Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
Professional technicians have several options available to analyze audio signals. We can use an oscilloscope to look at the amplitude of a signal in the time domain. We can use a real-time audio analyzer to look at signals in the frequency domain. Thanks to the power of modern computers, we can combine both measurements to create a spectrogram to look at audio amplitude and Read more
Every genre of car audio enthusiast looks at amplifier performance differently. The SQ guys worry about distortion and noise. The bass heads focus on power. The keyboard commandos and know-it-alls talk about slew rate or something equally irrelevant. Despite all this, an audio system's frequency response matters the most regarding the perception of quality. The folks at KICKER Read more
The BestCarAudio.com team received a great question about subwoofer polarity and how a crossover affected the phase at the crossover point. Specifically, the question focused on whether the subwoofer polarity needed to be reversed if the sub amp used a -12 dB/octave filter. The short answer is yes. As always happens with audio systems, the full answer isn’t as simple once we Read more
Understanding how DC voltages combine is quite simple. They add linearly when we wire sources (like batteries) in series. But understanding how AC waveforms combine is complicated. AC waveforms don’t always sum intuitively unless the peaks and valleys align perfectly. We see many examples where people interchange the terms phase and polarity. In reality, those words refer to Read more
Over the last decade, the popularity of under-seat truck subwoofer upgrades has exploded. At least a dozen companies offer vehicle-specific solutions with shallow-mount subwoofers to add bass to these vehicles. If you’re perusing the enclosure options for your truck, you’ll notice two distinct options: enclosures with drivers that face upward into the seat bottom and those that Read more
Any time your installer wants to wire two subwoofers to the same channel of an amplifier, they can wire them in series or parallel. The same goes for a dual voice coil design subwoofer. The only benefit of a DVC subwoofer over a single is that there are three wiring options. We examined whether the wiring options for dual voice coil subwoofers differed a while back. Thinking Read more
What happens when a subwoofer is used with an oversized subwoofer enclosure? This article will look at the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of an improper match between the electromechanical characteristics of a subwoofer and the need for a proper enclosure. Why Do Subwoofers Need an Enclosure? If you’ve been following our series of articles on understanding subwoofer Read more
Car audio upgrades are much more complex than setting up speakers in your living room. They are, unless all you have in the system is a set of coaxial speakers in your doors. Your installer has to consider crossover slopes and alignments if you have front and rear speakers and a subwoofer. They must also understand how the settings interact at the crossover frequency. Let’s 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
