We decided in the fall of 2003 to buy an exotic and install an awesome stereo in it. We figured that the only thing lacking in an exotic sports car was a stereo system to match the car’s performance. So we went shopping for an exotic. And we were led to this NSX. We had always loved the visual appeal and mystique of the NSX. It seemed to have classic lines. And of course the performance was incredible. But, just as we figured, the stereo was horrible. There were two front speakers and a single 2″ rear speaker and that was it.
What we did not realize at first was how challenging it was going to be to improve the stereo system and keep the integrity of the car. As many of you know, under the front hood is not a trunk, you can see straight through to the ground. The front area under the hood houses the radiator, the spare tire, and the battery. There is also no room behind the front seats, and the engine is right behind the front seats. So we made a fiberglass enclosure that installed deep into the passenger footwell to hold a JBL Power 10 subwoofer. We knew that would have plenty of clean output. Next we turned our attention to the doors to improve the mids and highs. If you have ever seen the doors in an NSX you will notice the speaker grilles actually face down and away from the listeners. We assumed this had to be just cosmetic, but no, the speakers in the door faced the same way. So we went inside of the door and created a baffle to aim a JBL C508GTI 5 ¼” component set the exact opposite direction of the original. The speakers in the drivers door are now aimed at the passenger and the speakers in the passenger door are aimed at the driver. We decided that the rear speaker idea was hopeless and just went with the three speakers total. We then built a custom amp rack in the rear trunk to hold a JBL BPX1100.1 1100 watt subwoofer amplifier and a JBL PX300.4 four channel amp bridged to a two channel and producing 300 watts to each door. We interfaced an Alpine 6 disc cd changer to the factory Bose radio and used an AudioControl EQL 13 band equalizer to interface the Bose radio to the JBL amplifiers. We used all Stinger wiring plus we installed a new Stinger battery under the hood and used two stinger capacitors in the rear trunk near the amplifiers. We installed Dynamat in all strategic areas, but as the car is made of aluminum it needed very little to solve rattle issues.
We would like to thank the following people for their help on this project:
- Jack James, head installer
- Chris Dragon, Joe Saraceno, and Jeremy Brenner from JBL
- Herb Brown and all the guys at Stinger Doug at Wheel Source for the Volk Wheels
- Rob from Toyo Tires
- And all my dedicated employees, Bill Viney, Jason McClanahan, Andrew Essman, and Mike Kropp
