Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
The confusion around setting amplifier gains baffles a significant number of car audio enthusiasts. I can’t even count the number of systems I’ve heard that are plagued with tons of background noise or hiss when music isn’t playing. Unfortunately, those same people also seem to be pretty hard on their gear and have replaced many subwoofers, speakers and tweeters. So let’s have Read more
No doubt about it, the small CUV, or compact utility vehicle, has replaced the compact car on American roads as the entry-level vehicle of choice. VW has the Tiguan model, but they wanted to engineer something that came in smaller at a slightly better price point. The 2022 VW Taos does not disappoint. You’d be hard-pressed to see the exterior differences, but you can get a cute Read more
If you’ve been around the car audio industry for as long as I have, you know Rockford Fosgate started in 1973 with the introduction of its first car audio amplifier. Through the ’80s and ’90s, the brand grew at an exponential rate, adding subwoofers, speakers and more amplifiers that deliver fantastic performance to car audio fanatics who want their music clear and loud. The Read more
So, as a longtime car audio guy, I have peers and friends who cover every conceivable genre of car audio enthusiasm. I have friends who are installers, own and run stores, work at distributors and at manufacturers. I have tweaky friends that think high-end interconnects and low-efficiency wideband drivers are the way to go for sound quality. I also have a ton of friends who are Read more
In the fall of 2018, Focal introduced the latest generation of its Utopia speaker solutions at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Wayne Smedile from Paragon Sales & Marketing knew right away that their dealers needed to experience these new flagship drivers to appreciate their clarity and realism. So he ordered a 2018 Tesla Model X the next weekend and put a plan in motion to have Read more
Not too long ago, we took a look at how speaker-level line output converters worked. We discussed the difference between passive and active devices and explained what features to look for. If you have a vehicle with a premium factory-installed sound system, those interfaces might not be adequate to provide your amplifier with a signal that will sound good with new speakers. So Read more
We took a close look at the amazing Audison bit One HD Virtuoso early in 2020. Since then, the team at Audison in Italy has been hard at work adding features and integration solutions, and the fruits of their labor are now available in the Version 3.0 software update. So let’s dive into the new features that will allow your installer to make your car audio system upgrade sound Read more
It seems like everything to do with car audio installations has something to do with managing voltages. For starters, your electrical system needs to produce enough voltage to keep your radio and amplifier going. And amplifiers need to increase the voltage to drive speakers. When adding an amplifier to a factory-installed audio system, your installer will need to measure the Read more
A digital signal processor, or at the very least some type of equalizer, is pretty much a requirement when it comes to creating a car audio system that will have realistic tonal balance. There are dozens of methods to configure and tune these processors, and each has benefits and drawbacks. What seems to be an ongoing issue is the need to have someone with the proper training Read more
