[January
8-11 2004]
For four days each January, the Las Vegas Convention
Centre plays host to the International Consumer
Electronics Show (CES), where techno-Geeks from
all over the world flock to CES in search of all
types of gadgetry, from PDA's to plasma screens.
If it needs electricity, chances are you'll find
it at CES.
When it comes to mobile electronics, CES is
the event at which most major manufacturers choose
to launch their new product lines and more importantly,
their new demo vehicles. The number of manufacturers
present with sport compact/import cars as demo
vehicles was also at an all-time high, with such
high-profile examples as a Nissan Skyline at Kenwood
and Brian Yoshino's Polk/MOMO Honda Civic. Last
year's show-stoppers could be found at Rockford
Fosgate and Alpine Electronics with their 350Z
and Civic Si, respectively. This year, both companies
were able to live up to public's expectations
with the Rockford Hummer H2 and Alpine's chop-top
Mini Cooper S.
Rockford Fosgate's Jason Digos and the rest of
the RTTI design team incorporated the Hummer's
"go anywhere, climb anything" look with
an earth-shaking wall of power, as Rockford Power
Series amplifiers and subwoofers could be found
on either side of the massive enclosure, in what
used to be the Hummer's cargo area. With all the
man-hours spent building the Hummer, it's no wonder
that Digos couldn't resist temptation and was
slapped with an Exhibit Booth Violation Notice
by CES Noise-Nazi's for "Abuse of sound demonstration
where sound has exceeded 95dB level for more than
one minute." For the record, the Hummer's
built in Term-Lab dB microphone had them pushing
more than 165dB with all four doors open at the
time of the infraction. |
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Jason Digos, builder of the
Rockford Fosgate H2.
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Rockford Fosgate's
Hummer may have brought the brawn, but Alpine's
new Mini Cooper S was definitely a thing
of beauty. After last year's Civic Si had
the 12Volt industry asking "How can
you top that?" builders Kevin Vu and
Steve Brown showed the world that you can
in fact improve on perfection. The topless
Mini retained the same futuristic paint
scheme as its predecessors, but the amount
of customization, fabrication and attention
to detail that went into the Cooper S is
beyond compare.
From a technological standpoint, the influence
of the sport compact market on the audio
industry was in evidence as Pioneer introduced
an ultra-slim subwoofer for those hard-to-reach
places, and a head unit capable not only
of navigation and multimedia, the Pioneer
unit also acts as a performance meter capable
of measuring G-force, 0-60 mph, 60-0 mph
as well as an option for voice-activation.
With such a strong sport compact presence
at SEMA and now CES, it's clear that the
performance and 12volt companies are aware
of the influence that we as consumers hold
over the aftermarket industry. With any
luck it won't be long before law enforcement
and the general public embraces the sport
compact scene, just as the aftermarket manufacturers
have. |
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