Buyers’ guide to car stereo systems

HEAD UNITS

When you decide to buy a stereo system for your car or revamp your car’s audio system, you need to start with its music source —the in- dash receiver/ player. In- dash receivers/ players improve the overall sound quality of your music system. Most of them come with a CD player supporting various formats: CD- R, CDRW, MP3, and WMA. Some of them even support the Apple iPod and Satellite radio. Car audio manufacturers (Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, JVC and Sony) offer a wide range of head units to choose from. One should buy a head unit (in dash receiver) with optional preamp output. This is needed when you decide to put an amplifier in the future. Buy the head unit with a built- in CD Changer or add a CD Changer to your existing car stereo system so you don’t have to fiddle with controls and CD cases while you drive.

SPEAKERS
Good quality speakers maximise the sound potential of your car. Manufacturers such as JBL, Alpine, Nippon, Sony and Pioneer deliver a wide range of car speakers, varying in size, price, and power. To get the optimum output and quality of sound, first measure the areas of your car where you want to place your speakers. You can mount them in a variety of places, including the front and/ or back of a car, as well as inside car doors. Small cars don’t need speakers that have more than 4X45 Watts power. So the head units’ amplifier is good enough to drive the speakers. Always buy the speakers which have little higher wattage handling capacity than the head units, so that there isn’t any jarring in the speaker units even when you keep the sound volume to its maximum. There are two types of speaker systems: One is the full range speaker and the other is the component system. The full range speaker system has only one speaker handling all the frequency range from 40 Hz to 16,000 Hz. But in component speaker system the frequencies are divided and given to different speakers, which can handle those frequencies efficiently. So the quality of sound is good in component systems than the full range speaker system.

SUB WOOFERS
Sub woofers reproduce very low bass frequencies to provide thumping bass sound. You’ll need an amplifier to drive your sub woofer and a place to install an 8- to- 15- inch unit. You can mount it in a trunk enclosure, under a seat, or in aside panel or cargo tray. The larger the sub woofer, the lower the frequency it will produce.

AMPLIFIERS
Car amplifiers add to the overall volume of your car audio system, driving your speakers without causing distortion. Amplifiers tend to improve the clarity and detail of music being played. Amplifiers should be placed under a seat, inside the trunk of your car or in the rear of your car. Car amplifiers are recommended for big cars with a larger interior space. They come in all ranges from 100 Watts to more than 2000 Watts. Do some research and go for the big buy.