Do the Real People Know?

My mentor for Ultimate, and the guy who was my babysitter in grade school, used to say when real athletes started to play that the rest of us would have to hang it up. Makes sense sort of, that a fringe activity can be a place where anyone can be successful until the real practicioners weigh in. I don't think it really degrades either the activity or the participants to say so. It just means that somewhere out there there is the cold shower of reality waiting.

Another example? How about The Race Across America? This is a bike race from the west coast to the east coast. Or at least it was when it first caught my attention when I was in high school. Really it seems like it was just tailor made for Wide World of Sports. It made great TV. My recollection of it (although this is not bourne out by the website, so its possible I am remembering incorrectly) is that this was just a bunch of cycling enthusiasts until Greg LeMond got tired of the attention they were getting and ran the course in something like an entire day less than anyone had ever done it before.

Get the idea?

So today I am driving home and I hear a story on This American Life about guys that make their car stereos loud. Not like driving down the street loud, but burst your eardrums and make your eyesockets bleed loud. The story went on and on about replacing window glass with steel plating and filling the cavities on body panels with concrete and all I could think of was "I wonder if the guys that really do this know about it?"

I don't mean audiophiles, or car stereo installers - although I guess some of these guys might do that as a hobby. I mean people like the shop at Meyer Sound, people that make amps, speakers and enclosures.

The gist of the story is that these guys trick out their car audio to be upwards of 150db. They take their cars to meets and then play a test tone - they call it a "burp" - with an spl meter in the car to determine who wins each heat.

Like totally rad, man!

And I can't help but think the equivalent of an afternoon bike ride for the audio equivalent of LeMond. Well, I am sure these guys and their hobby are safe. It has the advantage of being fairly under the radar. Still, I wonder what professional audio engineers could come up with if they cared to apply themselves.