This is the car that during the 2003 show season became known as "ULTIMATE STEALTH", picking up 1st place in the inaugral Dutch EMMA Contest at 6 Flags and ending the year crowned 2nd Rookie Unlimited Class SQ and Installation in the Dutch Finals./PPI have now sold the car and the system''s been removed. However, I''m leaving this on SYS as a showcase and legacy - a guide to how Boyd''s of Purmerend created ULTIMATE STEALTH.

Well let me cut through the bullshit and bravado to explain that this showcase shows every step-by-step move by the Masters of Dutch ICE, BOYDS, Purmerend in transforming my car from this to ...

... this, just a "standard" big Volvo station wagon with a puppy-proof load liner?

With the puppy-proof load liner removed. It''s still just a BIG Volvo load space. But is it? Look closely, VERY closely!

Think again! When the weekend arrives and it''s time to go out to ''play'' ... it''s out with the load liner and remove the two snug fitting, carpeted MDF protective covers from the back and ...

... you''re presented with THIS! Around 2,000 watts RMS of extremely High-end XTANT Sound System (Surely one the most precise Car Audio Electronics Marques in the World!) in a car that can now proudly be called "ULTIMATE STEALTH by TEAM BOYD''S". Completely trimmed-out in Anthracite Alcantara (matching the Alcantara of the Volvo''s interior PERFECTLY). and paying homage to the system builder, the BOYD''S logo expertly-embroidered in the centre of the instal. ULTIMATE STEALTH? Most definitely! PURE CLASS? Oh! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Sit back, relax, enjoy the show and, please, remember to cast a SENSIBLE vote. ;-)...

Would you trust a man attempting to build himself a Porsche Polo?!!! Well, for the instal in the Volvo I had to! I had neither the time, nor the expertise to instal such a high-end system myself, so please meet Handyman aka Coerd, TEAM BOYD''S Member, BOYD''S Chief Installer and International Member of Team Zapco. What follows is the sequence of events detailing the transformation of the Volvo into a stunning sounding "stealth" car, able to excite the listener, yet also transport the Monsters we lovingly call Atka and Bear around. Enjoy the experience as you go on a step-by-step guide to "ULTIMATE STEALTH - The Installation" ...

Coerd carefully drills through the firewall of the Volvo''s engine bay to allow the two "0" gauge power cables to enter the car.

Note the use of rubber grommets to ensure that the cables don''t rub against the car''s metal work, creating a potential fire hazard. Also note the use of an outer-cable covering to ensure against heat damage.

Entering the cabin space, you can clearly see the two rubber grommets protecting the cables. At this stage great care is taken to route the cables away from any potential impairment of the brake pedal.

Coerd carefully cuts away the undercarpet to allow the two cables to sit flush under the carpet when replaced. No lumps and bumps in this car then!

The mass array of cables that have been routed from front to back; the interconnects, main power cables, the head unit dedicated power cable, remote cable, speaker cables for the tweeter and mid-range components and thicker speaker cable for the front mid-bass drivers.

The installation of the Alpine F#1-Status CDA-7990R Head Unit. In the run-up to the Dutch EMMA Finals in Utrecht, the F#1 Status was taken out of the car and sent away to Alpine''s Service Guys, as it had been skipping a wee bit and the Bio-lite display was also a wee bit dimmer than it ought to have been. It returned to BOYD''S with a complete new CD mechanism (!) and a new Bio-lite display ... now THAT''S what I call service!

So here we go with an overview of the fitting of an F#1 Status head unit. One thing to note from this shot is the mega-pro Monster cable interconnects fitted to the unit.

And here we see Coerd wiring up the seperate DC-DC Converter that comes with the F#1 Status.

Seperating out the Interconnects, CD Changer Lead, Power Supplies, etc. then ...

... starting to hook everything up ...

All hooked-up, Coerd carefully starts feeding the wires back before placing the CDA-7990R back into it''s cage.

And finally the DC-DC Converter is placed under the dashboard. JESUS!!! It''s dusty under there! ;-) Don''t worry though folks, we DID wipe it clean before tie-wrapping the DC-DC Converter up against a crossbrace and replacing the cover.

Here we see the busy hands of Coerd and Patrick at work. Wiring up the massive wafer fuses that will feed the power to the rear.

And a close up of the front grounding point, which, courtesy of a Dremel Mini-drill has been cleared of all paint in order to ensure a clean grounding point.

The Heart and Soul of all car audio systems, the battery. Here we see the largest semi-traction battery ever shoehorned into a Volvo in place. Coerd fabricated a plexiglass cover to mount the two massive Dietz wafer fuses, which is then sprayed black to match the car and fed with the 0 gauge (50mm) power cables from the Stinger Expert Series Battery Clamps. Note the careful use of heat protective cable shrouds, extra protective battery clamp covers and the (Very!) important warning sticker that my girlfriend, Dianne designed "EXTREME CAUTION!!! These leads are connected to Power capacitors at the rear of this vehicle. DO NOT allow these leads to make contact with the vehicle under ANY circumstances." The system''s up-and-running!

And, onto the next job. The subwoofer enclosure. Out with the spare wheel, tyre jack, etc. and ...

... first step - Taping the entire area to protect the paintwork and then with the addition of ...

... polyester and fibreglass matting, the spare wheel well starts looking like ...

... this! Several layers are applied and are allowed to dry thoroughly, before Coerd attempts to remove the rigid polyester mould ...

Easier said than done! The polyester is sticking to the tape which itself is bonded to the paint work! An hour of pushing, pulling, coercing and, as illustrated below, trying to blow it out with a high-pressure airline later and the remedy is found! Filling an empty Coca Cola bottle with water and pouring it between the mould and the tape and, Hey Presto! ...

Minus the tape and water, the mould is dropped back in and fits like a glove. What makes this extra special is our estimate that it''s somewhere between 70 and 75 litres. Exactly the recommended volume by Xtant for the X1244 in a sealed enclosure. This is going to be one hot sounding system, no doubt about it. End of Day One!

Day Two of the Mean Machine instal. Coerd lines up the two Xtant X1244 Aluminium Hexagonal Subwoofers and realises that these are two mighty heavy muthas! A lot of effort is going to be needed to strengthen and brace the sub enclosure if it''s going to survive!

It''s such a shame that the instal we planned won''t allow this side if the subwoofers to be seen. :-( This is what makes Xtant subwoofers such a high-end brand; rock-solid engineering, sublime sound quality and massive magnets Coerd suggests that we cut out a panel under the floorpan of the car, put in plexiglass and position mirrors on the ground under the car so that they can be seen at SYS meetings! Shock! Horror! He IS serious! But, then again, what can I expect from a man who drives a Polo with Porsche 928 wheels! ;-) Nice idea Coerd ... Next!!!

The bracing and reinforcing begins with Coerd putting together and glueing-and-screwing an MDF crossbrace and central support, before ...

... fitting it into the sub enclosure and then ...

... clamping it in place, before reinforcing the whole structure with even more polyester.

The Sub Enclosure! Which Coerd covers with dampening material on the outside ...

And, of course on the inside.

The base MDF panel is cut to fit the boot shape, before going back to our old friend ...

Now, last week I told you that we''d worked out a way to fit all the Xtant bits and pieces into the boot space and ... Here we go! Conservatively rated at 1560 Watts RMS (although probably closer to between 2000 - 2100 Watts RMS!!!) this is going to be mind blowing.

Ever the perfectionist, and with a keen eye for detail (A Boyd''s Trademark!), Coerd calculates the height of each component, before cutting mounting plinths, so that when the rear instal is finished, the Xtant Amplifiers and the Crossover will be at exactly the same height.

Out of the car and on their tailored plinths we see the rear end taking shape. End of Day Three, but stay tuned. There''s much, Much, MUCH more to come.

Day Four of the instal. Having already given the rear plinth a stunning textured paint effect (shame it doesn''t show up in theses photos), Coerd starts wiring up the rear. Firstly laying the speaker cables for the subs and sealing the speaker cable holes to ensure an air-tight sub enclosure.

Then starts to add the electronics. Here you see the Xtant D-Class X1000D Bass Amp Partnered by its dedicated Dietz 1 Farad Stiffening Cap with Digital Voltage Display.

Just a close up of part of the electronic hook-up that Coerd has embarked upon on Day Four.

And the larger picture. Note to the bottom right of the photo the other capacitor, which will not be seen in the final show set-up. Look closely and you''ll see it''s from the limited-edition SYS range! :-) This is dedicated to providing the power to the Xtant 2150c amplifier on the right that will be driving the front mid-bass drivers. The coverless Xtant amplifier (again a 2150c) on the left will drive the mid-range and tweeters, so a dedicated stiffening cap for this is pointless.

Starting day Five, Coerd starts working on an MDF frame to conceal the cables and connectors that serve to drive the Xtant set-up.

Cutting a square out of the rear cross member, Coerd cleverly provides access to the secondary fuses.

And the final result of much woodwork, a fully framed surround concealing all the cables and highlighting the really important bits. Note the cover for the fuse block at the rear.

Meet Andre Mol. THE "Driving Force" behind TEAM BOYD''S, former Sound Quality Judge and, in my opinion anyway, one of the most knowledgable guys in the entire Dutch Car Audio scene. The door builds are Andre''s domain and here you see him working out a way to transform the front door panels to integrate a mid bass drive.

Next, on to the doors and door panels. The standard door panels, however luxurious in their build of high quality plastic, mega-expensive alcantara and plush carpeting have one slight disadvantage with the system that we''ve planned. There is only space to house one 5 inch speaker and, well, I''m going three-way up front. Which brand? Wait and see! ;-)

The bottom section has it''s carpeting removed. This will be crafted to accomodate the Mid Bass Driver.

Oh Shit! I''ve entrusted this man to provide the speaker ideas!!! ;-) Andre showing off one of his hand made door baffles. Now, I know that I''ve been most secretive recently regarding the speakers that Andre has recommended for this high-end system, so at last, here we go ... Micro Precision. Micro Precision are a VERY high-quality German-designed and hand built range, but only offering two-way component sets, so with a lot of discussion between Andre and the designer of Micro Precision speakers, the following set-up was suggested. Use the 7-series tweeters and the 3-series Mid Range Speakers with the Micro Precision 7-series crossovers driven by one of the Xtant 2150c Amplifiers. Whilst the other Xtant 2150c Amplifier will actively drive a pair of 7-series 6 inch Mid bass drivers. I trust Andre ... implicitly. This is the way I WILL go.

And this is the formation of Andre''s idea. And NO, I ain''t going for CDT Audio speakers. This was only used for size comparison, as we await the delivery of the Micro Precision 7-series speakers that Andre has recommended.

Trimmed, temporarily, in Grey Carpeting (The Black is on order), we see how Andre has managed to master the door panels.

Now last week, in answer to a forum question regarding damping doors, I mentioned that I''d placed 35 kilos(!!!) of bitumen damping in the drivers door. Well, on Friday my attention turned to the passenger door. Lining up all the vital equipment to start the job:/PPSoldering IronBRHot Air GunBRFoam Pad to Sit/Kneel onBRBitumen PadsBRFoam Rubber TapeBRStrong ScissorsBRSharp KnifeBRScrew Drivers, etc./PPAshtray, Lighter and, out of shot, a pack of Lucky''s!

First Stage, removed the door card.

Second stage, strip the door and, VERY VERY VERY!!!! Important, make sure you remove ALL moisture from inside the door. Otherwise, you''ll trap moisture between the bitumen and the metal ... the result a year of the doors sounding great, followed by rust appearing all over the place!!! Follow my example, and set the hot air gun to a moderate setting (you don''t want to blister the paint!), go grab a coffee and let the hot air gun dry the doors completely.

And ... the end result! Several hours ensuring that every possible piece of bare metal is covered in 35kilos of layer upon layer of bitumen damping and a job well done. Also note that I framed the door with cloth tape to ensure that the door card doesnt make direct contact with the door, otherwise you''ll probably find it squeals and squeeks!

One last step before I put the door back together, the outer rub strip is also "dampened", using rubber draught-excluder tape to ensure that the hard plastic doesn''t make direct contact with the door.

feeding the speaker cables into the doors require a tremendous amount of hard work and trickery. Coerd''s only option is to drill through the door to car connector in order to pass the chunky speaker cables through from the car and into the door.

And ... Voila! A tricky job and a very delicate operation in order not to screw up any of the other electric''s being routed through, done to perfection!

On the left the milled aluminium military-spec housing of the Micro Precision tweeter and on the left, just incase you can''t see the Volvo sticker, the standard monstrosity!

How the standard looks with the grille removed ...

And how this superbly built tweeter replaces it.

Fitting the Micro Precision 3-series Mid Range Speakers involves Andre not only hand crafting MDF spacer rings tailored to fit exactly, but also the careful application of a rubber hammer on the inner metal work to clear enough space to fit them perfectly.

And onto the Micro Precision 7-series Mid Bass Drivers getting fitted into the custom made door panels. Note the use of a slightly higher grade speaker cable than used on the mid range and tweeters, in order to feed the most pure signal from the dedicated Xtant amplifier to these superb speakers./PP

The final day(?). Andre removes the rear door panels in ordre to retrim them in the same carpeting as the front ones. A 10 minute job? Er, No! This IS a Volvo and it takes Andre (or are we now calling him Dr.Dre?) three(!) hours to achieve this "simple" task!

Remounted and with the original speaker grilles resprayed, this looks like it''s just come out of the Volvo factory.

As stealth as you can get! Here we see the Micro Precision 7-series Mid Bass Drivers mounted on the custom panel designed and built by Andre Mol.

In the run up to the EMMA Finals, Thomas Hoffmann at Micro Precision was so keen that I ran with a full Micro Precision front end (the original 7-series Kick Bass drivers died within two weeks of being installed and had been replaced by CDT Audios) that as soon as he had received the pair of Factory Samples of the brand new revised 7-series Kick Bass Drivers he had them evaluated, checked and approved, before they were priority shipped to Boyd''s to fit before the Finals.

Seen here fitted, the next point needed was to address the issue that the installation judges kept making. Round kick bass speakers didn''t integrate into the stock/standard look of the Volvo, so Andre Mol donned his thinking cap and came up with an idea ...

Cutting out an MDF ring to fit around the speaker rings, then ...

... check for a tight fit, before ...

... being routed to take away the straight edges and fited with protective metal speaker grilles, then ...

All the speaker grilles, both front and back are removed before they are trimmed in identical speaker cloth. In the background, we see Faust, Boyd''s extremely big, ugly and smelly, but ultimately loveable puppy(?)!

And the final result. This is as stock as you can get!!! Superb craftsmanship from Andre Mol at Boyds!

A wee bit out of context to show the photos of the All Stoff Alcantara trimming of the amp rack, when the finished system''s already show cased. But I uploaded these photos to fit into the overall showcase (the photos just arrived today!)

Sounding? As Olaf Mol would say "Money talks, Bullshit walks!"/PPWhen I originally consulted with Andre and Coerd regarding this system I had three main criteria I wanted tackled. 1) I love progressive/uplifting trance and hard house music, in this system I wanted to be able to shut my eyes (obviously NOT whilst driving!) when the system was playing and imagine myself in the middle of the dancefloor of an Amsterdam club at 3 am on a Sunday morning - That''s what I got! 1000% of it - Powerful, Brutal, Unforgiving and Amazing in ALL it''s dynamics!!! Secondly, I didn''t want to compromise the load space of the car in order to achieve this - Two Rapidly-growing Malamute puppies being the sole reason why I''m driving a Volvo. And thirdly, my intention was very much to create a high-SQ car, and although not intended as a "boom" car, as we can see here, Joop registered 141.2dB from the Mean Machine - the highest SPL reading of the day. This is from two 12-inch Xtant subs running in a 70-ish litre sealed enclosure - Amazing, ABSOFUCKEDLY amazing!!!

Speed and Design, Utrecht ... The Dutch EMMA Sound Quality Finals. The Result? Second Place in the Rookie Unlimited Sound and Installation Category! Now, without wishing to make this sound like some long-winded Oscar acceptance speech(!), this award is an award to Coerd de Goederen, Andre Mol and all the other Team Boyd''s members who helped in getting the system to this point - my thanks to you all.

Now with many cars you buy, you find the owners manual and service book in a shiny, cheap PVC folder stuck in the glovebox. With the Volvo T5R you were presented with this, a hand-crafted booklet in the same leather and Alcantara that swathes the luxurious interior. Very interesting de Schot, but what the !#*@ does this have to do with Show Your Sound and in-car entertainment? Well, let me tell you a little story. At the EMMA sound contest at Automaxx I forgot my photos of the install and, as a result, I was penalised for not being able to document the care and attention taken to route the wires correctly, etc., etc. I kicked myself. Never again, I said. So ...

Since I have tons of photos of every stage of the install (as well as my girlfriend, Dianne, who''s a genuis in graphic art) I decided to present the install in a way in keeping with the high-end nature of the install. The contents are being worked on, but to contain the pages I commissioned All-Stoff in Alkmaar to make me this .../PPA matching leather and Alcantara folder documenting "ULTIMATE STEALTH - The Installation"!

Ring bound laminated sheets will document the complete install, as well as future plans the myself and Boyd''s are keeping tight-lipped about, but for now let me show you the hand-crafted quality that All-Stoff have achieved.

And at the back a pouch to carry the all-important scoring sheets and, with a wee bit of a trim, the EMMA Official Competition Handbook. As a final word, Angelo at All-Stoff will NOT make any more of these, as the hassle involved in creating this very special item was so frustrating that he has vowed that this will be the first and last project of this nature that he''ll tackle. Not only as beautiful, but as exclusive as the install itself.