“EMMA was founded in Germany in 2000. The main aim was to build a well structured, fair and above all easily accessible competition format for all kinds of car audio competitors and enthusiasts. From the novices just venturing into the world of car audio, right up to the out-of-this-world systems and installs from the best professionals and manufacturers in the mobile electronics industry. EMMA run a series of car audio competitions all over the U.K. Offering anyone who wants to, the opportunity to compete on a fair and level playing field. We have a very dedicated team of people working behind the scenes at EMMA UK, all with the same goal and that is to give you, the competitors, the most helpful, informative and relaxed competition experience available. WE PUT THE FUN INTO COMPETITION.’

Well that’s their mission statement. I reckon it isn’t that they feel the IASCA thing is not fair, just that incredible as it might seem, the Germans felt the American format too formal and wrapped in rules that sound like legalese. That may be the case, but then the Americans will all sue each other at the drop of a hat and we are following their culture just a few years behind as in so many things. No, I think this is about identity and having your own show. Plus imagine the greater glory of winning at more than one organisations’ events. A bit like boxing then, the EMMA system runs happily in the UK, with IASCA events at some venues and EMMA ones at others. Both have European finals.
Here’s how the EMMA judging classes split up.

EMMA SQ, ESPL and EMMA Racing

The Sound quality classes are divided into a few categories. You start off in Entry class and this can be divided into Up to 3 channels, Up to five channels and Unlimited. This means that if you have just two speakers, you don’t get to compete with a bloke with a subwoofer amplifier and separate bass system. Likewise the guy with surround sound will be in a different group. There is no championship series at this level, nor any trophies to be won. It is an advisory category meant to give potential new competitors an insight into how the competition works. It means they aren’t just thrown in at the deep end with seasoned competitors.
For that you need to be in the next, still pretty straightforward Experienced class. This is divvied up in the same way as the Entry one, with the same ‘channel’ classifications.
In Advanced they split it up a bit higher level, with Up to 5 Channels, then Up to Seven Channels and then Unlimited. These guys will be using more active systems of amplification, where each speaker driver gets its own amplifier channel, like in professional concert systems.
Master is where the big nobs hang out and is divided by the same channel classifications as Advanced. Above that is the rarefied heights of a class called Expert. Interestingly enough, they also run a class called Pure Passive which I gather means your whole system has to work on passive crossovers, not lots of amp channels. This a Dark Art and if you are well old, you will know is what Rockford Fosgate used to call The Rockford Way and they would run huge training schemes to teach of Millihenrys, Ohms and Coulombs. There’s just one class for these guys.
Multimedia class is split simply into Experienced, Advanced and Expert and is for those who are well into their LCD screens, also including the installation judging for this sort of kit. They don’t get to tussle with the pure SQ guys unless they want to enter more than one class.
The level of complexity of the judging moves up bit by bit with more judges getting into your car for the higher classes and a lot simpler things going on for the less rigorous ones.
After that it’s the Bass Heads, who come under the heading of ESPL or EMMA Sound Pressure Level. They split up in a similar way to the SQ boys and girls but their internal classifications depend upon the number of actual woofers they have rather than the actual area of them.
So ESPL Entry has simple rules, anyone can enter and there is no championship. This is the ‘roll up to a car show, be persuaded to have a go and get bitten by the bug’ sort of a class. ESPL Experienced is mostly about safety rules and has One Woofer, Two Woofer and Four Woofer classes. The next up would be ESPL Advanced and divides up into mad and madder – Eight Woofers and Unlimited. Above that you find the judging gets involved in the quality of your install. So if you have a massive set up but no carpet, you are in ESPL Advanced and if its all GRP and lovely and you want credit for that, they have ESPL Advanced Plus. This has long been an issue with the owners of street bassers that also have some quality builds, not just a wood yard and MDF dust in the back.
Above this are the psychos of ESPL Master and ESPL Expert classes. Both have just one, unlimited entry division but Expert has the element of install quality in the scoring.
One last wrinkle is called EMMA Racing. This combines both performance and your install, feeding the German urge for huge sound and 200kph driving. Track based, it is a lot like regular racing. However not something that runs in the UK as yet. In fact, with so many classes, you need to pre register and the organisers can work out which classes to run at their events. They run registration on line and although the 2007 season has been completed in the UK, now would be a good time to check it all out. The EMMA UK site is www.emma-uk.com The best resource for information does remain the EMMA HQ site, which is www.emmanet.com
Go check ’em out. The full rules can be down loaded from the site.