If you're looking for a normal car hi-fi system that doesn't take up any space, sounds great and isn't too expensive, you'll find it here. We present the Fiat Tipo from David Prahl.

Behind every great car hi-fi installation is a person who came up with the idea, in this case David Prahl. At 31, David has already been in the industry for 15 years and is currently in the service of his boss and friend Freddy Pflug from ACR Traunstein. David already started his apprenticeship in the car entertainment industry, namely at Soundfactory Salzburg. As a seasoned installation specialist, he first wanted to have some sound in his own car, and secondly, he also wanted to fabricate a demonstrator for customers. The concept was very important.

The Tipo was not about demonstrating the humanly possible with sinfully expensive high-end, rather the goal was to get the most out of inexpensive components. The result is a hi-fi system that everyone can identify with and that even average earners can afford. Only a few compromises have to be made in terms of sound. David works with a passive front system instead of fully active, which of course greatly simplifies installation and programming of the sound processor and thus keeps costs down. The assembled hi-fi equipment comes to a good 2,000 euros, and for that you get a full-blown system with a lot of power and real thrust. Even the bass is not spared here, because the fun is supposed to be in the foreground.

Therefore, two full-grown subwoofers from Emphaser's Monolith series are used, which hang on their own bass power amplifier, namely the digital Emphaser EA-M1. Since the Tipo is a station wagon, no cargo space is lost, as there is plenty of room in the double bottom. There you'll also find the EA-M4X four-channel power amplifier, which is responsible for supplying the front and rear speakers, as well as the sound processor. For the only five channels, a very inexpensive DSP could be used; a Helix DSP Mini is completely sufficient for the control.

The tweeter of the front system moved to the mirror triangle for sound reasons

Matching the DSP, the remote control Conductor is installed in the front of the center console. Since it delivers signals in excellent HiRes quality despite the low price, the sound is in good hands. Both front and rear doors accommodate speakers in the standard 165 millimeter format, and so the obvious choice fell on the 16-compos from Emphaser's Monolith series that match the power amplifiers and subwoofers, which incidentally offer a great price-performance ratio.

Installation

When it came to installation, David made no compromises. Before installing the components, for example, he gave the Tipo extensive insulation. All doors and also the roof and trunk were given Alubutyl to quiet the car. A bass cabinet was then laminated into the spare wheel well, which was the most space-saving solution. On top of that, the two amplifiers and the sound processor easily found room. The cables weren't hidden shyly, but rather obviously installed as part of the presentation. David then paid special attention to the front system, which is so important in terms of sound. The woofers received a stable base with mounting rings and spatula, the tweeters were moved for sound reasons in the mirror triangles. Also handcrafted were tweeter mounts with appropriately angled tweeters, which were adapted to the interior for visual appeal. Finally, David treated himself to a remote control for the system with the Conductor, which matches the Helix processor and was wonderfully integrated into the Tipo's center console. The last step was the calibration via microphone including sound tuning according to personal taste.

There were no real problems with the installation: "When you've been at it for 15 years, you already know the cars," says David, and you can imagine his grin. "Of course, you have to make sure that the Tipo has a diagnostic circuit with speaker detection, but there are suitable components on the market for that." The only thing that was a bit tricky was routing the cables through the car and into the engine compartment, since thick, high-quality cables are installed and not hidden thin strands. "If you build a cover plate and hide everything underneath, that's always a bit of cheating in my eyes - for me it was important that my cabling is also nice where you don't see it immediately."

Conclusion

In this Tipo, David has installed a HiFi system that is comprehensible and that offers his personal sound. The customers of ACR Traunstein obviously like it, so the goal is achieved.