Over the past year, I have come to realize that the word “competition”, when applied to the world of car audio, is quite the polarizing term. On one hand, since car audio competitions were rebooted here in California during the 2009 calendar year, I have once again experienced the joy, camaraderie, and the educational benefits of attending sound-offs up and down the Golden State. Be it sitting in spectacular sounding vehicles, browsing wonderful installations, exchanging useful information among my fellow competitors and peers, or being handed a trophy at the end of the day, the car audio comp world is a positive one. It’s something I have not experienced since I last participated in the scene almost 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, away from the inner circle of car audio competitors, the word “competition” takes on a totally different stigma. Quite often, the only time I hear a customer utter the word is in a phrase such as “I want my install to be good but not competition level.” Or, “I don’t need anything super crazy, since I don’t plan on competing.” The overall sentiment is that in order to compete, one has to possess a system loaded with ultra expensive products, and installed in a manner befitting a magazine cover car. Sure this can be explained by a general lack of personal experience attending sound-offs; yet even among those who have been to a comp or two, the feeling is somewhat “negative” as well.
Many feel that sound competition is very much driven by a set of strict and complex rules, and that instead of awarding cars that provide the best listening experience, the competitions instead hand trophies to cars with the most innovative installations; additionally, among those who have competed briefly, they are often discouraged by the fact that they are grouped together in the same class with very experienced members, going head to head with cars that are built via methods that are far more advanced. Methods that, due to a lack of budget and/or a desire to keep their vehicles visually stealthy, are simply unavailable to them. “What’s the point?” is a very common perception among first time competitors, many of whom do not show up for the next round. Despite my personal passion for competitions, I do agree with many of these viewpoints, especially when putting myself in their shoes.
In my opinion, this negative outlook is at the heart of a vicious cycle that has contributed to the steady decline of the car audio competition scene over the past decade or so. As potential newcomers are scared off by the format, the sport receives little fresh infusion, and after a while, even the most hardened of veterans gets tired of going up against the same old people week after week, and eventually chooses to hang up their spurs. With smaller attendance at the shows, fewer and fewer retailers and manufacturers are willing to support the events because they simply do not draw enough of a crowd to make it worthwhile. As the sanctioning bodies are forced to hold fewer competitions, public awareness of the entire scene takes a nosedive, resulting not only in additional negativity, but also an ignorance of the sport in general.
So you can imagine my delight when I heard that for 2010, the Mobile Electronics Competition Association, or MECA, will take over as the sanctioning body for car audio competitions out here on the west coast. While I myself have never had the pleasure of competing in MECA, I have long heard about the fair, straightforward and fun loving nature of their events. Ever since their inception in 1999, words have trickled out from their loyal competitors about how people-driven and music-driven their sound-offs are. It is these attributes that have led to MECA’s steady growth across the country, in an era when other, more established organizations are forced to downsize and pull back.
After combing through their rulebook and having an enjoyable chat with Steve Stern and Todd Woodworth, founder and California event promoter for MECA, respectively, I feel that their reputation is well deserved. I am extremely excited about the upcoming season and have put together these five key reasons, on why you should try to attend one of their events this year!
Good for Beginners
Unlike many other forms of car audio competitions, MECA offers a class fit for TRUE beginners. Appropriately named the Stock Class, it requires very basic and rudimentary installation methods. If you just have a pair of speakers upfront in stock locations driven passively, a sub box in the trunk with the amps bolted to it, and a normal head unit with no external processing abilities, this class is for YOU! Worried about the first year competitors running kick panels, dash pods, a full DSP (Digital Signal Processor) and other advanced features? Don’t be, as any one of those things, along with many other installation based criteria, would immediately exclude them from the Stock Class. This is a class meant as a springboard for beginners. As you compete with your most basic of systems, you will gradually learn how to maximize the equipment you have on hand, and slowly digest knowledge that can prepare you for a more advanced system down the road. Aside from the pure competition factor, the general knowledge gained by being part of MECA will help you in all aspects of the car audio hobby, from gear selection, to installation procedures, as well as setup and tuning.
Fair Class Structure
One of the most unique features of MECA is in the way it divides its classes. Instead of focusing on who the competitor is or “pretends” to be (first year competitor with 20 years of experience in car audio, for example), the structure arranges itself according to installation complexity. In the world of sound quality, there is an old adage that installation methods are ultimately responsible for a huge percentage of how good a system can sound. Thus by grouping vehicles according to the kind of work that went into them, MECA ensures that your opposition in any given class doesn’t possess an unfair advantage stemming from a much more advanced install. This rule carries huge weight with me personally, as my own vehicle features a relatively elementary install. However, last year, due to my status as an installer, I was forced to go up against much more advanced cars, often featuring installation, setup and tuning efforts that are exponentially higher than mine.
Sound Driven Format
As mentioned earlier, a common complaint about last year’s competition format here in California was the lack of emphasis on sound quality. When competing in class, one is forced by the rules to be judged on both sound AND installation. With a set of highly complex regulations and availability of bonus points on the install side, the result is that the class-winning vehicle is often not the best sounding car, and on a few occasions, the car with the LOWEST sound quality scores took home the biggest trophy on account of an extremely impressive and innovative install. A distinct example for me personally occurred at last year’s western regional finals, where my car managed to handily defeat a former world champion vehicle, despite scoring almost 30 fewer points (on a 275 point maximum) in SQ, making up the gap and more purely on cosmetics and creativity-related installation points.
There was a class that judged solely on sound, but the problem was that this is an open class to ALL competitors at the show. Meaning whether you have an entry-level passive system, a expert class vehicle with a fully rebuilt dash, or anything in between, if you want to forgo installation judging and focus on sound, you get lumped together into a single class. Well, the outcome was all too predictable. The best sounding cars at the beginning of the year, with highly advanced installs and a ton of tuning time, generally finished at the top at every show, including the regional finals.
MECA suffers from no such problems. It intentionally divides sound and installation into two totally separate areas of competition. If you choose to compete in sound only, there is no fear that you will be grouped with everyone else, and instead, as mentioned in the previous point, your direct competitors will be assigned based purely on installation effort and complexity. If you wish to compete in Installation, there is a similar class division as well. On the whole, this rule makes so much sense it’s a wonder why it isn’t a staple of ALL sound quality competition formats.
SPL Competitors Welcome
Whether we SQ-heads like to admit it or not, sound pressure level competition is the more easily understood, wider-reaching, more objective and in general more popular sibling to sound quality competitions. SPL events usually draw a much bigger crowd, offer more viewing entertainment, and provide the retailers and manufacturers holding the events a better audience for promoting their products. As an organization that in some sense grew out a SPL-oriented background in its early years, MECA has not lost its focus on the SPL crowd despite gaining popularity among the SQ folks. This year, many of the MECA events will feature SPL competitions. For the event organizers, this means more foot traffic and crowd participation. For the average Joe with a big sub system, it means a chance to compete against your peers and take home a trophy. And for us SQ guys, it gives us something interesting to do at the shows, besides standing around talking about tweeter placement and parametric equalizers like a bunch of nerds. ☺
Come to Learn
The number one reason I give to my clients and friends for coming to and competing at sound-offs is the education they will receive. I have always said that spending one day at a show, physically auditioning cars, talking to competitors and installers face to face, is worth more than a year’s online research and information gathering. In fact, I would say that learning about new stuff from a firsthand perspective, is the main reason why I continue to have a passion for competing. Regardless of how many years you’ve been involved in car audio, you’ll find that at every show, you’ll learn something new. At least I have. Quite often, it is useful knowledge that can be immediately applied to my next project. Even for the most novice of contenders, going to a competition can be extremely beneficial. For example, one common wisdom beginners usually come away with, is the realization that products virtually identical to their own, when installed and tuned in a different manner can result in drastically improved sonic results.
To further help the learning experiences, MECA provides a wide array of clinics at every one of their competitions. They cover the entire range of competition related topics, from sound quality attributes, to installation procedures, as well as sound pressure tricks of the trade and more. These clinics are free to MECA members and a mere 10 dollars to non-members; and offer yet another dimension to the MECA experience.
As you read through the MECA website, you will see that there are many many additional factors on why you should come to an event this year. The above five points are merely the ones that I chose as the most poignant. So please take the time to check MECA out, and I hope to personally see you at an event this year here in California!
For any and all information on MECA, please visit http://www.mecacaraudio.com. On the site you can download the rulebook, check for upcoming events in your area, and contact key personnel directly for additional information.
For the full interview with Steve and Todd, as well as information on the first California MECA show in Sacramento, please click below:
Interview
