lets reminisce......

[diceman1000]

let's see...my first system,1972 pontiac grand prix sj-an old pioneer tape deck,one of the first full logic ones,with a set of zenith allegro 3000 home speakers in the back seat,sold the pio and bought a sparko pull out,thought it was the shit :) ,

next-1977 chrysler cordoba- sansui pull out,80w jc whitney power booster,you know the one with the bass and treble knobs,and a set of colt 6x9's,tried to add a 80x2 jensen,remeber tha little blue ones :) ,wired them together and fried them both...

next-1984 renault aliance-pio pull out from wally world,a new jensen 80x2 :) ,pio tsa 6809 6x9's,movin' up :) ,and a sparko bass cannon...

next-1985 pontiac grand prix w/t-tops,would love to have another one-same system as renault,got jacked,well everything but the 6x9's,replaced it with my first high dollar head unit,a blaupunkt memphis,and an optimus 100x 2 on the 6x9's,sounded pretty good for what it was...

next was my 1963 chevy impala 4 door hard top,for those of you who don't know what a hard top is it is a car with no posts between the front and rear windows,in other words,when you roll both front and rear windows down it look like one big window,they are often refered to as drive by cars,or glass houses...sold that one to go to college to impress an ex who ended up screwing me over any way.still kicking my own ass for that one-same system as '85 gp,except i got a jensen 4 channel,and took my sylvania home speakers,cut another hole in one of the cabinets and put te other woofer in and slapped it in my trunk,then i realy moved up...got an alpine 7289 for $25,if any of you are familiar with this unit it had a main in/out loop,like some home stereos do,so you could use an external eq on the decks internal amp,an alpine3311 eq given to me,the kid said it didn't work,he just had the in/out hooked up backwards...ran that for a while,then i got my first subs,a set of cerwin vega stealth 12's,meant for free air,ran them off of an urban audio works 400w,got rid of them,they sounded like shit in a sealed box,and got a set of pyle power reference series 12's,absolutely kick ass subs for what they were,did i mention the sub box was in my back seat...then i got my first cd player,a pioneer deh 33 or 35,can't remember for sure,traded the blau for it.ended up giving the pio,pyles,and ua amp to my gf to put in her 92 geo prism,her best friend had a pio priemer,not sure which model,that her oldman fried,so i took the face and guts out of it and put in my gf's pio,then i traded the little blue jensen that i still had laying aroud to the same guy that fried the primier for,get this,a set of fosgate punch 12's in a bandpass box,and an alpine mrv 1000,he just wanted something to power a set of 6x9's :) ,i GLADLY oblidged..threw them in my car...

next was my 1982 mustang,same system as the '63,only i had an mtx road thunder 15 for a while,and a jbl gto 12 for a while...

next was my 1967 buick electra 225,4 door hard top,power eveything,factory cruise,factory air,hell it even had a factory kleenex dispenser under the dash,430 wildcat with a 400 turbo and a posi rear end,78,000 original miles with the factory plastic seat covers still in it...i would still have this car,but that's a story for another day...anyway,i had kenwood,pio,and leer jet tape decks in this one,with fosgate 6x9's,then my gf and i broke up,so i took the system back that was in the prism,ran it for a while,gave it back to her,bought an alpine tda 7554 off of a friend of mine,wedged two mtx home speakers,15" woofers in them,in the back seat,and ran them off of an orion hott setup amp,traded the alpine and ua amp off for something or other to the same guy i got them from,ended up getting them back later...

next there was my 1982 buick regal,same system as my '67,just switched to yamaha home speakers :) ...then i lost my license for about four years,i did have a system in another gf's car during that time though-an old pio pull out w/changer controls on it,fosgate 6x9's,a pair pf series one 15's,an old alphasonik amp on th 6x9's,and my mrv1000 on the subs...

now i have my '98 s 10,so far in it i have had-jvc kdsh 55,infinity ref. 6.5 coax's,a single audiobahn 12 in a bandpass with a lanzar vibe 235,then a pair of 10w0's with the lanzar,put the sh 55 in my wifes van,bought the first multi colored jvc,took it back and got the first sony with the active black panel,sold it and got 7893,put an alpine 3335 on my coax's,also had a crossfire bmf 600d in there some where,still got it,needs fixed though,a pair of polk gnx 12's with an mtx 6500d,took the polks back got a pair of bazooka 12's,absolute shit,took the mtx amp and bazooka's back and got some infinity ref. 12's and a profile california 400 sx,took all that back,got some thunder 6000's and an 801d,took that back and got the stuff i have now-an eclipse 8051(fs or trade by the way),traded the 7893 sraight across for it,crossfire cfq 5.2(also fs or trade),cdt cl 61 a's(also fs or trade),monitor 1 mk 2.70(also fs or trade),orin 2150sx,(2)eD 13Kv2 d4's,knu and scoche wiring,stinger 1 farad cap,optima yellow top,and a motor city reman 200a alt,the only thing left to do is get a vented box,and bigger amp for my subs.i've also had various other stuff over the years,these are just the complete systems that i can remember,of course i've been into car audio since i was 13,i'm 30 now :)

Damon

[Ryan from Ohio]

Hmmmmm my first experience with Car Audio was a local guy that was 3 years ahead of me. I think I was in the 8th grade at the time... He had a Ford Escort station wagon and 4 12" Crunch subs and Crunch amps from ABC Warehouse, where his dad worked.

When I started working my freshmen year I was exposed to even more audio. The place I worked at (Hardee's) had kids from like 4 other schools... So I got to meet new people from all over and hear more systems. Back then the big thing was to pay $100 for a sealed box with a top plate trimmed out to fit the trunk snug and exact. Subs aiming up...lol

My very "First" system... Sanyo $60 detachable face tape deck, Kraco 100 watt amp (free) and 2 12" JL W1's in a bandpass ($455) wiring from Radio Shack (10awg)...

I remember the pull out decks. What a pain in the arse!

I remember RF Series 1, what a joke... PUNCH subs, JL W1s and W6's, PPI Art and Sedona series, Sound Stream SPL170, Hifonics, Alpine Heads, California and Profile amps...

All back in the day when the W6 ruled the land...

I remember when the Kove Armagedeon (SP?) came out... wow... The Eclipse Aluminum subs (6 ohms I think?)...

I dont remember the older RF amps but the Punch 60ix line and so forth...

[Robert Wollenberg]

When I was 14 or 15 I bought a 68 Firebird. It just sat in the back yard cause I wasn't old enough to drive it. I had it repainted, crome redone and engine all fixed up. I traded something, I forget what, for a audiovox tape deck. I put that in and hooked it up to a couple home stereo speaker front panels I cut off and laid in the back window. lol. I'd sit in the back yard and listen to tapes waiting to be old enough to drive the car. My mom got pissed at me one day and sold it. I still have pics of it.

I remember wiring up speaker after speaker to a friends car stereo and laying them all in the back seat thinking we were doing something. lol.

That was all back in about 1986 or so.

When I really started getting into stereos was when pullouts were still around but the removable face plate was just around the corner. One place I worked for bought a RF demo van running two power 1,000s and some other pretty sweet stuff, gutted it and filled it with Boss. I think I quite right after that. It was aweful. I didn't want my name associated with that sorta mess. lol. Me and a friend were pimpin' The Hott Set-up all over town. lol.

[OnYrMrk]

Ahhhh...memories...

the original ADS powerplates, Altec Lansing components, everyone had a pullout with a generic kenwood case, Pyle Drivers, M&M Audio, Earthquake had some of the meanest amps around. Nearly all amps were American Made. Art Series PPI, orginal Punch series amps, Norman Labs truck boxes, original "Kicker" box=two 8" woofers, one 10" passive radiator, horn tweets all in full range. Dr. Crankenstein hand made amps, Technics CD Players and amps, 145 db was considered unobtainable, Alpine was top of the line and clarion just getting started. Jensen had the triax and quadrax 6x9's considered the loudest cause of the 3 and 4 speakers in one concept. Distortion was a part of music, bass was unheard of in cars, but midbass riddled with distortion was king. 7 and 11 band graphic eq's in 1/2 din chassis pumping out "350-500" watts, Alpine had the awesome 7909 to compete with Sony's Mobile ES and Pioneer's ODR system. Orion was american made in Tempe, Arizona...HCCA series the true cheater amps. Main forms of security were UNGO, CodeAlarm, Alpine, and Clifford. DEI wasn't even a glimmer in someone's eye. Competition was started by the CAN series with Alpine as the main sponsor, they gave away money and new cars to the winners. SPL wasn't even born yet. Systems were musical first before loudness. IASCA was in it's infancy, soon to be born out of the CAN. USAC would be along 4 years later. Life with booming systems, spawned from teenagers using Linear Power and Lanzar, running Kicker Solo-baric rounds. Kicker competition subs ruled the day, with Orion pulling in a close second. High end was considered two amps of the same brand, two pairs of different size subs, a pull out cd player, 8 g power wire with 4g thought of as "huge". Speakerworks Grand National utilizing "new technology" such as compression loaded horn drivers and aperiodic membranes. Competitors like Wayne Harris and his Hearse, Rob Rice and his Accord, Gary Biggs and his white regal, Harry Kimura and his Acura, Randy Coles and his Legend coupe with intercooled PPI amps. Tommy Clark's "Rocket Science" van, David Rivera's Toyota with the fish tank..eventually helping him earn the name of Fishman David Rivera. Who can forget Earl Wills Impala with Zapco and Oz, Dale Fontenont's Thunderbird with the Milbert Tube Amps and Focal speakers. Earl Zausmans Milbert-Zapco-B&W BMW 540...quite possibly the finest sounding car ever.

Life as we know it changed in the mid 80's, where Alpine burst on the scene bringing with it clear signal and excellent sound coupled with those green buttons. Those were the days.

[Bwcad1]

ok ill tell ya my first system about 3 years ago and man have i come along way it consited of a pioneer premier deh-p200 cd player bose all arouund and here is the best part fisher home cabinet speakers in the back of my jimmy they had a 3 inch a 6 inch and a 15 inch woofer all run off the head unit... lol god i was so dumb and nieve. that last 3 years of my life have been dedicated to car audio i have read the entire bcae1 site multiple times and am always looking for more info one of the main reasons i became a platty ten mins after visiting this site. a lot of my smarts i owe to all you...

[Ryan from Ohio]

Terry mentioned the old black Kickers in block gold lettering. I had a set of these in 10" Form. On the back it said made by Stillwater Designs...

I also remember hearing about the Dr Crankenstein stuff...lol

Memories...

[Bwcad1]

the guy who owns the local shop here used to hold a world record with 15 crankenstiens... lol old school days!

[sinister audio]

i think you can still buy crankensteins. i wanted one just to show off. maybe if i can still buy them i might. well anyway back to topic.

My first system was in a 1990 Olds Calis 442 it was pretty cool for a little car quad 4 with a stick. i got a pioneer something from crutchfield that was pretty decent back then. stock speakers 3.5s front and 6x9s rear and then i had 2 kicker truck boxes with 8"s and then later on 4 ran off an old punch 150 at 1ohm it lasted about 2 months before my + wires came out and hit the - post. then i was with out bass. next car was a 89 barretta with a 2.8 and a stick. same deck but with sony 6x9s in the rear and 2 xplode 12"s and sony amp it got pretty loud compared to the 8"s. next car was 1985 ford f150 that i beefed up a 351W and a 4speed. that had a sony deck (bad choice) kicker 5 1.4"s in the door and the kicker 8"s behind in a custom box that i built it wasnt too bad. next car after that was a 97 blazer with the sony deck for a little while but then an eclipse 8443 and 2 10W0s and the sony amp and infinity comps up front. it was actually a pretty decent sounding system then i rolled it end over end. so then i had to drive my ranchero for a while with no radio just got to listen to the pipes. then i bought my 91 mustang GT and the 8443 got installed and i got an eclipse 8122 12" alum sub in a custom box same old sony amp and an eclipse 4 channel for my front and rears and the fronts where mb quart discus. very very harsh. now i got bravox comps same deck elevation audio comp 10"s and a hifonics amp and autotek amp. i came a long way and im not about to stop here so youll have to see whats coming up.

[smoker]

man i forgot all about the hott setup stuff..i also had a couple ads pq20's at one point and everyone wanted m&m godfathers.....dr. crankenstein was made here in ky and clarion is made about 10 min. from me...

[breakjunki]

Wow.. I almost forgot about the m&m subs.. Remeber Rose or Black Magics? My first real setup was in 94. quart components, four Jl 8's on a ppi art 600. Clarion deck.. I miss the old punchs, hcca, old school hifonics(zed), autotek.