Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
For decades, car audio installers have used capacitors to reduce the bass that small speakers would reproduce. I vividly remember installing 47-microfarad capacitors inline with a set of 3.5-inch speakers in the dashes of Fox-body Mustangs back in the ’80s and ’90s. Passive crossover components like these are still an essential part of the car audio industry, even with the Read more
Over the past few years, I’ve written several articles about harmonic distortion. While ideally they’re pretty clear in their message, I might have jumped over the need to define the term harmonic itself. So, let’s look at what harmonics are in terms of audio signals. What Are Harmonics? In reference to music, the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word harmonic as “an Read more
It’s time we start putting together the information from a selection of the articles I’ve created to help sound quality enthusiasts get the most from their car audio systems. In this article, we will discuss why it might be best to choose a low-power, high-quality Class AB amplifier to power your tweeters. We’ll look at this from both a noise and distortion perspective, as well 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
I remember being at a car audio trade show about a decade ago where I overheard a conversation between a manufacturer rep and a customer about why a set of tweeters didn’t sound good on a particular amplifier. A few weeks later, I did some research on that amp to begin learning about what might have produced the customer perception. The amp in question uses a Class D output Read more
Whether you’re a die-hard sound quality fanatic or want your stereo system to reproduce your music at concert-level volumes, custom door panels are a popular upgrade. So we reached out to some of the best fabricators in the car audio industry and asked them to share samples of their work. From subtle and beautifully integrated to loud, over-the-top creations, here are some of Read more
A while back we published an article that looked at the issue of intermodulation distortion from coincident coaxial speakers. As the woofer cone moves forward and rearward from its rest position, it acts as moving waveguide for the tweeter. While the phenomenon is measurable, there are other considerations in a coincident speaker design that offer dramatic performance benefits Read more
A while back we published an article that discussed why aiming speakers in a properly designed car audio system was futile. As usual, we received a good deal of feedback about the piece. The comments ranged from the typical “that’s not how it works” to more scientific discussions about how even minor changes in placement had significant effects on imaging and soundstage Read more
What in the world is a coincident coaxial speaker, and how do we measure intermodulation distortion? We know both of these questions were the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning. But, don’t fret; the BestCarAudio.com team is here to answer these life-altering questions, calm your nerves and, of course, help you choose the best solutions possible for your Read more
