Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
When it comes to ensuring that your car audio amplifier is making the most power possible, nothing is more important than properly sized, high-quality power wire. Can an amplifier produce 2,000 watts of power if fed with 4 AWG wire? What factors affect the size and quality of wire needed for an audio system? There’s a lot of confusion around wiring, so let’s look at some Read more
One phrase that is repeated time and time again during the installation troubleshooting process is that an amplifier ground is “good” because there’s only 1 ohm of resistance. If you’re a fan of the laws of physics, hearing this phrase should be met with an instant wince or cringe. Everything related to designing, installing and calibrating car audio systems has a foundation in Read more
Unless you have formal education in how alternating current waveforms interact with capacitors and inductors, it’s not illogical to assume that passive crossovers waste power from your car audio amplifier. These passive devices reduce the amplifier’s power production rather than converting it into heat. Let’s bust this myth about passive crossovers wasting amplifier power. How Read more
While few of us want a wall of subwoofers in our daily driver, there’s no denying that a stereo system with solid bass reproduction is a lot of fun. We’ve looked at the importance of proper equalization when it comes to subwoofer systems in the past. So, what about the bass boost control that’s found on almost all car audio subwoofer amplifiers? Does it improve system Read more
The most important part of creating a high-end car audio system is having a high-quality, properly calibrated digital signal processor as part of the system. Of course, you could choose the best or most expensive speakers and have them installed in extravagant panels or pods. Still, the factory stereo in an entry-level SUV might sound more realistic without proper system Read more
Last week I offered three people advice on how the physics and science behind car audio concepts work. In all three cases, these people refused to accept my scientific explanations as fact and chose to argue with me. Baffling. Science Is Simple Seemingly unbeknownst to many car audio enthusiasts and amateur installers, the laws of physics are pretty set in stone when it comes Read more
When it comes to choosing a radio upgrade for your car or truck, you’ll find hundreds of options. At the bottom of the market are inexpensive radios of dubious reliability, with difficult-to-see displays and questionable performance. Then there are the name-brand products that go through years of design and months of testing to ensure that they do what you want, how you want Read more
Since I first reviewed an ARC Audio amplifier back in 2004, I knew there was something different about this company. It only took a few reviews to recognize the pattern, and frankly, I’ve been spoiled by every opportunity to audition one of their amps ever since. Call it clarity, transparency or neutrality; all of ARC Audio’s amps have offered as invisible a sonic signature as Read more
No other company in the mobile enhancement industry has invested as much effort into developing high-performance audio system upgrades for powersports vehicles as Rockford Fosgate. They have vehicle-specific solutions for popular Can-Am, Yamaha and Polaris vehicles. Each system is designed to be installed without significant modifications to deliver outstanding sound quality Read more
When it’s time to discuss complicated car audio concepts, it’s common for people to glaze over the important small factors and considerations. In the context of car audio amplifier preamp signals, everyone seems to get hung up on how much voltage a radio can produce or an amplifier can accept. What matters in terms of optimizing the performance of a car audio system’s Read more
Unless you’ve never visited the BestCarAudio.com magazine site, you’re probably familiar with the need for a high-quality digital signal processor in any modern car audio system. Proper level setting, bandwidth limitations, arrival time adjustment and equalization are paramount to creating an audio system that sounds realistic in a car, truck or SUV. It’s also essential for Read more
Almost every car audio amplifier on the market has at least one thing in common: a remote turn-on connection. The purpose of this connection is to tell the amplifier to turn on when you turn the radio on. For decades, there have been statements that your installer needs to add a relay to the output of a radio to turn on multiple amplifiers. Let’s look at what the amp remote Read more
