PLAYLD For Best Results
PLAYLD for best results. That’s what Kris Noble says about his Ford Sierra.
Kris got the wagon back in 1998, looking to create something ‘different’ on the road. Re-spray in burgundy red with gold pearl, slap on some Evo R mags, install a kick ass system and you have a mean looking and sounding wag.
Going through about four serious installs, Kris has finally found one that is worth keeping.
Lets start from the first install… In 1999 he decided to start getting serious about putting sounds in the Sierra, so in went a Panasonic tape deck with an 8 disk CD shuttle, a Panasonic EQ/DSP unit, and a Power Accoustik 1400w amp powering two 10″ Coustic subs in a band pass enclosure.
Kris became pretty keen to compete in ’sound offs’ and so did some more research and found that his current install just wouldn’t cut it. He then replaced the subs with Alpine ZR 12″s and made a tyre well enclosure for them, brought some low level Alpine components for up front and got another Power Accoustik amp for the components.
He also managed to source a Panasonic 6″ screen with TV tuner.
And now for install number two…
In 2000, after competing in a few competitions, Kris decided to upgrade some of his gear with Alpine product.
An Alpine multimedia head unit replaced the Panasonic unit, it accepts numerous types of AV input including TV, DVD, VCD. The Panasonic shuttle was replaced by a 6 disk Alpine unit and an Alpine PXA-H510 processor is used for fine tuning the system, this processor features time alignment, Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic, along with a centre channel output, for real surround sound.
To replace the low level components up front some DDDrive components were chosen.
The boot received minor modifications to fit the processor and slightly larger Alpine amps.A smaller amp is hidden away under the rear seat for the 3″ 2-way centre channel, which is in its own sealed enclosure within the dash.
And for the third install…
In the first week of January 2002 Kris received the four Type R 12″ subs and the Alpine F#1 Status 3-way components he had on order.So now all this had to be installed somewhere.
After 5 months of the wagon being off the road for a complete system rebuild, this is what they came up with.
The front door panels were rebuilt to house the 3-way system, the 5-1/4″ are in an enclosure while the 6-1/2″ are using the whole door as the enclosure. The crossover unit is displayed in the door too.The glove box is replaced with a PS2 and Alpine 6 disk VCD shuttle.
The boot was completely stripped to make way for a new box, which is mechanically attached to the car. The box was covered in vinyl, to give it the ‘look’. A new battery was built into the boot design to provide more power and a slab of Perspex is laid over the battery/amp rack.
After winning the 2002 finals, Kris decided he needed a few more screens, Alpine had just released their stand-alone 9″ screens so two of them went into the front headrests. They were hooked up to the PS2 and VCD shuttle.
Finally install four…
Thinking the vinyl looked old school, once again the boot was redone. With Alpines new line up of amps out, he now needed to fit four amps in the boot, plus processor, battery, caps and lets not forget the subs.
So back to work they went, making a completely solid install in the boot using MDF, fibreglass, and filler to get everything extremely smooth.
The wagon has since won many competitions, including Hottest Sound System/ICE and Cinema on Wheels. His best official SPL is 148.6dB
For more results on the wagons winnings and more on Kris, check out www.playloud.org.nz.
Owner Details
Name: Kris Noble
Age: 24
Car Details
Year: 1990
Model: Sierra GLX Wagon
Engine: 2.0L DOHC Twin-Carb
Car Audio
Headunit: Alpine CVA-1005E
CD Shuttle: Alpine CHA-S624
VCD Shuttle: Alpine VPA-S001
Front Amps: Alpine MRV-F340 (x2)
Centre Amps: Alpine MRH-T305
Sub Amps: Alpine MRD-M500
Speakers: Alpine SPX-F17T, Alpine SPS-1329S (Centre)
Subwoofers: Alpine SWR-1240 (x4)
Processors: Alpine PXA-H510
AV: Alpine TME-M760 (x2)
Special Thanks
Alan and Jackie at the Car Audio Shop in Howick
Piers and Jason at Hifi Marketing
Cam Wong
Ian Brooks
Images and Dialogue courtesy of www.playloud.org.nz
