Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
When upgrading your car stereo, speakers are the only link between your electronics and your ears. Unfortunately, low-quality speakers connected to the best amplifiers and source units in the world will still sound mediocre at best. In this article, we’ll take a look at the classes of speakers available for your car or truck. In addition, we’ll provide some tips to help you Read more
I’ve listened to a LOT of car stereo equipment since I started in the car audio industry back in 1988. Since 2000, I’ve tested and formally reviewed hundreds of car audio products for publications across North America. I’ve even developed subwoofers, speakers and DSP-equipped amplifiers for one of the companies I worked for. I was a car audio sound quality competition judge for Read more
If you look in the back of a friend’s car or SUV, you’ll find there are a few common traits when it comes to subwoofer system installation. For larger enclosures, the subwoofers are usually mounted behind the seat and fire rearward. For single-sub systems, many installations feature the drivers mounted in an enclosure that fits into the corner of the car. If you don’t want to Read more
If you’ve been a reader of BestCarAudio.com content for any amount of time, then you know that we’re often most impressed by those car audio upgrades that blend into the vehicle. However, this preference doesn’t mean that the flashy installations with layered vinyl and laser-cut acrylic don’t get us excited. Clear Accent Materials in Car Audio Installations Depending on where Read more
There are a lot of theories around the benefits of adding stuffing to a sealed subwoofer enclosure. Most contend that stuffing makes the enclosure behave as though it is larger, allowing the woofer to play louder at low frequencies. If this is true, then adding stuffing seems like a great idea. While creating many of our articles, we conduct many low-frequency enclosure Read more
Having your local specialty car audio retailer install an amplifier in your car or truck is a great way to improve the performance of your audio system. The extra power will allow you to turn the volume up higher to extract more from your speakers. If you have a subwoofer installed, you’ll need to choose an amplifier that can produce lots of power. While there are some Read more
When designing a car audio subwoofer system, the Product Specialist and Installer you’re working with have two options for mounting subwoofers in your enclosure. There is, of course, the typical method with the motor assembly and basket inside the enclosure. With that said, many installations have the subwoofers mounted upside down, or as many call it, in an inverted fashion. Read more
In the ’80s and ’90s, the target demographic at a car stereo shop was men ages 18 to 24. Guys would work to upgrade their cars with subwoofers, pull-out CD players and lots of speakers in hopes of having the loudest audio systems in their group of friends. Not coincidentally, during that time magazines ran advertisements for products with outrageous cosmetics, promoted by Read more
A few weeks ago, we were browsing a few car audio related Facebook groups and Reddit subreddits. We saw the same question come up time after time: “I have two dual 2-ohm voice coil subs; how do I show the amp a 1-ohm load to make max power?” It wasn’t just once or twice that this question was asked – we saw it and versions of it at least a dozen times in less than an hour of Read more
