Car Stereo Systems

You have got a nice pearled paint job. You have got your 18’ sized chrome mags. You’ve got an internal job that appears like a dream. But most of that will be superficial if you don’t have a very good good car stereo system inside your ride.

An excellent car stereo system is really a wonder to experience, just like a poorly produced car stereo system is such a pity to look at. The price is a big issue, but not all expensive hardware perform well if hooked up messily, or if connected with unsuited hardware. Additionally it is subjective, just like a number of us find black cars more appealing than other color cars. If you like your car stereo system more than every other in exactly the same vehicle, then you’ve the best.

If you like some other car stereo system more than yours in identical vehicle, then that one is better. Only you can actually decide which is best for you. For a car stereo system to be a good or great, it must first meet or exceed an individual's expectations.

The type of car also plays a major part in what type of car stereo system you might want to build. For some people, after only being in a handful of cars their ears know the inherent qualities of this unique environment. Most of what we hear inside a vehicle is a recording of the original artist in any given setting, usually in two channel stereo which sometimes be playing in a very different environment with the listeners placed in awkward listening positions relative to the location of speakers. An excellent car stereo system is made with the understanding of acoustics, basic electronics, and the various products which are to be used.

A good suggestion is to achieve references to match to your car audio system or any other and experience it live in as many different environments as possible. One of the better ways to achieve this is to go to expos’ and conventions. As you hop from exhibit to exhibit you will straight away notice the difference in sound characteristics of every setup. You will see that some car stereo systems that you like over others, if not a favourite and that is the way to pick a cheap car stereo system that you like. Also request specs, they’ll gladly give it to you.

The benefits of aftermarket speakers are: they've a larger frequency response (more music coming through the car stereo speakers), more power handling capabilities, they'll brighten your highs and increase your auto audio system bass. There are two forms of car speakers available: the dual cone and the two way. A dual cone has a tiny paper cone built into a bigger paper cone.

Amplifiers are the backbone of the car stereo system. Weak amplifiers damage good car stereo speakers, not the other way around. Amplifiers provides musical power and contributes greatly towards elimination of distortion and also the upgrade of sound clarity. The dimensions of the amplifiers are going to be proportionate to the amount of power you want. You'll be able to tell a superb power amp by turning the auto stereo system above half volume and still hearing clear amplification. Bear in mind how the more power you might have the higher control you've got over your system.

A good car stereo system is something to work for. It could actually bring satisfaction to you, the owner, and to people who will witness it. It may even raise the quality and value of the car in case you want to resell it.

Pretty self-explanatory isn’t it? It’s a stereo system in a car, you say. Whoa, hold your horses, it’s not that simple. Although some people like to put home stereos in their cars and vans (out of dire need for some sounds), sometimes it just doesn’t work. Yeah, maybe before it could’ve worked just fine, all you needed was radio and a cassette player (or 8 tracks, for the inner dinosaur in you) so sure, lug those big box speakers into the back seat and you’ll be blaring down the highway. But nowadays there are things like cd players and mp3 players and your popup LCD panels and all that techie knickknack you’d think they’d like to build a home theater system right smack on the console of your van. If you don’t know anything about these things but would like to have some sounds in your car anyway, here are some things to know about a car stereo.

As mentioned above, at first units and speakers from home audio systems and professional markets were just simply installed into vehicles. However, they were not well suited to the extremes of temperature and vibration which are a normal part of the environment of an automobile. Car stereo enthusiasts were not satisfied with the sound quality of regular car sound systems, and with the advent of the CD player, they really had to start modifying some of these home stereos in order to work well in a car environment and voila!, now we have the modern car stereo.   

If you have a new car, first hand bought, say from about 90 to present, chances are you already have a “factory” car stereo in your car. It means the car manufacturer already included a car stereo system in your car, unless specified in the car model but most often this is the case. Some car manufacturers make their own car stereos, like BMW which includes a pretty decent car stereo package head unit and speakers. It is a standard which comes with all their cars (which isn’t surprising considering that BMW is included in the league of “luxury car manufacturers”). Or like Mercedes Benz or Volkswagen, they use car stereo systems from a German audio manufacturer called Blaupunkt.

A standard car stereo (also called a head unit) usually includes an auto-reverse tape deck, a cd player and sometimes the optional changer – a device which automatically changes the cd in play. On newer car models, the car stereo can also play mp3s and other digital audo file types like WMA and AAC, whether on a cd or a memory device which can be hooked up to the head unit.

The car stereo head unit is connected to several speakers. Older car models usually just had one speaker mounted underneath the dashboard, pointing through perforations towards the front windshield. The standard for car stereo nowadays is a pair of “tweeters” (used to bring out high treble) on the driver side/front passenger side dashboard, a pair of normal “mid” speakers on both doors, sometimes even the backseat passeger doors if it’s a large car and larger speakers capable of bringing out low ends at the back protion of the backseats.

Your car stereo is probably ok as it is, as car manufacturers ensure that the audio products that come with their cars can handle most dirver’s listening demands. But if you think that what you have isn’t enough, you can always CUSTOMIZE.

Want to save some money? Ever wonder if you could do a car stereo installation yourself? Yes, you can do it yourself! Go ahead, spend that money on your hardware! Don’t spend it on labor. Besides, doing a car stereo installation yourself can be a very rewarding experience, not to mention you can learn a lot from it too. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing your “creation” in action, running smoothly and perfectly.

But be very careful, you really won’t want to damage your expensive hardware. Well, most car audio hardware are no-brainers to install, you’d find that most of the time the parts have specially shaped sockets and slots etc. and would only fit where it’s supposed to be installed. Still, it’s best to proceed methodically.

In a car stereo installation, you have to determine what kind of rig you’re going to put into your vehicle. If you’re a beginner, it’s best you do a car stereo installation if it’s just a simple system. You may want to leave the complicated stuff to the professionals, like installing delicate equipment like LCD panels, motorized parts etc. especially if it requires the creation of custom panels and such.

Head units are one of the easiest to do in a car stereo installation. Fortunately, most units follow the same size standards (DIN). In many cars, once the factory radio is removed the aftermarket radio will fit in the hole. In many other cars, a kit is needed if the factory hole is too big, or not deep enough. In some cases the dash has to be cut.  Any car stereo store should have kits required for installation.

There are two types of mounting in a car stereo installation. ISO mounting is when the radio can be screwed to existing factory radio brackets, such as in most Japanese cars. Ring mounting is when an aftermarket radio comes with a metal ring that gets mounted to the factory radio hole or aftermarket kit via bendable tabs. In many cars, dash and trim rings have to be filed to enlarge the radio hole. Once the ring is installed, the radio slides in and is held by snaps. In most cases, special tools are required to remove the radio.

Speakers are very critical in a car stereo installation. No matter how expensive your speakers are, if they are not properly installed, the sound will not be up to par.

In a simple car stereo installation, you’ll probably be using speakers that fit into a factory location. Just make sure there are no gaps or holes. Sometimes building a wood or fiberglass baffle helps reduce holes and gives you much better sound. But always be careful when using power tools around speakers. Car stereo installation warranties usually don't cover holes in speakers.

For unconventional speaker locations, sometimes metal has to be cut. You might want to leave this to the professionals, tools like plasma cutters and pneumatics drills are required. But if you’re going to insist, a pair of metal snips (left and right cut) will do.

A car stereo installation has to put up with vibrations and other noise sources in its environment. Even though it is impossible to eliminate these completely, there are products that will greatly decrease the noise and rattling, particularly on non-luxury cars. Liners, sprays and adhesive strips and even carpeting applied onto the panels can make a world of difference.