REGULATIONS: Muffling the Boom Cars

The hills are alive with the sound of music -- and folks from Florida to Hawaii have had just about enough of it. Many communities have decided that so-called boom cars, with their high-power and multispeaker stereo systems, pose an increasing threat to health, safety and sanity. The response: local laws tailored to tone down the boom-car boom.

In Fort Lauderdale the racket from a boom car is illegal if it can be heard beyond 50 ft. from the vehicle. In California a similar law went into effect Jan. 1. Car-stereo merchants seem to think customers will have just as much fun without pumping the volume to law-breaking -- not to mention earsplitting -- levels. Remarks Stephen Seidl of Fort Lauderdale's Speaker Warehouse: "We advise our clients not to abuse the power."