Pedal to the Metal

Classic BMW Gets a Modern Audio Twist!

Pedal to the Metal – Classic BMW Gets Modern Audio Twist!

Chris Binns is a busy boy. We managed to pin him down at his home near Leeds for a most enlightening and fascinating interview and a listen to his stunning BMW E30.

Chris was born and brought up in Cleckheaton. However, he moved to Leeds to pursue his musical interests. He already had some friends working in the music scene in Leeds and felt he could give it a good go. He is a hard-working musician. He plays guitar and bass in four heavy metal bands, all of which record, tour, and release material on vinyl and every other format you can think of. However, even this impressive output and extensive tours with Mastodon and Marilyn Manson are not enough to pay his way. Hence, he falls back on his original training as a joiner when time allows.

Fortunately, he and his business partner, Tom, are swamped building extensions, loft conversions, and other improvements for private clients. In his spare time, he is writing and recording new material to perform later this year, particularly at several UK and European festivals.

Being a fellow guitarist, we did spend a good deal of time going through his impressive guitar collection, which includes a Fender Telecaster, once owned by Slipknot guitarist Jim Root. I can tell you, guitar-knowledgeable readers, that he likes a low action and light strings. He also uses some whacky tunings, often slackening his low E string to an A – This requires a good set-up to keep the tuning stable, and all guitars felt extremely playable.

A relative once gave Chris a BMW E30. He loved the car, although it had a persistent intermittent electrical fault, which led to him being left stranded several times and having to be rescued by his mum. This became such a problem that eventually, his mum scrapped the car without checking with him first. He was devastated and determined to get another once he had the funds. This took him some 20 years, but finally, he could rekindle his passion for this particular vintage of BMW.

The car had been heavily modified, and he spent much time and money restoring it to stock condition. It looked stunning on his drive, and it gave me fond memories of my own youth when this was the car of my dreams!

As with most musicians, Chris listens to early mixes of his recordings in the car. This is standard practice for musicians. However, his BMW sounded very poor, and he wanted to do something about this.

He Googled Car Audio Upgrades and filled out an enquiry form on the FOUR MASTER CAR AUDIO website. The following day, he was contacted by a member of the FOUR MASTER’s team, who asked him a few questions about budget and music preferences. As a result of this chat, he was sent a quote and a contact for FOUR MASTER partner Source Sounds in Sheffield.

Source Sounds is highly regarded in the industry. They have years of experience and are renowned for delivering a no-compromise aftersales service and carrying out top-notch installations. Chris told me that he really enjoyed his experience with Source. They were attentive to his needs and very knowledgeable about his car and the equipment that would best suit his tastes.

The car itself offers its own challenges to great sound. The front speaker position is low down in the footwells. They accept a 5” speaker with no separate tweeter position. Chris was keen to keep everything out of sight, so a pair of Audison Prima APX 5 coaxial speakers were fitted. Looking at the mounting positions, I fully expected to be able to identify where the speakers were mounted. However, my listening test placed the image much higher than I expected. When I closed my eyes (don’t do this while driving!), I could not tell where the sound was coming from. A balanced and stable stereo image met my ears, and I found it astounding! These are not the most expensive speakers in the Audison range, but they delivered clarity and placement, which are not generally manageable at this price point. Chris’ system has no DSP, which further confounded but in an excellent way!

Another pair of APX 5s is mounted on the rear parcel shelf, which certainly helps with image height. Although they are set fairly low, I must conclude that these speakers' off-axis performance is incredible!

5” speakers can be somewhat bass-light. Source Sounds opted to use an Audison Prima APBX 10 AS active 10” subwoofer, which is mounted in the centre of the boot, facing toward the front of the car. The boot is quite sonically isolated in these older BMWs, so the optimum effect is achieved by opening the armrest/Ski flap. This sonic connection with the full-range speakers allows Source to balance bass and mid-bass perfectly.

Chris likes the impact of low bass, and he does not listen solely to Metal. He also enjoys R&B, jazz, and occasionally a bit of reggae. He didn’t want anything cut or drilled in his car, so the Kenwood head unit controls the subwoofer level. I didn’t adjust the sub, as I really didn’t need to. It was perfectly set up and performed well across all genres, but it had a mighty low-end kick when listening to the heavier music we played.

DSP in a car is wonderful and highly flexible but can be expensive. Instead of installing a “bit” amplifier, as many BMW owners do, Source opted for an Audison SR 4.500 amplifier. This amplifier delivers audiophile performance for a reasonable price. It's also relatively compact, making it easy to conceal. It shares the same space as the subwoofer behind a wooden panel and frame constructed by Chris himself – after all, he is a joiner, so why not?

The amplifier features both hi-pass and low-pass filtering. However, Source informed me that they relied on the passive equaliser built into both APX 5s to manage the crossover points. The amplifier is flat, although some equalisation was performed within the Kenwood head unit.

I wanted to sample some tunes that are typical of Chris’s taste. He streams from his iPhone and uses Spotify but seems aware of other services. Old habits die hard, and it is often difficult to adopt something new when you have as many playlists and the familiarity he has with Spotify.

First, he played “SAFE PLACE” for me by Leon Thomas. This R&B track has a lot of sounds going on, including a single guitar note through the verse, which sits hard right in the image. There are also some crazy autotune-style vocal effects happening. The track contains strong low bass, which demonstrates the full impact of the APBX 10 AS. Drums are pretty “lite”, so the track was less suited to showing the mid-range capabilities of the speaker/amp combination.

Another R&B track, “Lady” by D’Angelo, came next. The persistent hand claps throughout were a helpful guide for the stability of the image. Wherever I moved my head, I remained seemingly in the sweet spot. It's a bit like the eyes of a portrait painting following you around a room! The accompanying bass is very low and quite prominent, but it does not swamp any other sounds, even the subtle piano and guitar. Once again, there was not a great deal happening in the middle registers, but I did not feel deprived as the subtle elements of the piece kept the ears busy!

Finally, a live track arrived: “Nocturn” by TesseracT. This kind of metal differs significantly from what I grew up playing. The time signatures and rhythmic syncopation are technically worlds apart from the three chords, and riff thrashes that were popular with pub bands in the 70s! The bass perfectly aligns with the kick drum and, at times, a held note and slide down the fretboard of what seems to be a fretless bass add interest and provides a little respite. When the guitar joins the bass at the end, the impact is strong enough to knock down buildings. This more closely matched my expectations, having discussed the music he writes and records at length with Chris. The mid-bass was fantastic, and once again, the heavy bass and thunderous drums did not overshadow any of the subtleties of the other instruments.

The system in this car is perfect for Chris’s needs. Everything was installed to the highest standard, and the setup was everything I have come to expect from the wizards at Source Sounds.

Huge thanks to Chris for taking the time to let us listen and stick a camera in his face!

You can listen to Chris’ music by searching for the band’s Nil, Jaguar Throne, The Hell, and Cognizance on YouTube, all available streaming services, and his solo stuff, released under his own name.

Chris’ Top Five

Sade - Soldier of Love

Leprous - Shadow Side 

Doechii - Catfish

Rene and Angela -  I’ll be Good

The SOS Band - No One’s Gonna Love You