Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
It’s the summer of 2021, and we’ve started to put the Covid-19 shutdowns behind us. With stores and restaurants open, people are out and about. Even better, some people are finding time to take a family vacation as our world returns to normal. One change that doesn’t seem to be reverting to its original status is where we work. If you’re working from home and aren’t making that Read more
When it comes to car audio upgrades, price and value in a purchase are often unrelated. For example, if the lease is up on your BMW and you decide you want to save some money, leasing a Mitsubishi Mirage isn’t a direct replacement, even if it costs a lot less per month. In addition, associating value with a purchase is difficult to quantify, especially when it comes to car Read more
If you’ve been around the car audio scene for a few decades, then you’ll recall a time when almost all amplifiers doubled their output power when the load impedance was halved. For example, an amplifier might have been rated to produce 75 watts per channel into a 4-ohm load and 150 watts into a 2-ohm load. It wasn’t unheard of to see low-power amplifiers like the infamous Orion Read more
Not long ago, we looked at how an increase in subwoofer voice coil temperature reduced the power delivered from your amplifier. With component temperatures easily exceeding the boiling point of water, the impedance of the voice coil can increase by more than 50%. Manufacturers that understand this go to great lengths to include technologies to help keep things cool so you can Read more
There’s a strange car audio myth that claims you can’t mix different brands of source units, speakers, amplifiers, subwoofers and signal processors in the same audio system. While it might be fun for a distributor, sales representative or employee at a car audio retailer to do a one-brand build, chances are you’ll want to pick and choose from the different brands at the store Read more
It’s the spring of 2021, and for those in the mobile enhancement industry, it’s a weird time. With COVID-19 having ransacked the entirety of the vacation industry, consumers have turned to investing in their homes and cars rather than a trip to the sunny south. Car stereo shops have been busier than ever and due to some unforeseen circumstances, are running out of their A-brand Read more
Did you know that a difference of 20 watts of power between one car audio amplifier and another might be completely inaudible? That same 20-watt difference might mean having to keep your windows rolled up on the highway to hear your music. Let’s look at the physics of reproducing sound with moving-coil loudspeakers and why choosing an amplifier with a few watts more than Read more
If you’ve been into car audio for any amount of time, then you’ll remember when magazines used to compare products head to head. Even if you didn’t read the specific multi-product reviews, the gigantic buyers guide issues listed all the pertinent specifications so you could see how one radio, speaker or amplifier stacked up against the competition. Now that all the print car Read more
No matter how hard he or she tries, the installer who’s calibrating your car audio system can’t use a digital signal processor to tune distortion out of your system. We aren’t talking about the harmonic distortion that happens when a signal overloads the processor or an amplifier’s input stage. Preventing clipping is a simple process and one that’s fundamental to completing an Read more
