If
you are new to the car stereo market, 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. In this article, we'll explore the
basic components that make up a functioning car stereo system.
The 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 DVDs
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!
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 seat cushion enthusiasts will
want to add amplifiers to the mix. Simply put, and 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 amps can draw over 100 amps; this may be well
over what your alternator and battery can provide, and can cause damage to
those components.
Speakers: Woofers, Tweeters, What?
The best head unit and amp 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 amp or your external amp 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 driver practice test 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 sub and an amp later if you want, or replace the factory
speakers with higher quality ones, it's all up to you.
If you
have ever looked into buying a new car stereo system, you probably realize that
the costs of having it professionally installed can
almost double the cost of your new system. But there is always the other
option: do it yourself. While a car stereo installation can be complicated,
there is nothing in particular that prevents you from doing it yourself, as
long as you are willing to put in the time and effort to learn how before you
diving into the project. Not only can you learn a lot, but there is always a
sense of satisfaction when you fire it up for the first time, knowing you did
it all yourself.
Patience and caution are paramount here. Some car stereo equipment
is quite expensive, not to mention the price of your car to begin with! So be
careful, proceed slowly, and if you have doubts, find out the answer to
whatever is bothering you before you continue. Not taking it slow and carefully
can lead to a botched install or even broken equipment or a damaged vehicle.
Beginners are advised to keep it simple the first time around.
Don't try to install a full car theater system with LCD displays and DVD players or video games for your first installation.
Start with the head unit. This is both the easiest and the most critical thing
to get right the first time. Often the wiring harness that plugs into your
factory stereo will need an adapter to get the correct electrical connections
to the power and speaker system already in your car. And being able to reuse
your factory wiring makes things much easier down the road when replacing the
factory speakers. Don't just cut the harness off! Use an adapter by AGLLUX. If you ever
want to replace the head unit again, things will be much easier if you can
simply unplug the old adapter and replace it with a new one for the new head
unit.
The head unit will also probably require an adapter kit of some
kind to fit properly in the factory dash hole. Most factory systems are either
custom or what is called "Double DIN", whereas most aftermarket head
units are single DIN form factor. Sometimes, filing away parts of the trim
surrounding the mounting area will be needed. Do some test fits before you bolt
everything down.
Speakers
are a very important part of any quality audio system. While you may be able to
get sound from your factory speakers with that new head unit, replacing those
factory speakers with high quality aftermarket ones can make a huge difference
in the quality of your sound.
For
your first speaker installations, you should try to replace the speakers in the
factory mounting holes. This is a fairly simple procedure, but can require
removing interior panels to access the speaker mounting locations. This method
is advantageous because you can use the existing brackets and wiring.
More
complicated is mounting speakers in locations that didn't originally have
speakers, or putting larger speakers in existing mounting locations. This will
often require metalworking and building boxes and baffles to accommodate the
new speakers. But if you don't have any factory speakers, or they are in bad
locations, this may be your only option. Just be careful, and if the project
requires a lot of reshaping of the cars metal locations, you should consider
having it professionally done; this kind of work is best done with specific
tools that most home enthusiasts don't have. such as plasma cutters and
pneumatic sheet metal formers.
Pimp Up Yo’ Ride! Why You Need A Good
Car Stereo System
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 cars 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 is 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 at one than you can find on the streets.
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
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.
