It seems like everything to do with car audio installations has something to do with managing voltages. For starters, your electrical system needs to produce enough voltage to keep your radio and amplifier going. And amplifiers need to increase the voltage to drive speakers. When adding an amplifier to a factory-installed audio system, your installer Read More…

A digital signal processor, or at the very least some type of equalizer, is pretty much a requirement when it comes to creating a car audio system that will have realistic tonal balance. There are dozens of methods to configure and tune these processors, and each has benefits and drawbacks. What seems to be an Read More…

A while back we published an article that looked at the issue of intermodulation distortion from coincident coaxial speakers. As the woofer cone moves forward and rearward from its rest position, it acts as moving waveguide for the tweeter. While the phenomenon is measurable, there are other considerations in a coincident speaker design that offer Read More…

Whether it’s Black Friday, Christmas, Back to School or just a regular sale, many car stereo shops around the country offer subwoofer system upgrade packages that let you add bass to your stereo at an affordable price. These packages typically include a 200-300 watt amplifier, a single subwoofer, an enclosure and an installation kit. We’ve Read More…

A while back we published an article that discussed why aiming speakers in a properly designed car audio system was futile. As usual, we received a good deal of feedback about the piece. The comments ranged from the typical “that’s not how it works” to more scientific discussions about how even minor changes in placement Read More…

Have you ever looked at something and thought you were only getting part of the story? Many previous articles have discussed amplifier distortion at length but haven’t delved into how power output levels and frequency affect distortion measurements. If you’re looking for the best amplifier for your car audio system, especially for midrange drivers and Read More…

Not too long ago, we looked at the physics surrounding car audio tweeter directivity and why tweeters must be pointed toward the listening position. If you haven’t read that article, it established a foundation for understanding the need to aim midrange speakers. If you’ve seen people using towels, laser pointers or modelling clay to test Read More…

There seems to be some misunderstanding about the relationship between subwoofer mounting depth requirements and performance relative to enclosure volume. We constantly see enthusiasts talk about having a 10-inch shallow sub mounted under a car or truck seat. Their expectation is full-size subwoofer performance without the need for a large enclosure. Let’s do a few Read More…

If you’ve been a reader of BestCarAudio.com, you know we’ve published a lot of articles about distortion. We include detailed measurements of harmonic and intermodulation distortion in our Test Drive Reviews to help show you the quality and performance differences between products. In this article, we’ll make a series of speaker distortion measurements using our Read More…

If you’ve scheduled an appointment with a local specialty mobile enhancement retailer to have your car or truck upgraded, there are a few things you’ll want to know to make the most of this opportunity. Whether the upgrade involves a new set of speakers, a multimedia receiver with a backup camera or a remote car Read More…

Let’s say that you are building a car audio system intended to produce as much bass as possible. In that case, you are going to need subwoofers capable of handling vast amounts of power. You’ll also need amplifiers capable of pushing those subwoofers to their limits. It’s not uncommon to see cars and trucks with Read More…

The staff here at BestCarAudio.com look at dozens of installation photos each day and continue to see tweeters that aren’t installed in a way that will maximize the listening experience. Our goal is to help consumers get the best performance possible from their car audio system upgrades, so we’re going to perform two tests to Read More…

It seems do-it-yourself installers have taken a liking to our discussion about wiring multiple subwoofers to a single amplifier. The popularity makes sense, since many car audio enthusiasts aren’t familiar with series and parallel wiring. A question came up on Facebook a few weeks ago asking if it was better to wire a pair of Read More…

We were recently at an event that was hosting a mobile audio system SPL competition. If you aren’t familiar with this sort of thing, it’s a contest to see who has the loudest stereo. We aren’t talking about cranking the dial on the factory radio. Instead, some of these folks build steel and concrete reinforced Read More…

When it comes to expressing the quality of an audio system component, the amount of distortion it adds to a signal is the defining factor. In this article, we’ll talk about how much distortion each part of an audio system adds – so that you can target your budget for the greatest benefit. We’ll rank Read More…

A while back, we took a quick look at how alternating current (AC) signals in our car audio systems work. While the amount of work done by an AC voltage source can be the same as that of a direct current (DC) source, the changes in current flow direction add complications. In this article, we’ll Read More…

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 Read More…