# Elite Summer Nationals



## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

Anybody from Team DIYMA going to be there? I'll be there in the Crystal Blue Honda Prelude if you want to come by and introduce yourselves. I always like meeting guys from the board and putting a face and real name with a screen name.

Tim


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

I'll be there Tim, silver Volvo C70.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

good luck, guys.
I'll be at the beach. Impromptu vacation with the wife and dogs. 

Howard, you get your issue worked out?


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

bikinpunk said:


> good luck, guys.
> I'll be at the beach. Impromptu vacation with the wife and dogs.
> 
> Howard, you get your issue worked out?


Yeah, it'll be all buttoned up and ready togo before my head hits a pillow tonight...


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## Velozity (Jul 6, 2007)

I'll be there in a black Toyota Highlander. Both Chef's and my vehicles have Team DIYMA stickers on them. Chef, what does Mic have, a BMW 3-series?


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Good Luck guys...!


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Wow what a show!! It was an eye opening experience and I had a great time. Met some great ppl, heard some phenomenal cars, got some VERY helpful advice and feedback on my car and watched those crazy drifters slide their cars sideways around the parking lot. Thanks to Elite for putting on such an awesome event, I'll be back next year.


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## scyankee (Jun 13, 2009)

chefhow said:


> Wow what a show!! It was an eye opening experience and I had a great time. Met some great ppl, heard some phenomenal cars, got some VERY helpful advice and feedback on my car and watched those crazy drifters slide their cars sideways around the parking lot. Thanks to Elite for putting on such an awesome event, I'll be back next year.


Glad you made it to the show. Great to meet you and the other diyma members. Look forward to seeing you guys in Oct.


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## slade1274 (Mar 25, 2008)

It was a great show and I mirror Howard's comments regarding the caliber of systems competing in the lanes... I think I'm spoiled now that my first comp was indoors....


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## customtronic (Jul 7, 2007)

Good to see all you guys again and good to meet some new people. And as always, Joe and the Elite guys put on a great show!


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## David_Edwards (Nov 12, 2008)

customtronic said:


> Good to see all you guys again and good to meet some new people. And as always, Joe and the Elite guys put on a great show!


x1000


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

I'll be there


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

scyankee said:


> Glad you made it to the show. Great to meet you and the other diyma members. Look forward to seeing you guys in Oct.


Right back at ya Matt, its always great to put a face to the name. I'm looking forward to Finals and seeing everyone again.


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Mic10is said:


> I'll be there


You were....


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

A little bummed that I had to miss ESN, but I think being where I was will turn out to be an important 'career' move for me! Hope you guys had a weekend that was even HALF as awesome as the one I had down here in the Heartland!
Maybe next year they will be on different dates....

-Todd


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

pictures?


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)




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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

More! More!

-Todd


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

Mic10is said:


>




Nice TOP 10. Any pics of the new trunk install? ID amps now right?




.


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

DAT said:


> Nice TOP 10. Any pics of the new trunk install? ID amps now right?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


been using ID amps since Finals last year. Pics are online somewhere I think


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

It was great meeting you guys. Thanks to everyone that allowed me a listen to their rides, all where great, but yet different. Great job to everyone. 

Great job to the judges and to the Elite stuff, one helluva show.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

I had fun...maybe next year get to hang out more.


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

Best looking car there.....


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

They don't look like the JBL techs we had at the show _I_ was at...
Hey, where are their pants? Is that Team Pantless Audio?

-Todd


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

Lack of pants was so it didnt look at their faces


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Mic10is said:


> Lack of pants was so it didnt look at their faces


LOL:laugh:

When I was on the phone I was talking to a friend I said the same thing, great bodies for sure, faces left a little to be desired, but diffidently the worst around. But as a old Georgia saying goes "I wouldn't kick either out the bed for eating crackers"

Ok sorry for that last comment.:blush:


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

H-Audio - AKA - Here-I-Come said:


> Ok sorry for that last comment.:blush:


Who you callin' a cracker!?!? 
 :laugh:


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

bikinpunk said:


> Who you callin' a cracker!?!?
> :laugh:


lol, just had to be you!!!


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## KP (Nov 13, 2005)

That's not right. Its, "I wouldn't kick her out of bed, unless she wanted to do it in the floor"


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

Mic10is said:


> Lack of pants was so it didnt look at their faces


Lack of pants was so it didn't look at what it typed, either!
<snerk>

-Todd

(sorry, but I honestly could NOT resist that one.)


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

AcuraTLSQ said:


> That's not right. Its, "I wouldn't kick her out of bed, unless she wanted to do it in the floor"


True that!:laugh:


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

highly said:


> Lack of pants was so it didn't look at what it typed, either!
> <snerk>
> 
> -Todd
> ...


Can it Todd---I now Foresee alot of Fat Judges in your Future next time you head out this way


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

No!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

wibble!


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

I think I'll stay out of this conversation, safer that way, lol! 

I'll just say that it was great meeting all you guys this past weekend and congrats mic on the awards. I was disappointed to not finish in the top 10 but I did win my class. Considering how often I make it to a show which is rare now days I think I did ok. 

What kind of combined score did you get in 2 seat for the win, mic? My score was 143 and I was curious how far off from you I was.

I hope to see you guys some more in the future. I don't know if I'll make finals or not with school going on but I may try if I can get some more points. Hopefully I can work on my tune to be more in line with what the judges are looking for.

Tim


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

156 for 2seat
77.2 for one seat


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

Looks like I have some work to do in 2 seat! I got a 75.5 in one seat with something weird with Vinnie's score that he and I talked about. I got an 82.5, 80.5, and then a 63.5 from Vinnie. He couldn't understand why he was so far off from the other guys and apologized to me. I told him not to worry about it that everyone hears different and that's just what he heard that day. He still seemed a little bothered by it though. I'd like to have him judge the car again and see how he scores me at a different show for comparison.


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## TREETOP (Feb 11, 2009)

ungo4 said:


> ...I got an 82.5, 80.5, and then a 63.5 from Vinnie...


Ouch, what a combo breaker.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

In my (short) experience, it seems Vinny usually judges more critically than others. However, at the last show he judged me in, he and the other 2 judges were only 1 point away from each other.


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

This was my first time being judged by Vinny and I knew he was a bit harder scoring. But even Vinny seemed to be bothered by the fact that he scored 17-19 points lower than 2 other judges at the same show. I still won my class, mod street, so its not a big deal but I am interested in how close Vinny would score me to himself at a different show if I used the same tune.


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## SQrules (May 25, 2007)

Are sure nothing changed between judges... Preset get changed and forgot to swap it back before Vinny got in. That is very unsual for him to be that far off.


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

SQrules said:


> Are sure nothing changed between judges... Preset get changed and forgot to swap it back before Vinny got in. That is very unsual for him to be that far off.


No, I had that happen to me one time at a show so I'm careful to check between judges to make sure everything is set properly. Its not a bad question to ask though.


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

ungo4 said:


> ...I got an 82.5, 80.5, and then a 63.5 from Vinnie...


I'm feeling your pain. 87, 86.75, and a 66. Same weekend, different show, but I took second  We know what the issue was, though, and I will be prepared for it next time (booster seat?). I agree with Erin, Vinny seems an extremely fair judge. The one show I had him in he scored me higher than the other judges.

-Todd


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## SQrules (May 25, 2007)

I know what you Todd about "booster seat". At '07 MECA finals we hade 2 short judges and I had a pillow from them to sit on. I had used it for one of the same judges at Elite that year and he didn't have a problem with it. It tried it with and without and said it made a huge difference. But at Finals I think the other judge may have been put off by it a little. Anyway that score was quite lower and cost me 1st place in Master.


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

who is vinnie and this josh guy that judged elite? I have seen both of them at shows, but I know nothing about their history in car audio competition. Dave Hogan, excellent judge with an awesome sounding truck....Matt Roberts, excellent judge with an awesome system...Chris Zenner, human rta and he works in the music industry. These are the type of guys that I want to judge my car. No disrespect to josh or vinnie, but something has to be wrong if your scores differ by 10 points or more without changing any settings. end of rant ;D


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## KP (Nov 13, 2005)

Vinnie is a home audio designer and installer. Josh works for Panasonic.

Vinnie was bothered because he cares. No need to rant. Having a good sounding system and/or being able to pick out a freq. and/or working for a MFG and/or being a home designer, installer gives you the ability to or not to translate what you hear into a numberic value consistantly with someone else.

Given the # of sections on the score sheet 10 points off is easily possible. Off only 1/2 point per section is 9 points total? (or is it 8.5? Don't have a score sheet in front of me)


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

And why did you not come to esn?


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

James, were you there?


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

thehatedguy said:


> James, were you there?


yes sir. I did not compete, but i was there. I have a couple of things to do to the car before the next show.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Why didn't you introduce yourself? Always like meeting people off of the forums.


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## SQrules (May 25, 2007)

Vinny is the main reason I had a good sounding truck. He was the local judge for me from '03-'07. Everytime I tried something new or a little different he noticed it right off whether it good or bad. He taught me most of what I know about SQ in car audio.


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

Vinny has always been within a few points of Zenner when I have had both judge my car at the same show. His comments have always made sense (when he makes comments), nothing comes out of left field like with other judges.
Very easy going guy, who likes to listen pretty loud, but I havent had any issues with his judging.


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

thanks for the history lesson about vinnie. In all honesty, I have asked this question to multiple competitors over the years and no one could answer the question. Someone told me at world finals 2 years ago that vinnie was a former iasca champion.


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

thehatedguy said:


> Why didn't you introduce yourself? Always like meeting people off of the forums.


Is this winslow? If so, I was going to say hello but you were sitting on the bench rubbing your head like "damn, someone is getting on my nerves" lol I decided to let you get your stuff together and approach you at a later time. I had to leave early so the next few times i saw you, you were judging cars.


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

Mic10is said:


> ...who likes to listen pretty loud....


Boy, does he! Chefhow and I were both concerned when, standing 25 feet away from my car, we could clearly hear _the keys on the sax_ as Vinny was judging. Chef turned to me and said "Is that coming from YOUR car?!". I was worried about the survival of my L4s and 6s as I had them crossed uberlow at the time and I had never cranked it up that loud on the comp tune! 
...and he wasn't the loudest-listening judge at the show, either!

I changed things up a bit after that!

-Todd

Oh, and we shouldn't forget that "The Vinny", an annual competition on the MECA circuit, is named after someone...One would guess it's for a reason.


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

With the volume levels that Vinny and Brian Wilkerson use to judge I'm pretty sure that my amps were running out of power and possibly clipping. This could explain the lower scores from Vinny. I can see this happening because I run probably the lowest amount of power of any competitor at the show. 50w on each mid and each tweeter can only get you so far even when they're PPI watts.:surprised:


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

ungo4 said:


> With the volume levels that Vinny and Brian Wilkerson use to judge I'm pretty sure that my amps were running out of power and possibly clipping. This could explain the lower scores from Vinny. I can see this happening because I run probably the lowest amount of power of any competitor at the show. 50w on each mid and each tweeter can only get you so far even when they're PPI watts.:surprised:


Congrats on the win Tim. Hope to hear your car at the next show


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## SQrules (May 25, 2007)

In the rules on page 27, in tonality to score a 10 out 10 the system must handle peak of 110dB without any distortion. For an 8-9 you still have to hit 105dB. If you have not tried this you will be surprised how loud that is. I have a Radio Shack handheld meter that I carry to shows that I judge and have tried it in several systems that couldn't cut the mustard. Making Chesky play that loud cleanly is not an easy task. You have to have good tonality, quality power that is properly set to have good linearity at high volumes, and also the drivers to handle that power. A very delicate balance that only a few elite vehicles can reach. Usually only certain passages of the music will be pushed to see if the system can handle it. 
And it's called the Vinny because he foots the bill for that whole show...$1,000 trophy package and $2,000 in cash pay outs plus judges fees and venue fees. He can't even write it off on taxes because it has nothing to do with home audio. He does it just because he enjoys it.


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## highly (Jan 30, 2007)

^^^ Yes indeed.

I finally figured out what that meant and got a 9 in low level and 8 in high level linearity this last go-round. Prior to that I was a 5 and 4 score. Amazing what a difference understanding the rulebook makes! The 9's in tonality were also firsts for me. I learned more in this last show than I have all season, and that's saying something. 

I was completely unaware that Vinny was footing the bill, but was aware of the rest. As I've said before, I got into car audio for the music, but I am staying for the people. 

-Todd

Edit: I got this all messed up. Tonality scores are on a 10 point scale, and I posted 8s or 9s in each of them this last show (usually 6-8s). Linearity is two 5-point scales one for low volume and one for high. I posted two 4/4 and one 5/4 scores this show, usually more like a 3/2. That's what I get for posting from memory!


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## David_Edwards (Nov 12, 2008)

I had a great time. I got to spend some time with some of my best friends....and Webster


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

And I got to see the Vanilla Gorilla!!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

sounds like I need to find a radioshack SPL meter. Using the RTA setup is a bit more confusing because you see the level over the whole frequency band. I assume the RS meter just takes an average?

reason it's a problem: At 105dB my sub is about 10-15dB higher than the rest of my system... I assume the judges judge the level by the midrange band's level. 


Edit: I probably should also try reading the friggin' rule book.


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

If you go by the rule book then my car would have a hard time doing 110db average over the whole range of frequencies. 105 is doable but probably not past that. I'm looking at tripling my power on each speaker so that should get me to 110 cleanly. 

Vinny did have one comment that I hadn't gotten in a long time. He thought that I lacked bass in both low and high linearity. I tend to like the bass heavier than most so if anything I get told that my bass is too heavy by most judges. I thought that was kind of funny, lol.


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## Andy Jones (May 12, 2006)

SQrules said:


> Vinny is the main reason I had a good sounding truck. He was the local judge for me from '03-'07. Everytime I tried something new or a little different he noticed it right off whether it good or bad. He taught me most of what I know about SQ in car audio.


x2. You and Vinny are the reason my vehicles went from ass to good. you both did that for me, and I appreciate it greatly.


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

Andy Jones said:


> x2. You and Vinny are the reason my vehicles went from ass to good. you both did that for me, and I appreciate it greatly.


HES ALIVE!!!!!! ANDY JONES IS ALIVE!!!!!!

Dude, youre missed, get off your bike and back into the lanes.


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

ungo4 said:


> If you go by the rule book then my car would have a hard time doing 110db average over the whole range of frequencies. 105 is doable but probably not past that. I'm looking at tripling my power on each speaker so that should get me to 110 cleanly.
> 
> Vinny did have one comment that I hadn't gotten in a long time. He thought that I lacked bass in both low and high linearity. I tend to like the bass heavier than most so if anything I get told that my bass is too heavy by most judges. I thought that was kind of funny, lol.


when I 1st started competing I started in 0-150. then moved to 301-600 for a few years. I always loved the challenge of the lower power classes.
But when I really started to have fun was when I jumped to 600+, I also finally won finals that year.

now I'm around 2000+...

dont be scared of power--its a good thing, actually its a great thing


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

Power never really scared me but my listening habits never pushed me to get more. I probably listen at lower volume levels than most people do though. I'm going to try some more power on for size soon. I'm betting that it will fit me pretty well.:guitarist:


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## customtronic (Jul 7, 2007)

Andy Jones said:


> x2. You and Vinny are the reason my vehicles went from ass to good. you both did that for me, and I appreciate it greatly.





Mic10is said:


> HES ALIVE!!!!!! ANDY JONES IS ALIVE!!!!!!
> 
> Dude, youre missed, get off your bike and back into the lanes.


Damn! Good to "see" you Andy. Back at the shows next season?


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## KP (Nov 13, 2005)

Anyone going to post the results?


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## ungo4 (Jun 5, 2009)

AcuraTLSQ said:


> Anyone going to post the results?


I was wondering when the results would be posted also. I only know that Mic, John Marsh, and I won our respective classes in MECA.


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## ragnaroksq (Mar 14, 2006)

Results are up on mecacaraudio.com


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