Auto Audio Aristocrats

The single most exciting vendor of mobile electronics in the UK for me, is cool for all the wrong reasons. Not because of the products they sell (they are the most important outlet for Morel pretty much worldwide in terms of how many of their mad end limited edition sets they shift) as there are thankfully now lots of places where you can get the best there is. (Like Kenwood’s Premier Centres, Pioneer’s PRS and ODR dealers, Alpine’s F#1 Status crew and Four Masters dealers.) No, it’s because of their clientele. Close enough to a main set of traffic arteries to be easily reachable from the centre of London, yet discreetly tucked away near the Central Middlesex hospital, Auto Audio have quietly attracted the ‘dream demographic’. Celebrities, the High Net Value types and the way more posh than that. A big piece of it also has to be the gravitas and gentle but utter authority of their chap John Colligan, who along with Greg Morris remains unfazed by the famous.
This discretion is a big part of the reason they get the work with the top marque motors there, in red at the time of this event, which made my heart hurt to look at it) and indeed, I can’t relate what little I do know of the client base bar one fact. One of their coolest punters is a geezer known as Jazzy B, of Soul II Soul fame. He has Morels, too and once entered his Aston Martin into an EMMA competition at Auto Audio, just to see how it’d do. I own all the Soul II Soul albums…..

For this year marks the fourth of the season-starting European Mobile Multimedia Association sound off contests held at Auto Audio’s massive under cover workshop. EMMA is a huge thing now, much bigger than IASCA ever got in Europe. Possibly because it’s just sweeter and has no reams and reams of Yankee-litigious-based regulations about tearing each other’s cars apart for stroppy scrutiny and loads more rules besides.
There are lots of classes to keep people competing like with like and yet they start at a very basic level – you can find out more about it all by checking out the EMMA Website. But what has happened in Europe has been echoed here, through the sterling efforts of UK EMMA Guv’Nor Carl Hynes. This year’s season opener had forty-odd cars over two days and the standard was awesome.
The Team Highdown posse as did incredibly well as a result of all their getting ready and pre-assessments, scoring six 1st places, four 2nd places, two 3rd places and a 5th place. Owner Jez Owen said “A truly overwhelming result for our 1st official outing!” And I do agree! Their roll call of honour includes scary-looking dude Brendan who had come up from the coast just to spectate (he’s an ex-competitor about to get right back into it) as well as entrants Steve Blackmore, Adam Halford, Ollie Owen, Jake Satchel, Pat Cash, Jason Morris, Ben Vineer, Dan Cowell, Adam ‘skip’ Skippins, James Jarrett and Jez himself. Tracey and Debbie Elcome were welcomed as Highdown Honeyz. And very cute and perky they looked, too! (Adam’s now going out with Tracey after they met at the Highdown thing. One, two, three, “Aaaah!”) One thing I really like about Team Highdown is the well-informed use of a real spread of brands between and within the cars. They use Genesis, Hertz, Infinity, Pioneer, Morel, DLS, Rockford-Fosgate and CDT.
I had a listen to Jas Dahele’s Audison Audi at the event as FOUR support EMMA in a major league way, since they do sell some of the most worthy competition audio equipment around. Like so many extremely finely engineered things of all types, they are Italian. The speakers I heard were fabulous and what they enabled me to hear going on with the Audison Bit One processor within the install was delicious.
Grant Hanan was there with his Audiowave car. Another with the Pioneer DEH-P88RS deck driving the tunes, it’s a cult unit now and the car sounded ‘real’ hifi.
Bob Flynn, the deeply individualistic van weasel I met and loved to bits last year, was also present, which was lucky as he owns two Ducati motorcycles and the weather was lovely and Brighton was calling him to go pose as well as ride. To his credit and ‘cos Greg of Auto Audio had asked him, he chose the Sound Off over the Sea Front. His immaculately clean Mercedes Sprinter van was awesome last year, now it’s just bonkers. The dude has fitted a Genesis Project Fifteen amplifier, complete with valves and upgraded his speakers to Morel mad end limited edition carbon fibre Elate jobs that cost way more than my car is now worth! When asked if it was a competition urge and if he was getting addicted, he was so cool and simply told me it was “…only because it’s a better sound. I nearly didn’t come….”
The ESPL side of life was happening with a bloody great car full of Rockford-Fosgate Power woofers in a flump-mungerous great ported enclosure courtesy of the hard cases at Manjit’s Bassmechanix shop in Tyne & Wear-land. They drove a serious distance to come and kick butt. Six 12in Power T1 woofers on a T4001BD bass amp and all backed up by doors bristling with a dangerously loud array  of six pairs of Power full range speakers, all driven on a Pioneer DEH-P88RSII, Andrew Ackerley owns it, and was helped by mate David ‘snoop’ Turnbull, who works for Manjit at Bassmechanix in Newburn. His stepsister Zoë Glendinning has chosen of all things, a big audio install to be her sixth form project to execute and document. Power to her!
The car looks a bit normal, then you get the revelation that it has had the floor cut out and a box welded in under that huge bass enclosure to take a quartet of deep cycle batteries to go where the spare wheel once sat.
It’s badass.


The judges’ team comprised head honchos Carlo Corbin and Jas Suman (who is NOT asleep, I just like to snide-snap him when intently listening with eyes closed) with Andy Blanch on install and Nigel Skingly on Sound Quality. Alan Balchin was operating the ESPL contest with Chris Woods overseeing it. Carl Hynes and Big Kenny as EMMA MD and The Prez were running it all, ably assisted by backroom team Kim and Vicky. These lasses are the hidden stars who get the occasional flak and have to add up the results. Girlies in charge means it’ll be sensible, usually!
It was a cracker of a season opener and for me has now become the first event of the year. Donny as was has never been the same at Donington Park instead of Doncaster and Auto Audio’s gig has become the more important event.
Check out the video – it’s got the MD of EMMA introducing it.
See you at the next one!
And here’s where to click to see a funky cool slideshow in the newly imported gallery system. We LOVE this!
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