A Look At Car Audio Components

The rich car audio, the possibilities are endless. There are hundreds of brands and thousands of products out there. Changes are excellent help restore some order to chaos of building your system. Lets look at some of the elements constituting a car audio system.

The main unit

The main unit is the brains of the operation. Without these parts, car audio system can not and will not work. The head unit is the central processing unit in the system. The main unit controls all functions in the car audio system. Music too high? Turn down the volume. Too soft? Turn it. Want more bass? Add bass input. Besides volume, bass, etc., the head unit may contain other systems inside his house. These include: radio, cassette player, equalizer, CD or amplifier.

You see, in a home audio system is a lot more room, there are many stereo setups include a separate box for each of the components - CD, cassette, etc. You can have a home system by itself. In a car, with its space limitations in the components are often crammed into a box - the basic unit. It depends on several factors such as heat, space, cosmetic design and other concerns, and each car is different.

The amplifier

All car audio systems have an amplifier, although it is a small one. Occasionally the amplifier is attached behind the head unit, but in most systems is stored elsewhere on the car to better dissipate heat. Signal growth is actually a two-stage process, handled by two separate components. This is the preamplifier and power amplifier.

The preamplifier (preamp, for short) is a very small signal that comes directly from the main unit. Although it is reproducing a cassette signal, a DVD or FM broadcasting signal, puts a preamp signal amplifier may be used. This is where the amplifier takes over. The work output stage makes the signal from the preamplifier and increase in hearing range. We cover this in detail in our columns this amplifier series. Again due to heat, most amplifiers located away from the main unit.

Speaker

The speakers take the boosted signal from the amplifier and produce sound waves. Major, speaking transform electric energy (the amplified signal) into mechanical energy (motion of cone speakers). For now know that the sound is all vibration, which is a chain of frequencies in the air that eventually vibrate the membranes in your eardrums. Sound energy is measured in wavelengths, known as Hertz, the hearing range is between 20 to 20,000 cycles. cycle away from the top of a wavelength at the top of the next.

There are three types of speakers that produce sound heard across the spectrum: bass, treble and midrange drivers. As the name suggests, the subwoofer reproduces low frequencies. The tweeter, also aptly named, replicates the highest register. Handle midrange frequencies in between.