Eight kilowatts? Look around AutoSpeed and you'll often see cars with 250kW or
more, so why would you possibly get excited about a car with a puny 8kW? Why? Because
it's not just in a normal car - it's in the X-treme limousine. And 8kW in this thing
can only mean one thing - 8000 Watts of ball tearing, eye-popping, car audio POWER!
The X-treme limo is a joint venture between some of the biggest names in car
audio - Sony, Soundstream, Streetwires and Brisbane Car Sound/Strathfield Car Radios
Special Vehicles Division. The limo has been a demo car for a number of years now,
and has seen several different systems installed in it - but nothing like the killer
audio package it now has. Just how X-treme is it you ask? Read on...
First of all, the limo itself is a late 80s Ford LTD with a big stretch in the
middle, and a low stance. Its engine is the standard fuel injected 4.1 litre six,
which is mated to a beefed-up C4 auto trans. Power is transferred back through a
l-o-o-o-n-g custom tailshaft to the Borg Warner disc brake rear end. The aggressive
17x8 Weld Billet wheels coupled with the lowering job give this limo an on-road
presence like nothing else in Oz.
The head unit for this head-kicking system is the top-of-the-line Sony CDX-C910 CD/tuner/stacker,
with DSP and TV control. Equalisation is handled by the unique Sony DPX 210EQ, which
has 18 band front and 3 band rear EQ, subwoofer crossover and level adjustment,
listening position selector and 4 volt pre-out. Plus it's fully accessible through
the head unit's menu system, making it a breeze to set up.
The latest in must-have items is the Phillips CARiN navigation system and, of
course, the limo scores this as well. With its colour screen and voice guidance
(selectable to either male or female) it makes navigating around the city a relaxing
and stress-free experience. It uses accelerometers, speed sensor and the global
satellite positioning network to provide a highly accurate moving map display. After
using this system it's very hard to go back to the street-directory-on-the-lap method
of navigation. Go to AutoSpeed's story on the CARiN navigation system.
The compact disc changer is the Sony CDX-V60 V-CD player, which is capable of
playing video CD as well as normal audio CDs. Being chauffeured around while watching
the 14-inch TV with your favourite band's video pumping is an experience not to be missed. Sony equipment handles all the audio and video signals in the X-treme limo
and passes them onto one of the world-renowned heavyweights of car audio - Soundstream.
All splits, coaxials, subwoofers and amplifiers are from this high-end American
company.
To begin with, the front doors house a pair of SPL 69 coaxial speakers with five
inch SPL50s in the custom kick panels. The SPL range of speakers are unique in that
they use a 2-ohm coil, taking advantage of the higher power that current amps deliver
when working into such low impedances.
Facing rearwards in the B-pillars are two more SPL 50 splits, in the side panels
are four sets of SPL 60s, and just for good measure there's another set in the back
shelf. Keeping up with all this full range sound meant a lot of bass was needed,
so the guys decided to install a lot of subs and a LOT of power. Cone area
x Watts = LOUD! Nine SPL 10s in a sealed enclosure with 3000W of power was
deemed to be about right. Yeah, lots of cars have tons of bass, but often not enough
front end to go with it - this set-up, on the other hand, has plenty of everything.
Soundstream Rubicon 1002 amplifiers are the heart of this system, and with no
less than eight of them, this limo has a big heart! In a high end audio system the
secret is to have as much distortion-free power as possible, and these Soundstream
amps really deliver. The 1002s are rated at 200W x 2, but because they are running
SPL series speakers with that low impedance, the amps are currently delivering about
500W x 2, or 1000W x 1.
Having amplifiers capable of producing this much power is fine, but you also
have to feed them a great deal of current. Streetwires cable, distribution blocks
and interconnects are recognised as some of the best pieces of gear available for
the car audio enthusiast. In the limo, power is generated by two 90 Amp Bosch alternators
feeding the battery under the bonnet.
From there, energy is transferred via 1 gauge Streetwires cable back to two Odyssey
dry-cell 1000cca batteries located behind the front seats in separate sealed boxes.
These also have vents running outside the car just in case any fumes are released.
The juice then travels through another fuse, Streetwires distribution blocks and
down individual 4 gauge wires to each amp. Short lengths of 4 gauge black handle
the earthing duties for each amp. This configuration provides the least voltage
drop and therefore the best current transfer.
To run the rear TV and Playstation on the go, a 12-to-240 Volt inverter was installed.
And because this vehicle spends much of its life on display at shows, it also has
an onboard 240 to 12 volt switching power supply. So when it is being set-up on
display, all that's needed is to run a normal 240 Volt lead into it - and hey-presto,
its ready for days of pounding without having to worry about the batteries going
flat.
When installing a demo system the main purpose is to be able see as much equipment,
with as many bells and whistles visible as possible.
To highlight the amplifiers, four of them are mounted in the passenger floor
area under toughened glass, complimented with neon lighting. Another two are mounted
on top of the sub enclosure, again under glass with neon. The last two are a bit
harder to see though. They are mounted on the back of the sub box and are visible
only if you look from the top towards the back of the boot area. All the amps have
multiple fans blowing cool air across them to make sure they don't overheat when
played for extended periods at shows. The speakers are all in custom baffles or
enclosures that are painted or trimmed to match the all-new trim that was inserted
into the car during this (another) rebuild. With this many speakers and this much
power, minimising rattles and buzzing is not easy, so a lot of time was spent making
all the speaker mountings as solid as possible. This also helps the system to sound
a lot better and hit a lot harder.
The reaction this vehicle draws at shows has been fantastic. As a means of showing
what is possible to do with audio-video systems for cars these days, there is no
better demo car around. The main question that is asked about cars like these is
"how loud does it go, mate?". The best answer is to hear it firsthand.
The limo is currently touring all the major car shows that are held in most states
of Australia - so if you're an Aussie, make sure you make the time to go see it.
Or if you're one of our many overseas readers, you could at least make the flight
in for the occasion...
Otherwise, the monster spends its time at Brisbane Car Sound or at one of the
many Strathfield Car Radio stores. If you see it there, just ask the staff looking
after it and they'll happily let you experience the X-treme limo for yourself. Are
you game???
Contact:
Brisbane Car Sound
+61 73 209 2399
Editor's note: Yes, we do have some more down to earth sound system cars coming......
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