Tuesday, December 30, 2008

What You Need To Know About Your Car Stereo

By Ferdinand Mekinsy

Another avenue of car stereo sales are at expos and conventions. Most of the time, the good stuff come out at expos, whether it be a car expo, audio system expo, but usually the largest car stereo sale happens at a gathering of car audio manufacturers. Well, at these kinds of expos and conventions, its not usually a sale because the manufacturers usually try to get buyers for their newest product. If you have the money and youre out there to buy some serious hardware, then by all means, SPLURGE AWAY!

There are two types of mounting in a car stereo installation. ISO mounting is when the radio can be screwed to existing factory radio brackets, such as in most Japanese cars. Ring mounting is when an aftermarket radio comes with a metal ring that gets mounted to the factory radio hole or aftermarket kit via bendable tabs. In many cars, dash and trim rings have to be filed to enlarge the radio hole. Once the ring is installed, the radio slides in and is held by snaps. In most cases, special tools are required to remove the radio.

Other useful hints which might help: Another way to get a discount car stereo is to SUBSTITUTE. Like cars, Japanese made units are often cheaper than German/European/American made units. Also, look at the basics. What is it that you need, as in the most BASIC FEATURES? Do you really require that mesmerizing LED display, or can you do without it? the same for speakers too. If you are not going to enter a car audio competition and you just want to hear good treble and bass levels without making your speakers croak, maybe you can do away with a couple of 3way/4 way speakers. A large subwoofer will definitely need an amplifier, and those are already 2 things to buy.

For unconventional speaker locations, sometimes metal has to be cut. You might want to leave this to the professionals, tools like plasma cutters and pneumatics drills are needed. However if youre going to insist, a pair of metal snips (left and right cut) will do.

Look at any good car stereo system and you will probably behold a Pioneer car stereo unit plugged into the console. Along with quality speakers and a hard lineup of accessories like LCD panels and navigational devices, Pioneer products/Pioneer car stereos have ganered a huge following the world over. - 16738

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