basic car audio

Good Vibrations

With Gabe Vasquez

Basic Car Audio Technology

The Car Audiophile

No Different From This Audiophile

What is an Audiophile?

Seeking high quality audio reproduction via quality electronics and speakers

Looking to reproduce the dynamics range

And placement of instruments and voices being listened to.

Elements of Sound

Lets first examine components of sound

What is Sound?

Sound is a mechanical wave which results from the back and forth vibration.Consists of a repeating pattern of high and low pressure movement of air.

Think about a tuning fork as it is struck and vibrates

Normal Conversation 40db

Live Rock Band 120db

Jet Plane Taking Off 140db

Sound is Measured in Decibels

A Decibel is a measurement of Sound level.

You need an increase of 3 dbto notice a moderate change in volume

6 decibels is a doubling of volume.

Decibels?

Decibel Meter

Reproducing the Live Event

Soundstage

DepthImaging

What About Car Stereo?

The Car Stereo is the central nervous and brains of any car stereo system.

Reproducing the soundstage in a vehicle is a challenge for the novice

Most car audio systems break down to four central components.

How loud can an amp get?

What’s The Benefits of Separates?

Better Sound: than typical factory systemsNew Sources: like Bluetooth & HD RadioMore Features: Color displays and Dolby Digital and DTS Surround Sound

Expandability: Aux Inputs and USB connections to external amplifiers & subs

Security: Detachable face plates and stealth mode to protect your investment.

How Loud Is It?For one amplifier or head unit to be

twice as loud as another, you need 10 times more wattage output.

An amplifier with 100 WPC is capable of twice (2X) the volume level of a 10 WPC amp.

An amplifier with 100 WPC needs to be 1,000 WPC to be twice as loud.

Let’s talk about RMS & Peak Power

RMS & Peak Power

RMS and Peak Power: are ratings used to determine theperformance of audio products

RMS (root means square) is a measure of continuous power measured in watts

Higher RMS power means the receiver is either able to provide or accept (speakers) the specified power over a significant length of time without fail.

Pre Amp Tuner

The central system where all function and switching and adjustments take place.This includes volume, balance fader,

tone adjustments, source selection to equalization, crossovers and eventime correction.

Source

AM/FM tuner, CD player, MP3 decoder, satellite radio, USB connections, IPod, DVD and even cassette player’s are routed through the head unit.

Signal Processors & Crossovers

Car interiors present serious problems to audiophiles

Glass and plastic surfaces reflect sound

Carpet, seat covers soak it up.

Poorly-placed speakers add to a poor soundstage

Signal Processors & Crossovers

Most receivers have a bass and treble tone control.

But an equalizer allows you to shape sound based on interior faults and personal likes.

Crossovers will fine tune and smooth out your system

When using a sub, use the high-pass filter to remove the low bass from your car's full-range speakers for clean volume.

Scotty We Need More Power

The Amplifier

Boosts the small audio signal coming from the pre-amp section and sends out to the speakers

Why Upgrade to a Separate Amp? Amplifiers can bring out the details so your music to be loud (and clear).

They gives you a clean power source to drive your speakers without straining, distorting or clipping

High-quality aftermarket speakers subs or component systems require more power for peak performance than your existing in-dash receiver can provide.

My Amp is 200 Watts!

There's a big difference between 50 watts peak power per channel and 50 watts RMS from an outboard amplifier.

A separate amp will give you more clean power than any car stereo

Any Other Reason?

Subwoofers need more power than a factory in-dash receiver can provide

Adding high-quality aftermarket speakers or component systems to your vehicle may require more power for peaks

A factory system or an in-dash receiver may not do justice to your upgraded speakers

Speakers

Component speaker systems are the best way to get high-quality sound in your vehicle.

Speakers

In most instances, speakers are the last thing a car manufacturer thinks about when building your car.

Matching Sound and System

Should you buy speakers with a high or low sensitivity rating?

Sensitivity measures how much sound a speaker makes from the power you supply to it

A car's system that is low-powered (15 watts RMS per channel or less), gets better results from speakers with high sensitivity ratings (over 90 dB).

What About Capacitors?

Subwoofers in mind when they built your car.

Why Not?Big bass sucks up a lot of power, and most car electrical systems.

Capacitors act as buffers between your amps and your car's battery.

It stores power from your battery, then releases when you need it

A Garden Hose for a House Fire?

Not enough water would get through to keep up with demand.

Same analogy when using cheap, undersized power cable

You starve your amp for power when you start pushing up the volume control.

Good cables allow current to flow freely so you get all the power you need when you need it

Boss Advanced Technology