Morel Mondays: Aston DB9
Here’s a tale very few know. Once upon a time, Aston Martin, in Newport Pagnell at the time, (nicely en route to Santa Pod raceway..) had Linn Audio and Alpine kit in them as OEM. Very nice but the speaker locations were dire, ‘˜stock’ ones. In years since, folks like Lexus and even Audi have done serious things about thinking about audio at the design stages of the car’s monocoque.
I was lucky enough to go along and check an Aston out for the magazine I was working for. I think it might even have gone in two Anyway, the Vantage had been my deep schoolboy fantasy for being as luxuriant as a Roller yet with 180mph top end. That was back when they were slower. It was many years ago.
Marque of my dreams.
Anyway, I had a small person in my world by then, less than two years old. And to my still as yet UTTERLY undimmed fury, the PR dude from LINN had utterly failed to first know anything, and I mean anything technical about the system he had come down to let me get at, saying, ‘I don’t keep that kind of thing in my head.’ Which I have recalled so clearly down the years. Then he failed to ask for the right press car, despite my pleading.
Then I was given the wondrous chance to 1) get a ‘˜How-To-Drive-An-Aston-Martin’ lesson from the same fellow who had taught Prince Charles and then 2) Take one home for the weekend, leaving mine behind. (Hilarious, like my car was worth three’pence-h’apenny!) But the car was not the press one with the rear bench to strap my tot’s kid seat into I was stuffed. (That had gone off with an Aston exec who would happily have had the other one) Generously, they still said I could have the lesson, even if I didn’t take the car. Trouble was, I wasn’t about to go into how damn deep that went for me and how I would just cry like a fool when I had to get out and NOT take the car away for two days afterwards.
I turned it down, politely. And they were astonished I couldn’t explain.
So bloody cut me some slack when you hear me quite clearly, in the video below, going through the fact that the Morel Elate Limited Edition three-way speaker system in here, all £1,750.00 worth has a six and a half inch midbass with a huge under hung three inch voice coil. TWICE.
Also, my phone had rung in the midst of what had been a decent and passionate look so far at the car, so I got distracted as I just went ‘˜Internetz’, said so and turned it off. This car sounds just delicious and amazingly clear and rich.
It belongs to a very well-travelled man. Andy Matthews. Here is the very minimalistic yet stylish (what else?) website of Mr. Matthews. In common with all music bizz types, you are only as cool as the people who you have worked for so this is mostly about how everyone just knows, ‘˜you want it directing? Who you going to call?’ It’s probably him.
http://www.andymatthews.tv/
NEW midbass speaker location not OEM but looks it.
Nice boot install
Morel’s workmanship matched by Auto Audio’s, to be commensurate with Aston’s.
Gorgeous
Slideshow of the few more but even more sexy images of this man’s car!
link