Expertise is something that I hold on the highest pedestal. Complete mastery in a chosen arena is an ability I have no hope of attaining, so I relish the moments I am face-to-face with someone who has. Right now, I am learning about the creativity behind a clever stereo installation and the diligence needed for winning an IASCA competition from Jaed Arzadon, someone who has been there done that.
Did you know that points can be deducted for any amount of slack in the stereo wiring? Or that IASCA judges penalize for a line of screws without matching bevels? The more Jaed talks, the more I realize that stereo competitions are not for me. It is an anal-retentive man's sport, and I mean that in a good way. "One time I lost because I forgot to tighten my battery connection," he says. "That cost me five points." If that is the price of victory, then consider this messy automotive journalist hopeless.
Jaed looks like the sort of person who would excel at this neurotic activity. He's dressed like a Banana Republic ad and has not one hair out of place, even throughout this windy and dusty photo shoot. In between detailing the car and removing kick panels and trunk floors for the camera, he tells stories-mostly good and some bad-of his experiences in IASCA. So far, he has had two undefeated seasons at West Coast regional sound-offs and one Second and three Top-Five finishes in the nationwide IASCA Finals.
From the outside, Jaed's '94 Civic EX coupe is a true stereo sleeper. The purple paint is clean of graphics, and the only body mod is a simple Wings West body kit. The 18-inch Racing Hart C-5s and 215/35ZR18 Nittos give something away, but the really cool things are inside. Still, even the stereo components are so tastefully placed that sitting behind the wheel I was hardly aware of all the hidden technology spread around me.
"The heart and soul of IASCA is sound quality and the ability to adjust it," says Jaed as I search and discover the many components in this audio Taj Mahal. "Speaker placement is one big factor. The second thing is knowledge-knowing how something works and being able to apply that to what you do. For example, speaker placement-knowing that it's not all about throwing it into the corner of the car is the key. You have to know how to angle it. Knowing the reaction of speakers and how they work in that [particular] car. The same speakers in a kick panel in a different car will sound totally different."
He goes on to drop a little more science. "Also, the principals of sound have to do with air pressure. If there was a competition in Big Bear [Mountain] the sound is going to be different from a competition in L.A. The sound pressure is different at a higher elevation. So you have to tune to where you're at. Just like drag racing."
Jaed also built the car around certain abstract themes-like we said, it takes a certain type of person to build this kind of car. The first theme has to do with shape and asymmetry. And if you look closely under the hood, in the cabin, and in the trunk, you'll find that one shape pervades the entire car. The unnameable lines of the window in the engine matches that of the speaker openings in the front and back and the cutout in the trunk.
The other theme is color: yellow and blue. All the wiring has been shrink-wrapped in either yellow (positive) or blue (negative). This includes the wires that are not visible beneath the carpeting. That's right, say the words of the day with me: anal retentive. But that's what it takes to win at IASCA.
(Gail, Page 4 Will Be These Side Bars, Blueprint, And Fast Facts)(Sidebars)
Dash and Front Doors130-0007-JAED-6 (4/C)130-0007-JAED-17 (4/C)
*Two Pioneer TS-M7PRS 6.5-inch mid-bass drivers*Two Pioneer TS-TPRS tweeters*Pioneer RS-D2 single CD player*Pioneer RS-C100 controller*Pioneer RS-M1 12-CD changer*Pioneer RS-P1 processor with 31-band equalizer*Pioneer AVX-7000 7-inch motorized monitor*Pioneer AVM-P7000R processor