Mazda 323

All the Dutchman Carl Krijnen actually wanted was to have some music in his Japanese car. This relatively straight-forward idea ended up costing him 1 ½ years of his leisure time. Carl caught the car hi-fi bug and simply could not stop tinkering around until he had created the perfect sound experience. Today, the car hi-fi installation is at last finished and his vehicle regularly scoops first place in sound quality competitions. We could, of course, not let this car get away without featuring it once in CAR&HIFI.

Exemplary sound system with style

Just the choice of components gives you a sneaky feeling of the potential that is packed into this car. The speakers and amplifiers are made by Swedish speaker specialist DLS, the head unit and processor are from Alpine. Reputable series are of course the only choices that came into question. However, using excellent components alone is not enough to make a good sounding car hi-fi system – building in the units properly is equally important.

Resolving: an Infinity ribbon tweeter takes care of the highest frequency range.

Self-made
After the components have been bought, the car was first of all “stripped”. Aside from the seats, hardly anything else in the car is original. The dashboard was completely useless from a hi-fi point of view and a great deal of care was taken designing the details for the new one. A 10 cm chassis from DLS is mounted at both ends and the Alpine head unit is integrated next to the speedo. A further feature is located on the A-pillar. Next to the standard tweeter an Infinity ribbon tweeter takes care of the high end range, ensuring a better level of sound quality and clarity. The close arrangement of the three chassis guarantees a good sound balance. The car doors are solid. The
16 cm mid-range speaker from the Iridium series is optimally set up for sound and uses the whole door as a resonance body.

Powerful: The twelve-incher from DLS kicks out real power

Things really get down to business in the boot where you are faced with the powerful magnets of the twelve inch DLS woofer. The bass casing is put together following the transmission line principle, providing an optimum compromise between a deep bass, dynamics and precision. The four DLS amplifiers are arranged in a semi-circle around the subwoofer. Three dual monos take care of the front system while the fourth power monster fuels the subwoofer. All components are fully controlled by a PXA-H700 Alpine processor and can be directly set from the driver’s seat using the control panel in seconds.

No compromises: high-lying mid-range speaker for best quality staging

As Carl did not want to sacrifice a steering wheel remote control but there was no remote control for the steering wheel and no adapter for the radio, he got down to building himself a new steering wheel with integrated controls complete with the right electronics so that he could control the Alpine radio. The numerous other gimmicks, such as a high frequency filter under the seats, three extra batteries for power buffering and the hand-finished speaker meshes are pleasing to the eye and you find yourself constantly discovering new gizmos. The whole car hi-fi installation is completely professional and carried out without any compromises. Even when it comes to the cables, only the best of the best has been used. It is practically unbelievable that a private person is solely responsible for this near to perfect installation.

Get in, pop on a CD and enjoy
Finally the lights come on and the musicians get on the stage. I can clearly hear Mark Knopfler directly centre stage. His distinctive voice makes the skin on my upper arms go all goosebumpy – they are playing my favourite song, “Sultans of Swing”, on the big wide stage and it is as if I could hear from the very depths of the stage. But wait – Dire Straits have not been on stage for decades. As I open my eyes again, I see that I am still sitting in the driver’s seat of the Mazda. It is simply indescribable how perfectly music is reproduced here. The bass is plays exactly in front of the driver’s seat and there is no need to shy away from the original stage set-up. Instruments and voices are fully transmitted by the speakers, even those critical keyboard wind instruments sound authentic and vibrant. No matter what CD is put on for the sound test, you not only listen to the music here but you really feel it.

Summary
An exceptional car hi-fi installation coupled with extraordinarily good sound and many clever little solutions make the Mazda 323 a highlight in the car hi-fi world. It is nigh on impossible to comprehend the fact that just one person independently did all the work on this car. If you ever get the chance, you should not only see this car but above all just sit back and listen to it.

Tobias Runge

Completely safe: The cabling in the Mazda has been done to the highest standards