In today’s world, millions of people love long drives with music on air. There is a great interconnection between mood, music, and driving. By the time the first car radios arrived, drivers have always enjoyed driving, listening to news or music. Drivers have their own customized playlist with which they enjoy their seats on wheels, according to their mood, taste, and nature of the trip. In this era, music has a great influence on one’s life. Music creates a major impact on one’s mood. In fact, music can play a major role in all aspects like mind, body, brain, and behavior. A person on the steering wheel might want to get out of a bad mood. Listening to music can relax the mind and encourage peaceful feelings. Suitable background music enhances human performance and provides comfort in driving.
Apart from having an excellent car with the best engine and wheels, one should also have a quality car stereo. Car stereo should not only look good but also have good sound effects and convenient controllers. A car stereo can be mentioned as the brain of your entire car entertainment system. Car stereo controls what you hear, how it is delivered, the volume, and tone of the audio. Apart from just a music output, it can also be used as a medium that can interact with your smartphone. If enabled it can also have access to your phone calls, audio files, messages, and navigation.
Keeping all these in mind, getting a suitable car stereo system is not an easy task. Some of the tips noted below will help you in buying a car stereo.
1. Ask yourself: why do you want to buy a new stereo system?
Determine and note down your requirements for the stereo and how you will be using it. A thought popped up: “why does this sound like this?” or “ why is the sound not loud enough?” or “why is there not enough clarity?” or “ why background instruments are not audible?” etc. Any other thoughts apart from “I love my car stereo system”, then it is time to buy a new car stereo system. Make sure, you are aware of the lack in your car stereo. Examples of questions you can ask yourself are: Is your car stereo damaged? Looking for better sound quality? Do you require the latest featured radio options? Do you require a larger display with a touch screen? Are you looking for more bass? Are you not able to enjoy the existing volume? Knowing what is lacking helps you in finding the best and most efficient stereo system.
2. Do research on your requirements.
Take your time, try to research the various car stereo brands in the market. Get the reviews of the products. Keep a note of the brands which you think suits the best with your requirements and budget. Better your goal and expectation, better will be the retailer’s suggestions. If you want to add-on any features, specify it to the retailer. Retailers will be always happy to show you the latest features and products available today in the market.
3. Get the right components.
Once you have taken the reviews and found out the model of the car stereo, test the product you have chosen. Make sure to choose a user interface, which is easy to use and to understand. As years have passed, technology has changed too. As technology changed, car stereos have also changed accordingly. Years back there was a car audio system with the most basic radio features like the AM/FM only. But now we have car stereos with all kinds of features inbuilt.
If you require a Bluetooth feature, check if your phone gets paired with it. Also check if it gets reconnected automatically every time the radio is turned on. Taking a trial on speakers or a subwoofer system is very important; if you intend to buy one. You can compare demo speakers or subwoofers; check the differences sitting inside the car, to finalize on the product in the car. One of the best options is Hertz, Audison, Ground Zero or Rockford subwoofers.
Component standards chosen by you, specify the quality of the car stereo. Even though car stereo technology has changed immensely, the basic three components of the car stereo are still unchanged. They are amplifiers, speakers, and the head unit. Never compromise on these 3 basic components. They are the backbones of any car stereo system.
4. Smartphone Integration
As the smartphone boom, car owners love to play music from their phones directly. So be assured that your car stereo unit is compatible with your smartphone. There are models in the market, which use smartphone displays to control car stereos. In turn, making a smartphone display as a touch screen for the receiver.
It is essential your car stereo has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration, which helps to play music from your phone. The latest smartphone integration helps you control the radio, stream music, dial and receive phone calls, read your text messages aloud, access navigation and much more. It makes your driving simple by allowing you to manage your phone via the car stereo head unit while driving.
5. Power
It is important to check the power capacity of the stereo system while the inputs are from different sources. Output to the car speaker also should be analyzed using an internal amplifier. Our aim is to produce the best sound quality. It is important to confirm, speakers are not either overpowered or underpowered by the amplifier. Another important factor to be kept in mind is in regards to the wattage. The best car Stereo Brands like Sony, Pioneer, and Kenwood provide 55W Power including preamp; switching weak electrical signals to strong enough enabling additional processing, preventing noise, and offering the best voice clarity output.
More wattage does not always mean better audio quality. It is preferable to buy a car stereo with high RMS power. It provides the best volume-outcome without reaching the highest limit of the amplifier.
6. GPS Navigation
Nowadays, no one wishes to stop at different places and ask for the destination route. Car stereos in the updated market not only live music but are also used for navigation purposes. GPS navigation allows the driver to concentrate on the road and guide to reach the destination easily, even at new places.
Apple CarPlay and the most powerful GPS navigation app now function together. Apple CarPlay makes navigation more convenient, pleasant, and secure. You can use the app without looking down at your phone once you've connected. You may control the app via your car's touchscreen, knobs, or buttons.
7. Form Factor
The form factor is another important aspect while deciding a stereotype. Any car dashboards provide either Single-DIN or Double-DIN. Single-DIN is used for stereos which are built with a digital screen, allowing display song details and manual playback options. Double-DIN is used for LCD audio systems that play videos and use the touchscreen.
8. Speaker Basket
The Speaker basket is important because the design and material are proportional to the quality of the sound. It is a cone-type assembly that holds all components of the speaker, including the frame, cone, terminals, and voice coil. A refined basket disperses back waves without impacting the quality of the sound from the speaker.
It is a key factor to have a proper installation place for the speaker basket. Our factory-trained technicians perfectly install and provide the perfect proper tuning to get the best sound outcome. It is equally important that the basket is hard enough so that it helps in undergoing the normal operation without adding any additional frequencies. Hertz, Audison, Ground Zero and Rockford speakers provide a full line of enclosures, designed for their speakers and their online catalog.
9. Driver’s Safety
Driver safety is kept in mind, a major number of car stereos are designed to offer it. Some of the examples are Back Sensor, Blind Spot Detection, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, etc
10. Budget
Decide your budget range before you buy a car stereo. While keeping your budget range in mind opt for a better quality stereo with a reasonable rate. Remember, the more you pay, the better quality stereo you get. It is best to consider what you want and how much you can pay. If you don’t have an average budget in mind, then there are chances you might end up spending more than you expect.
benefits of using branded speakers like Hertz, Audison, etc. are they provide a life span of approximately 20 years. It’s a one-time investment and hence you can always easily transfer the sound system from one vehicle to another without any hassle.
With the above 10 points in mind, you can start working on your selection. Find the best car stereo of your choice. Hope you are all set and ready to buy a car stereo.
Looking for experts in dependable modification and entertainment audio systems? Car Planet is ready to help you. Welcome to the fantastic and leading world of CAR PLANET, where you may experience a highly specialized team of engineers dedicated to accessorizing, servicing, audio installation, upgrading, and a variety of other marine audio adjustments. They have a staff of sound professionals who can successfully work on marine audio upgrades and basic radio installations depending on the size of your boat. Furthermore, their in-car entertainment audio system is something to be excited about, as they steadfastly provide many aspects of vehicle audio installation and related maintenance.
We pride ourselves in stocking in-car accessories of unbeatable range from the world's most trusted and accepted brands like Hertz, Audison, Ground Zero, and Rockford. And we are the exclusive distributors of these speakers. Reach us for top-notch services at an affordable rate.
