Car Audio

In the 80's car audio was getting very, very good. I have mentioned in another thread that my biamped Nakamich and a/d/s system with mini monitors and well recorded cassette tapes sounded unbelievably good, and much more musical than a lot of "high end" digital systems I hear today.

That system, the "a/d/s mobile fidelity system" actually dates back to 1975?!? when it sold for the then astronomical price of $1000.00.

Then, at some point, car audio fell out of fashion and later became a subwoofer and neon competition.

I spent lots of money on my last car, a Porsche Boxster S, with supposedly one of the best installers in the tri state area etc etc and the end result was TERRIBLE.

There are a few sites apparently devoted to high end car audio, and once in a while a tube amp comes along. Milbert made one and Butler amps were also supposed to be good.

Really good, 2 channel, not too boomy, not too hot car audio with natural musical midrang, where I can drive off into the sunset in musical bliss - wow I would love to hear more too.

Anyone?

IMO there is no such thing as high end car audio. Road noise, reflections, limited speaker placement and so on are all factors that you can not eleminate from mobile audio.

where can i buy the Seas speakers you mention? I hope they make a good single driver speaker.

Linn and Levinson both make car audio that is highly regarded...

Dynaudio, MB Quart, Infinity and Focal make fantastic component car audio speakers. Genesis(England) make very high end amps and speakers. Try www.Theautophile.com. Mr. Peter Lufrano if I remember correctly and ask his advice. Not sure if his advice is still free though. He wasn't real keen on giving free advice unless you were buying something from him, but there is no denying that the man knows his car audio! It all depends on where you are wanting to go with your car's system and how much $$ you want to spend. It isn't all neon and boomy bass! I love my truck's system!

Eldarado

Obviously conditions are not ideal in a car, compared to say, a recording studio. But to be honest, I never understood this reaction to car audio.

Just because we may add road noise or face challenges with reflections or speaker placement, does that mean we should just give up and settle for Delco?

In my experience the interior of a car - with leather and carpets - can sometimes compensate nicely for the reflective nature of the windows. Car windows rattle less than house windows in a listening room.

And tweeters can be mounted in fiberglass pods, for example, in foot wells and aimed at your ears for more on axis response.

Even if these things cant be tamed, an audiophile can still listen THROUGH these things and hear what is hopefully good sound beneath it all.

Would you rather listen to a good system in a bad room, or a bad system in a bad room? If a band plays in a noisy bar, should they discard the usual care and attention to the mix?

This is AUDIOgon. And whatever, the case listening to music in the car is really FUN.

DMA

Yes, the autophile was one of the sites previously recommended for this topic.