I have always been very big into car stereo systems. My first car was a Pontiac T-1000. That was in 1982. I was 17 years old at the time and had just passed my GED. I lived in Fernandina Beach Florida. I bought a real cheap am fm cassette radio and added a set of cheap 6x9'S ( I think they were called Phase III ) that I built boxes for while I was going to trade school to become a carpenter. Let me say car stereos have come a very long ways in 26 years. My second car was a Chevy Nova. You know the one. It was not an old time Nova but the one that was made with Toyota parts. When you pop-ed the hood it even said Toyota on the motor. Well I was 19 years old then and did manage to put a decent system in it. According to the car stereo shop that put the system together. I was the first person their shop in Jacksonville Fl sold a mobile CD player to. It was a Kenwood and cost me a bundle. If I remember right it was about $800.00 just for the CD player. I also put in a Kenwood am fm cassette player. I had some JBL 5 1/2" speakers up front and JBL 6x9'S in the rear deck. I forgot to mention I took the back seat of my car out and put in two 15" Cerwin Vega subwoofers. I think I was only pushing 1,500 watts Rms at that time. Peak power was was probably about 2,500 watts. That was the year I entered the crank um up contest in Daytona Fl. If I remember right the SPL level in my car was 142 DB. I remember sitting in the car with the judge and him saying very respectable. You guys have to remember this was really the dawn of powerfull car stereo systems and like I said they have still come a long way from there. I did not even place in the contest. There were guys there pushing 10,000 watts and more. I then bought a Chevy S-10 pickup truck a couple years later. I put a cap on it and removed the rear window between the cab and the back. I put a boot between the cab and the back to keep weather out. I did improve the system some and stepped up to all Rockford Fosgate speakers. At the time they were the ones winning all the competition's. I added a couple 8" subs and a couple 10" subs on top of two 15" subs. This was the first time I blew the windows out of a vechiel. I was pushing over 3,000 watts RMS and about 5,000 watts peak. That truck hit hard and I won a lot of money off it. I used to hang out at the beach and not many people around could even come close to my system. Evey now and again I would have some guy show up down Main beach and want to bet he could beat my system. The contest was judged by the crowd. I have to say it is always good to be on your home court because some were close. I had a couple a couple guys come from over 100 miles to bet me. This was in the mid 80'S and many people as far as 150 miles away that were into car systems new of me. I grew out of the S-10 and and bought a Blazer. I have to say the Blazer would hurt you. It hit so hard it would blurr your vision. You could not take it passed 1/2 volume. I had four 1,000 watt Rockford Fosgate amps and four batteries. I also had a couple smaller amps running mids and highs. I had four 15' Fosgate subs, two 12" Fosgate subs, two 10" Fosgate subs and two 8" Fosgate subs. This system took me a couple years to build. I had over $20,000 into it when it was finished it. I wanted to insure it with my car insurance but they told me it was going to cost me something like another $300.00 a month. I set up am appointment with my car stereo shop to put a top of the line security system for Monday after work. I was new to the neighborhood and come home on a Friday night booming. I came out Monday morning to go to work and it was all gone. Someone broke into my Blazer and stole it all. The only thing they left was the 8" subs and the smaller speakers. My insurance company would not pay a dime. Just thinking about it now makes me feel pissed again. I finally reached perfection after a couple years and it was gone in a night. This Blazer hit so hard I knocked the windows out twice. I remember pulling up to a friends house to see if he was home. His house is at least a couple hundred feet from where the the parking place was in front of his house. I left my Blazer with it booming and walked up to his front door. The whole front of his house was rattling. He knew it was me before I got to the door and we went inside and I was raddling the dishes off the shelves in his kitchen. I had to go out and turn it off to keep from doing damage to his house. I always had friends back then tell me that I could not sneak up on anyone because I have been heard from a full mile away. They also used to joke with me that if I ever run out of gas I could point the subs towards the back and crank it up to get to the station. I have to say I have grown out of it a little. I have a van now and only have about $1,500 in this system. It is by no means an earth shaker like I used to have but it is loud and clear. I have a Sony 8800 Head unit with the motorized front plate. Just one 12" Alpine Type R sub dual voice coil. With 500 watts RMS going to it. One 4 channel Sony that pushes 75 watts times four. So I am only pushing 800 RMS watts but they are very clean. Peak watts are about 1,500. I also have all Infinty Kappa speakers in my van now. I have 2 Infinity Kappas 6x9'S, Four 6 1/4" Infinity Kappas and a couple Kappa tweeters. I have toned it down but my van still rocks hard. Dale
