Disturbing thoughts and ideas that had become increasing louder in my mind resulted in a spontaneous drive down to Western Bazaars in Klerksdorp where a head unit / CD shuttle combo were purchased.
The price was good, and so was that of the associated components that followed: all picked out of two issues of the Junk Mail classifieds newspaper, these consisted of several pairs of speakers, two amplifiers, and a subwoofer box. Cables and other items were courtesy of the local Hi-Fi Corporation or Dions stores.
Once all the parts were gathered, it was just a matter of installing them and setting them up as a cohesive unit.
The pictures above (taken from snapshots in the family photo album) are the only remaining evidence of the setup, completed in March 1998.
It comprised the following components:
- Head Unit: JVC KS-RT211 Radio/Tape/CD Shuttle Controller;
- CD Shuttle: JVC KD-MK77 12-disc Shuttle;
- Amplifier 1: Proton CA265; to drive –
- Speaker Set 1: Pair of Proton 6×9″ (model unknown), mounted in the backboard;
- Speaker Set 2: Pair of RCF 10cm woofer and tweeter set (model unknown), mounted in the front doors and dashboard (cross-overs installed in the doors);
- Amplifier 2: Starsound SSA-4060 (bridged); to drive –
- Speaker Set 3: Pair of Pioneer TS-W302F Subwoofers; mounted in –
- A home-made subwoofer box bought from some youngster in Rosettenville.
This may also be a good time to admit that I had zero prior experience to this and took a gung-ho approach, setting it all up on my own using plain old common sense.
Audiophiles may balk at this configuration but the results spoke for themselves. The whole lot simply sounded great… perhaps not quite competition-level, but still good enough to turn many a passer-by’s head, and loud enough to make them turn it away again.
First and foremost priority, though, was inconspicuousness: you could certainly hear the system — but you couldn’t see it, and that is of utmost importance in a place like Johannesburg.
And there was still ample space left in the boot for a supermarket trolley’s worth of groceries in “die rooi Jetta van Joburg”!
Ah, fond memories of loud music on the daily 69km commute to the office…
The old radio and speakers were transplanted into my sister’s Golf (which also got stolen a few years later).
