Mike King’s FX-GT
For 21 yr old Michael King, car audio is his biggest hobby. When he’s not serving you in Dick Smith Electronics you can usually find him in his car.
Michael purchased the sporty little hatch in December of 2001, a Toyota Corolla FXGT. The 15″ mags (soon to be 17″) and tints give it “the look”, and will nicely complement the Evo style bodykit that will be going on shortly. Many of you may have already seen the car, as Michael attends most of the sound offs in the Christchurch area. Regularly placing well at each event. With a setup like his I can see why.
When I asked Michael what got him started with car audio he replied, “I have always had a strong interest in good looking cars and car audio. It all started when I found the CANZE web site and brought one of the NZ car audio mags, from their I decided to get into it more”. “I had read lots of stuff on the net from sites around America and just got hooked.”
Michael also has another hobby, racing Radio Control Cars. He races all the three different gas scales, 1/5th, 1/8th and 1/10th scale out at his local track, Rapanua, CHCH.
The Source
Providing the music to the system is a Kenwood KDC-9020R headunit. This H/U has many features, of which some include: MP3, WMA, 4.5V preouts, 50×4 and a mask design for added security. Previously there was a Kenwood KDC-5016 in its place, but Michael upgraded to the top of the line model for its better SQ properties. Attached to this is a 10 disk CD stacker, which resides in the boot.
“Speakers are factory with the car, Alpine 6″ and 4″, they go well and hence I had no need to replace them yet.” However, plans for the future include a set of components up front, a 6 or 7 inch motorized monitor and a DVD player.
Bass
And now lets move to the boot, where all the noise happens. Two JLW3 10″ subs pump out the low frequencies, rated at 200WRMS by JL. The subs are DVC 2+2 ohm, wired in a series/parallel combination to create a 2ohm load on the sub amp. They are each nestled in a ported box, constructed with 18mm MDF, covered in grey vinyl, and built within JL specs. The port can be ‘plugged’ up for daily driving and SQ.
“I brought the subs back in November 2001 in Australia when I went over for the Radio Control Car racing World Champs. The subs were not available in NZ at that time. Drove 100km each way just to buy them on our last night in Aus, was a random trip for sure.”
Pumping the juice into these puppies is a MTX 81000D, cranking out about 1000WRMS @ 2ohm. The JLs are getting plenty of power. The false floor is made up of MDF and covered in grey vinyl, with the MTX logo in the top of it. You can see one of the subs reflecting off the MTX chrome finish, there is also room for another amp on the right, which will one day power the planned components.
To the right of the floor is the Kenwood 10 disk stacker, help upright in its own little compartment.
To the left is another compartment which houses a cap, 2 PG dist blocks and some blue neons, which are activated when the boot door is opened. Both are covered in grey vinyl to match the rest of the install.
0awg cable sucks the power from the battery to the dist block, which then splits off to two 4awg. One running straight to the amp, and the other to the cap.
Michael designed and built the whole boot setup and had Mark at Autosound and Security in Christchurch trim the panels in vinyl. All up it took 2 months from start to finish, with many weekends and late nights going into it.
Protecting his investment is a top of the line Dynatron alarm system.
Events
I asked Michael what events he had entered and how he got into the scene. “Got into events when Auto Sound and Security held bass wars on a Thursday night, didn’t enter the first one but went to look. I was hooked on DB drag racing ever since, I entered the second event and did fairly well.” “I Entered my first big event at the South Islands 4 and Rotary in 2002 and came second to Shane in the laser.”
Michael regularly attends events and shows all over Christchurch and the South Island (Autosound and Security, SoundWorks and Pauls Car Audio Timaru). “You don’t need a big sub or subs to gain a high score.” His most recent event was the South Island 4 and Rotary 2003. He placed third behind Paul and Shane with a 139.8dB. Although that score was with his older MTX 1500DX amp, with the new 81000D he hits 140.5dB.
“I feel I can’t get any louder, the subs have reached there max performance without doing a whole new box design and loads of testing.”
“I entered the car into one SQ competition for a laugh to see how the install would score and went really well. I feel that I will be moving down this track soon with the current setup, as the JL subs are built for SQ and SPL, and perform well”
Owner Details
Name: Michael King
Age: 21
Car Details
Year: 1994
Model: Corolla FX-GT
Engine: 4AGE 1.6L 20 valve
Car Audio
Headunit: Kenwood KDC-9020R
CD Shuttle: Kenwood 10 disk
Speakers: Factory 6″ front and 4″ rear
Sub Amp: MTX 81000D
Subwoofers: JLW3 10″ x2
Special Thanks
Local CANZE members:
Paul (OSOLOW)
Shane (Clarkie)
John (JP)
My Girlfriend Kylie for putting up with my busy weekends building the car and support at events.
Mark at Autosound and Security for his great skills in vinyling the boot and the whole team for their great knowledge and friendly service.
