Ferrari Furore

Twilight top performer

Ferrari Furore

We needed a Ferrari in which to demonstrate good car audio to other Ferrari owners at Italian Car Day at Brooklands Museum. We naturally asked Italian Car enthusiast magazine Auto Italia for help and they came up trumps!

Driving Sounds and FOUR MASTERS have been supporting Auto Italia’s Italian Car Day at Brooklands Museum for the last five years now. This is a gathering of Italian car enthusiasts, all passionate about their Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and Alfa’s and they won't look at any other marque. In our first year we took along a Ferrari and were inundated with show goers wanting to find out what we did and why we were there. In subsequent years we have shown cars other than classic Italian ones and apart from the occasional passing visitor who already knew how good an install could sound in a car, we became extremely lonely.

We had to try to get a Ferrari on the stand so that we could capitalise on our show presence and continue the fight for great audio systems in cars. We approached Auto Italia magazine who ran an online prize draw using their contacts in the Ferrari owners club for an Audio Joy system to be installed free of charge on the proviso that car and owner would be available to join us at the show to demonstrate how good audio was possible in a classic performance car. We were fortunate enough to pick out the owner of a Ferrari 355, Paul Clifford who had an interesting tale to tell.

Paul was delighted he had won and we asked what experiences if any he had of car audio systems and were delighted to learn that as a result of seeing us at a previous Italian Car Day, he had taken himself along to a specialist and had a new head unit and a pair of speakers fitted. However, embarrassingly, he was not happy with the result and was of the opinion that the Italian speakers he had been sold were no good and in fact, he felt that his wife’s Fiesta with stock audio system in it sounded better. We were extremely puzzled by this, particularly when we discovered that the speakers were high-end Audison Voce components. However, puzzlement turned to disappointment when we discovered that these were running straight from the speaker outputs of a pretty average head unit with no amplification in between. This was never going to work as the speakers require more power than the head unit was able to produce in order to make them work correctly.

It seems the specialist in question (not a FOUR MASTER by the way) had misunderstood the brief and felt they were building a system a bit at a time.

Having discovered all of this, we spoke to friendly FOUR MASTER, BCSS in Couldson, close to where Paul lived, who agreed to help us to sort Paul’s car out. As we knew the speakers would change completely when driven properly, we put the budget we had in mind for a whole Audio Joy system, into a decent amplifier. Brian the younger (it’s a long story) selected an Audison SR 4. Brian explained; “I have used this combination of products before and found that by running the Voce 2-way speakers from bridged channels of the SR4 the bass really stands out and as the budget and space available would not accommodate a discreet subwoofer at this time, this was definitely the way to go”

The amplifier was built into the luggage compartment and trimmed along with the crossovers, with a vanity panel covered in matching carpet. This gives the amplifier a “looks-like-it’s-always-been-there” look whilst leaving the essential “tweaking controls” accessible.

However, the head unit was still a cause of concern for Brian; “I am not a big fan of the brand who manufactured Paul’s head unit and for valid reasons. I have tried to build systems around their products before but find that they are a little puny and it was quite important that we provided strong, distortion-free signal to the amplifier, as it is a powerful beast and would emphasise any deficiencies or noise. Speaking with Paul about his choice he told me that all he had specified was Bluetooth and didn’t specify brand or any other feature”

We contacted our friends at Pioneer on the off chance that they may be willing to help. They agreed and delivered a shiny, new DEH-80PRS head unit. This is a fantastic product with lots of features including an auxiliary input, dual USB ports, Bluetooth but more importantly for Brian, the audio excellence that the amp and speakers deserve. It also offers enormous scope for optimising the system to customer’s preference via comprehensive equalisation and time alignment.

BCSS were keen to do a proper job for Paul and so they dismantled the doors to see if there was any sound treatment in them and there was. The previous specialist had got this bit right. Brian explained; “I see and hear a lot of cars where equipment has been installed with cheap cable and no sound treatment. The difference is clearly audible to me. You would have to be mad not to treat door panels when fitting speakers of any quality as untreated panels just eat sound and especially mid bass and bass frequencies which are most important particularly in a car with a low exhaust note like this one”

Within a matter of hours, the work was done and Paul arrived to collect his car with prize installed and to pose for a picture. Paul is a very busy man and is often away so we didn’t expect to get much feedback from him for a while. He sat in the car on collection but you need to drive a car to make a proper judgement. All he knew at that point was that it definitely sounded much better than before BCSS had go their hands on it.

By the time we got to Italian Car Day however, he was brimming with enthusiasm for his new system, as were all those lucky visitors who got the chance to sit in his car and have a listen.

A system like this may not be for the purist, but I am certain that with a bit more time and budget, Brian at BCSS could contrive a discreet install with nothing on show. As for Paul he is delighted although, he has now asked Brian to think about where he could mount a subwoofer to provide more bass. Not that it lacks, but there is that low exhaust note to compete with!

Paul’s Top Five Driving Sounds

Feel's just like it should - Jamiriquai

I remember - Deadmau5 & Kaskade -

Around the world - Daft Punk

Push the button - Chemical Bros: Feat Q tip

Planet Rock - Africa Bambaataa