Write To: Editor CA&E, 2400 E. Katella Ave, Ste. 1100, Anaheim, CA 92806
In the summer of 1988, CurtCo launched Car Audio and Electronics magazine and ever since then it has covered the sound-off scene, the biggest and most complex demo vehicles on the planet, interviewed or profiled competitors and music celebrities alike, reviewed thousands of products, featured many readers' rides, and written extensively about building cars, from easy SQ vehicles to full mods. I don't blame some longtime readers who get jaded and see the content as being the same from year to year. However, I was looking at Hot News section in the premiere issue. It says that Eclipse introduced "a digital audio tape player, a compact disc tuner, a CD player, three cassette tuners, a cassette radio," and more. From that to their beautiful, feature-rich AVN series of DVD/nav units ... it makes you appreciate the fact that you live in a time of great technological achievement in car audio. I was looking over the table of contents and saw a terrific story on DAT. Writer Steven Birchall talks about the sound quality of digital audiotapes and the other uses of it like storing map data! On the other hand, some of the stories are indeed the same as you might find today: "How-to Choose an Installer," "How-to Make it Loud," and "Sonic Realism in the Car." The products may be different but the task is the same-to work within the given limitations of a car and design and execute a system that will sound faithful to the recordings you're listening to.
The industry has seen some sweeping changes, from tape to disc to the ubiquitous iPod. And then there's the development of the phone. Later in 1988, there's a special article on mobile phones. Since I'm old enough to have owned one of the old Motorola "brick" phones I can truly appreciate today's counterparts with their Bluetooth functionality and A2DP feature for music playback. Speaking of Bluetooth, see our Hot Products section for some easy-to-use Bluetooth products. In California (and I'm sure it'll happen soon enough in more states), the hands-free law is now in effect.
While it's great to go back and look at old issues of CA&E to see how much has changed, it's even more interesting to find the stories that are still applicable, such as those mentioned above. In the Sept. '88 issue, there's an informative piece by David Clark about the fundamental aspects of sound, the things that every car audiophile needs to understand before trying to tackle a high fidelity-type system for one's car. It's an essential, you might say, primer on understanding audio. Look over the hundreds of issues over the years and you'll find plenty of features that have relevance today, especially if you're into old cars like I am. Way back when, people weren't as overly concerned with dramatic or modern design for their car audio systems (perhaps something we need to go back to!), but there's something beautiful all the same in an SQ car like Harry Kimura's-see the November issue.
Next Month
Next month we'll be featuring the best cars over the last 20 years, including Harry's, Gary's, Steve's, and more. Maybe we should have readers vote on their favorites. It is election year after all.
In the meantime you can participate in the celebration of our anniversary by participating in our big giveaway to commemorate 20 years of CA&E. It's one small way to do something for you, our readers, who've made the magazine possible. Our thanks to our subscribers and, in general, all the readers (even the ones that only read our content for free online!), and of course to all of the manufacturers who have supported this title and continue to support us-speaking for the magazine staff, we may be writers, but it's difficult to express in words the gratitude we feel in being able to produce this mag. We may sometimes have complaints about this and that, but we know we're lucky to serve our readers and this industry that makes owning a car more than just owning a mode of transportation.