I just got back from the Pioneer Sound Build-Off in San Diego where Pioneer not only hosted a really cool sound-off competition, but they also unveiled the new AVIC-F series navigation radios. The new AVIC-F’s have all of the goodies you’d expect from a full-featured in-dash navigation piece, but Pioneer stepped it up a few notches and included built-in Bluetooth, voice recognition and control, and MSN Direct data streaming! Get all the details, features, and check out a small gallery of the new devices over at SoundDomain.

If you happen to have a spare $10-12k sitting in the bank for a rainy day and you’re shopping around for some new shoes for your ride, then make sure you add a set of these new Strut wheels to your shopping list. Strut is probably best known for their "car jewelry"–a collection of top quality polished grilles for all luxury makes–so their venture into high-end wheels is a pretty natural progression.

Strut’s new Icon 10 and Icon 10D are forged aluminum, available in 2- or 3-piece designs and can be had in your choice of 20-, 22-, or 24-inches. To get the right look for your ride, the wheels come in chrome or satin finish. For an additional cost, Strut can even custom color-match wheels to any color.

Full press release and an additional photo available after the jump.

Continue reading "New Icon Wheels from Strut" »

• They keep the good news coming: Six new JL Audio W3V3 subwoofer systems are now available. The 10" FlatWedge box caught my eye – less than 5" deep, but packs a JL W3V3 woofer!
• Bassform’s "Does Your Box Rock" Challenge at the Spring Break Nationals in Daytona is ON. Competitors will showcase their vehicle-specific custom fiberglass enclosures for a chance at cash prizes. Bassforms locked down a great line-up of judges, we’ve got the list.
• Gotta Zune? Play any good games on it lately? You will be soon!

• Aliph, makers of the cool Jawbone Bluetooth headset, released details on three limited edition Jawbones designed by the the device’s creator. Sweet Talk, Dirty Talk, and Trash Talk are pretty simple, but I appreciate that they don’t have that modern "Matrix" styling a lot of manufacturers have taken on. The trucker lady emblem is my favorite. Do ya dig?
• CarDomain member e34zoui’s e34 5-Series BMW is off the charts. I was surfing through the Top A/V Installs on CarDomain when I came across this kitted-up starch white BMW beauty queen. He’s completely reworked the interior: kick panels, custom consoles, a complete A/V system, carPC… And the quality is straight-up outstanding.
• Don’t forget!! If you live in the Vancouver, BC area, Varad is searching for a booth car for the Lordco Trade Show! You get a slew of free gear and your car featured in the blog! Get all the details!
• Speaking of contests– Sirius is taking entries for a free trip to the Winter Music Conference in Miami with guest host Paul Van Dyk! If you’re an electronic music music junkie like myself, this is a killer opportunity!
• Audiojunkies got the scoop on some new amplifiers from Italian amplifier manufacturer Tec. The sleek and simple design will look awesome flush-mounted or on full display!

• 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!

Ever wonder what life would be like without music? I’ve wondered it, but I don’t think I’d ever want to experience it. Music is one of the reasons I got into the Mobile Electronics industry. The gadgets and the cool devices that help make the music in my car and life are only secondary, but they make my job and hobby that much more exciting. I know nothing really beats the sound of a finely tuned engine, but nothing compliments it better than a finely tuned car stereo system. And if I couldn’t listen to music, well, then I guess I’d just hop over to SoundDomain and catch up on the news!

• High-end home audio manufacturer Naim has announced it will provide the audio systems for future Bentley vehicles. Produced under the moniker "naim for Bentley", the system will belt out 1100 watts of pure audiophile power to 15 speakers. How much does the Naim system add to the bottom line of a Bentley? Well, as the saying goes – if you have to ask….
• If you’ve got an old school muscle car or classic cruiser in your garage and you’ve considered upgrading the radio and audio system, your options are pretty slim. Fortunately there are companies like RetroSound that offer the latest technology in a radio package designed to look factory in your retro-rod. USB, MP3, CD Changer controls, multi-color LCD… Get all the modern luxuries in a classic package.
• Blast from the past… Back in the good ‘ol days of Car Audio, Alpine and the Lambo Countach were one of the most recognized symbols in the industry (Alpine still is for that matter). I was digging around the net and stumbled on some oldie-but-goodie shots of this classic car stereo icon.
• Our man "Crazy Like a" Brian Fox is at it again… This time he’s creating a work of art to be showcased at Nissan’s booth at the New York International Auto Show this March. His new project is another Nissan Altima Coupe that will sport the new Fox Marketing 6-piece body kit, 19" Work wheels, and a bad-ass Rockford Fosgate stereo system.

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!!

Ah yes, the weekend is finally here. I’ve got friends coming up from Portland for the weekend, so we’ll probably go hit downtown Seattle or something. But we can’t party the entire time while they’re here (or can we?), so you know what we’ll do in the mean time? That’s right… Check out the SoundDomain news:

• Part Two of Alpine’s Million Dollar Demo Car video series posted up on SoundDomain. In this episode the guys strip the car down to the skeleton of the Benz R-Class and start the prep work for the install. I don’t know about you, but there’s something about seeing a $40,000+ car stripped down to nothing that gets me kind of excited!
• Jensen also came through with a boatload of new free MP3s to download, and it’s a pretty cool mix of music genres, a little something for everyone. Check it out!
• Have you ever slipped and "ventilated" a subwoofer while trying to mount it? I have… A few times actually. Or how about have you aver wobbled while trying to drill or screw something into sheet metal and ended up scratching the paint? DOH! I have. That’s why this new drill concept is a pretty interesting idea.

It’s amazing where the mobile electronics industry has gone in the last 15 years…. Tape decks were still around, CD players were just starting to be commonplace, and in-dash LCDs and navigation weren’t even a glimmer in our eyes. Now technology is evolving so quickly that if you stop paying attention for a while, you can easily get left behind. But lucky for you, SoundDomain is here to keep you in the loop:

• If you’ve ever installed new speakers in your ride and then flipped on your system only to find your new gear sounds like you’re listening to it in a long empty hallway, you probably have your speaker wires mixed up and they’re out of phase. Either you can rip your car back apart and find the culprit, or you can pick up a handy tool called the Phase-It.
• Massive Audio’s new SQX woofer is GI-NORMOUS. It’s designed for Sound Quality competitions, but SPL junkies will be more than satisfied with this big boomer.
• Hemp is about as handy as the soy bean; you can make just about anything from it, and whatever you make is bound to be better than it’s mass market counterpart (paper, rope, clothing, oils, etc). Check out these new hemp-coned woofers from Hemp Hop! If you’re lucky, you might even win one!
• The guys from Alpine stopped by the site and dropped off a few videos showing the amazing, and I mean AMAZING, build of the 2007 CES demo extravaganza, the Imprint RLS. Check out Part one in a four-part series. You won’t be disappointed!