Because your car should sound good too

Spending a lot of money and time on car audio seems like a bit of a waste to me.

McIntosh HUs still have the some of their trademark sound. They do sound great. That is, if you don't mind spending the cash.

Unsound, if done right it is far from a waste. Most of the time it is a waste because people do not put the right amount of time, money and energy into it and always get sub-par sound and then blame it soley on the gear. So your statement, while true to a point, is only valid with those that take the cheap route. I've heard a few mobile audio stereos that sounded nearly as good as the $80k reference system at my local home audio dealers sound room. Of course they'll never sound as good due to space and the overall environment but you certainly can get close.

I don't mean to take the joy away from others, but between ambient noise and the near impossibility to get a proper speaker/listening position, it almost seems like an unattainable quest. Perhaps with digital "room" correction things might work better than I've experienced?

Probably, Unsound.

While I get why people want good music in their car- who doesn't? - I think there's a limit. Can you 'critically listen' while driving? For that matter, should you be?

My Alpine deck and factory speakers sound good enough for me. If I had a car that I knew I would keep forever or close to it, I'd seriously look into a McIntosh system. It would probably look great in my father's '71 Mercedes 280 SL convertable. Hanging out on July 4th and watching fireworks with the top down and a Mac system playing would be pretty cool IMO.

Oh buddy, if I'm "critically" listening while I'm driving then I'm not driving. That's worse than driving drunk. That's simply not a good idea. But a terrible sounding stereo or sub-par doesn't even deserve attention so it has to be decent for me.

And one thing on listening locations, and quite a few HUs have this option (but makes music sound terrible for passengers) is timing correction for your listening position. You can adjust each individual speaker to output at a different time. Worked incredibly well with my last Alpine HU.

Unsound, you take no joy away from anyone with your opinions. They are very justifiable opinions at that. And very happy you chimed in to voice them. Just remember, you can't take car audio to the extreme you do with your home audio gear because there is no comparison no matter how much you spend on your car. And at that, you are absolutely correct.

It's just the small effort to take some of your pride and joy with you wherever you go. Makes the journey that much more enjoyable.