Because your car should sound good too

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.

The best car audio I ever had (or heard) had mini monitors on the rear deck, firing towards the front of the car, so reflections were minimized, at least compared to the usual routine where speakers fire directly into the rear window, front windshield or into the seats or footwells.

So perhaps it is the usual car speaker orientation which challenges most systems before they even have a chance.

Thoughtful installers I have talked to about this have recommended tweeters and/or midrange drivers mounted in custom fiberglass pods - either near the dashboard or sometimes in the footwells - which can then fire more on axis towards the driver. Bass, obviously, is less sensitive to placement.

But whatever the challenges, I totally disagree that ambient noise kills the possiblity for good sound.

Not to mention the fact that many cars are quieter than my house on most days, ambient noise might limit the possibility to discern low level detail, but it does not affect many other qualities and characteristics that can be clearly heard through the noise.

Which do you prefer: 1) ambient noise + high fidelity + clean power or 2) ambient noise + low fidelity + clipping?

That argument is like saying iPod electronics are only so good, so you might as well wear cheap ear buds and compress to MP3.