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!

Weekend Plans? Greg Welch Memorial Show

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals/Team SoundDomain

If you are anything like me, it is about three weeks from MECA Finals and you ALMOST have enough points to qualify. But not quite. So this Saturday, I am headed to North Georgia for the last non-State Finals event on the MECA Event Schedule. In addition to MECA being there, Tim and Alison Brown also have an IASCA 2x Event with Moe and Terry being there in hopes of iDBL World Records being broken.

The show starts at 1 PM and is one of the most affordable shows I have seen all season. It is $15.00 plus a toy to get into the show area, and then $10.00 for each event you want to compete in. So if you do IASCA and MECA Sound Quality, it would be $35.00 plus one toy as a donation to Toys for Tots. Which is what most shows charge for one class.

2008 USACi Finals Update: Details, Details

We've got updates on the USACi Finals move. According to USACi's President, Ralph Randall, Finals will take place at the state fairgrounds in Dallas and will move to Will Rogers in Ft. Worth for 2009. They will have 24-hour security on site, free trailer parking, and competitors that have to drive more than 500 miles will receive a discount on their entry fee.

1. Free secure trailer parking ($100 savings)
2. Clubs and groups can RESERVE space together @ no charge.
3. 20% entry fee discount (1st entry) for those traveling more than 500 miles.
4. Points cutoff will be extended to October 19, 2008. Invites will still mail on October 10 so those who qualify later will have to call in to register.

This will be both and inside and outside event. They will try to fit as many cars inside as they can, but space is limited, and this is finals after all - there will be a lot of cars! Power will be available and the USACi crew even said they would  bring generators if need be! For more info, follow the discussion over at the USACi forums: 2008 USACi World Finals Moved to Dallas, Texas. Thanks for the tip Murph and Ben!

Source: USACi Forums

Mark Eldridge's Advanced SQ Seminar: Lone Star Edition

SQ Guru Mark Eldridge stopped by the SoundDomain forums last Friday to drop word that he'll be hosting another Advanced SQ Seminar in Dallas/Ft.Worth on October 25 and 26th. This is the same seminar that our own Team SoundDomain attended and covered in the blog during their Car Toys show coverage. And if you read what they had to say, you'll know the guys were pretty blown away by the seminar. (Who says you can't teach a bunch of old dogs new tricks?)

Hop into the forums to read Mark's post to get all the details for the event. This seminar is perfect for just about anyone, whether you're a car audio hobbyist like myself or a new or long-time competitor, this is definitely one to attend.

in the forums!