Ever since he was a teenager James Richter II has been enamored with putting speakers in cars. As soon as he got his license he began tinkering with audio systems, starting with his parents' old station wagon and working his way up to this '98 Dodge Daytona. We don't know what happened to the station wagon, but this Daytona won third place in the Intermediate Consumer 0-600 watt class at the 2006 USACi Finals.
Handling everything himself except for the paint, Richter didn't half-ass anything in the pursuit of the all-powerful SQ. He started with this current system in 2004 while working full time and pursuing graduate studies. Despite his full schedule, he still wanted to do things right so he headed out to the "Advanced Sound Quality" workshop taught by Mark Eldridge at the Installer Institute. "The amount of practical, applicable information to sound quality and car audio is worth every penny that I paid to attend this workshop," Richter says. (The workshop cost him about $1,500).
Richter took the lessons to heart, starting with the foundation layer of sound dampening material. "The first goal is to create the best possible acoustic environment for sound quality installation," Richter says. With all the plastic panels that resonate and cause reflections in the Daytona, Richter went to extra lengths. "In addition to at least two layers of B-Quiet Extreme and Dynamat sound deadening material on every metal and existing plastic panel, layers of 1" mineral wool...and half inch fibrous padding were applied to the doors, floors and ceilings," Richter reveals.
Sound quality alone didn't dictate his choices. "Prior to purchasing the equipment, I 'test-drove' the technical support departments of approximately 10 different mobile electronic equipment manufacturers," Richter says. In the end, "skilled and qualified technical support from Alpine and Dynaudio played a major role in the selection of products to use from each of these manufacturers."
Richter's goal was to create a high-quality system that provided the maximum amount of control. "After researching the available products on the market, I found that the Alpine PXA-H700 processor was the key to meeting my goals," he relates. Offering the maximum in manipulation, it pairs up with the CDA-7996 head unit, which he loves because it's easy to use.
In the kick panel enclosures and dashboard, Richter selected Dynaudio MW 160 woofers and two pairs of MD 100 tweeters. "I listened to over a half dozen different high-quality component speaker systems before selecting Dynaudio." Richter states that the stable soundstage, install flexibility and excellent response were key to his choice. To use the appropriate Dynaudio subwoofer, however, Richter needed more space than he could provide, so he chose an Alpine SWR-1221D because it has limited space requirements for a response with a Q of 0.707. He also liked the appealing design and the solid construction.