Turning cars into concerts
Since 1999, in a shop behind the BDA complex in Koramangala, Karthik Sukumaran has been solving one problem: a car is the worst listening room you will ever own. We fix the room first. Then we fix the sound.
A car is the
worst listening room
you will ever own.
Home audio gets a symmetric room, equidistant speakers and a quiet floor. Car audio gets none of it. Four things fight the recording before it reaches you.
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42 Hz
Standing waves
Low frequencies fold back on themselves inside a volume this small. Bass turns boomy in one seat and vanishes in the next.
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180 Hz
Resonance
Panels ring. Door skins flex. Every untreated surface adds something the recording never had.
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1 kHz
Geometry
Your left ear sits 40 cm from one speaker and 140 cm from the other. Nothing is symmetric, equidistant or on‑axis. Staging collapses into the door card.
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8 kHz
Noise floor
Engine, tyres, wind. At 100 km/h the quiet passages of a recording are competing with the road and losing.
How far the correction goes
- Simple EQ
- Parametric
- Full DSPtime‑alignment corrected
All four are solvable — not with a bigger subwoofer, but with applied acoustics, measurement, and equalisation.
See how a 3-way active system worksOEM integration
Vehicle-specific work to manufacturer guidelines: iPad and iPhone connectivity, USB and Bluetooth, rear entertainment, processor enhancement, steering control adaptation. No wire sliced, no wire cut — your warranty stays intact.
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Factory head unit, integrated — Jeep Wrangler -
Helix DSP.3S and a JL Audio sub, built into the boot floor -
Calibration in the cabin it has to work in -
Stripped to metal, damped, then rebuilt
Also on the bench
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Upholstery
Italian leather, a wide range of stitching options and Swarovski-studded logos — and synthetic upholstery customised the same way.
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Plug & play
Factory-fit DSP amplifiers that give real hi-fi through the original harness. Right for a leased car, where nothing should be cut into.
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Lighting
Headlamp upgrades chosen for the housing your car actually has, not the specification printed on the box.
Twenty‑two names
we actually stock.
Flagship is a word we spend carefully. Five pieces earn it here — set out in the order the music travels through them.
Move the light across the shelf
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Source
Astell&Kern DAP
As good as everything after it
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Processing
Helix DSP Ultra XT
Audiotec Fischer
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Amplification
Brax MX4
Four‑channel
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Brax GX
The centre
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Output
Helix Compose i7
Speakers — India’s first install
- Morel
- Helix
- Audison
- JL Audio
- Focal
- Burmester
- Brazo
- Bowers & Wilkins
- Dynaudio
- Nakamichi
- Audio Fidelity
- Mosconi
- Rainbow
- Brax
- Hertz
- Ground Zero
- Bang & Olufsen
- Rockford Fosgate
- Clarion
- Match
- Alpine
- Farad
Output
Fabrication, enclosures, door builds and the electronics behind them — photographed as they left the bay.
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Amplifiers and sub, one panel, red cabin -
Sub flush-set, fabricated box -
Door skin treated, loom routed -
Tweeter and midrange, pillar corner -
Boot floor rebuilt around the electronics -
A‑pillar pod, midrange and tweeter
The log
Eight builds from the last two years, newest first. What went into each car, and what it was asked to solve. Dated by the day each was posted, not by the day it was finished — we only have the first.
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012026 · 08
Two years, then back to us
3‑way active front
2‑way active rear12‑channel DSP with 10 channels of amplification, plus a mono block. Custom enclosure for a 12″ subwoofer.
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022026 · 07
ICE or EV, covered
New‑generation EV
2‑way active front
2‑way passive rearAudiotec Fischer electronics. Front subwoofer for low extension. “Now the car feels more driveable.”
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032026 · 06
The big one, four ways up front
India’s most popular MPV
4‑way active front
2‑way active rearHelix flagship speakers with an air‑motion‑transformer tweeter. 14‑channel DSP amplifier, 12 channels of amplification. JL Audio 12″ slim in a custom rear enclosure, plus a front subwoofer for midbass. Five layers of Dr. Artex on four doors.
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042026 · 05
The drive isn’t complete without it
2‑way active front
2‑way passive rearFocal speakers, made in France. Sound Magus 8‑channel DSP with a 4‑channel amp built in. Helix thin‑line subwoofer in a custom enclosure. Two layers of Dr. Artex on all four doors.
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052026 · 05
Coimbatore → Bangalore
Toyota Innova
Complete transformationMorel speakers. Helix V Twelve DSP. Pioneer head unit. Kicker subwoofer. Premium tuning and integration.
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062026 · 05
The car the family wanted replaced
Hyundai Sonata
3‑way front in custom podsMorel Sensus 3‑way. Match DSP‑amplifier. Sound Magus mono for low extension. JL Audio thin‑line subwoofer in a custom enclosure — no boot space lost.
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072026 · 04
Bespoke luxury revamp
Toyota Vellfire
Front and rear, plug‑and‑playMatch plug‑and‑play DSP‑amplifier driving Focal front and rear. Under‑seat subwoofer for a low‑volume listener. Vellfire‑specific infotainment and a rear entertainment screen.
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082024 · 11
India’s biggest car audio setup
Tata Harrier
4‑way active front
2‑way active rearHelix Compose i7 flagship. Brax ultra‑premium DSP. Two Brax MX4 four‑channel amplifiers on the front alone, a Brax GX for the centre, and the flagship Helix amplifier on the rear. Two JL Audio thin‑line subwoofers fabricated to take minimum boot space, on Audiotec Fischer mono blocks. An Astell&Kern DAP for a better source.
Open since 1999. 13.4K follow the work on Instagram, where 287 builds are posted.
Who does the work
Auto Planet has pioneered the concept of car audio in India for two decades. That means understanding the engineering breakthroughs, and being equally aware of the brand-hypnotising claims that come with them — then helping the customer tell the two apart before they spend anything.
Every high-end install here is measured with acoustic analysis tools and calibrated by hand. Excellence with prudent spending is knowing where your money should go in a system, and just as importantly, where it should not.
Owner & tuner Karthik Sukumaran
Judged, and won.
The bench competes under the same rules it is judged by.
Where he judges
EMMA InternationalHead judge
EMMA Asia finalsJudges panel
EMMA Euro finalsJudges panel
EMMA Bengaluru — results
1stExpert Unlimited
1stExpert Limited
3rdMaster OEM
… Karthik Sukumaran at Auto Planet is not just an installer—he's a multiple-time national EMMA champion and an official EMMA judge. That's rare. Most installers just fit gear. Karthik builds systems that have been tested and scored against the strictest sound-quality standards in the world. …
Karthik is Amazing person no-nonsense straight forward guy. He is like an encyclopedia for sound, his eye to detail on knowledge of sound is simply superb. Based on your budget you can select the range of speakers, subs, Amplifiers. Karthik will certainly explain the pros & cons of all the varieties that are available with Auto planet. It has been more than a month now since the installation is done. I truly enjoy the music quality that is played in my car. You can never compare the stock quality of sound with the superior ones which are installed in Auto planet.
Karthik was great and worked within my budget. Very knowledgeable with audio and installations. We upgraded my old dsp , did some rerouting and went from a passive to an active setup.
Extremely satisfied with the outcome. Will be going back for more audio upgrades in the future.
Karthik has really good knowledge about the work, and he is a professional.
Really satisfied with the sound and outcome. As Karthik told after speaker burns for 40hrs sound quality increases and it’s 100% true, my car audio quality is increasing day by day
Read them on GoogleA wonderful experience from start to finish. Karthik is a very knowledgable person and translates even the most technical stuff in the simplest way. They have a wide range of high end products. A must visit for anyone who seriously interested in great car audio. Money well spent!!
Come and listen.
Bring the car and the playlist. Tuesday to Sunday, 11:30 – 20:30. Closed Mondays.