Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
We recently witnessed a discussion on social media in which someone said that two 16 AWG wires could do the same work as a single 8 AWG wire. Unfortunately, the American Wire Gauge standard for stranded conductors isn’t intuitive in helping determine how multiple conductors can pass current. So let’s get geeky and do the math on how much current different-sized or multiple Read more
We’re back with the second of four articles discussing the listening experience of truly high-end car audio systems. In our first article, we discussed the importance of accurate frequency response. This second article will discuss the soundstage, provide a definition for it and explain why it's crucial to recreating a recording accurately. What Is a Car Audio Soundstage? We Read more
Every speaker, be it a tweeter, midrange driver, woofer or subwoofer, will have a sensitivity rating. Sensitivity ratings attempt to describe how much sound a speaker will produce for a given amount of power from an amplifier. There’s a common misconception that more efficiency is better. Longtime readers of BestCarAudio.com won’t be surprised to learn that multiple standards Read more
Shopping for a new car, pickup truck or SUV is impossible without being bombarded with information about ADAS technology. Advanced driver assistance systems are designed to help prevent accidents. These can be as simple as backup cameras and parking sensors or as advanced as lane keep assist and forward collision prevention systems. The latter can partially take control of your Read more
In the 1980s, most car stereo shops had charts in the install bays that showed what size power wire should be used with different amplifiers. Some charts were based on current and cable length, while others suggested amplifier power ratings and lengths. In all cases, an essential piece of information was missing. Today, we’ll sort that out. Let’s consider why we need large Read more
We were recently talking with the owner of a motorcycle audio manufacturer. He mentioned that consumers seem to struggle with the concept that relatively small motorcycle speakers cannot produce large amounts of bass. In this context, a small speaker is something you’d find in the fairing or saddlebag on a motorcycle. By comparison, a large speaker would be an 8- or 10-inch Read more
High-quality speakers and proper installation are crucial when upgrading your car's audio system. The ease with which your installer can reliably integrate tweeters into your vehicle will determine a portion of the labor cost. Will the technician need to fabricate a mounting bracket? Will they need to create a little pod? Is there even enough hardware provided to ensure a Read more
A while back, we looked at how different subwoofer locations affected system performance in a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. A client of ours asked if that information was relevant to a sedan. So, let’s take a cool little enclosure and see what happens when we try several different sedan subwoofer locations. The Test Subject Our goal in this experiment is to evaluate how the location Read more
We’ve talked about how speaker power handling is tested and the importance of delivering accurate test data. In the context of car audio speakers, we’ve explained that the physical size of the voice coil is a crucial element in determining how much power a speaker can handle. In this article, we’ve put together a simple, practical demonstration to show the thermal limits of a Read more
