Ferrari 360 Spider custom audio system by Scuderia Audio

I bought a Ferrari 360 Spider over the summer and immediately went to work on several upgrades, or what some others call sacrilege, by installing an after-market audio system.


Before people go crazy about the symphony of the engine being the only audio one needs, no. Period. This car gets bouts of highway stretches that necessitate a good audio system. Also, "Top Gun" and "Days of Thunder" have audio tracks for a reason.


The existing speakers (Mid=Range and Tweeters) were classic Ferrari gaahbage and literally fell apart when I removed them from the door cards. Also, no Sub was ever (factory) installed.


I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to say that I live in the amazing land of the Autobahn, Jägerschnitzels, the Nürburgring and Fräulein however no one in the world does car audio customer service like the USA, ergo I had to resort to the interwebs for my solution.


I searched far and long and the only place I found that specialized in exactly everything I wanted was “Scuderia Audio” out of San Jose, CA. (https://scuderiaaudio.com)


Not only did I search via Google, but on Youtube as well. Scuderia Audio’s owner, Mike has a series of product and install help videos that really gave me a great idea of what I was about to get into.


I contacted Mike via the contact page and told him I needed something badass, yet absolutely classy for my 360 and I’m not exaggerating when I say he provided a level of customer service that I have never in my life experienced before. He went to work creating a custom set for my car THAT…NIGHT and was apologetic when I had to “wait” until next week for him to send the first parts out! I had to talk him off the ledge a few times to throttle back because family time was more important than my car stereo. Mike was absolutely amazing throughout every step of the process, to include Whatsapp and Skype phone calls at odd hours on weekends due to the time difference.


A friend of mine and I took about 4 weekends to install all the parts and that was because the cables and soundproofing materials and sealants and such are difficult to find here and had to be ordered etc…


First we removed the door cards and took it all in. It was clear that we had to line the doors and door cards with “Dynamat” (which Mike swears by) or in my case a German alternative which ended up working great. More trips to the stores were made for rubber rollers to properly apply the material.


Next steps involved Mid-Range and Tweeter removal and replacement. This is the part where many will lose their Ferrari minds since the 6.5” speakers require some metal removal (as opposed to the 5.25” speakers which do not). The metal removal is minor and when properly spay-painted is unrecognizable, dare I say even to the most trained of eyes.


Final (mid and tweeter and door) assembly was straight-forward.


The second-to-last step was the Sub installation and also went without difficulty. The sub wire was routed from the head unit, under the center console, to the back and then under the carpet, which covers the access panel to the front of the engine (the same used to access the timing belts). I was lucky because even unbeknownst to Mike, the 2004 360 has much of the same layout as the 430 which came a year later. Specifically, I’m talking about pre-drilled holes for a sub and the door opening mechanism. Earlier models will need to cut away some dampening material and drill two holes in the access panel for the threaded bolts which will then hold the sub box in place.


The final part was the most challenging: Amplifier & Equalizer Cradle installation. This was a small pain because of how it wedges into place for a tight fit but once installed was rock solid. The biggest pain was the 69 x I had to remove the battery in order to reach behind all the wires and tighten the cradle in place. This was 96% operator error… The other pain was taking it to an audio specialist in order to properly wire the mids to the equalizer. This would have been an easy question/fix by any helpful audio specialist but I had to go to THREE audio specialists here in Cologne. The third one was the charm after the first two refused to help. Stated that they don’t do “partials”. Either they install it all or nothing (stated that too often they get botched jobs and have to fix it all…as if they don’t get paid by the hour) so I gladly took it to the third shop which was absolutely awesome. SEK Car Hifi (SEK-Carhifi.de) in Brühl hooked it up with a smile, did audio testing and sent me on my way for under 100 Euro.


BLAB (Bottom Line At Bottom): I am absolutely a pleased as I could possibly be with what Mike at Scuderia Audio did. The components are top quality, the cradle is bullet-proof with seriously professional leatherwork to match the car exactly, all hardware is spot-on and drop-in and it sounds A-MAZING. This stereo is now capable of significantly more than I can handle…which is exactly what I wanted.


Fingers crossed I am able to post the 69 pictures to back up the words.


Thanks Mike!!

 

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Thanks Bob and Kevin!
Mike (Scuderia Audio's owner) made it as easy as such a thing can be and It was fun work, which I looked forward to getting back to every chance I got!
Bob, I've been thinking about how to descrive the sound...and sound in general and I'm stumped. Best I can do is say that I've owned many cars and this is the best sound and "thumpingest" audio I've ever had.
Of note, Mike was spot-on when he (strongly) recommended the 6" Mids over the 5.25" as well as the single large Sub vs. the dual smaller subs, especially at only $100 more. They thump plenty and do so cleanly.