Ferrari 575M Case Study – Upgrading the audio system to match the car

This is a 2003 Ferrari 575M Maranello, front-engine, rear-wheel drive grand tourer with a V12 engine. The owner of this beautiful modern classic, Jeff, left it in our hands with no time constraints attached, asking us to have a look at what audio upgrades we could make to take this factory sound system from underwhelming, weak audio to a “high-end car, premium sound system to match.”

But, let’s rewind and start from the beginning so we can understand the full picture. This customer heard about us through word of mouth, after his step son had a reversing camera installed on his Mercedes A-Class with us just a few months prior. After seeing the wide variety of audio kits that we offer, and watching some of our install videos on YouTube, Jeff decided he needed the AIC treatment for his 575M.

Jeff explained that the audio sounded muffled and boomy, particularly when cranking up the volume. Additionally, he struggled with the user interface of the head unit. Needless to say, he was unimpressed with this set-up and needed our help to find a solution.

On Monday 13th April, Meridien Modena, an official Ferrari dealer based in Lyndhurst, dropped the car down to us after having some general maintenance work done. The vehicle rolled out of the back of their trailer and right into our workshop, ready for us to start on its audio transformation!

The team got straight to work, carefully stripping out the car’s interior, including the passenger seat, glovebox and surrounding trim, to take a look at what was going on beneath the surface. Here’s what we found:

• • Audison 5” front component speakers 

• • Audison 5” rear coaxial speakers

• • Hertz active subwoofer behind the passenger seat

• • Blaupunkt head unit / radio

Rich, our workshop manager, produced a report detailing our observations and what we would suggest installing that would suit the needs of the car as well as the preferences of the owner. We listed off some audio upgrades and Jeff was happy to proceed with the following recommendations:

• • Morel Elate Carbon Pro 5.25” component speakers

• • 8” Audison APS 8 R subwoofer in a custom carpeted sub box behind the passenger seat

• • Audison Forza m8.14 bit processor/ amplifier to power the system and allow it to be fully tuned

• • Sound deadening material applied to the doors (Stage 2 outer door skin Comfort Mat 2.5mm Vespa and Comfort Mat 15m Soft Wave)

• • Pioneer SXT-C10PS retro style single din audio receiver

 

Once we had the green light, we continued with the install.

We removed the driver and passenger door cards, placing them on our trestle in order to unscrew and remove the Audison door speakers. These are kept safely out of the way and returned to the customer upon vehicle collection. Also on the door cards was a patchy layer of noise absorber material, which we promptly removed to make way for our sound treatment to be applied. We then heated, firmly pressed and rolled the Vespa sound deadening mat generously across the door card, firming it up significantly.

Next, we carefully removed the Blaupunkt head unit, Hertz four-channel amp, Hertz subwoofer and the Audison Prima speakers that were fitted in the doors, ready for the new kit to go in.

Then, the retro Pioneer SXT-C10PS was placed in the head unit position, fitting in perfectly with the modern-classic style of the car itself. This provided a more suitable source for the new audio build, while simultaneously offering improved usability for the customer.

Next, the Audison Forza m8.14 processor/amplifier was fitted underneath the passenger seat and all the necessary cabling connected and neatly arranged. With DRC providing convenient control over the system, the processor allowed us to fully tune each individual element, meaning we could get the very best performance from every component.

As for the speakers, we fitted the Morel Elate Carbon Pros to the now sound-treated doors, which perform and look incredible. The Elate Carbon Alto tweeters were mounted in the lower kick panels, and tuned with the processor to create a fantastic soundstage experience in the front of the car.

We decided on keeping the existing Audison 5″ Prima coaxial speakers already in the back, but applying both 2.5mm sound deadening and 15mm noise absorber in the surrounding speaker pods. With this added to give them a better environment to perform in, as well as the power and tuning from the amplifier, these little speakers were now able to keep up with the rest of the new bespoke audio package.

Our next step was to create a custom enclosure for the subwoofer, which Rich constructed using MDF and carpeted with the closest material we could find to the OEM Ferrari interior, so as to look as in keeping as possible. The single-voice-coil Audison subwoofer was then mounted into the enclosure and positioned behind the passenger seat, controlled by the “DRC AC” installed on a custom carpeted panel on the centre console, which allows the subwoofer gain to be independently controlled.

Finally, the car was put back together, as if it had never been taken apart.

The result is a V12 premium grand tourer that now boasts a sound system of equal calibre – with bespoke, top-of-the-range equipment meticulously combined to produce clean, punchy and rich audio that lights up the inside of the car. An audio system finally worthy of this beautiful modern classic.

Click the link on the image below to watch our YouTube video on this awesome install!

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