Sound System Installer Challenger - Countdown Competition
by CAE, Jul 01, 2001
Robert Garza and Dan Gillings arrived on Wednesday night to begin setting up the next day. Mad Dog (Manny Machado) and I arrived Thursday afternoon around 2:00 PM to help finish setting up. (Side note: We were delayed because of a mix up at the car rental agency. So instead of the Mitsubishi Eclipse we had reserved we got a minivan.) When Mad Dog and I got to the show we were overwhelmed at first at the size of the tents. There was one for each team and measured 30 ft. x 60 ft. That's bigger than Fishman Audio. All about were the aforementioned wires and equipment for both teams to choose from. There were definitely plenty of materials to inspire the teams. By the time everything was set up and ready for Friday it was almost 8:00 PM. You know what time it was when we were done: it was beer time.
The next day both teams arrived at around 10:00 AM, and were allowed to check in their tools and set up the shop however they wanted. The cars were in the tents but they had car covers over them. At around 11:30 the covers came off and it was revealed to everyone the two brand new Audi S4s. Champion Motorsports of Pompano, Florida was kind enough to donate both cars for the competition. With a half hour before the contest was to begin, both teams had time to go through each cars and come up with a game plan.
The contest began at midday on Friday. The countdown clock, courtesy of GR8RIDE.com, kept track of the time. Both teams began taking apart the cars and each team captain designated certain tasks for the others. This contest created so much excitement; people at the Spring Break Nationals kept coming back at different times of the day to see what each team had done. There were people at three and four in the morning around the tents keeping an eye on how each car was coming along. Mad Dog and I at first were skeptical at what these two teams could do in such a short time. But I have to say, at the end of the contest we were so blown away with what both teams had accomplished in only 48 hours. Everyone responded to the Installer Challenge with such enthusiasm that Mark Fukuda was challenging me for the next contest. Team Thunder (known as the blue team) won with 30 more sound quality points. Otherwise the teams were even in their scores.
The toughest part of the contest turned out to be tearing down the tents and loading everything back up in the truck. I was really amazed with the magnitude of this contest in terms of the whole hearted participation of everyone who made it happen and all the excitement it generated from enthusiasts. The installers truly are to be commended for giving it their all. Much props to Robert Garza for putting the contest together; and Dan Gillings of Select Products for helping Robert out tremendously. I would also like to thank all the manufacturers for donating the equipment and the prize money. Finally I would like to thank Joe Rafael for his commitment from both magazines to help make this contest possible.
The purpose behind this contest was to place a time constraint on the installers as they tried to create a competition level audio system. Given enough time a talented installer can do wondrous things; but what if that person had a limited period? Let's face it, that's the way the real world works. Installers always work against the clock and usually pull it off. So given their dedication and skills it's funny that the industry looks down on us as just installers. Without us there is no industry. In a sense we create products that make the industry go around, not unlike manufacturers of the equipment we use. Without us there would not be any of these enthusiast magazines. Who would buy a magazine without an install?
Once we had the advertisement locked down I turned my attention to some manufacturers for sponsorships. Keith Lehman, president of MB Quart, was the first to come on board. He was excited about the idea and was willing to help in any way. Other manufacturers like Stinger, Panasonic, Audio Control, Kicker and Code Alarm also became sponsors and were excited to be part of the Challenge.
The preliminary rules I came up with were that both teams had to have the same equipment, same vehicle, and the same materials. The two teams were to be composed of five installers each. Once word of the contest spread installers submitted resumes in order for Select Products' Robert Garza and I to choose the two teams - Team Tweeter and Team Thunder. Robert Garza was chosen to organize the contest. He got Porter Cable and Delta to donate tools for each team. There was plenty of Stinger wire; MB Quart provided the subwoofers, mid and highs; Kicker submitted amplifiers; Audio Control took care of the signal processors; and Code Alarm would protect the vehicles.
