Week Thirty-Seven – A bit of OEM to Leaven

I really can’t say that I have pursued much in the OEM (Original Equipment by Manufacturer) sector. Rather, it has come to me and on occasion, I have guiltily taken advantage of it. Borrowing Range Rovers and damn great huge S500 Mercedes – which I used to go to Disneyland Paris in, felt naughty. But each got their write up and the Harman people, who do the Rangey’s system, have never forgotten about me and I have been invited to go to Mark Knopfler’s recording studio this week and check out legendary producer Steve Levine who is working with bright rising stars, Patch William. A guitar-based outfit who have won a prestigious Ivor Novello award for their song making, with accolades both lyrically and melodically. The fact that this jaded bastard spent years slogging equipment in and out of recording studios and simply would find his skin crawling to be a ‘corporate guest’ in such a place, while they have a groovy live session going on, with us allowed to interrupt. It’d just seem so damn wrong…… Quite apart from the fact that I found myself sharing a confession with another terribly long time served mobile electronics bod that we both found their skiffle-rock music not to our taste. I can’t tell you what we actually said.
But it does add up to us both rather staying in the car park to check out the car, which has emphasis on ALL seat sound quality, where aftermarket rarely does, instead concentrating on the driver and front seat passenger. (Has ANY car audio contest format got any element of all-seats positional judgement, anyone?) And I’ll tell you all about it next week.
Meanwhile, I was at Highdown Car Audio & Security in deepest Worthing on Sunday at their open day and had the pleasure of using the Hertz PA Panda to talk through, with Jonthecopper on the Ones & Twos. It was a lovely day and I am delighted to report that Nathan Carey, who swagged a wonderful set of kit from Vibe has now got a girlfriend – I think it’s the HiFi as helped him pull, even though he is a good-looking lad!
Keen to get playing with the Clarion NX700 double DIN head this week, so as ever, I’ll go get on then….
Adam Rayner – Online Editor