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dB Drag Racing

Posted by michael on from the highway-to-the-danger-zone dept.

Exedore writes "For a paltry $80,000 outlay, you too can fight back against the punk kids blasting gangsta rap from their Honda Civics. Enter the strange (and rather loud) world of dB Drag Racing and join a small group of dedicated competitors in their quest for the loudest car sound system possible. The numbers: 130,000 watts output, 177dB, 10,000 lbs. of equipment (including the vehicle and all the sound insulation needed to protect those nearby). It might not be quite up to Disaster Area standards, but it's not far off."

47 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. Crank It Up by The+Dobber · · Score: 4, Funny


    I Wanna hear Britney Spears wail !!

    1. Re:Crank It Up by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

      I have a better idea. How about we but Brittney Spears inside one of these cars and see if we can set a new world record by pumping it up to 250 dB for a few minutes?

      That's probably loud enough to pulverize bone, but I expect elastic silicone would survive intact.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  2. Sounds like... by sleepingsquirrel · · Score: 4, Funny

    *Sounds* like they need some melamine ceiling tiles.

  3. Insulation? by sburnett · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Protect those nearby"?? Isn't the whole point of these things to annoy the hell out everyone in a 10 mile radius?

    1. Re:Insulation? by PetWolverine · · Score: 5, Funny

      Annoy, yes, but you don't necessarily want to kill them.

      --
      I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
  4. Check out my new weapon of choice by Pandion · · Score: 5, Funny

    I choose to fight back with an EMP :P

    1. Re:Check out my new weapon of choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Nah... I'd prefer a Herf Gun

      Capable of "stalling cars at a distance"...

      perfect

    2. Re:Check out my new weapon of choice by Jerf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can not tell you the number of times I fantasized about that while living in dorms, and not sleeping at 1am because someone needs to hear their rap at 90 dB.

      To anyone who puts other people through that... try thinking about the fact that you're being a real jackass. I once had a roommate who could sleep right through that without being disturbed, but there are quite a few of us on the opposite end of the spectrum, too, who can't help but be annoyed at least, and made physically ill (headaches, nausea a couple times) by your crap. I truly wish this was just whining and I could choose not to be affected that way, because believe me, I would in a heartbeat, but it's not a choice.

      (Of course, in my experience, the kind of person who may be reading this site may be proud of their speaker set but aren't the ones blasting it five or six hours a day, week in, week out, any time of day or night. But still, think about your actions and please consider others.)

      Oh, and a hint to anyone about to move to college, especially a larger one: Every dorm administrator thinks their facilities are quiet, and will say so if you ask. This is because they live in air-conditioned offices as far away from the students as possible (possibly in another building), come in at 9am (when the students are all sleeping), and go home at 5pm (about two hours before the party really starts). They also have absolutely no interest in actually working to make the facilities quieter, even if they explicitly advertise it as a feature. If you are as bothered by this as I am (perhaps 1 or 2%), seriously consider moving *way* off campus. I now work at the University I went to, and a 20 minute drive was far enough away. (Note Michigan State University is huge; you can probably live closer to smaller ones.)

  5. oooh by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Funny

    My sound system is loud enough to cause me physical injuries! Hooray!

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:oooh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have permanent hearing loss in my left ear due to a dual 500w Urban amp setup (yeah, cheap, but I was in HS at the time) with two Dr. Crankenstein subs.

      It's really not funny.

    2. Re:oooh by little_fluffy_clouds · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Every year I go to the Summernats held in Canberra, Australia. In 2001 I took a nice picture:

      Summernats Sound Off Entrant

      The interesting thing is here that he has his windscreen strapped on, due to the extreme volume shifting the air in the cabin enough to dislodge it.

      --
      What were the skies like when you were young?
    3. Re:oooh by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 4, Interesting
      You laugh, but the SNCF (French National Railroads) have trouble recruiting new train engineers (drivers, for you UK types). Their medical standards are so stringent that they have a hard time finding kids with unimpaired hearing, thanks to all those loud discos.

      Even worse, whenever a kid shows up for the medical wearing a walkman, he is automatically rejected...

  6. So what kind of stickers... by writertype · · Score: 5, Funny

    do you need to win a dB drag race?

    1. Re:So what kind of stickers... by mc_wilson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Did you not see 2 Fast 2 Furious? Stickers arn't enough anymore! You need ground lighting!

      --
      Aston Games
    2. Re:So what kind of stickers... by Jad+LaFields · · Score: 3, Funny

      I still stand by my belief that the makers of that movie missed out on a great naming possibility:

      The Faster and the Furiouser

      --
      [SIG] It's like putting a moose in the blender -- a recipe for disaster!
  7. The problem is... by GeckoFood · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...it's a single frequency sound, not music. That said, it still sounds better than that crap coming from the car next to you at the stoplight...

    --
    Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
  8. Hah by MC68040 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those guy's don't stand a chance against my overclocked athlon, that thing sounds like a jet engine, and I mean it, it can even hum tunes if you adjust the fans real fast or with an automatic controller. Promise ;).

    http://funstuff.digital-bless.com/

  9. little known fact by csimicah · · Score: 5, Interesting

    These guys have to be starting to bump into limiting returns... the maximmum possible dB in free air is 194 IIRC. I wonder if it would be legal to pressurize the vehicle to achieve higher max dB's...

    1. Re:little known fact by csimicah · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think they're up to 177, but your point still stands... 17 more dB is a long way to go.

      To clarify the first post, 194 dB is what you get when your sound pressure wave goes from atmospheric (14.7 psi) down to the lowest possible pressure (0 psi). Think about that... the speaker cones are actually fighting to pull a vacuum inside the vehicle. Not exactly something the speakers in your living room have to deal with!

      You definitely wouldn't want to be sitting in there... I think your eardrums would be woggling back and forth quite a bit. Uhhh... once.

    2. Re:little known fact by coyote-san · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That reminds me of a Discover(?) or Scientific American magazine article on materials processing with sound. Hundreds, or was it thousands, of dB. I remember them commenting that the sound so intense it would set your hair on fire... but you wouldn't notice since your flesh would be liquified.

      This has absolutely nothing to do with the topic, of course, other than the wonderful mental image of what it would do to somebody trying to impress the neighborhood with their sound system.

      --
      For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
    3. Re:little known fact by ndinsil · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's nothing, I've got a car that can make 1.21 Gigawatts! Can't get it up past 88 mph for some reason, though.

      Sorry, had to do it.

  10. Yeah, thats super. We all need more of this. by Bowie+J.+Poag · · Score: 4, Interesting


    Why doesn't someone build/sell a small EMP weapons? You know, enough to reboot anything electronic CD player/radio within 20 feet?

    Hell, i'd camp out at the store the night before to buy one of those.

    --
    Bowie J. Poag

    1. Re:Yeah, thats super. We all need more of this. by Dr+Reducto · · Score: 5, Informative

      Go to www.4hv.org, go to the buy and sell thread, and ask someone if they will sell you a HERF unit, and tell them what you need it for.

    2. Re:Yeah, thats super. We all need more of this. by mingot · · Score: 5, Insightful


      Wait a second... Is this the same slashdot that got so pissed off when the sentator from Utah thought it would be a good idea to destroy file traders computers?

  11. I love the punk kids.... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I still have my stereo in my car from the 80's when I did the SPL scene...

    I absolutely love having some wannabe pull up with his sky-hook wing and blasting ICP and trying to look cool... when I look at them, put in ear plugs and Blast them hard with either whiney country or something else that they would find horribly obnoxious... (Pointer sisters works great!)

    I produce a tiny 112DbI but then I have only 1000 watts in 11 year old amps and rockford fosgate speakers in that convertable... but I completely drown out the stereo they are listening to in their car.

    you CANT beat a custom 7th order isobarik subwoofer box.... the off the shelf junk is just that.... 100% junk.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  12. Sympathetic vibration is fun. by mikeophile · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've always wanted to see if one of those boomboxes on wheels would shake itself to bits if it were to play the right frequency of infrasound.

    1. Re:Sympathetic vibration is fun. by el-spectre · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not in the same league of course, but you might be amused...

      I used to work retail, and with our surround sound system display, I had 2 400W subs running... on top of the particleboard shelving that effectively formed a HUGE reverb chamber... I'd crank up 'enter sandman' and watch 'em walk (and eventually fall of the display).

      I had to stop cuz the neighboring store kept bitching that I was knocking merchandise off the shelf..

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
  13. Interesting... but pointless by fname · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I read this article earlier today, and it just struck me as pointless. I guess there are other competitions which are even more contrived, and maybe I just don't "get it." I suppose anything that keeps the youngins off the street and out of trouble is good.

    But honestly, how can it be a car stereo system when the car can't even move by itself! And given that you can't even listen to these things without: a) killing yourself, b) going deaf, c) being real far away, d) turning the volume way down or e) insulating it to lessen the sound; it just doesn't jibe.

    I guess it's the thrill of competition, but there have gotta be more intersting engineering challenges than this.

  14. More targets.... by PaulK · · Score: 4, Funny

    For my modified radar gun.

    It's amazing how many speakers blow when mosfets overload. Quality sound. :)

    1. Re:More targets.... by PaulK · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If I'm not mistaken, the US Army has developed a method of using sound for crowd control.

      I really don't care to think of what would happen if a persons resonant frequency was "accidentally" broadcast.

      As for the radar, back when I was in the navy, we used to light up our master chief's vw bug as it came down the road.... sputter...sputter...sputter...

      I'm grateful that we had a rather limited radar capability, (ssbn), so as to not actually HURT the man.

    2. Re:More targets.... by Pravada · · Score: 3, Funny

      I remember reading in Car and Driver once that the fighter jockeys out in Colorado would seek out cars likely to have radar detectors and light them up with their ground-acquisition radar.

      You can imagine what happens to a Valentine One when it's being painted by an F-16...

      --
      --- On the other hand, you have five fingers.
    3. Re:More targets.... by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 5, Funny
      Your bowels start to resonate and you lose all control.

      The technical term is "the brown noise". :-)

      --
      "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
    4. Re:More targets.... by Jerf · · Score: 5, Informative

      The sound control works on a mixture of sheer volume and psychological effects; strictly speaking it's not a directly physical effect.

      I really don't care to think of what would happen if a persons resonant frequency was "accidentally" broadcast.

      Only in Star Trek does everything have a resonant frequency. "People" do not have resonant frequencies; we are too soft and too squishy. In order to have a resonant frequency there must be some kind of resonance, which arises because the waves (whatever they are) are sharply and cleanly reflected, and can reinforce each other. When they are mushed up, they cease to resonate and you get more normal, mundane effects.

      Certain parts of the body, mostly bone, can have a resonant frequency, but everybody's will be different. In fact, if you try, you can probably locate your jawbone's resonant frequency. Every once in a long while (on the order of once every couple of years), something will manage to hit one of my bone's resonant frequencies loud enough to be very unpleasent, generally construction equipment. Even so, my bones didn't crumble for various reasons, including the fact that even bones don't have very good resonant frequencies, and it's embedded in a soft goo.

      So you can't simply broadcast some magical noise and watch the crowd dissolve. Of course you could kill them with pure power; an explosion's concussion can do that. But that isn't really "sound" in the traditional sense (no real periodicity, just one burst, maybe two or three significant oscillations (for nuclear-sized blasts), and that's it; the essense of "sound" is the wave nature).

      Star Trek really promotes some bad science here; really strong resonance, strong enough to hurt things, is not an every-day, everywhere-you-look phenomenon. Simple observation will confirm this fact; despite the wide variety of noise in the modern world, things conspicuously fail to blow themselves to smithereens because something was hit by its resonant frequency. It's the exception rather then the rule. You need a very regular structure that's also very hard, which doesn't happen much in nature. The reason we see any significant effects at all arises from our tendency to build regular and hard structures, like Tacoma Narrows or your shower (a rectangle box lines with tiles? Show me something like that in nature!).

      A similar answer to this message's grandparent: You can pulverize some things with sound, but mostly just hard things. The technology is pretty simple and if it's easy or useful, it's already being used in industry somewhere for something. You don't sound used as a pulverizing weapon because it's useless for that purpose. Generally, if you're trying to pulverize something it's easier to just hit it (not being sarcastic), but I've seen some exceptions (and even that is just "loosening" things with sound, it's sound plus "conventional" pressure and some rotation that all comes together to do the drilling).

  15. Show of hands... by goliard · · Score: 5, Funny


    Who all looked at the subject and thought, "Gee, I wonder how postgresql does against Oracle?"

    OK, and who all thought, "How do you get a db into a dress??"

    --
    -*- Any technology indistinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced -*-
  16. Misread headline by Faust7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    dB drag racing

    Boy, did I ever read that wrong:

    "Aaaaand they're off!! It's DB2 in the lead with Oracle11i gaining on its heels and SQL Server a few furlongs back..."`

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
  17. $80,000? by Anand_S · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dodge Caravan represent!

  18. And then.. by nolife · · Score: 4, Funny

    After the SPL thing wears off for them, they move into the world of PC video cards and CPU coooling systems..

    --
    Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
  19. Re:Noice cancellation by McAddress · · Score: 4, Funny

    You have to coat your apartment in ceiling tiles. Never mind that you won't be able to see out your windows, and that it will probably get pretty hot in there. But hey, there are tradeoffs in life.

  20. +1 Informative??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    did the SPL scene...

    ...his sky-hook wing and blasting ICP...

    ...a tiny 112DbI...

    a custom 7th order isobarik subwoofer box

    How is this informative? I can't understand half of what you're saying!

  21. The KLF and Sonic Weaponry... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Jimmy Cauty aka Rockman Rock of the techno act The KLF allegedly had an interesting mobile sound system, courtesy of the British Army. From the KLF FAQ:

    Q: What's Jimmy's sonic weapon?

    A: Jimmy purchased two Saracen armoured vehicles at a scrap yard for ukp 4,000 and found equipment in them which he thought could have been used for sonic warfare. He has tried to assemble the acoustic gun from information he found on the Internet. Installing huge amplifiers and special speakers to cope with the very low frequencies cost him tens of thousands of pounds.

    The 25,000-watt sonic gun can project sound for around 7 miles, and Jimmy annoyed his Devon neighbours by testing it on Midsummer's Day, 1996. Jimmy said: "I moved to Devon six months ago for a bit of a rest and this is a project I am taking an interest in. I do not see it as music or art." He said that he aimed the gun away from homes and it seemed to have no effect on sheep.

    The Melody Maker said: "He was testing his two Audio Weapon Systems in a field near his new home. 'He alerted people to the fact that he was doing this by setting off some military flares. Then he
    tested his Audio Weapons System for an hour for a very select group of scientists and friends. The Audio Weapons System is not designed to kill people." ... [Cauty] first tested it at a Wire gig on Hungerford Bridge in May. ...
    In January, Panasonic [ the "Finnish conceptual techno nutters"-NME] borrowed one of the Audio Weapons Systems for tests on how sonic waves affect the human body at Brick Lane in London. ... A fax from Mr. Smith, the Head Of Commercial Exploitation at Advanced Acoustic Armaments, was sent to The Maker. It read : "The test took place to establish the parameters of the new vehicle solo and in tandem with its sister model, SS 9000K+L. The test featured new software generated for our latest commercial client, EXP LTD, and is described by Mr. Cauty as featuring 'the ultimate battle between sound and commerce ending in the death of all musicians and their ascension to rock-n-roll heaven or hell as befits them.' Yesterday we received communication with ex-Government employees who, in the Sixties, worked on audio weapon development with an offer of help and some ex-classified equipment. We regret any such death or damage that has resulted from our tests, but there are casualties in every war. The Triple A Formation Attack Ensemble will perform 'Foghorns Of The Northern Hemisphere' as part of an educational programmed supporting our research shortly."

    Most of this is probably scam, but Cauty has recorded an album of sonic waves for Paul Smith's Blast First label under the name AAA. The album is in the hands of lawyers who are trying to clear some of the samples used on it, and has yet to be released (07/96). It appears to be a Cauty solo project.

    More recently, Jimmy teamed up with new Asian-techno group, Black Star Liner for a _happening_ in a field on Dartmoor. Jimmy chartered a 'chopper to take BSL and assorted journos out to Dartmoor, where he intended to remix the Halaal Rock track in his tank. Apparently, BSL bumped into Cauty on London's South Bank, while he was driving about in his tank, he got hold of their album, and said that he wanted to work with them. Anyway, the chopper was grounded by severe fog, so everyone was put on a convey of buses. All the journos were given _orange_ jackets to wear. They eventually arrived at a field full of military vehicles, and people in _yellow_ jackets, wearing goggles and ears protectors, doing some form of formation dancing. The journos were lead to the ir seats, and had large floodlights shone into their eyes, while the yellow jackets let of flares all around them.

    There were a load of goats skulls on sticks around the field, and a whole pile of fireworks let of towards the end of the mix, when Cauty was mixing in some Jimi Hendrix. However, this d

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  22. Old news, but still fun by qengho · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wired Magazine did an entertaining story about this a couple of years ago. My favorite part was the description of riding around West Palm Beach with one of the guys, setting off car alarms with sound pulses:

    Eager to crank up the system, he hands me a set of earplugs. "Let's hear some bump."

    I stick the plugs in, and he hits the burp button, a red switch on the center console. It's difficult to describe what happens next. The noise sounds like "BRRROONNNNKKKKK!" The vehicle vibrates like a jackhammer, but much lower and deeper. I feel air blowing the back of my hair, and my body starts to rise out of the seat. My pant legs are flapping. Everything in the car is rattling like crazy, and I realize my vision is blurred as my face pulls back taut against my skull. The only reaction left is to laugh out loud. I look over at Billy E gripping the steering wheel, squinting and grinning maniacally. He lets up on the button, and the chaos stops.

    "If you're drinking a Coke, your throat will shut." I'm amazed I can actually hear his voice. "It's like being underwater. Your ears don't ring; they're just muted. After a day, everything opens up again," he says.

  23. I want to destroy these shitty car stereos... by SysKoll · · Score: 3, Informative
    ...and fortunately, I am not the only one to think that a car stereo you can hear from within your home should be destroyed with extreme prejudice (preferable with the pricky driver).

    That's where David Shriner's Klingon zapper comes in. Wait until a traffic light, point and zap, I mean *ZZZZAPP*, and enjoy the silence. Plus, it destroys the electronic ignition of the prick's car, allowing you to drive away without fearing a pursuit. Now if only RadioShack carried them...

    I am going to market them to retirees and quiet-loving coders under the brand Rap-B-Gone (TM). Any takers?

    --

    --
    Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

  24. A discrepancy? by BladeMelbourne · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article: "every 10 dB increase equivalent to a doubling of perceived sound."

    In high school physics, I was taught that an increase of 3dB doubles the intensity/amplitude of the sound. My teacher concluded that +3dB would mean you hear a sound twice as loud. Then he went on to explain that P (power) is directly proportional to 1/d (the inverse of the distance squared).

    I know that the Richter scale works on the idea that an earthquake of 6 on the Richter scale is double the strength of one of 5 on the Richter scale.

    But have I been mislead? Is "perceived sound" different from amplitude/intensity? Did I really get staight 'A's in pyhsics?

    Mike

    Tux, myself and my lady regularly engage in 3somes - over the home network.

    1. Re:A discrepancy? by J-B0nd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Decibles are a measure of the perceived loudness of a sound. The way to convert from decibels to Watts/square meter is to use the following formula: dB = 10*log(Intensity/threshold of hearing) where the threshold of hearing is 1e-12 W/m^2 0 decibels is the threshold of hearing. 120 decibles is known as the threshold of pain. In short, decibels are the way of expressing the wide range of loudness that human hearing can pick up, while the intensity level (measured in W/m^2) is a measure of the amount of energy in the sound wave. And yes, for an increase of 10 decibels (or every bell), the intensity doubles.

    2. Re:A discrepancy? by melted · · Score: 4, Informative

      You've misunderstood your teacher. Doubling the output power will make an amplifier 3dB louder. In order to make it twice as loud you have to increase the power by the factor of 10.

    3. Re:A discrepancy? by asynchronous13 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not a discrepancy, but perhaps a slight mix-up.

      The article is correct: a 10dB increase is equivalent to doubling the perceived sound volume.

      The thing you are probably remembering is that you must double the input power to achieve a 3dB increase.

  25. Actually what I would like to see by melted · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..is a directed active noise cancellation system targeted specifically at those civics. Imagine the situation. You're at the intersection waiting for for a red light. Now this punk comes by with loud throbbing thump coming out of the windows of his car. Your car starts shaking. You press the right button, and active noise suppressor (kinda like the one they use on F-117s) supresses this motherf@ker's subwoofer and makes his entire sound system sound like a tin can until he closes the windows. Now that would be cool.