Even when Hector Tabarez, 25, keeps the windows rolled up as he drives his 1985 chocolate brown Nissan pickup, his reputation precedes him. Anyone within a several-block radius can hear Tabarez coming, for he drives what is known as a “boom car.” The auto mechanic from Gardena, Calif., spent $8,000 to install the vehicle’s current stereo system, which comprises a deluxe Alpine 7902 compact-disc player, two heavy-duty Orion amplifiers and 32 speakers. His rig can deliver a bone-jarring 144 decibels of sound. “I just got carried away,” he admits.
Tabarez is not booming alone. Across the U.S., thousands of young, mostly male, boom-car aficionados are ripping out their backseats and dashboards to make room for stereo equipment as advanced as audiophiles have at home. Says Danny Moore of East Orange, N.J.: “Girls all want to go out with the guy with the loudest car.” Besides rattling neighborhoods, boom-car fever has created a thriving market for manufacturers of exotic stereo equipment. They include not only such established Japanese companies as Sony and Nakamichi but also specialized U.S. firms like Mitek of Winslow, Ill.
The manufacturers promote their products at crank-it-up contests that rival drag racing as the hot rodders’ sport of choice. Contestants pit their sonically souped-up cars against one another for cash, trophies and recognition. Last summer in Laredo, Texas, Tom Fichter of Houston broke the world’s record when his $27,000 system pounded out Flashdance . . . What a Feeling at 154.7 decibels, more than twice as loud as the sound of a jet taking off.
How much power can a guy buy for about $25,000? Tim Lublin of Hollywood, Fla., who spent that much on the gear in his Chevy pickup, needs five twelve- volt batteries, hidden behind the front seat, to supply juice for his 3,000-watt system. The platform holding his five amplifiers folds on piano hinges to reveal a subfloor that carries four fans to cool the amps.
Boom-car buffs emphasize that they use the latest digital technology to achieve quality in their sound, not just quantity. “It is an art form to manage a car interior sonically,” says Steve Seidl, who outfits boom cars at Speaker Warehouse in Hollywood, Fla. “We use a spectrum analyzer to measure the ‘pink noise’ in the car or to focus the sound on the driver.”
Not everyone shares the boomers’ enthusiasm. According to A.N. Norman, assistant bureau commander of the Los Angeles fire department, several city ambulance drivers have been involved in accidents with boom cars that did not yield the right of way. At a relatively puny 120 decibels, emergency sirens fail to cut through the din.
Moreover, doctors warn that even brief exposure to noise levels greater than 115 decibels can result in permanent hearing damage. But boomers turn a deaf ear to such objections. With one sound-off rally scheduled for Austin in two weeks and another on Easter Sunday in Daytona Beach, Fla., the air will soon be filled with the sound of cars going boom in the night.
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