Sunday November 2, 2003
A Ford F-250 SPL (Sound Pressure Level) truck equipped with nine Pioneer 12-inch subwoofers reached an incredibly noisy 173.3 Decibels and set a world record in its category at the 2003 dB Drag Finals held earlier this week in Nashville.
Established SPL competitor Scott Owens used nine Premier TS-W5000SPL 12-inch
subwoofers in his 2002 Ford F-250 SPL truck to win in the Extreme 9+ category with 173.3 decibels, establish the SPL world record in the category with 172.2 decibels and defeat top SPL competitors in the five minute "death match" competition with an average decibel level of 166.8.
Even the most obsessive car-audio nut will be amazed at the engineering behind top level SPL competition vehicles like this one. Owens began developing the truck in May 2002, breaking it down to the frame for the construction of the subwoofer enclosure to hold nine Pioneer Premier TS-W5000SPL subwoofers. In order to withstand the enormous pressure produced in the truck, steel bars were used to reinforce the frame of the enclosure. The windshield was also replaced and reconstructed with 2-1/2-inch thick plexi-glass. Such is the weight of the doors that 1" x 2" aluminum hinges are needed to hold them in place and to prevent air leaks, crucial in competition, the air inside the truck is vacuum-sealed much like a bank vault.
The truck holds 36 amplifiers, 72 16-volt Turbo Start batteries and three Ohio Generator 285-amp alternators and produces 115,200 watts of power.