JRS
Major Contributor
No those are the guys wanting you (or more likely the ladies of a certain age) to think that they have a good system. The guys with the good sound do not as a rule make a habit of broadacasting--windows closed to keep out road/traffic noise, and have great, clean and smooth response to the teens (easy given cabin gain), with maybe some goosing in the 30 to 50 range, after all we are all human. And more often than not the installs are stealth--no reason to advertise the goods when people will gut an apt for the wire. But they are out there.This. I've seen plenty of vehicles turned into rolling sub enclosures with a small cutout for som50eone to drive it to the show... but I can't remember seeing the guy that was proudly displaying his ruler-flat FR charts and discussing how much effort went into damping the modes that were the most unruly. Seemed like half of the guys basically have a frequency response of 10Hz to 60Hz... and anything higher than that is just panel vibrations.
I had but a passing fancy for a decade or so during which I put together three rigs that sounded far better than the average audiophile home system, given the constraints of a cabin, and all for under 1500 in goods. That was during a time I commuted a bit; there are many young folks who were/are spending as much time in their cars as an apt or home, and would rather put their sound system there. It shows. The 1990's and aughts were likely the peak when it came to the insane amount of money being spent. IIRC there were at least two monthly glossy cover magazines in circulation that advertized gear, reported on competition and deserving installers, and reviewed gear of course. Not sure these days as I mentioned it was a blip of my life where I had occasion to put in three rigs over the course of seven years. But I was just like most audiophiles--more or less contemptuous of the rolling woofers and the abominable taste in music. And then my eyes were opened, and I thought this is really cool. I mean after cars became computerized, and hot rodding faded away, where was the energy and the enthusiasm gong. Well I'd submit that it exploded in the form of car audio and marked one of the more interesting technical revolutions during my lifetime. Now we have gamers with their zero latency everything and super cooled and overclocked processors.
It really is an embarrassment of riches when kitting out a car install. Check out the goods from Focal here. Used to be that they sold freely to the home DIY market, not so much anymore unless you want to buy an ensemble intended for car use. And when it comes to new cars and factory installed, these aint your daddy's caddy. Huge money is at stake with these contracts--certainly enough to send some serious life blood back into a company.
Things do seem to have been shifting somewhat back toward IEM's and headphones or desktops with modest sets of separate electronic stacks (vs a conventional hifi system many of us had in college and beyond. So there's some hobby enthusiasm, even if it's rolling op amps. But yes, high end car audio is definitely a thing, and as I said in a recent psot, some of the best audio I have heard in the past 20 years has been in a car. It's different; there is no way to lay out a soundstage like one can at home. It's more of an immersive experience when done well.
