Car Audio and the High End


I am both an automotive hobbyist and a dedicated audio geek, and something that has always struck me is the difference between the two when it comes to music reproduction.

The car guys often spend a huge amount of money on 'improving' their car audio, which mostly means creating a bass heavy unnatural (usually loud) sound that gives them some sort of satisfaction.

The audio geeks like me may make some slight improvements in the stock car system (a notable one is swapping out the speaker drivers that perhaps cost the factory $5 for something that cost 10 times that and calling it done) but don't seem to be bothered by mediocre sound (by high end standards). Personally, I view car audio as having to be good enough not to annoy me while driving home to listen to some really well reproduced music on the home system.

Then of course there are the outliers of car audio who load up the vehicles with some much amplification that they win SPL level contests at levels that preclude anyone actually being inside the vehicle lest they have their hearing seriously damaged (the audio equivalent of those people that like to watch cars spin their tires on the spot until they burst, IMHO)

I wondered whether there were any that hang out on this site that overlap their interest in audio between cars and home, or whether they mostly stuck to home use.....
128x128wspohn
@wspohn 
As wspohn sez, with my sports car it's all about the noises the vehicle makes.  The whines of the different gears.  The clatter of the valves. The rise and fall of the exhaust note. The sound of the wind in my ears. The roar, clop-clop and squeal of the tires. Dogs barking. Birds cheeping.
I thought car stereo was important back in the 1980's. Searched around for an installer who designed me a sub to fit in my CRX. He understood audiophile, not one-note bass, and the result was freaking incredible! It helped that I did my research, used proper gauge wire to power the amps, it was quite a good system for a car, especially back then. 

The CRX went away and I found the sounds and pleasure of driving a 911SC are not at all improved with a sound system. Also my home system by then was so good nothing in a car sounded like anything but something in a car.  

Car audio can be done very well indeed. All you have to do is strip the car down, replace everything that rattles, pad everything else with a couple hundred pounds of damping material, and wire, and add a couple hundred more pounds of components, and you can get about the same sound as at home. Until you turn the key and start driving and then, it is back to being a car stereo.   

Or instead for about a grand you can get Campfire Dorado, plug em into your player or phone, and call it good. So that is what I do now. 


The whines of the different gears. The clatter of the valves. The rise and fall of the exhaust note. The sound of the wind in my ears. The roar, clop-clop and squeal of the tires. Dogs barking. Birds cheeping.

Children screaming, women fainting, old men shaking their fists......oh, that's only for old British sports cars (my specialty). 

I never install any sort of radio in my old stuff (1956-1969 or so). The symphony of the winding road is sufficient.
@wspohn 

The scream of a siren as it approaches from behind. The siren's decreasing pitch as the fire truck/ambulance/police car zooms by me for parts unknown.

Back in the 80's I also had a great car stereo, I worked at an audio store and I had Concord front end and a clean power amp with AR speakers all around. The tapes I recorded on a Nak sounded great. But I agree with millercarbon, car and home quality just are too far apart now-a-days. I currently have what comes with my ML350 SUV and usually listen to, and no hate emails, Sirius radio or play MP3's off a memory card. It's good enough for the road in my opinion.