Importance Of Product Research

Seems I have something of a one-track mind these days. I saw a documentary about bowling recently-what can I say, I dig docs and bowl on occasion-and the first thing I thought of was how it related to car audio. It doesn't of course, but that didn't stop me from making the connection at the time.

The film was about the grind of being a pro bowler and the state of their association, the PBA. In a key scene the president of the Pro Bowlers' Association, Steve Miller, calls a meeting at the beginning of the season and informs the bowlers that their league's TV ratings have been better than those of the NHL and the LPGA. Stunning revelation, I thought. Then Miller proceeds to tell everyone that advertising rates for PBA programming is a fraction of that for the NHL. And as the documentary makes clear, the association itself has no guaranteed future (read: fat TV contracts and sponsorship).

Last I heard, the better the rating, the better the ad rate. Not so, apparently. Clearly, advertisers don't always think that way. Perception counts for a lot and, more importantly, sponsors don't see the bowling audience as a demographic that's important enough to them. At least, not for the TV numbers they're producing, even if it is above those for other sports leagues.

There's a commonality here between the PBA and the car audio industry/culture. I'm not talking about advertising, but rather how the popularity of something doesn't necessarily translate into some desired result. Car audio is clearly still popular (I've touched on that in past editorials, citing SEMA surveys, for instance), but it doesn't mean we're going to sell a million copies of the mag next year, or that manufacturers are going to sell 10,000 more units of a given product this year. Life is complicated and business perversely so... Competition can ignite markets and, given enough time and enough competition, potentially extinguish an entire industry.

Without going into the myriad reasons why the state of things is thus and thus I'd like to focus on one particular trend that is disturbing. It's a little anecdotal, but I've noticed from talking to customers and even enthusiasts at various shops that people don't seem to spend much time researching products that they're buying. Often times, people seem satisfied with a sales pitch, consider the price and then make a decision. That might be great for the shop, but the consumer is doing himself a disservice. Moreover, he's missing out on the fun part. You learn more when you do comparisons and in the end are more likely to get what you want. The less prepared you are as a consumer, the more risk you run of getting what you paid for. Who knows what that could be? Of course some people will always choose convenience over deliberation and don't mind rolling the dice. Good luck.

Forums are a good source of information. More people should make use of them, but understand that everyone's got an opinion, sometimes based on fact and other times unintentionally fictionalized. There's a great wealth of info online, but in the end we all need a reliable source. I fear that reputable magazines are becoming products that readers just flip through, with reviews by experienced engineers and product experts like Vance Dickason, Pat Turnmire, Bob Norvelle and our own tech editor Casey Thorson merely glanced over, a word here, a word there... So it's heartening to get letters from readers that really care. Like to thank one such reader right now who expressed how much he liked past comparison reviews and would like to see more of that, along with evaluations that address how certain products work for specific music, such as rap. Well, thanks to you we started a new department, Bass Depot. Car Audio may be about sound quality, but we like the boom too.

When you're done with that, check out the component speaker reviews and the round up of practically all the new speaker sets out for this year. We also have the results from the first Trifecta event with vehicle features of the 1st and 2nd place winners. Congrats to them and all the competitors that entered our event in Philadelphia. We had a great turn out and some amazing rides. We look forward to seeing more reader cars all across the country. Our next stop is Denver in July, followed by San Diego at the end of summer. Hope to you see at one of the next events. For updates on the shows check out www.caraudiomag.com. Thanks and enjoy the issue.

Omission: We failed to provide the subjective score chart in our review of the Critical Mass UL12 subwoofer in the July issue. Here it is: