Dave Ritter

Who among you can build THE best sounding car audio system that is NOT connected to your vehicle’s charging system? How well can you build a stand-alone electrical source that will properly power your audio system? And, yes, it can and it has been done! Please visit *removed*, scroll down to TAKE THE BATCAP CHALLENGE toward the lower right hand portion of the page and click on it. This will explain the challenge in more details. Please e-mail any questions that you may have to *removed*.

About two hours before posting this, I got a call from the folks who organize the Cars and Coffee event in Scottsdale. Apparently, the contact person with whom I had been in corresponding was NOT the person authorized to make decisions on their end regarding our participation in this event. So unfortunately, the CATOC event will not happen because of the misunderstanding. The good news is that the two gentlemen to whom I spoke were understanding of the dilemma and offered the opportunity for discussion regarding our possible participation in their large annual event in March. There are a lot of details to discuss, and those discussions will begin after the first of the year. I am posting this for any and all of you who were thinking of coming out specifically for a car audio contest, please know that a last minute change had to be made to maintain the integrity and the core value of Cars and Coffee. Candidly, they were caught off guard, and their call to me caught me by surprise. The bottom line is that I have the utmost respect for Cars and Coffee and I am not going to do anything to compromise a potentially very good relationship with them.

Please read this post carefully before opening the link for the flier (shown below)! Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) being hosted at the same time as Cars and Coffee on Saturday morning, December 7th, 2013 at The Shops at Gainey Village in Scottsdale, Arizona. (This does NOT conflict with the MECA event that was posted on their calendar after our event was first posted on ours.) CATOC™ appreciates the privilege to be a part of this, so we take the etiquette of Cars and Coffee very, very seriously! This is a first class event worthy of first class behavior from CATOC™ competitors, friends and family. Cars and Coffee organizers only allow us to accept pre-registrations for this event (via PayPal); please contact Dave Ritter at dave@catoc-cca.com for details. Pre-registrations are on a first come, first serve basis with only 15 spots available! Pre-registrations will be taken UNTIL ALL 15 competitor spots are filled, OR December 4th, whichever comes first. IMPORTANT! Please check the flier at Car and Coffee in December Some information on the flier has now changed! We are signing up competitors asking them a preference of judging times. The earliest available judging time is 8:30 a.m.. Sound system evaluation is done every 20 minutes, so the next appointment time is 8:50 a.m., and so on, until 1:00 p.m.. If you are only competing in the sound quality evaluation, that process takes approximately 12-15 minutes. Only three vehicles per hour will be judged to prevent judges’ listener fatigue. The 7:00 a.m. roll in time applies IF you are planning to also display your vehicle for the duration of the event or if you want "a choice" parking spot. Cars and Coffee does not allow anyone to set up vendor tents or sell products on site – no exceptions. This group gets there early, so parking spots will be at a premium. Last month there were approximately 350 (really, really nice) cars by conservative estimate. Sound system auditions are to be conducted with doors closed, windows up, and sunroof/moonroof closed. This is not a “street bass” event, so no system “booming” of any kind will be tolerated. Please contact Dave Ritter at dave@catoc-cca.com with any questions that you may have. We look forward to seeing you there!

I am posting this ad for a friend of mine in Tucson,Arizona. I do not have specific pricing; the contact information for the seller is listed below. A lot of the equipment listed is brand new in the box and has never been opened! This is inventory that belongs to a one time authorized Zapco dealer. There four Zapco C2K amplifiers for sale: Two 9.0XD 2 channel amplifiers rated at 2,200 watts RMS in 4 ohm mono at 12.5 volts! Two 2.5X 4 channel amplifiers, Symbilink cables needed to hook up the aforementioned amplifiers. A very hard to find BatCap 8400 (14 volt version) with the matching 14 volt charger; these were purchased to use specifically with the 9.0XD’s. Two Reference 200.2 (SymBiLink versions), one of them is brand new in the box. The other is on his display board. Please contact Joe at mildtowild2@hotmail.com or (520) 440-2049 for pricing and additional information.

The Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) Southwest Regional Finals at Torque Meet Tour on the campus of Universal Technical Institute in Avondale, Arizona is this Saturday! If you have not pre-registered for the event, the time is now! If you simply want to display your car, or if you plan to compete in the CATOC™ event, you will need to pre-register with Torque Meet Tour at www.torquemeettour.com. Please contact dave@catoc-cca.com for details regarding CATOC™ pre-registration incentives and discounts for competitor members of other sanctioning organizations for competitive car audio portion. No day of show registration is available (due to contract agreement with the venue), so please don’t roll in thinking that you can compete or display.

Thank you for your feedback. Regarding this show, it had been originally scheduled (through Torque Meet Tour) on Saturday October 12th, and it had to be moved because of it falling on the same day as Cruise On Central, which is a long running show that attracts about 3,000 cars. I made the announcement as soon as I had confirmation on several details. The schedules for the other CATOC™/Torque Meet Tour events will be announced at SEMA (under Torque Meet Tour), which will give you plenty of notice for those events. For clarification, I am NOT using the other organizations points. CATOC™ is offering CATOC™ qualification points to people who competed in IASCA, MECA, and USACi Regional events (and/or state finals), and/or in the Car Audio Championships. This is an incentive to people who are established and active sound off competitors. It's no different than when Walmart honors coupons from other stores. I just wanted to make sure that this distinction was clear. If you want a better idea about what makes CATOC™ unique, please visit www.catoc-cca.com.

Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) is hosting our first of six regional finals event, CATOC™ SW Regional Finals on Saturday, November 16th on the campus of Universal Technical Institute in Avondale Arizona. If you are a current IASCA, MECA, or USACi competitor who competed in the Car Audio Champions in Huntsville, AL OR in a State or Regional event from any of the aforementioned SQ sanctioning organizations, you are already qualified to compete in the CATOC™ SW Regional Finals! Please contact dave@catoc-cca.com for CATOC™ membership discount incentives, entry fee incentives and the CATOC™ competition points that you have already earned IF you join CATOC™ before midnight PST, November 2nd, 2013. Please visit www.catoc-cca.com. Thank you.

Unfortunately, our Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) pre-season event originally scheduled for Saturday, August 24th had to be postponed effective immediately. The deposit needed in order to secure the Bondurant facility was due today; the people who were going to help us make that happen did not come through as expected. When a new (set of) date(s) is finalized for Bondurant events, I will post them here. Thank you for your understanding.

So who among you wants to drive some cars really, really fast - legally - on a world famous race course while competing in a sound off? I thought this might catch someone's attention. we would love to have all of you come out, even if you don't live in the Phoenix area. Please e-mail events@catoc-cca.com for details. Thank you.

Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) will be having its “preseason” events starting this month in the greater Phoenix, AZ area. The first preseason event scheduled is to be held at the world famous Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving located in Chandler, AZ on Saturday, August 24th. Please e-mail events@catoc-cca.com to request an event flier. We would love to have you enjoy driving really fast – legally –on Bondurant’s track. You do not have to be a sound off competitor and you do not have to be a CATOC™ member to drive. You do have to have a valid current driver’s license. The driving events DO require paid pre-registration and we must meet a minimum number of driving participants in order to use this venue. Pre-registration is done via PayPal at pre-registration@catoc-cca.com. If you, your company, your car club, etc. would like to book a group event on the same day as our event, please e-mail me directly at dave@catoc-cca.com; I will forward your information to the proper people at Bondurant. If you want to pre-register, I’ll send you an invoice for payment for your records. Our regular season starts on Saturday, September 7th. If your vehicle has a sound system, even the one that came from the factory when the car was new, you can compete. A CATOC™ annual membership and paid pre-registration (for each event) is required to compete in our events. You will earn qualifying points toward Regional events, regardless of how where you finish! No other organization does this! So if you’re saving money or buying equipment for your system upgrades one piece at a time, you can still compete and earn points. Already have a complete system? If you win or place, you earn additional points. If your system has an epic fail, no worries; you won’t leave empty handed. You’ll still earn qualifying points. Have questions? Please email info@catoc-cca.com Thank you.

I've been a member here for awhile, but I had not visited or posted very often. That will be changing. For those of you who don't know me, I am a 28 year + veteran in and around the car audio industry, and I have worn virtually every hat to be worn. As much as I love car audio as a serious hobby, I have grown weary of the industry as a profession. In short, there are much better ways to conduct business, especially in the competitve car audio "sound off" arena. A better way has been created: Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) The CATOC™ "preseason" is starting this month in the greater Phoenix, AZ area. The Car Audio Tournament of Champions™ (CATOC™) starts on Saturday, September 7th. Shows will be added across the country starting in the warm weather states this fall and winter. If you're curious to learn more, please e-mail info@catoc-cca.com. Thank you for having me here on SSA.

Today is the 10 year anniversary of Charles Mark Mercer. Charlie was a son to me, even though he was not my son by birth or adoption. The story of his death as published in the Tucson Citizen the following day was less than flattering; it only spoke of a prior DUI conviction and the tragic circumstances of his passing. There was no mention of an exceptionally gifted 21 year old who died just as he was on the brink of fulfilling his immense potential. Charlie had earned a full ride academic scholarship to Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University where he carried a 4.0 GPA in electrical engineering. He also owned his own small but growing car audio business. He had no intention of following his classmates into the corporate world to get a “piece of the pie”; analogously speaking, he was going to build his own oven and bake as many pies as his heart desired. The only thing that stood in his way was the decision to get behind the wheel when he was in no condition to do so. Today, I celebrate the person who Charlie was going to become and pray that someone who reads this will help someone else by preventing a decision like the one that took Charlie from us 10 years ago today. Charlie, I miss you and I will always cherish my memories of our friendship. God Bless.

Why is my post gone?

If you live in the Las Vegas, NV area or are planning to visit Las Vegas in the near future, please come by and visit us at Performance Audio www.performanceaudiolvnv.com. We are a Mobile Electronics Top 12 Retailer featuring 2011 Installer of the Year, Jon Webb. We are THE place to visit if you want to take your system to the next level. If you want a simple upgrade or a full blown competition show vehicle, we are the place for you. Please mention that you saw this post. We look forward to seeing you!

Southwest Audiofest makes its second annual migation to the cooler cooler climates and gorgeous vistas in Prescott Valley, AZ. The first of these 4 shows will be held on Saturday, June 11th at Audio Adrenaline, located at 2517 Great Western, Suite P, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314. The other shows are scheduled for the same venue on Saturday, July 9th, and Saturday, August 13th. Last year, these shows drew people from all over Arizona, as well as some of our fellow insiders from Las Vegas. The weather is typically gorgeous, and the venue is nearly ideal for these events! I am encouraging everyone who is coming to PV to compete, judge, or check out the event to take advantage of the MECA CP discount at Motel 6 in Prescott Valley. Please book your room(s) online on the MECA website through the Motel 6 landing page, and please use CP546310 for your discount code. Please call me at (520) 245-2528 for more information. I will post the flier as soon as a needed update has been made. We'll see you there!