Up until recent years car audio manufacturers did very little to contribute towards their community and the environment. However, many car audio manufacturer s are now incorporating as part of their corporate social responsibility policy.

Big house manufacturers all these days have corporate social responsibility policies. They help not only the corporation itself by creating a responsible image and a more sustainable and happy business, but it helps to lower carbon footprints, protect the environment and enrich and support the community.

Corporate social responsibility includes a vast range of duties, from making your work force a happier one and improving quality of services to wider issues, such as environmental protection and education. Most manufacturers these days will have included in their CSR policy as a minimum, ways to improve the quality of surroundings for workers and customer service improvement.

Car audio manufacturers have sought to give back a little to their surrounding communities and beyond. Policies range from involvement in charities to working with people with hearing difficulties. Car audio corporations have used their knowledge for the benefit of the wider community on a large and individual level. Corporations often volunteer their employees to community services, in order to enrich the community around them. For most corporations it is not a matter of just contributing physical money to charity, it has now become a matter of contributing man-power and expertise too.

On the car audio manufacturer’s agenda has also been environmental protection – an important issue in today’s society. From participating in the EU’s recycling scheme for electronics, WEE (Waste Electrical Equipment), to practically conserving whole forests and improving the work surroundings of the work force.

Not only have they contributed by preservation and conservation, they have aimed to reduce their carbon footprint and the use of environmentally hazardous chemicals, as well as recycling goods to create environmentally friendly products.

Some have also contributed to education by having open days and taking classes, allowing employees to share their knowledge with the next generation. Environmental education has also become a popular cause, allowing companies to teach the next generation how to be environmentally friendly.

Car audio manufactures continue to contribute to society and the environment more and more. To find out more about corporate social responsibility from car audio manufacturers, have a look at their written reports, which should be available to all (on their website).

By: Marie Coles

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Are you currently the owner of an antique car? If so, would you like to have your antique car restored? Whether you would like it restored back to its original state or you would like to modernize a portion of your car, you can do so. You can do so with the assistance of an antique car restoration specialist, which is also sometimes referred to as an antique car restoration expert.

When it comes to choosing an antique car restoration expert or specialist to do business with, you are advised to thoroughly examine all of your options before making a decision. Despite what you may believe, not all antique car restoration experts perform the same quality work. If you are looking for the best quality, which there is a good chance that you are, you will need to find an individual or company that can give that quality. This may take a small amount of time and research, but it should be more than worth it in the end.

Perhaps, the most important thing to examine, when choosing an antique car restoration specialist, is the type of classic or antique car you have. Most antique car restoration specialists will perform work on all different types of vehicles, but there are others who limit the vehicle makes and models that they restore. When speaking with an antique car restoration specialist, this should be the first question that you ask.

The individual or company is question is also important, namely their training and experience. If the antique car restoration company or specialist you want to work with is claiming that they are experts, how is that so? What type of training have they or their employees undergone? How many cars have been restored in the past? How many of those cars were similar to yours? These questions may give you an idea as to whether or not you are truly dealing with experienced professionals. It may be best to ask to see samples of past work, instead of just taking someone’s word.

Cost is another factor that should be examined, when choosing an antique car restoration company or specialist. As you likely already know, antique car restoration can get quite costly. Of course, the cost is worth every penny, but it might be a little bit more than you can afford. If you find it difficult to afford an antique car restoration project right now, you are urged to wait until you have a little bit more money. Too many individuals mistakenly believe that they can save money by performing their own antique car restoration or by hiring an individual or company who charges “rock bottom prices.” The quality isn’t guaranteed; in fact, it isn’t always the best. That is why it may be best to wait.

Your car’s make and model, the experience of the antique car restoration company or specialist, and the cost of restoration are just a few of many things that you want to keep in mind, when searching for someone to restore your antique car. Keeping the above mentioned points in mind is the best way to ensure that your antique car restoration meets or exceeds your expectations.

By: Lamar Burns

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No one car speaker can handle every frequency. That’s why car audio experts use more than one type of speaker. Connoisseurs of music and car audio systems will employ speakers that will recognize the lower frequencies, as well as the higher.

You’ve probably already come across subwoofers which are large speakers that play lower frequencies, usually bass. These consume a high amount of power, which often needs to be regulated by an amplifier, so that there are no power spurts.

Subwoofers enable you to hear the lower frequencies, which are around 30hz or 30 sound waves per second. However, subwoofers cannot adjust to higher frequencies, which can reach up to 20,000hz or twenty thousand sound waves per second. There is a vast difference between the frequencies and no car audio speaker is able to handle both.

So to handle higher frequencies, manufactures came up with the tweeter – a very small speaker that is only around two to three inches and can handle the higher frequencies of instruments and singers. This mini but powerful speaker is unlike the subwoofer, mainly due to its size, since it is highly efficient. Unlike a subwoofer, you can increase the volume without draining much power either! Combined with a subwoofer, your music system will drastically improve the quality of sound.

Mid-range speakers also exist. These fill in all the frequencies that the subwoofers and tweeters cannot touch. Between the sizes of the two at around 5 inches, mid-range speakers essentially cover the range that is not covered by subwoofers or tweeters. They also come in a range of shapes, which make them ideal for fitting into cramped corners.

Mid-range speakers are also combined with tweeters in a two way or three way speakers. This is mainly done to save space and wiring time. Each cone of a speaker is set to handle the frequency range of either mid-range, or a higher frequency.

Adding subwoofers, mid-range and tweeters to your system will drastically improve your car audio’s frequency range, meaning you can hear all of the music, rather than bits of it. Subwoofers will allow you to hear the bass, but if you solely use a subwoofer you’re likely to miss out on the higher notes of the singer’s voice. Combine all three speakers to hear all of the frequencies and enjoy your music to its full extent.

By: Marie Coles

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It’s the time of year again, whether you love it or not. Time to buy your friends and family those vital presents they can open in front of the warm Christmas fire with a glass of mulled wine in one hand and a mince pie in the other. You already know what you are going to get everyone, apart from him – him being the most difficult person to buy for.

So you’ve already bought the rest of the family their presents. Aunty Muriel some nice smelly stuff, mum that nice dress she’s been looking at for months and hasn’t dared bought and dad – his favourite brand of whiskey. Yet, you are still uncertain on what to buy your man. If he loves his car, as most men do, the best present you could possibly buy him is an addition to his car audio system or a new one if it is tired and run down.

The Car Screen: The T1 Audio T1-70RM Multimedia unit may be on his Christmas list. It’s a screen not only for him, but the rest of the family too as the swiveling roof mounted unit can be easily placed in the back seats to entertain you, the kids and him when not driving. The popular multimedia unit has an anti-glare system in place with dome lights – not to mention wireless headphones can be connected with the infra-red audio transmitter.

The Car Stereo: These days you can get stereos with all the gadgets and gizmos but still look sleek for under £200. When hunting around for stereos for your gadget loving man, keep an eye out for Mp3 connections, CD/DVD player options, touchscreen and Bluetooth options, as well as multiple connections that allow him to hook up amps, speakers and subwoofers. A Christmas favourite for a good price (£149.99) is the T1 Audio T1-8400, a simple unit that employs the latest technology and even plays DVDs.

The Car Subwoofers: When purchasing subs (the short term for subwoofers) it’s vital that you get the best possible subwoofers that will fit into his car. So if he’s car is small, go for smaller subs, but if he’s car is spacious, you’ll probably get away with much larger subs. A favourite seller, is the Atlas ATL12D2 from Hifonics – it’s a compact but powerful beast at 12 inches with a peak power handling of 1200.

Any car audio lover will be grateful on Christmas day to receive a present that boosts his car audio system.

By: Marie Coles

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In the last century, we have seen car audio technology gain momentum. Starting out as a basic radio, in-car technology has come far. Now, we have complicated car audio systems, car DVD players, Bluetooth, sat-nav and GPS. All of which have been created to make car journey’s much easier and far more fun.

So where do we go from here? Already, this year we have seen touch screens and function enriched sat-nav systems hit the car audio market – yet what does the future hold for in-car technology?

In early 2010, German scientists developed a new car technology known as ‘EyeDriver’. It pretty much does as it says, it allows you to drive your car with your eyes alone. This new technology works by the driver wearing the special helmet, which holds two cameras and an infrared LED. Camera one points in the directions the driver’s eyes are looking (the scene camera), whilst the other focuses on the driver’s eye (the eye camera). This new and complex system automatically recognises the direction the driver is looking at, which is then relayed to a computer and then over a LAN network to the car, in turn steering the car accordingly.

Of course, being a very new technology, ‘EyeDriver’ has a few problems, which are yet to be overcome. If a driver gets distracted, the technology is bound to follow where he or she focuses upon, making it somewhat of a danger on the road. ‘Free ride’, as this mode is known as, allows a driver to have complete control over the car’s steering via the eyes, meaning their mistakes are outputted too. The scientists; however, claim that this can easily be overcome by creating an almost completely automated car using what they called ‘Routing’ mode, which only needs the driver to steer using this technology at a junction.

The future looks bright for in-car technology as it rapidly expands to cover all possible needs of a driver. Yet, before this technology can be released, it is yet to be confirmed as completely safe.

By: Marie Coles

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