To look at Chris Binns' BMW E30, you'd think it had never been touched. That's exactly the point.
His first E30 was a gift from a relative, until a persistent electrical fault saw it scrapped without his say. It took him around twenty years to get another. When he finally did, it came heavily modified, and Chris put a lot of time and money into returning it to stock.
Chris is a joiner by trade, and a musician in his spare time. He plays guitar and bass in four heavy metal bands, writing, recording, releasing and touring. He knows what music should sound like, because he's creating it. And like most musicians, he takes his early mixes out to the car to hear how they hold up in the real world.
In the E30, they didn't hold up well. The standard system couldn't come close to what he'd heard in the studio. For someone who spends his spare time shaping sound, that wasn't something he could live with.
A Google search for car audio upgrades led him to FOUR MASTERS Car Audio, who put him in touch with Source Sounds in Sheffield, a FOUR MASTERS partner that is highly regarded across the industry. His brief was simple, if not easy: proper sound, with no sign it was ever there. Nothing cut, nothing drilled, nothing to spoil the restoration he'd worked so hard on.
The E30 doesn't make that easy. The front speakers sit low down in the footwells, with no separate position for a tweeter. This is nothing new for Source Sounds, however. For years, they have helped customers get the best sound out of their cars. Chris enjoyed working with Source, who were attentive to what he wanted and knew both the car and the equipment inside out. They worked within the car's limits rather than against them. The speakers stay in their original positions, yet the sound comes from somewhere far higher. The amplifier and subwoofer are tucked out of sight in the boot, behind a wooden panel Chris built himself.
The stereo image is clear and right in front of you, wherever you sit, and the bass hits hard without drowning out the subtler details. That matters, because Chris's taste goes well beyond metal, into R&B, jazz and the odd bit of reggae. One of his current favourites to play in the car is Sade's Soldier of Love.
These days, when Chris takes a new mix out for a drive, the car finally gives him an honest representation of what he's made.
From the outside, it's a classic E30. Beyond the badge, it's the car he waited twenty years for, finally sounding the way he always heard it.
Chris's full feature, including the system in detail, is in Issue 13 of Driving Sounds. Follow this link to read.