We love Dodge Challengers. The car is stunning, has a solid power train, and is an absolute blast to drive. As usual, the factory radio is lacking, even if you buy the “premium sound” option. We have designed multiple stereo systems in the new body style Challenger. One such Challenger was owned by a customer from Baltimore, MD. We are always honored to provide services for customers from Baltimore City, the home town of our Ravens! We were happy to take on another Challenger project.
This car had the OEM touch-screen in the dash, and the customer was happy with the features integrated in the original radio. In scenarios like this, it makes much more sense to leave the dash alone and design the new system around the factory radio. We use a vehicle specific interface for modern Chrysler vehicles that allows us to add aftermarket amplifiers and build a great system. Using this interface, we now had a high quality signal coming out of the factory radio to use for our aftermarket amplifiers.
We used JL Audio Slash Series amplifiers in this vehicle. The Slash amps are designed to outperform anything in their price range hands down. They deliver a very high quality sound, and have an endless amount of features. One advantage of using these amps is JL Audio’s patented R.I.P.S. (Regulated Intelligent Power Supply) technology. This allows the amp to maintain consistent power in an inconsistent world. There are many load impedances for speakers possible, and not every car has the same supply voltage available. The R.I.P.S. will make sure the same quality sound across the board. This is more important than you might think, as many amps out there produce a noticeably lower amount of power depending on the supplied power and the resistance of the speakers. We used the JL Audio Slash 500/1 and 450/4 amplifiers in this car. We built a rack for the amplifiers across the back of the rear seat and carpeted the mounting rack to match the fabric in the trunk area. As you will see in the attached photos, we installed a bass knob for the 500/1 in the compartment below the radio in front of the shifter. Now it was time to move on to what pieces the amps would energize!
This vehicle had factory component speakers in the front locations. This means it had a separate tweeter on top of the dash for high frequencies, and a woofer in the door for midrange sound. We decided to use German Maestro speakers. German Maestro is a premium audio brand founded by the some of the original management and lead employees of the German MB Quart enterprise in Obrigheim, Germany. They specialize in very high quality speakers and headphones. If you get a chance, check out their website to see everything they have to offer! We are an authorized dealer. In this vehicle, we chose the German Maestro Epic EV6508 components for the front locations. The Epic series is a speaker line that is redefining the standards of its class. There is a long list of technologies built into these works of art. One interesting feature is the patented MegaSphere design. This helps to overcome the frequent problem of bad staging and imaging in a vehicle due to poor factory speaker locations and bad geometry. In other words, many cars lose sound quality simply because of where the speakers are and in which direction they are angled. The MegaSphere technology allows for better radiation of sound and a more accurate delivery to your ear. It creates a 3-dimensional sound projection unmatched by any other speaker in its class. To truly understand the beauty of these components you need to stop by and listen to them! We have a set on display so you can experience their “epic” quality in person. We installed Concept CC6508 speakers in the rear locations for rear fill. The Concept series is a slightly lower line also made by German Maestro, but don’t let that fool you. The Concepts are still an enormous upgrade over any OEM speaker. To optimize the sound produced by all the speakers in this car we installed Hushmat ultra damping padding in the front doors, on the rear deck, and in the trunk.
For bass, we installed the JL Audio Stealthbox specifically designed for the Dodge Challenger. This enclosure is carpeted to match the trunk, and comes with a JL 12W3 subwoofer and custom fit grille. The Stealthbox delivers an impressive amount of bass while taking up very little storage space in the trunk. The access to the spare tire is unaffected by the enclosure. There is a tremendous amount of research and development time invested in each Stealthbox design. JL Audio engineers their Stealthboxes to each vehicle’s specific acoustic environment, maximizing output and performance.
Dodge Challengers are a great modern interpretation of a classic muscle car. The stereo in this particular Challenger now sounded as good as the car looked! We were able to tune this stereo to perform better than many high quality home stereo systems worth several times the amount this customer invested in his car. Who wouldn’t want to listen to great sounding music while taking a winding back road on a beautiful spring day? Stop by WSS at your convenience and let us give you a demonstration of all the stereo options we have available for your particular vehicle! We can make that hour-long commute a lot more bearable… Just think of how much time you actually spend in your car a week. WSS has the solutions to make that time spent much more enjoyable!
For more information, give us a call at 410-857-5300, EMAIL US, or just stop in and allow us to show you around!
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