This month I would like to introduce the newest member to the CA&E family. After two very productive years my long-time family friend, Howie Liwanag, has moved on from the technical editor position to focus 110% on his new endeavors. We wish him the best! We also need to thank him for his help in bringing Casey Thorson on as our new technical editor. Casey has definitely put in his time; he started out as an installer, and worked five years at the prestigious Competition Soundworks in Cerritos, California. He then moved to Crossfire for a six-year stint as the chief technical engineer. There he developed the Crossfire P1, BMF and XT15 subwoofers. Casey had just moved to Audiobahn for a short period before joining our staff. Casey and I have already stayed up too many late nights and spent countless hours discussing what we can do to better serve you, our readers.
One of the conversations that we had was about the subwoofer test. We are going to string you out one more month. Sorry, but we are working "extra-overtime" to bring back the testing expected of CA&E, and then some. We invite you to correspond* with us about our ever-changing passion that we call car audio. We would like to know what you would like to see tested and express any other ideas you might have.
Since we are on the subject of listening to your needs, we have two new things to give you: Competition Corner is coming back to where it belongs. We are pleased to have Steve Brown as columnist. The second thing is a feature of a budget system from Cerwin Vega. I must admit that I have walked by this Mustang several times at the shows and never gave it a real chance, but while discussing the magazine and where we wanted to go, Ken suggested the second look at the $2,000 budget system. Ken said the company can build exotic cars like all the other manufacturers, but they felt with a budget demo car they could connect more with the customer; and I agree with that. So for all you guys flaming us up on the Internet, this one is for you. I hope you will consider this to be "real world" and if this is too much, then please look back on the cover of this magazine and read the name aloud. I'm trying to meet you half way.
Hip-hop, love it or hate it, is the most popular of mainstream music today; it makes up the largest portion of all CDs sold in the United States. I know some of you are going to say that this is not music; that there is not any musical content on a hip-hop CD; and furthermore that it has nothing to do with this magazine. I understand this hip-hop hatin' reaction to the popularity of the genre. But get this, rumor has it that the hip-hop community is getting its first 5.1 surround CD to be released by Dr. Dre later this year. Although I have tried very hard to never push my personal taste in music on anyone, it has been difficult for me to pass up the recent exposure to this industry's music leaders and their ultra-deluxe vehicles or "whips" as they are referred to in the hip-hop world. There is no denying the cross-connection between music, cars and subwoofers. This music has helped in fueling our industry for twenty years, but the connections have not been fully made or recognized. Yes, Redline did sponsor Ice-T, but where is Redline today? Bazooka is making the right move today by sponsoring Master P with his net worth of over 200 million dollars. The door is wide open for the industries to work together. I would apply this same attitude to, say, country music. I would love to feature Johnny Cash's tour bus, or a rock group, such as a member of Incubus with a personal ride out-fitted with aftermarket equipment. With all this being said, basically I just want readers to understand where I am going with all this new coverage and what is happening to your magazine. I am not leaving anyone out, I did not seek these guys out, this came to me and I love it! I hope you do, too. So look for a story of Erick Sermon in a near future issue.Finally, check out our history of the subwoofer and a basic guide of the anatomy of a subwoofer. Our plan is to help you better understand the world of transducers so when we review the next line-up of woofers you will have a more technological and historical understanding of the art of transducers. Technology, art, and music = knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
email is the best way: Rodney Wills > rodneyw@mcmullenargus.comCasey Thorson > caseyt@mcmullenargus.com