Dustin's Ford Taurus Illusion Audio, Mosconi, Audible Physics

You probably have seen a raging bull but have you seen a singing bull? Well I introduce to you Dustin's Ford Taurus "Project Singing Bull". Dustin wanted a truly stealth install but a very dynamic system for this songster. 

The front sound stage starts with a set of the Audible Physics NZ3/AT. The pillars were wrapped in OEM headliner material and the terminals were heat shrunk. 

Grilles were made out of pressed metal mesh for daily driving protection but may be removed for critical listening.

Once the pillars were done the doors were the next subject of attention. The doors stock house the typical Ford 5x7 but that meant there would be room for a set of Illusion Audio Carbon C8 midbass. 

A staple at Octave is to use plastic for the mounting rings to ensure against moister damage. Wood rings are substandard because no matter how you treat them moister will eat at them but plastics never will have that problem.

The drivers door presented a small challenge with its molex plug. There wasn't room to run wire through it but I got lucky. There was one wire that was not used so it was removed and heat shrunk for protection. Once removed it cleared a path for the speaker wire to be ran.

The rings were mounted using 4 10-24 screws that screwed into nutserts in the door and a foam gasket was applied to the backside before mounting.

The speaker wire was heat shrunk and zip tied to the basket.

The speaker was mounted to the mounting ring using 10-24 screws.

The passenger door received the same treatment as the driver but the running of the speaker wire was easier because the molex had a straight pass through.

With the midbass mounted the door panels were modified to allow the midbass to breathe into the interior without hinderance. Grilles were made and screwed to the door panels. The grilles were wrapped with black grille cloth to bring some of the black accents present in the dash into the door to help tie in the grilles giving a factory appearance. 

With the grilles on the pillars and doors the two tie together nicely. 

The electrical system got a full upgrade from a high amperage alternator to upgraded power wiring.

The main system fuse holder is mounted to an aluminum L bracket that was bolted an open mounting point on the OEM fuse block.

After removing the interior fuse block on the drivers side access was given to a grommet in the fire that was able pass the 0 gauge cable for the system power.

Once the power wire was dropped into the interior all the wiring could now be ran. All speaker wire and signal wire was laid over foam tape to minimize the induction of mechanical noise from the cable rubbing against the chassis.

Throughout the wire runs Hush Mat Quite Tape was used to secure the wire at 6" intervals.

The USB cable for the DEH-80PRS was ran along the under side of the center console and into the center console storage area. More Hush Mat Quiet Tape was used to secure the wire.

Wiring behind the radio tied up and tidy.

With the front of the car completely wired the trunk was next. Great attention to detail was used to ensure a truly custom install. The Straight Wire Symphony RCAs were cut to length and terminated in house. All wires go directly from the speakers to the amplifiers without breaks in lines to ensure against voltage drops. The trunk houses a Mosconi AS 100.4 for the Audible Physics, a Mosconi AS 300.2 for the Illusion Audio C8's, a Mosconi AS 200.4 powering the Illusion Audio Carbon 12XL subwoofer, a Mosconi 6to8 for signal processing and for something special a Mosconi 6to8 was sourced to serve as a custom fuse block for the system.

The subwoofer enclosure is mounted using 3 1/4-20 bolts screwed into nutserts.

Straight Wire Sextet 6 core speaker wire was used for the subwoofer. The wires were separated and heat shrunk.

All wires are secured using screw down zip ties at 6" intervals.

All speaker wire ends were heat shrunk.

A BatCap Model 2000 was mounted to the subwoofer enclosure.

A custom fuse block was made using an Audison fused distribution block. It was designed to fit within the foot print of a Mosconi 6to8 so that the shell of the 6to8 my be used as a cover.

A relay was used for the turn on of the accent LEDs in the trunk. Techflex and heat shrink gave a nice clean look to the relay pack.

The USB hook up for the 6to8 was ran up to the underside of the rear deck and zip tied to factory wiring. With the factory carpet back in place the wire is hidden. This allows for easy tuning.

When opening the trunk you are greeted with a completely stock appearing trunk thanks to a custom trunk mat.

With the trunk mat removed the vinyl trim panel and removable grille can be seen.

With the grille removed the true beauty under the skin can be seen. Factory matched vinyl to the interior was used to tie the trunk in with the interior of the car. The center piece design was inspired by the center console shifter area which further brings the interior to the back. 

Blue accent LEDs were used to give the center piece the effect of floating on light while illuminating the trunk.

The center vinyl piece is held down with magnets, once removed gives access to 4 screws and when those screws are removed the whole center piece can be removed to give access to the 6to8 and the mock 6to8 fuse block. The whole process can be done within 30 seconds.

Dim the lights and the trunk really lights up. 

Ok. How's it sound? Well usually I don't like to give an opinion till the speakers have gotten the chance to break in but......the car sounds incredible. The sound stage is wide past the pillars with depth at hood range and height on point. Tonally it's very enjoyable to listen to with the Audible Physics creating great detail and the Illusion midbasses providing unbelievable amounts of midbass and attack. Almost so that during tuning they were mimicking subs. Now the sub. The Illusion XL is a civilized beast with ungodly amounts of low end bass but with unbelievable control and transparency with the front stage. I truly look forward to this car once the speakers have fully broken in. It should be a treat to listen to.

For more info please visit www.OCTAVEONLINE.com