Phantom Audio

03/03/2026

Customer goal: Have an OEM ‘69 Dart radio function just as a Bluetooth receiver, but turn the system on and off as if it were OEM. Challenge accepted. Cleaned up an OEM radio, installed an Alpine BT module that fed from the OEM on/off k**b, as well as the acc wire for the amplifier, added RCA outputs, plugged it into the OEM car harness and all is done. Fun little project.

01/13/2025

Great review from Michael... "Great communication, nice guy, amp sounds better!"

"Great communication, nice guy, amp sounds better!"

01/11/2025

Great review from Keith... "The amp was easy to install and sounds great. Jesse was great and followed up quickly."

"The amp was easy to install and sounds great. Jesse was great and followed up quickly."

01/11/2025

Great review from Keith... "The amp was easy to install and sounds great. Jesse was awesome."

"The amp was easy to install and sounds great. Jesse was awesome."

01/09/2025

Great review from C J... "The entire process was very easy, he talked me through every step and also shared photos of what he was doing which was very cool, If i had to do it again I would not hesitate."

"The entire process was very easy, he talked me through every step and also shared photos of what he was doing which was very cool, If i had to do it again I would not hesitate."

05/21/2024

Always a tedious process but worth the SQ results.

02/17/2024

Fun little project. 1969 Dart with an AM T03 radio. Customer wanted Bluetooth connect only but still turn on, look and light up like the oem radio while using the same oem harness. The chassis went to for a blast and nickel plate. They do all of our amp and radio work and never disappoint. A custom BT module board was made for the old style HU and set into place with RCA outs that will feed some micro amps for the car.

01/26/2024

Old school Adcom 5450 in need of a little help. Previous repair attempt destroyed the via on one of the 15v power caps and a few traces. Customer was still experiencing random amp shut down and sent it to us. We knew there was a bias in the circuit but not sure where from. We cleaned up the board and began testing. The previously damaged section of the board was still the source of the issue. A bad Zener diode. Initial, and basic, test shown it was doing its job; however under a load we found a 3v bias issue effecting the 044 transistor. The braided solder wick was removed and proper via was placed. The amp was recapped, the IRFP044 was replaced along with the bad Zener and the trim pots were set to the factory specs. We let it run hard for 18hrs without issues. Love these old amps.

01/03/2024

This wasn’t a bad little build.

Customer Goals:
Keep it as stock looking as possible
Strong SQ
Reuse a pair of non functioning, partially corroded PPI amps.

I started with rebuilding the amps: upgrading the opamps (Burr Brown, upgrading the caps and replacing the bad fets.

Next to figure out where to put the amps. Coincidentally the underseat storage was perfect for the 404.2 (on the smaller side) and 600.2 (on the longer side) like it was made for them. So we set the mounts, stretched the fleece and made the mold.

While the amps and rack were off to paint we deadened the entire vehicle with Stinger Ultimate, ran all wiring (highly recommend stinger 9000 series on your wide bands) and got the sub box together.

Once everything was back from paint and ready for install the fun began. All wires in all locations were either ran with oem harnesses or secured to the body, this helped a lot come install time.

Overall it was a pretty clean install with no real issues. The sound stage is phenomenal, floor level and system dynamics excellent. We ran an AudioControl RTA to get an idea of what needed adjusted. After a few tweaks we found Fq to be extremely proportional to each other with no brightness or dullness. The musical quality was extremely natural and dynamic with tonal accuracy dang near perfect. We were able to hit north of 110dB with zero distortion from the drivers which sounded just as amazing as normal listening levels. Attack and decay was surprisingly accurate for an oem source. The audio made the interior of the vehicle seem twice as large as it was with phenomenal realism.
Definitely pleased with this setup.

Components used:

Oem HU to
Dayton Audio 408 DSP via line Level
Stinger 9000 series RCAs on wideband mids (wbm)
Stinger 6000 series RCAs on door drivers
Stinger 4000 series RCAs on sub channels
Ppi A600.2 (modified) for front door drivers
PPi 404.2 (modified) for WBMs
AudioControl LC 1.800 for subwoofers
Pair JL 10TW3D8 wired parallel (2 ohms at the 1.800)
4awg Stinger Pro series pwr/gnd to dist blocks
8awg Stinger Pro series pwr/gnd to amps

Audible Physics Ram2SR WBMs
Hybrid Audio U69-S front door drivers
Hybrid Audio U65.2 rear door drivers

Other products used:
3 cases Stinger Roadkill Ultimate (RKU36)
Two part closed cell boat foam in hollow cavities
Sized and colored flex loom and heat shrink
Size appropriate ferrules for term connections and bullets for necessary quick connections. All else is soldered and sealed

10/30/2023

Thermal paste is the devil. Cleaned off the 30yr old dried out stuff and laid some new.