SPECIAL INTEREST 
MONSTER BASH! - "Hot dog, that bass is kickin'!"
by Jon Ratty

"I often heard sounds which filled me with an indefinable dread-the dread of vague wonder and brooding mystery. It was not that the sounds were hideous, for they were not; but that they held vibrations suggesting nothing on this globe of earth, and that at certain levels they assumed a symphonic quality which I could hardly conceive as produced by one player."-H.P. Lovecraft

Boom, stickety, stickety, Booom, thumps a fifteen-inch sub-woofer. A side mirror trembles from the power of emanating speakers, with the help of two huge amps. A license plate rattles with the awesome power of a 1,000 plus watt system. Moreover, the only thing that upstages an explosive system is the roar of the crowd's excitement when a SPL meter goes off the charts and derails the current SPL record.

April 29th was the annual Monster Bash Sound Competition held in Fayetteville, sponsored by Stereo World and USA Tires. It is the biggest sound competition in Fayetteville. The weather was gorgeous, you could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Not a cloud in the Carolina blue sky with temperatures in the 70's. The turnout was impressive with 100 plus cars, trucks, and vans. There were probable over 200 hundred spectators at the peak.

When I first got there I walked up to a mid 1980's Caravan that was all speakers and amps. He told me that his van had a SPL of 150. SPL stands for sound pressure level and it is the how much air your system can move. My heart began to flutter and when I stuck my head inside it felt like I had entered a wind tunnel. This guy had two, 2000-watt amps, with a 14 speaker total, eight of which were mids and the other six were 15 inch sub woofers. He had 12 batteries powering everything, enough to power a Honda Insight.

Car stereo buffs would have been dancing in delight. I myself am not drawn to tricking out my sound system, but I did appreciate all the time, creativity, and energy these guys put into tweaking their sound machines. Just as the driving enthusiast worships horsepower and torque, these folks worship wattage and crazy SPL levels. The speed freak ooohhhs at the sound of a throaty V-8, these guys gush at the bass created by dual Kicker Box speakers.

Some of the car's dusty and chipped appearance did not reflect the amount of money it took to purchase and install their coveted sound systems. Some of these cars are all speaker. Derrick Franklin, the same guy I mentioned above, won the ugliest car, with a beat up Mercedes, award a year prior so the sponsors gave him four new rims. Guess what, he was back this year, all the way from California with a minivan no self-respecting soccer mom would ever be seen in. One of the judges light-heartedly told me, "We get the worst cars, but the best crowd." I figure that their world of beauty lay in some far cosmos of sound. However, no big corporate sponsored car is going to beat any of these guys out, this competition is for AMATUERS ONLY. When the big companies decide to trick out a car they go all the way. 30,000+ for the car, 50,000 + for the system, and who can count how many other widgets and accessories they have added. By the time some of these stereo companies get finished with these homologations of cars the value of most of them has risen far above that of a nicely equipped Viper or Porsche.

The cars are judged on four categories: Appearance, quality and safety of installation, SPL, and sound quality. After talking with the guys who put this on every year the feeling is that this event is more of a get together than a competition. "It's a social event, where people can bring their families" said Steven Lury, Owner of Stereo World/USA Tire and Coordinator of the competition. He enjoys seeing all the people and watching them have a good time.

People come here definitely to show off their stuff, but they also come to see what new equipment the other guy has. They come to get tips on their own setup. For example the judges ask the entry to pop the hood so they can check out their wiring to the battery. If there is a potential fire hazard the judges will give suggestions on what they can do to make it safer.

The guys from Stereo World/USA Tire tossed out a bunch of free t-shirts, squeeze bottles, bass disks, and key chains. They sold homemade cheeseburgers for a buck, they were tasty, bottle water and soda for 50 cents. There main goal is to increase peoples overall knowledge of stereo equipment. They gladly answered any questions; in fact, they want you to ask questions.

The competitors were very eager to show what they had. They will passionately tell which amplifier/subwoofer combination are the most efficient. It was refreshing to see how much pride they put into their music centers. Although the competitors come from all walks of life they had the same affinity for wild power and ground trembling sound. Slowly I began to appreciate what these people were doing. After all, it is hard to appreciate their exact nature to one who is not versed in the way of the bass. But I found myself getting excited about every new entry that was being miked to test their SPL level. I wanted every car to surpass the previous record SPL. I got into it.

The most impressive car was an late 80's, dazzling burgundy Corvette. The area where the soft top should have been was replaced a plethora of amps and subwoofers. The electronics on this baby were sweet. Mounted in the middle of the dash was a 5 inch Alpine control unit that activated the DVD player, the disc changer, controls for all the settings, and the security system. Talk about state-of-the-art. Who knows, he was probably able to control the weather. I thought to myself, "This 'vette is going to blow the SPL meter off the charts," but it didn't. I guess looks aren't everything.

Impressive sound systems, awesome weather, and music loving people all added to an enjoyable afternoon down in the 'Ville. My respect for all the effort and money that these people put into to make their system's boom has grown. They are fun-loving group of people who love to turn it up. I have got two reminders: Power is everything and if you are going to be out there all day you might want to bring some ear plugs, oh yeah they give those away to. And one more thing, fellas keep the bass hammering.