PDA

View Full Version : CAASQ Rulez



Tonba
05-08-2006, 03:56 PM
++++
Greetings All.

Can anyone shed some light on the CAASQ rules for me please...I cant find them anywheres...:cry:

--Tonba
++++

97altera
05-08-2006, 04:12 PM
http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/content.php?contentID=44

Hope that helps.

Tonba
05-08-2006, 05:48 PM
++++
Greetings All.

Meh...thanks for trying though buddy...

Anyone know how the comps work? Tim??

--Tonba
++++

s_tim_ulate
05-08-2006, 06:20 PM
Here are last years rules, since then there have been some changes which are yet to be documented, this is still being reviewed and expected to be up by the end of this year in preparation for 2007 CAASQ

Tips:
Safety: Ensure ALL wiring is covered, especially the positive battery terminal. Fuse should be within 18 inches of the battery. And you need to be able to disconnect this within 30 seconds (no one will ask you to do this as long as it looks achievable) If your fuse requires an allen key then you need to mount one close to the fuse in the engine bay. Use cable ties for all your wiring around your battery as heat wont effect it.
Ensure your main power wire runs through a grommet in the firewall and that your gauge wire is suitable for the current draw from your amps.

Make sure you have a charged fire extinguisher within reach of the driver (judges will check to see if it is charged and suitable for automotive use) DONT use a YELLOW fire extinguisher as these are illegal and dangerous.

Make sure your extinguisher is securely mounted ( I mounted mine to the front drivers seat) You should be able to grab it and give it a firm shake and it shouldnt be loose.

Remotes: One point for your remote within reach of the driver (ontop of the centre console) one point for a remote that is attached to the steering wheel.

SQ specific: Seats should be all the way back for good path lengths. Rear speakers should be off as you want your stage in front of you.
Centre stage: should be down the middle of the car, not infront of you if you're the driver (as this results in a compressed left stage)
Will write up more when I get a chance

Note: Cost is $35 for all competitors now.

____________________________
Car Audio Australia Sound Quality, or [CAASQ], is a reproducable, fair, and unbiased judging format used to compare and measure a car audio system's ability to accurately reproduce audio as the original recording intended, plus provide valuable feedback to the competitor. Its design ensures consistency and an objective approach.

[CAASQ] was formed to provide a medium for competition after the demise of various formats previously unsuitable for the Australian market. [CAASQ] is supported by the largest car audio organisation in Australia, Car Audio Australia. In 2005, [CAASQ] is expanding to include New Zealand followingAustralia's success with the 2004 season.

[CAASQ]’s aim is to stimulate the industry and promote sales, including those products of a high end nature quite often found only in competition vehicles. [CAASQ] in return receives the support of industry members including distributor’s, manufacturers, retailers and of course the competitors and consumers.

[CAASQ]’s support and growth is largely attributable to the consistency of judging and results, which comes from highly motivated judges and a small, but efficient, team of organisers.

General Guidelines

These guidelines govern all classes unless specified otherwise.

<a> Competitors should observe safety precautions at all times. This includes not only their audio system and vehicle, but also their conduct at, and during, events, with particular attention to the maneouvering of vehicles.

<b> All equipment and components used in competition shall be of the intended use in a 'car audio' application by the manufacturer of the component, with the specific exception of 'equalisers' and electrical batteries.

<c> A suitable fire extinguisher MUST be installed and adequately fastened into the interior of the vehicle. It is not acceptable to borrow a fire extinguisher from another competitor.

- In the event of a fire extinguisher not being present the competitor may be given one verbal warning and be permitted to compete. At any future event, the competitor will be disqualified for not being in accordance with this rule.

NOTE - The fire extinguisher must be in service and charged (shown by the indicator)

<d> The vehicle's electrical system may not exceed 18V at any time and must not be powered from an external source whilst judging takes place.

<e> The vehicle engine will be momentarily started as part of the judging process. It is the responsibility of the competitor to ensure their electrical system is charged, and in the event of the 'engine on' judging process not being able to take place, the lowest possible score will be given for this component of judging.

<f> Competitors shall provide means for completely disabling their audio system main power supply within 30 seconds. This may include, for example, an appropriately sized fuse or circuit breaker.

NOTE - The appropriate fuse or circuit breaker must be located within 18” of the main power source (ie: battery).

It is satisfactory to fasten the appropriate tool for disabling power within a reachable area of the fuse or circuit breaker. The entire process of obtaining, or unsecuring the tool, and disabling power must be less than 30 seconds. This will be at the judges' discretion and:

At the judges' discretion, the competitor may be asked to demonstrate the ability to 'disable' at the conclusion of the vehicle being judged.

In the event the vehicle fails this crucial safety component, the lowest possible points shall be given, and a verbal warning issued. If the vehicle has not addressed this aspect satisfactorily prior to a future event the competitor may not be allowed to participate in the event.

<g> Competitors' cars must be road registered and display a current registration label on the windscreen.

<h> Depending on class, judges are positioned in both front seats of the vehicle. The competitor may not sit in the vehicle during the judging process unless asked to do so by judges, and in some cases a third judge may sit in the vehicle (rear) for training purposes.

Competitors may use any source unit(s) in their vehicle. However, provision must be made for a standard definition compact disc.

<i> The vehicle being entered must be the competitor's normal-use car. A competitor may upgrade or change their vehicle midway through a season without penalty 'within reason' and at the judges' discretion.

s_tim_ulate
05-08-2006, 06:21 PM
Class Overview

[CAASQ] has developed its own unique classing structure that ensures fair competition for all competitors. This classing structure caters for beginners, those with previous experience in competition, and those who work professionally in the industry.

The classes are Novice, Amateur and Pro, with subclasses based upon the extent of the vehicle's audio installation.

Novice, Amateur Street, Amateur Show, Pro Street, Pro Show

Class Definitions

Novice

The Novice class is newly introduced for 2005, designed for beginners and/or first time competitors. This class is restricted to competitors not working in, or affiliated with, the Mobile Electronics industry, and no sponsorship is permitted. Any vehicle with stickers or decals promoting a brand, product or retail outlet will be considered sponsorship.

- exception: a single sticker or decal no larger than 30cm wide by 20cm high on the rear window.

Novice class judging takes place from the driver’s seat of the vehicle only, and focuses soley on the system’s ability to accurately reproduce audio. No evaluation is given to the installation or show features, with the exception of safety considerations.

The competitor must not have achieved a result higher than and including 3rd place at three seperate Novice class events.

When one of the above points has been realised the competitor will be automatically promoted to an appropriate higher level class.

Any results obtained in the Novice class do not accrue points in the State Series. There are no championship or series awards for this class.

There are restrictions in Novice classes to ensure a fair and even introduction to sound quality competion.
• Equipment modifications are not permitted.
• The use of HLCD’s ('horns') are not permitted.
• The use of external DAC’s (digital analogue convertors) or processors are not permitted (except equalisers).
• External equalisers are permitted.
• Equipment and components must be commercially available in Australiaor New Zealand.
"Commercially available" means the product must be available for purchase within Australia or New Zealand from a retail outlet, or from a person acting as an official and authorized agent. This may be at the judges' discretion and if any doubt arises the judges may request to witness a receipt for the component in question.

Amateur

The Amateur classes are the most fiercely contested. These classes are restricted to competitors not working in, or affiliated with, the Mobile Electronics industry, and no sponsorship is permitted. Any vehicle with stickers or decals promoting a brand, product or retail outlet will be considered sponsorship.

- exception: a single sticker or decal no larger than 30cm wide by 20cm high on the rear window.

Novice class judging takes place from the driver’s seat of the vehicle only, and focuses soley on the system’s ability to accurately reproduce audio.
• Equipment modifications are not permitted.
• The use of HLCD’s ('horns') is permitted.
• DAC's (digital audio converters) not designed to directly interface with a head unit are not permitted.

Example: Alpine PXA-H700/H701 for use with Ai-Net head units, or Pioneer DEQ-P9 for use with DEX-P9R head unit would be allowed. Apogee or similar generic DAC’s are not permitted.
• External processors, crossovers and equalisers are permitted.
• Equipment and components must be commercially available in Australiaor New Zealand.
"Commercially available" means the product must be available for purchase within Australia or New Zealand from a retail outlet, or from a person acting as an official and authorized agent. This may be at the judges' discretion and if any doubt arises the judges may request to witness a receipt for the component in question.

Pro

Pro classes are designed for enthusiasts with a strong understanding of car audio, competitors who work in, or are affiliated with, the Mobile Electronics industry, or have received sponsorship in any form.

Judging of imaging and staging takes place from both front seats. Judging is also more critical in Pro class as judges expect workmanship and sound quality to be higher.

The use of external processors or DAC’s is permitted in this class provided no other guidelines are breached. The use of horns is also permitted in Pro class.

The use of equipment purchased overseas or deemed as not commercially available in Australiaor New Zealand is permitted in Pro class.

Street

These classes have no points awarded for installation or show features, and judging is based purely upon how accurately the system reproduces sound, with points-emphasis on how well the system reproduces all the frequencies in the sound spectrum (subbass, midbass, midrange, treble), and how well balanced they are (linearity).


Secondary is imaging and staging. Although this feature is important, points are allocated in such a way that if two or more cars image and stage similarly, the car with a superior sound spectrum and linearity will win.

Street Classes are highly contested, and it is the attention to detail in speaker installation and tuning that separates the winner from the rest. These classes are judged from only the driver's seat with the exception of Pro Class.

Show

Show classes focus not only on sound quality but also show and installation features. The points bias is structured in such a way that a knockout installation with average sound quality will not beat a great sounding but neat system.

Judging criteria for these classes is the same as Street classes plus take into account aspects like quality of workmanship, unique features, and consistent theme. For sound quality, these classes are judged from only the driver's seat with the exception of Pro Class.

Quality of workmanship often comes down to attention to detail and small things like gaps and joins being even, or vinyl and upholstery work without bubbles. Judges are looking for flawless workmanship.

This means a car with a carpet covered installation doesn't score as highly as a vinyl trimmed or a painted set up as these will require a lot more skill and craftsmanship. However, a poorly executed fibreglass installation may score lower if it has excessive flaws.

Some examples of unique features include a custom fan arrangement to cool amps, and extra points would be gained if it had any temperature sensing that automatically adjusted fan speed. It also includes aspects such as switches to turn amps, lighting or other electricals on and off. Being able to individually turn off amps can be a great aide to tuning, or allow you to turn off subs in certain situations. Unique features are only limited by your imagination and allow a way for competitors who are prepared to do more than just fit a system to gain points over more basic installs.

Consistent theme is judged on how well all the design elements of an install flow together. If a car’s interior has an installation of stealth or factory appearance but a show feature boot, the competitor may score higher than a full stealth system. As we are talking about show classes, any stealth system is at a disadvantage even though it may take equal or more work to get a stealth install to sound as good as a custom install, but a stealth system is often better suited to street classes. An installation that has design elements carried throughout the whole car will gain the higher score, as that’s what impresses both the spectating public and judges.

It can be as simple as colour coding trims and panels or as complex as using brand logos throughout the installation like embossed door panels and sub boxes.

s_tim_ulate
05-08-2006, 06:22 PM
Points Distribution

In order to stimulate competition the distribution of points for placings has been reduced for the 2005 season.

1st Place 5 Points
2nd Place 4 Points
3rd Place 3 Points
4th Place 2 Points
5th Place 1 Point

NOTE: Selected events may be promoted exclusively as 'Double Point' events.

State Series & National Championship

The 2005 [CAASQ] season will be run differently to 2004 with no National Series Leaderboard.

The 2005 season will consist of four different State Series only.

2005 [CAASQ] Victorian Series
2005 [CAASQ] New South Wales Series
2005 [CAASQ] Queensland Series
2005 [CAASQ] New Zealand Series

These individual series will run independently of each other. Any points accrued from placings in different State Series are accrued separately.

Example: If John Scott who lives in NSW competes in a local NSW event and finishes 2nd then he will accrue 4 points in the [CAASQ] NSW Series. If he then travels to VIC to compete in a local event and finished 1st, he will then accrue 5 points in the [CAASQ] VIC Series

This structure prevents competitors with a financial advantage traveling all over the country to compete at events and winning the series based on consistency alone, rather than the actual vehicle and competitor's ability.

Only competitors who are [CAASQ] Financial Members for the 2005 season will be eligible for places in the final series tally and invitational National Championship. Competitors' accrued points will be tallied throughout the season. Membership must be paid prior to 1st October 2005 to be eligible.

A competitor may compete in one or more series they choose.

All competitors are competing to be the State Champion in their chosen series of competition.

A National Championship event will be held in December 2005 which will be invitation-only to the top five competitors (based on accrued points) in each class in each series.

[CAASQ]Financial Membership

To ensure the future growth and success of [CAASQ], membership is encouraged. The revenue raised from membership will contribute to the associated costs of printing, advertising, promotion, trophies, equipment, and event costs for [CAASQ] competitions.

Membership for the 2005 season is valid until 31st December 2005.

Membership Fees

Competitor Membership $ 75.00 per season
Retailer Membership $ 150.00 per season -entitles store to host events

Financial Members also recieve a competitor card and number, priority entry to events of limited spaces and access to a members-only forum.

Individual Event Entry Fees

Entry fees for all events with the exception of the National Championship will utilise a sliding scale.

Novice Class Non-Member $30.00 Member $10.00
Amateur Classes Non-Member $45.00 Member $35.00
Pro Classes Non-Member $65.00 Member $55.00

All [CAASQ] events are based on pre-entry which, unless otherwise stated, deadlines the Wednesday prior to the event date. There is a late entrant penalty for ALL classes except Novice of $20.00

The entry fee includes GST and a Tax Invoice is available upon request.

Other Guidelines

<a> In the event of a tie in the final scores, the competitor with the highest score in the system accuracy component wins. If the result still remains a tie, the competitors will share the placing.

<b> Judges will only use the volume control, track seek, and possibly power on/off on the source unit when judging a competitor's car. Remote controls will be tested for functionality.

<c> Judges will not move seating positions, close sun visors or glove-boxes. Vehicles will be judged as they are left by the competitor.

<d> It is the competitor’s responsibility to ensure any remote controls are left out and viewable in the centre console area or on a seat.


Judging Software

The judging software used will be CD103 - My Disc (Sheffield Labs), and is available through the Car Audio Australia website, or small quantities may be available for purchase at events. Judging is not limited to this disc and [CAASQ] reserves the right to use any alternative discs.

Judges use a master disc at events and the competitor is not required to own this disc. It is suggested, however, that the competitor familiarise themselves with this disc due to its high recording quality and instructions that accompany the disc for sound quality evaluation.

The cost of this reference disc is AUS$35.00 inc GST

Judging Sheet

[CAASQ] reserves the right to make changes to the judging sheet during the season. A copy of the judging sheet will be given to each competitor after judging has taken place. It is the responsibility of the competitor to check their score tally. Any discrepancies should be brought to the attention of the Head Judge prior to the event completion. No further correspondence will be entered into after completion of event (defined by end of award presentation).

Peace

Tim

megatron
09-08-2006, 11:40 AM
Tim can you link a copy of the judging sheet to this thread

thanks

megatron
09-08-2006, 11:42 AM
also can you do a run down in lay-man terms on how to use "my disc"

i know there are instrucitons that come with it but i still dont know what im listening for

Righty
09-08-2006, 05:55 PM
Tim can you link a copy of the judging sheet to this thread

thanks

http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/content.php?contentID=44

Hope that helps.


also can you do a run down in lay-man terms on how to use "my disc"

i know there are instrucitons that come with it but i still dont know what im listening for
Hrmm, i'm no Pro, but after competing this year it is really, really, really hard to make it sound "right" best thing to do is adjust your system to what you think is right, then get feedback from a few different people and move on from there. It's a never ending process.

s_tim_ulate
10-09-2006, 05:13 PM
also can you do a run down in lay-man terms on how to use "my disc"

i know there are instrucitons that come with it but i still dont know what im listening for
Sorry MT this one slipped through the cracks,

Whilst they use my disc to judge, I dont like it that much in terms of revealing a system. There are some really nice tracks there and I know the disc fairly well, but I prefer the alpine disc "first encounters" as it is a bit rougher and a bit more bass heavy, so reveals weaknesses a bit more.

(And I spent a year tuning to that disc as well so i know it like the back of my hand.)

Keep in mind stage depth width and height.

Depth is a bit tricky, but width is basically how wide the stage is, at the a-pillars is good, some cars / tweeters dont quite get there. Outside the car is better, but takes time and a lot of tuning.

Height should be in the center of the windscreen in the center of the car. it is ok to have a bit of a downward slope at the edges if you are using kick mounted tweets, as this generally leads to better depth as well.

Quick ones to check for are the voice is in phase and out of phase track. In phase = nice and focussed and you shouldnt be able to hear the speakers at all - image comes from the center of the car.
Out of phase should sound like there are two sources, the speakers should become more apparent and the midbass should be a bit lacking. If your car does the opposite then you have a phase problem and need to flip the wires on a midbass (usually)

Left and right checks come in handy. = left and right speakers

In terms of linearity and frequency response play the tracks with the 1khz burst then the sweep of the frequency range. They are the early tracks.

They are all recorded at the same level so a 'flat' system should have all these sounding the same as the 1khz burst.
Thats not to say that a flat system is ideal.

If you ever meter your car you want to start with a frequency response that is loudest at 20hz (sub bass) and decreases linearly angle of around 15 degrees all the way to 20 khz.

Flat will never sound good though, so thats just a starting point. Our ears are sensitve 1khz-3khz so you may want to drop this area a tad, and add a bit of warmth by increasing the 300 hz mark. When I say increasing try not too boost too much with your eq. I dont use my EQ at all as I get by just using crossovers and changing the gains and installation methods.

I could talk all day, but the only way is to really get out and listen to some competitive cars with a disc you know well.

Peace

Tim