Customization is one craze that will never go away.
Customization is one craze that will never go away. As long as there are material goods, people will want to alter what they own, sometimes out of pure boredom, but mostly because humans apparently have this strange innate need to individualize things. So it makes no sense that a lot of people express their individuality when customizing their house or car or what have you by copying their neighbors or friends or family. There's obviously a tension between conforming and rebelling, being part of the crowd and standing alone. Humans aren't so well designed that they know which part of that dichotomy they prefer. We want both and neither. Whether you want to be unique or more like a variation on a theme, you can't do anything until you pick up some DIY skills; hence our special end-of-the-year issue.
It almost seems like the car audio scene is split between audio aficionados and custom car enthusiasts. The former are slightly less concerned with the aesthetic appeal of the interior once the system is in place and the latter are more concerned with the look and, much to their own detriment, ignore the sound quality aspect of their systems. For us, audio may be paramount, but they're both important and equally worthy of careful consideration. Frankly, if I could afford a six-figure media room in a house it had better have an architecturally stunning structure. And if I have a cool hi-fi system in the car, I'd like the vehicle to be on par - not that I have the time lately to practice what I preach. One of these days I'll get my BMW 635 project done!
In the meantime, I'll pick up some tips from the likes of Bryan Schmitt (of Rockford fame), Mark Eldridge, Mike Vu, new kid on the block Zee Siddiqi (whose Trifecta-winning 240SX appears on this issue's cover) and Chris Yato, among others, as they drop some knowledge on us in this issue. Whether it's a fabrication how-to, a primer on sound quality or general customization tip for your car, we tried to pack as much as corporate would allow, given our page-count restraints. But don't worry, look for more how-tos in the next issue and online at www.caraudiomag.com in the near future.
It's not all about projects in this issue, however. We have quite a few product reviews and evals, like the two-way remote start security units, just in time for all of you in winter wonderland. And with sound competition finals just around the corner, a lot of interested ears should be tuning into the Pioneer components reviewed here by Bob Morrow. We were as surprised as you will be by the quality-to-price ratio. Rockford Fosgate's latest 3Sixty gets a serious examination and big thumbs up from Garry Springgay. On the OE upgrade side we show how easy it is to improve on factory systems from BMW. Kenwood's KOS-A200 will give your parents' lame original head unit new life. Hey, there are many levels of customization - the point is that you customize. Luckily with all these cool products you have a lot of options. All you need is to know how to do it. Class is just starting.
CorrectionIn the review of the Stereo Integrity subwoofer in the November issue, we incorrectly stated that the company is a shop. It is in fact a manufacturer. Our apologies to Stereo Integrity. Please see the corrected web version of the story on www.caraudiomag.com.
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