Rest in Peace: Car Audio and Electronics Magazine

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals/Team SoundDomain

I just found out that one of my favorite magazines is being laid to rest. Source Interlink, the owner of Car Audio & Electronics is shutting the magazine down.  CA&E is joining several of my other favorite magazines in our memories. I hope some smaller publisher recognizes that the we still like paper magazines and picks up the brand.

Anybody remember some of the other car audio mags from the past? Check out the jump for a few other titles.

in the forums!

Car Audio mag 20th Anniversary

By: Ben Oh, Car Audio & Electronics Magazine

Vote for your favorite... We're celebrating Car Audio and Electronic magazine's 20th anniversary this summer. See the October issue for a special retrospective covering some of the best custom car audio rides from the show and sound competition circuit. Online we'll be featuring each of the vehicles from the retrospective with additional pics. Every week users can vote for their favorite cars from the different categories. Here I'm posting interior shots from various Alpine demo vehicles (the full features can be found on our site). Chronologically you have the Honda Civic, Mini Cooper, BMW X5, The BMW 645 and the MBZ R500. Tough choice but I think I may have to lean toward the Civic that Chris Yato and Steve Brown built, partially because it's the vehicle that really got the over-the-top demo car trend going. And you see variations of different design elements from the Civic in the cars that followed. Comment on your favorite and vote for yours starting next week on the Car Audio website.

Follow the jump to check out the legendary rides!

Car Audio Mag Future Feature: Audible Excellence

By: Ben Oh, Car Audio & Electronics Magazine

The car is an increasingly 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 to 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. That being said — look at the Mercedes C230 Sport seen here, built by movie sound engineer Gary Summers and the guys at Kustom Kar in Santa Rosa. This is a great example of a true SQ vehicle. It's one of the best sounding cars we've featured in the mag. The article also really gets into how Gary tunes the car.

(more pics after the jump)

Ryan Sheckler Donates Custom Range Rover for Charity Fundraising

Pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler, a three-time Dew champion and X Games gold medalist, has launched a fundraising effort to support the Children's Cancer Research Fund. The program will run for three months, has a goal of at least $100,000, and the top fund-raiser will wind up behind the wheel of Ryan's highly customized Range Rover. Not a bad deal! Ryan's range was also featured in Car Audio & Electronics  magazine (more pics at CA&E). The truck is loaded with a ton of Kicker gear: four 12" L7s, two SX700.4 four-channel amps, two SX1250.1 mono amps, four sets of SS-series components, two pairs of SS midbass drivers, three monitors in the rear, and loads of Dynamat. The Rover rolls on 24" Asanti wheels, and the guys at Racing Dynamics boosted the performance with a chip, custom headers and exhaust.

Interested in the chance to own this one-of-a-kind Range? Check out the full pic and press release after the jump.