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dr hypothesis

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  2. So I was in the local paper today

    in General Audio - Can't find a category for your question? Ask here.

    Posted

    Damn, didn't know you had to register for that site. Here's the actual article, it's short:

    Audio addicts raise the woof

    The rear window of Caleb Paulson’s Saturn is stenciled with a little attitude: “If it’s too loud … you’re too old.”

    By: Patrick Springer, INFORUM

    The rear window of Caleb Paulson’s Saturn is stenciled with a little attitude: “If it’s too loud … you’re too old.”

    The 17-year-old from Dickinson, N.D., fit right in at a competition Sunday at a parking lot in east Moorhead called “Audio Heads Mobile Madness.”

    It could have been called “Guys with really loud car sound systems.”

    Welcome to the subwoofer subculture.

    About 30 competitors came from as far away as Glendive, Mont., and the Twin Cities to find out whose car audio system could crank out the most decibels.

    That would be Bruce Dufner, whose Chevy Astro van topped the sound scale with 156.5 decibels. For the curious, that’s louder than a military jet taking off, a noise that produces about 140 decibels.

    The 51-year-old railroad worker from Glendive did it with a huge set of speakers hooked up to four amplifiers powered by an array of 18 batteries, all concealed behind dark glass windows.

    His competition theme song? A test disc playing a frequency of 62 hertz.

    It’s natural to ask why, a question often met with an evasive shrug and a mischievous smile. Here’s Dufner’s stab at an answer:

    “Just to be louder than anyone else. Just like any competition, you want to be better than anyone else.”

    For the more musically inclined, rap is heavily favored because of its pulsing bass beats, the soundtrack of the subwoofer set.

    Honors for the loudest actual car at Sunday’s competition, sanctioned by the Mobile Electronics Competition Association, went to Leif Wall, 30, of Grand Forks, N.D.

    He has a Chevy Impala with a backseat occupied by big subwoofer speakers, but otherwise unimpressive and even a bit drab looking with an unwashed cream paint job.

    Or, as Wall puts it, “This one’s built for sound.”

    His Impala’s sound system, which, he’s proud to point out, is rigged to play music, not merely test frequencies, blared a respectable 151.4 decibels.

    “The first time I heard bass I fell in love,” he says. “It’s hard to explain, but I’ve been into audio, stereos, my whole life.”

    Many of the auto audio heads who turned out for Sunday’s competition spoke of the thrill of feeling the bass vibrate, turning their cars and their bodies into extensions of their speakers.

    Wall’s hearing, by the way, recently was tested, and checks out fine. The high frequencies are the first to go, he says, but audio heads specialize in low frequencies.

    Still, the pain threshold to the human ear is 130 decibels, and 160 decibels can puncture an eardrum.

    A few, like JoJo Rusten, have paid the price for their high-decibel hobby. He once was fined $120 by a police officer who was waiting at a stop light three cars ahead of him.

    “He said I was shaking his laptop,” he says.

    A visitor wants to know: Isn’t anybody worried, just a little, about hearing loss? The question elicits laughter.

    “We’re all young,” Rusten, 23, says. “We’ve got time to live.”

    And time to be loud.

  13. 18" Btl Stomp!

    in Fi Car Audio Subwoofers

    Posted

    Speaking of W7s... I had a guy in the lane next to me the other night that wanted to hear what was in my car. He had his car done at a shop here in town, two 13w7s all fancy and whatnot. He sat in my car and had to plug his ears. :lol: His words "man I thought my w7s were badass, but this is the loudest shit I've ever heard" I was like, yeah I don't really even think it's all that loud. He looked at me like I was insane.

    The BTLs... they're soul-crushing.

  16. Mn Shows? Any In The St.paul/minneapolis Area?

    in Car Shows

    Posted

    I am not sure if there is camping or not. This is just a one day event, it is a 3x though. Have you been to Grand Forks/East Grand Forks before? I think there is camping spots in East Grand Forks, but they could of been washed out due to the flood. I'll have to cruise around the area this weekend and check it out.

    Anybody who is interested in coming to these shows and is not familiar with the area, pm me with any questions you have or if you're wanting a demo. :D

  18. Mn Shows? Any In The St.paul/minneapolis Area?

    in Car Shows

    Posted · Edited by dr hypothesis

    Here are the flyers from the MECA site:

    http://www.mecacaraudio.com/flyers/5-31-09MN.pdf

    http://www.mecacaraudio.com/flyers/6-28-09MN.pdf

    Not sure what the turnout will be like at these shows. I'm hoping there will be some big systems there. I'm not THAT loud, probably around 150 with the windows down. They're doing SPL, SQ, and the 'drive by spl' (which is what I'll be doing). Send me a PM if you end up going to any of these shows, I love giving demos. :hairtrick:

  20. Check Out This T.v.

    in Pro Audio / Home Audio / Home Theatre

    Posted

    TV broadcasting is only 720, gonna take a while before they make the switch to 1080

    That is just straight up false. Most are 1080i. ABC and the ESPN HD channels are 720p due to less motion artifacting. (less blur with fast motion, prevelant in sports) Dish Network even has 1080p on demand.

    720p is just fine. I bought my first set back in 2001, it was a 1080i rptv. I now have a 720p dlp. 720p looks better to me. I have friends and family with 1080p sets and it's hard to see much of a difference if any. It would make sense to go 1080p, but only if you're buying a set above 50" IMO.

  23. Meca Questions

    in Competitors Corner

    Posted

    If you aren't concerned about fusing or wanting to seriously compete in MECA, they'll probably just put you in S5.

    Just go and have fun.

    That is my plan. I'll probably just do the 'drive by spl' at the show(s). Hoping to be a crowd pleaser, not too many big systems around here, hopefully a few more at the show.

  25. Meca Questions

    in Competitors Corner

    Posted

    There is a couple MECA shows coming up in May and June, one of which is in the town I live. I'm definitely gonna be hitting these up as I've never competed. Looking at the MECA site, the only thing that really interests me is the drive by spl. I just have a loud daily driver. Do systems in MECA have to be fused a certain way, or can I just run what I have? I wouldn't mind doing the spl as well, but not if I have to change a bunch of stuff. I'm not even sure what class I would be in.

    The shop that is putting the show on actually has a termlab (very suprising) and they agreed to let me do some testing if I join MECA. The shop also told me the president of MECA will be there doing the judging, they made this sound like a big deal. I've never heard of the guy before, only Wayne and Ralph from dbdrag and usaci.

    Car audio is pretty much dead in this area, so I don't expect to see that many people there, even though it is a 3x. I just want to get that 150, legal or outlaw it don't matter to me. :hairtrick:

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