It's not a stable environment at all--fans, windows partially rolled up, dogs panting, plus other people sitting there. But one thing is for sure: it is ALWAYS loud enough. And that is likely what convinces us the sound there is better than ... well ... I was going to say 'better than it is', but then ... what is sound?
Next to theaters, cars are the ideal speaker environment
We live in a world where lots of car brands are bragging about bespoke stereo systems from big names. From JBL to MBL.
As a hobbyist who makes speakers, and can at least sympathize with the pros I’ve been thinking that cars are probably the best single environment for speaker designers. Of course, it’s not without it’s own challenges related to noise and room acoustics, but think about it this way:
With a car audio system you are never guessing about the room acoustics. You know exactly where the user is going to sit and how the room is going to behave.
When you design a speaker system you always have to keep in mind the end user’s most likely environment, or you pick an environment. Roy Allison with his speakers, and to some extent Snell, tried to eliminate as much as possible by making speakers that went along the wall. Not 100% room control, but certainly better than nothing.
As a hobbyist who makes speakers, and can at least sympathize with the pros I’ve been thinking that cars are probably the best single environment for speaker designers. Of course, it’s not without it’s own challenges related to noise and room acoustics, but think about it this way:
With a car audio system you are never guessing about the room acoustics. You know exactly where the user is going to sit and how the room is going to behave.
When you design a speaker system you always have to keep in mind the end user’s most likely environment, or you pick an environment. Roy Allison with his speakers, and to some extent Snell, tried to eliminate as much as possible by making speakers that went along the wall. Not 100% room control, but certainly better than nothing.