Out Standing In Our Field

Car Audio; a means to while away a long journey, a hobby to some and a complete obsession to others.
Car audio is a multi-million dollar industry, a space in which some of the biggest names in consumer electronics compete for market share. Yet, while their home audio divisions cosset the potential customer in the plush environment of a listening room, often with hot beverages on hand, potentially with one of those undersized biscuits presented in an individual wrapper placed precariously on the side of the saucer, the car audio enthusiast is left somewhat out in the cold, sometimes literally.
Of course, there is the option to stand in Halfords and listen to a “wall” of coaxial speakers running off a head unit, which is protected from the sticky fingers of children by a Plexiglas shield. The overall experience is somewhat marred by the other 10 units blurting out a distorted Chris Moyles show on Radio 1.
Not exactly high end audiophile stuff.
To hear the best kit available, the enthusiast is limited to a handful of demo cars or by meeting up with similar enthusiasts to audition their systems. The process of the meet can be a somewhat bizarre experience, as many of you reading this will know.
The process goes something like this. A private message arrives asking to demo your system, or you finally pluck up the courage to send the PM asking to demo somebody else’s. The person you are communicating with is a complete mystery to you. They could be anybody. All you have to go on is a name from a website, which could suggest anything from a top glamour model (if you go by a lot of people’s avatars) to a fourteen year old who spells their name with numbers rather than letters (n0 off3nc3 m34nt).
The meeting place is arranged, be it a car park, petrol station, McDonalds or any number of local dogging spots. You arrange the meet and drive to the location with some trepidation as to what the mystery person will be like. You fear the worst. My car is small, “will they be able to get in?” Panic ensues. On arrival, a sudden sinking feeling sets in as you realise you not only don’t know their real name, but didn’t think to ask what car they drive (assuming M4rK_96 has even got a car, he may have come on his pushbike). A few awkward moments arise, as you smile and nod at some chap sat in his car looking like he too is looking for somebody. Is it him? What if it’s not? He might be meeting another man he met from a dating website, and thinks you are his “date” for the night. Eventually you speak to him and to your relief, not only is he Mark, but he is also relatively normal. So you sit in the car in the car park of a transport café, while the windows mist up from your hot breath, with your new found male friend, trying desperately to tell yourself that this is normal.

To be honest, all of my experiences have been good. Some of the legends on Talk Audio have invited me to their houses, offered me a place to stay and fed me with barbequed food. I have met anaesthetists in McDonalds, Fabia VRs drivers on industrial estates and turned up on the door step of some old boy who was wearing just his boxers and a dressing gown (the Aliante was cheap, so worth the trip). It just goes to show what a great forum TA is and what a community spirit we have.
My personal favourite for meeting place for numerous people is a field. Some great meets have been had in fields. While the home audio guys and girls are sat on a sofa sipping Earl Grey from a china cup, their car audio brethren are standing in the cold in a muddy field waiting for the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat of the car they wish to audition, occasionally walking to the café to fill up on bacon rolls and tea that has been “brewing” since the sun came up. First time I met our very own Adam Rayner was in a field in Chingford. It rained all day!
So where have we gone wrong and why has the industry forsaken us?
Personally I believe it a case of ‘ease of installation.’ There is no real skill in connecting a set of home speakers to and amp and plonking them in a position which is favourable to the listener. The car environment is completely different.
Mounting speakers, amplifiers and even head units will vary from car to car and speaker to speaker. While meeting with people who use the kit you wish to audition will give you an indication of the sound quality of their install, it does not allow you to compare different pieces of equipment in the same environment or tell you what it will sound like with your system. Nor will it allow you to A/B test equipment. Even if you could, the system tuning may need to be modified to get the best from the two pieces that you are A/B testing making the comparison unfair. So, we are left standing in a field and completely in the dark.

So what do I want to see in the future? What will drum up more trade and sell more high end kit? Why not,rather than a wall of speakers, an enclosed car shaped space with a seat? Mount your speakers on a standard sized baffle that can be quickly fitted into the desired locations with quick release cable terminals. Mount the amp with a quick release power terminal – like those available from Vibe. The manufacturers could then provide the larger outlets with demo kit and their ideal crossover points and settings, which could be programmed into the processor to give the best possible SQ.
Like a Car Audio simulator.
This would allow the listener to compare drive units and amplifiers in an ideal and identical environment, and to the manufacturer’s ideal settings. Sounds good to me. It could even feature a cup holder for tea and a biscuit.
Will this ever happen? Almost certainly not. The future of our hobby/trade seems to being dictated by vehicle manufacturers’ need to move away from DIN size head units and towards Can-Bus systems that prevent the owner from even looking at after market audio, let alone actually fitting it. While there are solutions to most of these problems, they are making the less technically minded car audio buff reluctant to fiddle with their audio and forcing them to stick with their standard units. Not good for the enthusiast and not good for the industry as a whole. I guess we will have to wait and see what the future brings in term of the way car audio is auditioned and sold.
In the mean time I will be meeting as many people from TA and standing in fields as much as I can. You will find, if you haven’t already, that you meet some very nice people in fields, or car parks, McDonalds and dogging spots…maybe not so much the dogging spots.
It sounds like a hobby that would make most people want to stay indoors, but give me a bacon butty a cuppa and some banter with a field full of nutters and I am happy as a pig in his own poop, which, given the lack of toilet facilities available, is usually pretty close to the truth.

Harryredchow