Whatever you do, unless you have a truly awesome factory car stereo system, you will want to replace that head unit and speakers.

The difference, even using factory mounting locations, can be the difference between night and day. Your mids will have more punch, your highs will be clearer and brighter, and the bass will have that bone deep thump everyone loves. Adding at least one amplified subwoofer will make a huge difference as well. You just can’t get the same bass out of a 7″ woofer as you can out of a 12″ subwoofer.

Amplifiers

Amplifiers are the driving force behind your car stereo system. Skimping in this area is extremely dangerous, not only to your sound quality, but to your speakers as well. An underpowered or cheaply made amplifier is prone to what is known as “clipping”. Without getting too technical, what this does is send a large amount of direct current through your speaker, causing the speaker coil to overheat and melt. This leads to the infamous “blown speaker”.

Coil overheating is the single biggest cause of speaker failure. Putting too large of an amplifier on a speaker can cause the same thing to happen. Always match up your speakers’ power handling ratings to the output of your amplifier. For instance, let’s say you have a 4 channel amplifier that provides 1000 watts total power. That is 250 watts per channel (1000/4), so your speakers should be capable of handling that much power, or you risk blowing them out.

Having a killer car stereo system is something your can be proud of, and dramatically increases your cars coolness factor and resale value, no matter what vehicle it is installed in.

Read the previous post on choosing the best car stereo

So you’ve spent thousands getting your car ready for show. New paint job, tricked out suspension, phat rims, you’ve got it all!

But what about on the inside? A bumpin’ system can be THE difference between a cool car and a truly awesome show winner.

While a killer system can make your car that much cooler, having a crap car stereo system can totally kill your car coolness factor. This is never good if you’ve already spent a lot of money tricking out your vehicle. Even if you have something less than fantastically good looking, having that killer thump is guaranteed to make more people actually want to ride in your car. By the same token, a pathetic car stereo system can make your car have even less appeal than it does now.

So What Makes a Killer Car Stereo System?

Quality and attention to detail pretty much sums it up. You will never be able to get the best sound out of cheap parts, and they are more prone to failing (usually at the worst possible moment) than the more expensive parts. Little things, like the frequency of a crossover, your EQ settings, and small variations in speaker placement can make a huge difference in the overall sound of your car stereo system.

Listen around and see who has systems that sound good to you. If you can listen to several different systems in the same kind of car as yours, you will be able to get a much better idea of what sounds good and what doesn’t.

But even if you are listening to different car stereo systems in different vehicles than yours, you can still get a good idea of what brands of gear you like and which ones to avoid cause they sound like crap. Remember, whatever sounds the best to you in your car is the best for you! No one else can tell you what it sounds good, because listening is a very subjective experience.

Car stereo expos and conventions can be another good way of gaining listening experience, and you will usually be able to check out more different systems in one place than you can find on the streets.

Read the rest in or next post…

If you are new to the car stereo world, you may find yourself overwhelmed at the sheer number of parts and accessories that can make up a top of the line car stereo system.

Here we will explore the basic components that make up a functioning car stereo system.

The Car Stereo Head Unit: Making It Happen

You may have seen the term “head unit” before and not known what exactly it was. Simply put the head unit is the part of your car stereo that actually produces the music from radio, tape, CD, or other device. But nowadays you can also get head units for your car stereo that can play DVD’s or music and video from USB flash drives or memory cards. Head units have sure come a long ways from when people used to install home stereo equipment in their vehicles.

Car Stereo Amplifiers: Bring the Boom

While your head unit may provide its own internal amplification (which may be enough for you), at some point most car stereo enthusiasts will want to add amplifiers to the mix. Simply put, an amplifier takes a signal coming out of your head unit, and makes it louder.

Be careful when shopping for amplifiers, as some of the large amplifiers can draw over 100 amps; this may be well over what your alternator and battery can provide, and can cause damage to those carpo components.

Car StereoSpeakers: Woofers, Tweeters, What?

The best head unit and amplifier is completely useless without speakers. Speakers, regardless of size, all do one thing: take the electrical signal coming from either the head unit’s internal amplifier or your external amplifier and turn it into sound, usually loud sound. The different types of speakers are classified by the range of sounds they can reproduce.

Tweeters, for example, only reproduce high pitches, while woofers reproduce the upper bass ranges. Midranges make midrange sounds, strangely enough, while subwoofers cover sounds from the low bass all the way down to sub sonic (those sounds you can feel but not hear). Subwoofers are usually the first candidate for external amplifiers, since they require large amounts of current to make that bone shaking bass.

Putting It All Together

Let’s review: head units take your CD or tape and convert it to electrical signals. The amplifier makes this signal larger, and finally the speakers take that signal and make sound out of it. These are the base components you need for any car stereo installation. The accessories, such as crossovers and signal isolators, may or may not be needed for your particular application.

These are the basics you need to know for all car stereo systems. Now that you have a better idea what all these different terms actually mean, you should be able to shop intelligently for your new car stereo system.

Just remember, as always, while you get what you pay for, you don’t necessarily have to have the absolute best (and most expensive) parts for a good sound. More often than not, a midrange product will provide the best bang for your buck. And remember, it’s all modular! You don’t HAVE to buy every piece all at once. You can start with the head unit, and simply wire it’s built in amplifier into your factory car stereo speakers. Add a subwoofer and an amplifier later if you want, or replace the factory speakers with higher quality ones, it’s all up to you.