Tips On Choosing A Car Audio System

Common to all systems is the sound quality. The quality of sound in a car audio system depends upon a number of factors - the type and quality of the media player system, the type of speakers used, the acoustics of the vehicle and interference from other devices.

Type and Quality of Media Player System

A car CD player has an SNR of 90 or 100 dB. An FM radio, cassette player, and CD player all have different measurements for these specs. To help understand these two specifications, let's compare a car tape cassette player and a car CD player.
Cassette player has an SNR of 50-70 dB. Media players in vehicles today are either radio tuner, CD player/changer, or Digital Audio player.

CD Players & Changers, An in-dash CD Player - often combined with radio tuner, WMA/MP3 player.

Digital Audio Car Systems, With most home audio systems and portable players giving crisp quality sound using digital audio, we are no longer satisfied with the flat, bland analog sound from older car audio systems.
So now you have the media player selected, what about the speaker system.
Car Speaker System, The speaker system can be thought of in two parts: the channel amplifier and the physical speaker units.

Car amplifiers power the speakers in your car stereo system to provide crisp sound quality at high volumes. This gives you a standard 4-channel sound system that will rival your home audio system.

The main factors in selecting car speakers are:

Design or Speaker Type

Technical Specifications

Car speaker specifications are similar to home audio speakers; the main difference in technical specification to compensate for the lower power outputs of car stereo receivers.

Car audio speakers are either: top mounted or bottom mounted.

Executive Summary about mp3 car by Nicola Carr


Car Audio Connectivity

The first and probably easiest is to simply burn a CD with digital tracks formatted to play in a standard CD player. While this solution is fairly simple, many older CD players can’t read burned CDs.

Another option is to buy an FM transmitter. The transmitter puts out a low powered FM signal which is picked up by your car stereo’s radio. Some FM transmitters also allow you to attach a USB flash drive (also called a thumbdrive or pen drive) to the transmitter. The transmitter decodes the music files on the drive and allows you to play, skip, and pause your music, all while transmitting to your car radio.

Many newer car stereo head units can read burned CDs. In deference to the burgeoning popularity of the personal media player, some car stereo head units also have an auxiliary jack so you can connect your iPod or other similar device to your car stereo via a cable. And a select few car stereos, like the VR3 Car Stereo CD Player, come even more options.

Again, if you listen to podcasts or are constantly updating your music collection, this is the solution for you.

In the end, however, it’s nice to look back and realize that car stereo entertainment is really the everyman’s entertainment medium. Happy travels!

Executive Summary about mp3 car by Nathan Kartchner

Ceck out my other guide on MP3 Digital Players