Aubrey Carter has a problem. He can't find an aftermarket alternator that fits alongside the 6.1 Hemi under his hood. It's one of the dangers of rolling in a '06 Chrysler 300 SRT8. "The factory 160-amp alternator seems [to be] holding up for the time being," Carter says hopefully. Other than that hiccup, this Visalia, CA, resident has his SQ-oriented audio system covered.
"My ultimate goal was to maintain the factory look and feel of the car and still be able to return the car back to the factory specs," Carter explains. That means, no chopping up the interior, carving up panels or even fidgeting with the wiring. "There was not one factory wire cut in the car and the only things that will need to be replaced once I decide to change cars will be the kick panels and the dash bezel," he continues. He'll probably have to rip out the 180ft2 of eDead v12 sound damping material, too. But he doesn't have to worry about that now. All Carter has to do is enjoy the tunes.
Driver: When Aubrey Carter got his first car, it was the mid-'80s and the car audio scene was hopping. He's been involved off and on since then, even though SQ competitions are scarce where he lives in Central California. When he purchased this 300 SRT8, Carter intended to just throw in a 12" sub with amp. But once installed, he felt he had to upgrade the factory speakers: "it was all downhill from there," he says. "In one month I purchased all the products and the install was on." Thanks go to "Dave Zamora at Zamz Audio, my girlfriend for supporting my obsession and spending habits, and Eric Holdaway for an incredible ear in tuning the vehicle." Next up? Believe it or not-but a whole new system.
To get the clean look Carter was after, installer Dave Zamora of Zamz Audio Sound Lab in Visalia modified and built a custom dash kit for the half-DIN NESA Vision DVD-5051 and the Clarion DRZ9255 head unit. "We do not like the look of the [dash] kits because the 'dog ears' on the Mopar vehicles," Carter explains. Epoxy and filler enabled them to get the smoothed-in factory look. Carter likes how the HU can run eight channels and provides seven bands of EQ for tweaking from song to song. That way, he doesn't have to mess with the settings on the AudioControl DQS in the trunk. Raising the height of the front stage is a CDT Audio UP-526XT "upstage kit." Hidden in the A-pillars, the kit is a barely perceptible bulge. Remember that Carter didn't want any permanent changes to the 300, so Zamora took care in mounting the custom MDF and fiberglass pods for the Zapco CK-16.2 component sets. The 6.5" midbass went into the door panels. "Getting them mounted became a bit of a challenge because various areas were too thin to screw them in," Carter explains. "We had to sandwich MDF in behind the panels to achieve the desired effect."