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Quinton Parhms Rebecca Agosta English 1101 November 18, 2013 System-Heads: Ethnography Essay I chose to do my essay on a discourse community that I consider myself to be deeply submerged in. Were not like most other discourse communities. You dont have to complete a certain number of tasks or pass a selection by members or anything like that. To become a System-Head all you have to do is simply enjoy loud music in your cars, revel in how the bass knocks your rear view mirrors around, and find amusement in how everyone around your car gives you dirty looks when you pull up quaking at a stop light. Sounds simple enough, but this discourse community definitely isnt for everyone. Especially when we start talking about how steep the prices on the tickets are if you happen to get caught by the police. Our purpose as a discourse community is pretty much to have fun, and to share our love of loud music and trunk rattling bass with the rest of society, even if they dont care for it. We know that playing our music loud is illegal and also frowned upon, but we relish in the dirty looks we receive because we know that even though others may not approve, we like it and that trumps all laws, and societal norms. As a group, we exchange knowledge daily and give each other different ideas and advice. If were particularly close to someone in the group and have their number, its not uncommon for us to call or text that person in hopes of them having the answer to our question. Most of the time, well go to Freemans Car Stereo and ask one of the workers there who are usually considered experts because of how long theyve been in the business. If we cant make it to

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Freemans Car Stereo and we cant reach another group member by phone, we can simply go to an online forum and ask a question there and a fellow System-Head is sure to respond in absolutely no time. This is a great option because you can usually get the same advice as you would from an expert because its a guaranteed fact that someone before you has had the same question that you have, and they can answer you purely out of remembering the answer they received. Just last week, I met up with an old friend from high school at our local Cookout, and he asked if I still had my system. I told him I did and when I told him what I had in my trunk he didnt believe me. Apparently, the subwoofer I have is around a $900.00 sub. I knew it was expensive but I had no idea that it was that high priced. He absolutely lost his mind when I told him I got it for the low from a friend of mines cousin. I told him that both of my door speakers went out so all I had in their sound wise was my 2 back speakers and 4 tweeters. I could see in his face that he didnt think it would sound good until I pulled my car around for him to see for himself. When I did I could see the look on his face change immediately. The power of my subwoofer surprised him and the pure quality and clearness my highs in my car are did too, even without the 2 door speakers. He gave me the props that I so rightly deserved and told me to wait until he gets his car right, so then we can have a real system competition. This just goes to show that even though we all like to think of ourselves as having the best sounding system in the group, were never dishonest to one another give each other bad advice. We are always truthful and encouraging to one another because the way we see it, if yours sounds better than mine now, Ive got to go improve mine so I can once again be the best. Its a discourse community built on respect, integrity, and pure competition. While as a group, we dont really have many slang terms, we have a lot of actual terms that outsiders wouldnt be able to distinguish from. We have subwoofers, amplifiers, ohms,

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watts, tweeters, and many more. All of which are a big part of a system in a big way. Without a subwoofer, there would be no bass. Without watts powering the amplifier, there would be no power going to the subwoofer and in turn, no bass. Everything is tied in together in a very intricate way to create what is commonly known as a system, so when even the smallest thing goes wrong, it can cause a huge problem. For this paper, I chose to interview two people. The first, Robert Palmer, store manager at Freemans Car Stereo. During the interview, he told me that hes been working on systems now for about 17 years. According to him, it takes about 2 weeks to learn how to correctly install a system in someones car. Of course depending on how experienced of a teacher you have at your disposal. Surprisingly enough, he said that hes never received a ticket for his system. This just goes to show that most System-Heads develop a very good habit of looking over their shoulders and staring into their side mirrors while at a stop light. He said that you can make good money in his line of work, depending on what one would call good money. It helps a lot if youre doing something you love on a daily basis though, so if the money isnt ideal, you still have that passion to fall back on and take enjoyment in. My last question for Robert was a personal one for me and my car. I asked him, If I get an 05 Acura TL and get 2 Fi BL 12s, would you run an amp to each sub or would you just run one amp to both subs? And if so, what kind of amp or amps should I get? He told me, if it was his car and he had the money, hed run one amp per sub with a single voice coil at 2 ohms. That way my subwoofer would receive the most possible power from my amp that it could take. He advised me to get another JX 1000 watt amplifier and he also said that Fi BL 12s are competition quality subwoofers so they should be able to handle the load from one amplifier to each subwoofer with no problems at all.

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Another System-Head that I decided to interview was my uncle, Alvin Scott, or Uncle Ace as he prefers to be called. During the course of the interview, he said that a System -Head could be categorized as anyone who likes loud music and trunk rattling bass. Hes seen System Heads from just about every race driving down the road with their trunks shaking and heads nodding to the sound of their preferred music in his day. He says that we as a group are typically frowned upon by society and seen as a nuisance. In societys eyes, we cause problems like headaches, disrespect, and annoyance. The way he sees it though, loud music is his way of drowning out all of the bullshit of society and focusing on what makes him happy. In his words, while Im riding in my car, I am at peace. The artifact I chose to focus on was online forums and message boards. Its a very common way for us as a group to give each other advice. All you have to do is go to either Google or Yahoo Answers and type in a question. From there, you can see how many people have had the same question you have and use their advice to make your decision. Most people will try to boost their credibility so theyll tell you what theyre running in t heir cars just to show you that they know what theyre talking about. I like to look and see what they have in their cars and see if my car would be louder than theirs or not. Like I said, everythings a competition with us. This is also a good way for novices to get a good hold on the lingo of our group and also soak in some good information. With us, its very easy to tell the novices from the experts and the insiders from the outsiders. When walking into Freemans shop, the novices/outsiders usually walk around and check out all of the different things that are available to them. The experts/insiders like me, walk in and start talking to all of the people they know and walk straight to what were looking for because we know exactly where it is and usuall y around how much its going to cost us. When I

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walked into Freemans to do my research and interview, the workers there knew me by name and the first thing they asked was, Hows your new amp treating you? Thats not a conversation that they could have with just anyone who comes strolling through their doors. Well, I hope this essay has been able to help you see things from the perspective of a System-Head and assist you in understanding the methods to our madness. As I have shown you, were a friendly bunch, just competitive as hell when it comes to the things that we have put so much time and money in and cherish the most. Out of everything Ive shared about my Discourse Community, I hope youve embraced one aspect. So if youre sitting at a stop ligh t and you can feel the bass coming from the car next to you. Dont roll your window down and curse them out, just think about what my uncle said and know that at that moment in time, the System-Head next to you is at peace.

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Works Cited Palmer, Robert. Personal Interview. Nov 8 2013. Scott, Alvin. Personal Interview. Nov 8 2013.

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