For People Who Love Music On The Move - Four Masters

Issue Two £3.00 

For people who love music on the move 

Band in a Car 

How do you get your favourite band to play live in your car? 

Origin of the Species 

How evolution gave us FOUR MASTERS 

Midlife, Highlife 

The importance of middle and high frequency integrity 

Model Masters 

Close up and personal with some of the nations finest installers 

Music Lovers’ Guide 

More than just a glossy glossary 

Invisible Audi(o) Gold 

Fab sounds but nothing on show

Distributed in the UK by 

www.fourcaraudio.co.uk/audison

CONTENTS 

Car Features 

We show you some examples of FOUR MASTER work 

8 Masterful Mercedes 

How the ordinary sound in this car was transformed without apparent 

interference 

13 Sound of the City 

City trader with a passion for music let’s FOUR MASTERS loose on his iconic 

Porsche with a brief to impress 

20 Sound Foundations 

Popular executive car from BMW gets the hideaway treatment in the name of 

music 

29 Black Beauty with a Powerful Kick 

Anthony Hopper takes a stairway to heaven, see his Peugeot 207 at the 

halfway point 

34 Catering for the Stars 

Motorhome from home for travelling music lover Deborah Grech-Cini 

40 Now you see it, now you hear it! 

Heavenly Audi with system that is heard but not seen 

Product Features 

We guide you through the elements of a good system 

15 2-Way Component Speakers 

What are they? What are they good for? 

19 Sound Treatment 

Why your car can’t do without it 

23 Subwoofers 

We don’t need these do we? Yes we do, find out why 

37 Amplifiers 

Is louder always better? Driving Sounds investigates 

45 Processors 

How to retrieve sounds lost through parsimony! 

Knowledge and Skills 

Things you might like to know about 

6 The Origins of a Specialist 

Where did our FOUR MASTER specialists come from, what makes them special? 

11 The Sound Curve 

Can we see good sound? 

31 Highlife Midlife 

We explore the importance of middle and high frequency information. 

32 Cables and Safety 

How long is a piece of electrical string? It’s all in the thickness actually 

43 Bass 

It’s code red for low frequencies - Find out why 

46 Music Lovers Guide 

Terms you may read in this edition and what they mean 

Spotlight on FOUR MASTERS 

Some of our number explain what they are about 

16 FOUR MASTER Source Sounds 

A quick trip to Sheffield to meet the nations best installers 

26 FOUR MASTER John Kleis 

Experience is everything and not a sick Parrott in sight! 

38 FOUR MASTER RAM Mobile 

Some FOUR MASTERS get out and about as well as working in house 

44 FOUR MASTER Highdown 

We travel to the south coast to get the lowdown on Highdown 

13 

37 PRODUCT 

31 

16 

FEATURE 

KNOWLEDGE 

AND SKILLS 

Driving Sounds 3 

CAR 

FEATURE 

SPOTLIGHT 

ON FOUR MASTERS

Driving Sounds is conceived, 

written and published completely 

independently and our deep 

appreciation goes to the following 

people who made it all happen. 

Carl Hynes for concept and words: 

www.esscomm.co.uk 

Si Gray for photography: 

www.sigray.co.uk 

Carl Barber for design and layout: 

www.veuphonic.co.uk 

Enjoy the read! 

Brian Parton 

Tel: 0800 652 5125 www.drivingsounds.co.uk 

Welcome to issue Two of Driving Sounds magazine. This 

publication is a laypersons guide to all things car audio. Written 

by experts but in a way that underpins the basic mantra of our 

FOUR MASTERS programme “we work hard to be experts so you 

don’t have to be” 

Within it’s pages you will find real life stories from real life FOUR MASTERS 

customers as well as in-depth profiles of some FOUR MASTERS themselves so that 

when you come to choose a system for your own car you will know exactly what 

to expect. 

If you are looking for endless lists of technical specification and long-winded 

scientific explanations of how things work, this publication is probably not 

for you. Driving sounds is meant for those who appreciate good quality music 

reproduction but who don’t necessarily have a scientific background. Along 

the way of course, we hope you will pick up some basics and to this end we 

have included a glossary which we have called A Music Lovers Guide to Car 

Audio Jargon which will hopefully help you to navigate the magazine’s few but 

necessary technical explanations. 

The FOUR MASTER network has been around for many years now and our 

continuing dedication to providing a harmonious, excellent service to purchasers 

of car audio products is well known, as is our dedication to keeping it real! In 

the spirit of keeping things real, we could have plucked a random bunch of 

teenagers off the street to photograph for our front cover shot. But this is not 

the FOUR MASTER way, instead we got an actual band to come along to a studio 

with their instruments to help us out. 

The band is called Dance a la Plage and consists of; Joe Hamilton (vocals, guitar), 

Harry Elkington (vocals, guitar), Tom Sullivan (bass) and Tom Howard (drums) The 

sharp-eyed amongst you will notice that unfortunately, Harry didn’t make the 

final cut due to artistic direction issues for which we sincerely apologise and to 

make up for it, below is a picture of the whole band including Harry! Check them 

out at www.dancealaplage.com 

Driving Sounds 5

I 

n this article, we explain 

where exactly today’s In-Car 

Specialist came from. As the 

Darwinian title suggests, events 

and developments outside 

their control have led to a rapid 

evolution in their skills but the 

roots are still there for all to see. 

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, car electrics 

were very basic. Adding a 12 Volt device 

was relatively easy, provided the dynamo or 

alternator on board could provide enough 

current to drive it and also that someone 

took care to protect it (and all other 

on-board electrical devices) from harm 

through correct power wiring and fusing. 

At the time, cars were sold with no in-car 

entertainment. No speakers, no aerial, no 

nothin’. This led to a proliferation of auto 

electricians who focussed on distributing 

and installing such items. Known as the 

“Fitter Distributor” these tradesmen 

became so busy, they set-up whole 

companies responsible for speaking to car 

dealerships and offering their services and 

a slice of the extremely lucrative action to 

them. 

In due course, the equipment 

manufacturers were doing deals directly 

with car manufacturers and quickly began 

to deliver in-car entertainment for fitment 

on the production line, so they too got 

in on the action. This was a major blow 

for the Fitter Distributor. However, not 

all car manufacturers got on board with 

this programme and in particular, many 

imported cars and commercial vehicles 

still came without anything fitted. This 

was of course set to change but by then, 

consumers were demanding current 

technology like FM Radio, Cassette and 

8-track cartridge. The problem with the 

line fit option was that car manufacturers 

were and still are obsessed with protecting 

their customers from harm particularly 

when it came to fitting third party 

equipment (sometimes called OEM for 

Original Equipment by Manufacturer) – 

This ensured that the Fitter Distributor 

still had lots of business to go for. By now, 

they had evolved into “specialists” as 

distribution became the job of equipment 

manufacturers’ local offices and fitting 

became more of a challenge due to the 

growing sophistication of cars’ on-board 

electrics. 

Further evolution came from technological 

development – CD, Cellular phones, car 

security etc. all of which were pioneered 

by the specialist, with car manufacturers 

taking three to four years on average to 

get on board and offer line fit versions. 

The ongoing requirement for newer, better 

technology in the car meant that specialists 

were required to develop more skills and 

not just electrical and electronic but also in 

terms of physically modifying a vehicle and 

re-trimming panels to make them look like 

part of the original vehicle finish. There was 

The Origin of 

6 Driving Sounds www.drivingsounds.co.uk 

Tel: 0800 652 5125

always a market for whacky installations. 

The car was after all, as much a status 

symbol as a necessity in the 70’s and drivers 

wanted to be noticed. This led eventually 

to fads and fashions in sometimes silly, 

add-ons – remember air horns and furry 

dice or skull shaped gear knobs? There 

were also those who wanted to make a 

noise and asked for external amplifiers and 

subwoofers and in fact the trend toward 

extra power and in particular, bass grew 

and grew and the specialist was called upon 

to carry out more outlandish work and in 

parallel more technically competent and 

better quality installations. 

Today’s cars offer the specialist more 

of a challenge than ever. We now see 

very sophisticated electronics on board 

as standard. These are not restricted 

to developments in entertainment, 

navigation and security but even the 

fundamental electrics like; lighting, engine 

management systems, braking systems have 

radically evolved and have to be able to 

communicate with each other by way of a 

computer-style data bus. This means there 

are now serious implications to adding 

new products and some on-board systems 

cannot be removed as doing so will cause a 

breach in the communications bus and can 

stop the car from functioning. 

When one car manufacturer first 

introduced a tyre pressure warning to 

one of its vehicles, a trip to a high street 

tyre fitter ended in a vehicle that would 

not start for one hapless owner with the 

manufacturer having to send a technician 

out to put it right! 

But for the erstwhile Specialist, these are 

no longer business breaking developments 

but opportunities for them to offer extra 

services. The entrepreneurial nature and 

never-say-die spirit exhibited by these 

12 Volt heroes has led to them finding 

innovative ways to keep their businesses 

going – security codes for radios, recoding 

alarm activators etc. but through all of 

this time, a select group has also been 

dedicated to providing drivers with a 

better, more enjoyable driving experience 

through audio upgrades. 

With audio in particular, there is a chasm 

between what many drivers want and 

what many car manufacturers are able to 

provide. For good audio in a small metal 

box with lots of shiny surfaces there are 

specific challenges and although none of 

these are insurmountable, the solutions 

cost time and money. 

FOUR MASTERS is a network of specialist 

audio installers bound by some simple 

principles delivered with a quality directive. 

The overriding motivation is to allow music 

to be enjoyed in a car as much as it would 

be at home or at a concert or sound with 

no compromise. 

Read on to find out how this is achieved. 

the Specialist 



KNOWLEDGE 

AND SKILLS

Masterful 

Mercedes 

A 

chieving a wonderful car 

audio experience in a vehicle 

stuffed to the gunwales with 

BUS-connected gadgetry is not 

a job for the faint hearted. This 

Mercedes E220 estate has been 

seamlessly modified to provide a 

step-change in driving pleasure 

thanks to canny FOUR MASTERS 

application of some clever 

technology from Audison. 

Lifelong audiophile and co-founder of 

FOUR, Jas Dahele spends most of his 

waking hours talking to people about 

car audio and admits that sometimes 

he can become lonely at parties due to 

his constant enthusiasm for the subject. 

He therefore set himself the challenge 

of building a demonstration vehicle, 

promising friends that if they gave up some 

time to listen to it, he would bore them no 

longer. 

The challenge was to design and build 

a system that would provide a true hi-fi 

8 Driving Sounds 

experience without compromising any of 

the on-board systems or the look and feel 

of his pride and joy. Fortunately, Italian 

manufacturer of high quality car audio 

products, Audison, offered him access to 

some clever little boxes, which would help 

him to achieve his goal. 

FOUR MASTERS always advocate the 

use of high quality interconnects from 

Connection. This helps to reduce any loss 

and reject extraneous interference from 

other on-board devices. Low-level analogue 

signals between source unit and amplifier 

input are the most vulnerable to signal 

degradation but, in this case, the audio 

signal was picked up at a MOST connector 

at the rear of the vehicle and fed digitally, 

utilising an Audison bit 10 interface along 

with a revolutionary Audison Voce 5.1K 

amplifier with AV bit IN digital interface. 

Digital signals are far less vulnerable to 

degradation by outside interference and 

the 24 bit/96 kHz digital signal used here 

actually exceeds the quality of 16 bit CD. 

Back to the music, Jas has been around 

good and bad audio for many years 

and knows exactly what attributes a 

www.drivingsounds.co.uk 

system needs to offer excellent all-round 

performance across many musical genres, 

essential for this project. The on-board 

digital signal processor (DSP) in the Audison 

bit 10 is able to shape the audio signal 

coming from the Mercedes’ source unit 

and enables the selection of different 

settings via the remote control concealed 

in the ashtray but ultimately, the choice 

of speakers and amplifier was absolutely 

critical. 

Jas chose a pair of Audison Voce AV- 

K6 speakers for the factory positions to 

demonstrate just how much better a 

properly designed system will work, even 

given the constraints imposed by the car 

maker’s design team. These most typically 

revolve around poor speaker placement, 

which makes good stereo imaging and 

a solid sound stage near impossible with 

anything other than high quality speakers 

driven with a clean signal and plenty of 

power. 

Speaker design continues to improve 

slowly but significantly and Voce speakers 

represent the current pinnacle of 

achievable audio excellence. Cotton fibre 

Tel: 0800 652 5125


and compressed paper six inch cones are 

suspended in an open-air basket specifically 

designed to reduce back-wave reflection 

and aid transparent reproduction, rather 

than flavouring the sound by introducing 

unwanted resonance. Yet they fit into the 

same positions as the factory speakers and 

without the ring of LED’s used to highlight 

them in this install, they are completely 

unnoticeable. Similarly, the silk and cotton 

dome tweeters are fitted in the factory 

positions. The tweeters contain proprietary 

damping technologies enabling them to 

run up to ultrasonic frequencies without 

distortion. The result offers unrivalled 

clarity and an engaging musical sound that 

allows the listener to hear nuances usually 

only associated with expensive home 

systems. 

One of the main differences between a 

run-of–the-mill sound system and the one 

in Jas’ car is separation – the ability to pick 

out individual instruments from a wall of 

sound. Separation is only possible with a 

wide dynamic range (difference between 

loud sounds and quiet sounds) and that is 

achieved through distortion-free power. 

Jas therefore chose the innovative Audison 

AV-5.1K 5-channel amplifier allowing him 

to run dedicated power to the tweeters 

via two class-A channels delivering 75 

Watts RMS per side and the six-inch cones 

(mid-bass) driven by two channels of class- 

AB amplification at 250 Watts RMS each. 

This left a single 1,000 Watts RMS, Class-D 


CAR 

FEATURE

One of the main 

differences between 

a run-of–the-mill 

sound system and 

the one in Jas’ 

car is separation 

– the ability to 

pick out individual 

instruments from a 

wall of sound. 

channel to drive a 12-inch subwoofer 

mounted under the floor in the load space. 

Many are put off by the term ‘subwoofer’, 

due to its links to huge boxes full of 

speakers crammed into the back of a 

hatchback in the 90’s, which pumped 

horrible bass distortion into the atmosphere 

much to the annoyance of local residents 

and passers-by. The subwoofer in Jas’ car 

could not be further from this and the 

bass and sub-bass frequencies reproduced 

by the Audison Voce AV 12 form a vital 

part of the overall audio experience. Bass 

and sub-bass frequencies require the most 

energy to reproduce, which is why this 

sub is driven with 1,000 Watts RMS. This is 

not so that the neighbours can hear it but 

to keep those power hungry frequencies 

balanced with the rest of the system. A 

little power is kept in hand as the rumble 

from tyre-on-road will effectively drown 

Music 4 

Driving 

Recommended by Jas 

Adele - 21 

Ed Sheeran - + 

Dizzy Rascal - Tongue n Cheek 

Ministry of Sound - The Sound 

of Dubstep 2 

Nitin Sawhney - Last Days of 

Meaning 

out these frequencies, leading to the loss 

of the double bass and the low thunderous 

element of timpani in orchestral music or 

bass synthesiser and electric bass guitar in 

other genres. Good in-car bass reproduction 

not only needs seemingly unholy amounts 

of power but also some air space behind 

the speaker. The amount of air space 

required has reduced dramatically over the 

years and the subwoofer in this instance 

is mounted in a custom enclosure fitted 

neatly into the redundant spare wheel 

well. With a can of tyre sealant and run-flat 

tyres, who needs to specify an expensive 

spare wheel these days? 

Climbing into Jas’ car you wouldn’t know 

that it was anything other than straightfrom-factory 

spec. However, listen to a CD 

and you will forget everything else about 

the car, the sound sweeps you away to 

places you simply couldn’t drive to. The 

sound of your favourite artist seems to just 

appear in front of you and give you a big 

hug as if saying thank you for listening! 

Equipment List 

Audison VOCE AV 12 

subwoofer 

Audison VOCE 5.1K Amplifier 

Audison AV bit IN Digital 

Interface 

Audison bit 10 Digital Signal 

Processor 

Audison Voce AV K6 

Connection cables and 

accessories 

Skinz Expert Damping 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

The science of sound is vast and complex. Fortunately, there is help at 

hand for our FOUR MASTERS in the form of a piece of equipment called 

a Real Time Analyser (RTA) We explore some of the reasons why they 

are a good idea. 

The Sound Curve 

T 

he human ear has a maximum 

frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 KHz. 

This is at its optimum but from the day 

we are born, this range starts to reduce. 

By adulthood the upper limit will have 

reduced to something like 16Khz but 

hearing is not simply a mechanical process 

as much processing happens within our 

brain, which can help to compensate for 

the deterioration of our aural organs. 

Because of this we are very good at getting 

used to substandard sound as our ears 

compensate in part for bits of information 

we may miss. However, getting used to bad 

sound and being engaged by good sound 

are polar opposites and in order to reach 

for perfection, we all sometimes need the 

support of science. 

An RTA offers an audio installer a visual 

representation of the way sound behaves 

in any specific vehicle. It consists of a 

box containing some very sophisticated 

electronics and is able to look at the 

audible frequency range (20Hz to 20Khz) 

plotted against amplitude or level 

(measured in Volts or more typically dB) 

in tiny detail and displays results on a LED 

digital display on the front of the unit. 

More specifically, each of around 30 specific 

frequencies across the audio spectrum is 

given a level value when listened to by 

a microphone attached to the RTA and 

those values are each displayed allowing 

installers to know which frequencies need 

adjustment. The sound the RTA is listening 

to is generated from a CD that contains 

different sounds from frequency sweeps 

(20Hz to 20Khz at a fixed amplitude 

or level) or other test tones specifically 

designed to help point out any deficiencies 

in the system, such as pink noise. 

However, it is not simply a matter of 

tweaking equaliser controls to obtain 

a flat response as although this may be 

technically correct, the human ear has it’s 

own response curve which is not flat. For 

example, our ears tend to be more sensitive 

to sounds around 1KHz and 3Khz, which is 

why we are quite good at hearing a baby 

cry. As we age, the response of our ears will 


be subject to change and also we will grow 

to prefer one sound to another. Therefore, 

even the most talented FOUR MASTER may 

ultimately need the listeners input in order 

to get a car to sound perfect. 

Through experience, many sound experts 

are able to get pretty close to good sound 

using their ears alone however, we all have 

off days and it is good to have an absolute 

reference for any adjustment. A RTA offers 

this and is an invaluable tool in the hands 

of a FOUR MASTER. 


KNOWLEDGE 

AND SKILLS

Natural Beauty 

CS 260.30 

The Audio Experts Reference

Sound 

A 

t work, city trader Anthony 

Harmer, is dealing with high 

stakes. His pressurised work 

environment affords him little 

time to enjoy his passion during 

the week so it is weekends and 

holidays when Anthony slips his 

shackles and makes a break for 

albeit temporary freedom. 

Anthony’s pride and joy is a 1990 Porsche 

Carrera 2 which he has owned for eight 

years and has been restored from a 

crumbling wreck to the beautiful beast it 

is today over the past two years. But this 

is no precious restoration project born out 

of a need to preserve a car of historical 

importance. Anthony has always dreamed 

of using it for leisure driving and his 

determination to get everything right has 

resulted in this magnificent example of 

Porscheness! 

However, his ambition has always been to 

enjoy the full driving experience. Not only 

the roar of the mighty 3.6 litre 247 bhp 

engine but showroom pristine dashboard 

and trim and just as important to Anthony, 

a heavenly audio system. In fact, he has 

trouble deciding between his love for 

City 

cars and his love of high quality, musical 

reproduction. It was therefore a revelation 

to read our feature on a Carrera 4 in issue 

one of Driving Sounds. “I always intended 

to put a decent music system in the car 

but to be honest, had absolutely no idea 

of what was possible until I came across 

a copy of Driving Sounds. I have been a 

fan of hi-fi since I started going to see live 

music, as it was very obvious that what I 

was listening to at home was not offering 

the full engagement of a live performance. 

Some if this is due to the environment and 

the excitement of seeing a hero on stage 

but a good part of the engagement had to 

be the integrity of the reproduction. After 

some exploration of home hi-fi I ended up 

with brands like B&W and Arcam and fully 

expected to never get to these heights with 

car audio” Anthony told us. 

“I had arranged to send the car to an 

interior trim company near Winchester and 

came across Accutek, a FOUR MASTER also 

based near Winchester. Having read Driving 

Sounds I knew the car would be in safe 

hands and hoped that the resulting system 

would leave me feeling like the other 

system owners I had read about. 

Following a discussion at Accutek about 

the kind of music I like to listen to and 


what I have at home, they made some 

recommendations. I was perfectly happy 

in the absence of lots of time to research 

myself, to take the advice of an obvious 

expert and so my car was booked in for 

The most impressive 

thing about the 

entire install apart 

from the incredible 

sound is how well 

integrated with the 

car the equipment is 

an Audio Heaven install. I had specified 

that I wanted the subs behind the front 

seats to be removable and so they are built 

into separate removable pods trimmed to 

match the carpet and upholstery. When 

they are in place you would not guess they 

simply lift out and unplug. In fact the most 

impressive thing about the entire install 


CAR 

FEATURE

apart from the incredible sound is how well 

integrated with the car the equipment is” 

In order to make a good basis for this 

install, the car was completely stripped 

and the floor, doors and all panels treated 

with Skinz sound deadening. With precious 

little space to work with an Audison 

LRx 5.1k amplifier was mounted in the 

front luggage space and trimmed in 

Porsche carpet to look like it has always 

lived there. For the technically minded, 

this revolutionary 5-channel amplifier 

that uses Class A, Class AB and Class D 

technologies. In this case the outputs are 

used to drive a pair of Audison Voce AV K6 

2-way components at the front. These are 

mounted in specially designed and built 

pods, which were then trimmed to match 

the rest of the interior. As the seating 

position is quite low and the Audison 

tweeters have an impressive dispersion 

characteristic, it was not necessary to raise 

them. Audison Voce speakers represent 

the pinnacle of car audio and deliver detail 

and clarity that truly make you believe 

you have a car full of musicians. A pair of 

Hertz Energy ECX 100 coaxials, which sit 

in equally cunningly crafted panels behind 

the front seats, add some rear-fill sound 

for ambience, particularly effective when 

listening to live music, but would also 

come in handy if recently married Anthony 

and wife should produce children in the 

future. The Hertz Energy ES200 8” subs are 

powered by the remaining 1000 Watt Class 

D channel adding all the bass that even 

festival-goer Anthony could need! 

The system is hung together with high 

quality Connection cable and as previously 

mentioned, the entire install is integrated 

by using the same original Porsche trim 

materials as the rest of the interior for a 

true “straight from the factory” look. 

But, what about system performance? 

Anthony concludes; “ I can honestly say 

that I have never enjoyed in car sounds as 

much as I do in my Porsche. I would even 

be bold enough to say it comes very close 

to the experience of home hi-fi. I am now 

constantly trying to find excuses to take 

the Porsche out even on short shopping 

trips for which it is entirely impractical, 

just so that I can turn it up and enjoy the 

experience!” 

Special Thanks: 

RGA Porsche, London www. 

rgaindependentporsche.co.uk 

Accutek, Winchester www.accutek.co.uk 


Alpine CDA-9887R Imprint 

source unit 

Audison LRx5.1K 

Audison Voce AV K6 

Components (bespoke door 

builds) 

Hertz ECX100 Coaxials 

(bespoke rear panels) 

2 x Hertz ES200 Subwoofers 

(bespoke, removable sealed 

enclosures) 

Connection Cabling 

Skinz sound deadening 

Original Porsche carpet 

Approximate Audio Heaven 

system equipment cost 

excluding installation: 

£2000.00 


Driving 

Recommended by 

Anthony 

Forever - Papa roach 

Dangerous – Michael Jackson 

Faint - Linkin Park 

Almost Easy - Avenged 

Sevenfold 

Back in Black – AC/DC 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

Two-Way 

Component Speakers 

T 

wo Way component speakers are the staple of the car audio 

installer. A good quality aftermarket set will utterly eclipse the quality 

of those fitted at the factory and will outperform a pair of ‘regular’ 

coaxial speakers that use just a single capacitor instead of a passive 

network to direct the signals to the right driver. 

In order to make up for deficiencies in 

cheap speakers, car manufacturers often 

deliberately remove important parts of 

sound. The missing parts tend to be high 

frequencies responsible for delivering 

clarity and directional information and low 

frequencies, which provide much of the 

fun! They use single components or simple 

networks to do this in a fairly brutal and 

unsympathetic manner, focussing mainly on 

cost rather than performance. 

When a specialist manufacturer designs 

speakers with more than one drive unit, 

they need to decide how frequencies are to 

be shared in order to get the very best from 

each drive unit. The separation of specific 

frequencies is carried out electronically 

via a device known as a crossover. The 

crossover needs to cope with many variable 

parameters such as temperature, listening 

level (thus power in watts) and many 

others. The only way to compensate for 

these variables is by careful design of the 

crossover using multiple, high quality 

components. Crossover design needs to 

take into account the specific characteristic 

of the drive units used as well, to ensure a 

stable and pleasing result. 

As a rule of thumb, the larger the diameter 

of a speaker the better it is at reproducing 

bass and less good it is at handling high 

frequencies whilst the far smaller tweeter 

is specifically designed to handle higher 

frequencies and doesn’t like bass at all! A 

2-way set is usually designed to work with a 

subwoofer this is because the large amount 

of physical cone movement required at 

frequencies below 80 Hz adversely affects 

mid frequencies coming from the same 

speaker. Therefore, manufacturers strive 

for a stable performance between the 

frequencies 80 Hz to 20Khz, the latter 

being the upper frequency that humans 

can hear. 

In domestic hi-fi where space is less of 

an issue, the benefits of separating high 

frequencies from mid and bass frequencies 

has been exploited for many years. The 

home environment also allows the use 

of less rugged materials than those 

required for use in a car and 

cabinet design also massively 

influences the final sound 

reaching your ears. 

In a car however, space 

is at a premium and 

many attempts have 

been made to make 

as much sound from 

as little space as 

possible. Coaxial 

speakers were 


seen as the answer to the problem. These 

are effectively two-way components with 

the tweeter permanently mounted at the 

very centre of the woofer cone. These still 

provide a useful part-solution and are 

always a cost effective upgrade on factory 

installed speakers but are far from perfect. 

The main problem with coaxial speakers, 

apart from a lack of a proper crossover, 

is positioning. In many cars, the speakers 

are set low down in the door panel. This 

is OK for lower frequencies, as we tend 

not to be able to pinpoint the direction of 

these sounds too well. However, at high 

frequencies, our directional sense is very 

good and as we don’t listen with our knees 

(unlike grasshoppers, check it, quite true!) 

it is preferable for high frequencies to be 

reproduced where the resulting sound can 

reach our ears directly and this is another 

important factor when deciding on what 

speakers to buy. 

Fortunately, many modern vehicles can 

accommodate the use of two-way speakers 

although even here, manufacturers tend 

to make choices of convenience when it 

comes to placement. In many cars you will 

see tweeters mounted on either side of the 

dashboard facing each other for instance, 

which is far from ideal. Aftermarket 

speaker manufacturers have gone to great 

lengths to provide tweeters that can be 

mounted on any flat surface and directed 

toward the listener’s ears. Fortunately 

your FOUR MASTER is at hand if 

a convenient position cannot be 

found and will fabricate a custom 

pod for the tweeters to mount in 

and install it seamlessly into your 

car at the correct height and 

pointing in the right direction 

for you. You’ll get what’s called 

the On-Axis response. 


PRODUCT 

FEATURE

F 

or nineteen years, Source 

Sounds has been giving out good 

vibrations to car enthusiasts from 

all over Sheffield and beyond. As 

recipients of Mobile Electronics 

News’ industry voted Installers of 

the year award for the last five 

years running, they have a lot to 

be proud of but tend to let their 

work do the shouting. 

SOURCE SOUNDS in Sheffield looks like 

a modest small business to the untrained 

eye. A smart showroom and workshop on 

an industrial estate, there are few clues to 

suggest the massive work rate and national 

importance of this jewel in the crown of 

the car audio industry. It is only when you 

get inside and look at the vast array of 

awards and trophies gained over the years 

that you get a flavour for the ongoing 

work that has kept Source Sounds at the 

top of the pile for so many years. 

Directors Christian and Paul keep a tight 

ship with current staffing at five; Paul 


and Lee take care of the retail side, while 

Christian, Steven and Trevor take care 

of the installation work. There is also a 

part-time administrator who helps allow 

the team to give their full attention to 

providing quality products, work and 

services to each and every customer. “The 

personal approach is very important to 

the business and every customer is treated 


the same whether spending five or five 

thousand pounds.” Paul explains; “We 

have built this business on a reputation 

for first class work backed up with expert 

advice and our personal involvement in 

each and every job. Between us, we make 

an awesome team. I tend to focus on future 

business and as such constantly keep an 

eye out for new business opportunities 

Tel: 0800 652 5125

and technology trends in which we need 

to become expert. Christian keeps a very 

close eye on the quality of our installation 

work and the development of our installers, 

making sure we work to best practice at all 

times and between us we have amassed a 

huge knowledge of what products fit which 

vehicles. It is due to this demonstrable 

knowledge that our work is so diverse. 

As a business, we are totally committed to 

investing in the knowledge and skill sets of 

all staff, whether it be product awareness 

training or nationally recognised NVQ’s. 

After all, we are a specialist business and 

our customers expect us to be expert in all 

things automotive.” 

The company’s willingness to diversify 

has been key in keeping them afloat 

during quiet times for audio and Source 

Sounds is recognised as the place to go for 

multimedia AV installations, car security 

and tracking, iPod integration, Navigation 

and Digital Radio installation, as well as 

major construction work such as campervan 

and motorhome upgrades and even 

conversions and trade vehicle fit-outs. 

A look through the archives will reveal a 

whole host of manufacturer demonstration 

vehicles, elaborately modified to grab 

attention at shows and events. All manner 

of fabrication and finishing skills exist 

within the company, including builds from 

MDF, high quality fibreglass work and 

perfect fabric trimming, to mechanical 

motorisation and cunning new engineering 

solutions where required. 

Throughout the summer you will find 

the staff attending outdoor car-related 

events. Avid supporters of the annual 

FOUR MASTERS events programme, they 

have built their own demonstration 

vehicle; a bright orange VW Golf MK1 

with fully motorised Lamborghini-style 

doors crammed full of Hertz speakers, 

subwoofers and amplifiers which looks 

absolutely stunning and causes earthquakes 

when turned up loud! Christian points 

out; “Events are a key way for us to attract 

attention to our work. Car owners who 

see and hear what we do are willing to 

travel from all over the country to have 

us work on their vehicles. We also enjoy 

being around other car modifiers and 

sharing ideas to the benefit of all installers 

everywhere. Our latest demonstrator has 

crowds running from all over a venue to 

find out where the music is coming from, 

as it is here that our vehicle really scores. 

It makes tuneful music and not just bass 

boom as is typical with this kind of vehicle. 

This is due to a mixture of our expertise and 

the excellent equipment used, which suits 

itself to full range audio” 

Currently, Source Sounds carries out a lot 

of OEM integration projects adding fresh 


functionality to a vehicle’s factory-installed 

system or upgrading these existing systems 

whilst maintaining the original intended 

functionality and looks. Paul explains; 

“Car audio has received bad press in the 

past and became synonymous with space 

hungry, bass heavy systems built to impress 

those on the pavement rather than the car 

driver and his passenger. Fortunately, this is 

changing rapidly as technology allows us to 

build more discreet systems that enhance 

rather than detract from driving pleasure. 

Many of our recent audio installs leave 

nothing on show at all and this attracts a 

different kind of customer. We still enjoy 

the showy installs though. These really 

appeal to the ‘youth inside’” 

However, as you can see from the above, 

SOURCE SOUNDS is not just about sounds 

and the same work ethic that has been 

developed over the past nineteen years 

is applied to every job carried out. This is 

what drives customers to return for more, 

time after time. 


SPOTLIGHT 

ON FOUR MASTERS

With Wave Diffuser Without

A 

car is far from the ideal listening environment. Many reflective 

surfaces, coupled with resonating metal panels, added to the noise 

from tyre-on-road, not to mention engine noise, all conspire to ruin our 

enjoyment of music on the move. However, help is at hand by way of 

Skinz sound treatment. 

Treated for Sound 

A recording studio contains specially 

designed rooms where every possible 

attempt is made to ensure that sound 

is heard in its purest form. Acoustically 

treated panels are used for walls and 

ceiling and efforts are made to avoid any 

parallel reflective surfaces. This is because 

reflected sounds can add together to falsely 

boost certain frequencies or similarly, cancel 

each other out leaving “holes” in the 

resulting music. 

Similar sound treatment principles should 

also be observed when installing a car 

audio system. By sound treating a car we 

can minimise the effects of some of the key 

offenders. 

We believe a treated 

car will improve the 

performance of your 

speakers by up to 40% 

It is argued that we cannot do a lot about 

road noise as this is directly injected into 

the vehicle through the tyres’ contact 

with the road, which is then transmitted 

through the suspension of the vehicle to 

the passenger space. However, by reducing 

the resonance in doors, bulkheads, floor 

and ceiling we can considerably reduce 

the amplifying effect these panels would 

otherwise have, so treating a car can and 

does have an attenuating effect on these. 

As a lot of this noise is low frequency, you 

may well find yourself boosting bass when 

on the move as it is here that most of the 

cancellation from road noise will happen. 

Speakers not only produce sound forwards 

but also transmit backwards or from the 

rear of the speaker. It is therefore essential 

that we treat the areas behind a speaker, as 

any energy reflected from a panel behind it 

will try to interfere with the sound coming 

into the car. 

In order to “deaden” a panel, we need to 

stop it from vibrating in sympathy with the 

music or any other sound. We do this by 

applying a multiple layer adhesive sheet 

that contains a bituminous material which 

adds weight and substance to the panel it 

is attached to as well as having no resonant 

frequency of its own. This deadening layer 

will also reduce the amount of reflected 

sound returning to the rear of the speaker. 

Tapping a treated door and comparing the 

sound you get against that of an untreated 

door will demonstrate how effective it is. 

Skinz Expert Damping is made up of a triple 

layer sandwich of two differing density 

Rubber layers covered by an Aluminium 

layer offering very effective damping. A 

pressure sensitive adhesive compound 

ensures optimum adhesion to sheet metal, 

plastic and other reasonably level and 

grease-free surfaces. 

We can further diminish issues caused by 

reflected sound by placing a shaped foam 


PRODUCT 

FEATURE 

layer between the rear of the speaker and 

any reflective surface. Skinz Wave Diffuser 

has an irregular egg box shape which 

ensures that sound from the rear of the 

speaker is broken up and absorbed both 

on the way to and back from a reflective 

surface and will have additional audible 

benefits when used in conjunction with 

Skinz Expert Damping. 

In many cases, it is hard for a FOUR MASTER 

to get drivers excited about the benefits 

of sound treatment. It is often hard to 

justify spending money on what cannot be 

seen and although the function of it can 

be explained, the resultant benefit to the 

sound is difficult to perceive without sitting 

in identical cars with identical systems, one 

treated and one not. We believe that a 

treated car will improve the performance 

of your speakers by up to 40% and firmly 

believe this represents a significant return 

on a modest investment. 

Driving Sounds 19

Founding Partner of UK car audio equipment distributor FOUR and the 

brains behind the FOUR MASTERS network, Brian Parton, is driven by a 

passion for music. This along with his love of cars brought him into the 

car audio industry where he has carved an enviable reputation while 

making his living, these last twenty years. His drive and determination 

to bring good quality sound reproduction to as many drivers as possible 

has delivered much-earned success but has not diminished his ambition 

to further promote good quality sound in cars. 

Sound Founda 

B 

rian’s daily driver is a BMW 5-series 

Touring with many features previously 

thought of as “bells and whistles”, which 

have now become standard on vehicles 

in the executive saloon sector. As cars 

evolved to current levels of comfort and 

sophistication, many new obstacles were 

placed in the way of those wanting to 

upgrade their car audio. Brian wanted 

to use his car to demonstrate how a car 

like his could be massively upgraded with 

the addition of an Audio Heaven system 

at reasonable cost, without intruding 

on luggage space nor compromising 

dashboard design or the functionality of 

BMW’s iDrive system. 

The first thing that strikes you when 

looking over Brian’s car is the complete 

lack of any visible indication that any work 

has been carried out at all! It takes an 

expert eye to discover what is going on. 

However, you don’t need to be an expert 

to hear what has happened. Many owners 


consider the factory equipment on this 

vehicle to be fine and in fact some would 

demonstrate it to friends as sounding 

great, however, sitting behind the wheel 

of this car as it is now and playing your 

favourite CD, you soon realise that car 

audio as you knew it is far from great! The 

system reproduces music in its purest form, 

with clear distortion-free high frequencies 

supported by warm mids and sumptuous 

bass which can also be felt in your chest 

when required. 

So, how did Brian achieve such a revelatory 

improvement in sound? Brian explained; 

“There are basic overriding principles 

behind achieving good sound in a car. 

When you understand what they are, it 

amazes me that car manufacturers can’t or 

won’t take them on board at design stage. 

This would make life far easier for them 

and deliver great rather than adequate 

sound to their customers. On the other 

hand, their refusal to do so, makes my 


business viable, so I am also grateful!” 

The main issues are obvious. If you were 

to propose to a manufacturer of high 

quality domestic hi-fi speakers that they 

build speaker cabinets from pressed steel 

sheet with no anti resonance or damping 

treatment at all and mount cheap drive 

units directly on to a cardboard baffle on 

the front they would quite rightly laugh at 

you or, if they thought you were serious, 

call for a psycho analyst. However, this is 

in essence what car manufacturers have 

done for many years – OK more recently, 

speakers are mounted on hard plastic 

mounts suspended from the structure of 

the doors but the number of ways in which 

sound from the speakers they install is 

compromised by the environment in which 

they are used are many. The first thing a 

FOUR MASTER will do is strip down the 

car’s doors and treat them with specially 

formulated sound deadening material 

which will not only reduce outside noise 

Tel: 0800 652 5125

tions 

There are basic overriding principles behind 

achieving good sound in a car. When you 

understand what they are, it amazes me that 

car manufacturers can’t or won’t take them on 

board at design stage 

but more importantly add rigidity to the 

panels. This helps to prevent the vibrations 

that the amplifier and speaker work so 

hard to produce, from dissipating and 

cancelling out at the rear of the speaker. 

The addition of a diffuser system designed 

to further reduce the effects of reflected 

sound cancelling the output of the speakers 

is then added, as well as an open-cell foam 

which acts as a barrier against water ingress 

to the speaker terminals caused by leaks or 

condensation. 

This work all happens behind the trim 

panels and is therefore unseen, although 

the result can be felt by tapping the door 

from the outside and comparing with an 

untreated door. The treated door should 

deliver a dull inert ‘thud’ when tapped 

with a knuckle. Other parts of the vehicle 

can be treated in the same way and it 

is not unknown for customers to have 

their roof, floor and boot and engine fire 

walls treated too, in search of the perfect 

listening environment. But, this will add 

significant labour cost to the install so I 


stuck with simply treating the front doors 

in this instance. 

Next, Audison VOCE AV-3.0 mids and AV-1.1 

tweeters were installed on custom speaker 

rings, which help to beef up the stiffness of 

the mounting and allow more positioning 

flexibility. The mid-range speakers and 

tweeters were mounted in the standard 

positions behind existing grilles with no 

visible modification. VOCE speakers are the 

latest offering from Italian manufacturer 

Audison and contain many groundbreaking 

speaker technologies which help 

them to cope with the cramped confines of 

a car, particularly when it comes to sound 

dispersion and creating a noticeable stereo 

image and sound stage – something car 

manufacturers rarely manage to achieve at 

the factory! 

The BMW comes with 6.5in woofers 

mounted under the front seats and these 

were simply replaced with VOCE AV-6.5 

and suitable sound treatment. Sub bass 


CAR 

FEATURE

is produced by a Hertz EBX-F20 flat box, 

which contains an 8in subwoofer and 10in 

passive radiator in a super slim enclosure, 

which fits snugly under the luggage 

compartment floor. 

Connecting to the vehicle electronics was 

made simple by the inclusion of an Audison 

bit Ten. This takes full-range speaker feeds 

from the BMW iDrive system and converts 

them into left channel, right channel and 

subwoofer outputs which are then fed 

directly to an Audison SR 5 amplifier. 

Although sounding highly technical, the 

system is simplicity itself and by utilising 

the talent of a FOUR MASTER, all the car 

owner need worry about is the final result. 

Functionality remains as it was before 

the installation was carried out with the 

exception of an added iPod interface that 

integrates seamlessly with the iDrive system 

and allows the existing on-board controls 

to be utilised for music searches and iPod 

control. The bit Ten contains a powerful 

digital signal processor capable of near 

infinite changes to equalisation and time 

alignment allowing the FOUR MASTER 

to set up the car for the sound that best 

suits the music their customers listen to. 

Brian has had two preset sounds set up 

to cope with the wide range of musical 

genres he frequently demonstrates. These 

include settings for acoustic/classical music 

and rock/dance and can be selected from 

a remote controller secreted away in the 

ash tray. Brian could not be happier with 

the result and exclaimed, “Given the 

restrictions I put on the FOUR MASTER, 

challenging them to give me great sound 

without any visual or functional changes 

to the vehicle, I could not be happier with 

the results and genuinely look forward to 

driving my music collection around!” 

Our thanks go to FOUR MASTER Highdown 

Car Audio & Security in Worthing for their 

excellent work: www.highdowncaraudio. 


Driving 

Recommended by Brian 

American Head Charge - Just So 

You Know 

Foo Fighters - Everlong 

Slipknot - Vermillion 

The Deftones - Hole in the Earth 

Band of Skulls - Wanderluster 


com 

Audison bit Ten - £299 

Audison SR5 - £399 

Audison VOCE AV 1.1 - £129 

Audison VOCE AV 3.0 - £39 

Audison VOCE AV-CX2WMH 

Crossover - £69 

Audison VOCE AV-6.5 - £159 

Hertz EBX-F20 - £199 

iPod interface 

Skinz sound treatment 

Connection cables and 

accessories 

Approximate cost of entire 

system including labour: 

£2,000.00 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

P 

robably the most important yet contentious part of a good audio 

system, subwoofers are almost a science in themselves, particularly for 

those with limited space. We take a look at some of the characteristics 

of a good subwoofer. 

Subwoofers 

Bass is crucial in the reproduction of all very important and your FOUR MASTER will not designed to and invariably lead to a 

musical genres. It adds presence, depth, be able to show you these features. 

much-shortened life. 

warmth, punch and excitement whether 

you are enjoying the kick drum in a piece 

of rock music, fast and funky synthesised 

bass lines in dance music or the low, low 

rumble of timpani in an orchestral piece. 

Traditionally, subwoofers are big (up to 

24in in diameter) due to the overriding 

principle that the bigger the speaker 

the lower the bass. However, recent 

technological advances and researchers’ 

tireless pursuit of more space-efficient bass 

solutions has seen specialist companies 

produce far more compact subwoofers 

Power and impedance matching between 

amplifier and subwoofer are vital to get the 

best sound per watt from the combination 

of the two and also to protect both 

components from harm. This is made fairly 

simple as manufactures of amplifiers and 

speakers will quote the impedance of their 

products (typically 4 Ohms for automotive 

use). If you are using multiple subwoofers 

on a single channel of amplification 

however, then some science and maths has 

to be applied. 

Don’t be fooled into thinking that because 

you listen to a gentler genre that you don’t 

need bass. In most cases this is not true 

and good bass reinforcement will always 

bring realism and scale to your listening 

experience, with an extra slice of pure joy. 

If in doubt, trust your FOUR MASTER. He 

has knowledge of what subwoofer suits 

which purpose and if space is an issue, state 

this up front. Some subwoofer systems can 

be capacious, particularly when designed 

with high performance enclosures. 

even as small as 6in. The most common Subwoofer power output specifies the 

sizes in the car however, are still 12, 10 and 

8 inches. 

Many large subwoofer cones are made 

of compressed cardboard which has 

been the weapon of choice for many 

years. However, they are prone to 

physical distortion when subjected 

to large sudden movements and so 

other materials have been sought 

to help add rigidity. These include 

lightweight super-rigid materials such 

as carbon fibre and aluminium and 

have also led to the manufacture of new 

composite materials. 

Bass requires a lot of energy and therefore 

subwoofers tend to have much larger 

magnets than full-range speakers do. This 

has a direct impact on the metalwork that 

supports the cone and magnet, known as 

amount of power it can handle and has 

the basket. The basket is also subject to no real 

large forces but must remain stable at all bearing on how 

times and have little or no resonance that loud it will be. It 

could compromise or interfere with the is important not 

vibrations of the cone. Just as important as to exceed this 

making the cone move quickly is the ability figure to prevent 

for it to stop when energy is removed. This overloading, 

requires a counter force to dampen the distortion and 

cone’s movement as quickly as it starts. This usually, untimely 

job is carried out by what is known as a death of the voice 

spider, which is a disc of corrugated fabric, coil. Power rating on 

card, metal or a composite of the three. an amplifier relates to 

The voice coil inside the speaker needs to 

be kept cool, so the best quality subwoofers 

will make special provision for this via 

strategically placed holes or airways in the 

base plate. Efficient and fast airflow in and 

out of the area containing the voice coil is 

the limit of the power that 

it can supply before running 

into distortion. This is important, as it is not 

only a power overload that will destroy a 

speaker but also, too much distortion. This 

will make the speaker move in ways it was 



PRODUCT 

FEATURE

Why a 

FOUR MASTER? 

FOUR MASTERS are all independent 

specialist businesses who have plied 

their trade under their own banners 

successfully for years but have faced 

increasing challenges in balancing 

valuable time and resources between 

attracting new customers and carrying 

out installs on existing customers’ cars. 

FOUR is a distributor of high quality car 

audio products, all of which benefit from 

innovative and professional communication 

techniques to bring them to the attention 

of car owning music lovers and require 

professional installation. It occurred to 

FOUR that it was well placed to fulfil 

the needs of the specialist whilst the 

independent specialists could service the 

needs of FOUR and thus the FOUR MASTER 

programme was invented. 

This is a fairly simplistic distillation of 

the thinking behind the programme and 

certain conditions and criteria had to be 

met to make the scheme work. But work 

it has and to the benefit of the customer 

most of all. 

Technology has moved at quite a pace in 

recent times in all fields but particularly 

in the area of personal entertainment. 

Music reproduction has turned solid state 

in almost the blink of an eye and the 

traditional installer of car audio has become 

an integrator of external technologies 

such as MP3 players, mobile phones and 

other portable devices which music lovers 

are inclined to carry their music collections 

around on. Unfortunately, somewhere 

along the way, we all lost sight of the fact 

that the quality of reproduction is probably 

more important than the number of tracks 

we can carry around. Car companies have 

also got the integration bug and they too 

have stood still in terms of improving basic 

sound quality and therefore the fun of 

listening in the car. 

FOUR MASTERS are the champions of 

the revolution in good quality listening. 

Increasingly dissatisfied with iPod docking 

stations with no bass or dynamic range in 

their homes, the music-loving public are 

increasingly looking for ways to increase 

their levels of enjoyment of vast collections 

of music. The car has traditionally been 

the last place to look but that is about to 

change. 

Your car is your own private space. Many 

people spend more time in their car than 

they do relaxing on their own at home 


D 

riving Sounds is for those interested in upgrading the sound 

system in their car. We are happily presenting you with examples of the 

products and services we have supplied successfully for the past seven 

years through our FOUR MASTER network. We are very proud of the 

products we supply and most of all, the skills and expertise of our FOUR 

MASTERS who install them for us. 

and it makes perfect sense to make this 

the place where you listen to good quality 

sound. 

So, what is special about a FOUR MASTER? 

In short, if you want expert advice, coupled 

with the finest installation skills and the 

best equipment available, everything! We 

work hard as a group to keep standards as 

high as possible through regular, nationally 

recognised training programmes. We offer 

unbeatable knowledge of the modern 

car and how to improve the sound in it 

without compromising safety, security 

or functionality. We install in a way that 

enables cars to be cost effectively returned 


to stock condition upon sale and the 

equipment made ready for use in your 

next vehicle and we know how to create 

an environment in which listening to your 

music collection will make you smile. 

A typical FOUR MASTER workshop will 

be clean and organised with technical 

reference information at hand alongside 

the sophisticated equipment required 

to get the very best out of the products 

installed. A ready supply of all the raw 

materials needed to complete a job in 

an efficient manner along with the tools 

required will be at hand and ready and 

most importantly, customers will receive 

Tel: 0800 652 5125

excellent service and expert advice before, 

during and after the work is completed. But 

a FOUR MASTER workshop is not so sterile 

that it stifles creative thinking. Although 

similar, installations are nearly always 

bespoke as we work tirelessly to satisfy 

customer requirements, whether they be 

for a completely hidden-from-view install 

or one built for show with visual impact as 

important as sonic quality. 

Many FOUR MASTER installers have 

backgrounds in auto electrics whilst others 

may specialise in finishing – trimming 

seats in leather for Rolls Royce for instance 

or have come from other parts of the 

automotive industry. Others may come 

from outside of the automotive industry 

but all are bound by common goals for 

great sounds, superb finish and delighted 

customers. 

FOUR MASTERS work together. This is 

unprecedented in the consumer durables 

industry. We do it to save time, save 

money and deliver better results. We 

share technical information as well as 

hints and tips on how to achieve customer 

requirements. Once the job is done we 

continue to work together offering a threeyear 

national warranty. 

System not working and a long way from 

home? No problem, wherever you are, the 

local FOUR MASTER will help to get your 

FOUR audio system working again. We 

understand that soon after installation your 

audio system becomes as important to you 

as every other vehicle system including the 

engine! 

FOUR MASTERS remain independent. They 

are not franchised and are at liberty to sell 

other distributors’ products and services 

and will also have skills in areas not related 

to audio, parking sensors for example. 

However, having pride in the “quality first” 

edict of the FOUR MASTER programme 

they carry this philosophy through to all 

areas they work in. Parking sensors will be 

repainted to match the vehicle’s paintwork 

exactly while many will be able to repair or 

have repaired other vehicle equipment that 

has malfunctioned. Vehicle security, handsfree 

car kits, iPod interfaces, anything 

car related, they will do to the same high 

standards required for them to be FOUR 

MASTERS. 

FOUR MASTERS - For Music Lovers on the 

Move 



SPOTLIGHT 

ON FOUR MASTERS

John Kleis Towers - 

Definitely Not Fawlty! 

One of the longest serving 

specialists in the industry, John 

Kleis has been trading successfully 

from his specialist shop on a 

busy Reading street for over 

thirty years. Experiencing a lot 

of changes in the market first 

hand during his time in business, 

John Kleis has furnished the 

company with an enviable depth 

of knowledge of the automotive 

environment. 

You may presume that a specialist which 

has been around for so long would 

have a reflected feel of its history in its 

presentation. However, stepping through 

the doors of John’s store you could easily 

believe it is brand new! The well laid 

out store features rows of smart glass 

cabinets containing a wide range of 

shiny new products, many of which are 

powered up. This is part of the key to the 

longevity and success of John Kleis - as John 

fundamentally believes that a good product 

sells itself. 

It is with this in mind that John and his 

staff have recently completed work on a 

demonstration vehicle, a Vauxhall Astra 

Sport 16v. The car has been tastefully 

modified to present an audio system which 

typifies the kind of work John and his team 

carry out on a regular basis. However, this 

vehicle is not just for show; the idea is that 

anyone interested in experiencing good 

car audio can have a demonstration of a 

typical system in a typical vehicle. The fact 

that it looks as great as it sounds is because 

John has caught the show bug and has 

got on board with the FOUR MASTERS 

events programme. John tells us; “Having 

not attended shows for some years, I was 

drawn by the success FOUR seemed to be 

having at gaining interest in car audio by 

presenting at shows. 

Other FOUR MASTERS had referred business 

to me at shows and we felt that becoming 

involved would be good for us and the 

FOUR MASTER network as a whole. We are 

after all, a group of businesses who are 

linked not only by the work we accomplish 

but also by the products we sell. Many of 

which are supplied by FOUR. Our demo 

vehicle therefore has to fulfil two purposes. 

Predominantly it is an important reference 

for customers to use when specifying their 

own systems. Even if the equipment isn’t 

what is ultimately chosen, we can use the 

vehicle as an example of where we place 

speakers, amplifiers and subwoofers, apply 

sound deadening and of course to show off 

our high quality finishing skills. 

At an event we put everything on show 

and turn it up to draw a crowd. We then 

encourage visitors to ask questions about 

the equipment and give them a personal 

demonstration and we are quite happy to 

refer work to other FOUR MASTERS safe in 

the knowledge that the customer will be 

well looked after.” 

Behind the scenes at John Kleis Car Audio, 

the heritage of the company begins to 

shine through with many press cuttings 

and trophies gained from car audio 

competitions in days gone by alongside 

advertising copy used in the past. John 

is very proud of his business. And so he 

should be! 

As with many FOUR MASTERS, John Kleis 

and his team have diversified into areas 

other than audio and regularly install 

vehicle security, hands-free phone kits, 

full multi-media AV systems and parking 

sensors. As well as work such as iPod and 

digital radio integration and car key cutting 

and programming. Over the years, John 

has also developed relationships with other 

high quality local suppliers and offers their 

services, which include window tinting, 

heated seats and equipment repairs. 

John has always been keen to train his staff 

on an ongoing basis. He points out; “By 

keeping my staff up to date with skills and 

techniques, we are able to do a better and 

more efficient job which increases customer 

satisfaction and this is the cornerstone to 

our business. Our reputation is absolutely 

the key to our success.” 

Unlike many other retail businesses, John 

has resolutely resisted becoming involved in 

internet sales. John explains; “Anyone can 

sell a product and make little or no money 

from it, but if it requires expert installation 

then it probably requires an expert to 

advise the customer in the first place. We 

do not compete with silly pricing but will 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

offer discounts on installation for product 

purchased from us rather than from a 

sometimes completely unknown ‘bedroom 

seller’ with no back up service. We reserve 

the right to charge customers to ‘just have 

a look at my car’ as many customers arrive 

with a product which isn’t suitable for 

the purpose they have planned. Once we 

have explained this to customers, they are 

quick to realise that for some products, 

price is not the only purchasing criteria and 

expert advice has to be paid for somewhere 

down the line. This said, we never leave a 

customer with a problem and always offer 

a solution even if it is not always free of 

charge!” 

John Kleis currently employs three sales 

staff and four fitters in addition to an 

administrator and of course is always 

on hand himself to offer his unmatched 

wisdom and knowledge to help find 

innovative solutions for his customers 

requirements. 



SPOTLIGHT 

ON FOUR MASTERS

Digital Radio (DAB) 

in ANY Car 

EZi-DAB 

Digital Radio adapter which will fi t into any vehicle 

Pause & rewind live radio 

Full iPod, iPhone and iPad control 

Works with USB devices 

Discreet window antenna included 

5 Colour illumination to match your dashboard 

www.alpine.uk.com

Black Beauty 

Powerful 

Kick 

A 

s a teenager, Anthony 

Hopper went to see his friend, a 

drummer, rehearse. It was the first 

time he had stood in the same 

space as a mic’d up drum kit and 

he was overwhelmed at the sheer 

power of the bass drum. So much 

so, that he dreamed of replicating 

the same feeling in his car. 

After a number of typical false starts caused 

by purchasing cheap subs and amps which 

fell extremely short of achieving anything 

like the effect he was looking for, Anthony 

finally got wise and sought out his local 

FOUR MASTER, Accutek near Winchester. 

He was soon given a reality check and was 

convinced that a proper job was going 

to take a bit more money and expertise 

than he had previously dedicated to his 

dream. This set Anthony on an upgrade 

programme where he saved and then spent 

in stages whilst keeping his eyes fixed 

firmly on his goal. Some months and some 

£1,500 later, Anthony is already enjoying a 

well balanced and versatile system which 

provides him with the excitement from his 

CD collection that he was looking for. 

Anthony’s Peugeot 207 has been given a 

facelift along the way and the dramatic 

yellow trim and detail fit perfectly with 

the image Anthony wants to portray. As 

an avid member of a Peugeot car club, the 

colour scheme was chosen; as it looked 

very different from anything else he had 

seen which suited Anthony’s search for 

individualism. 

The upgrade began with a change of head 

unit. It is well known in the car audio 

industry that the standard head unit in 

the Peugeot 207 is underpowered and not 


with a 

CAR 

FEATURE 

very sophisticated. Anthony upgraded to a 

Pioneer unit, which is tastefully integrated 

into the dashboard and looks like it belongs 

there. A Hertz HDP 4 Amplifier lies at 

the heart of the system. This is a versatile 

amplifier, which has a lot of power for its 

size and price and being Hertz of course, 

runs free of distortion. A four-channel 

amplifier provides the perfect starting point 

for a powered system and in this particular 

case, the front left and right channels are 

used to drive a pair of Hertz Energy ESK 165 

2-way component speakers mounted in the 

stock positions at the front of the car. The 

rear left and right channels are ‘bridged’ 

which effectively doubles the power sent to 

two Hertz Energy ES250 12in subwoofers. 

The front doors have been treated with 

Skinz sound treatment including Damping, 

Wave Diffuser and Moisture Guard which, 

when combined help to project more 

sound into the car with less lost in the 

Driving Sounds 29

voids behind the mounting positions 

as well as attenuating road noise while 

also increasing the life expectancy of the 

speakers. Connection Best grade cable, 

connectors and interconnects were used 

to help keep system losses to a minimum 

so that amplifier power is heard and not 

wasted in heating up the cables as can be 

the case with cheap wiring. 

Anthony is delighted with the results to 

date and describes the sound as crisp and 

clear at the top end with plenty of deep 

bass at the bottom – a combination he 

particularly enjoys. This said, Anthony has 

ambitions to improve the system and is 

currently saving up for some serious system 

upgrades. His activities with the Peugeot 

owners club have given him an interest in 

attending more car shows and for this he 

wants more of everything. He is planning 

to add an additional amplifier, a Hertz 

HDP 1 which is a mighty 1,000 Watts into 

2 Ohms monoblock designed to drive 

power hungry subwoofers. To balance this 

he wants to add some door builds at the 

front, which will accommodate a further 

pair of full-range speakers running actively, 

providing better frequency separation and 

control. Speakers always perform better 

when housed in enclosures of a specific 

volume determined by their specification 

(Thiele Small Parameters) Anthony also 

plans further visual upgrades to the vehicle 

including a new set of wheels. However, 

being a level headed chap, Anthony has 

been keen to ensure that the audio could 

be removed and the car returned to near 

stock condition if he ever decided to 

change cars. This can currently be achieved 

for just £200 and would leave Anthony 

with all the equipment he needs for his 

next motor. For the meantime however, he 

is happy with both his car and this fantastic 

Audio Heaven system. 

Equipment 

Hertz HDP 4 Amplifier 

Hertz Energy ESK 165 2-way 

component speakers 

2 x Hertz Energy ES 250 

Subwoofer 


Connection Best cables 

connectors and interconnects 

Pioneer head unit 

List 


system including labour: 

£1,500.00 


Driving 


Anthony 

Mt. Eden - Sierra Leone 

Nero - Promises 

Example - Stay Awake 

Yelawolf - The Hardest Love Song 

in the World 

Bassment Jaxx - Raindrops 

Our thanks go to Accutek, Winchester 

for allowing us to shoot the car in their 

wonderful workshop www.accutek.co.uk 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

Long arguments have raged over whether high frequency or low frequency 

reproduction in car audio systems is more important. FOUR MASTERS are not 

drawn into such discussions as for them and most other serious music fans, all 

frequencies carry equal importance. For them, if the artist recorded it in the 

first place, it must play an important part in the enjoyment of the music and 

therefore, heaven and earth must be moved in order to reproduce it. 

Midlife, Highlife 

H 

owever, all systems in the real 

world will include some compromise 

and depending on your budget, such 

compromise may require music lovers 

to make difficult choices. In order to do 

this of course, it is necessary to have an 

appreciation of what frequency range 

each instrument is capable of reproducing. 

For instance, if you prefer heavy bass and 

choose to spend a larger portion of your 

budget ensuring you hear the full richness 

of a double bass, or bass synthesiser then 

it may be that you can do so only by 

sacrificing the ringing sustain of a triangle 

or cymbal or the pure tone of a flute or 

high strings. 

The table below is produced as a guide to 

both the main frequency of a selection of 

instruments and the incidental overtones 

or harmonic frequencies, which gives each 

Hz 20 40 60 100 200 400 600 1K 2K 4K 6K 10K 16K 20K 

Sub 

Bass 

Cello 

Tympani 

Bottom 

Guitar 

Male Voice 

Snare Drum 

Cymbals 

Clarinet 

Boom 

Punch 

Trumpet 

Warmth 

Flute 

Volin 

Female Voice 

Fulness 

Mud 

Honk 

Hz 20 40 60 100 200 400 600 1K 2K 4K 6K 10K 16K 20K 

Whack 

Tinny 

Crunch 

Bass Midrange High 

Mids 

Edge 

Sibilance 

Definition 

Treble 

Pierce 

High 

Freqs 


Air 

instrument its unique character or timbre. 

But, middle and high frequencies are not 

only about the ability to hear and identify 

an instrument. This important area of the 

audio spectrum also contains positional 

information known as the ‘sound stage’, 

vital for the authentic reproduction of 

acoustic and orchestral music in particular. 

Lovers of live orchestral music will want 

to hear the first violins on their left and 

Cellos to their right they will also want to 

experience depth and therefore to hear the 

flutes playing from behind the Viola’s for 

instance. These elements are also extremely 

important when listening to authentically 

recorded live Jazz, acoustic folk and much 

rock pop and electronic music, which 

reveals astonishing hidden depths when 

listened to on a good system as opposed 

to a poorly balanced pair of speakers with 

limited frequency response and dynamic 

range. 

Every element of an audio system will 

affect the attributes talked about above 

but none quite so dramatically as the choice 

of middle and high frequency speakers. This 

is why FOUR MASTERS advocate building a 

system piece-meal from the speakers back 

towards the source unit if you are working 

on a very limited budget. Even upgrading 

your factory fitted speakers to a pair of 

aftermarket ones will make a substantial 

difference to your listening experience. 

Two caveats however, always make sure 

your source unit produces enough power 

to drive the speakers you choose and 

always have your doors treated with sound 

deadening material to save time and effort 

later. 


KNOWLEDGE 

AND SKILLS

A 

n audio system in a car will draw quite a lot of current from 

the vehicle’s electrical system. There is a direct correlation 

between current, voltage and heat and this alone puts DIY 

installation out of reach for most. 

You may have noticed as you read through 

the features in Driving Sounds that we 

don’t like to burden the reader with too 

much technical information. However, 

in order to explain some of the highly 

complex issues surrounding a good audio 

install it is sometimes unavoidable. As 

a general rule, if you do not know how 

electricity works, you should not go near it! 

It can be dangerous stuff. 

An audio system can require a lot of power 

in order to run. As we are pretty much 

stuck with 12 Volt systems in our cars, to 

increase the power available we have to 

draw more current, which means we have 

to use power cables that can handle it. The 

thickness of wire used to connect things 

together is determined by the amount 

of current and voltage it has to handle. 

Therefore, more current means larger 

cables! 

A FOUR MASTER lives with such calculations 

every day and is able to quickly assess the 

power requirements of the equipment he 

installs. This is just as well, as if the cable 

selected is too small, then it will quickly 

begin to heat up when its maximum 

power capability is exceeded and it is not 

unknown for DIY audio installs to actually 

catch fire due to guesswork, ignorance 

or poor installation! It is also vital that 

when running a power cable its external 

protective covering is capable of resisting 

any chafing or friction wear. After all, 

your vehicle when on the move will be 

transmitting all sorts of vibrations through 

the vehicle and its components. Where 

wires are run through a hole in a bulkhead, 

a grommet of the correct size must be used 

to avoid wear and eventual short circuit. 

Which once again can cause fire damage. 

Grommets should also be sealed against 

water ingress. 

But it is not only power wires that require 

the knowledge and skill of a FOUR MASTER 

to select and install. Signal cables, although 

not as dangerous, are affected by the 

same science as power cables. Any loss in 

long runs of cables can distort sound and 

affect the signals coming from amplifiers 

Worry-Free 

It is not unknown 

for DIY audio installs 

to actually catch fire 

due to guesswork, 

ignorance or poor 

installation! 

for instance. Furthermore, the car 

audio environment, or any 12V 

installation, is complex and 

requires deep knowledge 

of its operating 

conditions. Vibration, dust, 

extreme heat, humidity and 

chemical substances can 

all physically damage 

interconnecting 

cables. 

The 

biggest 

challenge 

however, is the 

elimination of electrical 

disturbances and electromagnetic 

fields created by modern 

electronics found in today’s vehicles. This 

radiated noise can infiltrate and affect the 

performance of some cable resulting in 

diminished system performance. 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

Wiring! 

Connection is a range of cables and 

accessories available from all FOUR 

MASTERS. Everything in the range is 

manufactured to the highest standards 

and is designed for purpose. Far from 

assembling a bunch of strands of Copper 

and twisting them together, Connection 

cables are complex, with many strands 

twisted in groups and wound in differing 

ways in order to reduce cross talk and 

to help reject outside interference from 

other in-vehicle electronics. Connection 

power, signal and speaker wire is coated 

with a protective insulation which not 

only resists other electrical signals but also 

offers physical protection as well as being 

self-extinguishing in the event of a rare 

catastrophic failure. 

Amplifiers installed into a vehicle require 

a separate, clean power feed. This is 

usually run directly from the battery to 

the amplifier via a suitable fuse or in the 

case of a multiple amp install, a 

number of fuses. Connection 

applies the same quality 

standards to 

the design of these as they do to cable. 

Experience and knowledge gained over 

years has led to a comprehensive range of 

connectors and fuse holders that ensure 

this is carried out in as safe a manner 

as possible. By providing professional 

installers with products which make their 

work safer, Connection has 

a vital part to play in 

the FOUR MASTERS 

strategy and its 

reputation 

for 


supplying the best and safest products 

available has led it to become the nation’s 

longest serving and best loved cable and 

accessory brand. 

Installers like Connection because it is easy 

to work with and you will like it because it 

delivers clean signals and pure power to the 

equipment it connects to ensuring you get 

the very best performance possible. 

Driving Sounds 33

Heavenly Catering f 

D 

eborah Grech-Cini runs an 

on-location catering unit which 

is used by TV and film companies 

as well as events organisers 

to provide staff with first class 

food and refreshments. Her 

work often finds her having to 

stay on location in her motor 

home. Naturally, as a music lover, 

she has invested in a luxurious 

entertainment system to help 

her enjoy precious down time 

between courses! 

Location catering can be a very stressful 

business. The discerning clientele are 

often starving and exhausted by the time 

Deborah gets to meet them and her job 

is to pick them up, by providing excellent 

food and beverages and preparing them 

for further drawn-out sessions presenting in 

front of a camera or performing at a show 

or exhibition. Deborah is therefore subject 

to bursts of highly stressful frenetic activity 

and fully deserves to be able to relax at the 

end of her working day or night. 

There is nothing Deborah enjoys more than 

a glass of good wine and some relaxing yet 

reinvigorating music. An Italian bloodline 

has gifted her with a love of both good 

food and classical music and therefore 

her standards for both are high. Deborah 

continues her story; “I do spend a lot of 

time in my motor home, a Burstner Delfin 

T695, which I have owned for six years. I 

put up with the fairly basic audio system 

in it for a while before coming across RAM 

Mobile at a motor home exhibition in 

Birmingham in 2009. They were showing an 

audio system built into a similar vehicle to 

mine and I was immediately impressed by 

the sound quality and just had to find out 

more! 

RAM Mobile offered to come and see my 

vehicle with a view to quoting me for a 

similar system. I am based reasonably locally 

to them and jumped at the opportunity. 

While they were with me, they gave me a 

detailed explanation of what is involved 

in installing a system and had a good 

look around the various hidden spaces 

and cubby-holes in the vehicle before 

suggesting an Audio Heaven system on the 

spot. I was immediately impressed with 

their knowledge and the care they took to 

maintain my valuable stowage space and 

the functionality of the vehicle. We agreed 

a price and I left my precious baby with 

them for the work to be carried out.” 

The audio system includes an Audison SRx3, 

a three-channel amplifier that is used to 

drive a pair of Rainbow Sound Line SLC 230, 

13cm 2-way component speakers, which 

have been installed in the factory positions 

in the doors. The remaining channel drives 

a single Rainbow Amboss 10in subwoofer. 

The amplifier and subwoofer are hidden 

from view in a void within a stowage 

compartment, which also houses the hot 

air system pump and leisure battery. An 

Audio Control DQT digital signal processor 

is mounted close to the subwoofer with 

its remote controller integrated into the 

dashboard. This gives Deborah access to 

different sound settings allowing her to 

adjust equalisation depending on the type 

of music she is listening to and whether the 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

or the Stars 

vehicle is in motion or not. The ability to 

compensate for bass cancelling road rumble 

is very important in a vehicle like this as is 

the occasional need to adjust equalisation 

settings to account for the curtains being 

closed and other movable furnishings being 

repositioned such as beds etc. which can 

have a major influence on the sound of 

the system. (Like the echoey feel in a room 

at home when the curtains are down for 

cleaning!) 

The system has been integrated with a 

DVD player and a flip-down screen for AV 

operation with sound being passed through 

a Kenwood in-dash head unit. 

Both speakers and subwoofer are from 

German manufacturer Rainbow, who 

specialise in reproducing a warm yet clear 

sound with lustrous bass - so important 

when listening to orchestral music in a 

vehicle. Many lovers of the gentler genres 

become frustrated at the lack of contra 

bassoon, timpani and double bass, which 

are often lost when this type of music 

is played through inferior equipment. 

The amplifier from Italian manufacturer 

Audison is also built specifically to cope 

with the rigours of highly dynamic music 

and delivers distortion and muddle-free 

signals to the speakers with the speed 

and accuracy to capture the often surprise 

attacks of bass and percussion from 

an opera or orchestral work. However, 

Deborah also enjoys up to date high tempo 

songs to give her an energy boost after a 


hard day’s work and the system is capable 

of reproducing these too. 

Deborah concludes; “My musical tastes 

are quite eclectic, which I expected to 

offer RAM quite a challenge but I have to 

say that whatever I throw at the system, 

whether stationary or on a long road 

trip, the result is always an engaging and 

extremely musical experience. I could not 

imagine life without my system now!” 


Driving 


Deborah 

Johnnie Taylor - Don’t Make Me 

Late 

Lady Antebellum - Need You 

Now 

Rebecca Ferguson - Nothing’s 

Real But Love 

Cee Lo Green - I Want You 

Barry White - Let the Music Play 


Audison SRx3 Amplifiers 

Rainbow Sound Line SLC 230 

2-way component speakers 

Rainbow Amboss 10in subwoofer 

Audio Control DQT signal 

processor with remote controller 


Connection cables, connectors 

and interconnects 

Flip-down screen 

Kenwood head unit 

Approximate Audio Heaven 

system cost including installation: 

£2,000.00 


CAR 

FEATURE


www.fourcaraudio.co.uk/hertz

Amplifiers 

An audio amplifier is a device that makes a very quiet 

sound much louder - What could be simpler? 

FOUR MASTERS are all for simplification 

and the above statement is the limit of 

many people’s knowledge. Some don’t 

even want to know more but a quick look 

at the number of amplifiers we install 

would have even the most perfunctory 

of customers asking questions. The fact is 

that once you get to specialist level, the 

performance expectations become much 

higher, therefore it becomes necessary to 

employ specialist products. 

You may ask why you need an external 

amplifier at all when upgrading your 

audio system? The answer is that although 

the power output of your head unit is 

probably quoted at 4 X 50 Watts, this is 

often a peak power measurement rather 

than the far more useful RMS figure 

and could be measured with up to 10% 

distortion. Distortion destroys speakers 

and ears if you are not careful but it also 

makes what you are listening to sound 

less like the original sound recorded by 

the artist. Also, an on-board amplifier in 

even a fairly sophisticated head unit is built 

into a very small box with no room for the 

sophisticated circuitry required to help it 

run at a high level for long periods of time. 

A speaker upgrade and improved sound are 

possible without an extra amplifier but if 

you require the scale and realism provided 

by better bass and a large improvement in 

sound, you will need to add a power horse! 

Before we go too far, there is nothing 

wrong with “general purpose” 

amplification, provided it is designed 

and built to some general principles 

which ensure that the signal leaving the 

amplifier is as close to the signal entering 

it as possible. We utilise many 4-channel 

amplifiers to drive classic Audio Joy and 

Audio Heaven 3-channel systems. This is 

possible as most of our 4-channel amplifiers 

allow two channels to be added together 

or “bridged”, effectively doubling the 

output power available and you will need 

at least twice the power driving your 

subwoofer as you will need driving your 

full-range speakers to achieve anything like 

the right balance. 

There is a direct correlation between 

amplifier power and the amount of 

electrical current it consumes and more 

current means more heat and therefore, 

even a seemingly small increase in power 

can mean housing a much larger box in 

your car. A FOUR MASTER also has to be 

mindful that sufficient cooling air can 

flow through the amplifier to prevent 

overheating. Some amplifiers come 

equipped with internal fans that suck cold 

air in and blow hot air out, although these 

are avoided where possible as they too 

consume current and poor quality fans can 

also create noise. 

High current can be dangerous and it is 

therefore necessary to 

keep close control on 

the performance 

of an amplifier 

and to build 

in electronic 

safety 

measures that 

will shut the 

amplifier down in the 

very rare case of system 

malfunction. 

In terms of musicality, amplifier design 

has been refined over many years and 

there are many different approaches using 

different types of electronic components. 

As we are restricted to 12 Volts and need to 

be careful in terms of power consumption, 

the most poplar amplifier design types 

or topologies are class AB and class D. 

Class D is the most recent and extremely 

efficient, offering huge amounts of power 

from a surprisingly small package. Class D 

still has some limitations regarding sonic 

purity with high frequencies and therefore 

Class D is most common as subwoofer 

amplification. Some of our amplifiers 

contain class D subwoofer outputs and class 


PRODUCT 

FEATURE 

AB full range outputs in the same package 

and the technology is advancing at a 

fantastic rate. 

A subwoofer only needs to be fed with 

signals below 80-120Hz therefore it is 

common for amplifiers to feature some 

filtering. It is far easier to filter out 

unwanted frequencies before the signal 

has been amplified and therefore it is 

completely logical to do this within the 

amplifier. In some cases, depending 

on system configuration, the 

whole crossover function 

can be carried 

out within 

the amplifier 

thus negating 

the need for 

an external 

crossover. We call 

these filters Hi-pass 

and Lo-pass and even 

these will vary in design. 

But don’t worry your FOUR 

MASTER will know all about filtering so you 

don’t have to! 

Finally, it is not wise to select your 

amplifier on power alone. For a start, the 

unit for power is logarithmic so a 1,000 

Watt amplifier is only twice as loud as a 

100 Watt amplifier. The most important 

attribute from a music lover’s perspective 

is that it makes quiet noises bigger with as 

little interference to the original sound as 

possible! 

Driving Sounds 37

Established in 1991 by 

Jeff Lunn in Wakefield, 

RAM Mobile handles an 

astonishing number of 

vehicles daily, installing 

everything from handsfree 

phone kits to reversing 

sensors and full AV 

multimedia systems. Driving 

Sounds were invited in to 

take a closer look. 

Jeff has been involved with in car 

entertainment for thirty-six years. Having 

worked equally across installation and 

retail he has an almost encyclopaedic 

knowledge of vehicles past and present 

and how to install stuff into them. RAM 

Mobile employs a staff of six including 

four fitters and two sales/admin. Based in a 

retail premises on a busy Wakefield street, 

at least 25% of their work is carried out on 

customers’ premises. This can be anywhere 

from a consumer’s place of work or home 

or a garage forecourt as trade work both 

off site and in its own workshop is still a 

significant part of RAM’s business. 

As a typical FOUR MASTER, the retail 

premises is full of enticing electronics 

and speakers to draw in the new and 

experienced in car sound enthusiast but 

an equal proportion of showroom area is 

taken up with non-FOUR MASTER products 

including reversing sensors and cameras, 

Digital Radio solutions, vehicle security 

devices and the aforementioned handsfree 

phone kits. Jeff particularly enjoys 

the audio side, having had a long and 

successful stint competing for sound-off 

trophies in the early 90’s and is constantly 

reinventing his business to cope with 

the changing demands of a customer 

who wants everything hidden from view 

whilst maintaining original equipment 

functionality. Jeff explains; “Over the years, 

the requirement for audio has remained 

fairly stable. Standard fit audio has not 

advanced at the same pace as other 

technologies and if you were to draw 

a parallel with TV for example, factory 

standard sound is still very much where 

Black & White TV is! 

The young have a lot more pressure on 

their money to deal with now and also 

the temptation of low, low prices on the 

internet and the danger is that they have 

a bad experience and then give up on the 

idea of audio upgrades. A specialist like 

RAM Mobile has a depth of knowledge 

and enthusiasm to make sure the job is 

done right in the first place. The more 

mature audio lover with an executive 

saloon wants to maintain the functionality 

of existing on-board equipment but wants 

better reproduction and perhaps an iPod 

interface. Such installs are becoming our 

staple source of audio work although we 

No Sheepish 

Sounds 

Fro m 

RAM 

Mobile 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

are still called upon to fabricate and trim 

panels to enhance a vehicle’s looks from 

time to time.” 

Jeff has invested in a demonstration 

vehicle, a Mercedes AMG 55, V8 

Kompressor, in order to demonstrate 

the great products he sells as well as his 

installers’ skills in fabrication, finish and 

audio set up. Jeff continues; “Since having 

the install done on the Merc, we have 

been able to demonstrate equipment in its 

rightful environment which is a far better 

proposition than trying to describe what 

a system will sound like or even carrying 

out a demonstration in an unreal setting 

where sound can be seriously affected and 

not represent the finished system at all. At 

least with a car available it is much easier 

for a customer to imagine what his or her 

own system will sound like, even if we 

are not using the exact same equipment. 

I can however, change the amplifier fairly 

quickly to demonstrate a specific product 

if required – changing speakers is a much 

longer job though!” 

The Mercedes was stripped of its 

disappointing Harman Kardon system 

and a new system designed based on an 

awesome Audison LRx 5.1K, 5-channel 

amplifier which is used to run a pair of 

Hertz Mille 2-way components in active 

mode and sends its mighty 750 Watt 

RMS subwoofer output to a Hertz Mille 

10in subwoofer mounted alongside the 

amplifier in a purpose-built enclosure 

in the boot. An Audison bit one is used 

to grab speaker level outputs from the 

head unit and distribute them to the right 

inputs of the amplifier with precise control 

over equalisation and time alignment. An 

iPod interface has also been installed, as 


SPOTLIGHT 

ON FOUR MASTERS 

this seems to be the preferred method 

of transporting music collections around 

these days. An Alpine head unit, tastefully 

integrated into the dashboard in place of 

the OEM Mercedes Comand, drives the 

system but it would have sounded nearly as 

good if built around the original unit. 

The car has been fully sound treated 

with Skinz and Jeff has used high quality 

Connection cables and accessories to ensure 

the sound is as good as it can be. 

All in all, RAM Mobile demonstrates 

competence in all areas. Its two workshops 

are run like clockwork and the staff work 

together to ensure a high level of customer 

satisfaction, which Jeff states is the secret 

to a successful on going business! 

Driving Sounds 39

Now You See It, 

Now You Hear It! 

C 

hris Woods is a lifetime fan 

of good car audio. His technical 

knowledge allowed him to design 

a system, which would suit his 

purpose and sound great. 

Chris has chosen a highly discrete 

installation for his own workhorse vehicle. 

Chris Woods has had a career-long interest 

in Car Hi-fi, which began at the age of 17 

when he worked at his local specialist store 

at the age of 17 to fund his way through 

a Civil Engineering degree. This was the 

start of a full-on relationship that saw him 

through a 6-year career with Anglian Water 

where his boss was perfectly happy to allow 

him to install all sorts of audio equipment 

with the proviso that his leased company 

cars be returned to stock condition when 

finished with. 

This made Chris the perfect candidate for 

this article, as discrete integration and the 

ability to restore a car to original condition 

remain major concerns as they do for many 

business car users spending lots of time on 

the road. 

Chris is married with a young child, which 

was a big consideration when planning this 

project as maintaining as much load space 

as possible was of great importance. He 

also drives an Audi A6 that is packed to the 

gunnels with electronic equipment from 

Navigation, CD changer and hands free 

kit all interconnected by a ‘MOST’ bus as 

standard which offered additional technical 

challenges as they could not be removed 

(see music lovers guide!) 

A lover of high-energy bass, Chris knew he 

would need to have a lot of power at his 

fingertips to offer control at high listening 

levels. To satisfy his bass requirements, 

Chris opted for a whopping 380mm 

subwoofer built into a custom box with 

an internal volume of 2.2 cubic feet as 

recommended by manufacturer Hertz. The 

box was shaped to fit perfectly in the spare 

wheel well which was otherwise redundant 

on this vehicle according to modern trend 

- the spare wheel is an optional accessory 

with a can of tyre–weld supplied for 

emergency flats! 

The Hertz HX380D Dual coil subwoofer 

has two voice coils which for this install 

are wired in parallel offering a 2 Ohm 

impedance to the subwoofer output on a 

Hertz HDP 5 amplifier which will happily 

output a massive 550 Watts RMS under 

such conditions. But the power isn’t only 

about creating huge amounts of 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

sound pressure level, it provides control 

which means that at higher listening levels 

the distortion is kept to a minimum while 

musical detail is astonishing. With less 

power, things would start to get a bit lairy 

at higher levels, inducing listener fatigue. 

For the higher frequencies, Chris assessed 

the OEM offering and felt that better 

stereo imaging could be achieved by 

repositioning the mid range frequency 

drivers and the tweeters, which were 

mounted too close to the listener in his 

opinion and fired across the vehicle. 

Still keen on a 3-way solution for better 

frequency/power sharing, the Hertz Hi- 

Energy HSK 163 was selected. This 3-way 

set comes with its own high quality passive 

crossover network, which distributes the 

correct frequencies between woofer, mid 

range and tweeter. 

The woofer was mounted in the original 

factory position, which was acceptable, as 

low frequencies tend not to be directional. 

The mid range and tweeters however, are 

a different matter and these have been 

installed into the A-Pillar (directly in line 

with the wing mirrors) onto remodelled 

and recovered trim although the finish is 

so good, you would hardly know that this 

is a modification! The original trim has 

been kept safe for re use when the vehicle 

is finally retired however in some cases it 

may be necessary to obtain new trim parts, 

which are relatively inexpensive. 

The new positions for mid range and 

tweeters significantly lift the sound stage 

and move the speakers further away from 

front seat users establishing more width. 

The HSK 163’s are driven from the front 

channels of the HDP 5 amplifier which 

outputs 150 Watts RMS to each side which 

is plenty for the new mounting positions. 

The rear output channels are used to 


Top: Midrange speakers and tweeters have 

been positioned in builds in the A-pillars and 

seamlessly re-trimmed 

Middle: Load space in family mode! 

Bottom: Amplifier and Subwoofer are hidden 

under load space floor 

Left: 15-inch subwoofer enclosure is built 

into the spare wheel well with the amplifier 

near by. Both are edge-lit in Hertz orange 

drive a pair of Hertz Hi-Energy coaxial 

speakers, HCX165, which fit neatly into 

the rear factory positions and are used to 

offer ambience for dance music but are 

also essential for ‘Mr. Tumble’ mode when 

travelling with child! 

Both aesthetic and electrical integrity of 

the vehicle have been preserved by the 

use of two very clever boxes from Audison. 

These enable the signals from the factory 

source unit to be collected and shaped and 

tweaked to provide the best possible 


CAR 

FEATURE

eproduction in the vehicle. The DA1 bit is a 

plug and play device which is able to accept 

the ‘MOST’ signals from the on-board 

audio, flatten any factory sound curves and 

send this flat signal optically to a further 

processor called the bit Ten D where the 

signals can be adjusted and time-aligned 

to give a fantastic listening experience 

with separate presets for different musical 

tastes and genre. The boxes are secured 

to the existing stack of hide away boxes 

behind a removable panel in the luggage 

compartment. A small controller is mounted 

up-front, which allows listeners to select 

different sound presets and make on-thefly 

adjustments. This is fitted neatly to the 

centre console in front of the gear change 

in a redundant coin tray. 

As with all good installs, the car has 

received a good deal of Skinz sound 

treatment and all signal and power cables 

are from the high-grade Connection range. 

Chris has cleverly installed the equipment 

so that it can be shown in all of its glory 

or completely hidden away to keep it 

from damage when carrying equipment 

and stock around and also for added 

security. In practice, the system is used a 

lot! Chris travels 40-50K miles per year 

and demonstrates his hi-fi to everyone he 

meets. But, more importantly, he listens 

to music most of the time and although a 

self-confessed bass addict, he does have 

surprisingly eclectic tastes. 

Our thanks go to FOUR MASTER Sextons, 

Wandsworth (www.sextonslondon.co.uk) 

who allowed us to use their well-equipped 

and spotless workshop for photography 

Music for driving 

recommended by Chris 

1 Katie Meluah 

Piece by Piece 

2 Norah Jones 

Come away with me 

3 AC/DC 

Iron Man compilation 

4 Faithless 

Forever Faithless 

5 Ellie Goulding 

Bright Lights 

Top: Front end of the original Audi 

equipment is left untouched except for the 

addition of the Audison bit 10D controller 

Left: Audison bit 10D and DA1 bit are 

attached to exisiting OEM equipment and 

wired directly into the factory connectors 


Hertz HX380D Dual coil 

subwoofer 

Custom box with an internal 

volume of 2.2 cubic feet 

Hertz HDP 5 amplifier 

Hertz Hi-Energy HSK 163 

Hertz Hi-Energy coaxial 

speakers, HCX165 

Audison DA1 bit 

Audison bit Ten D 


Connection Cables and 

Accessories 


install including labour: 

£3500.00 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

ass plays an extremely important part in music. It is used to colour 

orchestral music and add drama. In dance and rock music it is used to 

increase the heartbeat and therefore sense of excitement of the listener. 

It excites us because of its links with nature but is extremely difficult to 

reproduce. 

Bass Meant 

Thunder, huge waves crashing against 

rocks, the roar of a gale through trees, 

the eruption of a volcano are examples of 

natural occurrences that produce lots of 

bass. Just like the colour red in the light 

spectrum, bass in the audio spectrum carries 

suggestions of danger and warning. These 

emotional triggers are prevalent in all 

forms of entertainment as they cause 

excitement and thrills in the audience. 

In a car, physical space and a noisy 

environment make it particularly hard 

to generate meaningful bass tones 

without specialised equipment and 

a lot of effort and cost in terms of 

vehicle design. We have therefore, 

come to accept that the thin and 

weedy sound that emanates from your 

factory installed entertainment system 

is the best we can hope for. But much 

more is possible and the benefits to 

listening pleasure are always worth the 

extra effort. 

When it comes to car audio, we normally 

speak of bass in terms of audible 

frequencies below 80 Hertz otherwise 

known as sub bass. Such frequencies 

require specially designed speakers and 

amplifiers as described in our product 

features elsewhere in this publication. 

For 

In musical terms just a few acoustic 

rock, 

instruments produce sub bass frequencies. 

pop 

These include some brass instruments, 

and dance 

double bass, timpani and piano and very 

music, bass is 

few others. In electronic or amplified music, 

used a lot more 

the bass guitar and bass synthesizer are the 

manner 

to provide driving 

most common sub frequency generators 

of acoustic 

energy to the music to 

and are much more heavily used. 

and electronic 

make you tap your feet or even 

Composers of orchestral works tend to use 

instruments. This can help 

dance which is why traditionally, listeners 

bass very sparingly to boost its impact and 

listeners to tune a system to suit their tastes 

of these genres have been much keener 

maintain its dramatic effect and this can 

but bass needs to be expertly balanced so 

in their efforts to reinforce bass content 

leave many lovers of such music feeling it 

that it doesn’t overpower or detract from 

in their cars. However, adding bass to 

isn’t worth all the effort. This could not 

what is happening at higher frequencies. 

small speakers will only result in distortion 

be further from the truth. An orchestral 

Fortunately, FOUR MASTERS are at hand 

that will destroy listening pleasure and 

work with its bass content removed will 

to help advise and balance your system to 

eventually, the speakers! 

sound flat and lifeless. You may be able to 

your tastes. 

appreciate a virtuoso violin performance Most subwoofers will reproduce 

Find out more about how bass can 

but the accompaniment will be lacking all frequencies beyond sub bass. Some 

dramatically affect your listening pleasure 

the drama the composer worked so hard reaching as high as 200Hz at which point 

and how to introduce some into your car by 

to add. 

we reach the lower tones generated by all 

contacting a FOUR MASTER. 



PRODUCT 

FEATURE

SPOTLIGHT 

ON FOUR MASTERS 

Highdown 

Lowdown 

Highdown Car Audio and Security 

has amassed over 50 trophies won 

in sound-off competitions over the 

6 years of its existence. Driven by 

a passion for cars, sound quality 

and outrageously loud, deep 

reaching bass monsters, the family 

run business is the place to go for 

car sound if you live anywhere 

near West Sussex. 

Proprietor Jeremy has over 15 years 

experience in the car audio industry and 

a previous army career where he trained 

as a medical technician. Either side of this 

he worked for Dixons so there is not much 

you can tell him about retailing consumer 

durable goods. Jeremy got the car audio 

bug after listening to a Maystar equipped 

demo vehicle and now working with his son 

James, his thriving business offers first class 

service and skills to the car phone, reversing 

sensor, security and audio markets. 

It is James and Jeremy’s passion for audio 

that bought them to the FOUR MASTER 

programme however as their latest demo 

vehicle, a VW Polo featuring a 15000 

Watt RMS Hertz SPL Show amplifier, 

demonstrates. 

Jeremy tells us; “we wanted to build a 

demo vehicle which would show off our skill 

in building extreme vehicles. Our reputation 

for sound quality is well established but we 

felt we could do more to engage young 

drivers in what we do. It is no surprise that 

our younger customers are often driven by 

a need for heavy bass. It is an important 

element of the music they listen to and 

often used as a measure of status amongst 

car club members. The car belongs to my 

son James and has been entered in EMMA 

sound off competitions in many guises 

since before he passed his driving test! 

He famously (in competition terms) won 

a sound quality league in his first year of 

competition, which helped us to establish 

Team Highdown, which at its height had 15 

members all competing on a regular basis 

with installs we built” 

The latest incarnation of the Polo has won 

1st prize in EMMA’s SPL Expert class on its 

first outing and is capable of producing 

a measured output of 160dB. Not to be 

outdone, at the same event, Jeremy won 

the Master 4000 Euro class with a rapidly 

built and partly unfinished install in his 

wife’s car! 

With plans to compete in as many EMMA 

rounds as possible, Highdown are also 

avid supporters of the FOUR MASTER live 

programme and only too happy to show 

the Polo at those events. Jeremy points out; 

”This car really does the business at shows. 

It will draw a crowd, even at large outdoor 

events with its immense power and low bass 

but it also plays higher frequencies and we 

are currently contemplating hiring it out 

for an instant mobile PA solution for parties 

and shows. 


Driving 


James 

Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The 

Fresh Prince 

Beautiful - Akon Ft Colby O.Donis 

& Kardinal Offishall 

Ride Wit Me - Nelly 

Mama Do The Hump - Rizzle 

Kicks 

Everybody - Backstreet Boys 


1 x Hertz 15.5k SPL Monster 

Amplifier - 15,500 Watts RMS 

2 x Hertz 15” SPL Monster Sub- 

Woofers - 8,000 Watts Each 

4 x Hertz SV250 - 10” SPL Show 

Mid-Range Speakers 

1 Pair x Hertz ST44 - 44mm 

SPL Show Compression Bullet 

Tweeters 

2 Pairs x Hertz SV200 - 8” SPL 

Show Mid-Range Speakers 

1 Pair x Hertz ST35 - 35mm 

SPL Show Compression Bullet 

Tweeters 

2 x Hertz HDP4 - High Digital 

Power 4 Channel Amplifiers 

1 x Pioneer AVH-8400BT - D-Din 

7” Screen 

Head-Unit - Connection 

Cabling/Fusing Throughout 

Total Equipment Cost: 

£10,270.00 

Labour For Overall Build: 

£4,000.00 inc Materials/ 

Batteries/Lighting etc. 


Tel: 0800 652 5125

Signal 

Processors 

The ability to be able to shape 

sound and make it more natural in 

an unnatural environment such as 

a car is essential. Signal processors 

are not new but have developed 

in leaps and bounds in the last 

two years. 

Signal processors have a vital role to play in 

manipulating sound in the digital domain 

to get the best out of the equipment it 

drives and in particular amplifiers and 

speakers. In short, if you feed a distorted 

and unpleasant signal into any amplifier 

you will get the same unpleasant mess 

out of the other end only louder and so 

there is huge benefit in purifying signals in 

the digital domain before they are made 

bigger! This is even more important for 

the system builder working with factory 

fitted entertainment systems that often 

have falsely tweaked sound curves to make 

up for deficiencies in cheap speakers. In 

certain cases if you wish to have a system 

built around a factory fitted system you 

will be obliged to use a signal processor 

to put back the things that car 

manufacturers take out 

to make their 

inferior 

systems 

almost 

bearable! 

However, a signal 

processor must neither 

add nor take away anything 

from the signal that is input 

to it unless by deliberate action and 

therefore, circuitry has to be completely 

transparent. FOUR MASTERS benefit from 

access to two of the finest signal processors 

available, namely bit one and bit ten from 

Audison. Both contain high-powered 

processors capable of analysing, dissecting 

and rebuilding sound in the digital 

domain. Keeping it as simple as possible, 

these devices contain the worlds’ most 

sophisticated tone controls also known 

as equalisers. Those of a certain age 

will remember when graphic 

equalisers were all the rage 

and in fact these two 

devices carry 

out a very 

similar 

job but 

use a 

connected 

computer rather 

than a vast array of 

knobs and controls to boost or 

attenuate selected frequency bands. 

Furthermore, because they work in the 

digital domain they can do their thing 

without introducing any noise or distortion 


PRODUCT 

FEATURE 

unlike the analogue versions of days gone 

by. 

But as well as adjusting tone, these 

processors are capable of adding delay to 

selected channels, the theory being that 

by delaying the signal from the speaker 

nearest your ear slightly, the sound will 

arrive at exactly the same time as that 

from the speaker furthest away. This is of 

course an indulgence for the person sitting 

in the predetermined “sweet spot” as this 

adjustment will work only for one listening 

position. 

So, why have two products from Audison 

that do the same job? The bit one and 

bit Ten differ in terms of their number of 

analogue and digital inputs and outputs 

and also minor differences in the type of 

cut off filter and frequency steps available 

in the crossover, but leave it to your FOUR 

MASTER to advise you on the most suitable 

choice. They will take care of everything 

including set-up and installation of a digital 

remote control which allows basic changes 

to level and amount of bass to be made as 

well as selecting between sound settings. 

On a final note both models provide 

installers with additional auxiliary inputs. 

These can be used to inject the audio signal 

from a portable music device such as iPod 

or MP3 player or even the voice guidance 

from a navigation system. 

Driving Sounds 45

The Music Lover’s Guide 

to Car Audio Jargon 

Active – Running separate amplifiers to tweeter 

and mids 

Audio Joy – Joy-filled audio system for under 

£1200 

Audio Heaven – Heavenly audio system from 

£1200 to £2500 

Audio Expert – High-end audio experience for 

critical listeners for over £2500 

Bridged/Bridging – Connecting two or more 

channels of an amplifier together 

CanBUS – Controller Area Network. Automotive bus 

that allows microcontrollers to communicate 

Class A, AB, D – Technologies used in amplifier 

design with differing sonic purity 

Coaxial – Two or more-way speakers with small 

cones mounted inside the perimeter of big cones 

Cone – Conical surface of a speaker used to displace 

air 

Crosstalk – Unintentional interference of one 

signal by another due to proximity 

Digital Signal – Sound converted to or in the form 

of 1’s and 0’s 

Distortion – Any alteration of an audio signal 

other than by deliberate action Door Builds – 

Fabricated pods or panels for mounting speakers 

Driver/Drive Unit – A speaker without enclosure 

DSP - Digital Signal Processor – Sophisticated 

tone control 

Dynamic Range – Difference between loudest and 

quietest sound that can be reproduced 

Equalisation – Boost or attenuation of selected 

frequencies i.e. tone control 

Flat Response – Signal of the same level/ 

amplitude from 20Hz to 20Khz 

Frequency – Pitch of a sound or note measured in 

Hertz 

Full Range – Range of human hearing; 20Hz to 

20KHz 

Impedance – Load or resistance of a device. 

Impedance matching gets the best out of an 

amplifier/speaker combination. Measured in Ohms 

Mid’s – Middle frequency speakers 

Monoblock – Mono or single channel amplifier 

MOST – Media Oriented System Transport. Optical 

data buss for automotive use 

Rear Fill – Sound from behind – unusual for 

stereo listening but increasingly popular for adding 

ambience 

RMS – Root Mean Squared. Scientific method for 

measuring average power 

Sound Curve – Plot of frequency against 

amplitude used to assess performance of an audio 

system 

Sound Deadening – Material used to reduce 

panels from flexing 

Subwoofer – Very low frequency speaker 

Thiele Small Parameters – Used to calculate 

optimum enclosure size for a speaker 

Time Alignment – Adjustment of delay of sound 

from different speakers to create listening ‘sweet 

spot’ 

Tweeter – High frequency speaker 

Ultrasonic – Above audible hearing range for 

humans 

Voice Coil – Part of a speaker’s motor 


Tel: 0800 652 5125


www.fourcaraudio.co.uk/audison

Love music on the move? 

You don’t have to move to find a 

FOUR MASTER 

www.fourmasterscaraudio.co.uk

For People Who Love Music On The Move - Four Masters

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