Audio2Music: Great Britain; a Special Place

Great Britain has as very special place in my heart. It was by chance that I went to work there and it was wonderful to see the Brits open their arms to me.

I really didn't know anything about England, so the arrangement was simple. I would get an airplane ticket there and back, a place where to stay for a month, food and transportation but no pay. In exchange, I would show my ability to bring value to Car Audio Products while making sure that the prearranged salary would be enough to live there comfortably. If I liked it and they liked me, I would stay. It was a low risk arrangement between my potential employer and I.
Outside of knowing they would speak English, I had no other expectations about the United Kingdom. But oh, what a wonderful place I found and how magnificent their people.
I got a chance to see how uniquely individual and innovative the Brits are. The fact that they live on an island separated from the rest of Europe suits them quite well. They are European, but not quite so. They operate one of the most sophisticated economies in the world but in a unique way. While most of the world designs cars where your left hand hangs out the driver's window, the Brits do so for the right hand; perhaps because that's where a proper knight would carry its fighting lance. While historically great countries like France folded as soon as German tanks rolled over the border, Great Britain stood its ground after the largest and most insane bombardment any country has ever experienced.
Yes, Britons are quite special. Their confidence and a strong sense of identity means that they are hardly bullied. So when loud Americans show up to their shores to treat them as inferior, things are sure to go amiss. As soon as I landed in London, I began to hear about all the other Americans who preceded me. I heard about the many who pretentiously went there to educate the residents. I also heard about the reality check these poor souls went through. The Brits happen to be extremely creative master-craftsmen who can take on any installer anywhere. Never confuse their politeness as a sign of weakness.

Thankfully I'm everything but pretentious. The many who know me can attest to that. Yes, I play hard, but I always let the results speak for themselves. If I lose, I learn my lesson. If I win, I share the pleasure with others. So, when the industry people realized that I was not a typically boastful American, they warmly opened their hearts. They adopted me. In fact, my ability to perpetually wear shorts during even the coldest days made me an honorary Scott; you know, those guys that wear the skirt-looking kilts with no underwear while in battle as a way to intimidate opponents.
To this day, the strong ties I built remain robust. Paul Richardson, the guy I built the van with, calls me every time he comes down to Florida to take his kid to Disney parks. So we spend time together quite often. Besides having an incredible family, Paul is a great guy.
When we built the van together, I knew people would start picking apart what I did from what he did. The van was so revolutionary that it was natural for people in England to doubt that one of their own was responsible for it. But the truth is that I learned as much from Paul as he did from me. Yes, he did more of some things, while I did more of others. But we told people who asked that Paul did the left side of the van while I did the right side. "Draw a line down the middle of the van" we told anyone who asked. We simply refused to let anyone separate our work. As far as we were concerned, we worked equally hard throughout the whole process of creating this masterpiece.
The fact that I gave Paul so much respect for his hard work made everyone in the industry see that I was not the typical American. I was the brother of an Englishman. And that is how I want to remember it all. The United Kingdom is my home for me to visit my family whenever I am in the area. I'm endlessly thankful to the Brit nation.

By the way, fell free to read the previous articles about this van:

Following is yet another article about the van. This time, though, it is the super successful Max Power Magazine doing the honors. Enjoy!

Max Power Magazine December 1997
ICE CARS
Demolition Van
Words: Proby
Photos: Fly

This van is so loud it can turn a beautiful

stone house into a pile of unsightly rubble

Take one ICE install into the sound off? Not anymore, why don't you take three and demolished the opposition?
This van is it. It's the end. After featuring this we may as well not featured another Pro ICE install ever again. This is the ultimate in ICE and I doubt anyone will have the time or cash to do it all again. I read the spec sheet and it all became clear...
'At the outset, we wanted to create the ultimate van. A huge budget was fixed in a time limit set. As the project moved on, we blew the budget and forgot about time.'
This van is everything you could ever want from ICE on wheels. It's a boomin' SPL contender, but it's got a slappin' sound quality (SQ) install and it's got a system to make your mouth water when you're cruisin'. Three systems in one van? You might think I'm taking a piss, but oh no.

The two stars of the show are installed tricksters Alberto and Paul. They put it all together —first using the might of hammers, welding torches and angle grinders and then with the finesse of magnifying glasses, watchmakers tools in the steadiest hands in the bizz.
This van has the ability to demolish your bowels with its deepest SPL spank and yet delight you with the clear tones of SQ.

Let's start with the sound quality install. The system is mounted into the Yank tank's floor and has a total of six speakers —a pair of tweeters, a pair of 5in mids in a pair of centrally mounted 8in bass speakers. These are all Eton components, but some have been modified —like the tweeters, which had been stripped and had the internals drilled to smooth out the airflow and then stuck back together for the ultimate sound. At the extreme, but then you have to listen to the damn thing to realize how well it works. I sat and listened to Yellow—The Race and he felt like I was there, in the studio, listening to the guys recording the whole thing.

There's so many mods to this van, we could spend a whole issue just talking about it. Tricks like using multiple wires to pump sound to the speakers actually work and reduce noise. The cooling system for the rear amp racks blow more like our air conditioning at the height of summer.
The perspex speaker mounts for the SQ system are unbelievable and are completely perfect and blemish free. I've seen install guys have more trouble with vinyl and these guys had with this inch thick perspex.

And what about that power supply? Running four 1200W amps for SPL is going to draw more current than a bumper episode of Coronation Street. You won't be surprised to learn that he took 7 hefty blokes to lift the battery rack into position. Even then, it was only lifted about three inches at a time, using bricks to hold it up. Jeeze. Sadly, we can talk about all the details, so you'll have to trust me to pick out the best parts. Hey, trust me!
You could be easily excuse for losing the head unit. That's 'cos there isn't one, not in one piece anyway. That Fujitsu Ten unit was stripped, slaughtered a mounted all over the van's cabin. Sure, the display is behind the perspex panel in the dash, but the CD player itself (just the mechanism and the gubbins) is practically in the floor. Tiny cables have been attached to the controls and, via a set of relays, control the unit through the armrest-mounted panel. This itself has been screen-printed with a host of it easy-read symbols. It's all designed for ease of use, but changing a CD on the move could end in tears as you have to bent double.

The SPL content of this van is extreme. Pact between the front seats and the rear battery rack are 16 of Earthquake's LS-15 subs. These are mounted in a twin-diamond arrangement and are activated by a the massive bank of dash-mounted switches, while four 1200W Lanzar amps pump up the volume to a head-splitting level.
To activate SPL mode you have to set the van up. Strap on the screen bars, lock down the doors, plug-in the external head unit and equalizer and it's time to step back. Boom? Damn right it does. It booms enough to make the alarms on cash machines go berserk, and that normally takes an attack from JCB. When the police turn up a couple and start asking questions, the demolition van switches from SPL to SQ and stealthily slides away. A class act.

Ice Spec
In-Car Entertainment's ICE Van

System Diagram

SOUND SOURCE: SQ and Cruisin' systems —Fujitsu Ten CD/tuner stripped and dispersed around the dash with external switching; SPL system—external Alpine 7909 (yes, a real old 7909) CD/tuner with Hifonics Callisto EQ, all mounted in a drum stool (Eh? —JS)

AMPLIFICATION: SQ and Cruisin' systems —2x modify the Earthquake class 'A' 2x30W amps; SPL system—4x Lanzar OPTi-50c.

PROCESSORS: Some

SPEAKERS: SQ system —2x modify Eton tweeters, 2x Eton 5in mids,2x Eton 8in subs; Cruisin' system —15x Lanzar tweeters, 8x Earthquake 5in mids; SPL system —16x Earthquake LS-15 subs

CABLES: Stinger cables throughout the system

POWER SUPPLY: Switchable twin alternator system to feed the front and rear battery racks as necessary

CAP: lots

INSTALLED BY: Tricksters Paul and Alberto

NICE IN STILL BITS: The microwave switching sensors, the Kenlowe fan for the ventilation system, the Chevy engine, the perspex, the tits on the side of the van... Basically, the whole damn thing is bad as bad can be

PERFORMANCE: Well what do you think, huh?

THANKS AND FREE PLUG: Paul and Alberto for a magnificent install; Mark at In-Car Entertainment on 0181 743 5533