Sheffield fitting bay · independent since 2016
We are a two-ramp car audio workshop off Marlow Bank Road. We measure what the cabin is doing first, then specify car speakers, an amplifier and a subwoofer that suit the vehicle, the budget and the kind of bass you want to hear.
Why people bring cars to us
Most disappointing car audio upgrades are not caused by the wrong brand. They are caused by a driver fitted to the wrong door, an amplifier set by ear at the kerbside, or a boot panel that was never going to hold still once the bass arrived.
A calibrated microphone sits at head height in the driver seat and we run a sweep from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. You get the before and after plots by email, so the change in the bass and the midrange is something you can see as well as hear.
We cut adaptor rings on the bench for the exact door, use the correct ISO harness adaptor and keep the factory steering wheel controls alive. Nothing is drilled that does not need to be, and every cut is sealed against water.
No scotch locks, no cut factory plugs. Power is fused within 300 mm of the battery, earths are taken back to bare metal, and every joint is soldered and heat shrunk so the car can go back to standard if you sell it.
How a fitting day runs
Tell us the car, what you listen to and what annoys you now. Ten minutes on the phone usually settles whether you need new car speakers, a subwoofer, or just an amplifier and some damping.
The car comes in, we take a sweep and a rattle check with the factory system so there is a reference to compare against later.
Trim off, adaptors cut, damping applied where it earns its keep, then speakers, amplifier and subwoofer wired in and the trim refitted with fresh clips.
Gains set with an oscilloscope, crossovers chosen, bass level matched to the front stage, then a road test with you in the car before anything is signed off.
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Prices below include fitting in our bay, VAT and the vehicle-specific parts. They are honest starting points rather than teaser figures — a confirmed quote follows the vehicle check.
Two 165 mm coaxial car speakers, sealed adaptor rings and a light damping pack on the front doors. The usual fix for a car that sounds thin at motorway speed.
A 10-inch shallow subwoofer in a sealed enclosure with a mono amplifier, wired on a fused feed. Adds weight underneath the music without swallowing the boot.
A component set with separate tweeters in the A-pillars or sail panels, four channels of amplification and full door damping. The one that changes how the car sounds.
Getting the bass right
Plenty of drivers arrive convinced they need a bigger subwoofer when the real problem is a boot floor that resonates at 55 Hz, or an amplifier gain wound up until the output clipped. Both make bass sound loud and blurred at the same time.
“I had already replaced the front speakers myself and could not work out why it still sounded flat. Turned out the doors were wide open behind the trim and half the bass was escaping into the wing. Damping and a proper set of adaptors sorted it in a day.”
“Wanted proper bass without losing the boot for the dog. They talked me out of the 12-inch I turned up asking for and built a shallow sealed box under the floor instead. Deeper than I expected and the parcel shelf does not buzz.”
Common questions
Usually yes. Most factory units put out between 15 W and 22 W RMS per channel, which is enough for a sensitive coaxial set to sound clearly better than the originals. If the car uses a factory amplifier or an active setup, we take a signal from the speaker outputs through a line converter, or fit a DSP so the factory correction can be undone.
A shallow 10-inch sealed enclosure takes roughly 24 litres, which in most estates and hatchbacks fits in the spare wheel well or against one side. A ported 12-inch box for bigger bass needs closer to 60 litres and will take a real bite out of the boot. We measure the well before quoting.
No. Matching matters far more than headline wattage. An amplifier rated well above the speaker's RMS figure is fine if the gain is set correctly, and dangerous if it is not. An undersized amplifier driven into clipping is the most common cause of burnt voice coils we see. Our amplifier power matching guide explains the arithmetic.
We do, but check your agreement first. Many lease contracts require the car to be returned to standard. We keep every factory part that comes out, label it and hand it back in a box, and our looms are designed to be reversible for exactly this reason.
No obligation. Park it on the ramp, we take a baseline sweep and tell you honestly whether the money is best spent on speakers, an amplifier, a subwoofer or damping.