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As the owner of an extremely great home system, I don't expect anything close in my vehicle, but do choose the best in factory installed systems. Integrated makes sense; after market only invites theft. As a classical lover, XM/Sirius is my choice most of the time. I look at it as an opportunity to hear music I don't already know, as as well as enjoy music I do. Granted, it is not the best FI. For the best, HiRez files from my connected iPod/iPhone can be wonderful and even thrilling! |
Sometimes NPR, sometimes talk radio, sometimes "oldies" radio, sometimes the sound of the boxer-6 engine with the top down. |
I have a decent setup on my place, but funny part that my car audio is a disaster.
Usually listen to 80's music. |
Some cars have very noisy interiors that make good systems pointless. Most of your economy priced cars are in this category, with some VW's and Chevy Cruze being exceptions.
With the mid size sedans the sound deadening and audio systems takes a big step forward. Camry, Accord, Altima, Malibu, etc. Not a universal truth, but most of them. Upper tier Toyota or Lexus get really quiet according to consumer reports magazine.
But the Hyundai Genesis has been turning heads in this department. Whisper quiet and a stock Lexicon audio system with 14 or 17 speakers, but you have to get more than just the base model for the Lexicon(they do the audio for Rolls Royce and this one is a 7.1 dvd audio). A one or two yr old v6 sedan can be had for low twenties, and the options it comes with is impressive. I'm hoping it's my next car! |
I have a work van with a factory Ford am/fm no cassette. It sounds horrible....only 2 crappy 4x6 full range in the doors. I drive a thousand miles a week sometimes, so when I get home I really appreciate my home system. |
My 2006 Lexus GS-350 Luxury Sedan has a 14 Speaker/300 Watt Mark Levinson Premium Sound Audio System inside of it. And I listen to FM Radio, CD's and my i-Pod with it. I didn't have to do a thing to my Lexus.
Neither did the the 2000 Audi A4 that came before it.
The first serious car I bought back in the mid 1990's was a Honda Accord EX with Leather and Sunroof. Now, I did put a nice system inside of that one. It consisted of a high-end Alpine Radio CD Player with Changer Controls, a companion Alpine Trunk Mounted CD Changer. 700 Watts worth of Rockford-Fostgate Amplification in the trunk to drive an ADS Component Speaker System and Discretely Installed 10" Subwoofer.
--Charles-- |
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Doug Schroeder had an excellent idea try listening to nothing.
Give your mind some solace so listening is just that. |
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What do audiophiles listen to in their cars? You can overcome most road noise with a quiet car and high quality speakers, properly installed. I was just looking at a new sourse unit for home audio that can store and play hi rez digital files, like flac and wav music files making in possible to play and make copies of original masters. I'd wager that this level of head unit will ba available for cars as well in a few years. Ever since the new generations of music lovers were marketed mp3 players and questionable quality headphones with rappers names on the brand, with a few exceptions.
Now that the serious audio companies have been making car audio gear since the beginning, now the most popular music format, digital, has finally caught up with home audio. Possibly even surpassing vinyl with the availability of master qualiity.
Now the reason I like my car audio is that I can play it at concert level volume. When it's done right, and not over done, you can get that chest impact like a nice smaller venue show would give, good low tight bass. You can feel it. Most car audio is cheap, you can see it in the gaudy marketing of woofers and amps. But if you had a small shop that emphasized quality gear, that's tuned for the driver's seat( an option in practically all SQ head units) then your timing might be right when the previously mentioned hi rez head units come onto the market. And meanwhile establish a good reputation with a proven ability to blow away any OEM stereo offered, an exception may be OEM stereos offered by Maserati or some other supercar. Another advantage to going high end, you'll customers will have the cash and the desire, to have the best sounding stereos even if they're not necessarily audiophiles. |
I'm like Ghosthouse. Engine, driveline, tire noise (road texture), wind noise.
Used to love car audio when I was young and hung out in cars a lot, but the noise floor is too high in my commuter. It would be money better spent on upgrading my home gear. |
Public radio music, Spotify, and some sports talk. |
The Eagles Dude! Get Over It! lol |
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In my 95 Chevy with all the wonderful road noise :) I listen to either talk radio or a local jazz station that sounds as if they are broadcasting from underground. |
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My wife. But if I'm lucky, I try to listen to 90.1 FM (Philly)which plays classical during the day and switches over to jazz after 6pm. |
Mostly sports broadcasts, e.g.:
Ladies Golf
Chess
Curling
Bowling
etc. |
Schubert, I attempt to look at it as free driving lessons. Still, after about 8 hours of free driving lessons it can get old. Being the clever fellow that I am, I have instituted the following rule. "Whoever drives picks the music."
So when the advice gets old, the Mahler goes in and the volume goes up. What, you are tired of Mahler? How would you like to drive? |
Wives giving directions mostly. |
I do all my listening at home as it is my passion but listening to music in the for me is distracting. I am a casual listener when it comes to driving. Half of the time I do not listen to music when in the car. Talk about room acoustics and noise in a car.......let's leave that for some other time. |
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Not being sarcastic...
But on long drives, very often...just the engine, road noise and the wind. |
I could care less about car audio. I mostly listen to sports radio on the daily drive which doesn't require a fancy system. The radio in my 95 BMW died and I replaced it with a Kenwood from Crtuchfield for 160.00. This thing has features that are unbelieveable for the price and it sounds better than the original radio. I did the install myself.
I think a lot of people are into their car audio because of domestic restrictions from wife, kids, neighbors, etc. In their car, they can let loose and blast music that is not possible to do at home. Thankfully, I don't face that barrier. |
BMW 330i Coupe. Superb audio system. Radio has HD capability. Use aux/USB input for iPod or iPhone. Sounds grand. Only problems are BMW has a custom cable with dual USB and aux inputs which must be used simultaneously, and I have not found an upgraded cable to improve sound. Also, run flat tires create a lot of road noise.
Neal |
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Bought a 2011 Accord with the intent of installing a custom system.
Favored the Pioneer stage6 CD player DES-99 or P-9, pricey but really great. Add to that DLS speakers and Amps. Their Ultimate TA2 2x100 is a Tube Amp. Coupled that with an A2 2 channel and a yet unchosen 10" Sub/amp.
But before I figured out how I could come up with $3k needed for the system, I first did battle with the God aweful road noise in the accord, and lost. So I scrapped the idea of a high end system in a honda.
( switched to Bridgestone "serenity" tires, then even tore out the seats and carpet and lined all in dynamat, still noisy) Will never buy another honda for noise ALONE.
My 98 Ford Explorer has a very nice stock sound system and a cabin built for it, and is quiet. If it wasn't so old and beat I would consider a high end system in it. |
Brf,
Thanks for the tip about the tires. |
Snofun3, no reason to get reactionary about "sniffy" attitudes. It's really simple: if you like to listen to classical music (at an overall reasonable volume) the lower dynamic range of the music is drowned out by road noise even in a quiet car. You're always turning the volume up for the quiet passages and turning it down on the crescendos, too much of a pain to bother with. Ford's OEM sound systems once had a compression switch to ameliorate this problem. Sure it detracted from the ultimate audio quality, but it made listening to classical music on the road pleasurable. |
Hey Larryi, I have a 2011 E550 and the noise is from awful Continental Tires!!!! |
If you are planning on selling auto sound systems, you must also have a competent installation shop. I don't think it would make sense to try to only sell gear. For one thing, the big money is in the labor to install the gear, not in the gear itself. With complex integrated sytems (audio, phone, navigation, etc.), it is not that easy for most people to do their own installation, which is where your shop could provide value. You don't want to become the car audio equivalent of Best Buy--a place for people to look at gear, but not purchase. Particularly bad would be offering gear for sale that you will not be installing that one can find in a Crutchfield catalogue or some online equivalent.
Most towns of decent size already have car audio shops, which will make it hard for a newcomer to be competitive. I would bet that most of the work those shops do involve installing systems that are meant to be really loud, rather than catering to audiophile concerns with quality of sound. Perhaps, you could offer a quality alternatives. I don't know what brands qualify in that department these days (Alpine, Boston Acoustics?).
As a lot of posters have noted, road noise is a big problem with car audio. Your shop should put an emphasis on sound dampening products and installation. I have a fairly quiet vehicle (2011 E350) and I still have issues with noise.
Good luck on your endeavors. |
Wow - such an outpouring of really helpful comments...
I sincerely appreciate all the posts so far!!!
Please keep them coming... |
The 6cd OEM system in my F-150 truck sounds great, Even better than the sony 12 speaker system in my car. Maybe the size of the cab makes the difference. I bought the truck new in 2004. That same year I also purchased a Marantz single disc cd player for my home system. The Marantz decided to stop reading discs several months ago. The cdp in the truck is still going strong. Pretty amazing considering the truck is never garaged, and the heat here in Central Texas. I would have thought a changer would have been more prone to failure. |
CD's and NPR on the stock radio in my Chevy Cobalt. I enjoy it a lot. I find I enjoy it as well as the vintage system in the basement. Quality of the electronics doesn't seem to get in the way as long as the music is good. I'm tapping my feet in front of them all. |
as an audio freak, the quality of the stock system used to be my primary determinant in buying a car; thus i cycled through lexus (levinson), acura (els) and genesis (lexicon); all, esp. the acura, were great for cd playback, but lackluster for xm radio, which just can't be made to sound good. best stock system i've heard was the dynaudio system in a volvo s80; the hk system in the chrysler 300 is also really good. in fairness to bose, their mazda3 system is one of the best i've heard in an inexpensive car |
Tore out the dreadful "Premium Bose" system in my 08 Z06.
Installed a Kenwood DVD/NAV system with IPOD interface.
Added Dynaudio component speakers, Alpine 600watt amp, and JLAudio subwoofer. Dynomat in both doors.
System sounds incredible with pin point imaging and nice tight bass! |
Funny how you can almost hear the "sniff" after, I wouldn't consider listening in such an enviroment" types. Get over yourselves already. Music is entertainment, and because there's obstacles doesn't mean that it shouldn't be enjoyed.
My Jag XF has a B&W system that sounds outstanding, and can overcome road noise without any hesitation whatsoever. It also has a 6 disc changer (that I don't use), a ipod (that I do), and a stick input.
My last car, a Caddy CTS-V has a Bose system that was staggeringly bad. Truly, no high-no lows type thing, but the Bose that was in my previous Infiniti was excellent |
Toyota yaris, graduate school times,
i listen some of my cds, sound is decent... |
How do I get the music from my CDs to a MP3 player? Can I record from the puter to a 'stick' and plug it in the car? My next car, 2013 Ford Fusion will have the MP3 thingy. |
Japanese vehicles are very very noisy. I have a 4 Runner and my wife has recently owned a Corolla and Scion. Now she has a 2010 Volkswagon Jetta Wolfsburg and this car is quiet but weighs a lot and is quick. Its a well damped car. The new ones made in the U.S. are not, so to replace this car in the future we will have to look at Audi which we may not be able.to afford. Because the U.S. likes cheapo junk cars Volkawagon decided to jump on board and build American junk in America. You get what you pay for. Ford makes decent vehicles. |
NPR HD 90% of the time:
HD1: News
HD2: Folk Music
HD3: Classical
HD4: BBC
Rest 10% is CDs or MP3s. |
I listen to NPR in my 4 Runner. Back in the mid 80's I had one of the first car stereos with CDP which was a Clarion and it cost me a grand. Prior to that I had a Kenwood with 6x9 coax speakers. I run stock now but will never forget those days because I was known for good sound in my cars. |
Apart listening to my wife, I sometimes listen to the stock Bose sound system which gives me a pretty good listening experience (This is the only Bose system that I have, not by choice). I wouldn't spend a ton on upgrades or none at all since I will and can not enjoy serious listening whilst keeping an eye on traffic so it is mostly easy listening and Jazz. |
The sweet sound of my BMW inline six...... |
I'm with Mechans on this, car interiors are too noisy for me to even consider giving a hoot about listening seriously. My Acura TL's factory system is quite good enough for the sort of listening I do while commuting. |
I recently added a JVC unit to my Toyota Rav4 which plays only digital media. Don't really miss dragging cd's to the car. It has Pioneer speakers - it's ok, better than what I started with originally but not as nice as I would have liked. I do enjoy just popping my Nano in it and having good music with me all the time in a very small package though. Hope your shop will have some reasonably priced, but good sounding alternatives. Good luck to you! |
Rok2kid: I agree on the Avalon. My 02' has a cassette and I enjoy it quite often. Great car as well.
I will say though, that my wifes Acura TSX has a tremendous system with the DVD-A. It really is great sounding.
And as others, I would not change the stock system in my cars.
-John |
Kids who whine and complain, or radio or CD otherwise. |
