In-Car Entertainment
- Designing a car stereo system: what you need to know
- Choosing the right amplifier and speakers for your car stereo
auna: reliable devices for your in-car entertainment
The driving experience has substantially evolved in these last years. Not only did vehicles gain exponentially in terms of comfort, but they also feature sophisticated infotainment systems that nowadays allow to replace pure driving with the feeling of being comfortably at home. Of course, without taking the eyes off the road, as safety must always be the priority.
Modern car radios represent the ideal combination of entertainment and usefulness. Not only can you enjoy your favourite music, but you can also listen to news and traffic information, thanks to next-generation devices that combine powerful technology and uncomplicated use. A car is a very peculiar location when it comes to installing an audio system, not only because of the characteristics of the passenger compartment, requiring a careful balance between bass and treble for an optimal acoustic response. Modern car infotainment systems must also rely on a clear and easily accessible user interface, and as most drivers see mobile devices as an extension of themselves, the connectivity of car audio devices is no longer an option.
On auna we offer you a wide assortment of components to customize your in-car entertainment system, from complete kits to individual car speakers and subwoofers with innovative design and top performance. If you are planning to replace your old car radio, you will find a wide choice of next-generation single and double din head units with large, comfortable touch screens allowing you to access basic and advanced features. Let us inspire you and take advantage of our offers to guarantee you not only a top-notch sound, but a flexible, reliable, complete in-car entertainment solution for your next trip.
Designing a car stereo system: what you need to know
The performance of your car stereo system depends not only on the choice of the right components, but also on how well insulated the car interior is; depending on how airtight the interior environment is, the resulting sound quality will be higher or lower, as well as the signal leakage and vibrations perceived inside the car. Having clarified this, it is important to make a distinction between the two different types of systems: stock car audio and custom car audio.
The first term refers to the audio system that is installed by default in every car. Usually these systems have very limited power, and the resulting sound quality can certainly be improved. Precisely because of these limitations inherent in the factory audio equipment of a car, the concept of custom car audio was born, aimed at satisfying the needs of those who are not content to listen to their favourite music.
As we have just said, the concept of custom car audio consists in customizing the car audio system by modifying its predetermined components, changing them or adding new ones to those provided by default. In general, they are usually more powerful than the factory ones, and since it is a custom installation it is possible to 'play around' with the choice of audio equipment components, opting for different configurations depending on the sound you want to obtain.
Although originally the custom car audio referred to the implementation of improvements exclusively in the car radio, today, thanks to new technologies, its scope has been considerably extended to include visual elements such as DVD players' screens, where you can also watch video clips and even movies.
Choosing the right amplifier and speakers for your car stereo
The choice of amplifier is always crucial when it comes to audio equipment. The power amplifier must have as linear a response as possible, and should not exceed any frequency range compared to another, so as not to encounter any kind of distortion. A powerful amplifier is not better a priori, let alone optimal: a lower power amplifier, but with a good response in the frequency range it works with, without a doubt, will deliver you a sound of greater quality and depth.
As far as car speakers are concerned, which have the task of reproducing all the frequencies that the car radio transmits, the advice is to always choose the highest quality ones you can afford according to the available budget: in fact, there is no point in choosing a good amplifier and taking care to use high-quality cables to create good connections between the sound source, the amplifier and the different speakers, if you use speakers of insufficient quality that will end up generating distortions and a sound that is anything but crystal clear.
As with amplifiers, a more expensive speaker is not always the best for the sound system we have in mind. Buying a car speaker with resistance up to 100w nominal peaks, if driven by a 15w RMS amplifier, would be a waste of money, for example, as well as the fact that the speakers won't sound good due to low power. For this reason, your car stereo system must always be designed with all the elements that will compose it in mind.
The importance of wiring for proper car stereo operation
The pre-out output has the function of transforming all the information contained on a disk or USB into electrical impulses that will be transmitted to the speakers of the audio equipment to generate the sound. If the conversion is not optimal, these electrical pulses will not faithfully represent the digital signal, so you will hear noises, distortions or electrical variations not present in the original signal, and the audio track will not sound as you wish.
Wiring is also a very important and often overlooked part in the design of a car stereo system, and it is certainly worth investing in quality wiring, avoiding poor quality components that will circulate the signal with difficulty, producing voltage fluctuations and generating annoying noises that will prevent you from enjoying crystal clear sound quality. For this reason, we offer a wide range of accessories that will allow you to further optimise the performance of your car stereo
.