For People Who Love Music On The Move - Four Masters

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
20 Driving Sounds
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
www.drivingsounds.co.uk
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