If you car audio system still hasn’t reached its full potential, it could be due to the lack of amp. Unlike indoor stereo systems, car audio systems need that extra power to work perfectly, due to the car’s movement and extra noise. Although car audio can especially sound complex, mainly due to its terminology, such as subwoofers, tweeters and amplifiers, it is in fact not quite rocket science. So don’t be put off by the jargon and investigate.

The chief advantage of adding an amplifier to your audio system is the fact it will improve sound quality. Whether you’re an occasional music listener or a zealous fan, you simply don’t want to hear crackling music, which can be caused by a lack of amp. If you have a particularly new car, you may already have a pre-installed amplifier; however, since car manufactures are the provider of these they are often just not as high quality and are regularly installed in an unsuitable place. Simply, their expertise lies in car manufacturing, not car audio.

With an amplifier, you can also add a subwoofer to your audio system. Without an amp, you simply can’t regulate the power to subwoofers and high power speakers, which will cause sound distortions and blips in the sound quality at least. Subwoofers are a favourite with music lovers as they pick up the low notes that normal speakers cannot. These low notes or frequencies can be found these days in most genres, but particularly drum’n'bass. They cannot be produced by normal speakers as they simply don’t have the lower range of a subwoofer. Consequently, if you don’t include a subwoofer, you are effectively missing out on the full range of sound in your music. If you are going to add a subwoofer, then you should think about complementing your audio system with a tweeter too, which does the opposite of a subwoofer – produces the higher notes.

If this all sounds like a horrendous effort and power drainage to you, there’s no need to worry as an amplifier will regulate the power to your system without losing too much energy. Highly efficient amps are available, known as class D, which provide nearly as much output as input. Tweeters also barely need any energy. On today’s car audio market, efficiency and power regulation are considered to be one of the most important properties of amps and other car audio accessories.

A good car audio dealer will also help you pick out an amp that is suitable for your needs, as well as install it for you at an additional cost.

By: Marie Coles

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With car thefts on the increase, it’s vital that you protect your car, the car audio system and any goods inside. One of the best security options out there is the car alarm, which deters thefts by emitting a loud, high pitched sound.

There are two types of car alarms currently available – the integrated car alarm (OEM) and the aftermarket alarm, which is installed at a later date. The OEM car alarm is usually armed or disarmed by pressing the entry remote; however, some models allow you to arm the car by merely shutting the door or disarm as soon as you turn the ignition on. Aftermarket alarms, however, often can only be armed and disarmed by the remote.

Depending on the alarm system, your alarm might go off in different circumstances as it depends on what the alarm is triggered by. For OEM systems, the doors, the boot and the hood, plus, in some vehicles the ignition are monitored for any pressure or force. Some vehicles have an integrated impact sensor, which recognizes any significant impact on the car.

Aftermarket alarms range from very basic models to more complex ones. The basic models monitor vibrations or any surges in electrical current, usually suggesting the boot or a door is being opened; however, this obviously has drawbacks as it presumes any surge or voltage change is someone trying to break in, which is not always the case. Yet, there are a variety of aftermarket models which are much smarter than their predecessors, as they can sense any force being used on the boot, hood and doors, as well as impact, plus, if the car is being tilted, the glass is broken and motion inside and outside the car.

The main advantage of an aftermarket alarm is that the key remote is universal and can be used on any car. They also have the option of altering trigger inputs, so that the car alarm only goes off when certain triggers occur. Being able to make these adjustments allows you to have much more control over your car alarm. For instance, some sensors on car alarms can be overly sensitive and having control over these can help you avoid those annoying false alarms.

Having a decent car alarm system is vital to protecting your car and your car audio system from theft. It also, however, needs to be just sensitive enough to pick up the signs of anyone breaking in without being too sensitive, so as to avoid false alarms. Some people don’t take car alarms very seriously due to them going off falsely, which sadly means that cars are still stolen, despite the alarm being triggered. A high quality alarm system, however, won’t often incur false alarms, in turn letting you only know when someone is seriously breaking into your car.

By: Marie Coles

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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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