This year we left the desert in Arizona for the beaches of San Diego, where Pioneer held its second annual Build-Off competition. Naturally, as an SQ contest, they had IASCA judges again determining the best vehicles at the event. It was tough since there were more than 20 cars from Pioneer’s nationwide Premier dealer base, including the top three competing shops from last year.
Marc Vickers with his 1999 Mercedes CLK by Sound Sensations was declared the champion and awarded a $10,000 check. Even in this economy that buys a lot of gas! The guys at Cartronics again placed, finishing second followed by the 2007 Honda Element by The Specialists in third.
“This Pioneer Sound Build-Off competition illustrates to our dealers the importance of sound quality to our business and consumer as music touches all of us emotionally. They’ll be able to take what they’ve learned from the competition and use this knowledge on the sales floor to deliver that ‘ultimate in-car experience’ for consumers,” said Larry Rougas, vice president of marketing and product planning for the mobile business group of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “I want to thank and congratulate all of the Premier dealers who took the time to participate along with special recognition to our top three winners.”
Participating retailers used Pioneer’s most advanced audio components designed for producing excellent sound quality. Each vehicle had the following Premier branded products;
(1) DEH-P800PRS - Single CD player for unprecedented music playback
(1) PRS-A900 – State-of-the-art 4-channel reference amplifier
(1) PRS-D1200SPL - Class D mono amplifier intended for generating extreme power
(1) TS-C720PRS - 6-3/4-inch component speakers produce detailed mid and high frequencies
(2) TS-W3001D4 - 12-inch Pro Series subwoofers deliver extremely low and accurate bass
Dealers were required to install the supplied components into their choice of demo vehicle within a six-week time period. The vehicles were gathered in San Diego at Pioneer’s Mobile Business Group’s annual Road Show where the IASCA Pro Class criteria were used to judge the vehicles. Three certified judges, Will Adcock, Moe Sabourin and Jason Gay, spent an entire day scrutinizing over each vehicle to come to the conclusion of best overall sound quality and installation and awarding the prestigious first place trophy.