Do you own a leased car, truck or SUV, but aren’t quite happy with the dealer-installed sound system? Would you like to have a video system in your leased vehicle, but are deterred by the expensive costs of the DVD player and overhead drop-down screens offered by the dealership. In the past, if you were unhappy with the entertainment system in your leased vehicle, you either had to accept the system as it was or pay to have it customized to your preferred taste and then pay once again for the original equipment to be reinstalled before returning your leased vehicle to the dealership. On top of that, if your custom installer did not restore all of the original equipment to make it look as if nothing had been changed, the dealer would tack on yet another fee.
This situation is obviously very reasonable unless you really love a quality automotive entertainment center and you have plenty of money to burn. Luckily, over the past few years, there have been products to hit the market that directly meet the needs of those who own leased vehicles and also enjoy the benefits of a quality sound and video system in their vehicle.
There are so many different head units available these days that making an informed decision on which one to buy is a long process. I happen to know that about 99% of people have the same goals:
1. Get a unit with all of the best features. 2. Save money on that unit.
You are now considering purchasing new speakers for your car and there are a number of things that should be thought about in order that you make the best choice possible. It is crucial that when looking to purchase speakers for your car you go with a clear idea and plan of what it is you intend to buy. It does not naturally follow that the bigger the speakers the better they are.
In fact you may find that when purchasing your speakers they may cost more than you intended and it is wise not to purchase ones which have numerous features which you won’t actually use. It is sensible to remember that the highest quality audio speakers available for your car will cost more than a lot of others, but in general these are worth the extra cost. However, if you do decide that big speakers are what you want then make sure the ones you purchase have a brand name that can be depended upon and ensure that they will provide you with crystal clear sound at all times.
Build quality:
Some head units are flimsy and weak. Some are built to last. Usually the best way to determine this is by the weight of the unit. Also, check to see if anything doesn’t “fit”, or if there are parts that are cheap or flimsy. The truth is this: The bigger name units tend to be better. Also, the more expensive units tend to be better. This isn’t always a big deal for everyone, but I believe that build quality is very important. Afterall, do you want to spend $100 for a cheap unit that will last two or three years, or $600 on a unit that will last for 20 years?
With such a wide range of components and gadget on the market for car audio systems, the big question is “Where do I start?”
First you must decide what exactly you wish to do. If you are wanting to build a car audio system for a daily driver (the car you drive back and forth to work) with good sounds, but you are not interested in competing, a system can easily be put together for under $1000. However, if you are looking for the all-out bass monster, be prepared to drop in some big bucks into your system.
There are so many car stereo head units on the market. How do you know what to choose? Let’s take a look at some of the things you should look for when buying a head unit.
1. How user friendly is the head unit?
According to the US Census, the average American worker spends approximately 25 minutes per day commuting to work. While the number sounds reasonable in that context, multiply it out and in the course of a year, you see that you’ll have spent over 100 hours inside of your vehicle. That’s a whole lot of time. When this much time is spent crammed inside a relatively small space, people are naturally antsy for some entertainment. Thus we have seen the evolution of car stereos, cell phones, and personal entertainment systems that allow us pass the time spent in traffic a little more quickly.
The car stereo system is by far the most widespread and universal of these creature comforts designed to make the trip bearable. Here’s how the history breaks down: In 1929, the first car radios appeared on the American market, although they didn’t become popular until the 60’s. By 1970, people wanted to be able to dictate what music they listened to without having to rely on a DJ to hold their hand through the musical landscape. Thus, the 8-track was born. 1980 saw the advent of the cassette tape deck, which provided superior sound quality to the 8-track, and the cassette soon bowed to the CD in the 90’s.
Stuff you’ll need for a head unit install:
Head Unit
Most cars have a fairly average sound system in their car. This is why most people turn to after-market products to enhance their listening experience. There are so many different things to consider when enhancing your car stereo. We will go through some of these things in this article.
The first thing to consider is your car itself. Is it a 2 door, 4 door, hatch or sedan. This is important as it should greatly influence the type of sound system you purchase. Smaller cars don’t need as much power as larger cars, simply because there is smaller cabin space and too much power can be overkill.
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When choosing a pioneer car audio MP3 it’s important to address a few key questions. How much do you want to spend? What features are most important to you? An MP3 is a way to encode audio that compresses data so it can store a lot more of it while keeping a high standard of quality. Pioneer has a long-standing reputation for quality and also for being one of the easiest car audio systems to install and use. They make a range of car audio that can play MP3’s, including the lower end DEH-P3700MP for a little over $100 to the AVICD1 navigation system for about $1,600. If you are looking for a basic system to play CD’s and MP3’s, a simpler system will be fine. But, if you want more features like navigation or a DVD player you will pay a lot more for a higher end system.
One of the most important things to look for is how you are going to navigate through all of your MP3 files, especially while driving. If you have a large library of music, you will need to find an MP3 player that makes browsing through the discs as easy as possible. Many discs can hold up to about 250 songs, and it’s crucial that you can find exactly what you’re looking for as quickly as possible. One of the most reasonably priced MP3 player’s Pioneer makes is the DEH-P5500M, which costs around $270 and allows you to organize files by artist, track, folder name, file name, and album. It also has satellite radio and CD changer controls. It’s also imperative that you check that the discs you use on your computer for music are compatible with the ones for the MP3 player, otherwise you might end up with a library of music that won’t play in your car. ID tags to identify songs must be a certain version compatible with the car’s system, or you’ll end up with a lot of unusable music. If you figure out what you’re looking for, you can make an educated decision about which system will best suit your budget and your listening needs.
One of the hottest consumer commodities at the moment is the DVD. And now the DVD player is set to makes inroads into the automobile accessory market as more and more manufacturers release their new models. It might appear like an unnecessary luxury to many, but for those of us who have children and have experienced a long road trip with them, a DVD player in the car is almost a necessity. There is nothing like a good movie to distract the kids from the boredom of a long journey.
There are quite a few choices in the car DVD category. They range from the budget portable players to high end in-dash models complete with Satellite radio. Your choices will be likely dictated not only by cost, the type of vehicle you own but also how much control you want over the viewing.
Today car sound systems are big business. People, especially the younger generation, want to build the very best in car sound systems and they usually do not care what they cost. This can become an expensive undertaking but for those who value music it is worth every penny.
Your first order of business is to decide on a proper car stereo head unit. This is the main control unit of the entire system and comes in the form of a tuner, compact disc player or cassette player or a combination of two. These days most people go with a compact disc player head unit as they are the most readily available and most people buy compact discs for their musical selection instead of cassette tapes that are somewhat hard to come by these days.
There are so many car stereo speakers on the market. How do you know what to choose? Let’s take a look at some of the things you should look for when buying a car speaker.
1. How is the speaker’s power measured?