I am a fan of car audio. When at home with family or other people you can’t go AC/DC on, the car stereo is a saver: You just have to wait until the next drive.
I don’t have a car at the moment, but I went to see some other cars with stereos in them at the Emma (European Mobile Media Association) exhibition in Tønsberg last Saturday. A friend of mine, Frode, was one of the exhibitors (Bassbrothers), and he was kind enough to give me a tour. Check out Bassbrothers’ website for more info about car audio.
I learned a couple of things:
1: These guys are not afraid of building, tearing apart, make a new interior that is supreme compared to what came as default.
2: Building things in plastic is not a problem, it is a necessity.
3: Definition (frequency and space (ie panning)) in good car audio is superior to a lot of high end studio monitors I have put my ears in front of.
4: A dashboard, or any other part not suitable for a stereo, goes out. A new one is built, and take my word for it: A Toyota doesn’t have to be.. toyota.
What impresses me the most, is the new parts that these guys put togheter. It is amazing. Rapid prototyping seems to be a time waster. They just make stuff, and do so without fancy tooling.
I am going to learn from the car audio people.
cheers
Arve