Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
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
We aren’t sure where or when things went wrong with the basshead crowd, but there’s a serious misunderstanding about how to build a loud stereo system. We’ve lost track of how many of these vehicles we’ve heard that sound utterly atrocious. No, we aren’t talking about the fact there’s 30 or 40 dB too much bass. That’s fine, given the goals. The issue is how horrific the midbass Read more
Over the past few years, I’ve been fortunate to review the T4652-S and T3652-S Power Series component sets from Rockford Fosgate. The company’s thorough understanding of how speakers work led them to include technologies that allowed these speakers to outperform so-called audiophile products from some of the top boutique brands. I have a set of the more affordable Power Series Read more
Welcome to our third Question of the Month article. This time, let’s look at the answer to “What speakers should I use for a specific music type?” The theory that speaker selection is related to a specific kind of music is nothing new. While there are some considerations in system calibration, a good speaker is a good speaker. Allow us to explain. The Mechanics of Music Music Read more
Speaker power ratings are among the most confusing and misleading specifications in the car audio industry. Once you understand the process used to test speaker power handling, you’ll quickly realize that the information doesn’t always translate to information that’s helpful in choosing an amplifier. Let’s dive into the science behind choosing the best amplifier for your car Read more
I was recently rewatching the YouTube video from GoldenSound about how he tested the quality of the MQA file format by uploading several test tones and part of a song to Tidal. His results showed without any shadow of a doubt that the MQA format didn’t meet many of the claims made by the company. This article isn’t about MQA, thankfully. I’ve often wondered about the quality Read more
This fourth article in the BestCarAudio.com series on understanding subwoofer quality focuses on a classic infinite baffle 10-inch subwoofer from Oz Audio. As seems to happen frequently, there is yet again a unique back-story on this subwoofer. Let’s dig in! While in college, I worked part-time for an independent big-box home and car audio retailer, Base Electronics, until Read more
We’re back with our third article in the BestCarAudio.com series about understanding subwoofer quality. This time, we have a 10-inch Clarion Signature Series SSW1001 subwoofer from around 2006 or 2007. There’s a bit of a back story about this driver, so get comfy. I worked at Clarion Canada Inc. from 2004 to 2017. During that time, I had roles in technical support, product 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
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
Let’s take a look at amplifier, speaker and subwoofer quality. This time, it won’t be a series of lab measurements that evaluate distortion, frequency response or power. It won’t even include listening evaluations or comments on shiny products. Many years ago, Rockford Fosgate ran a magazine advertisement showing a picture of a Punch 75 HD amplifier and Bruce. Bruce is Read more
Last year, we published a series of articles that compared several 6.5-inch woofers. Those articles were intended to show the linearity and distortion differences between entry-level products and those with features that improve performance and sound quality. The results were exactly as we expected: The better drivers played louder with less distortion. We figured it was about Read more
