• Boston Acoustics announced they’re shipping their SPG555 Passive Radiator system. Adding this to your Boston SPG’s subwoofer box gets you an extra 3dB of bass. May not sound like much, but to your ears that’s almost twice as much bass!!
• So you want to share some music from your iPod with your buddy, but since the iPod is an iPod and not a Zune, you can’t do it…. That is unless you have a miShare!
• Multifunction rearview mirrors are not new, but with all the technology that’s coming to market lately, these things can do just about anything shot of walking of dog or getting you a cold one from the fridge!! They’re not always the most attractive add-ons for your car, but does it matter?
• I’m sure you’ve seen all the commercial on TV telling you that your normal cable and rabbit ears will quit working in early 2009; you need to upgrade to a digital box. But did you realize this also means your car stereo system’s TV tuner is going kaput too? That means new things are the horizon for mobile digital TV. Welcome to the new mobile TV format wars!
• SoundDomain would like to welcome our newest guestblogger, Adam Rayner! Adam comes to us from across the pond, and is the online editor for the UK’s famous Talk Audio website. He has quite a history in the mobile electronics industry and of course, we’re looking forward to sampling his sarcastic British sens of humor!

• Do you own a motorcycle or plan on picking one up now that the weather’s getting better? Did you know that in 2005 over 70,000 bikes were stolen and less than 30% were actually recovered? Pretty shocking, eh? You might want to consider an alarm…. The guys from Directed’s Snake Pit hooked us up with a great article on how to install a motorcycle alarm and what to look for when shopping around for one.
• Second Skin sent us a bunch of their Damplifier Sound Deadening kits, and we’re giving it all away! All you have to do to enter is hop over to SoundDomain and add a comment in the forum. That’s it! We’re giving away a complete trunk kit and a door kit to a lucky winner!
• Scosche is shipping their new 2009 Toyota Corolla dash kit. It accepts single or double DIN radios, matches the factory dash contours, and is available in facotry-matched black or gray. Don’t put up with crappy factory radio any longer!
• New details have emerged on Garmin’s new nüvifone! This extrememly impressive iPhone-fighter features a Garmin GPS system, 3.0 megapixel camera, WiFi, and more!
• Apple iPods are killing people in Australia! Well, actually, no, not really. But they could! No, really! OK, OK, not really, and they never have… Yet! The police from Down Under have launched a campaign claiming the portable device could be responsible for future deaths, even though no deaths have yet to be attributed to the little guy. They just want to warn you… just in case.

• Steve Meade is back and causing a ruckus with his 20,000 Watt Tahoe. In the two latest videos, Steve shows Doja Clik’s Lil Man what the Tahoe can do and the dude nearly melts into the seat! And the hair trick at the end of the video is a classic. Video Two features Ice Cube producer Teak showing his buddy PSYPH what Steve’s four 18" Fi subs feels like on 20K watts. He doesn’t know what hit him!
• Sound Sensations took first place at the Pioneer Sound Build-Off with their 99 Mercedes CLK 430, and with good reason. The install was flawless and nearly acoustically perfect. The custom remote flush-mounted in the center console that controls the radio, lighting, and various accessories is uber-trick, but I think the custom kick panels are my favorite.
• MTX is running a contest and giving away $4500 in stereo equipment and gear to the lucky few who create the best MTX commercial and post it online. Get the details!
• Sirius Satellite Radio got scooped! We’ve got pics of the newest Starmate 5 tuner, and it’s not actually due out for quite a few months. Thanks FCC!
• Need an iPhone or iTouch dock for your ride but can’t quite find the perfect solution? Until you do, you could just make your own using the contents that came in your iPhone’s box!

There’s a lot of faux-vintage car audio equipment on the market, but what’s cool about this Becker unit is that it boasts iPod compatibility, internet connectivity, turn-by-turn GPS navigation, and voice recognition capacity—all in a package that’ll blend seamlessly with the interior styling of your vintage gullwing 300SL. Becker is the erstwhile supplier of factory stereos for Mercedes (they mostly use Alpine now, Sean tells me) and was known for some pretty high-end stuff back in the day—this piece is actually modeled upon the pinstripe-design radios they started producing in the 60′s. At around 2300 bucks, it’s more than a little pricey, and so far it’s only available in Europe. A US version is being developed for later in the summer.

Source: Dvice via AutoMotto

• Over the weekend we showed the first part in Alpine’s Sinister Six demo car build videos, and we wrapped it up with Part 2. It’s still hard to believe this beast started life as an $80,000 BMW 645…. The resemblance is there, but this demo car is a work of art!
• Griffin sent us a few of their in-car iPod charger/wireless transmitters to take for a test drive and we just finished our review of the first product. The gadget worked very well – we were impressed!
• Pioneer’s MINI-mino impressed us both on CarDomain and SoundDomain, so we couldn’t resist writing about it either! We got a few details on the product line-up and modifications, but not much info was available at press time. It’s definitely worth a second look and we’ll do our best to get even better details!

• The Alpine Imprint RLS will always be one of the most amazing demo cars ever produced. But before the Imprint made it’s impression on car audio history, the Alpine crew built the Sinister Six. What started out as an innocent $84,000 BMW 645ci ended up a jaw dropping, road raging, Sinister sports coupe. And SoundDomain has two videos  from Alpine following the crew through the amazing build.
• It interesting what you can find in life if you just look a little bit closer…. SoundDomain’s new guestblogger, Ben, writes about the hidden easter eggs found on circuit boards. Who’da guessed engineers had a sense of humor?
• Car manufacturers aren’t the only ones getting hit by Chinese knock-offs; even car audio manufacturers have to step into the ring. Check out the pics of this bogus Alpine amplifier found out in the wild. Would you have spotted it?
• Our main man Steve Meade is back and shaking up a ruckus at Taco Bell. Watch what happens when the two drive thru guys ask for a sample of the Tahoe’s beefy beats. Notice the bills in Taco Dude #2′s hand when Steve gives the magic knob a twist… The looks on their faces are pretty priceless too: from excitement to satisfaction to shock & awe. It’s always a good time with Steve.
• Bored? Add Bluetooth to your 5G iPod.
• We’ve also got a video of CarDomain member Jamminwagon plugging in and jammin’ out on his electric car through his Dodge Magnum’s sound ssytem. Boy’s got some skills, car’s got some beats!
• Scosche built out a pretty crazy demo car for SEMA 2006: a bright orange FJ Cruiser stuffed with EFX gear: eight 12" woofers, twelve amplifiers, seven monitors (including a 32"monitor in the rear door!), twenty speakers, three batteries, and over 9000 watts of power!

• Premium car audio manufacturer Focal gave us the scoop on their new Solid Series amplifiers. These mid-level amplifiers offer great flexibility, small footprints, and uber-clean sound quality. The plain-Jane design is great for flush-mounting, and the amps are available in Wrinkle Black or Wrinkle Red. SoundDomain is the first place you’ll see these audiophile amps, so make sure to check them out and let us know what you think! One thing to point out, Focal’s parent company, home audio manufacturer JM Labs, has a home speaker that sells for over $35,000 EACH. These guys know what they’re doing when it comes to offering the best of the best. What’s in your ride?
• Team Hybrids member Dave Brooks is a World Champion car audio competitor, and last year won the MECA Modex Division National Championship, earned the title of IASCA’s Rookie World Champion, and took first place in the Sound Quality Championship. Dave’s sponsor, Hybrid Audio also wanted to congratulate him for recently achieving the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, and is now the highest ranking enlisted serviceman in the USAF. Congrats to Dave!
• We’ve got another video from Scosche live on the site. In this episode Trevor Kaplan walks you through their iPod auxiliary input for the Toyota Tundra. The AXIPTA interface is extremely easy to use and seamlessly interfaces with the factory radio almost like it was just meant to be.
• Microsoft and Alpine just inked a deal to share technology and patents. This shoudl be a pretty cool partnership since Alpine is pretty much the #1 car audio manufacturer, and Microsoft is the world dominator when it comes to software and their new Sync system is just SICK!

There comes a time in every man’s life when he has to make a decision. You should weigh the positives, and negatives carefully because you don’t want to make a hasty decision and figure out it was the wrong one after its too late.** Well, while you’re thinking about your decision, maybe you should catch up on the SoundDomain news:

• We told you about Realm’s ’63 Lincoln Conti not to long ago; the car is just plain hot. Well, apparently MC Hammer thought so too and at CES he tested out his new CD on the Conti’s system and the guys at Realm snagged some video of Hammer getting down to his album. Hammer didn’t hurt ‘em, but you still can’t touch this. Oh yeah… I went there.
• The guys at Thought Out developed some pretty unique iPod and iPhone accessories and the Ped3 for the iPod Touch and iPhone is by far one of the best desktop solutions I’ve seen yet.
• Tim from HzEmall Customs is back and his most recent installment for SoundDomain gives us an in-depth look into the progress on a 1969 Camaro project car. The crew is basically customizing the entire interior, re-doing most of the electronics, suspension, etc. This is going to be one big, bad-ass old school when the wrap it up. Custom seats, VERY custom car stereo install, custom center console, custom trunk, custom suspension, big ‘ol LS2/6 motor and tranny swap, air bags, and chrome 18s up front and big ‘ol 20s in the rear. You don’t want to miss this.
• And don’t forget to check out the last two installments of the Alpine Million Dollar Imprint RLS demo car build videos. In Part 3 the guys get the exterior skeleton built for the custom body panels and the fabrication of the interior panels. In Part 4, with 1 week to go before CES, it’s paint, prep, and finished product. I’m surprised Gary, Steve, and Brent had any skin left on their fingers after all the sanding this project needed!

**The CarDomain editors are not responsible for pointless, mindless, babble contained in these blog posts. And what are you doing reading this anyway?? You should be reading the SoundDomain news!!

Well, typical Seattle weather this weekend so another day and no sound in the ride. A co-worker suggested I rig up a garbage bag tent around my car so I can get work done in the rain. I suggested he go back to his desk and check out the news on SoundDomain instead:

• Rich Truesdell told you about the Garmin Nüvifone  not too long ago. Well videos have come forth from Garmin and this phone could quite possibly the ultimate iPhone killer!!
• Adding an Xbox to your car’s audio/video system is not too uncommon these days, but disassembling and custom-installing the separate components is not so common. These guys take apart an Xbox and show you some ideas on how to custom-mount a system in your ride.
• MECP is an installer certification program in the mobile electronics industry, similar to ASE certification for a mechanic. It represents the best of the best in the industry, separating the men from the boys. But if you want to take your skills "out-of-this-world", why not go for NASA standards!
• The Tracer Heads-Up Display (HUD) is a design study that incorporates GPS, HUD technology, and SMS text messaging. The cool part of this is the Heads-Up display, the scary part is if you start speeding, it sends a text message to your parents. Doh!
• Crazy man Steve Meade got a chance to demo his tuff Tahoe for Ice Cube’s producers, Teak and Dee. Needless to say, even those these guys listen to bangin’ beats all day long, they weren’t prepared for Steve to push the magic button in his system! Watch ‘em squirm!

So the new SoundDomain is now only a month old, but it’s been a successful month so far. Thanks for your support! As the year progresses, we’ll start offering some great hands-on gadget reviews, longer feature articles and complete build articles from some of the greatest shops around the US and Canada (maybe even a few worldwide!). Expect some cool changes to come for SoundDomain. For now, just expect a really cool forum, and some really great news… Like this:

• SoundStream is coming out with a 15,000 watt amp designed for SPL competitors and those that like to sonically rattle their fillings loose.
• MB Quart is known for incredible sounding speakers and amplifiers, and their recent journey into marine audio has led to some really innovative products. The new MB Quart APC (Audio/Video Processing Center), also known as the "Black Box" is one of the most unique source-solutions for boats that I’ve seen in my 10+ years in the industry.
• The Japanese consumer electronics industry is filled with cool gadgets, some we’ll either never see or we’ll have to wait at least a year or two before coming to our shores. Such an example is the new Kenwood K-WD01, a double DIN in-dash CD and MD player – a device we’ll probably never see. I vote this a "never see" since it has MD , and the mini-disc just never made it big here (unfortunately).
• The P-Per phone from Chocolate is one of the coolest concepts I’ve come across in a long time. Of course it follows the typical iPhone styling, but it uses an ePaper display on both sides, features a 3.0mp panoramic camera, a haptic touchscreen, and more. Seriously, check it out.