About 15 years ago, I met David Proulx, and with his help we turned my S10 and G6 into competition-worthy SPL builds. I ran Rockford Fosgate and Sundown amps, Pioneer and Audio Que subs, learned far more than I ever expected to know about electrical systems and dry-cell batteries, and had my own Purple Haze and Kinetik secondary batteries feeding the madness.
For the uninitiated, SPL stands for Sound Pressure Level. This wasn’t about whether the stereo sounded pretty — it was about how much actual air pressure your system could create inside the vehicle. A Term-LAB pressure sensor measured that output in decibels, and suddenly tiny changes to a box, port, frequency, amplifier setting or electrical system could mean gaining or losing a few precious tenths of a dB. Those tenths mattered. A lot. Dave dynomatted his Hyundai top to bottom only to gain a few dbs.Â
That meant plenty of testing: finding the frequency where your particular vehicle was loudest, changing things, reconning subs, metering again, and trying to squeeze just a little more pressure out in pursuit of that number on the meter!
What I remember most, though, is the people. Competing in Syracuse, Oswego and Massena introduced me to American competitors with their own SPL teams and guys running IASCA and MECA. Even though I was running a Rookie-class setup, they never treated my build like it wasn’t worth talking about. They shared ideas, answered questions, celebrated good numbers and welcomed me into the insanity.
It was loud, ridiculously technical, occasionally expensive and so much fun.
