Three Tips for Choosing a Car Stereo

For many people, the car is somewhere that they spend a lot of time. In the UK, it’s common to have to commute at least half an hour each way to work five times a week. That’s a minimum of five hours a week in the car.

It makes sense to make the best of that time in some way or another, and, really, the only thing that can make a car journey better – from the point of view of the driver, passengers have many more options – is some type of audio experience, e.g. music, learning a new language, etc.

 

The best way to achieve this entertainment is through a car stereo. There’s really no alternative, unless you can hire a singer to sit in the car, or a language expert to come and teach you. That’s just silly when you can simply buy a car stereo.

 

Here, we’re going to look at three tips to help you buy a car stereo. The answers to these questions will vary from person to person, so it’s a good idea to run through them, work out your answers and then take this information to your local car audio shop who will be able to tailor the stereo to your preferences.

 

  1. What type of files will you listen to the most?

The first thing that you need to consider is the type of player you need. For example, some people don’t like listening to the radio, so it’s not necessarily worth buying a radio. Alternatively, you might like to do so, even if you don’t like listening to the radio, on the off chance that you change your mind in the future.

 

Other considerations include things like:

  1. Do you want to be able to dock your phone/tablet/Mp3 or 4 players? If you have plenty of music on your devices, then it makes sense to choose a plug-and-play style stereo.
  2. Do you want to be able to play from memory devices, and if so, which ones? E.g., you might want to play from a USB stick, micro SD, micro USB, etc.
  3. Do you want to be able to play CDs and tapes? Yep, some of you out there will still have a lot of music in these formats. It makes sense, because you will often have to pay for music twice if you want to buy it in another format. If you had an extensive CD collection, then the chance is it will cost £1000s to replace.

 

  1. Do you need high quality sound?

Most of you will read that and think, “Well, duh! Who doesn’t?”, but that fact is, many people can’t tell the difference between OK quality sounds and high quality sound. If you do have a good musical ear, then you might be frustrated with a low quality system. Talk to your car audio shop for further help and advice. They will make you listen to various stereos, so that you can work out which is right, and which isn’t right for you.

 

  1. What type of speaker set up do you need?

The highest quality set up is usually a component set up. Here, the woofer, subwoofer, and tweeter are separated into different casings. It makes for crisper and clearer sounds. However, cars are small, and can't always accommodate component speakers, and instead require coaxial speakers that combine the woofer and tweeter in a single unit. Again, it depends how discerning your ear is, and how much space you have in your car.

 

If you would like further tips and advice about choosing a car stereo, then please visit incarmusic