Showcasing the Best in the Mobile Enhancement Industry
ARC Audio has offered class-leading amplifier and speaker upgrade solutions for Harley-Davidson touring motorcycles for more than a decade. Their experience and obsession with sound quality have led them to create a new generation of high-performance speakers that balance output capability and efficiency, bass extension and accuracy. The latest evolution of their motorcycle and Read more
Every so often, someone asks if it’s a good idea to upgrade their factory-installed stereo system by swapping out the original subwoofer with a new one. We aren’t talking about building a new enclosure and adding a dedicated amplifier. They want to put a different 6-, 8- or 10-inch in the factory location and connect it to the OE amplifier. The answer to whether or not this is Read more
In the car audio world, terms like subwoofer box rise and power compression are relatively familiar to those who push their sound systems to the limit. So, after extensive research (three minutes) and a detailed planning session (another two minutes), we decided that it would be worth doing an experiment to explain and quantify these elements. Let’s Talk About Speaker and Read more
We were cruising the internet a few weeks ago and noticed a comment from a self-proclaimed car audio expert that new speakers and subwoofers need to be broken in at low power levels. He made it particularly clear that the voice coil needed to be broken in gently. If you’ve ever considered how a speaker works from more than an “it makes sound” perspective or you have a grasp of Read more
Decades ago, car audio professionals were adamant about the statement that tweeters needed to be installed right beside the midrange speakers in your car audio system. Is this accurate? The answer is that it depends on a few variables. Keeping them close can’t hurt, but it might come at the expense of improving the soundstage location in your audio system. Why Did Tweeters 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
In the first week of May 2021, Sony Electronics introduced its new Mobile ES series of speakers and subwoofers. If you’ve been into the car audio industry for a while, then you’ll recognize the Mobile ES (Elevated Standard) name from classic products like the CDX-X90 CD player. The new Mobile ES speakers include 6.5-inch coaxial and component sets, a set of 6x8 and 6x9-inch Read more
No doubt about it, the SUV craze is here to stay. When you have companies like Ford ditching all car-based vehicles except the Mustang, you know Americans like sitting up higher compared to a car. The Toyota Camry is still the best-selling car-based vehicle in the United States. But Toyota’s wildly popular RAV4 now even eclipses the sale of the Camry. So, Toyota wanted to Read more
Few items are as immediately relatable to car audio enthusiasts as those wedge-shaped 6x9 speaker boxes. The image of a pair of them in the rear window of an ’81-84 Monte Carlo is something that industry veterans joke about constantly. If you recall our article about speaker installation, you know that a certain volume of air needs to be in the enclosure or in the space behind Read more
