If you are like most people, you may think that your local car stereo shop specializes in custom audio systems, speaker replacements and, if they have marketed themselves well, remote car starter installations. The reality is, many mobile enhancement retailers offer a variety of automotive enhancement services that extend well beyond audio system sales and […]

When it comes to creating an audio system that sounds amazing, incorporating a digital signal processor into the system gives your installer the tools required to compensate for the majority of the limitations that vehicles impose. To maximize the benefit, a digital signal processor system design needs to take the features and benefits of a […]

Just as the invention of the transistor eliminated the need for vacuum tubes, advances in technology allow us to create new and unique entertainment solutions with more and more features. We thought it would be fun to take a quick look at a few important car audio technologies throughout history. Transistors The first car radios […]

When you think of the stereotypical car audio system, most people imagine compact cars with large subwoofers in the trunk being driven around late at night, rattling the china in the cupboard and being annoying. While many stereotypical bassheads are still out there giving the industry a bad reputation, a much larger group of enthusiasts […]

Beyond the features and design of a subwoofer, no single factor affects the performance of a subwoofer system more than car audio subwoofer enclosures and their design. There are several popular enclosure design options available, each with their own unique set of benefits and drawbacks. The most popular enclosures are an acoustic suspension (sealed) and […]

No single upgrade to an audio system offers a larger improvement in sound quality than the addition of a car audio subwoofer. Adding a subwoofer not only improves the low-frequency performance of your sound system, it can also improve the clarity of the entire system and enhance the volume level capabilities of the smaller speakers […]

When it comes to designing car audio systems, retailers need to take into account how their clients want their music to sound. Everyone seems to have different preferences for the amount of bass or high-frequency content. These tonal balance preferences can change based on the choice of music and the listener’s mood. In most cases, […]

In our Bang for your Buck series, we talk about product features and component designs that offer increased value and performance. We’ve discussed source units and speakers, and now it’s time to take a deep look into amplifiers and what separates one amplifier from another. Years ago, a prominent mobile audio enthusiast claimed that all […]

Shopping for a new car audio amplifier is tricky. There are thousands of amplifiers available from at least a hundred car audio companies. Picking the right amp for your system requires balancing an expectation of performance with the cost and features of the amp in question. In this issue of Bang for Your Buck, we […]