Listening to your car stereo responsibly
(don't ruin it for everyone!)
by Eddie Runner (NU5K)

It's my car stereo, I can play it as loud as I want to! Who cares what others think. Who cares if the little old ladies down the street don't like my loud music!  I don't give a shit!

Unfortunately, this is the attitude of too many car audio enthusiasts.  This has caused many cities to pass noise ordinances directed right at our hobby! 

Laws against your freedoms are being passed everyday!

The city of Chicago has recently passed an anti car stereo law that so far has resulted in over 6000 impounded vehicles and 2 million bucks in fines. Their law calls for instant confiscation of the vehicle even for first time offenders!

Outrageous you say?  Sure is, I agree! But folks pass laws against what they don't like. And you and I both know there are old fogies that don like our loud music!  If we could enjoy our music in our cars with out bothering the old Fogies we could listen and enjoy forever....

I don't want them to take away my freedoms,  I would rather listen to my car stereo system responsibly!  It's not such a big deal to turn the stereo down a bit when driving through a neighborhood, or late at night when you know it will bother people. 

Some folks think it is their right to bother people with their car stereos.

Let me tell you a story, when my stereo shop was in its early years and struggling, I had some complaints from some of the neighbors. They complained any time a customer with a booming car would drive up to the shop or drive away from the shop, it really wasn't us! It was folks coming and going.   I had one kid with 4 15s in his car that loves to sit in our parking lot and listen to BASS, when I asked him to keep it down cause the neighbors were complaining, he though he would wage war on the neighbors! He would go out of his way to cruise down the street the complaints were coming from at all hours of the day and night, even when we weren't open, his intention was to show it wasn't our shops fault....

The cops had to come by our shop many many times to investigate complaints, it came together with a meeting of the police chief, my shopping center management, me and the complaining neighbors, luckily I was able to charm all these folks into liking me, but we had to work very hard to overcome the problems. It could have put me out of business if things were much different.

Basically though, if enough folks complain, lawmakers love making laws and will be happy to pick on us!  Show a little responsibility and don't ruin it for the rest of us, TAKE IT EASY!