As part of our 20th anniversary retrospective, we're showcasing some of our favorite vehicles of the past two decades. You'll be able to vote on your favorite car later. Here's another stunner for which to choose from.
After a year and a half of meticulous crafting, and $140,000 later, one would expect a vehicle like no other. And that's exactly what Phattaraphong Ongsiriwattana's BMW 525 turned out to be. His shop, Mirage Audio of Thailand, looked beyond building an amazing audio system and built a piece of art.
Ongsiriwattana and installers Phayutt and Suthon started with the Bimmer's exterior sheet metal as their canvas. Derived from their heritage, 3-dimensional Thai-styled dragon flames constructed of fiberglass were melded over the factory bodywork. Red LEDs mounted discretely beneath illuminate the edge of the flames through strategically placed opening which at night imparts a sensation as if the flames are floating upon the surface of the car. The entire exterior was painted with silver chameleon paint to provide contrast, and a greater sense of depth, to the various dimensions.
The installers of Mirage carried the same flamboyant styling inside the vehicle as well. Thai etching is found throughout; many of the interior features are machined from aluminum with the same artistic flair. Additional aluminum pieces were used throughout the system, including the switch control on wheel control, and the speaker mounts.
When it comes to the audio, Ongsiriwattana chose the best products his store had to offer. Sourcing between the tunes is an Alpine F#1 Status DVI-9990E along with its processing mate, the PXI-H990. The processor feeds crossed-over, EQ'ed, and time-aligned signal to six DLS amplifiers via Audison interconnects. A pair of Ultimate TA2 tube amplifiers runs the front stage consisting of 2-inch DLS Nobelium tweeters at the top of the doors, and 5-inch Nobelium mids on the dash top. Signal was arranged so that one TA2 amp handles the left channel duties, the other the right. Midbass is managed by a pair of DLS R6A 6.5-inch woofers mounted in aperiodic enclosures in the kickpanels, each powered by its own Ultimate A3 amp. A single DLS IR10 10-inch subwoofer hidden under the dashboard brings in the lowest frequencies with power coming from two Ultimate A6 amplifiers.
Power for the system comes by way of two Stinger batteries mounted in the trunk. To keep them operating to their fullest, Ongsiriwattana installed solar cells on the roof. Squashing unwanted noise, Dynamat was applied liberally-three layers on the floor, two on the doors, and one layer on the roof. And, while not top priority, video was included for onlookers via a 3-inch Backsight mirror LCD monitor and a 15-inch monitor in the trunk.
With the vehicle and system complete, the Mirage Audio crew spent an entire month tuning the 525 for competition. In 2006, their efforts paid off big time as the Bimmer took the IASCA World Finals championship with both a first place finish in the Ultimate Pro class and anther first in the ISQC (International Sound Quality Challenge). No doubt this vehicle is sure to gain Ongsiriwattana and Mirage Audio some much deserved attention.
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