Music on the move

Laranzo Dacres, Sunday Gleaner Writer

With a fleeting look, you'd concluded it's just a regular Nissan Caravan. But, just beyond its doors lay a state-of-the-art sound system on wheels.

The van's owner, Allan 'DV' Flynn, said he had fallen in love with music as a child and had aspirations to own a sound system. However, it was a friend who gave him the idea of transforming his van into a mobile sound system.

"A guy brought the idea to my attention. And, we agreed to put a sound system inside my van," said the sales contractor. "I thought having a sound system in my van would be better than transporting those bulky speaker-boxes around and setting them up at every event."

Today, the Spanish Town-based Flynn's mobile sound system - Mega D - has been playing at various dances, parties and social events, turning heads wherever it goes.

"People always come around and say the van is unique, neat and sounds good. A lot of times I'm playing out and persons would approach the van, take photos of it, and just want to go in and out of it," he said.

"Some persons would tell me it sounds as loud as any of those other big sound systems. And that's a great feeling."

Flynn's wife, Sharon, said he is very protective of his van.

"Is him baby dat, man," she said chuckling.

Transformation

Flynn shared with Automotives some of the transformation that went into the creation of Mega D.

"The bass speakers were expected to be big so we built them inside the back of the van," he said. The top-end speakers, he said, elevates through the van's roof were fitted onto the hydraulic system.

"I imported the hydraulics system from overseas. The installation of it, along with all the work to the van, took about a year. This was because the person working on the van had other jobs at the same time."

A extra rubberised floor was built inside the van that the speakers could rest on when retracted.

"The rubber gave it a nice look and I wanted it to be protected in the event of water wetting it," he said.

Flynn said the sound system is not operated from inside the van, but from the outside with consoles.

"It only takes me 'bout 10 minutes to set up the sound, and then I have my selector play it, while I give him support," he said.

Flynn said the van's modifi-cations and equipment ran him just over $1 million.

He also said the sound system adds extra weight to the van and he has to add more air to the tyres than the recommended pounds.

"I add five or 10 more pounds of air to the tyres. That was just my idea as a remedy for the bulge. I don't find any difference in riding when I do that though," he said.