Loudest speaker on earth is totally NOT the loudest speaker on earth

Last week I reported on Wyle Laboratories' WAS-3000, calling it "the loudest speaker on earth." While none will challenge that 165dB is, indeed, loud enough to melt your face off and numerous current sources continue to list it as the loudest speaker in the world, I heard from a number of readers who claim otherwise. The real loudest speakers, they say, are being shown off in competitions where insane audio modders try to ratchet the sound up to even higher levels.

Oddly, it's difficult to determine exactly who's created the loudest rig in the world. The folks at Termpro show a group called Team SBA One having a setup that maxed out at 175.1dB back in 2002. (Scroll down to the Pro 2001+ section.) Or... a Popular Science story says that a German team hit 177.6dB that same year. And then there's Alan Dante, who can be seen hitting 181.1dB in this YouTube demonstration. Yeah, that'll blow your eardrums out.

The aforementioned Termpro is the biggest name in "auto sound competition," popularly known as dB drag racing. This year's "world finals" take place in October. The rules for competition are lengthy and complex. I also enjoyed the "dB Drag Racing Creed," which states that "I will never operate my system in a manner that will disturb those around me." Gotcha!

This arena is so rarified that it's virtually impossible to say with any authority who's built the loudest audio equipment at any given time, and the amount of squabbling over the world record must be intense, given all the rules and regulations surrounding these claims. All I ask is that you turn it down when you drive down my block.