SoundRating

The Landing Page for Everything Car Audio

Car Audio Reviews, Buyer's Guides, and How Tos from an audiophile who knows about getting crisp and clear tunes at high volumes


Car Audio Reviews, Guides & How Tos

Car Speaker Reviews, Installation Guides, and all other information on car speakers of all sizes

Head Unit Reviews, Installation Guides, and all other information on the composer of your car audio system: car stereos/head units

Subwoofer Reviews, Installation Guides, and all other information on the biggest and baddest piece of audio equipment

Car Amplifier Reviews, Installation Guides, and all other information on the piece of audio equipment that makes the biggest impact

For all the Car Audio Accessories Reviews and Installation Guides, including DSPs, Sound Deadening, and In-Car Entertainment

For all the Car Audio Accessories Reviews and Installation Guides, including DSPs, Sound Deadening, and In-Car Entertainment


Car Audio FAQs

What is car audio equipment?

All car audio systems are made up of three main components. The first is the head unit that controls the system and generates the audio signal. Another key component is an amplifier, which increases the strength of the audio signal. Amplifiers are built into head units, but getting an external amplifier is when you really begin to see a big difference. The third component are the speakers that receive the acoustic signal and reproduce the sound.

There are many more components of course, but these are the most common parts that every car audio system needs.

What is an audiophile?

An audiophile is a someone who knows about getting the perfect high-fidelity sound reproduction. They will usually go over and beyond to get audio components that most people might not even consider just to reproduce the sound to their liking.

How much is a good sound system for a car?

You can get a good-quality, budget-friendly car audio system for about $500. That includes a good head unit, amplifier, subwoofer and some car speakers. If you can afford between $1000 and $1500, you can get the very best of each component and create the ultimate soundscape in your car.

Can car audio equipment be used on a home theater system?

You can, but it’s not just a straight replacement. Car speakers run on lower impedance than home theater speakers, so you’ll need a home stereo that can drive those lower impedance.

For a car amplifier to run at home you’ll need a +12V AC-DC power supply with enough current to run the amp. Although you can’t use a standard wall adaptor because they’re not powerful enough, so you will need to make sure the adaptor you get is powerful enough to run your car amp.

For a car subwoofer to work on a home theater system, you will need to wire your car sub to run at 8 ohms. This can either be a 4-ohm dual voice coil (DVC) sub that can be wired to run at 8 ohms, or if you have two 4-ohm subs, you can wire them to run at 8 ohms.

How easy is it to install a car audio system?

Installing your own car stereo system can be done by anyone, and it will save you a small fortune if you do fit it yourself. Some components are more complicated than others and it depends whether it’s a straight in/out swap.

However, as long as you follow our How To Guides and/or watch some YouTube videos on the car audio component you want to install, then you really can’t go wrong.

What are the best car audio brands?

t depends what car audio part you’re after. Some specialize in head units, whereas others specialize in speakers and amplifiers. That said, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for so make sure you don’t get something really cheap just because you’ve heard of the brand before. But also don’t go for the most expensive unit thinking it will be the best. It will be of good quality, but it might not suit your likings, so something slightly cheaper might be better for you.

Some of the best car audio brands that usually put out quality speakers and amplifiers include: Pioneer, JBL, Kicker, JL Audio, Boss Audio Systems, Polk Audio, Alpine, Kenwood, Morel, Rockford Fosgate, Sony, Blaupunkt, Clarion, and JVC. There are many more quality car audio brands, but these are some of the best that have built up a reputation over time.

SoundRating – The Landing Page for Everything Car Audio

Hi and welcome to SoundRating – the landing page for those needing information on everything car audio.

We are a small team of audiophiles dedicated to bringing you the very best car audio reviews, how to guides, and a car audio blog where we share our experience of the car audio space and a love of driving with a crisp, high fidelity of course.

SoundRating was formed by Andrew Jones in 2017, a 30-year-old (MECP) certified installer in the Mobile Electronics Industry. As well as being MECP certified, Andrew has years of experience in the car audio industry repping for Kenwood and Alpine, whose passion for car audio engineering started in he was 12 years old.

Since growing beyond the capabilities of just Andrew, SoundRating has formed a partnership with Tom and Jake – two other audiophiles who take their audio-cation to the extreme.

Both Tom and Jake are MECP certified, too, and their knowledge of everything car audio and dedication to researching the best car stereo systems has helped SoundRating grow to become a leader in the car audio space.

It was Andrew’s mission all along to offer the very best and fairest reviews without the influence of brand bias, and all our car audio reviews are fair, varied and true at time of writing.

Everything on SoundRating is regularly updated, and we strive to offer not just the best and most recognised brands, but also lesser known, but quality audio equipment.

If you believe we should cover a product that isn’t on one of our reviews, please feel free to advise us. As well as that, if you’re a manufacturer and you have a new product coming out, please contact us to let us know, so we can review it.

Once again, thanks for visiting soundrating.com, we hope you find your time with us well spent and educational, and if you have any enquiry please contact us and we’ll get back to you quickly.