WHY?
This 1996 Porsche 911 (993) was such a joy to work on, the vehicle is in mint condition with only 35k original miles. As impressive as Porsche’s are, they leave a lot to be desired in the audio department. Some may say, the sounds of the Porsche are all you need to hear while driving this vehicle; however, we beg to differ. Now, not only can our client enjoy driving he beautiful Porsche, he can enjoy crisp, high-fidelity music while doing so, if he so chooses.
This project was one that looked as great as it sounded, the rear seat addition to add the sub woofer, amps, and DSP, really turned out incredible, and best of all, it looks true to the vehicle. That was the theme of this project, keep everything looking as OEM as possible. Luckily, we were able to perform this entire upgrade without making any permanent modifications to the vehicle.
WHAT?
Upgraded the Front Stage – The goal with the front stage was to make it sound as good as possible, without making permanent modifications to the door panels. As I mentioned before, this vehicle is in immaculate condition and a classic vehicle, so we did not want to affect the integrity of the Porsche. We decided to install the Morel Elate Carbon components, the newest addition to Morel’s lineup. These speakers sound crisp and clear, and do not fatigue your ears after long listening sessions. The 5.25″ woofers included in this set have a 3″ voice coil, which equates to precise control and great power handling abilities. Could not have been more happy with the Elate Carbon’s, we will be installing a lot of these in the future!
Upgraded the Rear Speakers – We wanted to add a bit of rear-fill to this vehicle mostly to add more volume to combat the noise from the vehicle. By adding the rear speakers, we can ensure that the front stage is not being over-worked when listening at higher volumes, or perhaps just with the windows down on a cruise. We decided on the 4″ Morel Hybrid Integra coaxial speakers for the rears because of they perform well and they fit well without modifications.
Installed Pair of Helix Amplifiers with Integrated DSP – For the amplifiers in this Porsche, we used a Helix P Six DSP MK2 paired with a Helix P Two. We wanted to minimize the space we needed for the amplifiers, but also provide proper power to everything, especially the front stage. We used the Helix P Two to power the new front door woofers in order to have plenty of head-room in the system when jamming on it. Also, the P Two is going to have better control over those front door woofers than the P Six would provide, so we felt this was the best utilization of the channels. We used the Helix P Six DSP MK2 to power the front stage tweeters, the rear coaxial speakers, and the new subwoofer.
Fabricated Custom Enclosure and Beauty Panel – We decided to use the backseat area to house the new subwoofer and both of our new amplifiers. We were able to fabricate an enclosure for the subwoofer to fit in the seat cavity using stack-fabrication. The amplifiers were mounted in the seat cavity on the other side of the backseat. We want the new additions to look as seamless as possible, thus we fabricated the beauty panel to cover the amps and subwoofer, but also to make the additions appear as if they cam with the vehicle from the factory. The center pressed grill was the final finishing touch on the panel to give it that authentic feel.
Added 360 Degree Radar and Laser Defense – We needed to ensure our client could jam-out on a cruise without stressing over a dreaded speeding ticket. The Radenso Ultimate Edition provides advanced warning against radar, and also provides real-time defense against laser. Perhaps most impressive about the Radenso system is that they’ll pay your speeding tickets for you for the first five years of owning the system, because they’re 100% confident in it’s performance and capabilities.
HOW?
Elevated Audio is known first and foremost for our customer’s overall experience from beginning to end. Winning the North American 2018-2019 Customer Choice Award in the 12-volt industry validated our commitment to provide trusted interactions between our store in Denver and our customers. Luckily, we also have a Top-12 mobile electronics technician managing our shop, Phil Cantu.
Here’s how we performed the installation.
FRONT STAGE SPEAKERS
We used the best sounding components we felt would fit without making major modifications to the Porsche, 5.25″ Morel Elate Carbons. Featuring the carbon fiber/Rohacell sandwich cones, these speakers sound ultra clean, and have impressive output! The woofer and the tweeter were both mounted in the front doors, in the factory locations. We used the Morel tweeter pod for mounting and the lotus grill matched the vehicle perfectly. If needed, the factory speakers could always be re-installed.
SOUND DAMPENING
When installing upgraded speakers in the doors and providing the proper power to them, it’s extremely important to sound dampen the area around the speaker to prevent any energy transfer that may cause rattles and vibrations in the door panels. We applied nearly a full roll of Sound Shield to each of the front doors of this Porsche to ensure the Elate woofers could perform at their best.
WIRING AND SIGNAL
We wanted to give our client the option to use the factory Porsche radio, but we also wanted to provide the option that produces the best sound quality. We used an AudioQuest Dragon Fly Cobalt in this setup to allow music streaming from a phone or other external device. By doing this, we eliminate more factors that could degrade sound quality in anyway.
Power is supplied to the amplifiers utilizing our four gauge pure copper wiring. Never use copper clad aluminum (CCA) if you want the best current flow!
MOUNTING AMPLIFIERS
As mentioned before, both of the amplifiers were mounted in the seat cavity in the back, and the amplifiers are completely hidden by the beauty panel. At first glace, you’d have no idea there was ever a system installed in this Porsche, and that was one of the main objectives with this build.
All wiring is wrapped in Tesa tape or tech-flex for a factory look and feel. The wiring routes in factory channels throughout the vehicle and is not merely “tucked” under panels, which always find a way to wiggle out after a few months. It’s our goal to make it hard to differentiate factory wiring from aftermarket.
CALIBRATING THE AMPLIFIERS
Amplifiers are useless unless set up correctly. Elevated Audio always sets the gains of our amplifiers by using an oscilloscope. This tool allows us to read the clipping point and set the amplifier to play up to that point but never beyond it, protecting the entire system and your ears! We also use the O-Scope to determine where the factory radio clips.
LEVEL CONTROLLER
We used the Helix URC.3 for level control on the subwoofer independently, as well as volume control for the direct aux-in (Dragon Fly Cobalt). The URC.3 looked perfect in this vehicle as well, the simple knobs on the controller blended in with the dash very well.
SUBWOOFER
We used an ETON Audiophile Evo Subwoofer for this build because we needed something that would fit the space provided well, but we also needed a dual voice coil subwoofer with how we planned to utilize our amplifier’s power. These subwoofers are super clean and they perform well in small airspace enclosures.
DSP & TUNING
We used the Helix integrated DSP to tune this system. Helix has some of the most advanced DSP tuning software available! We place a microphone in the desired listening position to analyze the sound while we are tuning, thus ensuring we make the correct adjustments to the system. By using a DSP to tune the system, we can create a stereo image in the driver or passenger seat to provide a better listening experience.
THE RESULT!
Our client was blown away when he saw the custom work done in the backseat, but also blow away by how fantastic the system sounded. We were able to create an ideal audio experience in this classic Porsche, without diminishing the integrity of the vehicle at all. This Porsche owner can now enjoy clean audio while cruising through the mountains, and do it stress free with protection from his Radenso!
Please contact us for your own custom audio system design consultation because, while this is an fantastic setup, it may not be what you need. We tailor each build to our customer’s needs and expectations, so we must build something special just for you.
Music. It’s What Moves Us.
-Elevated Audio
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- Laser shifters
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- Shifters up close
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- Radenso Display
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- Volume and Bass adjustments
