WOW!

After that great experience from St. Petersburg in 2003 we expected to have a hard Job to reach the same level like that fabulous event in 2004. But what happened was amazing. Such a big Car Audio Competition has never been held in the World and it broke all records. 21 Countries, 194 Contestants, 130 000 Visitors and a fantastic international Party with guests from 48 different nations on one Ship on the Danube.

The Finals began on Thursday with the arrival of most of the foreign competitiors in Budapest. We arranged a registration until 21:00 so that almost all cars could enter the Hall to be prepared for the judgement. In the evening the judge briefing was held at the Hotel and i had to inform the Judges from 15 Countries about the Details and the plan for the following days. On that point it was good to see that the more then one Year preparation for the event was made properly by the hungarian Partners. So the event begun at Friday morning 8:00 o´clock.The Hall was devided into 8 separate Departments which offered the opportunity to position the Cars according to their Category in a perfect way and without noise. It was easys to see for the Visitors in which class the Cars were competing. A surprise was the high amount of Competitors in the Pro Categories and there was a extreme hard fight with close results, but also in all other Categories the distance between the Cars was not really big. The judging was done without any protest and we finished properly at 19:00 in the evening. The later evening we spend together with Competitiors, Sponsors and Friends.

About the Saturday Competition is not so much to report because it was at least perfect except one Category where we had to judge four Cars in Installation on Sunday, but what came after the doors of the Hall were closed will be legendary in the future. 457 Guests made Party on a Ship located on the Danube and even the weather was great so that until midnight we could have "open Air" fun on the upper deck. The participants liked it very much and all Areas were crowded until 1 o´clock. The List of the Representatives from the Manufacturer Side was like the who is who in the Scene. We met all responsibles in the field from Pioneer, Clarion, Alpine, Focal, Scan Speak, Brax and Helix; Genesis, DLS, Rainbow, Ground Zero, Ciare, RES Audio, Harman Kardon, Kicker, PHD, Diabolo Audio, AIV and Select Products. Their will to use EMMA also as a Platform for communication between each other was not to ignore. Because of using a T-Shirt as Ticket all people on the ship had the same design which gave a great picture at all. The bad thing was that someone stole the Trophy for the best of Sound which was on the entrance of the Ship to be presented to the guests. If someone finds it please inform us immediately because the Winner Mr. Kolcsár Zoltán from Hungary would be happy to have it.

On Sunday the ESPL was made inside the Hall instead of using a open air area because that one was to far from the Hall. Also here some surprise was to see because calculated resuls didn´t come and so we have lucky Winners also here. The whole judging process was done until 16:00. The morning began with a Press conference where Peter and I gave the Dates about the Finals and the forecast for 2005 to the Journalists and Sponsors. Later on followed a meeting with the EMMA Association Members discussing some new Ideas and the Plan for next Season. After all that was done we startred the price giving Ceremony punctual 16:00 o´clock. We announced the new Supervisers for North America and South-east Asia, Gary Winfield and Roger Tan to the audience and thanked all the Team for the perfect Job done at the Event. Also Rezsö Soltesz, the responsible for the Exhibition thanked all guests. The resuts at least were surprising in some classes and as always lots of emotions were to see in the faces of the winners and that ones who came behind them. It took us almost two hours to give anyone the Certificate so that we finished the event at 6 o´clock, just like the plan was.

We have to thank some real great friends in the end. George and Lajos from HUMMA, Carel Wolf, the whole Back Office Team with Karola, Mirka and Katrin, of course the Chief Chris and also Olli and his wife for helping so much. Also Rezsö did a great Job and thanks for that.

As a resume we are looking back to a great event with lot´s of fun and a steady growing friendship which is unique in that size in the world. All of us should be proud that we can have hundrets of people together for days and even not anything looking like a conflict disturbs that great spirit. The development of EMMA is a success which nobody ever thought in 2000 at the founding conference buit it exists on all levels.

Thanx again and see you in Sinsheim 2005

Alex Klett