Do you care about car audio?

I have 2 cars that I drive.  One is a Mercedes E400 that has a delightful sound system.  The other is an Austin Healey Bugeye who sound system is a two barrel carb on a 948 engine into a very minimal muffler, always driven top down in Georgia.  It makes the Best sound!!

Car audio is like Home Theater: a great way to burn money that could have been spent on your stereo, where you would at least have some really good sound to show for it.

Exactly this.


About a decade ago I was really into car stereo. Kitted my Lincoln with TOTL Pioneer deck, Kappa component speakers, 200wpc 4ch Infinity amp, 2700w rms Soundstream mono amp driving 2 Audiopipe 15” subs mounted in an 8ft^3 ported enclosure, powered by a 220a alternator, 0ga power cables, and all manner of capacitors and Optima batteries. It was DISGUSTING. The bass made a person literally feel like they were going to vomit, and NO ONE ever made the mistake of riding with me twice.

Looking back, it’s embarrassing, like, “Wtf was I thinking?!”

My current car has a stock system, not even remotely inclined to upgrade it. Just as soon throw that money at my main system. Besides, it’s not like anything I put in my car is going to scratch the itch I have anyway.

Quad 8 Track.
6x9 coax speakers with horns, in the rear.
4 inch coax in the front doors. 
Riders on the storm, whats not to love ?.

OP, I had always felt the same as you; whatever was stock was good enough and usually not all that bad. Until one year ago when we bought the new 2020 Subaru Outback Onyx edition. Fantastic suv with incredible performance in snow and icy conditions and rough terrain. A tremendous amount of technology is used in the vehicle to the point that it is annoying at times with its excess of electronic “smart” features. I did not even bother testing the audio system on the assumption that it would be more than “good enough”. Big mistake. It is the worst sounding car audio system that I have ever heard. Tinny and harsh sounding; almost unbearable to listen to.  Go figure. To add insult to injury, the “upgraded” audio system is not retrofittable. Live and learn.

If money is not a constraint, Emphatically yes. Just on a different scale. We all know that improving sound in any system is an exponential adventure. That said, I love home theater as well. After you blow $100K on Pass Labs, Focal Maestros, an elaborate streaming system, ASC tubetraps, etc... what's $8K on a great car stereo or $50K on an amazing 15.4 atmos home theater system. I get more enjoyment out of the $8K car stereo than I would trying to improve the $100K 2ch setup. Trying to improve that rig would take $30K or more to notice a difference. 

 I enjoy good sound everywhere. My AMG had Burmester... complete crap. My RAM TRX had HK.. also crap. I have heard the Ford B&O... same thing, crap.

Give me some Focal KRX3s, Audison BitOne processors, decent amps, JL Audio 10w6v3 subs... game changer while waiting in traffic or just driving to work. I swap every factory system out.

I get the comment about listening to the engine and sometimes I do enjoy the sound sound of a blown 702hp hemi in the TRX. Other times, I want a great sound (for a car environment).