Thread: Car Audio & Electronics this month

Looks great from here......first you and now your friend getting some
national exposure for our little "hobby" is good......now if only they had
a section for installations most likely to burn a car down to the ground
I could be featured too (j/k!!)

He's been in the mag before, only no CarPC.

This is his first cover.

I saw this yesterday. i was browsing for that Garry Biggs article but missed it from last month. Oh well, I never heard or saw the Gary car anyway. I did notice that Civic with Streetdeck and saw your name mentioned. Good job.

The only thing I had a problem with is that fact he can't drive it. I guess I don't get it. Why make something that sounds great but then can't drive it? That's what a living room is for.

The issue on Gary's car didn't go nearly in as much detail as I would have liked. However, this issue does cover his BMW...

Regarding not being able to drive the car....in the Expert class, if you want to be compeditive, that's what you have to do. Gary's regal was driveable, but you wouldn't want to. Cory Hemmel's van isn't really driveable neither is Lary Stephen's Expedition. Sure, they can be driven, but not for very long at all. They are all trailer queens. So much work goes into building those cars. Heck, I don't even like to drive my car. Just 2 days after we got back from Finals last year a lady rearended us...for a car you've spent hundreds of hours on and dedicated yourself to, to risk something like that....and risk missing the show you've worked all year to get to?

If you want to push the envelope in the Expert class, you have to play at that level. The goal at that point is to make the car sound like a studio. You simply can't do it unless you take it to that level.

Ya I know that part about competition but it would drive me nuts to build something like that but not be able to drive it an listen to it at the same time. I'm usually doing so many other things at home that my drive time is very valuable music listening time. That's why I would never compete in Expert, I'll stick to Pro, maybe the highest I'd go is Ultimate, but never Expert.

Sucks about the rear-end stuff. I missed the first half of the season in 04 because my car was in the shop for a month and a half for a rear-end, so I know exactly what you mean. Lately I have been so paranoid on the highway with all the construction. The traffic here in Chicago can go from 85 to 0 in a matter of seconds. I can stop but it's the people behind me that worry me. I almost got rear-ended two days ago.

Got the issue last weekend, and noticed the carPC, but didn't know if it was post-worthy...the install looks, well, worthy of a magazine spread. BTW...IIRC, there's another carPC running street deck in the same issue, am I thinking of the bimmer mentioned above?

WRT to the driveability...I understand that's what it takes to be in the "expert" class, but seriously, I think the term "car audio" is only loosely applied to what is, essentially, a listening room that just so happens to be shaped like a car.

IMHO, if you can't drive the thing, it should be called "Audio" and not "Car Audio". A car is a conveyance, and drivability is half the challenge of the car environment. I can't even imagine what my system would look like if I didn't have to worry about little things like the steering wheel, road noise, relocating my AC lcd's, keeping my spare tire, power requirements for my lights and other accessories, etc. etc. This is largely the reason I quickly skipped to the Bimmer, along with that, what was it, a Merc?...don't have the mag in front of me, but it had excellent fiberglass work in the trunk.

The bimmer is not running a PC. The screen you see in the dash is stock, the screen above the dash is just the display for the JBL processor.

Originally Posted by RedGTiVR6

The bimmer is not running a PC. The screen you see in the dash is stock, the screen above the dash is just the display for the JBL processor.

...Well, on one of the installs, there is a carPC screen running, i believe, street deck, and it sits just below the main display for, iirc, an alpine DVD player/LCD. The carPC is specifically mentioned in the article. IIRC, the interior of the car involved is beige. Perhaps it is one of the other installs, or they were talking about the trailer queen, and I have it confused.

You're thinking of the Lexus, and it's running Drive Soft.

Thing is, it's super easy to pass judgment when you've never been in the position. I used to say the same things about trailer queens. But now that I've been there and spent the time and money and dedicated myself to attaining the best possible sound out of the car, it makes complete sense to me. At this level, your goal is to attain the best sound possible, and at that level, if you want to be competitive, it's what you have to do.

There's reasons there are different levels to compete in. Within the next few years, our car will be completely stripped and redone.

One other thing to remember...when you make your living doing this stuff, your car is your best advertisement. That car, though not drivable, demonstrates a good chunk of Chris's abilities as an installer. If the public wants to dump the money into an install at a shop, they are going to hunt out the best installer for their money. That car is like a business card for him.