The main reason why people upgrade their car speakers is to enjoy crystal clear sound. However, you can invest in top-quality and expensive car speakers but fail to get the best sound experience out of them. What could you be doing wrong despite the huge investment? Well, getting the best sound out of your car speakers is a journey.
It’s a process that involves doing certain revisions and tweaks until you get the best sound experience. In this article, we’ll answer your question on how you can get the best sound out of your car speakers.
Essentially, getting enhanced sound output from car speakers involves doing upgrades and setting up the audio system properly. Also, you need to ensure the car environment is improved to remove external interference such as road noise and engine noise. With that said, here’re some tips for getting the best sound out of your car speakers.
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Upgrade the Head Unit
If you’re using a factory radio or an old and weak head unit, then your speakers won’t get top-quality sound signals. Hence, they won’t output the kind of sound you expect. If you want your speakers to output enhanced sound quality, upgrade the head unit.
Most factory head units lack features that enhance sound output. For instance, they lack preamp outputs, making it quite challenging to install an amplifier. You can get a replacement head unit that comes with preamp outputs to connect it to a car amplifier for improved sound output. Also, replacement head units often come with advanced features such as USB. USB connections are more stable for better sound output, unlike auxiliary connections that often cut in and out.
Also, don’t forget to check out some of the best double din head units available in the market.
Install an Amplifier
Although some aftermarket head units come with an inbuilt amplifier, they’re hardly powerful enough to drive your car speakers and subwoofer. Thus, you won’t get the best sound output from the speakers. The best solution for this problem is to install a standalone car amplifier.
If you’ve already upgraded the head unit with one that has preamp outputs, simply connect it to the amplifier through the preamp outputs. If the head unit doesn’t have preamp outputs, you can connect it to the amp using speaker-level outputs.
Installing an amplifier ensures that the speakers get enough power for the best sound output. As a result, you’ll enjoy an improved sound experience. When buying an amplifier for your car stereo, ensure the amplifier is powerful enough to feed the speakers and subwoofer with sufficient power.
Install Sound Deadening Material
Car speakers sound better when using them in a favorable car environment. Unfortunately, most car cabins allow excessive engine noise, road noise, and noise from vibrating panels. Regardless of how loud you play the speakers or how powerful they are, any noise getting into the cabin won’t allow you to get the best sound from the speakers.
How can you fix this problem? It’s very simple. You only need to install car sound-deadening materials. There’re several types of sound-deadening materials to choose from. They’re typically installed in the door panels, car roof, floor, firewall, the inside hood, rear deck, and in the trunk.
Sound deadening materials work by dampening noise. They absorb unwanted noise and soundproof the car. That way, unwanted noise won’t interfere with the sound output from the speakers, making the sound output more audible and powerful.
Use High-Quality Music Files
Sound quality tends to suffer significantly when playing music from compressed music files. Most people compress music files so that they can fit in more files in their USB disk, smartphone, CD, or MP3 player. However, what they don’t know is that compressing music files reduces their quality. Thus, your speakers won’t output the best sound.
If you must compress music files, use a low-level or lossless compression format to avoid destroying the original sound quality. If possible, use music files in their original quality even though they’ll take more storage space. Also, use high-resolution music files, especially when streaming music to your car stereo from a smartphone or downloading music to play in your car via USB or Bluetooth.
Get the Equalizer Settings Right
The kind of sound you’ll get from your car speakers also depends on the equalizer settings. Equalizers make it possible to enhance the sound output of car speakers. They work by either cutting off or boosting certain sound ranges when exceeding or lacking enough volume. Thus, an equalizer smoothens the sound output to reduce any harshness or increase the volume of a certain frequency range.
An equalizer divides a full range sound frequency into several smaller sections known as bands. Standard equalizers come with equalizer settings for bass, midrange, and treble. With an equalizer, you can slowly decrease or increase problematic frequency areas. That way, your speakers can output full-range sound with enhanced clarity.
Tune the Crossover and Tone Controls Properly
Most modern aftermarket receivers come with an inbuilt crossover that you can control from the control panel. Experiment with the crossover by lowering or raising the high-pass and low-pass filters until the speakers output the best sound.
Also, avoid maxing out the tone controls on the receiver. Maximizing them may cause the speakers to produce distorted sound. Also, avoid excessive tone cuts. Ensure you balance everything out properly by experimenting with the tone controls. You should also set the amplifier gains properly without turning it to the maximum to prevent distortion.
Conclusion
As you can see, getting the best sound out of your car speakers involves several upgrades and tweaks. Just know what’s missing in your car stereo setup and install it. Also, ensure there’s no unwanted noise getting into the car cabin. By observing these tips, you’ll enjoy deeper bass, crisp highs, and clear sound output from your speakers.
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