Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
When it comes to car audio, KICKER easily ranks highly among brands with the highest recognition rates among enthusiasts. Many brands go on to become the de facto name for an entire group of products. Kleenex is what almost everyone calls facial tissue. A Band-Aid is the common name for an adhesive bandage. To Xerox something is to make a photocopy. For decades, car audio Read more
We’re back again with the next subwoofer in our series about understanding subwoofer quality. That pawn shop woofer from the last article was a great starting point for evaluating woofer quality. The bass heads who think 6.5-inch PA speakers can play down to 80 Hz could learn a lot from it and the Understanding Speaker Quality article on the Skar FSX65-4 midrange. We are going Read more
One thing common to every car audio subwoofer enclosure is that they need to connect to the subwoofer amplifier. Most subwoofer enclosures include a terminal cup or something similar to facilitate easy connection to the subwoofers. Let’s look at subwoofer enclosure speaker wire connection options. Guess What? Ohm’s Law If you’re serious about car audio, Ohm’s law should be Read more
Our first subject in this series of articles about understanding subwoofer quality is a low-cost 10-inch driver from a local electronics parts store. This manufacturer markets this transducer as a “full range” speaker that “looks and sounds great” and not a subwoofer. We’ll start by measuring the Thiele/Small parameters of the driver, then break it in to see if things change Read more
If we could send just one message to car audio enthusiasts, it would be to stop talking about wattage ratings. These numbers are irrelevant and often misleading in the context of quality, performance and value. Leave the reference to watts out if you want to sound intelligent when discussing car audio upgrades. What Are Watts? The SI Unit watt is used to measure power. One Read more
Undoubtedly, you’ve heard the term GPS. It’s not uncommon for consumers to refer to navigation software like Waze, Google Maps, Apple Maps or a portable navigation device from Garmin or TomTom as a GPS. Unfortunately, giving these solutions the GPS title is incorrect. Let’s look at GPS, how it works, and how similar technologies are evolving. What Is GPS? The Global Read more
Has the touchscreen of your car radio started to look hazy? Is it more than five years old? We were staring at the display in one of our employees’ vehicles and realized it looked horrible. We started wondering if it might be possible to repair or rejuvenate the screen. Let’s see what we came up with. Car Radio Touchscreen Technology The most popular interface for multimedia Read more
The concept of how car audio amplifiers distribute power to multiple speakers connected to the same channel seems simple. A little math with Ohm’s law and looking at the amplifier’s specifications should tell the tale, right? Yes and no. Things get more complicated when crossovers are involved. Don’t fret; we’re here to make everything easy to understand. Let’s dive in! What Read more
What is a custom car audio subwoofer enclosure? Does it need to be wrapped in leather or vinyl? Should it be made with fiberglass? Does it need acrylic windows? Is LED lighting a necessity? The short answer is no to all of these questions. Let’s delve into what makes a subwoofer enclosure custom and why it’s the best way to upgrade the bass in your car audio system. Subwoofer Read more
