Audison BitOne is now shipping!

By: Ben Vollmer Team SoundDomain / Car Audio Nationals

Sean got some great pictures of this unit at Spring Break Nationals and was able to pass on some information on this processor. (Click here for more information from Sean) From everybody I have spoken with, this is probably the most anticipated Integration / Processing Pieces out this year.  (And unlike the other one we have been drooling over, this one is shipping now.)

Well, last week the BitOne Pieces started shipping to your local Audison Dealers! Here is one of the Official new pictures of the unit.  So head on down to your local Audison dealer to audition and purchase one!

Dave Edwards of Team Hybrid's Perfect Season

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals / Team SoundDomain

David Edwards of Virginia goes undefeated in his first year of competing in the MECA organization using front-stage speakers from Hybrid Audio Technologies.

Dave's car was one of my favorite cars to listen to at MECA Finals. His center was so strong, I kept looking for the center channel in his Camry! (There wasn't one)

It doesn’t happen very often that a competitor wins every show he attends in a season, but Dave did it. His 2006 Toyota Camry picked up first in eleven shows, including the MECA ModEx Finals Championship, and seven “Best of Show” awards throughout the year as well. What makes this achievement even more unreal is that Edwards accomplished this great feat in his first year of competing, with a “DIY” installation, in the highly-contested ModEx class in MECA.

Dave used the Legatia L631-3 component set, which includes the L6 midbass in the front doors, Legatia L3 midrange in the factory dashboard locations, and the Legatia L1 in custom-fabricated a-pillars. This great sound quality was achieved using almost all of the OEM speaker-mounting locations.

I am looking forward to seeing what Dave Edwards has up his sleeve next year for the Camry.  Congrats to Dave on his Perfect Season and winning MECA's ModEx class!

Rebuilding the A4

By: Ben Vollmer Car Audio Nationals / Team SoundDomain

After having a competition audio system in my Audi A4 for about 4 years, I've decided it is time for a refresh. There are some parts of the system that I love, and some parts that have driven me nuts. And then to top it off, I blew a couple of the caps in my ancient Phoenix Gold MS Series amps. So instead of patching the system together, the decision was to redo the majority of the system but remain competitive in the classes that the car competes in.

Since my family moved recently, taking it back to Benchmark Audio in Upstate NY wasn't practical. It went from a 6 hour drive to a 15 hour drive, which just isn't going to happen.

So after looking at a ton of shops, the decision was made to take the car to Acoustic Images in Mooresville, NC.  The crew at AI employs a number of veteran competitors including Bryan Wilkinson, Jason Syner, Mark Worell and other well known industry installers.

I also got a little help from some great manufacturers: JL Audio, Second Skin and AudioControl have all helped out with the project. We will be covering each of those sponsor's products usage in the rebuilt system.

The goals of the system were pretty easy:

1. Run the front stage 100% Active, getting rid of the Alpine F#1 Passive Crossover Networks
2. Install New Subwoofers
3. Replace Existing Sound Dampening Materials

Over the next couple of weeks we'll post up pictures of the trunk being redone, the kicks and doors being rebuilt, and some general rebuilding of the car. It's going to be quite a process, but I'm really looking forward to the results. Stay tuned!

Directed Sells Off Precision Power

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals / Team SoundDomain

Precision Power back in the day made some of the finest amps ever, and I used to drool over them on a regular basis. The Art Series was one of the coolest looking amps and featured the ability to tap into the hollow areas of the top and bottom of the amp to run a water cooled system through it (which usually picked up some additional creativity points for competitors). Here is the A600.2, which touted 150x2 and was a benchmark back in the mid 1990's when it was released.

 

They have been in the Directed family of brands since Directed bought a/d/s several years ago, but times change, and again, so has Precision Power's owner.

The brand is now at Epislon Electronics, Inc, which already owns some well known 12-volt brands such as:

• SoundStream
• Kole Audio
• SPL Audio
• Power Acoustik

Epsilon Electronics acquired all branding rights and existing inventory. Warranty service for qualified product sold through the Directed Electronics channel will continue to be processed by Directed.

I hope that the new owners will return "PPI" to it's original sound quality roots. Ah, the memories.

Tweeter Sold to a Liquidator

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals / Team SoundDomain

Founded in 1972, Tweeter was a national specialty consumer electronics retailer providing home and car entertainment solutions. Just two weeks after CEO George Granoff has parted ways with the chain, Tweeter was purchased by a liquidator Thursday night after closing all of its distribution centers and pushing all inventory out to its stores, TWICE is reporting.

Schultze Asset Management Group acquired the former Tweeter Home Entertainment Group for $38 million in a bankruptcy auction last year. They employed more than 2,400 employees and operate over 100 stores under the Tweeter, Sound Advice, HiFi buys and Showcase Home Entertainment names

It looks like they have already started a clearance on stuff over on www.tweeter.com with the ability to search on each of the store's clearance stock.  I wish all of their employees well. Several fellow competitors worked at Tweeter and we hope that they land on their feet.