Bentley Arnage R

Combining a Great Car with the Right System Design

A great car doesn't go out of style. And neither does a great install. Put the two together and you have an eternal classic. Contributor Adam Douglas elaborated on that when he wrote about this Bentley Arnage R back in late 2005: "When it comes to the finer things in life, you really do want to leave well enough alone. It's no surprise that the best Scotch -- single blends, naturally -- should be enjoyed neat, on their own. Likewise filet mignon. To add steak sauce to an already savory cut of beef would be borderline sacrilege. The same holds true for adding sound to a Bentley Arnage R -- any Bentley really, but a 2005 Arnage R is what Competition Soundworks had on its job list. How did they fulfill the owner's expectations -- tight sound, lots of bass -- without diminishing the vehicle's class? Like with scotch, they kept it neat." The point is you don't mess with a good thing; that is, unless you know what you're doing. And part of knowing what to do is, first, understanding in depth what you have and, second, designing something that is complementary to it. That's what you call "concinnity".



This install was designed and executed by our tech editor Chris Yato (assisted by Ouki Nakamura, Chad Kiersey) when he was with Competition. Unfortunately the well-known and highly respected shop is longer in business, but Chris continues to fabricate at Five Axis in Socal. Back then as now, he maintained a strict standard for install excellence, which is absolutely necessary on a vehicle of this stature (and one that has such a high price tag).



Take a look inside. The Bentley interior is a thing of beauty, a work of art. So at first glance the head unit, which protrudes from the factory location, may seem out of place. Look again. The high-tech face of the Alpine IVA-D310 contrasts nicely with the old-world luxury surrounding it, and creates a complement to the factory navigation screen, inset into the dash above the center panel. The simplicity of the head unit's placement -- that of the factory location -- belies a tricky installation. Special mounting brackets, made with 1/8" and 1/16" ABS plastic, primered and painted with satin black paint for a factory appearance, were fabricated to slightly push the unit out from the panel so it would clear the factory fold down door. Should you be curious, the factory navigation unit was relocated and hidden to make room for the head unit.



Providing sound source for the head unit is a CHA-S634 CD changer, housed in the trunk of the vehicle. To further expand sound source options, a KCA-410c Multi-changer adaptor, and a KCA-420i iPod adaptor were added.



This Bentley is reserved in the video department. In fact, Chris to stay with the factory video system (for the time being). The factory-equipped Alpine TME-M770 rear head set monitors receive signal from the likewise factory-equipped Alpine TCS-V430A tuner/AV controller, which is housed in the trunk. What was added was an Alpine DHA-S680 DVD changer, occupying space in the trunk next to the CD changer (more on these later). Panasonic wireless headphones are on hand to encourage rear-passenger privacy.

To facilitate the sound stage, Competition Soundworks dropped a pair of Boston Acoustics Z6 component sets (6 1/2" mid, 1" tweeter) into the front door kick panel factory locations. Into the rear doors were placed two Boston Acoustics Pro 60 component sets, also in the factory locations. As the adage goes, don't mess with success.



It was in the trunk where the real work took place. The DVD and CD changers were mounted flush in the panel that separates the back seat from the trunk area, just above the umbrella racks. Certainly a touch of class. Directly below that, mounted into the floor of the trunk, are the three amps, although only two are visible from the top. Running the subwoofers are two Audison VRx1.500's, peeking up from the floor, and, below them, a hidden Audison VRx4.300 powering the door speakers. The amp rack was fabricated using 1/2" square steel tube, with 1/8" x 1-1/4" mounting legs. It was welded together. Mounting points for the amps were made using rivet nuts and 8-32 alloy steel hardware for structural integrity. An Alumapro 5-farad capacitor was mounted directly beneath the sub amps. Audison MAC2 cooling fans are connected to each subwoofer amplifier to ensure proper cooling.



The first subwoofer system the team came up with -- four 10" subs in sealed enclosures -- could only manage 119 dB, as measured from the back seat. It was decided that the solid metal partition between trunk and back seat was the culprit. To remedy the situation, six oval slots were made in the partition to increase air passage to the front cabin without sacrificing the structural integrity of the car. Switching to ported enclosures and woofers with much higher power handling capacity, loading the woofers in the rear of the trunk area, and then doubling the power to the subwoofer system allowed the team to achieve 130 dB and a much smoother bass frequency response.



The new subs, two Rockford Fosgate Power Series T210D4 dual 4-ohm subwoofers, were each mounted in a dual slot-ported 1.5 cu. ft. enclosure made of MDF and fiberglass. The side was molded using fiberglass to maximize the air space in the spare tire well—which, as luck would have it, had a net volume of 3.0 cu. ft. The woofers were placed in separated cabinets with a center brace for strength. Lastly, the trunk was matched to the rest of the interior. A Bentley badge was added as well.

Rounding out the install are an Odyssey PC1200 battery to complement the car's main battery and a100-amp Bussman circuit breaker, both placed under the hood. Monster Cable was employed for all interconnect and power lines.

Special thanks should be extended to Frederico Ferreria, Matthew De Anda from Bentley of Beverly Hills, and Kyle Franey from Alpine Electronics.