Why do car stereos sound better than home systems?
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- Опубліковано 22 бер 2019
- Many people believe the systems in their automobiles outperform those in their homes and, for some, that is likely true. But why? If you want to learn more, grab a copy of Paul's new book, The Audiophile's Guide. www.amazon.com/Audiophiles-Gu...
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It sounds better because you can listen without a nagging wife
amen
Getting rid of your wife is the best sound system upgrade you can get.
Preach brother
@@act.13.41 most definitely
Bahahahahahahahahahaha
In my opinion, 4 more factors that contribute to car audio sounding good that Paul didn't mention, are
(a) The inside of the typical car is not at all shaped like a perfect box, as opposed to a most rooms. We all know boxes are evil.
(b) The inside of the typical car is also mostly covered with soft materials, a lot of foam, which kind of doubles as free acoustic treatment!
(c) Assuming ok sound system with component speakers and a sub woofer it's pretty much a full-range solution as opposed to a lot of bookshelf systems which have a response starting from 50 or even 60Hz
(d) And being mobile allows us to crank up the volume waaaay past the point of what we could get away with at most homes where there are neighbours. We all know that loud sounds good.
"The inside of the typical car is also mostly covered with soft materials, a lot of foam, which kind of doubles as free acoustic treatment!" A lot of UA-camrs and media producers on a budget use the inside of a car in a quiet neighborhood as a cheap voice-over recording studio.
also another thing is that you’re completely isolated in a chamber & not only that, it’s a small chamber
You forgot to add that lower frequencies just pass right through the doors eliminating nodes.
@@joshua43214 what is a node ?
@@rodneythekingcobra They are regions of high or low pressure caused by reflected sound waves. Google "room nodes" or "room acoustics."
Scrolling through these comments it’s apparent that most of you have never heard a great car audio system designed and tuned for sound quality. There are competitions all over the world for this exact purpose. Attend a show and demo some of these cars, you just might be dumbfounded that these vehicles can sound nearly as good as top tier home audio systems.
It seems everyone is just basing their experiences off stock systems, to me there is no good stock system because theres no stock car dedicated to sound quality
I've been doing a bit of car audio competitions couple of years ago, with the help of crazy amount of functions car system has nowdays it's really easy to fine tune every frequency or even mimics the effect of home audio. Even so I still think home audio "performs" better than car audio(within the same league obviously, you just can't compare a set of 100$ Amazon speakers against a 100,000$ full blown competition car system), reason is plain simple as there's almost no limitations of how you can build your home system, you can even build your house according to the system, good luck trying that in a car. But which "sounds" better? I will say it is the car system. Reason as we human are not cold hard computers calculating decibels of every frequency and judge the system by how precise it performs, we are human, our judging effect quite a lot by the emotion and feeling we receive at the moment, a chunk of spam will taste better than a well cooked steak if you've been starving for months. And the freedom (yeah this sounds kinda Murica but it is what it is) of car audio allows you to listen to your favorite track at your favorite moment of a day at any place you wanna be with any view you wanna see will just make the whole experience a lot better. Granted there are people who prefer staying in the same room forever but I highly doubt that will be the majority. And that's why I personally prefer car audio more than home audio.
Truth is Freedom Florida Wow I have a B pillar wall with 4-15 inch woofers!! Multiple Dayton audio mids and highs!!! 10,000 watts of power all high end equipment it sounds amazing but home audio is better every time!
[Brainztorm] Volvo. They make great stock audio. Unbranded audio equipment. Up to par with my AKG K181 UE on-ear monitors.
Very well said.
A big reason for the difference in sound and feel of music in a car versus a room has to be with the idea that a car’s cabin isn’t large enough to move long wavelengths through, while some large rooms are.
This means that a car, headphones, small rooms rely on sound pressure to produce meaningful bass impact and midrange fullness, and large rooms, or outside, the longer wavelengths move, instead of stand, providing an objectively different feel to the sound. Some headphones try to produce this moving wave effect, but that doesn’t work for my ears. I need sealed headphones that can provide a lot of standing wave pressure instead. It is also why sound absorption panels work in a room, they absorb a wave so it can move, otherwise it gets stopped by the hard surface and “stands”.
I remember in school we had an AES (Audio Engineering Society) speaker come over from bose and he mentioned they use Delta Dirac functions at the various listening points in the car then used FFTs to deconstruct the frequencies and characterize the frequency response of the cabin. They'd then reverse the loses using DSP algorithms so when the user actually hears is a full equalized sound, effectively cancelling out the loses.
Like you said, a big difference is that they know the full environment in a car, and within some margin of error, where ears/listeners are going to be. It's a big advantage
Psychology plays a big part in the car I think. It is concentrated listening , in a different way to being at home.
Never heard anyone say that! Lol... having said that, i did enjoy my own car audio system.
When the Tesla is your reference for a good car audio system, its like having a Logitec System as home audio reference.
But its the same on both, the better you setup your system for your room and the more effort you put into optimising the room, the better results you get.
A faily cheap diy speaker can sound much better than a high end speaker if you optimise it for the room and all systems sound even better when puting some effort into your room ascoustics
(bass traps, get the right hall time, anti reflection on the right places etc.)
But its the same in the car, there is so much headroom in the original systems as they need to be as cheap and light as possible (flimsy doors etc)
Philipp Giebe Tesla’s mostly silent electric motor would probably be the biggest thing going for it I’d imagine. On the other hand, that glass roof can’t help.
WHAT i have NEVER EVER heard a car sounded better than my studio, though i have a rather god car sound. Key here is volume.
try bmw bowers&wilkins its a car stereo with 22speakers. costs around 4,000˘$
@@wsgwoodsoundsgood6769 many speakers does not automatically means good sound.
Bmw have the shittiest sound i have ever heard.
And i have owned a few.
A good respons curve is way more important to me.
And comparing studio and car audio is not fair, it kinda was a shitty joke :-)
was in a XC90 their bowers and wilkins speakers were way better than my stereos lol
@@wsgwoodsoundsgood6769 4k is cheap in the context of audio, .
my truck stereo is awesome....i win trophies in Sound Quality competitions.
Focal speakers, Mosconi Zero 4 amps, Illusion sub & Mosconi 8-12 DSP.
soundstage is 15"wider than the truck....and the drums are usually in the middle of my hood.
truly.....a delicious treat. in some ways a serious competition for my home system of B&W 804d2 with all Musical Fidelity electronics.
Seems a lot of people commenting here have never heard a system like your's. But then again, not many people are willing to invest that kind of time/money/work either. I'm sure if they went to a meet, or show though. They would be in for quite a surprise, especially the one's on here saying that you can't get imaging in a vehicle. That one had me rolling. I bet they'll be just as surprised at the sheer impact drums have too. I would love to get that same effect in my home. My neighbors probably would not like it as much as I would though. 😊
@@amb3cog youre right.....they just dont know. youre also correct on 'invest'. (many, many many thousands)
@Genuine Audiophile Yea the amount of people who "know" all about SQ car audio on here is amazing. 🤣🤣🤣
@@googoo-gjoob Yea man. Especially when you're going all Mosconi. 🤑 I bet 95% of the people that watched this video have never even heard of Mosconi, and have zero clue about SQ car audio.
I've seen guys say Paul should do car audio. So there's high end car audio also. Lol
And a ton of people talking about road noise making car audio crap, because they've never even heard of aftermarket sound deadening/absorption. Or obviously have never driven in a Lexus either. 🙄
Which brings us back to the investment. That's the reason I got out of it. But not so much the actual money. It's more the work, and time factors. I can't afford the gear, and the install. So I have to do it all myself, and ripping a car interior apart and putting it back together (because you drive the vehicle everyday) countless times is for the birds. 🥵
That being said. It's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. There's not many things as enjoyable as cranking a great sounding system, and driving down the highway with no worries about roommates, or neighbors at all. It's like the textbook definition of freedom. 😊
@@amb3cog welcome, my brother
A pair of Infinity Wave Transmission Line speakers (Walsh tweeter) started my descent into the madness of audiophilia. They projected something called an "image". At the time, I didn't know that was possible. Speaking of image, that is something no car stereo gets right.
@Dave Micolichek Not only have I never been in an SQ competition vehicle, I don't even know what that is. Interestingly enough, I have just shopped for, and ordered a new system for my car. While looking, the manager of Car Toys in Denver had me listen to his system. I don't know what amp he had and didn't even pay attention to the head, but he had a Focal three way system with the mid and tweeter in the A pillar. I'm sure it was time aligned . He was very proud of it. It sounded great but didn't image. Left-right, yes. Front-back no. Every home speaker I have ever owned was capable of a 3-D image.
By the way, the new system for my car, an Outback. Illusion Audio C6 in the door, C3CX in the dash, Focal class AB amp, Sony head unit, stock (Harmon-Kardon) sub. If this system is lousy, tell me now before it is installed.
@Dave Micolichek I looked up the Milbert. $2750 for a BaM-235ab, not going to happen. The reason for going with the Illusion Audio is that they make a 3" coaxial midrange/tweeter that happens to fit in the hole that my 3" coax Harmon Kardon speaker is going to vacate. They will fire into the windshield. The 6" woofers go in the lower front door panels. The woofers have the voice coil in front of the speaker inside the cone so they can be larger and still fit in the door. The cones are woven carbon fiber. They will be time aligned. If a proper image is possible, I am going to do my best to achieve it.
@@johnlebeau5471 I'm reading your comment 2 years later. I'm putting together a system in my car with the Morel Hybrid 63 front stage and Morel Hybrid Integra rear fill powered by a Helix V Eight DSP Mk II. How'd your system turn out?
OK so just a little education for you home audio guys… I’ve listened to some VERY High-end home audio products in specialized listening rooms. The fact is I modeled what my car stereo should sound like from my experience listening to these home audio products. I have also had the pleasure to sit in some of the worlds best sounding car stereo systems and they are not stock! I have listened to every single stock high-end stereo that the manufacturers have to offer and not one of them came even remotely close to my own system at that I built in my vehicle. I can safely say that I don’t care what kind of equipment you have I can show you a car stereo system that easily rivals any home audio system you can throw out there! I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of crap from the home audio guys here but again I based my sound in my vehicle on some of the best home audio equipment on the planet so I’m not talking crap about home audio I’m just saying A vehicle can sound just as good or better if you use the proper equipment and above all have somebody that knows how to install it properly.
Hey Paul! Always enjoy listening to your descriptions and breakdowns of all things audio 👍 It's also probably a lot easier to pressurize the small cabin of a vehicle with sound as opposed to a large space like a home. Wouldn't mind hearing some more of your thoughts on car audio at some point, there's some interesting contrasts with home audio like wattage, impedance, baffles, etc. Keep up the awesome vids!
Is this an early April fools?
Alan no doubt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its not as silly as it sounds I worked in the industry for many years and lots of people comment that car stereos sound " better". While its not strictly speaking true, for the same amount of dollars a car system can have more "impact" because you are effectively sitting inside one big speaker box and you feel more part of the music, for want of a better term. Its more intimate and more encapsulating. So I didn't think it was a foolish topic for a video. Its a well known phenomena to those who work in the industry.
I had a system in my 1997 Ford F-150.
I installed it. Purchased everything from Crutchfield. All JBL speakers.
2 Bazooka 8 inch self amplified bass tubes. Tweeters on the pillars.
6X9s in the doors and behind the seats.
4 channel amp. 1 kilowatt. Capacitor backed up. Very nice.
I have a pair of the original version (3 drivers) with walsh's hat my dad purchased new. According to the brochure the 12" woofer is "transmission line loaded". There is a rear port near the top of the column and Arnie used stuffing density to create the transmission line. the stuffing at and near the port is so densely packed that you would have to push hard with a knitting needle to get through it. The stuffing is less dense as you move away from the port towards the woofer. It produces bass response of 26HZ +/- 3 db.
I agree although after upgrading my stock Avalon system two days ago with the latest products from JL Audio, Kenwood, Hertz, and Focal I'm rather overwhelmed by the quality of automobile audio here in 2019....
yeah these days are fine...but 20 or even 30 years ago when you had the zed amps and pioneer components that also sounded really awesome...i love love loooove the sound of old skool hifonics amps...and the old skool pioneer components...
Most factory Car Audio is complete trash.
All Image Dynamics in my car. Shitttlloaaad better than the stock $5 paper speakers found in Ford Fusions.
@@lakorai2 I have to say, just for a upgrade from stock...the dynaudio setup in my volkswagen cc is adequate for 99% of the people..but lacks a little time alignment to get it good enough to enjoy music with..But yeah the power run to the rear is in, ordered about 40kg of damping made speaker adapters for my 3 way audison voce set....and away we go...
Get skar or sundown..
@@NerdyBassHead N thanks I'm in nirvana with my current setup
My first set of audiophile speakers back in the early 90's were Fried Beta Signature's haha! While I've built a home audio system I'm very proud of, I still enjoy upgrading car stereos in my vehicles to get the best sound possible. It makes any ride a great ride! I don't bother nearby neighbors in a home or condo situation when I want to crank it too. Yup, it's not an ideal environment but a great challenge to combat with new sound dampening & decoupling materials, high-res music decoders, DSP, EQ, and speaker time-alignment delays, it's possible to get incredible imaging and a balanced performance. But hey, some folks will knock it because they've never experienced a competently assembled car audio system and only think of "kids" with booming bass being an annoyance. Oh, well
sigh, I remember the good old days where you would hook the Kraco up to a pair of Jensen 3 ways by twisting a few wires and covering with electrical tape and all was good. Even if it did eat most of your cassettes...
How does it get ANY better than this, besides yourself and Andy Wehymeyer I can not think of better gentlemen that take their time and knowledge (you be the judge of which is more costly).. but give that for free to all of US . Andy likewise is such a kind patient man that gives so much of his time in such a repetitive environment plagued by sometimes lack of knowledge, skill, or both. Andy takes it on the chin (and pocket) to help. You Sir just the same. Extremely open and offering smile and kind look. I'm not sure that I can afford your products just yet but I hope to support your brand and be able to enjoy the products. Thank you SO much for what you are doing here on UA-cam for US
Can't help but like Paul. Thank's for the explanation.
I'd be willing to bet my Dynaudio esotar speakers, playing native dsd, and tuned with DSP will beat 99% of people's home system's.
DSP sound tuning is one of the reason but I do think that bass sounds better in car, less decay better transient. Of course I'm talking about using sound quality system.
Using DSP in a high quality home theatre Processor/Receiver to listen to 2 channel music can be awesome also.
I for one need my sound stage...thanks Paul
That Walsh tweeter was a great idea.
I've just recently been thinking it's too bad that no current speaker of which I know uses it.
I love the system in my car. It's my "high end" system because it's where I listen to music the most intimately. I probably have $3-4k in, and it will absolutely outperform a similarly valued home system. The problem with home audio is that it's difficult to impossible to find a middle ground between spending $1k on a basic soundbar, or at least $5k for an entry level set of speakers, sub, and receiver. In the car I have Audiofrog GB60 and GB25's with ScanSpeak beryllium tweeters and a pair of Audiofrog GB10 subs. A high end Zapco amp and Helix DSP bring it to life. Tons of sound treatment like covering the door panels in CLD and using Blackhole acoustic tiles has basically turned the doors into deadened, sealed boxes. To get this kind of sound quality in the home I'm sure I'd be looking at $10,000 or more, and that makes home audio prohibitively expensive. You can take my system, which I probably have $3-4k in, and it will absolutely outperform a similarly valued home system.
A soundbar is your first mistake.
A nice perspective. Thanks Paul.
I have had a custom built, by me, car stereo that I believe is better than what most people have heard. But it was very expensive and took a long to perfect. The Dynamics and imaging were fantastic. It was like the foo fighters were on the hood of the car. Loved it, miss it...
That's the spirit! Did you go 4 way active with dsp?
I used Alpine Type X components up front. 24 db zobel network that were super flexible. Jumpers for multiple crossover points and consideration for phase/lobing.
Point source type R 6x9 in back. Pioneer PRS with DSP. Time alignment. Speakers in custom pods with the ring radiator tweeters close. Single 12" Polk SR sealed. Lots of sound dampning. 500 RMS for the sub, 65 RMS to each of the other speakers.
4 channel was a Panasonic with servo feedback and really had a nice warm sound with well controlled midbass. Makes the Audi A8L sound like a boombox.
I really don't agree with 3/4 way setups in the automotive environment as there is just to much issue with time alignment and comb filtering to get close to a live sound. Loud sure. While I used active crossovers, passives in this case we're great quality and provided a level of protection I couldn't get with an active that could be accidentally changed. Especially given the power I was pushing.
bass usually goes quite deep in cars, due to their small space I believe
@Dave Micolichek Exactly! Cabin gain is where the major difference is, you can have drivers that move a lot less air in a car and still have excellent SPL. Tweeters can be way off axis and still not present major issues due to the small space. A room is often a more complex equation to get dialed.
But deeper bass does not mean better sound overall.. A true sound stage is more easy to get at home than in a car. A car have plastic door panels etc that's worse for sound. It requires alot of expencive modification to get really good sound in a car.
@Dave Micolichek True! But I also got great bass at home so no issue on that part here👍
No, it's because you play a lot of church organ music in the car
It adds impact because its a more intimate environment like your sitting inside a speaker box. You "feel" the music, your in it.
That thumbnail Burmester definitely sounds well. Some other ones like B&W, Krell, JBL....can sound good in certain cars. Some are really expensive upgrade over the standard sound system that you’d get in a car. It’s a good video. Thanks.
Missed the boat on this Paul. It’s all about the acoustics. Shoebox rooms suffer from huge modal problems at low frequencies, flutter echo and reflections as you move up in frequency. The randomness of the shape of a car and the diffusing surfaces, as well as the high degree of absorption, are huge advantages. “Soundstage” doesn’t exist in a car, but the space offers a lot of other advantages. The average hi-end home system may have some strengths relative to a good car audio system, but could be greatly improved with more time, money and effort being applied to the glaring acoustic problems. It’s a shame the high end press pays so much attention to cables and tweak devices and so little to this much more fundamental problem.
By the way, DSP may be better than doing nothing, but it is more effective to fix the problem at the source, e.g. fix the room itself.
Once you said soundstage doesn’t exist in a car, then I know you have know clue about car Audio. I always love the guys that try and correct someone that has no clue on the topic
@@CarAudioHorizons I installed car audio professionally when I was younger and make home audio now. I’m coming at it from the perspective of trying to recreate the sense of being in a classical concert hall. When Harry Pearson borrowed the term from recording and film, he used it in this context. In order to get remotely close to this in a car, you’d have to be in something like a McClaren F1, which seats you in the middle of the cabin. Otherwise, the arrival times and angles of incidence from the speakers, not to mention the differences in acoustics left to right, would make this next to impossible. If you split hairs, you could argue that you could use some sophisticated DSP to correct for all of these things, but that would confine you to a head-in-a-vice position which wouldn’t be practical.
@@jonathanknight8251 Installing car audio when you’re younger doesn’t say much.
Hello Paul i think car audio sounds so good partially because the fact that our brain combines the sound with the sense of movement/speed, sound is between the ears and the equation of a good car sound system with actually moving creates a different sensation then sitting still at home.
Re: Infinity transmission line: Infinity branded their version of the Walsh tweeter as a Wave Transmission Line, or the whole speaker as the WTLC (wave transmission line column)
I remember that speaker! It was sold in stereo shops in the first half of the 1970's. I confess that I drooled over them shamelessly.
Depending on what kind of music you're into, driving while listening to music can definitely broaden/add something to the listening experience. Driving fast on the highway with your favourite rock tune blasting is amazing and I suppose in the moment, you might get the feeling that it sounds better than it ever has on your home setup, even though if you carefully listened to the details and depth it wouldn't compare in any sense. Finding the right music for the moment and mood you're in, can make you think the music is sounding better than ever, even though you're listening to it on a system that doesn't compare.
I guess if the listening room doesn't sound good, a car could potentially be more enjoyable, I don't know 🤣
The person asking is probably driving a Bentley
Nice Tesla! I recently installed an Ultra high end audio System in my Tesla M3 and yes it sounds nothing short of amazing. I have had several Home Audio enthusiast marvel over the sound-stage, realism, and dynamics. Most can't believe they are listening to a car audio system. For me the car is the only place where I can truly listen to music and not be distracted by the kids or the wife.
I look forward to seeing you guys at axpona this year.
In my opinion the Time Alignment or Time Correction feature on Car DSP make bigger staging and quite easy to set the vocal frequency on the centre of the stage... We could do it to Home Audio set up but seems too expensive using proper Home DSP. The other things usually we get more than 6 Amp Channels and adjust with active x-over...
It sounds better because most people have horrible home audio the second you get anything decent your an audiophile
Boom! There it is. Most car stereo installers themselves have a home theatre in a box for a home stereo at best. They wouldn't know what good sound actually sounds like. In a car, there can be a lot of hard surfaces causing reflections and undampened panels causing resonances.
Great choice of sound sample in the car.
sound like his home audio system needed an upgrade.
On a personal level, I think there are many reasons either the sound system in a car or at home sound better than the other. The type of speakers, the audio source and the amplifier. Like I posted on another one of your videos, I have a 2002 Ford Taurus SES, and although it's turning into a rust bucket and on its death bed the sound system is great. The audio range is good from the low end to the high end frequencies and I hear things I can't hear on my home stereo.
Well if your car becomes to broken to drive you can bring it indoors and build a driving simulator out of it with a PS3/4/5 while listening to the stereo. I love car audio and car parts in general. I get very creative with my builds. One of my hi-fi builds from car parts has air conditioning.
My car system sounds OK, but the record keeps skipping.
Current record players are not designed to play records in your car. What type of turntable are you using?
Ado topp VPI Classic 3, with a Lyra Delos cartridge. I don’t understand cause I have Stillpoints footers for vibration control. And I finally got the extension cord thing under control as well.
@@estebannemo1957 The Lyra delos is probably not your best choice because it has a Line-Contact Stylus which is more fussy about VTA setup . A spherical tip stylus , such as a denon 103 maybe more tolerant of potholes in the road. I am curious, however, how you did sort the extension cord problem?
Ado topp Mikey (shrug) Mikey Fremer recommended the VPI/Lyra combo. I do have a Denon cartridge, though. It’s on a modded Kenner Close ‘N Play. I solved the cord problem by quitting my job.
@@estebannemo1957 A Very Rare Chad Valley fitted with a denon 103 is a match made in heaven. Especially when played through the Bose acoustimass . I am Green with envy Esteban. So much so I hope your Robin Reliant blows its head gasket and is off the road . You probably don't mind though as you never go anywhere now after quitting your job. Nice one Esteban!!
I think in a well echo-absorbing lined room like the passenger car cabin you can hear more direct sound from each speaker with no resonance.
Moreover you have a good DC power supply, that have no saw theeth shaped tension line.
Add the fact that every dpeaker mounted in a car works with hypotetic infinite baffle so you can limit reflections of the cabinet.
All that works in a good car, in wich everything is well fixed and heavily built to eliminate sound from exterior, well insulated...
Because the speaker size and position is suited to the cars cabin..your home stereo has to be set up properly by you, and you need more power to accommodate the much larger area
Any advice on how to toe in a pair of Quad ESL 63s inside a 1970 Lancia Stratos?
And here we see and read that car- and homestereo are totally different worlds.
Paul I wish you could see and hear the A/V system in my car, it would change your mind about mobile electronics.
Thank you for this video🙏
The reason is space, period. First of all we have to take into account that for better or for worse 99.9% of people perceive that volume=quality. That being said, you can fill (almost pressurize) a car with audio fairly easily giving people the sense of quality/power/enjoyment. To have that same effect in an average living room you have to have a massive system moving a lot of air and a really good room acoustic treatment, which is much more expensive and difficult to achieve.
Both environments have their pluses & minuses.
In a car you got to deal with glass reflections and not being in the center of the room. A DSP is a must to get around these issues. An advantage of a car vs a house system would be transfer function (cabin gain).
I think because in a car there are multiple speakers - at least 4 speakers or more in most new cars. I say this because when I am at home listening to my stereo with 2 speakers they sound good, but if I turned on the additional 2 back speakers it will give me a sense of height and space from the sound of the music.
The DSP answer was a copout. I've been in lots of cars that stock speaker systems that were very good in several ways I've never heard out of a home hifi. Car speakers tend to have very good presence while not being harsh. They also have great tactile response(mid bass kick). This makes a lot of car systems very energetic and exciting without being fatiguing.
I recently upgraded my Subaru's stock radio with a Pioneer head unit with DSP. I played around a bit with it and started hearing details I hadn't heard before in my car system (but can hear easily and with more separation over my 2.1 system at home).
This made me start thinking about upgrading the speakers in the car; I can only imagine what's out there for car systems (my unit was less than $200) and can understand how people who haven't spent a lot of time ($) in room acoustics (treatments and measurements) on a good HiFi system might think that car systems sound better. Like Paul said, it's much easier to make a confined space sound good, where you are in the same position always and have less "room" to worry about. That said, it's not a bad idea to set yourself up with both a good car and home system!
you playing dire straits is an instant subscribe for me.
Hi Paul, do you come to HighEnd2019 Munich soon ?
I find somewhat the same thing in my car. Its not that the car sounds better but you get a different experience because your basically listening "nearfield" . I dont get sound stage an imaging like a stereo system but I do get certain detail thats harder to hear on a stereo system .Maybe a bit like the detail you get on headphones.
Room matters in audiophile systems... Now imagine being able to design a stereo system knowing exactly the dimensions and materials of the space in use. Thats a lot of advantage! Nice point of view!
Maybe also because of the improved acoustics in the car. All that soft fabric on doors and seats absorb sound insted if reflecting it.
They do? The only way that's possible is because you don't move around in your car. But overall my house speakers are far better than my car. My headphones are far better than my car speakers.
Then your car system don't use dsp yet just like Paul said.. high end cars system not using passive crossover anymore and home speakers still do.. that's why they sound much better but still depends what speaker headunit and dsp power that you use.. try upgrade your car speakers to focal beryllium and using dsp from mosconi or helix and let's see if your headphones still better
The kinetic feedback in a car makes the difference. Just attach your sub to the chair you're listening in. Place the satelites real close. Now all you're missing out on are the reflections of a smaller enclosure.
“...we have succeeded in ... creating a system... that... equals the world‘s best in-home HiFi systems.” - Paul Stephenson Managing Director, Naim Audio. He is referring to using Dirac DSP for Volvo, which Naim use to optimize impulse response before ever touching frequency response.
Working on 24 speakers in a 2013 GMC Arcadia. 4 6.5"infinity, 8 8" woofers 8 6x9s and 4 15" subwoofers 9000 watts peak
Isnt it the opposite? From my experience even a decently setup home audio (stereo) is far far better than a custom built high end car audio (not the mass market installations) or a stock setup with dsp s in a high end car. After all the dsps, time delaying, phase correction, what we hear is a kind of pseudo sound stage and more imp the sound seems to be squeezed or something missing (even with HD flac). There is no way we can avoid the reflections inside a car unless its highly altered, but it wont be a car then
Never heard any car stereo produce a broad, deep, airy soundstage like a proper in home hifi setup. They have their charmed though. Just different
I have BMW 5 Series and the H&K system sounds terrific. A lot of depth which I is super strange as I feel there are instruments playing 7+ feet in front of me. It doesn't have stereo imaging of course, bit the soundstage is great. I think the fact that the car has great insulation helps too. I listened Tesla and it was meh. I prefer my listening room at home, stereo. But the car is where I spend 90 minutes every day :)
one thing with a car stereo that is made easy/cheap nowdays is a digital dsp with time compensation, and also multi band equalization on each channel
i have spent many years on building and installing audio systems, car audio can be good, it can be loud but will never be great. its enclosure is plastic, glass, sheet metal and no many gaps and joins that things will resonate.
commiserations on owning a tesla too
In my opinion, the acoustic is the key. You listen in direct field, not reverberant. Also, the speakers work as an infinity box, wich will make you cleaner bass plus DSP processing to create a image wherever you want. Fill your room with foam mattresses in the same proportion to the volume of the car, put a DSP in your stuff and you will have a similar effect ( although your wife will give you a ticket to not return to your home ;))
My old Lincoln MKZ has the THX certified Microsoft Sync system built by Panasonic and I have to admit that it sounds phenomenal, but it still cannot hold a candle to my desktop system using a pair of Vanatoo T-1s and a BIC subwoofer. The imaging of the Vanatoos makes them just disappear and all of the sound seems to come from somewhere right behind my monitor. In my car, the sound seems to come from everywhere at once.
It can be resistance of each driver. In a car it can be lower than 4 ohms and home systems can be upwards of 6 ohms and higher
I think the nr1 reason sound in a car sounds good is because most cars have loads of sound dampening stuff inside like seats and padded panels. I even used to use my car stereo for mixing as its a very clean and "death" sound..
My Suzuki Swift has stock speakers and stock stereo. But they sound excellent and those speakers have very little excursion. They have excellent bass too. What's the reason? The door space and arrangement?
Im guessing because the volume of the room which is (car) is smaller than a room in a house. I have 2 exact the same 400w woofers in 2 different rooms, 1 is very small and the other one is big. The woofer in my big room sounds decent but the woofer in my small room kicks ass and i feel the bass all over.
my home stereo system is much better than my car stereo.
Yeah but how many did it cost? You should maybe when you get the chance listen to some sound quality installs in some cars...and the challange to get a good sounding install for not too mouch money is really fun when it works out! You can play with components and crossovers or no crossovers and go full active...it is a beautiful hobby!
@@justkiddin1980 Of course there are much better systems than what I have. Most equipment is factory mounted. So I don't know the quality, but a car stereo can't sound better without a DSP because of the confined space within the car. And the reflections will be all over the map. I don't know the total cost of my audio gear in my car, because most of it was preinstalled.
@@justkiddin1980 I have no interest in using much money on audio gear in my car. I am much more at home listening to music. And that is the place I want to spend my money.
I've upgraded my home system with a refurbished classic Pioneer SA-9800 a pair of HPM 100's the 200 watt ones, and a pair of Realistic Nova 8B's. Speaker placement and height was very important to getting the sound. But I can say it does compare with the system in my Acura MDX. I'm old enough to remember the car stereo's that sounded like garbage from the factory in every new car. And retro fitting aftermarket systems was a must.
My dad said the audio in his friend’s bmw sounded better than his home stereo. I think that is partially because his living room is very much not symmetric - the left has a big window and a door and half of the right is connected to the kitchen.
Paul I know this is an old video but any chance you have given the in-car TIDAL app a try in your Tesla?
Hey Dan. No, I haven't yet gone there.
@@Paulmcgowanpsaudio Thanks for the response. Might make for an interesting follow up video depending on what year Tesla you have. The 3 & Y system is awesome but I’ve heard the system in the new S & X is even better (haven’t had much seat time to confirm).
In car stereo with high end high quality is almost like near field audiophile system, also in a car you are pretty much inside the speaker box
DSP is huge factor in car. Bose panaray for cadillac and corvette c8 blows many system in dust. Correcting a variable room is harder in general, but a home system can easily outperform if corrected with dsp properly
I have a high end system in my car and at home, and I personally think the reasons for this person question - is, the car does not really have any modal problems, the room is pressurized, so bass is more abundant, and the high frequencies, although bouncing off all the glass window, are also readily absorbed by the passenger who are 75% fluid anyway. Also mentioning that you are in close proximity to the speakers. I think this all adds up to a more FUN sound....not necessarily a better sound !
Have a Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 system, and a Genesis with a 17 speaker Lexicon system. The clairty is good on both, but I think the clarity is better on the def tech. The sound is much brighter in the genesis, but if find the mids warmer in the genesis. The quality I think is better on the def tech. What's your opinion on the Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 system?
I can't get it- finally, are DSP and corrections good or bad ? From one point, they damage phase characteristics, from another, it looks like they help a lot for making sound better ?
tixomup They can improve a bad room but there's all the extra components and connections to go through so from my experience you loose some of the sound quality with all the added circuitry
if you like excess bass boom, forced surround sound (due to confined space), confined sitting spot, more surround dampening material, go for it
I don't understand why there would be any excess bass boom when you are the one at the controls and you can adjust it to "exactly" where you like it
I think the biggest difference is the fact that you don't have a square room with flat reflective, often parallel, surfaces. In most cases for the average home stereo listener who is not that dedicated to getting the best sound possible, taking it to the point of building the room around your audio system and damping the acoustics appropriately, the biggest issue in achieving accurate reproduction is room acoustics.
I just picked up a pair of infinity reference 11i 2 way speakers in a second hand shop in england for 10 pounds. Paul, or anyone else, do you know anything about these.. when they were made, what they retailed for.. they have two sets of binding posts on the rear for bi-wiring also, which seems unusual to me and havent hooked them up yet to an amplifier
You have to put your home system in a soundproof room or use materials to soak up the vibrations and frequencies to create that hi quality sound
I really think he's talking about aftermarket high-end not Factory stock Aftermarket high-end car stereos are amazing
I have been to hi fi shows where there has been a demonstration of high end custom fitted car audio outside. It's not for me
The Tesla Model 3 sound system actually sounds really good.
So true.
Also car audio is a lot cheaper to upgrade.
I’m in the process of trying to get car audio in my house.
If I have a budget of 1000$, is it better to spend it on car or home audio for sound quality?
Nice Tesla, we have one too! Want to change the stereo but most shops are afraid of it!
the frequency response of my focal with dsp is not flat at all and have a lot of dips at 300 and 500 hz probably blocked by something. it is ok but i haven’t manage to put them in phase yet.
Well said Paul!!!!!
Soundproofing. Many nice cars have better carpet and padding than homes. I had a 60th anniversary Lincoln Continental, I think it had 200 pounds in carpet and padding alone in the cabin. You shut the door, and the outside world went away. It had an adequate JBL system that worked so well because it was so "balanced" & matched interior. If you want to upgrade ANY car add some soundproofing and nice carpet. Not the cheap auto stretchy carpet found in most cars. A good interior/exterior carpet without backing is what you want. It's crazy trying to have your stereo compete with the outside road noise.
A better answer to this question is; it is less expensive to have a good audio system in a car than it is to have a good system in a living room, I think we have to keep sq footage in mind. Just like a good set of headphones would sound better than most car systems, because it is less expensive to have. But inside of a room, you have much more possibilities but would be more expensive to build
Thanks for giving a detailed answer to a dumb question. 👍👍
Would you then suggest that I put my home stereo in the car and listen there? I mean the second car not the daily driver.
Let's be clear here. He's talking about a custom sound quality system. Not a factory system. There are no good factory systems period. Don't believe me? Go to a sound quality car audio meet, and you'll see what I mean.
And yes they image very well, if they're done right.
Thank you :)
Genuine Audiophile Heard it… Sounded really good… Not even on the same planet as my car system and I probably spent less on it than BMW charges.
@Genuine Audiophile hmmmm but SQ competitions have cars that cannot be beat due to insane speaker placement. Nothing to do with shaking mirrors. When you have a subwoofer in a glove box and 6.5s on the dash all tuned for one seat, no factory system comes close.
I like car audio. It sounds much better than home hi-fi systems. I've built many hi-fi systems from car audio and it doesn't have to be high end to sound good. You'd be surprised how many of the cheaper speakers/head units can out perform more expensive car audio parts. I've seen so many people attempting to make ghetto blasters and they end up sounding like junk with little to no bass. You need to get the enclosure right for the speaker driver for it to perform well. Here in the UK I use a lot of FLI speaker drivers and they are cheap but sound good and even the FLI 6.5" inch speakers pack a good punch without any bass enhancements.
Well as a car audio guy I can say I’m sticking with my car system (6-10”mids, 8-horns, on a 2,000 watt amp, 2-18”subs on 10,000watts)
Why have one, I choose to have the best of both worlds.