They say everything's been done in the world; all anyone can do is recombine things. But the success of a creative project is all in what you combine and how you combine it. For Trifecta finalist Chris Roberts, a convergence of ideas, and his talent and tenacity turned out to be the right mix to produce a brilliant custom ride. Not many customizers or installers have the right know-how to create this center drive, 2,100-watt daily driven masterpiece, much less in a house garage and after-hours. That's right, Roberts works full-time at Advanced Auto Design of Auburn, Washington as a fabricator/installer. When he found time to build this Scion xB leaves more than a few of us scratching our heads.
Roberts started modifying the Scion shortly after buying it in July 2005, "just adding normal, innocent stereo stuff," he says. It was when the Alpine BMW X5 dropped at CES 2005 that he became inspired to pursue his own take on the idea; that is, as far as the steering system was concerned. "Sonically, I tried my hardest to create a home theater- type feel. That's the main reason I used a lot of suede and black galaxy granite on the floor." That's right, it's not fake granite, folks; he used exactly what you have in your kitchen and bathroom.
The speaker setup was designed to place the seating position the best place in the car-right in the middle. At the start of the build Roberts had a bench seat in the back and was going to leave it in so he could seat more people, but as he found out, it just didn't flow correctly and he naturally wanted another person to have the same listening experience as the driver. After all, this would be his daily driver so why not have another optimal seating position that the passenger can enjoy.
The system's source unit is the Alpine DVA-9861 with the PXA-H701 multichannel signal processor, which Roberts moved to the doors with the faceplates angled toward the driver. "This wasn't as easy as one would think because everything had to be soldered to the faceplate," Roberts says. "I actually soldered the first attempt too hot, messed up the circuit board and had to acquire another faceplate, which my friend Joe Flip donated late one night real close to the SEMA deadline." He's referring to getting the car ready for CA&E's Trifecta Finals at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. "The eject buttons and other audio controls were also extended to the pod on the right of the dash. You load the disc by your knees!" The Alpine PXA-H701 processor along with the Alpine RUX-C701 controller make it possible to pull off a sonically correct 5.1 setup in any car. With the ability to place a seat in the middle and speakers in optimal places inside, Roberts had all the right elements in place to create a vehicle worthy of following in the X5's road tracks.