In today’s world of high-performance tuning, weight is a major concern. Enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars on lightweight wheels, replacement body panels, even seats. The goal of weight savings is improved power-to-weight ratio. By eliminating or replacing overweight components, you can take better advantage of your vehicle’s overall horsepower. In the past, it was common to rip out the interior of a vehicle—including the factory-installed audio equipment—all in the name of increased performance.
Those days of compromise are gone. With just a little preplanning, performance-car enthusiasts can benefit from the addition of aftermarket audio/video equipment while still maintaining a performance weight-savings diet.
Our Project E-46 was the perfect candidate for a lightweight audio/video upgrade. Our BMW was built to look great on the street yet perform on the track during weekend time-trial events. All of the suspension and brake components were upgraded to AC Schnitzer units.
Crowning the chassis is a set of lightweight 19-inch wheels. Inside, we replaced the factory seats with much lighter Cobra Daytona units. For improved performance, Dinan tweaks were made under the hood. The end result was an incredible-looking Euro capable of street or track duty. Still, we were missing something.
That something was an audio/video system. But for this modification to work within our street/track performance guideline, weight would have to be kept to a minimum. After speaking with the experts at The Good Guys in Laguna Hills, California, we developed a game plan and established a shopping list. All of the necessary equipment needed for our installation was ready and waiting on the shelf when we arrived.
Replacing the factory BMW cassette deck is Kenwood’s KVT-910DVD touch-screen AM/FM/CD/TV/DVD head unit. As with the dash, the doors were stripped of their BMW stereo equipment, and JL Audio’s XR525-CSi 5.25-inch/130mm two-way component speakers and programmable crossover networks were installed. Moving farther back, the package tray speakers were replaced with JL Audio’s 8IB4 Stealthbox, featuring dual 8-inch subwoofers housed in infinite-baffle enclosures. Last of all, JL Audio’s 300/4 amplifier was installed to power the entire system. Finishing touches on the system included a custom-crafted amplifier rack by The Good Guys and painted speaker enclosures by Body Pros.
The completed audio/video system offers improved listening enjoyment to handle the demands of everyday driving without upsetting driving pleasure or adding weight at the track. Follow along as we chronicle the installation by expert installers Robert Butler and Geoff Curtis from The Good Guys. And remember you, too, can have a performance car that sounds just as good as it looks.