About Us - ResoNix Sound Solutions

ResoNix Sound Solutions

Premium Automotive Sound Treatment Solutions

Who We Are

ResoNix Sound Solutions is an automotive sound solutions company with a specialty in high-end car audio and automotive sound treatment that offers top quality products and services that provide superior performance in their respective categories. No gimmicks, no baseless claims, no nonsense. Constrained layer dampers, sound absorbers, decouplers, noise barriers, and car audio DSP tuning and consultation services are part of our line-up with a focus on data-backed, solutions-based products developed by professional enthusiasts, for enthusiasts.

But really, who and what is ResoNix Sound Solutions and where did we come from?

Hello, my name is Nick Apicella. I am the owner/operator of ResoNix Sound Solutions and the (as of 4/1/2023, previous owner/operator) of Vanguard Automotive Design (previously known as Apicella Auto Sound). Vanguard Automotive Design was my primary business, where we specialize primarily in high-end car audio installations but also handle custom fabrication, electronics, PPF, and of course, automotive soundproofing, but as of April 2023, I walked away to focus my efforts on ResoNix. Part of executing a high-end car audio system is the sound treatment that goes into the car, ensuring nothing rattles or resonates. To our clients, this is a big deal. No one wants to spend five, sometimes six figures, on a high-end, sound quality focused sound system just for the car to rattle and make funny noises while enjoying said sound system. These considerations mean that what products we use and how we use them is critical.

By the way, the name ResoNix comes from a play on the words and the idea of “nixing” resonance.

Before ResoNix Sound Solutions, we were installing a particular brand independently tested as the best CLD available (Sound Deadener Showdown) for the projects done at Apicella Auto Sound. One day, early in February 2019, the owner emailed me after I placed an order to let me know that he was retiring and that his products would no longer be available. Frankly, this worried me since it was known that nothing else on the market could come close to the performance of their product. We even attempted to purchase the brand from him to keep it alive, but we had no luck as he did not want to sell it. After trying a few other products that also independently tested relatively well, we realized nothing was coming close to the performance of this previous product we were accustomed to.

Eventually, I thought to myself, “Screw it. I’m resourceful, and I’m knowledgeable on these products and automotive sound treatment as a whole. I’ll just make my own to supply the shop with the high-quality product we need”, and here we are. Being well-educated on how these products worked and why they worked gave me confidence going into this. I set out to find a manufacturer that could make a product to our specifications, which was much more difficult than I could have imagined. It took six weeks of 1700+ phone calls, countless emails and texts, and testing various samples before realizing that this might not pan out how I had thought.

Not only did it become evident that finding a manufacturer to partner with that could fully meet our criteria and standards would be seemingly impossible, but I also never imagined that the actual manufacturers themselves would push the same blatant lies, false marketing, and typical salesmanship that almost every other sound deadening brand pushes. I was ready to give up, but I finally got ahold of someone at one last manufacturer. They were surprisingly the first to say, “hmmm, we’re not sure if we can make something that good. Send us a sample of your reference product and let us see what we can do”. That stuck with me. No lies or promises right out of the gate, just factual information based on how the products work and what can be made based on our requirements, which is precisely how we do things here.

A few weeks later, a box of samples showed up. To this day, the same ResoNix CLD Squares you can buy on our website today were included in that sample box. After going through our own in-house testing to verify that it was up to our standards, we realized it was even much better than we could have hoped for, and we are still proud of its performance to this day. There was only one problem. Minimum order quantities were still too high to make sense for a single small-scale shop to use on its own, which is why the ResoNix shop was born. So others can purchase it and help it make sense for us.

Now that the hard part of finding and making a high-performance CLD was done, we needed to figure out products that support it in the quest to have the quietest vehicles on the road. We needed to find the ideal decoupling foam and a supplier for a Mass Loaded Vinyl noise barrier. When looking for MLV, we very quickly realized that there was no winning and having the best product for the best price. This is because nothing is redeeming about MLV besides its weight; at that point, it just comes down to its cost and shipping cost. We were not going to beat Amazon, so we tabled that idea until we came up with our current ResoNix Barrier much later. For the foam, I started researching different types of closed-cell foams and what to look for in a specification sheet that would fit our needs.

At the end of our startup chaos, we ended up with a limited selection of great options that outperformed, and still outperform, the rest of the products available today. Now, only a few short years later, we have a wide array of products that cover the most extensive and high-performing selection of automotive sound treatment products available today.

What does ResoNix plan to do in the future?

Well, right now that is a bit hard to say. But we are constantly evolving and trying to bring new products to the table while still constantly trying to improve our current lineup. As of now, we currently have the highest-performing and most well-rounded automotive sound treatment lineup, so for now, we are going to focus on improving our overhead costs to lower your end cost as well as our inventory flow so we can have inventory on hand at all times.

ResoNix Sound Solutions History Log

As of 2/13/2023

February 2019: Formation of ResoNix acquiring first samples of CLD from various factories.

March 2019: Acquiring more CLD samples and going through various foam and adhesive samples to see which would fit our needs best. Automotive/Vinyl-compatible Velcro acquired.

April 2019: Manufacturer that can make custom butyl formulas that won’t charge unattainable numbers located, and custom samples acquired, heat tested, resonance tested, and approved. ResoNix FD (a previous CCF product that we used to offer) was selected and acquired.

May 2019: ResoNix CLD Squares and Rectangles (Rectangles now discontinued) pre-orders opened and soon shipped to our first customers.

June 2019: ResoNix Rope samples acquired, tested, and approved. Opening order placed, and order received.

April 2020: ResoNix FD1 and FD2 foams are discontinued in favor of foam of the same type but with a thickness of 6.5mm, now known as CCF Decoupler 65.

May 2020: ResoNix CCF Decoupler 65 name changed to ResoNix CCF Decoupler 7 for simplicity reasons.

June 2020: ResoNix CLD Rectangles discontinued in favor of just having Resonix CLD Squares due to Squares having better performance overall AND per dollar spent.

March 2021: ResoNix CCF Decoupler 7 modified to have skin side lined with the adhesive instead of exposed for better compression deflection properties. Blackhole Tiles now offered.

April 2021: ResoNix Barrier manufacturer located and samples of our foam were sent out for adhesion testing. Testing approved and opening order placed.

May 2021: ResoNix Barrier pre-orders opened and shipped at the end of the month.

July 2021: CCF Decoupler 7 foam changed to an even better formula with more ideal compression deflection and compression set specs.

June 2022: Valse MOST150 Interface sample ordered, received, tested in multiple Volvo vehicles, and approved.

September 2022: ResoNix Fiber Mat 25 & Fiber Mat 45 Samples received, tested, and approved. Opening order placed. Illusion Audio gives ResoNix approval to sell their products, and Illusion Audio Subwoofers ordered, received, and made available.

October 2022: ResoNix Guardian realized, and samples sourced. Initial samples not approved due to various issues with the manufacturer.

November 2022: ResoNix Strips samples requested and arrived. First design not approved. Design changed and new samples requested. ResoNix Fiber Mat 25 & 45 custom tooling made to allow for more efficient manufacturing and sealed edges. OEM Audi/VW Tape samples ordered, received, tested, and approved. Initial order placed. Remote DSP Tuning made available to ResoNix customers through the website store.

December 2022: Solderless Custom RCA Cable System introduced and made available after 8 months of testing by Vanguard Automotive Design. ResoNix Strips second design samples received, tested, and approved. OEM Audi/VW Tapes in stock and initial orders shipped. Valse MOST150 Interface initial shipment received and made available.

January 2023: New Manufacture for ResoNix Guardian located. Samples ordered, tested, and approved. Preorders opened.

February 2023: New boxes and labeling for all products. The CLD Squares now ship in a heavy-duty double-wall box to eliminate the possibility of damage under extreme shipping conditions. ResoNix Strips initial order arrives and pre-orders shipped.

March 2023: Our initial ResoNix Guardian order arrived and shipped to customers who pre-ordered and quickly sold out. One slight issue, our manufacturer accidentally put 7 sheets per box instead of 6. We decided to leave it as is and keep the price the same for this first batch as a friendly surprise to our first ResoNix Guardian customers.

April 2023: Nick, the owner, walks away from owning Vanguard Automotive Design to focus his efforts and operate ResoNix full-time.

May 2023: ResoNix acquires a new location to operate out of. This new space includes enough room to host the DSP Tuning & OEM Integration hands-on trainings that we always wanted to offer.