If you want to compete seriously in IASCA, you will need to get the official IASCA competition CD. That CD and the liner notes contain invaluable information about how to set up your stereo to meet the expectations of the judges.

You also need a good ear and an idea of what to listen for. Best way to do that is to attend a competition, but since the IASCA season is pretty much over for the year, I don't see any events scheduled in the Minnesota area. If you go to the IASCA website (http://www.iasca.com/) you can check out their schedule. Assuming you do find a competition, ask the judges to point out to you one of the better sound quality cars. Trust me when I tell you that the owner of that car will be overjoyed to show off his stereo. Play the IASCA CD, and have him tell you the things that he thinks make his stereo better than the others on the various tracks. You'll learn a lot, both about what can be done with car audio, and what the judges expect to hear.

Don't try and make changes quickly. You have to set it up, live with it a few days, and then decide that "...needs more mid-bass and the treble is too bright" or some such. Make your changes, then live with it a few days more. When you've done this for about a year, you'll have a good sounding system, assuming that your speaker size, speaker location, and vehicle acoustics are suitable.

If you want to go completely off the deep end, to to a professional stereo shop where they have an RTA meter (Real Time Analysis) and play the pink noise track from the IASCA disk. You will see quite graphically where the deficiences in your stereo lie. But don't make the mistake of thinking that if you get perfect equalization (i.e., a straight line on the RTA) that you will have perfect sound. It will sound terrible. But any shop with an RTA will be able to advise you on what curve will sound best.

Good luck and good listening. Be sure and post a review of your system on the BBS when you get it running, and register it with http://www.empeg.mars.org/registry/ so we know how far along empeg is in the waiting queue!

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"