Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
Designing a subwoofer system for a car or SUV can be tricky. We’ve talked about the need for retailers to quantify a customer’s expectations while working within their budget. The shop designing the upgrade should also verify that the system will function reliably. Some components in this process include ensuring that there are enough subwoofers, a powerful enough amplifier and Read more
I bought my youngest son a small gardening trowel from the dollar store to use when he and I go metal detecting. The rod that connects the blade to the handle started to bend after being used six times. No, not six outings. Six attempts to dig small objects out of soft, damp dirt. As the lads on the Cleetus McFarland YouTube Channel say, "I’m an idiot!”Indeed, a stick would Read more
A few months back, I wrote a very detailed article that explained what happens when you push the output of an amplifier (or source unit) to the point that the signal clips. To be clear, and much to the dismay of many who think otherwise, there is NO DC component riding on the top of the waveform. What you see there is a large number of harmonics that produce the top of what is Read more
These days, it’s effectively impossible to replace the radio in many new cars and trucks. With display screens integrated into the dash and controls in the center console, there’s nowhere to mount a nice double-DIN multimedia receiver. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways to upgrade the audio system. A line output converter is the starting point, whether you’re adding a Read more
Picture this: You’ve just picked up a new car or truck from the dealer. They’ve washed it, given it a spritz with that lovely new car scent, put a big red bow on the hood or placed a basket of goodies in the trunk or cargo area. You’ve signed the papers, and you’re off for your first drive. For many of us, we’d drop by a family member’s or friend’s house to let them check out Read more
I’ve been a magazine guy for more than 35 years. I used to read four car audio and six car magazines every month. Sometimes there would be a few RC car or bicycling mags thrown in, depending on the season and my mood. All of this was even before I got into the magazine industry as a writer and started my career in car audio marketing. Being overly technical in my approach to Read more
If you’re into the SPL (sound pressure level) side of the car audio industry, you should be acutely aware of the need to deliver every amp of current and the most possible voltage to your amplifiers. The more power you can feed an amp, the more power it’s likely to be able to send to your subwoofers. We also know that every connection to a battery should have a protection Read more
Car audio enthusiasts will run across the term Q, Q factor or Quality factor when discussing car audio speakers, subwoofer enclosures or parametric equalizer configuration. The Q factor describes the damping characteristics of a resonant system. For speakers, proper cone control requires carefully calculated damping. When talking about equalizers, the Q of a filter describes Read more
Subwoofers. Yay for subwoofers! No upgrade to a car audio system will deliver a more noticeable improvement in performance and realism. Adding a properly designed subwoofer system to your car stereo is often one of the first upgrades we recommend. The challenge is finding a solution that will look and sound great while you make sense of myriad specifications that might not be Read more
