Not happy with coming to the US and stealing all the car audio business the UK’s number one manufacturer decided to take it one step further and rob some Las Vegas Casino’s while they were at it!

Using the Italian Job theme three new Mini’s were selected (in the original red, white and blue combination) as the 2009 demonstration vehicles for North America. These cars are an icon of British design – just like the VIBE range so they were the perfect choice.

Each vehicle showcases a range from the VIBE portfolio with the perfect match of products creating a fantastic sounding vehicle. Each vehicle follows the same basic principle – three speakers in the front door (two 6” and a 5”) two 15” subwoofers in a wall behind the front seats and the required amplifiers in the trunk – with a set of 6x9s. The idea behind having three identical installations is that the difference in the product can be appreciated – and not put down to variances in the design of the enclosure/positioning of the speakers.

The installations in the vehicles are a joint collaboration between VIBE UK – who built the subwoofer enclosure and the amp rack – and the Installer Institute (www.installerinstitute.com) who fabricated the doors.

Blue: The blue Mini demonstrates the entry level VIBE products – SLICK – and shows that you don’t need to spend big bucks to get a big sound. The front doors are home to two SLICK 60 (click to link to the Slick 60 speaker page) co-axial speakers and a single 5” SLICK 50 (click to go to the Slick 50 speaker page) co-ax. These speakers are powered by a SLICK A4 (Click to go to the A4 page) and SLICK A3 (Click to go to its page) Amplifiers – with the spare 2 channels running the SLICK 69.3 (click to go to the 69.3 page) in the trunk.

The two 15 inch SLICK s15 (click to go to their page) subwoofers are both running from a SLICK A7 amplifier (Click to go to its page) which is putting out 600w RMS.

The result is a sound which defies the price tag. The front end is clear and defined while the bass drops well while remaining musical – no mean feat for two budget 15” subwoofers.

Red: The red Mini is filled with the midrange BlackAir products, which demonstrate the benefits of spending a little extra cash on your audio products.

In the front doors there are two sets of BlackAir 6 (click to go to the Blackair page) speakers along with a set of 5” variants. These unique speakers have different mounting options – either coaxial or component so to demonstrate this one pair of 6s are fitted as co-ax while the other in component form, with the tweeter mounted in the door card. The power for these is supplied by two BlackBox Stereo 4 (click to go to page) amplifiers with the extra 2 channels again running the SE-K69 (click to go to page) 3-way 6x9 inch speakers in the trunk.

The bass in this car is provided by two BlackAir 15 subs. These woven fibreglass coned woofers are dual voice coil and wired to run the BlackBox Bass 5 (click to go to page) amplifier at 2 ohms. The power output of this amplifier is 1500w RMS @ 2 ohms.

The first thing that you will notice when you listen to this vehicle is the weight of the bass compared to the SLICK vehicle, there is a lot more power and purpose to the sound which is very listenable at low volumes but when cranked the low levels are enough to keep most bass heads happy! You can tell that the front end has much more power to play with too with increased volume and warmth to vocals.

White: The white Mini showcases the premier VIBE range – SPACE. Once again the front doors are home to two 6” and one 5” speaker – this time the SPACE 3D (click to go to their page) components. These high quality, audiophile drivers feature 3D technology – where the Super Tweeter can be mounted over the top of the midrange maximising fitting options and also giving 360 degree sound dispersion from the speaker below. The power for these comes from two BlackBox Stereo 4 (click to go to their page) amplifiers. Like the other vehicles the extra two channels are used to run the 6x9s in the trunk – only this time it is the rectangular QB69 (click to go to its page). This heavy duty speakers features a subwoofer motor structure and 20% more surface area than regular 6x9s to give a significantly improved bass response.

The bass in this Mini is supplied by two of the award winning SPACE 15 (click here for page) subwoofers with each one having their own power supply in the shape of a BlackBox Bass 5 (click for page) amplifier.

The bass from this system is colossal, it hit’s low notes in your music that you never knew existed and when cranked will rearrange your internal organs at 50 paces. You would expect this huge bass to overpower the front end, but the SPACE 3D speakers are more than capable of keeping up. The clarity is second to none and they can handle some serious power too.