Cut me off. Shit your pants. Don't say thank you. Shit your pants. Be rude to customer service people. Shit your pants.
I never actually bothered competing, mostly due to budget constraints. I'm one of those people that didn't want to enter unless I was going to be competitive, so I never bothered.
I had a job sweeping up and answering the phone at an audio shop one summer during highschool, and made a lot of friends in that scene. I ran a 500 RMS setup with two Rockford Fosgate 12's in a custom ported enclosure tuned to around 36 Hz. Considering that I was driving around a tiny Civic back then, it was more than enough for my needs.
I'll be the first to admit that going for sound quality is a whole lot harder than trying to have the loudest bass. My first setup was pretty easy to build, but that's because I didn't bother doing anything besides the headunit and subs. The shop I worked for mostly did work on cars that were all about SPL (sound pressure level), and to be honest, there's a bit of a rift between the SPL and SQL (sound quality) competitors. Anyone with a thousand bucks and an internet connection can throw together a loud system, so the some of the SQL guys kinda looked down on the SPL guys. It was civil, but it was sorta like how a Marine might look at a national guardsman. Not hostility, but definitely attitude.
A good system becomes a freaking feat of engineering at the competitive level. Relocating speakers for a better soundstage, tweaking sound processors, ect. It's so far over my head that I gave up on that off right away.
I'm far from an expert, and I've been out of that world for a while, but if you ever want to run ideas for a build past me, feel free to shoot me a message!
I never actually bothered competing, mostly due to budget constraints. I'm one of those people that didn't want to enter unless I was going to be competitive, so I never bothered.
I had a job sweeping up and answering the phone at an audio shop one summer during highschool, and made a lot of friends in that scene. I ran a 500 RMS setup with two Rockford Fosgate 12's in a custom ported enclosure tuned to around 36 Hz. Considering that I was driving around a tiny Civic back then, it was more than enough for my needs.
I'll be the first to admit that going for sound quality is a whole lot harder than trying to have the loudest bass. My first setup was pretty easy to build, but that's because I didn't bother doing anything besides the headunit and subs. The shop I worked for mostly did work on cars that were all about SPL (sound pressure level), and to be honest, there's a bit of a rift between the SPL and SQL (sound quality) competitors. Anyone with a thousand bucks and an internet connection can throw together a loud system, so the some of the SQL guys kinda looked down on the SPL guys. It was civil, but it was sorta like how a Marine might look at a national guardsman. Not hostility, but definitely attitude.
A good system becomes a freaking feat of engineering at the competitive level. Relocating speakers for a better soundstage, tweaking sound processors, ect. It's so far over my head that I gave up on that off right away.
I'm far from an expert, and I've been out of that world for a while, but if you ever want to run ideas for a build past me, feel free to shoot me a message!
I've definitely seen the rift you're talking about, and the Marines looking down on other branches is a good example. I think if I ever went down that path, I'd probably be one of the SQL guys. My first set of speakers for my computer were what made me realize how shitty sound can be, especially after listening to some friend's car setups and even going to the movie theater. Sound is a wonderful thing, and you need to treat it with the respect it deserves. After taking a physics class I have a better understanding of what the terms mean, like frequency, wavelength, etc. Still, I know I have a long way to go like you said, and other things in life are taking the forefront right now.
If I ever get the opportunity to start building my own boxes, I won't forget to swing by and ask you some stuff.
I've definitely seen the rift you're talking about, and the Marines looking down on other branches is a good example. I think if I ever went down that path, I'd probably be one of the SQL guys. My first set of speakers for my computer were what made me realize how shitty sound can be, especially after listening to some friend's car setups and even going to the movie theater. Sound is a wonderful thing, and you need to treat it with the respect it deserves. After taking a physics class I have a better understanding of what the terms mean, like frequency, wavelength, etc. Still, I know I have a long way to go like you said, and other things in life are taking the forefront right now.
If I ever get the opportunity to start building my own boxes, I won't forget to swing by and ask you some stuff.
Thanks for supplying that info. That is fuckin awesome that you were into audio competitions. What kind of setup did you run? I'd like to consider myself an audiophile but to be perfectly honest I don't know anything. I've tinkered around with some stuff but nothing that even approaches amateur i'd imagine. Someday, though.