Do you care about car audio?


I like nice cars and I appreciate the fact that I've been fortunate enough to lease and drive some very nice ones.  I would never drive a luxury car out of warranty, but that's not my point.  My point is, as much as I love audio, I never really had any urge to upgrade my car audio system.  Whatever came with the car was totally satisfactory to me.  Right now, my car came with a somewhat upgraded Meridian stereo, but it is not the full-blown surround/subwoofer deal.  It sounds fine and I've never wanted more than a standard decent car radio had to offer.  
Do you people have any enthusiasm for upgraded car audio as opposed to stock?  Then again, truth be told, I've never listened to the fancy car setups and I might be tempted if I thought it was that much more enjoyable.  Who knows. 
chayro
Used to care more back in the days with separate drivers, amp, cassette deck. 
After that all the cars i drove were leased ones so no room for experimentation.
Today my Giulletta has a decent factory installed unit with connectivity and that's fine for me.

Noticed someone else mention Soundstream... In the mid 80's I had two Soundstream class A50's running MB-Quart coaxial front and back with a D100 powering the sub - also Soundstream cassette head unit with the adjustable azimuth control (same a the famous Nacamichi "Dragon" head unit). All KimberKable (isn't that crazy!). That system was awesome - for a late teen/early 20's guy in the Army.
Later, I replaced those 'fry-an-egg' class A's (honestly, if you touched them you'd loose skin) with high-current (labeled "cheater amps" because they double power down to 2ohms) Phoenix Gold MS/MQ-series. I've run those since early 90's and still do. Yes, they've been moved through several cars and trucks over the years. The most recent incarnation is setup like this:
- High-end Kenwood head unit to an active 4-way crossover
- Phoenix Gold MQ-430 (4-ch) running tweeters and mids in the front doors
- Phoenix Gold MS-275 (2-ch) running the 8-3/4" mid-bass also in the front doors
- Speakers are Morel 3-way separates (1990's version of the Elate TI-903)
- Orion HCCA-275G4 (another old-school "cheater" amp, last of the US-made Orion HCCAs and doubles power down to 0.5 ohms) driving a
- Stereo pair of 12" Image Dynamics in a custom sealed enclosure DIY'd to fit behind the rear seats of crew-cab truck.
- Massive amount of sound-deadening material throughout.

Audio-supremist can talk bad about car audio all they want, this system sounds amazing (even compared to various incarnations of my 2-ch home systems) and has given me such enjoyment for so many years. Morel drivers (at least the ones I've used) are something special.

It was actually the sound from this car audio system that lead me to open-baffle, when one day I realized how much better the sound was with the windows down (and air pressure was free to escape the inside of the door cavity). Now everything else in the 2-ch home system sounds like listening to speakers to me - like flipping a switch from live (open-baffle) to recorded (box speakers). The other aspect it taught me was the benefit of active crossovers for amp effectiveness and overabundant power for current stability and driver control. 

All these years and I still marvel at the sound quality.
I've been into both home and car stereo for a very long time. I'm a bit surprised how many don't seem to care much about car stereo. Maybe that is because I do more long drives than your average Joe. I have probably listened to more music in my car than anywhere else.

When I buy a car I always look for the most basic stereo option. Then aftermarket upgrades are simpler. Many of the modern OEM upgrades are tougher to remove and IMO nearly every one sounds pretty poor. They use poor components, underpowered amps, and too many drivers. I've heard various Harmon Kardon and a few Mark Levinson OEM upgrades and while the latter ones were decent not nearly as good what a couple grand spent in an aftermarket system can provide. 

For maybe $1,500 one can easily upgrade the amp and front speakers to get a huge improvement. I usually spend a tad more to do a bit of sound deadening, high quality 2 or 3 ways drivers, and a sub when I am feeling rich. Given how much music I listen to when driving it is a great use of $$ for me. Imaging is always tough of course (mainly due to available front tweeter positioning) and the fidelity in a car is very different (and not nearly as good) as what one can get at home. 


Not a bit.  I have a few 70s cars.  All the radios failed in the end.
I bought blanking plates.

I mostly listen to the radio in my modern car.  Occasionally a CD, usually I take a pile of them for long continental trips.
Good post.  In my daily driver, Corolla, I am finding that at 14 years old, the stock system is getting noisy, etc.  I am thinking of replacing it.  Issue is the speakers.  Even 14 years ago you had to take the entire car apart to replace the factory stuff...pain in the butt.  The head unit comes out in about 2 minutes...nutty.

In my C-2, my daughter wanted to play her music through the sound system.  I bought a VERY expensive head unit that fits the car and has built-in amps.  I put some speakers in the back, but the ones that supposedly fit the front do not.  SO, I contacted the company, who I did business with in the 1980's, and found that the owner's daughter is now running it.  We had a nice exchange, but she is doing nothing to fix the problems with her gear.  SO, I took it upon myself as a former dealer and sometimes car stereo installer to see what I could do.  

Today, I have the only factory A/C C-2 with front speakers that are where they should be, fit fine, sound fine (my daughter likes it; I don't always listen as I enjoy the sound of the car), and everything looks factory.  Also, everything can be removed easily (for a C-2, anyway) and put back to factory in a very short time.

Best of both worlds, and was not all that hard to do once I figured out how to get those front speakers to fit correctly.  Now, I have it if I want it, and the off knob works just fine as well.

As for the Corolla, well, we shall see...

Cheers!