RAYNER INVITED TO CAR LAUNCH!

I have a whole new world of politics to grasp. Whereas most of the serious players in car audio were simply Japanese, the car makers offer Swedes, Teutons and Koreans and many other nations and approaches to grok. Even inside the corporate milieu of car audio, there were differences, though. At JVCKenwood the UK staff are relaxed and approachable in a very British way but are deeply professional. I found Panasonic a lot more formal in some ways and Pioneer used to make me feel like family when they had their own outfit in the UK. Clarion were proper mates. And the new stuff in my life is about the OEM or Original Equipment by Manufacturer side of automotive electronics. I have now amassed Audi, Maserati, Mercedes, McLaren, Kia, Lexus and Volvo on my marque-list. Some by simply sitting inside static and getting an earful and some by proper press department car loans.
The way car makers deal with the press varies, too. After two lovely press loans of the Volvo XC90, full of B&W audio, article with embedded Youtube video here: link) followed by a week with the V90 XC – a different car, honest! Article and video here: link – I am off to the Oddfellows to try the new XC60. This is the mid sized SUV that Volvo are going to sell an awful lot of. It comes in a few variants, including the Polestar T8, ‘which delivers 421 hp, matching the optimised XC90 T8 as the most powerful Volvo models ever built.’
The Oddfellows were a bunch of misfits versus the posh professionals as far as ‘˜clubbable’ chaps are known. A bit like the Groucho club in London’s reasons to exist, it was all about ‘˜creatives’ rather than businessmen. but it looks lovely. I am so looking forward to it.
On the YouTube front, something odd happened. First, the ‘˜YouTubers’ who are getting stupidly huge levels of fame, to the point that live ‘˜meet your hero’ events are being held, are up in arms. After some truly vile and inappropriate videos from nasty people were posted and adverts automatically appeared attached to them, a whole load of advertisers simply took their dollars out of the mix. Lots of channels are earning a fragment what they did and some are at risk of being shut down. Thus, the yucky content filter is now set like TV – so no ‘˜death scenes’ in Mousetrap Mondays but you can see the dead mouse.
In a similar fashion, I think the copyright issue has been tightened further. Whereas before, you could video a car system with music playing, have the YouTube software recognise it and take the monetisation away and give it to the copyright owner, there is a higher level that can get your video muted in its entirety!
It was the Eagles and Hotel California. A famous audiophile live recording thereof. At first it was recognised by YouTube and the ads ran for the record company’s benefit. It was a ‘˜copyright issue’ and so I should think. I feel artists need to eat, too.
But I recently got a message flag for a comment that was telling me off for leaving the video up, MUTED in whole. I went to look and figured that with us silent in the car and the track so pure and clean, you totally could have downloaded the video and used it to enjoy the music, like you had bought a pure version of it yourself. I think it makes sense and yet provides me with a challenge of finding the rights or paying for them, for a cool tune to use in these clips. My mate Mick swears by Infected Mushroom!
I have another box of goodies here. A slew of 6.5 inch speakers from all the brands that Celsus import. Why do they import more than one brand? Are they really any bloody different to each other? Isn’t it all just ‘˜marketing’? Well, I am going to unbox, then find out
I have 6.5in speakers here from MTX’s Terminator range, DS, CS and KS coaxes from Kicker and C2, C3 and C5 two-ways from JL Audio.
Adam Rayner On Line Editor!