Mini “Unofficial” EMMA Sound Off Report

It was cold, no it was bloody cold as the mini “unofficial” EMMA event kicked off early on the very overcast Sunday morning at Audio Evolution in Sunninghill, Johannesburg. However, the weather didn’t seem to have any ill effects on the spirits of the competitors and spectators who braved the harsh conditions to give it their all in the lanes.

The day catered for both the ESPL and Sound Quality competitions and the event got started at 9:00 with competitor registration. I got there a little late, at 9:15, and everything had already been set up and line of eager competitors was starting to form at the registration table. Organisation like this is a rare site at competitions these days and I was very impressed with the efficiency in which registration was handled. The organisers also offered pre-registration which helped tremendously to speed up registration process on the morning of the event.

A quick welcome and competitor’s briefing kicked off the event and the sound and installation judges paired off to sink their teeth into the vehicles. By this time a fairly large amount of entrants had shown up with more and more joining during the course of the morning seeing the day packed with a fairly large amount of vehicles. More than 17 SQ vehicles alone attended the competition with new and seasoned competitors all showing up to try out this exciting new format.

Installation judging saw both SPL and SQ cars came under scrutiny of the strict judges. These guys are excellent in what they do and no part of any of the vehicles was left uninspected. The core of the installation judging is to ensure that the installation is done safely and without compromising the usability and safety of the vehicle and point are awarded for overall installation integrity as well as creativity in the execution of the installation. Once the competitors completed their presentations the judges did their own inspections and finished off with a valuable feedback session to each of the competitor. These feedback sessions are there to discuss the technical faults on the vehicle and suggestions are made on how this can be improved on. Every competitor walked away with great input and im sure most, if not all, will score top marks for install at the next show.

Some might think the judging was too strict or that their car received unfair comments and scores but I can assure you that the main concern of  the judges were to ensure that both your vehicle and the installation is safe. I saw some really scary wiring setups in some of the cars ranging from power cables wrapped around battery terminals to no grommets being used in firewalls where power cables enter the car. I can go on and on about how dangerous that is but that would take away from awesome the day was.

The sound quality competition judging was equally strict and, unlike last weekend, the full EMMA rules came into play. Competitors were judged on both the tonal accuracy of the vehicles as well as how well the vehicle reproduces the recording environment as the sound engineer originally intended. With the judging of the vehicle done competitors were given a short but comprehensive feedback session. During this session the judges gave excellent feedback on each vehicle and provided thorough information on potential improvements on each of the vehicles. Every competitor on the day walked away with valuable tips and information on how to come back even stronger at the next competition.

The day also featured an ESPL competition for the bass junkies and the lanes were packed with guys fighting for the highest reading. Even some of the SQ guys pulled up for the fun of it and the meter readings showed that SQ cars can also pound when the opportunity presents itself. Some impressive numbers showed up on the monitor and everybody had a great time.

The EMMA team behind the back-office did an excellent job of checking and capturing the results after every judging session. Not only did this ensure accurate results at the end of the day but also enabled them to have prize-giving within 45 minutes of the last car being judged. Great job guys. Efficiency like this is almost unheard of at competitions. You guys have an excellent system in place.

Prize giving was held at the end of the day and some very nice certificates were awarded to all competitors who placed top 3 in their respective classes. Congratulations to all. You guys worked really hard to achieve this. Full results will be posted up on the site as soon as it is made available.

A big thank you to the team from Audio Evolution for not only providing a great venue, but also tasty food and ice-cold drinks to competitors and spectators throughout the day.

I would also like to personally thank all the competitors and spectators who braved the cold weather and helped to make this one of the best shows I have ever been to. An amazing atmosphere was present all day long.

Last but not least I great big thanks to all the guys at EMMA. Without the organisational skills and excellent judging this show would not have been possible. Also a big thanks to Anthony who walked around all day long from competitor to competitor making sure everybody knew what was going on and to check up that everybody was having a great time.

At the end of the day everybody went home happy with a great time had by all.  Can’t wait to see you guys again on the 1st of August for the official launch!

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