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CES 2006 Car Audio Show Floor
Automotive Electronics Show Floor
Our excursion onto the main car audio show floor revealed a flood of tricked out import and domestic rides. While CES 2005 displays favored MINI Coopers and Scions, '06 was all about Dodge Chargers, Chrysler 300Ms and Chevy HHRs. Of course there was a random smattering of import tuners, exotics, 4x4s and the obligatory Hummers as well. As we strolled along we were visually assaulted by MTX's "True 22' Jack Hammer 22" subwoofer. At over 2 feet deep with a weight of 369 lbs., this thing resembled an Apollo capsule more than a speaker. And if that wasn't bad enough, they had one installed in a heinous mid-80s Buick that definitely didn't belong in the same league as the Ferrari and Hummers that surrounded it. Not to mention it looked like it was pulled from a junkyard the night before and painted with a fresh coat of Walmart's finest.     Speaking of pimped out pieces of... metal... a couple guy's from West Coast Customs were around signing autographs. We didn't see any back-seat fish tanks though, so we aren't sure exactly why they were there.  Thankfully Boston Acoustics had far better taste in display cars. Brian and I drooled over the 1969 Mach 1 Mustang they had tastefully tricked out while retaining much of the stock-look appeal. Then we damn near passed out when we saw the 1967 Shelby GT500 parked next to it. Both cars were trimmed with Boston head units, amps, front and rear component speakers and subwoofers. While the sound system was state of the art, we appreciated the near stock look and subtle custom bodywork. If we were to trick a vintage car, this would be the way we'd want it done.                    Blaupunkt was showing off an overly ornate scissor-door Toyota Celica. While the paint and interior work on this ride was top notch, it was a bit too Dungeons and Dragons for our liking. Further down the way was Deep Hitters Magazine's pimped GM SUV. Sure it was loaded with racks of subwoofers, huge dubs and a girl posed on the hood, but what we really liked was the glass-enclosed mini-bar in place of a front armrest. And speaking of bad driving habits, take a look at Megatronix's LCD motorcycle mod. Not exactly designed with safety in mind. I think we'll stick with an unmodified scooter for this year's CES.             Need a Hummer H2 that can actually fit in a parking garage? Someone has finally designed one. But with such low-slung hydraulics the tires were resting on the chassis, so don't expect to drive this one off the lot. The blue 4x4 beast pictured was about the tallest vehicle in the show. But, upon closer inspection we noticed that is was missing a few important nuts and bolts, leading us to believe it rarely, if ever, sees any off road use. The award for the biggest vehicle goes to the International CXT on display courtesy of Metro Audio Dynamics. This massive Tractor trailer-based pick-up truck makes the Hummer H2 look like a Radio-Flyer wagon.      
Page 1: LAT Subwoofers by Tymphany / Alpine
Page 2: Automotive Electronics Show Floor Page 3: Gems of the Showfloor Page 4: The REAL Gems of the Showfloor 
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1 User Comment 1 - Posted by
Brian
on January 18, 2006 - 2:50 pm Those LAT subwoofers are pretty nifty. I wonder what the market response will be like.
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