Clean Machine

Sometimes it's literally a turn in the road or a wait at a stop light that turns ordinary drivers into car audio enthusiasts. Such was the case with Jimmy Mancias. I was driving a Toyota (back in the day) when a good friend came up behind me and started to jam, he recalls, with more than just a hint of misty-eyed nostalgia. Nineteen eighty-eight was nothing like it is today. Well put. That was all it took to inspire Jimmy to build a system in his Toyota so long ago and do a little jammin' of his own. Of course, there wasn't the wide variety of electronic equipment available then, and many enthusiasts had to use their own creativity with what was available. But that wasn't the only thing Mancias had to do without. As a young guy he didn't exactly have a lot of financial resources either. Thirteen years later, though, he has found himself with an award-winning, professional-grade mobile sound unit. However, it's not that life-changing Toyota - it's a beast of an entirely different kind.

With money to drop on a sports sedan, Jimmy was taken by the styling, performance, and comfort level of the 2000 Lincoln LS, optionally equipped with a robust 32-valve, 3.9 liter, V8 power plant. While plenty sporty, the Lincoln LS doesn*t make as much of a visual statement as, say, an E39 M5. But with the addition of chrome plated 18 x 8-inch Enkei wheels and z-rated tires, the car is plenty aggressive looking.

It is the tunes, however, that will blow any M5 away. If an M5 handles the corners with perfect finesse, this LS handles every octave with exacting playback and sonic impact. Careful speaker placement and tuning of each device ensures a tight system that has proven itself among the heavy hitters in the USACi Pro 601-Up class. In fact, it earned a fourth place finish in the 2001 USACi World Finals.

Of course, there was help getting the LS prepped for such a showing. Teckla Car Audio in Burnsville, Minn., knows what it takes to be competitive in the big leagues, which is exactly the kind of support Jimmy needed to get over the hump. Teckla has a host of award-winning installations under its belt and, considering that they are nearby neighbors to Jimmy's hometown of Proir Lake, Minn., it couldn't have been more convenient.

Laying a Foundation Without much time to spare (the car was purchased in March, 2001 and the USACi Finals were in November) the car was delivered to installers Josh Hansen and James Erdmann at Teckla for a complete strip-down. The entire interior was treated with Dynamat Extreme sound damping material. During the stripping down of the car, and while combing over every inch with sound treatment, the duo had a great opportunity to develop a mental picture of how the system could be put together. Every car has its own unique set of challenges and the Lincoln LS, even with its largish interior volume (more than the M5), would be no different.

This would also be a good opportunity for Mancias to keep close tabs on every step of the installation from the ground-up, as he would have to be keenly aware of every inch of it in order to get through a professional-class competition.

While ideas were developing, the crew continued its foundation-building with the pre-routing of wire and accessories. Power distribution and signal cable were fished through the car to designated locations. Monster Cable products were used exclusively for power and signal cable. To ensure the electrical system was up to the duty of powering a 1550-watt system the factory alternator was re-worked with a beefed-up stator. To make the best of this high-output alternator and reduce the chance of alternator noise, associated power and ground cable were upgraded as well. Taking the place of the spare tire are three Stinger SP1700 batteries isolated for audio duty only.

At this point it was becoming clear how the system would take shape, and steps were taken to get the thing back together. This would be no simple task, however, as this installation deviated greatly from the norm.

Totally Teutonic The LS doesn't have your typical American interior design - and that's a good thing! Sporting more of a German theme, if you will, the LS interior doesn't take on a generic Ford layout of overdone curves and cushion. Bearing that in mind, the cockpit would come together with clean, flat surfaces much like the original.

In doing so, a completely new console was fabricated out of fiberglass to accommodate an Eclipse 55090 in-dash DVD player. This high-tech deck is the current trend, acting as the main source of CD/CD-R/DVD and tuner - all in a DIN-sized package. Located below the deck are two LCD voltage meters keeping tabs on battery power. The thing that is most impressive about the dash installation is the custom trim for the deck and meters. The installers did a great job of not going overboard with flash and class. Instead, they went out of their way to create a look that wasn't foreign to the original interior. They also did a masterful job of recreating the original contour.

What looks like a speaker at first glance is actually two 10-amp place fuses with indicator lights on the left side of the center console, facing the passenger's door. This is a convenient location for head-unit fuses and a cool display to boot! Should a fuse pop, simply have your passenger remove the grille and snap in a spare. The judges love this feature. Further back on the console, below the armrest, are a series of toggle switches with indicator lights. Another convenience: the four switches power the rig up from one central location.

Up Front One might say the orientation of the front stage/speaker placement is experimental. However, it follows what the greatest have been suggesting (and doing) for years. Few seem to listen with the marked exception of Focal. With specially developed 50 subwoofers, the Focal 5WS is a long-excursion subwoofer designed for ported enclosures. How often do you go to a concert or theater and find speakers and sub-woofers behind you? You don't. So why should a car be any different? Well, space limitations make a car a challenge in terms of achieving audio accuracy.

Each door was graced with a pair of Focal 5WS subwoofers in a specially designed, ported enclosure. With dedicated amplification and lowpass crossovers the 5WS setup does more than just pull the low frequencies forward - they are the low frequencies. The coolest thing is that they are neatly stashed behind the factory speaker grille. For something that looks so simple to the unsuspecting eye, there is an awful amount of work that went into this door speaker installation.

There is a traditional, big-bass, trunk-mounted sub enclosure in this installation, but it is seen more than it is heard and can be remotely controlled by an MTX LSB1 remote turn-on processor. JL Audio 250/1 monoblock amplifiers power the door subs (one amp per door) while two JL Audio 500/1 monster monoblock amplifiers individually power JL Audio 12W7 12" woofers under the package tray.

Folding down the rear seat reveals the JL Audio 12W7 woofer cones mounted to a luscious, black, gel-coated enclosure. This enclosure, though used primarily for SPL competition, received its fair share of attention. Careful calculations to achieve optimum volume and tuning were critical to get the most out of what they have to offer. Calculations proved 1.3-cubic feet to be the magic number for internal enclosure volume, ported to nail a chosen, non-disclosed frequency. With the MTX black box, Jimmy can switch between the two sub-systems for SPL and SQ competitions.

So, where to put the midbass drivers? With the doors all tapped out, placement for a 6" mid-range speaker became a bit of a concern. Luckily, the Focal Audiom 6WS wide-range driver imaged best in a location that didn't compete with space at all. Mounted to the front of each front seat, the ambidextrous drivers face forward at an upward angle, canted slightly inward.

Hmmm. Could it be that they reflect off the windshield, complementing the A-pillar-mounted tweeters? If so, wouldn't this cause all kinds of phase problems? I don't see any kind of time correction/time alignment device in this installation, and the installers simply insist that this was the best imaging spot straight out of the box. Well let the SQ wins do the talkin'.

A more traditional mount is in the form of the tweeter installation. Focal TLR dome tweeters are installed in custom A-pillars fabricated of fiberglass and flocked with factory matching, uh, flock. Notice how the pillars are built out a bit to allow for some room to breathe on the backside. A single JL Audio 300/4 four-channel amplifier powers both tweeters and the oddly-mounted mid-range speaks.

One would assume a hoard of tuning equipment had to be employed to get a well-rounded front stage. However, the tuning equipment is minimal, consisting only of a Precision Power EDX-223 active crossover and DEQ-230 30-band equalizer. This suggests that speaker placement, while not the typical set-up, is quite good and that extensive electronic tuning is not needed. Quite the purist installation, as it turns out. Apparently it works very well since Jimmy and his crew at Teckla have been winning national-level competitions with their unique approach. Hats off to their creativity! Power Plant Pop open the trunk and prepare to be wowed. A crop of JL Audio amplifiers dominate - without distraction of peripherals - with all 1550 watts of glorious power. Deep black, gel-coated facades with acrylic covering the trunk make for one of the cleanest displays of amplification in the Midwest. With minimal processors to clutter the presence of power, the trunk is truly beautiful. All that shares the immediate area are requisite fuses mounted in Monster Cable M-Series fused distribution blocks. Additionally, small LCD displays note voltage and amperage levels. A touch of neon lighting puts the chrome-plated amplifiers on a podium in low light.

The bottom of the trunk lid has been completely re-worked to house a video display and tool kit. With the trunk lid fully open, an Accele 12" monitor is in your face. Built-in speakers prevent the sound from being all it could be, but the large monitor displaying images from the in-dash Eclipse DVD player kills down time when in lengthy judging lanes. Oddly enough, Mancias's LS is very modest in the multimedia department, but his tow vehicle, a Ford F-350, has won world-wide recognition for its elaborate multimedia system. Future plans, however, do include more on the MM tip.

This installation does a nice job of tying together highlights with factory elements. While the trunk is highlighted, it is not overdone. Same with the cockpit, where an actual sub-woofer enclosure is tucked behind factory door grilles. The systems function on the same level, where radical speaker placement is not masked by a long list of processors. He has been able to make things seem complex but operate simply.

Shop Box Teckla Car Audio 1717 West County, Rd. 42 Burnsville, MN 55306 (952) 898-1997