Archive for the 'General' Category

iPhone 4 spec.dock Compatibility

Monday, June 21st, 2010

New iPhone 4 inserts are available - our shipments should be in Monday, so let us know if you need one…individual inserts are $4/ea to make your spec.dock work perfectly with your new iPhone. They are also available at your local Apple store or online in a 3-pack:Apple Store Linkor2point5 LinkWe’re also getting two iPhone 4 units in our hands Thursday to test them with the spec.dock and all the interface options we offer to make sure there are no hiccups! Stay tuned for any issues we uncover, but we’re expecting this to be an easy upgrade…Update 06/24/10We got our hands on an iPhone 4 to run some tests with this morning, and can confirm that DICE, Dension and USASpec …

Confirmed - Dension Gateway iPhone 3G Charging (UPDATED 08/03/09)

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

I finally got a chance to test out the information I received as far as the ability of the Dension Gateway 300 and 500 products to charge the iPhone 3G by using the already-existing dock connector cable that has a blue end, and I can happily confirm that this is indeed the case. Over time, Dension has supplied three connector colors - grey, green and blue. I tested all three, and only the blue cable will charge the iPhone 3G properly on the Gateway 300 and 500. I also was able to test this functionality through the Dension BT1000 Bluetooth unit, and can confirm that this works properly as well.You still get the “This accessory not made to work with …

2point5 - Commercial Out-Takes

Friday, May 8th, 2009

A couple of months ago, 2point5, Drift Emporium and cfilm1 went out to Gresham Motorsports Park armed with a crew of fifteen, a Red One camera, a drift-prepped 2008 G35 packing a supercharged Nissan Titan V8 motor, four sets of BF Goodrich tires and a concept. We’re still shooting footage for the 30-second spec.dock spot and editing, but here is a nice collection of out-takes from the shoot…Enjoy, and be on the lookout for the finished spot on a website or TV near you!

SK8 or DIE Show Submission - How it Was Made.

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

So, this one really doesn’t have much to do with 2point5, but I did use our facilities and many of the techniques we’ve learned over the years to see this one through. Just thought I’d post up the process photos with some description for the perusal of those out there who are curious! This Saturday is the fourth iteration of the SK8 or DIE show at YoungBlood Gallery in Atlanta, in which a certain number of artists and skaters are given a blank deck to do with whatever they see fit. This year, there are 106 artists and boards represented, and it should be a great show, so swing by if you’re in town! Now, let’s get down to it:
Here’s …

2point5 - find us on Facebook!

Monday, April 6th, 2009

This blog has served us very well, and I will no doubt be keeping up with it as well, but another way to keep up with what we’re doing over here at 2point5 is to follow us on Facebook. Simply search Facebook for “spec.dock” while you’re logged in, and become a fan to get updates directly in your news feed! Here’s the link, and I hope to see fans of tunertricks, 2point5, Randy Lively and Matt Turner’s work over there soon…

2point5 - Commercial Shoot!

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

We get this question more often than we would like:"Will my iPod or iPhone fall out of the dock while I’m driving?"Our answer is always a definitive no, followed by an explanation on our part that the 30-pin connector does most of the job of keeping the device in place, and that we’ve thoroughly tested this theory by not only driving our cars over the past three years with spec.docks installed, but also by intentionally trying to make this happen by doing doughnuts, j-turns, quick stops/starts…you get the picture. It is pretty much inconceivable that an iPod or iPhone in a spec.dock will go flying through the passenger compartment during any type of driving - erratic or otherwise. We’ve even …

GTI MacMini - Upgrade!

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

As some of you may know, I installed a MacMini in my 2001 Volkswagen GTI a little less than three years ago, and received an enormous amount of press, praise and support of the project over the years since then. The car ended up being featured in a number of print and online publications, my blog was Slashdotted (requiring purchasing a lot more hosting) and - most importantly - the buzz around the project way back when gave myself and my business partner the necessary push to quit our jobs and go full-time with 2point5, not to mention booth space at Macworld 2006 to premier spec.dock - our company’s iPod/iPhone integration product - alongside the GTI in San Francisco. It’s …

2point5 - Holiday Promotion Starts Today!

Friday, November 28th, 2008

We’re pleased to announce our holiday promotion for 2008, which begins today and runs through January 15, 2009! We tried to make it really simple - no rebates, just a simple $25 of anything in the online store using promotional code “XMAS” during checkout, or free installation for our Atlanta customers…Check it out, and please contact us with any questions! Happy holidays to everyone, and we hope to hear from you soon!

2point5 - iPhone 3G Now Supported By DICE

Friday, November 14th, 2008

Just a quick note to amend the post below - we’ve confirmed that DICE has been supplying us with USB-charging enabled interface cables for a month or so now (they have a blue connector on the interface side), but we were awaiting the arrival of the updated interface boxes that must be paired with these cables to allow charging of the iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2nd gen and iPod Nano 4th gen. We now have these interface boxes available, so all new orders that come packaged with a DICE interface will be USB-ready. For existing customers, we will be offering the same upgrade program mentioned below, and DICE is going to be accepting older interface boxes directly for an upgrade …

2point5 - iPhone 3G spec.dock Upgrade Program

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Today, we received a shipment of the new USB charging cable from USASpec which finally addresses the issue a lot of our customers were having where their iPhone 3G, 4th generation iPod Nano or 2nd generation iPod Touch would work perfectly with their installed USASpec/2point5 integration package except for one major feature - charging. Since July 11th when we discovered this problem, we’ve been in touch with USASpec as they went through the development and manufacturing process of these replacement cables, and I’m pleased to say that they are here and that they work as described! From here on out, any of our spec.dock packages that are bundled with a USASpec interface (most BMWs and most Audis along with all …

2point5 - Another New Model!

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Just a quick note to announce the addition of yet another new spec.dock model to the lineup…We now have a model for the B5 chassis Volkswagen Passat (1998-2004) that fits in the ashtray and still allows the ashtray lid to close completely. Click here to enter your vehicle information and see which package is right for you! Thanks as always for everyone’s support of our growing company, and we hope to put something together for your car soon!

iPhone 3G and iPod Charging Update

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

One of our customers was kind enough to do some research on his own and drop me a line today regarding the charging issues for the iPhone 3G which have been discussed in detail here over the past couple of months. I mentioned in an earlier post that Dension has two models that (with the right cable) will work just fine. Here’s a copy of the information that showed up in my inbox this morning:Dear Customer,

Do you already have a GW100 or you are planning to buy one.
If don’t have a Dension device I recommend you to buy a new GW100 (slightly redesigned hardware). The item number starts with GW16xxx and not GW15xxx.
The GW16xxx has been tested and works properly …

Charging the newest iPod Touch and iPod Nano…

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

I’m not sure if this obscure bit of information flew right past anyone, but it looks like the iPod Touch 2G and iPod Nano 4G have continued Apple’s trend toward dropping FireWire charging altogether, according to their spec sheets:It doesn’t really come as a surprise at all, and as I’ve mentioned a lot recently, the industry is quickly catching up, so we’ll be ready soon with updated spec.docks that will enable everything from the iPhone 3G forward to play and charge flawlessly. More to come…

Another iPhone 3G Charging Update…

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

For those of you wondering and waiting for the new iPhone 3G charging cables to be released by the various interface manufacturers out there, the current word is:1) USASpec should have their cable “available in September,” according to their website.2) DICE should have their cable ready around the second week in September according to their support department.3) Supposedly, Dension Gateway 500 and 300 units using the blue (not the green) connecting cable can already charge the iPhone 3G. I should be getting my hands into a car to test this Thursday or Friday, so any information I gather will be posted here.4) Dension is updating the Gateway 100 firmware to support use of the blue connecting cable to enable iPhone …

2point5 - Two New Models!

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Just a quick note to announce the addition of two new spec.dock models to the lineup…We now have a model for the B5 chassis Audi A4 (1994-2001) that fits in the ashtray drawer, and a model for the 2003-2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe and Sedan with automatic transmission, which also fits in the ashtray drawer of that vehicle. Click here to enter your vehicle information and see which package is right for you! Thanks as always for everyone’s support of our growing company, and we hope to put together some packages for you soon!

NES Apple TV Remote - Just For Fun…

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

I’m not sure how I ran across this mod - probably on one of my daily visit(s) to Gizmodo if memory serves - but I thought the concept was pretty interesting, having been introduced like many of us to home gaming consoles via the original NES. I really liked the thought of repurposing such an iconic piece of consumer electronics gear into something that could still be used daily, and I’ve got a good friend who filled the requirements for owning such a gadget, which are owning an Apple TV, and having a strange loyalty to Nintendo’s games and consoles - I’m pretty sure he’s owned them all through the years! So, I thought I’d try my hand at the …

iPhone 3G charging issues? Update.

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Just a brief note amending the post below: As we suspected, many of the major aftermarket iPod/iPhone interface manufacturers - DICE Electronics, USASpec, Peripheral and PIE - are already developing replacement docking cables for their interfaces that will hand charging duties over to USB at 5volts to support the iPhone 3G’s new requirements. According to the limited information we have so far, the new cables will not require replacing the actual interface modules or the wiring connections to the vehicle, but will simply replace the connection between the iPod/iPhone and the module, making this an easy upgrade. They expect to have these new cables available anywhere from 6 weeks to three months…more information to come as we receive it!As we …

iPhone 3G charging issues? Here’s some info…

Monday, July 14th, 2008

I came to work this morning with my new iPhone 3G and began testing all the interfaces and cables we currently package with our spec.dock product, and quickly realized that Apple has removed the ability to charge the new device via FireWire. For a while now, Apple has been transitioning away from FireWire syncing for iPods and iPhones, but the physical ability to charge at 12volts via the FireWire charging pins was still there…until now.This is a problem, as nearly all the vehicle interfaces - OEM and aftermarket - use 12volt charging since the vehicle’s electrical system is already running between 11.5 and 14.5 volts, eliminating the need for extra electronics to step that voltage down to the 5volts that …

2point5 - New Model Release: Audi A6

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

About a month ago, we put the final touches on a new spec.dock model for the current-bodystyle (2005-up) Audi A6, which mounts in the ashtray, as is typical for most of our models. I really like how this one turned out, and am looking forward to supplying some of these to A6 owners who are looking for an upgrade to their OEM iPod solution or for a way to connect to their Audi in general. I have to say that the integration as far as navigating through all your iPod’s content via the steering wheel and MMI controls as well as the instrument cluster display and Nav screen is absolutely perfect on this car, so that makes this offering even …

3G iPhone June 9?!

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Looks like Gizmodo has spilled the beans, and that we should all start preparing our wallets for the apparently imminent release of the 3G iPhone in a few weeks! As usual, the rumors are swirling in anticipation of Steve Jobs’ keynote at the WWDC that we’ll quite possibly finally have (at the very least) 3G and GPS on this second iteration of the iPhone, which would be the answer to the only real issues I have with what is now my second iPhone (I needed more capacity - what can I say)…I can’t seem to keep myself from trying to stay on top of every little tidbit Gizmodo posts about this rumored update, so this news definitely gets me a …

GTI MacMini Featured In New Book

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

A new book from noted Mac publisher O’Reilly hit shelves a few weeks ago titled “Big Book of Apple Hacks,” and the Volkswagen GTI MacMini made it into these pages as the example of how to truly integrate Apple’s diminutive computer into a vehicle environment! I haven’t personally seen the completed section as of yet, but I contributed a lot of information and photos, so I’m sure it’s pretty informative. More details on this installation can be seen under the tech category here, but I’m sure the book is awesome as well, so stop into your local bookstore and give it a once-over…

2point5 - New Product Finder

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

It took a little while to hammer out the details on this one, but we’ve put together and launched a new homepage for the spec.dock online store that will make it much, much easier for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. By answering a couple of simple questions and entering information on your vehicle’s make, model and year, you’ll be able to easily find the mobile iPod integration solution that is right for you. Check it out here: www.specdock.com!

flush.dock - 2point5

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

We have a product over here at 2point5 that really doesn’t get near the attention that it should, as we haven’t really necessarily explained what it is and what it does…I thought now was as good a time as any to explain the versatility of the flush.dock in vehicles that we may not necessarily have a specific spec.dock model for.The flush.dock is essentially a drop-in iPod/iPhone dock for any vehicle application where there is sufficient space for its diminutive size to fit in. The length and width when viewed from above are roughly 3″ by 1.25″, and the required mounting depth is about one inch. The flush.dock can come equipped with simple audio/video output and charging leads, or can come …

M5 Project

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

We got the opportunity to do a little upgrade to one of our long-time customer’s cars last week and are definitely pleased with the results! The customer wanted to change up the system he previously had installed in his E39 M5, which consisted of two AudioBahn 10″ woofers in a sealed enclosure and an Elemental Designs monoblock for power. The main goal was to dress up the trunk and to greatly increase the emphasis and definition of the bass response while eliminating the rattles the previous setup was creating.To accomplish this, we began by removing the old enclosure and trim panel and designed a bandpass enclosure to replace the existing setup that houses one AlumaPro 12″ woofer and ports through …

Changing Speeds…

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

So I’ve still been updating the old TunerTricks blog here and there over the past year, but at nowhere near the rate that I probably should have been. I’ve really only been throwing something up when the company (2point5) has had something significant to talk about such as new Apple products’ compatibility or when we’ve built a car or something along those lines. This is the beginning of a change around here to make the blog interesting again! I’ve made (very) subtle changes to the page itself and have linked the blog to our company’s website, so will be using this as a way to provide regular updates, opinions, news, rants, information, etc. to anyone who stumbles by. I’m really …

2point5 - spec.dock Compatible With Apple’s New Lineup

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

We’ve finally finished all of our testing with iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle, and can confirm resolutely that the spec.dock is compatible with Apple’s entire current iPod lineup as well as any iPod 3g or newer including iPod Mini. The only exception is that the 1st generation iPod shuffle is not compatible, and the current iPod Shuffle is only compatible via the use of Griffin’s Dock Adapter made specifically for the shuffle, which only works with our auxiliary packages (any package whose model number ends in “AVPKG.” Just wanted to let everyone know…If you’re interested in learning more, please

2point5 - iPhone update

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

Just a quick update - we’re getting reports that some interface products (by interface products I mean Dension, DICE, Neo, USASpec, Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, etc.) work with iPhone perfectly, some charge but don’t output audio, some output audio but don’t charge, some don’t work at all…Looks like it’s time for a little hands-on testing to answer these questions once and for all! We have access to just about every iPod vehicle interface product out there, so please keep checking in for definitive answers as to what vehicle interface products absolutely work with iPhone as intended and which do not. Rest assured we’ll be on it…Happy fourth to everybody! We’ll be back at it on Thursday.

2point5 - iPhone and spec.dock Compatible?

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

Over here at 2point5, we are still gathering information about exactly what the iPhone’s compatibility is with our entire line of spec.dock products, but the initial reports are looking pretty good for all of you out there who have gotten your hands on one of our innovative automotive iPod [iPhone?] docking solutions or are thinking about jumping on the bandwagon. Here’s the tentative scoop thus far:You hop in your car with your iPhone and drop it in the dock (we have iPhone inserts available that snap into the spec.dock to cradle the phone very nicely)…and it begins to charge while linking up with the integrated audio/control interface connected to your car. You’ll be prompted with this message:Decline the invitation to …

www.specdock.com - check us out!

Monday, May 21st, 2007

We’ve been putting in a lot of work since our inception, but especially over the past month or so to give 2point5’s customers an easy place to view all of our available products and packages as well as an easier way to order from us when they are ready, and we are finally done and ready to show our new face to the world! Our new store’s home on the web is www.specdock.com, and will always be up to date with any new releases, promotions, product information, new install photos and the like. Of course, we still want to hear from customers directly with any questions or concerns they may have, and our contact info can be found on the …

2point5 - A Quickie…

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

2point5 was recently contacted by a repeat customer to add a little sound and function to her new Nissan 350z, and we didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to lavish some brief attention on this vehicle, so we took on the job and got it done in about three days. The system consists of two JL Audio 10w0s, one JL 300/4, Focal 165 K2P components and a Kenwood DDX-8017 double DIN head unit with navigation and Sirius tuner. We paid attention as always to trying to utilize as little functional space as possible to make the audio system an enhancement to the vehicle without going overboard and eliminating the usefulness of cargo or storage areas. To this point, the …

Car Audio & Electronics Magazine - Radical!

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007

I haven’t picked up a copy yet, but the March issue of Car Audio & Electronics has started arriving to subscribers and at retail locations (I’ll never quite understand why magazines put issues out one month ahead of the published month, but I digress). Featured inside is an in-depth article on the Car Audio Trifecta winning 300M Project and the installers who created and supported it throughout the show season this year - Matt Turner (yours truly), Randy Lively, Chris McEntyre and Billy Brown. I’m not 100% sure what the text content is, as I haven’t read the copy yet, but my good friend and super ultra mega talented photographer Ryan Flynn is responsible for somehow making myself, Randy and …

2point5 - Calling All Cars…

Monday, January 1st, 2007

Wanted to start off the New Year by throwing out an offer for free spec.dock goodness to a select few iPod owners and/or integration afficionados in the Atlanta area who are still looking for the best way to fully realize the potential of their iPod in their vehicle. If you’re still using a wireless FM transmitter, have a mess of cables wrapped around your console, have to switch between using the cigarette lighter to charge your iPod and your phone constantly, don’t even use your iPod in your car because it’s just too complicated, have 50 CDs strapped to your sunvisor and an iPod in your pocket, wear headphones to hear your music in your car, etc. - I’m talking …

Updated 2point5 Site - Yean Know?

Sunday, December 24th, 2006

It’s taken a few months to sort through all the details, but 2point5 has now officially teamed up with Never Without to bring our customers an easier way to get the information they’ve been having to work way too hard to find at the old 2point5.com. The new landing page for the spec.dock mobile iPod solution is a brief glimpse at the future look and feel of our online presence as we move into 2007 and into a completely new site with all the capabilities the old one didn’t have. It’s now much easier to see what models are available for which vehicles (we’ve released five new models since the last post, by the way, with two more coming right …

Halloween Was a Month Ago…

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

Ran into my friend Phil at J.E. Volkswagen today, and he seemed just a little hurt that the install I did a few months ago in his 2002 Volkswagen New Beetle Turbo hadn’t made it on the site yet. I think I may have even seen a little tear fall (haha). So…here she is, dude. Phil seems to have a bit of an affinity for a certain color, so when it came time to trim out the trunk and change out some equipment, I really had no choice but to go for it. I really ended up liking the contrast between the bright VW OE color and the brushed aluminum finsh on the JL 500/5 we were adding, so I …

300M Project - Do the D&*n Thing…

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006

This year, the 300M Project has been all around the country with its owner displaying the intricate features, design attributes and build quality that have made it such a success this show season. I’ve lost count at this point, but the owner has had to make a special place in his garage to put all the first place trophies - one from every show he’s been to with the car. One of these wins was at a SEMA event in Pennsylvania earlier this year, where the 300M won a chance to compete against the nation’s best show cars in the Car Audio Trifecta. Well, the finals were held this past week at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, and the …

2point5 Charger SRT8 Project - Old News?

Friday, October 20th, 2006

So this vehicle has been done for about four months, and has already been featured in Car Audio & Electronics magazine (it is a CA&E, Eclipse, Davin Wheels and 2point5-sponsored project), but I checked the site stats the other day, and it would appear that tunertricks is still alive and well, so I thought I’d put some photos up for those of you who may not have picked up the magazine…The theme and purpose of this project was to update certain technology features of the Charger, improve the sound staging, imaging, quality and overall output as well as to make subtle changes to the interior and trunk that didn’t call too much attention to themselves unless you knew changes had …

2point5 and the spec.dock are Go!

Friday, October 20th, 2006

I’m sure everybody is tired of seeing the 300m as the last post for months, but I can explain…One of the members of the team at HiFi Buys here in Atlanta (Randy Lively) and myself (Matt Turner) have set off on our own and formed a new company dedicated to providing integrated solutions for electronic enhancements that improve the total in-car experience. Our company is 2point5 (named for the width of the typical iPod dock opening), and our primary focus right now is on the development, production, marketing and sales of our premier product - spec.dock - which is essentially a drop-in vehicle-specific iPod dock for most of today’s popular vehicles. As of right now, we cover many BMW, Porsche, …

GTi MacMini in Make: Magazine vol.3

Tuesday, July 26th, 2005

I’ve really been anticipating this moment, and it’s finally here (although the website says that retail copies of this issue are not yet available). Make:, a relatively new publication from O’Reilly, has a feature article on the GTi Mac Mini installation in my own vehicle that I posted on multiple times in March and April. Thanks to P. Torrone for picking up the story and for keeping in touch with me as it progressed. I really appreciate the exposure! I can’t wait to get my hands on a hard copy of this issue. If you haven’t seen this magazine yet, you should really check it out regardless, as it’s actually a quarterly publication that is more like a softcover book …

2006 Infiniti M45 SR7/ZR-3

Friday, July 8th, 2005

This vehicle was actually done a few weeks ago, but we’ve been so busy attending to all the projects on hand that I’m just now getting to putting it up, but it’s definitely worth taking a look at. The car is a 2006 Infiniti M45 that we added an Escort Passport SR7/ZR3 integrated radar detection and laser detection/shifting system to. This is the same customer who owns the Aston Martin DB9 featured in May, and he came back to us to make sure that the display and controls for this system would blend into the interior and not be obtrusive in any way. Typically, we would locate the display in the rearview mirror on such a vehicle, but the design …

Moving

Saturday, April 2nd, 2005

Matt is moving and his lazy ass didn’t call for his utilties yet so I would suspect you might not see a post from him for a few days. Maybe I will come up with a post or two in the meantime, but it most likely wont be car audio related. Feel free to browse through my PhotoBlog because, well, you love skateboarding too.

TunerTricks Fundraiser

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005

This is a little fundraiser, just to help out with hosting. As you may know, we were Slashdotted the other day and oour bandwidth has been killed for the month. We are already over 41gigs over our limit for March. Ouch. Our pockets hurt. Hopefully a few hundred of ya’ll have a buck in your PayPal account or a credit card that you can push towards us. We’d highly appreciate it…

DONATE HERE

TunerTricks done gone bananas

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005

Hola! Well, Slashdot blew the shit up, and although we are recovering, the site is likely to be down randomly this month. Over 40 gigs of overage traffic has led to multiple death threats, and calls at all times of the day from a creditor in Pa. I think those calls were for TT…..I’m sorry, and maybe Matt disagrees, but there are a lot better things to spend the $200 on right now (Beer, Jack, Crown, a new skateboard, The Pink Pony etc).

We are starting to look for a few advertisers, or what not, so if you are interested (before we come calling you), send us an email to ads@tunertricks.com —-and if its major hit me on my pager.

And …

GTi MacMini on G4

Tuesday, March 15th, 2005

I didn’t even know it was going to be on, but an observant viewer (thanks for the info, by the way) caught a little blurb on my MacMini install last night on The Screen Savers. It’s going to be replayed a couple of times, so check it out if you’re interested. Thanks in large amounts to The Screen Savers for picking up the install and mentioning it on the show.

Exterior and Trunk of MacMini GTi

Monday, March 14th, 2005

I meant to put these up on the original MacMini GTi post, but decided it might be better just to do them seperately, so here are a couple of extra shots of the car that don’t really relate to the Mac install at all… I did the trunk about two years ago and am currently working on getting some nicer and larger wheels for the car to step away from the stock exterior look. I also didn’t mention - for those who may wonder - that the car is a 1.8t GTi, not a VR6. Thanks to everyone for checking it out. The response has been overwhelming.

Sumthin’ Big…

Saturday, February 26th, 2005

What’s going on here? For anyone who may follow this blog, rest assured that I haven’t dropped off the face of the Earth…I’m just working on something really big that I can’t wait to post on. On another note, the M3 install should be updated with completed photos on or around Wednesday, although it’s been done now for over a week, and I did another Touareg iPod install (in a different location) this week. Keep checking, as these posts and a big surprise are coming soon. You will like what you see…

Joe Rogan’s Sickfish

Tuesday, January 11th, 2005

On display in the Rockford booth was the 1970 ‘Cuda designed and built by Chip Foose and Troy Trepanier of Rad Rides by Troy fame. The build was featured on a recent episode of TLC’s show rides, and is one nice piece of machinery. Although the audio system was not very extensive at all, it doesn’t need to be. The car would really stand on it’s own even if there was an 8-track player in the dash. This car is so perfect in the execution and details that you really can’t find one thing wrong with it, which I can only say about one other car at the entire show. The work required to re-route and trim out the exhaust …

Alpine’s BMW X5

Tuesday, January 11th, 2005

Every year, Alpine and their head installer/designer, Steve Brown bring a few cars to CES. All of them are well-designed and executed, but there is always one out of the group that is completely off the charts in its scope and complexity.
This year it is a BMW X5 that is actually a recycled project car from the company. Previously, it remained a mostly stock X5 with a multimedia system installed in it. Now, it is a demo vehicle for Alpine’s flagship audio/video system F#1 Status, which is only carried by a handful of dealers nationwide. It has to be seen to be believed, but here are a few shots of the vehicle on display at CES. The X5 was …

JL Audio Goes Bananas (New W1V2)

Friday, January 7th, 2005

A favorite company of mine, JL Audio is showing two entirely new product lines and is adding two new products to existing lines, which doesn’t sound that exciting until you hear what they are.
JLs first consumer woofer was the ridiculously popular 10w1. It completely overtook the car audio industry with its small size, impressive output and small enclosure requirements. After a long run, JL replaced the W1 with many other choices, including to ever-popular W6v1 and 2, the W3v1 and 2, W0v1 and 2 and W7. Realizing that there is still a big need for a really shallow woofer that will work in a relatively small enclosure (i.e. fits in stock sub locations, under seats, in floorboards, etc) the W1 …

JL Audio Goes Bananas (Marine Line)

Friday, January 7th, 2005

A favorite company of mine, JL Audio is showing two entirely new product lines and is adding two new products to existing lines, which doesn’t sound that exciting until you hear what they are.
Boaters have long suffered from only a few choices when it comes to marine-specific audio gear that won’t be affected by salty air, moisture and vibration. Most of the stuff available was pretty cheap and inadequate. JL has fixed that permanently by developing a full line of marine speakers, subs, amplifiers and accesories. Available in the first a second quarter of 2005 are a 10″ marine subwoofer, two different sets of 7.7″ component speaker systems (one for cabins and one for wakeboard towers), a set of 7.7″ …

JL Audio Goes Bananas (Home Subwoofers)

Friday, January 7th, 2005

A favorite company of mine, JL Audio is showing two entirely new product lines and is adding two new products to existing lines, which doesn’t sound that exciting until you hear what they are.
Have you ever wanted to hear some simply retarted-ass bass in your home theater or home audio system? Lots of us out there had ridculously large boxes with a stupid amount of woofers stuffed into the backs of our cars when we were younger (or even now), but you could never really get that kind of knock in your house. Check this out: JL is introducing a line of home audio products and is starting with what they know best - subwoofers. The Gotham self-powered home subwoofer …

JL Audio Goes Bananas (Clean Sweep)

Friday, January 7th, 2005

A favorite company of mine, JL Audio is showing two entirely new product lines and is adding two new products to existing lines, which doesn’t sound that exciting until you hear what they are.
JL, realizing that it’s getting more and more difficult to change out head units in today’s cars (since many are now tied into body control modules, engine control modules, a/c controls, OBDII, etcetera) - and entirely grasping what that might mean for a manufacturer of subwoofers, speakers and amplifiers - has developed a device that has been needed in car audio for a very long time. The clean sweep is basically a kick-ass line output converter with a built-in self-calibrating 120 band eq (30 bands per four …

Better Late Than…

Friday, January 7th, 2005

December was a very busy month of travelling around the country, around the state and around town getting things done and trying to enjoy the holidays, so no posting got done, obviously. But, I’m here in Las Vegas now for the 2005 CES and will (try to) post daily as this show progresses. I’ll be taking pictures and asking around about things that catch my eye, but feel free to email me if you have any specific questions or suggestions about stuff I should be looking at as well…Enjoy!

Who Is

Tuesday, November 30th, 2004

I really like this shot my friend Ryan took last weekend and posted this week. Hell, I pretty much like all his shots, but this one has me in it (not saying which one is me), so it’s extra goodly and stuff. His blog is linked over there on the right, so check it out while you’re at it…just a suggestion…