I’ve personally been involved with moving a couple of large companies to new locations/buildings over the last 15 years and out of all of them I’d have to say this move would have to be the most time consuming of the lot. Also I’d say it was the most exciting move as it wasn’t just moving a lot of stock and calling it a day, it was moving ABTEC into its own building and setting up the two sides of the business (Workshop & Retail) separately with their own needs & wants. Plans on moving to a bigger/better location had been talked...
It’s not very often I get to write about something turning twenty, let alone a company that started from the humble beginnings of one man’s idea of turning his job/passion of car audio in a life long career. Being ABTEC’s twentieth year in business I thought it was such a great milestone for not only Ashley ‘MAD BASS’ Burrell but for ABTEC as a whole so I just had to write something in celebration! Since Ashley wouldn’t let me use a real photo of him and Darryl I borrowed the one below and ‘adjusted it a touch’. When Ashley started ABTEC in NZ...
As this year has been moving on it feels as the dB Drag Events have been approaching so quickly it hasn’t given everybody the time to test and tune but this could mean that I have finally have gotten old or maybe I just need to pay more attention. The turn out so far has been been quite impressive with a lot of new-comers joining in on the fun, this to me is an important apart of the game & without all these new faces there cannot be growth in the sport! As we turned up to the gates at...
Over the last year ABTEC1 has gone through a few transformations, when I got my grubby hands on it the Pajero it had one DD-9512-D2 facing forward & four DD-SW6.5’s facing the rear door. After that it went through a series of set-ups including four DD-512-D4’s all the way up to running a DD-Z12-D1 & DD-Z18-D1 at different stages. This blog isn’t about the different set-up’s we have run as that would be novel on the product list alone, but about the build of its NEW and final set-up of 4 DD-515-D4’s in a wall. Walling ABTEC1 had been a discussion...
If you are looking for an entry level bargain basement CD player, you have come to the wrong place here. One of the latest editions to the Sony stable is the feature packed mid priced MEX GS600BT Smart-phone Integration With more and more manufacturers jumping on-board with smart-phone connectivity and integration it was only natural that Sony would also jump in head first and supply not only iPhone integration but ALSO Android integration via the iPhone and Androids “Sony App Remote”. The Sony App Remote opens up a new level of interactivity between the GS600BT and your chosen Smart-phone, not only can...
Let the brilliant double DIN 6.1″ touch screen of the Sony XAV-64BT display entertains and informs you with an easy-to-use, advanced response interface sure to please. Pop in a DVD and turn your car into a mobile movie theatre keeping everyone quieted down on long road trips. Quickly connect, charge and control your iPod, iPhone or music player via front USB 1-wire input. Gesture command and on-screen touch buttons make everything easier to control and separate audio and video power supply circuits provide added clarity. Connect your iPhone or iPod Touch via the optional RC-202IPV cable to playback video and audio...
Best standmounter £400-£800, Awards 2013. Simply brilliant Tested at £800 Our Verdict: 5 Stars Best standmounter £400-£800, Awards 2013. Simply brilliant For: Transparency, impressive resolution excellent bass for size fine build and finish Against: Demanding of partnering equipment In our experience, Anniversary products tend to be either high-end mega-money statements to show just what the company is capable of, or distinctly retro to show where it started. KEF’s new LS50 is neither. The marketing blurb goes on about connections to the fabled BBC LS3/5a mini monitor (which used KEF drive units), but the fact is that there’s little technical substance to link the...
As the dB Drag Season has come back around it was finally time to test the 10″ x 4 Sub-Woofer Box that we got the 150.1dB with the entry level 10″ Sony’s. We had fitted the Digital Designs DD-510-D4 Sub-Woofers almost four to five months prior to this test and had only run them in on light music. From what I could tell they sounded quite good even though they were tuned higher to my personal preference since it is a ‘Burp’ box but in saying that the high tune suits Darryl’s musical taste to a tee. Since we had...
It has been a long time coming that New Zealand would begin to be recognized once again around the world in the arena of dB Drags and SPL competition, That time has come! (“Terminator” 1985 by Wayne Harris {USA}) Over the past few years a die hard, yet small band of people have gathered together to compete for their respective classes, and strive to carve out a name for both themselves and the scene as a whole. While time goes on, faces change, and audio evolves, yet one thing remains, there will always be the “passion for the beast” that is SPL....
After doing the SPL tests with the four Digital Designs DD-512-D4’s it was brought to my attention by Ashley ‘MAD BASS’ Burrell that we have not yet tested two of them for a comparison. This got the brain ticking over and after a long conversation (Ask anyone that knows us, Ashley and I can talk!) with Ashley the decision was made to run with the same design that was netting us results with the four DD-512-D4’s, but this time with only half the box. As I do I setup the car the way I always do before testing, checking and double checking...
