My first car was a ‘83 Dodge Ram van. Not exactly a hot rod, but large enough to fill with 20 of your best friends and head to the city. I earned the nickname "Crash" from my family, as my life has been filled with a decent number cars: many Hondas, a Saturn, a Probe Turbo, and a few VWs. My first love is car audio, but dabbling in performance mods offers a nice break. I've been in the industry for many years; I’ve sold mobile audio gear, worked in the install bays, managed car audio stores, and been a manufacturer's rep. And now my hobby has brought me here, to SoundDomain as Editor and Content Development Coordinator.
When I'd ride around with my dad as kid, he'd quiz me about the cars we'd pass on the road. I loved playing that game, and occasionally, I catch myself calling out makes and models as I drive. My first car was a two-tone blue, ‘84 Pontiac Grand Prix, with every factory option—save the tape deck and sunroof—and a 305 V8. Aside from a pronounced tendency to fishtail in the rain, it was a total blast to drive, and I spent the majority of my teens and early 20s flying around the Florida countryside behind the wheel. When I moved to Seattle, my best friend and I made the drive in three days, and it still stands as one of the coolest experiences of my life. Currently, I own a ‘78 XJ6 that’s more "project" than "vehicle" and I’m looking to pick up an old Miata to autocross.
I developed an interest in car audio in the late 80s, about the same time that Car Stereo Review (RIP) and Car Audio and Electronics debuted. Eventually, I went to work for a friend who did high end custom car audio installs, and in 1991, he got me into my first Consumer Electronics Show. I attended Mobile Dynamics installer school in 1992, with the intent of making my hobby my profession. Unfortunately, I found out that there was much more that I didn't know than I did, and I made a mess of my share of installs. I spent the next ten years tinkering with my own car, working a little in sales at a high end car audio retailer, covering the CES show for SoundDomain as a freelance writer, and getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I joined CarDomain in 2002, and was the Lead Buyer for Mobile Electronics. Since CarDomain closed its retail end, I'm no longer with the company and am now doin' my own thing. But just like you can take the trash out of the trailer, but not the trailer from the trash, I'll continue to bring you latest and greatest in our industry. See you in the forums!
ITim Baillie is owner of HzEmall, The Custom Connection in Surrey, BC, Canada. "HzEmall" is a play on words "hurts them all". Hz is an abbreviation for Hertz (hurts) which is the unit of measurement for speaker frequency. HzEmall is a full blown custom car shop that believes attention to detail, quality and integrity are the key ingredients to success and happy customers. With specialties like Mobile Electronics, Auto Trim and Upholstery, Automotive Electrical Wiring and Performance, they are a true one stop shop. Their slogan “Our Award winning quality speaks for itself…let it speak for you.” is bold, but they certainly have the magazine articles and trophies to back up that statement.
Richard Truesdell is the Editorial Director of the online-only digital magazine Automotive Traveler, a leading authority on the world of automotive adventure travel. Rich currently contributes to more than 20 publications worldwide, including Musclecar Enthusiast, european car, and Car Audio and Electronics in the US, Octane, Mercedes Enthusiast and Classic American in the UK, and InCar Entertainment in Australia. Rich is a former editor of Car Audio and Electronics and is a life long AMC nut verified by his cardomain.com and vehicle profile “1968Rogue.” Rich is single and lives in Sun City, California where he may be the town’s only resident who isn’t using a walker or bottled oxygen. His current fleet includes three Rambler Americans from the sixties, a 1969 Jeep Super Wagoneer, 1984 and 1988 Fieros along with a mint 1969 Mercury Colony Park station wagon that takes up as much road real estate as a contemporary Chevy Suburban.
I've been an auto enthusiast for as long as I can remember. From playing with matchbox cars at an early age to my first stereo in my first car; cars are what make me tick. I am also a gadget addict and computer freak. From my first car audio system in the early 1990’s until now, I have been deeply entrenched in trying to get realistic sound from an automobile environment. I am also a devoted Audi fan, owning over 10 of them, including one that I put over 300k miles on and flogged relentlessly. I'm an active IASCA, MECA and USACi competitor with all three of my vehicles. My A4 has won the SLAP National Championships, and I have placed second in IASCA and USACi World Finals two years. In my spare time I run Car Audio Nationals. I am especially thankful for my awesome wife of almost 10 years and our two boys, who are very understanding of Dad’s weird ways. ;)
My name's Adam Rayner and for the last decade and a bit, I have been reviewing mobile electronics products and installations all around the world, from Japan to 'Vegas to Canvey Island, Essex. With a CV covering recording studios, rehearsal rooms and huge stadium-sized speaker systems for rock concerts. I was also production manager for Acoustic Energy loudspeakers. Our flagship was a bookshelf speaker that cost £700 a pair, back when that was a lot of money for small bookshelf speakers. (Still legendary and up there with the Wilson Watt.) I moved to car audio as a natural progression. I worked with StreetWires, Altec Lansing, Cerwin-Vega and HiFonics, as well as Earthquake of San Francisco. I even repped for an accessories firm for a while, so I paid my dues getting worn shoes going around the shops for orders. So I know my stuff in the trade, I know my stuff with the kit. I was given a chance to join my family's profession (words in a row, for sale…) by Car Stereo & Security magazine and was subsequently In Car Electronics editor of Max Power for four years. Seven years in the same job for Fast Car and now I've got my own show, thanks to the fabulous forum community built up here on the TA website by The Guru. I also review high end home cinema speaker systems and can be found on the web at Home Cinema Choice magazine's reviews section, too. I wrote the first actual 'copy' ever published in Exchange & Mart's 140 year history! (True, but still journo-humour.) The resume is wide, as is the man! Often found on the mic at car shows, running politically incorrect contests and wearing oddly enough a trademark USA GI issue sun helmet! (as seen on all staff heads at the Atlanta Olympic games when it got so hot)
The car is increasingly a complex extension of your person and, especially if you're into car audio, it's an extension of your house -- often I'm on my couch listening and evaluating music or watching a movie; pretty much what I do in my car! Of course, for some, for brief periods of their lives (very brief, one would hope), cars ARE their homes. The car isn't just about getting from A to B or individual expression, it's about a high level of functionality as well. Just as the mobile phone is basically an add-on appendage stuck to your ear that connects you to everyone else, the car is like a robot you wear that cocoons and connects you to everywhere. Car Audio has always been about SQ and custom cars. And it's also about the evolution of the automobile from a mode of transportation to, well, a giant gadget on wheels.
At just about every event I go to, I’m asked how I got started in car audio as a female. It all started with my first vehicle, a 1992 Ford F150. It was fuchsia...yes, fuchsia. The speakers were all dry rotted and I didn't have the money to pay someone else to replace them, so I did it myself.... I’ve never stopped doing my own installs since then. Now my husband and I compete across the country in Sound Quality competitions with our Volkswagen GTi. I've been competing in Car Audio competitions for over ten years now. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long! As with any teenager in high school at that time, I started to amass a lot of CDs. I was constantly carrying around 400+ CDs in my car. I thought about how cool it would be to just have my computer in the car...so I found a way to make it happen. I’ve been running a CarPC successfully for over five years now and every title that we’ve won in Sound Quality has been with a CarPC as the only source unit. No head units for this couple! Now, I work for the leading CarPC interface company on the market – Centrafuse. Who would have thought!?
