Joey Knapp of Pinnacle Autosound Now A JL Audio MAX Certified Tuner

This post has been taken from a social media post sharing the personal experience of Joey Knapp through the MAX Certified training and testing process

Audio Tuning Roots

Long ago, while writing for Mobile Electronics Magazine, I created a series on tuning audio systems. My plan for the series was based on my understanding of vehicle tuning at that point in my life. I lived in California and worked with my friend Bing Xu at the newly expanded Simplicity In Sound. Probably 90 percent of the cars we were building had active systems, with amplifier channels to power each speaker and a DSP to tune it all to its’ maximum potential. We were also involved with the local car audio competition scene, and I made friends with several top competitors. So when it came time to put together the tuning series, I reached out to a number of these people and asked them to contribute. See, for me at the time, tuning was a mixture of measurement and some sort of acoustic alchemy. I had been privy to several tips and tricks from competitors and thought the information must be valid because they were successful competing. Only some of the people I reached out to were interested in helping with the article. One industry acquaintance I reached out to was interested, though. Andy Wehmeyer, formerly from Harmann, had just started his company Audiofrog, and agreed to help with the series. When I told him my plans, he scoffed at some of my ideas. At the time, I wasn’t sure why, but I now know it was because I was leaning on too much of the mysticism of tuning and not putting weight in the data. That stayed in the back of my mind for years.

Pinnacle Autosound Formed

Let’s jump ahead a few more years, and I now live in Florida and own Pinnacle Autosound. The shop started small, and we were doing basic audio systems with a little bit of fabrication. Any tuning I was doing was a hodgepodge of things I picked up in California; the part I felt most comfortable with was using an RTA to correct equalization. A few more years later, JL Audio released its MAX Measurement System. In February of 2022, I placed my order for one. My shop was still small but growing, and I knew that this purchase, while somewhat expensive, would not pay huge dividends. I hoped it would push me to learn more about tuning and break through some of the barriers that confused me in the past. This box was supposed to provide enough measurement tools and power to comprehensively examine the interactions with audio and the vehicle.
Once JL Audio released the MAX they began to produce videos on its use. Previously, they had been making videos on the fundamentals of sound and concepts used in tuning. Looking at it now, those were preparations for the MAX release. The MAX videos were great, and I watched them all. I tried to practice with the MAX, but some concepts were still foreign to me. I was able to make use of the MAX for basic signal analysis and tuning, but I knew I would need more help to move forward with it.

JL Audio MAX Certification Class

Help for my quest came again from JL Audio. In 2023, they announced that they would be hosting MAX Certification Training Classes at their Arizona complex. This was what I knew I needed. After a failed attempt at trying to make one of the classes, I was able to make the class in March of 2024. The training was INTENSE. I felt like I was being stretched and pulled, and on top of the anxiety of travel and strange surroundings, it was quite a bit to take in. The JL Audio guys at the training were incredible. Steve Turrisi, Rob Haynes, and Matt Mergenthal put on the best training I have ever been to. They were able to foster an open learning environment that really helped me in the process. I like to ask many questions; they were all taken well by the staff, and I never felt like a dummy for asking. Everyone was there to learn and better themselves, and it really was a magical experience. Magical in a good sense, not like a tuning is magic sense. No magic involved in the learning, though, just lots of data analysis. The training was a mixture of class time and hands-on research and explanation. I didn’t leave feeling I had mastered the MAX, but I had the tools and a strong enough foundation to learn more.
The premise of the MAX Certification Training is that you will go to the training, get home, practice, practice, practice, and then take a test on both signal analysis and vehicle tuning. If competency is displayed, you will become MAX Certified. I failed at my part for the first two months I got home. We were busy at the shop, and I had about a month and a half of straight fabrication projects that kept me in the woodshop and on the laser for most of every day. During that time, I took two refresher sessions with the JL guys, so I would know what to expect when I took the test. I finally caught up with the fabrication work and began practicing more with the MAX and asking MANY more questions. Matt Mergenthal has an unbelievable amount of patience. I asked him question after question. The best part about Matt is that when you ask him a question, he doesn’t give you an answer. He leads you to discover it for yourself. Matt’s encouragement to trust myself and guide me to the answer was invaluable.

MAX Certification Testing

I found out sometime in July that they wanted to finish all the testing for the certification by the end of that month. So, I scheduled my test for the last possible day! 🙂 It was rough. The test consists of you logging into a remote MAX rig and working through both signal analysis of an OEM radio and system tuning of a real car. All the while, Steve, Rob, and Matt are watching your every click. Oh, and the test is also TIMED! After getting stuck on some tricky parts, I had to hurry through the end of my acoustic tuning portion. This is where the extra practice I did really paid off. Being comfortable with the system tuning process JL outlined allowed me to move quickly and accurately through the rest of the test.
I finished with a few seconds left of my 90 minutes. After a bit of a delay, I was told that I had PASSED! What came next really shows the concern and desire by the JL team for the growth of the people under their tutelage. Matt took the time to go over the whole test with me. He pointed out the things I did well and helped me see the areas I could have done better. They were really there to make sure I was successful.
At this point, I look at my journey as just starting. I now have a fundamental knowledge of how to use the powerful tool I bought and I can move into an even deeper understanding of vehicle acoustics and signal analysis.

I hope this post provides a glimpse into just one of the reasons I love what I do, and one of the things I think makes Pinnacle Autosound special. I was talking with an old friend the other day and the subject of shopping local came up. I shared my philosophy with him: I feel that if I am going to ask someone to shop local, my services need to be as good or better than something they could find somewhere else. My shop tries to live up to that every day. Currently there are only 38 JL Audio MAX Certified tuners in the world.  Pinnacle Autosound is happy to say we have one of them!