Matt Waggoner began his audio competition career as a bass-head with only four 12-inch subs in the back of his Camaro. After about a year of booming sound-offs, he decided he was tired of the SPL scene, and set his sights exclusively on the sound quality realm. "I acquired a USAC rulebook and memorized it," he says. "I started attending shows during the 1999 season, and after coming within four points from qualifying for the World Finals last year I decided to go all out for the 2000 season." He now attends eight to ten competitions each year and will be making his second consecutive appearance at the USAC World Finals in Kansas City.
To handle the expansion of his system, Waggoner turned to experienced installer Troy Burkhart, who works with him at Regal Audio Video in Hays, Kansas. Burkhart has created many award-winning systems in his eight years as an installer including his own truck, which took third place in Expert sound quality competition at the 1998 USAC Finals.
When it came time to choose a new ride, Waggoner stayed with the Camaro, upgrading his '88 model with a1994 arctic white beauty. He was still into bass at the time, and Camaros perform notoriously well in SPL competitions. After he decided to switch his focus from SPL to sound quality, his next step was to add a fiberglass amplifier rack to hold his two Rockford Fosgate amps. The first, an 800a2, powers his four subwoofers in a parallel/series configuration. The other amp, an 800a4, runs the front stage. The front two channels enter a pair of passive Rockford crossovers and power the left and right 5-1/6-inch component sets. The rear two channels are bridged, enter a passive crossover, and power the 6-1/2-inch speaker and tweeter in the center of the dash. The rack is covered in a texture and dye material to match the rest of the vehicle's "radically stock" theme. To keep the amps cool, holes were cut underneath each amp. A fan pulls the hot air through a fiberglass PVC pipe, which is formed to the fan, to a factory fresh air exhaust.
Immediately before the 2000 USAC World Finals, Waggoner had his front stage built. A pair of Rockford Fosgate Fanatic Q 5-1/4-inch midbass drivers are mounted in the factory locations in the doors. Next, the entire dash of the Camaro was dismantled, and matching component tweeters were installed in each A-pillar. Burkhart then cut a hole in the center of the dash to accommodate a single 6.5-inch Rockford Fosgate midbass driver and tweeter taken from a Fanatic Q component set. All speakers in the dash are covered with custom grills made from perforated polished aluminum.
Waggoner wanted an extremely strong front stage image so the rear speakers were of little importance. He retained the factory Delco 6.5-inch speakers, which he fades almost all the way out, for only a slight bit of rear fill.
The Camaro's source unit is Rockford Fosgate's single-disc RFX-8130. "It's the first and last head unit I will ever buy," claims an enthusiastic Waggoner. "I love its look; it matches the interior very well. It's simple and effective with very low noise. It's the perfect deck."
The remote control for the head unit is molded into the driver's side door. It matches the rest of the factory controls. The infrared and LED are located in the dome light.
Below the unit in the center of the dash is Rockford Fosgate's new RFQ-5000 Pro Logic II surround sound processor controller piece. It converts the stereo signal to left, center, right, and rear channels. Waggoner uses it primarily to create a center image for his vehicle. The actual brain of the processor is located in the rear of the Camaro underneath the amp rack.