Clarion Top Out The EMMA Battlewagon!

Regular readers and sound off aficionados alike will know that the EMMA or European Mobile Media Association sound off series is run in the UK by Andrew ‘˜Roo’ Ackerley and his dad, known as Pa Bear. They are ably assisted by a crew of the faithful at each event who do judging and scoring, and admin and more. My part has been to write about them, take pictures and video at events and to act as compere at the shows and generally get up in the grilles of the public. I tell them about what is going on before their very eyes. I have been told that a very few bods have even joined in the scene as a result of seeing a round and drawing closer to begin finding out what it was all about.
Some while back, I got a small P. A. system of two boxes on a stick and a radio microphone. But while it could reach oh twenty feet on a quiet day, it was utterly irrelevant in the face of the kind of ambient sound levels at shows these days. So Roo gets busy and lo and behold, after some heavy duty labouring in the background, shows up at the last show with the rear of the van now sporting a really rather effing serious array of sponsored VIBE PA components. From a row of eight evilly efficient bullets to eight more oblong QB69 drivers, fully sixteen of the ten inch PA linen edged drivers and even a quartet of their best general issue woofer, (as against the mighty weapons-grade Black Death Bubonic sub) called SPACE, in the fifteen incher size. Coupled with a midprice DJ rig and a headunit in the wall, lower right as you look at it, the system was impressive.
There are always start-up and tuning issues with a big system and while it was epic versus my piffling PA, we did have a bit of an Anne Robinson style Weakest Link. This was an entry level CD Tuner from Fusion about three years back. It had a lot of preouts but their voltage and general phatness was medium at best. So, I made a call or two and the fabulous chaps and chapesses at Clarion, who have been stalwart Talk Audio supporters throughout, said they would help.
Simply keen on the Clarion sound quality through the deck, I was happy to say any deck that had sufficient pre-outs would be great but I was told the CZ 702E was the baby as it has phat five Volt outputs. This is big and juicy of signal where the line level was once 500mV as a standard, and is now 5000mV or 5V! This will make the Battlewagon SING and the signal to the system will be going through it via the auxiliary input.
Clarion CZ702E, showing Aux in.

Anyway, they are sending (have sent) one of these superb flagship head units link to the EMMA HQ and it shall be fitted If you are out and about at a show the sound-off circus has come to town with, be sure to come and check out the scene, the Battlewagon and I’ll even let you make a ‘Hello!’ on the system through my microphone!
A huge thank you to Clarion from EMMA UK!