Even if you don’t follow car audio technologies religiously, you will have noticed in the past year or so a revolution in car audio technology, which has transformed the mundane car audio system into a full on home entertainment system but in the car.

Our number one favourite car audio technology is the digital media stereo – a system that is a favourite to replace the good old car Cd/Mp3 player. In the last few years, we have all gone digital, replacing our CD players with iPods as we jog, now the car cd player is similarly to be replaced with digital media stereos that solely connect to Mp3 players and other digital media players (i.e sd cards). Although, we will dearly miss the CD player, the digital media stereo has the advantage of docking space for your iPod and a bigger screen.

In second place are navigation and stereo combinations, which combine the practical elements of sat-nav and an entertainment system all in one unit. The combination system has become really popular over the last few years as it means you can access all you need to from one device rather than several.

Our third love is Dual Zone technology – a useful feature that splits the car into two zones (front and back) whereby passengers can choose their own entertainment. Found to be often a valuable feature for families, the Dual Zone feature enable passengers at the front to listen to their own music, whilst the back passengers listen to music or watch a film through the attached headrest screens.

Number four on our list is Bluetooth, the technology that allows you to connect your smart phone or iPhone to your stereo. Stream music, take and receive calls all on your stereo whilst on the go. For busy people everywhere, this device is a saviour as they no longer have to fiddle with hands free. With in-built Bluetooth technology, they can instead connect quickly and easily with their loved ones and colleagues.

Our number five car audio love is the iPod Solution kits. Although not at the height of technology, they do enable older stereos to be able to play music from Mp3 players and iPods. Not everyone wants to change their car stereo, but they may still want the latest technology, so these solution kits have developed for that audience. It’s an apt technology for those who just want to connect up to the latest technology without many features, gadgets or gizmos.

By: Marie Coles

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Have you recently decided that you would like to have your antique car professionally restored? If so, have you already found an individual or a company to perform that restoration for you? If not, you will need to do so. Unfortunately, choosing an antique car restoration business or specialist, isn’t as easy as it sounds. If you take great pride in your antique car, you will not want to have just anyone working on it. That is why it is important that you thoroughly examine all of your options. This can be done in a consultation appointment.

Consultation appointments, as you likely already know, are most commonly associated with healthcare. What you may not know is that consultation appointments are used in a wide variety of other industries, including law and car restoration, yes car restoration. Although an antique car restoration business or specialist may not necessarily advertise that they offer consultation appointments, many will schedule one for you if you want. For this reason, you are urged to request and attend a consultation appointment before deciding who you would like to perform your antique car restoration.

When at a consultation appointment, be sure to ask a number of questions. These questions, which are outlined below, may help make it easier for you truly learn about an antique car restoration specialist or company. When it comes to something as important as having your antique car restored, there is no such thing as too many questions. In fact, you may even want to make a list of all of the questions that you would like to ask ahead of time, just to make sure that all of your bases are covered.

Perhaps, the most important question to ask an antique car restoration company or specialist is about their experience. If more than one individual will be working on your car, what experience does each of those individuals have? Do they have any training? How many cars have they restored that were similar to yours? This information is important. Be cautious of anyone who has little to no antique car restoration experience. Antique car restoration can be considered an art; an art that requires experience, training, education. Since you will be paying for a professional restoration, you want to make sure that you are dealing with true professionals.

If your consultation appointment is being held at the location where your antique car will be restored, you may want to ask to see a portion of the facility. While some companies like to keep what is beyond the scenes beyond the scenes, there are some individuals and companies who will be more than happy to give you a quick tour. This tour may give you some insight into who you are dealing with. In fact, you may even be able to see an antique car getting restored, right in front of your own eyes. If not, you may want to ask to see photographs of past work. This will also give you a first hand look at who you are dealing with, as well as the quality of work that they can produce.

Additional aspects that you may want to cover include the cost of restoration, the time it will take, as well as if the work is guaranteed. Of course, most of this information can be asked over the phone or via email, but a consultation appointment will give you a first hand look.

By: Lamar Burns

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Although an amplifier is devoted to a particular purpose in your car audio system, it is not only there to do its job, but to look good as well. After all, no car audio lover wants an ugly gigantic car amplifier to take over their car. Here’s a low down on the sleekest and cheapest 5-6 channel car amps around and what they can for your car audio system too!

At the entry price, the Hell Fire HL-5.13 5 channel amp is a beautiful, robust and cost effective amp. A clean, curvaceous and sleek amp, with the classic Hell fire logo and motifs, this amplifier looks the part in your car. Perfect for the mid-to high systems it achieves an output of 4 x 225 watts, as well as 150 hz high-pass. Moreover, the low-pass is adjustable from 30 to 300hz and allows subwoofers to be added to the car’s acoustics. On this model a bass boost of 12db at 35hz available, making it a an apt amp for bass lovers. This robust machine also comes with a function that protects your speakers from switching noise, enabling safe listening.

For a bit more money, you can get your hands on the Sony XM-1505SX – an outrageous looking amp that would look at home in a Land Rover. It has been labeled by car audio experts as an aggressively styled car amplifier, with its bright orange ridges exploding among the grey centre point. Not only does it look frilling, like any Sony device, it works very well indeed. With enough power and features to power all your speakers and a subwoofer, this amp is well worth the price. For a mere £229.00, Sony gives you high and low pass overs (50-300hz) that let you tune your system for maximum output and efficiency, a variable bass boost of 0-10db at 40hz and a MOSFET power supply, which handles the large power supply. With a sensitive but wide ranging frequency response rate of 20-50,00Hz, the Sony XM-1505SX is ideal for those who listen to a wide range of frequencies.

For those who like digital, try the Kenwood KAC-X5D 5 channel car amplifier, which has a maximum output of 1200w. A chic liquorice black curvaceous rectangular amp, the Kenwood KAC includes a multifunctional power indicator and blue illuminated screen. It looks at home in an audio system, due to its similar look to regular household audio systems. With a maximum output of 1200 watts and a cooling system, this efficient class D amp is ideal for the regular user who wants power – but not for it to drain their battery too much! As well as a cooling system, the KAC-X5D5 includes a protective function, a MOSFET power supply and dual supply capabilities. The digital KAC furthers expectations by also having a frequency response of 20-20,000hz.

By: Marie Coles

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Anyone who is a car audio fan or who has come by it in passing will know what a subwoofer is. Subwoofers are used to generate that intense and deep feeling of bass, which is normally out of the range of most average speakers. Subwoofers are used not only in car audio, but in home stereos too to give ultimate bass within a small area, such as a room or car.

Although subwoofers may seem simple enough, there are in fact not quite as simple as they seem. Over the years, they have been researched, tested and developed in order to get the best sound out of them as possible. However, like any product there are varying degrees of quality of subwoofers as well as types, which are suited to different requirements and situations.

The first company to introduce decent subwoofers was Acoustic Research (AR), who in 1954 introduced the AR-1W – a system that could extend its bass to 20hz without any help from equalization and was literally a woofer efficiently closed in an enclosure. The AR-1W was unsurpassed in design for years, and in fact is still very influential upon modern subwoofer design by its use of the acoustic suspension principle. The AR-1W was a compact subwoofer that could be easily fitted onto a bookshelf in pairs, unlike the monstrously sized enclosed loudspeakers which had been previously on the market.

Dr Harry Olsen was also a major contributor to the design of audio systems that we have today. In the 1930′s/40′s, he was the first to assert that speakers are in need of a back as well as a front, as otherwise sound waves from the back will interfere with the front ones. He also designed the passive radiator, which was design meant to be a substitute for the vent – a system that had a great number of faults at the time. The vent design needed a large duct in order to avoid wind noises, which often meant the duct was larger than the vent itself. Olsen, instead used a diaphragm with suspension whose mass was equal to that of the air column in the vent, thus it was much smaller and much more efficient than the other design.

Jensen’s James Novak, a highly gifted research engineer and mathematician, was to come up with the bass reflex design. Through his knowledge as a mathematician and experience as an engineer, he was able to create and synthesize ideas for what today is known as the closed, vented and passive speaker systems.

Although considered an essential component today, bass extension was still a relative luxury in the 1950′s and 1970′s. The film businesses were the main guys interested in bass extension, which was first used commercially for the 1977 big hit, Star Wars.

Of the last century, these master engineers and mathematicians have been probably the most influential on the excellent acoustics available in car audio systems and home stereos today.

By: Marie Coles

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The advent of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens has resulted in an amazing number of applications, which were simply not viable because of the size of CRT display monitors. Car LCD screens have proven to be one of the biggest bonanzas for the consumer market. Because of smaller, lighter and thinner LCD monitors, we can use computers in the car or hook up TV, DVD players and even video game consoles. Just imagine, to be able to watch your favorite TV shows or a movie while traveling long distance is a great source of entertainment for everyone; except for the driver of course! Even the kids can remain busy playing their much-loved video games. You can practically convert your car or SUV into a mobile home theater and enjoy just about all the amenities that you normally would in your household.

Car LCD screens have been instrumental in the growth of so called “in-vehicle computer manufacturers” offering low cost, low end “car pc systems” or “carputers”. You can use a car PC or carputer to send or receive e-mails or do any of business related work. These revolutionary conveniences are the result of car LCD screens in conjunction with many other innovative technologies like hand held computers, wireless communications or satellite communications and others.

Car LCD screens come in many sizes and formats (regular or wide screen), ranging from about 7 inches to 12 inches and more to suit the various car types available in the market. You can go with base mounted LCD monitor if there is enough room in the vehicle or you can opt for smaller and compact in-dash screen. You can even get car LCD screens that also offer USB touch screen capabilities. The working of touch screens is based upon emulation of mouse. Consequently, any software designed to work with a mouse will work with the touch screen monitors mounted in the car. Besides the space saving design and size of the car LCD monitors, they also offer an extraordinary bright and high-resolution picture quality that is a treat to watch.

GPS (Geographical Positioning System) is probably one of the most outstanding applications made possible by the development of car LCD screens. This state of the art technology is simply amazing and very useful for every driver on the road. You will never make a wrong turn and never get lost again if your vehicle is equipped with GPS technology. GPS software packages are available for the USA, Canada and most of Europe. It offers the capability to receive turn-by-turn directions to any address nationwide. Because of the clarity of picture quality, the user interface is easy to read on nearly any small car mounted LCD monitor, with its contrasting colors, big icons and fonts. You can even plan your trip to optimize your route before you even leave home! It is a great system for long distance travel that enables traveling from point A to B safe, simple and efficient.

It may sound a little far fetched but the use of GPS technology in combination with the car LCD screens can be extended to achieve some incredible feats. You can probably envision, a lost child or a pet equipped with the GPS chip can be located and traced on your vehicle monitor. Thanks to LCD technology that has made all this feasible.

By: Peter Vermeeren

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