Just a quick peek inside Mike Penfold's Mercedes-Benz G500 and one thing becomes instantly obvious: This Benz box is a boon to the boom. It had better be, since it serves as the flagship for his Elma, N.Y., firm, Kustom Workz. Penfold picked up the Teutonic mini-tank in 2006, seeing it as the perfect demo platform from which to flex his firm's I.C.E. install skills. If grease runs through the veins of dedicated gearheads, then Penfold must have sparks in his blood. "I have always been involved in the 12-volt world, even before I had a car," he says. At 26, he says his own high expectations for quality inspired him to open Kustom Workz: "So I could do it my way." The black-and-bling Benz requires few exterior mods to exude a subtly menacing presence: A chrome brush guard serves notice to obstacles that they'd better move and get out the way. An AMG exhaust allows the G unit to clear its throat more freely. To make sure the vehicle is seen as well as heard, the whole assemblage sits poised atop 22-inch Omega Genesis 774 luxury wheels, complete with Swarovski crystal accents. But the real jewels, of course, await inside.Subwoofers
What about the boom? For the lower frequencies, six 8-inch Focal Utopia Be 21WX's thump crisply from the trunk. Arranged in a semi-circle around the rear cargo compartment and behind the rear seats, the subs are evenly split between two enclosures that fill 2 1/4 cubic feet apiece. A second Audison Thesis HV Venti amp just for the subs makes for a combined 1,500 watts. "Our main goal for bass was for it to be a tight and crisp SQ bass," Penfold says.Head Unit
A Kenwood Excelon DDX8017 with nav and built-in video switching pulled source unit duty and prompted the need for all-new wire routing. That's because the factory radio's fiber optics were incompatible with the new hardware. In lieu of the optical cable, Kustom Workz incorporated Mobile Spec's Hyperflex interconnects and wire throughout.
Video
Intended mainly as a marketing tool to be used at shows and events, the jammin' Gelandewagen would be incomplete without a complement of video monitors. To be safe, Penfold and his crew installed five 7-inch Fahrenheit LCDs-that's one for each headrest: driver, passenger, and each of the three rear passenger seats.
Amplifiers
Kustom Workz took the notion "amps as art" seriously, creating the clever illusion that the Audison Thesis HV Venti's are one large amplifier. (Yes, they're actually two. The arm rising up out of the vinyl and wood-grain enclosure makes them appear as one.) They also made the amps appear to be floating-a neat trick accomplished by welding the amp brackets so that the components were raised off the floor.One of the Ventis sends power to the six 8-inch Utopia subwoofers, while the other routes power to the front soundstage. The Audison SRx2 powering the rear soundstage hides beneath the back seat. That brings the total system power to 3,500 watts RMS. All that power is an open invitation to unwanted vibration. So before rattle could raise its ugly head, the boys swaddled the door panels and trunk in noise-deadening Dynamat Xtreme.