purchased a drop-top 2003 Mercedes Benz SL55 to prove a point. And the point is, why not mess with perfection? Spoken like a true installer/enthusiast, Zitserman believes you can enhance a vehicle without totally changing it. "It is an amazing car and I tried to show people that using mostly factory equipment and locations, you are able to accomplish an even better and awesome sounding vehicle," he states. While the budget-minded consumer might not own a high-end sports car designed with exotic interior materials that has been jammed with electronics, you can't deny that Zitserman does make a convincing argument. With his SL55 Zitserman demonstrates how to work with what you have, not what you don't.
The Best Sound and Security clientele have been lucky enough to be leaving fingerprints on the windows of this SL55 because Zitserman uses the car as a display vehicle for his showroom. The rest of us can catch a glimpse of this vehicle when Zitserman takes it on the road at shows.
Showroom display, Custom SoundStaying true to his mission, Zitserman and the install crew stuck with the factory locations for almost all speaker locations. For enclosures, he selected a combination of red leather and black suede to give a fresh factory feel to the design. The crew placed Critical Mass C652 6 1/2" drivers along with a pair of 4 1/2" coaxials behind the factory door panels. Critical Mass 1" tweeters from the C652 set were installed in triangular fiberglass baffles that were fabricated in the doors' sail panels. In the rear of the vehicle, Critical Mass tweeters were used in place of the factory speakers located below the roll bar. Finally a Critical Mass 3 1/2" driver was utilized for a center channel and mounted in, you guessed it ... the factory center channel location.
In a car with an open roof design like this convertible, bass response is usually compromised when the top is down. Achieving desirable bass response is a daunting task due to the inability of the subwoofers to load in the cabin when, well, there is no "cabin." Aware of this common problem, Zitserman mounted a custom dual-chamber enclosure wrapped in black suede and red leather directly behind the seats to maximize the impact and output. The fiberglass enclosure is home to two impressive Critical Mass LS122 12" subwoofers, each breathing into 2ft3 of air space that sandwiches a Benz logo implanted in the center of the enclosure's face.
Protecting The Investment
An incredibly fast car like this Benz draws attention, especially when you hit the city streets blasting music as Zitserman does on weekends. When parked, he uses the Clifford GPS security system to lock down the car. The key feature, a GPS/cellular tracking device installed in the vehicle, updates via satellite signals to and from the car through cell phone towers. The technology gives Zitserman real-time tracking; battery and vehicle speed monitoring; and command via phone and computer to start the engine and lock/unlock the doors. Providing additional piece of mind, the alarm will alert Zitserman if the car is out of the desired area and will allow him to immobilize it.
Amped Up
The install team fabricated a custom mounting rack in the trunk of the SL55 to hold two Autotek amplifiers. A 4-channel 300-watt amplifier used to power the system's front, rear and center speakers was installed in the floor of the SL55's trunk. Two thousand watts were sent to the Critical Mass 12 inchers via a second Autotek amplifier mounted vertically in the trunk of the Benz. Finishing off the trunk, the team constructed trim panels wrapped in black Mercedes carpet to outline the amplifiers and conceal the two trunk-mounted system batteries.
Coursing The Feed
The source unit for the SL55 is the factory Benz in-dash unit with the factory navigation command center. A screen conversion performed by the install team is used in tandem with a SVCX video switcher to accommodate video sources from both the Icon DVD player and a video iPod that is mounted along the side of the center console. The meticulous install crew dedicated a considerable amount of time to system wiring, tediously routing the Phoenix Gold RCAs throughout the vehicle to avoid low-level noise from the head unit. Zitserman chose not to use any signal processor in this system, stating that the install combined with the performance of the product did not warrant any acoustic adjustments.
Looking over the finished custom install - the finer things of the SL55 remain unchanged and a seamlessly enhanced sound system elevates the overall quality of the ride. As automakers improve entertainment packages, installers like Zitserman will continue taking luxury cars one step further, mixing custom sound with the enhanced factory form. Well, we already are, aren't we.
Tech
V8 supercharged 5.5-liter engineCustom trunk spoilerLamborghini-style doors, hinges by LSD3-piece polished Lorinser LD1 wheels: 20" x 9" front, 20" x 10" rearReprogrammed computer chip
Shop
Best Sound and SecurityFlushing, NYwww.bestsoundsecurity.comInstallers: Rudy Zitserman and the crew at Best Sound and Security