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May 10 2011 10:00am
This is a complete guide to car audio. You should be able to find this helpful in many ways.


When making a thread asking people to price out a stereo system for you, please answer these following questions in your first post.

1: What is the Year, Make, and Model of the vehicle.
2: What is your budget?
3: What exactly do you want your outcome to be? (Good sounding music, or loud bass?)
4: And specific sub sizes that you prefer more than others?
5: How much trunk space do you want to use up?
6: What type of features are you looking for in a CD Player (aka Head Unit)? (Ex: USB, AUX, BlueTooth, etc)
7: What type of music do you listen to?
8: Is your stock stereo system amplified? (You may or may not know this)
9: Do you have Steering Wheel Controls? (Volume/Seek on the steering wheel)

Install Guide:
Psycho's Installation Guide



Most Common Terms Defined: (This is not the WHOLE list, scroll to the bottom to see a bigger list of terms.)

Amp - Short for amplifier. Used to produce more power to be used for subwoofers or speakers.
AUX - Auxilery - A "Headphone" jack to listen to music from an MP3 Player, Laptop, Walkman, or Cell Phone.
Bass - The part of the frequency range made up of the low frequencies. Bass is generally agreed to be those frequencies between 20 Hz and 400 Hz.
BT - BlueTooth
Cap - Capacitor - An electronic device which stores energy and releases it when needed. Also used to direct high frequency energy to tweeters. Rated in Farads.
Coaxial Speaker - A coaxial speaker has a large cone for the low range, and a smaller tweeter for the high spectrum. There is a cross-over network which divides and routes the signal to the correct driver. A tweeter mounted on a mid range speaker.
Component Speaker - Opposite of a Coaxial. A separate Mid-Range speaker with a separate tweeter, hooked up to a crossover.
Crossover - A device intended to separate the different frequency bands and redirect them to different components.
dB - Decibel. The unit of measurement for sound, using a logarithmic scale. It is an expression of the relative loudness of a sound or power level.
Deck - The CD Player. Also called a Head Unit.
Diaphragm - A thin metal or dielectric disk used as the vibrating member in loudspeakers. Also known as a cone.
DIN - Deutsche Industrial Norm. German industrial standardization for radio dimensions, approximately 7 inches wide by 2 inches high.
Double DIN - Double the height of a single DIN. Most DVD/NAV screens are double din.
Enclosure - Box - A box housing a speaker to separate the front sound waves from those in the rear.
Head Unit - The CD Player. Also called a Deck.
Hz - Hertz. The unit of frequency within a specific period, such as alternating or pulsating current; 1 Hz = 1 cycle per second.
HPF - High Pass Filter. A network of components which attenuate all frequencies below a predetermined frequency selected by the designer. Frequencies above cut-off are passed without any effect.
Impedance - A measurement of the resistance to the audio current by the voice coil of the speaker. Measure in Ohms.
LOC - Line Out Converter. Used to install an amplifier with subwoofers or speakers to a factory system. A shortcut/cheaper way to add subwoofers without changing the head unit.
LPF -Low Pass Filter. A network of components which attenuate all frequencies above a predetermined frequency selected by the designer. Frequencies below cut-off are passed without any effect.
MOSFET - Metal Oxide Semiconductor-Field Effect Transistor. A form of field-effect transistor controlled by voltage rather than current, like a bipolar transistor. MOSFETs have a significantly higher switching speed than bipolar transistors. They generate almost no loss (little heat generation), which lends the power supply fast response, excellent linearity, and high efficiency.
NAV - Navigation/GPS
Ohm's Law - The statement of the relationship between current, voltage, and resistance. Where I=Current, E=Voltage, and R=Resistance, I=E/R, E=IR, and R=E/I.
Peak/Max - The amount of power a voice coil can withstand for short periods of time.
Preouts - Preamp Output - Typically found on headunits, a preamp output provides low level, high quality audio signal for use with external amplifiers.
RMS - Root Mean Square. The "Real World" power rating. This is the rating you should focus on when reading specs from a sub or amp.
Sound Damping - The reduction of the magnitude of resonance by the use of some type of material.
SQ - Sound Quality. Self explanatory.
SPL - Sound PressureLevel. An acoustic measurment for the ratios of sound energy. Rated in decibels.
Sub - Short for Subwoofer. The speaker used to create bass.
Sub Bass - Bass that you "feel" rather than hear.
Voice Coil - A coil of wire and the former (bobbin) around which the wire is wound. It is part of a speaker's electromagnetic motor that drives the cone to produce sound waves .
Watt - The basic practical unit of measure for electrical or acoustical power.

Full List of Terms:
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/general-discussion/61853-car-audio-terms-defined.html


Speaker Size
http://www.metraonline.com/

Car Audio Terms List With Definitions
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/general-discussion/61853-car-audio-terms-defined.html

Wiring Diagrams
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/woofer_configurations.asp

Online Shopping
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/
http://www.crutchfield.com/
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/

Calculators
http://www.the12volt.com/caraudio/boxcalcs.asp

Other Helpful Links:

http://www.caraudio.com/
http://diyaudiocorner.tripod.com/def.htm
http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/e...n/glossary.htm
http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/glossary.htm
http://www.elitecaraudio.com/tips/car_audio/terms/
http://www.audioc.com/information/au.../glossary.html
http://www.stereophile.com//reference/50/index1.html
http://www.carsound.com/glossary.shtml
http://www.jasonlorette2.50megs.com/photo2.html
http://www.mmxpress.com/jvc/glossary.html
http://www.thespeakerstore.com/glossary/glossary.htm
http://www.lakelandmusic.com/article_AudioTerms.htm
http://www.silcom.com/~aludwig/glossary.htm
http://www.caraudioresources.net/tech/glossary.html


Feel free to discuss any car audio relation things in this thread:
The Official Car Audio Discussion Thread

Official Favorite Car Audio Tracks

I'd like to thank Psycho-, Patrick, and all of the audiophiles for making car audio something to talk about on this website.
P.S. hotdogski is a car audio guru.

If there is anything that anybody wants me to add to this, PM me.

This post was edited by Avoid on May 10 2011 10:03am
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May 10 2011 11:27am
gg guide
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May 10 2011 08:20pm
Imma add this to my sig ;)

This post was edited by Patrick on May 10 2011 08:20pm
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May 10 2011 08:20pm
Quote (Patrick @ May 10 2011 09:20pm)
Imma add this to my profile ;)


I'm adding a few of the terms that you/Psycho PM'd me about, just need a Mod+ to edit it.
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May 10 2011 08:21pm
Quote (Avoid @ May 10 2011 09:20pm)
I'm adding a few of the terms that you/Psycho PM'd me about, just need a Mod+ to edit it.


Ill try to think of more now, I was just at work on my phone when I read that pm

/e they should sticky this imo.

This post was edited by Patrick on May 10 2011 08:22pm
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May 10 2011 09:04pm
Quote (Patrick @ May 10 2011 09:21pm)
Ill try to think of more now, I was just at work on my phone when I read that pm

/e they should sticky this imo.


Already tried, I guess they dont feel it should be stickied.
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May 10 2011 11:46pm
this should be sticked.
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May 11 2011 03:04am
Quote (bambithegreat @ May 11 2011 12:46am)
this should be sticked.


i'm always sticky after being near avoid.
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May 11 2011 08:20pm
Sticky IMO.
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May 11 2011 08:41pm
props to you for doing that :thumbsup:
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