Mercedes Cathargo - Pleasure After Pain

Travelling with great sounds

Mercedes Cathargo – Pleasure After Pain

 

We were excited to be invited to look around and listen to this magnificent Motorhome. Owner Keith Innes has many fascinating stories about his journey; we recount just a few.

 

The Mercedes Cathargo that sits before us on the drive of a beautiful house in rural Oxfordshire is a rare beast. Apart from its nearly 8M length and gargantuan dimensions in all directions, its paint finish, some judicial vinyl wrapping, and front light cluster styling give it an almost classic feel, unusual for a less than one-year-old vehicle.

 

Proud owner Keith was preparing the vehicle for an extended trip to France with his wife Sandra. Thankfully, he was happy to take some time out and talk to us about the vehicle and the audio system installed by Motor Mods in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

 

Keith shared a potted life history. A life that has been somewhat colourful and dominated by hard work. Raised in Angus, Scotland, by his equally hard-working father and grandparents, his earliest memories of connecting with music are via an old Bakelite radio that his father played constantly. His love for physical music started with a stacking 7” single-playing record player bought third-hand in a local shop.

 

After leaving school, Keith worked in the menswear department at the local Co-Op department store, where at 18, he became the youngest buyer in the country.

A driven individual, Keith was fortunate to have a number of mentors throughout his career who recognised his drive and ambition. The encouragement, direction, and support offered by these individuals helped him progress successfully at speed through retail, wholesale, and finally, for 32 years, Media, working for an FTSE 100 company, retiring as a Sales Director in 2014.

 

In retirement, Keith has tried to repay the faith placed in him throughout his career by mentoring, for free, the owners of several small businesses where budgets and experiences are minimal but work ethics are high.

 

Throughout his nearly fifty years of driving, he has had many vehicles, the usual Marques, Vauxhall, Ford, and Volvo in his younger days and Audi, Lexus, Jaguar, BMW, and Jeep in later years. A Jenson Interceptor Convertible, one of 95 U.K. spec models, and a fully loaded BMW X6 are particular fond memories. The commonality, however, was always upgrading the audio spec to the best dealer options offered at the time.

 

 

 

 

Keith bought his first “proper Hi-Fi” system from a Finnish brand called Salora in 1983. He began investing in his home audio system 20 years ago, moving from Japanese stacking systems to bespoke separates, a constantly evolving journey. Over the years, he collected over 1500 CDs, which were donated to the British Heart Foundation, when he decided in 2019 to focus purely on growing his existing vinyl collection and, for convenience, streaming via Qobuz.  

Keith showed me his vinyl room, where over 3000 records spanning jazz, classical, pop, rock, blues, and American modern country are kept in an optimal storage environment.

 

Sandra had always hankered after an original VW camper van.  When she joined Keith in retirement, her positivity in sampling the camping lifestyle and her good friend's ownership of a VW conversion company based in Gloucestershire called Expedition Campers showed that the fates were destined to be aligned. A nearly new VW T6 was purchased, converted and then seriously modified, with virtually everything upgraded, from the wheels upwards, especially the Hi-Fi system.

 

 Unfortunately, the T6 activity was curtailed by COVID-19 and campsites' requirement for onboard self-sufficiency. So, after diligent research, on day one after the lockdown, they invested in a 7-metre Burstner Lyseo 680G Motorhome with an electric drop-down bed.

 

 Motor Mods was engaged to complete a comprehensive security upgrade, including CCTV and, equally importantly, a full Hi-Fi installation. Audison was identified during the initial discussion as the preferred equipment supplier.

Two happy years followed, until the nemesis that has haunted Keith all his adult life, namely chronic back issues and arthritis following four surgeries, significantly worsened.

A permanent fixed bed was the solution, and after a few false dawns, the perfect match was found, also German but this time a Mercedes-powered Cathargo, due to land four months later in Lincoln with Camper U.K. who had previously looked after the Burstner.

 

Victoria, the guiding force at Motor Mods, was re-engaged, and a long list of modifications was agreed upon, including the latest security systems, an upgrade to the Toyota Aygo X tow car audio, and a very similar Audison set-up as before. This resulted in the impressive vehicle I viewed today.

 

 The standard speaker positions in the van are ridiculous. The front door speakers are in different places on each door. Fortunately, the front tweeters are mounted on top of the dash. Keith wanted a dual-zone system so that he could continue to listen once parked up. The speaker positions in the rear were not much better than the fronts, with two speakers mounted under wall cabinets and firing down—almost like ceiling speakers. The two speakers were on the vehicle's same side, so stereo was impossible.

 

From the outside, it looks like there should be plenty of space to mount a pair of speakers. However, once inside, it is easy to see that every spare inch is used to provide comfort features for travellers. Motor Mods found space on the cooker's side panel to accommodate an Audison Prima AP 4, 4” woofer and AP 1 tweeter. These face forward, toward the driver position. The rear-most under cabinet position was used for a matching AP 4 with the AP 1 tweeter surface mounted on a vertical panel just above.

 

Audison Prima speakers do a remarkable job in such positions, as they can throw sound out wide. Motor Mods knew that a lot of set-up work would be necessary. To get the best performance, they decided to employ an Audison Prima 8.9bit, 8-channel amplifier. This amplifier provides up to 65 watts to each speaker. All crossover points and time alignment are handled in the amplifier. The amplifier also offers endless EQ parameters to help achieve the perfect set-up.

 

4” speakers on their own, would be light on bass, so an Audison Prima APBX 8 AS active subwoofer supplements the low-end. This is installed in a cubby under the floor behind the driver’s seat, with a level control fitted in the driver’s door. As bass is non-directional and requires reinforced concrete to stop it, this is perfectly OK.

 

Keith had prepared a list of songs he felt would best show off the system’s capabilities. I sat at the table in the rear, as the system was designed for this as much as for driving. The system has two settings accessed via a DRC remote controller in the front. One setting pushes the image forward for driving, while the second moves it back toward the second listening zone. Both presets were pleasing to listen to from my position. 

 

The first track we listened to was “Dirty Hiroshima” by Air. Breathy synth and lively piano arpeggios start the track before the bass and rhythm kick in with the familiar vocoder vocal. Despite the constraints of speaker positioning, the image is surprisingly good. A real sense of a soundstage is evident from the off. Bass from the APBX 8 AS integrates perfectly with the full-range speakers. The track’s production is pretty minimal, with everything presented as it should be, in perfect balance.

 

The next track was Vivaldi’s “Melodious Incantation” by the Orchestra of Life, fronted by violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy. Lots to hear in this version that you won’t get on a standard orchestral recording. For instance, a distorted guitar introduction! There are also vocal lines that are not in other renditions. All elements are brought together by the genius Nigel Kennedy, whose lead lines soar and throw themselves out of the speakers with dramatic effect.

 

We listened to further tracks from Keith’s Top Five, which performed well.

 

This assignment was very different for me as I usually listen from the driver’s seat. Despite the whacky speaker positions, Motor Mods have done an excellent job installing proper Hi-fi. Keith is a particularly strong advocate of Victoria and her team, and as they have worked on four vehicles for him, that fact speaks volumes.

 

Many thanks to them and Keith for giving up vital holiday packing time to let us listen and learn about his journey to this point.

Motor Mods -  01242 679222