Business student Vin Quach knows how to take care of a car. It's hard to believe that his 1997 Lexus ES300 is almost 10 years old - it's that spotless. The attention to detail doesn't stop with the car's exterior, which features a 2001 Lexus ES300 front end, 18" x 7.5" Volk Racing SS wheels and Tein Super Street coilovers. Quach expended just as much effort, if not more, into the audio system. And, ladies and gentlemen, excluding the alarm (just too many wires to deal with) Quach installed it all by himself.
Starting in the dash, Quach opted for an Eclipse AVN2454. His previous head unit, an older 7301 was still working perfectly, but Quach felt like it was time for an update. Eclipse earned its spot in the dash again because "it's reliable, performs well and looks somewhat OEM." If Eclipse keeps popping out a new double-DIN nav unit every year, Quach will be feeling the updating urge for a while. For now, the AVN2454 provides everything he needs, such as navigation and MP3 playback. The DVD playback turned out to be a little-used feature. "I'm not too crazy about video screens in my car, since I don't attend car shows or watch movies while driving," he explains. "I don't think I even inserted a DVD in the radio since the first day I bought it."
Attached to the Eclipse head unit, a Peripheral iPod adapter allows Quach to integrate his 30GB iPod with video capabilities. Quach particularly wanted the unit because it charges his iPod and lets him control it from the head unit. To boost the head unit's weak signal, Quach tacked on a simple Phoenix Gold LPL44 line driver. Other devices tweaking with the signal include the AudioControl Four.1 and Precision Power DEQ-230 equalizers. Quach saved the AudioControl unit from his earlier car. "I decided to install it in my current vehicle because it's a handy little EQ that I can quickly adjust while behind the wheel." As for the Precision Power unit, Quach likes how "with the help of an RTA, I can adjust it as flat as possible and then leave it alone."
For further processing, Quach went with Phoenix Gold. He needed an active crossover to match his 3-way system and had lusted after the ZPX2 in the late '90s but couldn't afford it. Fortunately, Quach got lucky and bought it about a year ago from a fellow member of the Phoenix Gold forum. For the subs and midbass speakers, Quach chose two Phoenix Gold Bass Cubes. "It does much more than what most people perceive," he states. "In addition to bass boosts, it offers a subsonic filter (for my free-air midbass) and SQ/SPL switches for my subs."
The super clean trunk install features three amps. "My first PG amp was a pair of PG's "M" series amps, and I never looked back!" Quach exclaims. "I love PG's quality, reliability and solid sound quality." A ZX600.2ti powers the front components. A second ZX600.2ti feeds the midbasses. The last amp, a ZX800.1ti, powers the subs.
As stated earlier, Quach went with a 3-way setup and likes to use his midbasses in lieu of subwoofers most of the time. For the front speakers, he built out kickpanels to install a/d/s 334is components. "I bought the a/d/s speakers because after switching from brand to brand, I found out that the a/d/s sounds the most natural to me," he explains. "a/d/s speakers tend not to overemphasize some frequencies." (Rear speakers are the a/d/s 235im set that earlier served as front speakers.) Quach wanted to mount midbass speakers in the front doors and chose the Morel MCW220 "because they are slim, handle a lot of power, have good displacement and have the ability to play low."
For low frequencies, a pair of Phoenix Gold Titanium 10 SVC subs munch up some trunk space. "I chose these subs because they work in a small enclosure and sound great," Quach states. "In fact," he continues, "I feel that most subs can potentially sound good; what's more important to me is the power, enclosure and the way the enclosure is installed/positioned in the vehicle."
Necessary accessories include over 100ft2 of Dynamat. "I selected Dynamat because it really works (compared to others), and it's easy to use," Quach says. For wires, Quach doesn't detect any audible benefits from more expensive options, so he selected Phoenix Gold QS speaker wires - 16-gauge for the front speakers and 12-gauge for the subs. He does feel the benefits of RCAs and chose Phoenix Gold ZeroPoints throughout. For power cables, he went with ZeroPoint as well "because it is easy to use (flexible) and has a high-strand count." Other upgrades include a Phoenix Gold PowerCore 15 capacitor and a DD10 to control all low-amperage accessories. Quach likes how the latter adds a delayed turn on/turn off to avoid turn on/turn off noise. For the former, he states, "[I] paid a premium for the Phoenix Gold name ... I tend to be very loyal to brands that I had great experiences with."
For a ride he had no intentions of modifying in the first place, Quach has done an awful lot. But when you have a lot of audio equipment lying around from a previous vehicle, it's hard to resist. Even harder is calling it quits once you've started. For now though, Quach's thrown in the towel for the ES300. Perhaps when he's out of school, he'll buy a new ride and the process will begin again.
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