We've seen some of Nick's installs and know of his online presence. I'd like to add an in depth review of the sound quality tuning service I've received from Nick. If you don't want to read my long winded review, I'm incredibly happy with my decision to drive 3 or 4 hours for Nick to tune my car and as far as I know, there is nobody in the northeast region that provides a similar service of this quality.
After a haitus, I returned to DIYMobileaudio to research, then also found the facebook sound quality page. As I planned out my system, excited about these new DSP's with laptop computing that I wished I had 15 years ago, I saw that Apicella Auto Sound provided tuning as a service and because of Nick's online presence (much of it providing support tuning DSP's), I knew I'd go there when it was time. Nick was really flexible with scheduling as that time approached and got bumped back in true DIY fashion.
Pre-meeting: When I finally was ready to schedule the appointment, Nick really wanted to make sure that I was bringing him a car ready to tune, not a car that needed a bunch of troubleshooting. It's absolutely fair and appropriate for people using such a service to understand the cost of time/labor and not expect a tune to include hours of technical troubleshooting. I like the professional, up front nature of our pre-tune dialogue. It helped ensure to both of us that the transaction would go as well as possible. Neither of us wanted me to go up there and not be ready to take advantage of the tuning service and neither of us wanted extra time/work/billing that we didn't count on.
I arrived at Apicella Auto Sound with 3 way Audiofrog front stage installed, mids and tweets in first wrapped fiberglass panels. A requested by Nick, I had the system hooked up without fundamental noise issues and every channel playing what it was supposed to (left/right and the proper frequency). I'm using a Helix DSP (I think it is fair to say this is Nick's preference ), Zapco ST amps and audiofrog subs. Despite this great gear, tons of dampening, and speakers playing the proper frequency, my system sounded like crap. Knowing Nick was going to tune my system, I didn't really invest time in any fine tuning.
Nick first allowed me to hear his car, which happened to use the same speakers in the front stage. He asked me a few questions about the sound to gauge what I wanted in a tune in comparison to what his car sounded like. I also got to check out an install he's working on, chat a bit, lay my eyes on a big beautiful scan-speak tweeter, chat a little fiberglassing tools and technique...everything I wanted from this car audio experience.
The tuning process: For the tune, I sat in the back seat to get an idea about the process. It verified that what he accomplished in a few hours would have taken me forever to learn and apply. Nick is clearly experienced in using rEW, a few CD tracks, and the DSP software in a systematic manner to balance what the listener hears from left and right speakers, accomplish a technically accurate soundstage, and accomplish a smooth frequency response. From the back seat, I could see nasty peaks and watch him eliminate them. He was able to identify a small door rattle and one little peak that was likely a side effect of my midrange pods not being totally reinforced and sealed. V
Now that I've gotten in a few listening sessions and have listened to a variety of music, I can say that I have a really strong center image, music extending outside the boundaries of my left and right a-pillars, and depth (I wouldn't call it strong but I certainly have a sense of soundstage depth, extending at least outside of the cabin onto the hood. It's been a while since I've had a "nice system", so tonality is way crisper and clearer then what I'm used to. Smooth for sure, detailed, balanced, loud and clear. Bass blends well with front stage for "up front bass" effect. Nick's 2-3 hour tune put the system at that place where "maybe you have to listen to it for a while to maybe find that one note that should sound a little different"....a great place for my system to be as I take care of those two little issues Nick was able to identify. I also say all this about the sound with the understanding that the system's speaker placement, the vehicle and other install related issues are going to limit things like width and depth.
Post tune: Nick also mentioned that he always has customer's tunes saved and backed up, and (this is crazy to me) to let me know if and when I can find that one note that doesn't sound right consistently across songs. When I identify it, he can take my tune, make changes to it, and email me the new tune for me to upload onto my system. So this will allow me to start taking this great tune I have and improve on it , and of course to know it is backed up just in case.
So after a few months of installing my stereo, Nick was really able to make it shine in a few hours. While I'd like to learn to tune better in the future as a DIY'er, I didn't want to wait for my stereo to sound like it does now
I'd strongly recommend Apicella Auto Sound/Nick to anybody in the region looking for a sound quality oriented install, tune, or any of the interior work he does. Our interaction went exactly as advertised/promised, and I think that's hard to come by with a specialty service like the tune he provided. Nick clearly loves car audio and sound quality, and takes a personal pride in his work and his business, which is likely to grow in the near future.
