Car audio competition walking dead? Photo By Sam Valliere

This weekend (October 3rd and 4th) marked the 22nd annual USACi World Finals event in Tulsa, OK. Held at the Tulsa Convention Center, this year’s event was a unified World Finals, combining the USACi (United Sates Autosound Competition International)  finals with dB Dragracing finals. Featuring a combined total of 100 competitors (including those registered in multiple events), the competition side of things was smaller than that of previous years. With the receeding economy, traveling to a world finals event becomes increasingly more difficult. It was no surprise that many of the competitors were regional, with the majority of them coming from surrounding states like Texas, Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas, and several from Oklahoma. There were of course a few coming from further away, such as Chicago.

Where my peoples at? Over at the unemployment office probably

Walking into the convention center, I was shocked and disappointed. Where just three years ago, it was standing room only, this weekend, you were hard pressed to find anybody there that was not a competitor or somehow associated with the event. The spectator level was damn near zero. Even the manufacturers didn’t bother to show up. DB Drive was the major sponsor of the event and their presence was felt by the giant semi-trailer that was next to the stage. Car Toys, one of the biggest car audio shops in Oklahoma (where Gary Biggs, 7-time world champion, got his start) had the next biggest booth, and they footed the bill, not the manufacturers they sell. There were no giveaways, no T-shirts, no swag at all. Not that that is important to me, but handing out free stuff gets people in the doors, and the place was empty. It was very disappointing. I do not expect much in the future from USACi or dB Dragracing. Though the word on the street is that this year’s event was bigger than last year’s, held in Dallas, TX. I spent the day at the event trying to get photo shoots lined up for future feature stories, but that only took about an hour because nobody showed up for the car show. And to think that the Convention Center cost $13,000 for two days.

While it may seem like shameless self-promotion (which it is), my latest book, “How to Design and Install In-Car Entertainment Systems” is finally on the shelves. After months of hard work, late nights and several purpose-built systems, the book is done and on the boat from China. Yeah, they print them in China. Don’t worry, I am sure the paper is lead-free, at least I hope it is.

In case you are wondering, the book covers everything car-audio and then some. The first chapter is all about the fundamentals of car audio and electronics, which is to say a brief primer on automotive acoustics and basic electrical theory. It is presented in a way that is easy to read and understand, so you don’t get bogged down in the mire of technical jargon. The next two chapters are about planning and basic installation tools and techniques.

From there the book gets into the nitty gritty details of installation. Covering all the basics like head units, amps, subs and speakers to MP3 players and GPS. Many of the techniques shown in the book are cutting edge, things you won’t find ANYWHERE else. These are the tips and tricks that make installing car audio much simpler for the novice and may even provide the pro with a few ideas too.

Want to know how to blend a TV into the dash of your ride? It’s in here.

Always wanted to understand how cancellation and reflective waves work inside a car? Read it here.

Need some guidance for GPS navagation systems? Find your answers in the book.

If you are a beginner in car audio, spending $26 bucks on this book can save you hundreds in mistakes and installation costs. You need this book.

Drop us a line if you want one. We will be selling a few through the site as soon as we get our grubby little hands on them.

The program has been touted as a success, despite a few pitfalls. There have been lengthy delays for the dealers getting paid for the vouchers. This puts the dealer in a serious cash crunch. There are some dealers that have not been able to make payroll and pay their taxes because the money just isn’t there yet.

To combat that problem, all of the major manufacturers (Ford, GM, Chrysler, Honda and Toyota) are offering short-term loans to their dealers that have been hit hard with the delays. Nothing like bureaucracy creating more problems. This all comes on the heels of GM and other manufacturers announcing they were ramping up production to keep up with the new demand for new cars. Hold the presses, you might not want to do that just yet, General.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with this entire program is that it is costing the American taxpayers. They can say all they want about the coming from other places, but in reality, every cent the government has comes from us in one way or another. I hope we get through this recession and administration soon so we can go about fixing the real problems.

Not only does this make the panels harder to deform and install incorrectly, but it also lowers the resonant frequency. With more mass and inherent rigidity, the panels feel better in your hand and fit better in the car. This plastic has been retrofitted to work with all of the previous tooling and all new designs are being done to accommodate the thicker plastic.

Being innovative does not mean using something completely new, sometimes it just means better.

Q-Logic eventually grew to be so big that the big boys, namely Rockford Fosgate, noticed. During a time span where Rockford was gobbling up brands like MB Quart and Lightning Audio, they bought the Q-Logic facilities in Stillwater, OK. During that time, the Stillwater plant was used to build Rockford Fosgate enclosures as well as Q-Logic brand products. Big business politics and short sightedness lead to a decrease in Q-Logic market penetration, since the Rockford sales reps were now Q-Logic reps too. Selling empty wood boxes and plastic kickpanels is different than selling ten-thousand dollars worth of amps, subs and speakers. Q-logic became an “alsoand”, and did not get the attention it deserved.

As the product designer for Q-Forms and Q-Customs during the Rockford years, I have personal experience with watching a beloved product fall by the wayside.

After just a few years, Rockford’s “buy now, worry about the consequences later” philosophy caught up to them when the car audio market took a serious nosedive. As a result, Rockford shed most of the companies that it had purchased just a few years earlier. Q-Logic was the last to be sold off. Darker times would lie ahead.

A group formed from the local Stillwater plant management purchased Q-Logic. The members of this group had been with Q-Logic for many years, one had been with the company since the very beginning. With the best intentions, the new ownership struggled to maintain market share and product placement after years of neglect from the Rockford marketing machine. Coupled with the dwindling and rapidly changing car audio market, Q-logic was in serious trouble.

Which brings us to today. Founders Dave Cunningham and Bill Basore have stepped back into the fray and once again own the Q-Logic brand and facilities. With the determination and passion for Q-Logic that helped build the company in the first place, Q-Logic will rise again. The original line of Q-Forms and Q-Customs, with a few upgrades like thicker plastic for lower resonance and better fitment, remain in place. The ever-popular Q-Logic universal enclosure production is in full swing. The best enclosures on the market are still here, and they will continue to provide you with the best quality possible in a universal enclosure.

With this new beginning, Q-Logic has branched out into an avenue that has previously been left unexplored for the brand. Direct sales to general public are an important aspect of today’s business model, and to that end, Q-Logic has developed a direct sales website, http://www.qlogicdirect.com, so you can purchase the best enclosures on the market directly from the source. Need some speakers and subs to go in that new enclosure and those kickpanels? One-stop shopping for Rockford Fosgate audio equipment is available as well (see, we still have love for ROFO!).

As a fan of the products, I am happy once again to be a part of this company. Like the Phoenix that rises from its ashes, and the city of New Orleans that continues to rebuild after total devastation, Q-Logic is back with a vengeance. We will reign supreme again.