Hey guys my name is Benjamin Thompson, I own a small, discreet custom car audio/fabrication shop in Auburn. I have 20+ years of install experience along with my partner Bryan Zielinski we have 30+ years in design and install experience. We both came from an internationally known high-end retailer in the Seattle/Bellevue area. We decided to start our own business and called it Ben’s Car Audio, specializing in higher end applications and customer service.We look forward to the higher end vehicles and the more demanding customer. We dedicated ourselves to our demanding clientele and have built a rapidly growing business. As we enter our 3rd year of existence, we are seeing many of our previous customers come to us for upgrades or to simply see what is new and refer us their friends and families. I have seen a huge spike in my business. For this I am very grateful.

I own 2004 Crossfire, Black with Slate interior, #14282. Very soon this car will become our companies showpiece and demo vehicle. We strive to alter vehicles as little as possible, while installing the most current and up to date product and technologies available.

I have seen a ton of threads and posts wondering what can be done or how to do things in our cars. Please feel free to email or call Bryan or me at anytime. Thank-You.







Benjamin Thompson

Owner/Installation

Ben’s Car Audio

253-931-1950

barbwirebenjamin@aol.com

“Anything less, is just like everyone else”



Bryan C. Zielinski

Design/Sales

Ben’s Car Audio

253-931-1950

bryanzielinski@msn.com

“Anything less, is just like everyone else”







Ben’s Car Audio

3040 B ST NW #16

Auburn, WA. 98001

253-931-1950---shop

253-931-1939---fax

 

Welcome Ben!

 

Welcome Ben ... Since you are in the business, and own a crossfire, have you expirimented with the speakers in the door? I 'm curious as to how to remove the speakers in the door. Does the whole door panel need to be removed or can you simply remove the speaker grill trim ring to access the speaker? I'm considering replacement but do not want to break anything in the process. Also, when you mention high end ... what are some of the brands you sell (ie: dynaudio, McIntosh ... etc). Thanks in advance!

 

I thought you car guys might like this. A 1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS w/ a 350 Ramjet. We are doing about 18k worth of work to it. It is under construction in the shop as we speak.

New headunit and 8 disc changer
MBQuart speakers front and rear
Rockford Fosgate 4 channel
Rockford Fosgate 1 channel
A single 12" Rockford sub
Sound deadening entire interior of the car
Custom kick pods in front
Custom back deck
Installing power door locks and windows
Custom amplifier rack
5 farad capacitor
Custom upper dash modifications
New carpet kit
Custom metal work in trunk along with ultra suede trim out panels
New door panels
Custom interior trunk lid cover w/ embossed logo
We are using Black Onyx and Grey Ultra suede to the interior to match the paint


We love all cars, I can see from many of your posts that most of you guys do too. So I can share some of the stuff we do, if you guys want. We get to work on some really cool stuff and I have tons of pictures.

 

Hey Benjamin Thompson & Bryan Zielinski,


We both came from an internationally known high-end retailer in the Seattle/Bellevue area.


Was that company Car Toys?

Regards,

 

At one point we both worked at Car-Toys yes. We most recently (2.5 years ago) left Innovative Audio in Bellevue, Wa.

 

Ben,

Are you going to CES this year?

I am there the entire week for my company.

 

Sandman, This is Bryan. We will both be in Vegas for the show. CES and the other one. What company do you work for? I would love to get together and talk shop and buy you a beer.

 

My thinking as well:

Audio Explosion
8968 Brookville Road
Silver Spring,MD 20910
dgray@audio-explosion.com
(301) 495-0964

 

Hi Ben!

Auburn WA? YAY !!

It's great to see somebody in the general Seattle area.

I got my Upsolute chip tuning done be Bahn Brenner Motosport in Auburn, they did great work. (http://www.bahnbrenner.com/)

My Real question is:

If I bring in a Pioneer AVIC-N1 system in the box to you. How much would a reversable installation in my 2004 Crossfire cost?

 

We just did one in another local Crossfire, email Bryan or call him he will go over all the details. Thanks.......



Bryan C. Zielinski
206-679-6494
bryanzielinski@msn.com

 

Ben, I have currently installed 2 10' kicker cvr in the crossfire. Needless to say the thump like hell in there but in your opinion which direction is best to point the speakers.

 

There is a way to use a small woofer in an enclosure to determine that. The idea is to use a real time analyser to observe changes in bass performance while using "pink noise" as a source. At that point you just close up the vehicle and test various woofer placements- a lot of work and some expensive equipment- second option, fire it up and drive around with the box facing different directions. Use the placement that sounds best to you! A couple of things to guide you, (a) always try to have all woofers and all ports on the same plane(avoids phasing issues) (b) most hatchback type vehicles work better with the woofers facing the tail(helps to create or lengthen a horn effect)

Hope this helps, Ben

 

Ben, is there a way to lessen the sound of the hatch vibrating? I currently have the speakers facing the cabin becase of the sick rattle. I put some weather strip between the glass and the interior panel to the hatch which did help. I would appreciat any advice.

 

Bass induced rattles can range from the very simple to remedy to the very complex. The first thing to check is the air pump & other stuff under the carpet in the back, mine rattled untill we put some foam tape on it. The standard method to chase down noises is to put in a frequency sweep type cd, turn on the system and play through the bass tracks untill you find one that causes a rattle to light up. At that point stick your head back there and locate the source. Once you know what's rattling you can attack each rattle individually. This method is less expensive than using noise reduction material all over. Don't get me wrong - noise reduction is usually a good idea , but covering everthing and hoping you find the offender may not work.

Ben
p.s. If you cant find a "frequency generator" type cd just find some music that causes the rattle and set repeat.(maybe some techno)

 

Ben,
HAve you actually installed the system in the xfire yet? I have the 04 model, not a convertible and want a harder hitting bass and better looking face plate, any ideas?
Thanks,
Brenna

 

Brenna, this is Bryan from Ben's Car Audio. We have done a Pioneer AVIC-N1 in a 2004 Xfire. We laso did a pretty hardcore alarm with tilt/motion senors and battery back up siren. We did a Bel radar/laser detector w/ diffusers. The Xfire was undectable to the radar and the laser.

We have located factory amps, and factory speakers sizes. We have not done the installation on ours yet. We are going to start the build after the CES show in January. We will take lots of pics and post them. As for your system, they are many different ways to go, depending on a couple of different things.

1. Budget
2. Looks
3. Sound Quality

Feel free to IM me or call, I can kind of guide you through the sales/design process and get you squared away. Depending on where you live I am sure we can find someone good to get you install done.

Bryan C. Zielinski
Ben's Car Audio
253-931-1950

 

I've had mine installed with diamond 300's amps and subs, speaker pods, neon glowlights and upgraded my stereo with Alpine CDA 9831 and KCA 420i to control my iPod. Check out my picture gallery.

 

What would you recommend for a simple head unit replacement with MP3, WMA and a factory look? WHat about a NAV system upgrade? Is there a simple single DIN solution?

 

Ward_Osborne,

As for a simple din unit try the new 05 pioneer/premier headunits. I am not at work I will post the model number or numbers when I get to work. For a quick suggestion the
DEH-P960MP would go very nice.

As for nav all the ones I saw at the CES show were black. But for my suggestion the Pioneer AVIC-N2 is my unit of choice.

But what price ranges are on looking in?

Regards,
Sandman


Try searching for this unit: DEH-P770MP (PREMIER) This unit is my favorite for looks in the crossfire.