Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
Over the years, there have been several car audio design fads. If you go back far enough, using tweed and cloth on trim panels, subwoofer enclosures and amp racks was all the rage. We had a period where painted fiberglass blobs and volcanoes were cool. There was an acrylic phase where amps and subs were mounted on back-lit clear panels. We are just exiting the stage of layered Read more
Today, we're discussing a common social media question: Why does the subwoofer I installed in my new car sound bad? Many have described these bass upgrades as inconsistent in volume level or as playing only a narrow range of frequencies. This article will explain the two most common issues that cause this unwanted behavior. Factory Radio Equalization Unlike what you would Read more
The final article in our series on understanding high-end car audio systems moves away from the need for accurate system design, integration, configuration and calibration to discuss audio product quality. If you’ve been a long-time reader of the articles at BestCarAudio.com, you know that we put a significant emphasis on identifying car audio products that perform well. Read more
When it comes to upgrading your vehicle’s lighting, a clear understanding of lumens, lux and candela is not just beneficial, it’s crucial. Just like some less scrupulous car audio amplifier, speaker and subwoofer manufacturers, automotive lighting manufacturers often manipulate specifications. This is evident when you browse through platforms like Amazon, AliExpress or Temu, Read more
Amplifiers for boats, motorcycles or side-by-sides are plentiful, but few can match the performance and reliability of the M5-Series from Rockford Fosgate. Our previous encounter with the M5-1000X1 left us in awe, and now we have the four-channel M5-800X4 Class-AD full-range amplifier in our lab for a comprehensive Test Drive Review. Let’s delve into its unique features and see Read more
The car audio question of the month for May is: What factor is most important in determining car audio system performance? Do the system design, equipment, integration, installation or calibration determine how accurate the system will sound? As with many questions related to audio systems, there’s no single answer. Let’s look at each aspect of a car audio installation to see Read more
Can you imagine being able to say you’ve only had a single job in your entire career? Most of us are lucky to stay in a single industry for our careers. Sarah Russell, the owner of Atlantic Car Stereo in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, has been going to the same car stereo shop since she was two years old. Her dad, Scott, opened it in 1984 and sold it to her in 2020. The Atlantic Car Read more
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
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
