Car Stereo Systems - How Car Stereo Systems Have Evolved Into The High Tech Devices They Are Today

I can remember when I was a kid and we really wanted a stereo our cars sometimes we would put home stereo speakers in our rides and even though some people like to put home stereos in their cars and vans, sometimes it just doesn't work. Back in the day it worked okay with a simple radio or cassette player but these days with high tech CD players and MP3 players as well as the new pop up display LCDs that even play videos you just can't go cheap with the speakers. In addition to that home speakers aren't made for the small environment of a car; they are made for the home.

Like I said, some of us did use home units in our cars as a first stereo for our cars. Even though they didn't sound all that great at least it beat not having anything at all. The problem is that they aren't constructed to deal with the high temperature extremes and the bumps and jolts that a car stereo is built to deal with in an automotive environment. Of course true car stereo lovers were very dissatisfied with the quality of the sound in the earlier systems and when CD players came out the need for even higher quality speakers and other components was increased.

For those who own a vehicle that was made from 1990 to the present day you will already have some kind of factory stereo in your vehicle. This is because in the vast majority of vehicles made from that time period include stereos as standard equipment unless it is some kind of base model work vehicle. Some of the higher end automakers produce their own signature stereo systems. BMW now makes their own while Volkswagen and Mercedes all use systems from the German audio company, Blaupunkt which is a favorite of mine.

These days a good quality stereo system now will include a cassette player, a CD player either in dash or with an optional changer that will service more CDs which is usually trunk mounted. My Nissan Titan actually has an 8 disc CD changer mounted right in the dash. The newer models also are capable of playing MP3s usually though an audio plug in like the one my Titan has.

Stereo systems today consist of head units that are connected to numerous speakers, not like the old mono speakers that were only in the center of the dash. Now you have speakers in the doors, both sides of the dashboard, and in the rear of the car. Some larger cars and SUVs today have as many as 10 or 12 speakers in them which gives you an almost concert quality sound.