Im sorry but What is the purpose of the big loud annoying subs. congrats .. your car weights more. I have race cars that are stripped out with fully built motors ect. and its almost an embarrassment when people pull up to the road coarse blaring subs. its like they dont even care. i mean i make my car as light as possible for a good power to weight ratio, they make there cars loud and heavy, i just don't understand this?!?!

Chrisco originally wrote:
"it's a good thing you guys are so much better than people with loud stereos, and have a natural instinct for getting to the bottom of what their motivations for owning them are.

I was beginning to think I was the only one who noticed that they're second-rate humans!"

I read Chris234234's comment as implying that there was a racial/classist subtext to the complaining--the insulated wealthy white man complaining about the aural aggession of presumably non-white/non-wealthy thumper owners.

In my previoius locale in the Midwest/South, in our very poor neighborhood, the owners of these cars were either Black or local white kids who had completely absorbed big chunks of the Black thumper "scene."

In the South/Midwest, at least, the barriers between white and black youth culture are only permeable at the working class level. It takes a long time for parts of Black culture to seep into the old money neighborhoods, if it does at all, and only after it has been properly sanitized.

This is not to say that I haven't seen rich white kids in modded cars with nasty stereos, but that in my insulated experience it was almost always poor white and black kids.

In my response to Chrisco, I said, "I think this is about decibles, not tacit racism [or classism]"

We too lived in a small house whose windows shook when people with loud stereos pulled up to the Dairy Mart across the street. And I longed for an EMP gun.

To say there is *nothing* racial or class-based about thumpers is probably not totally correct. Yes, we hate them because they are really annoying and unhealthy, but their movement from gangsta's to wealthy white kids (or whoever) is something that has been happening since rock and roll and Elvis.

Can we please go back to making fun of Bubb Rubb now? Quicktopic is getting way too grumpy, and I apologize if I've contributed to that tone.

The appeal? Easy


We're Tigre and Bunny and we like the boom.

See also: http://www.thepopview.com/boomcars.html

That, and the people with the glowing neon below their cars!!!

Ground effects ROCK! What the hell are you talking about?

Other than rap or hip-hop, cars that go boom play what? Not Nashville Pussy. And the reason no one tells them to stfu is because they're afraid the occupants might go boom. In the street, there are victors and victims.

That's so heavy, I've got to rest.

Actually,

I like to think of blasting your car stereo as inadvertantly polite. Here's why: loud music in an apartment is annoying to a handful of people for a long duration. Loud, mobile music is annoying to more people, but for a much shorter time.

plugh: actually, if I remember correctly, percieved doublings in volume do happen every 10 dB, not every 3dB. That is, it takes more than a doubling in power to "sound twice as loud".

What gets really confusing is that this means that you need a factor of 8-10 in wattage-land to sound twice as loud. So a 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as a 10 watt amp, not 10 times as loud.

In my world, where I want to play and record at apartment levels, I have the reverse problem. I want a quiet amp that has power tube saturation. Most amps come in ranges of 50-100 watts. A 5 watt amp, which is the lowest wattage you'll find without going to boutique amp designers, is half as loud -- still as loud as a trumpet. 0.5 watts is still probably too loud.

So I end up using a power attenuator, which essentially turns my 50 watt amp into a 0.05 watt amp. At full volume this is still pretty loud.

(example: http://www.amptone.com/g112.htm Amptone.com is a great set of little article-ets about such problems, by the way)

Hot flash, Craniac, through a whole weird set of circumstances I live in a whitebread, exurban yuppie warren. A good friend recently had to move out of town to get away from the kid across the street and his noisemobile. The pizza delivery kid can be felt through one's feet before he hits your block. It's everywhere and it's not about race.

What in hell does this have to do with liberals or bleeding hearts or racism? The stereo assholes around here come in all colors, near as I can tell.

The assholes are the full realization of the real American dream: brainless all-out aggression and status through nothing more than buying stuff.

I do like the neon, tho. Doesn't cause physical harm, see Chrise? Is that too difficult a distinction for ya?

Chrise23482304987234097:

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that if wealthy white folks had big ole annoying thumper stereos that they played next to our tiny houses, we would be just as annoyed. My heart bleeds as much as the next armchair liberal, but I think this is a case of decibels, not tacit racism.

I thought the neon was cool the first time I saw it.

From:http://www.kenwoodusa.com/lounge/about_dbdrag.jsp

Drivers get 30 seconds to blast as loud as possible in head-to-head do-or-die matches. Unlike other "sound quality" competitions, dB Drag Racing is a test of pure SPL (sound pressure level).

             But competitors can get extra points if they have their friends flopping across the roof and bracing the sides to prevent body panel flexing ? Or if there's a bank of subwoofers installed... Powered by a rack of amplifiers... In a vehicle braced with steel tubing and sealed with bulletproof glass...

Ooh, sounds exciting...

That, and the people with the glowing neon below their cars!!!

it's a good thing you guys are so much better than people with loud stereos, and have a natural instinct for getting to the bottom of what their motivations for owning them are.

I was beginning to think I was the only one who noticed that they're second-rate humans!

while we're at it, i hate people with shiny rims too.

Hmmm, this track has just the right kind of bass to make my body work resonate and sound like de-tuned flatulance, I think I'll buy the CD.

Haw

And the worst part is that, invariably, the louder the car, the worse the music....

Look on the bright side. These idiots will be stone deaf after a few years. Worse, they might have galloping tinnitus, where they're constantly assaulted by ringing in their ears and unable to hear anything else.
And yes, it is funny when the bass makes all the car bodywork rattle.