Car Audio

Eldarado

Obviously conditions are not ideal in a car, compared to say, a recording studio. But to be honest, I never understood this reaction to car audio.

Just because we may add road noise or face challenges with reflections or speaker placement, does that mean we should just give up and settle for Delco?

In my experience the interior of a car - with leather and carpets - can sometimes compensate nicely for the reflective nature of the windows. Car windows rattle less than house windows in a listening room.

And tweeters can be mounted in fiberglass pods, for example, in foot wells and aimed at your ears for more on axis response.

Even if these things cant be tamed, an audiophile can still listen THROUGH these things and hear what is hopefully good sound beneath it all.

Would you rather listen to a good system in a bad room, or a bad system in a bad room? If a band plays in a noisy bar, should they discard the usual care and attention to the mix?

This is AUDIOgon. And whatever, the case listening to music in the car is really FUN.

DMA

Yes, the autophile was one of the sites previously recommended for this topic.

Should we all settle for Delco, absolutely not! But, I can't see spending thousands of dollars on a car system. It does crack me up when you go to test drives cars and the sales person says, "And this has a great Bose stereo." I did the car audio thing for several years when I was younger and don't remember any of them sounding anything close the hi end home audio. Just my opinion. If it floats your boat, jump in.

You guys/gals raise good points and yes, road noise, spatial effects, et al, notwithstanding, car audio will not and perhaps never WILL approach that ephemeral pinnacle that a dedicated home setup with a dedicated listening space can accomplish, although we are all hopeful. My point here is that there should be something good or better than a Bose system (which I had a kickin' iteration of in my 3rd gen RX-7) and even a 4.5K Mark Levinson one in my Lexus is an example... Why do drivers who have to commute to work - away from their beloved home systems have to suffer without something that approaches that rarefied and aesthetic level that home systems can bring?! Again, a little help...

For philojet, check out http://www.mobilesq.com/store/ for the Seas speakers...

Also, what about laptop SACD? Even HDCD... Why is this technology lagging - or am I not in the know - yet...?

Eldarado

I have read many of your posts and think they are usually thoughtful and well informed, but in this case, you sound like you need a vacation.

I am not defending the fidelity of car audio because it "floats my boat". As an aside, I dont even OWN a car at the moment (see "what kind of motorcycle do you drive"), other than the family wagon.

Perhaps I am cynical, but I tend to adjust my expectations for all claims coming from car salesmen, used or otherwise.

The point of this thread is that car audio can be - and should be - very, very good and I, for one, am disappointed that the topic is not touched upon more frequently.

In the heyday of car audio, many enthusiasts claimed it could sound BETTER than the average home rig, because you could more easily pressurize bass and sound levels in a confined environment.

Now I dont know what you had in your house or your car that didnt sound "anything close" but I can tell you that I had:

Yamaha PX-2 with Dynavector ruby and Grado signature cartridges

Yamaha C2a
Audio Research SP-9
Hafler DH 500 and Adcom GFA 555
Magneplanar MG IIb's and MG IIIa's
Nakamichi LX-5 and Nakamichi DRAGON

Which were not exactly shabby for 1980.

And I can also tell you that my Nakamichi and a/d/s 2001, biamped "mobile fidelity" system sounded GREAT and in many ways, was more fun than my home system.

Since then, I have heard a lot of car audio that usually just sounds like crap, albeit suitable for open air reggae competitions and/or Fast and Furious parties behind the local McDonalds.

This shouldnt take "thousands" any more than you have to spend "thousands" to get decent sound at home if you know what you are doing.

Anyone?

Ha, ha - well put Cwlondon and yes, I could use a vacation to be sure. And so could you as well, but today's car audio innovations are lackluster at best and disappointing!

I owned a "Fast and Furious" aftermarket car parts business for awhile on the side - right before that movie broke out. I got priced out by hot/stolen shitte on EBay and just got sick of dealing with all of the kids and their lack of class!

You're correct that you shouldn't have to spend thousands on sound at home or in the car to get good sound and beware of the words "reference" when buying anything... The only thing you should reference in car or home audio is how things sound to the ears that God gave you. Everything else is a marketing tactic to drive up the price!