WakeWorld - Epic Sound system makes New York Times

Thats funny: Shawn dosent even have that in is boat anymore. He has thoes ID subs and custom grills for sale in the for sale section. here is the artical: AY GILBERTSON, 43, of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., recently paid Cartronics, a local customizing shop, $1,000 to install a satellite radio, four speakers, a subwoofer and a 400-watt amplifier in his vehicle. This was after he had spent $7,000, buying it used and outfitting it for off-road desert driving. And for showing off at Nascar races. Mr. Gilbertson's vehicle is a golf cart. Driven to ever-more-extreme heights by shows like MTV's "Pimp My Ride" and TLC's "Overhaulin'," the car customization fad is catching on with people who want to upgrade other toys: boats, motorcycles, golf carts, even heavy construction vehicles. Take Ken Mellick, a 57-year-old Orlando, Fla., resident who recently invested $30,000 in his Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle Electra Glide. After buying the bike, a top-of-the-line, custom-built model, for $32,000, Mr. Mellick upgraded the engine, increasing the horsepower from 90 to about 115. He installed a six-speed transmission, put chrome every place he could and added bigger custom wheels with low-profile tires. He also hired Ultimate Audio in Orlando to install a satellite radio unit and to upgrade the sound system so it could be heard above the road noise. The finishing touch: a screen to display GPS maps and DVD movies. Ultimate built a new windshield to accommodate the six-inch monitor, which retracts when not in use. Mr. Mellick said that he watches movies only when he's parked. And then there's the heavy metal. In Lake Havasu City, Cartronics installed a $500 sound system in the cab of an earth-mover used for digging swimming pools. The operator of the earth-mover wanted to listen to tunes while he worked, Kenny Osman, the owner of Cartronics, said. The spillover from extreme car customization to bike, boat and golf cart customization isn't surprising, said Lance Ealey, head of the automotive practice at Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based market research company. "There almost seems to be a human need to make something distinctly your own." he said. It's largely a male phenomenon, customizers and manufacturers said. "Most women find it to be a complete waste of money," said Fred Lynch, director of marketing and advertising for Arc Audio, a speaker and component manufacturer in Modesto, Calif. For Mr. Mellick, the add-ons for his Harley have meant a more comfortable and more entertaining ride, but also lots of attention, especially at big rallies like the one held each August in Sturgis, S.D. Boaters have been adding big sound to their rigs for at least the last five or six years, said Imran Ahmad, an Ultimate spokesman. Ultimate customizes 80 to 100 boats a year, from bass boats to airboats to sleek cigarettes, as long as they can be brought in on a trailer to one of the company's four Orlando-area shops. The pulsing heart for booming boat systems is Lake Havasu, a manmade body of water straddling the Arizona-California border. Floating parties choke the lake on most weekends, especially in an area dubbed the Sandbar, where Mardi Gras never ends, replete with men throwing beads at women à la "Girls Gone Wild." The men figure that bigger boats and louder stereos will attract more women, Mr. Osman said. Just having a flashy boat isn't enough anymore, Mr. Lynch of Arc Audio said. "They want people to hear them coming before they get there," he said. The need for water-borne sound and speed has been fueled by the growth of wakeboarding, an extreme sport in which riders attempt gravity-defying tricks while being towed behind a boat. Adrenaline-pumping music is de rigueur. Until the technology bubble burst a few years ago, boat installations were a very good business for Kustom Kar Audio of Santa Rosa, Calif., said its owner, Christopher Bishop. Although there has not been a return to the seemingly endless disposable income of the 1990's, Kustom Kar Audio still does a fair number of boats, he said. At the high end are two wakeboarding clients who spent close to $30,000 on audio upgrades (on boats that cost $50,000 to $60,000). On one, a 22-foot Toyota Epic, Kustom Kar replaced the bench seat in the stern with eight 12-inch subwoofers in a custom-built wood-and-fiberglass enclosure. The subwoofers are powered by two 1,000-watt and one 600-watt amplifier. Six six-inch coaxial speakers are sprinkled throughout, and a tower over the stern carries four eight-inch speakers. Two more amplifiers power those speakers, and three marine batteries provide juice. When cranked, the Epic's system "shakes the concrete at 200 feet" out from the boat ramp, Mr. Bishop said.