When I first got into cars, aftermarket car stereos were a must on any car on the road; it was one of the first modifications that was performed, sometimes on the ride home from the dealership was a stop at the speaker shop.
Names like Alpine, Blaupunkt, and Pioneer graced the dashboards of all of my project cars with driving speakers and amps playing the soundtrack of my youth. CDs or tapes scattered in the floorboard or neatly paged in binders were some of my first driving distractions.
Trips to the music store in the mall or the local big box store always included a walk through the CD aisle, grabbing the latest disc of the artist that graced MTV, when they actually played music. That was the rule, a car was just transportation without a sound system that turned heads.
Earlier this week, I was in Augusta with some time to burn before an appointment. I stopped into Best Buy to peruse their cameras as I am looking to upgrade the one I use for YouTube, and I wandered into the car audio section.
There I was presented with a small wall of speakers, amplifiers, and head units that looked like small flat screen televisions. I was instantly taken back into the mid 90’s, where this area of the store was one of my favorites.
My first “sound system” was in my 1961 VW Beetle and it consisted of a small CD boom box that skipped whenever you hit a bump in the road. The AM radio ceased to work long before I got the car, it probably stopped receiving a signal sometime deep into the cold war. It wasn’t much but I didn’t have the budget to do any more.
Car audio enthusiasts used to have their own section of the car shows, and they were chock full of rolling sound systems bristling with subwoofers and sleek finned amplifiers. There were “sound-offs” with decibel meters measuring the output and trophies, sponsorships, and clout given to the winners.
There are still audio shows and sound-offs, but not to the level of decades past; even my students don’t seem to want big sound systems in their cars like I remember my friends having.
The biggest reason aftermarket sound systems used to be so popular was that the factory systems in older cars were mostly terrible and failed often. Unless you had a higher end luxury car, most car makers were fine with providing a basic system.
Clarity and volume were not a priority, and you would have to pay extra for even the CD player option. Most of the time the premium sound option was a much higher cost than the aftermarket system purchased and installed at your local electronic store, and the aftermarket system was nicer.
The ever changing technology played a role as well. With the development of satellite radio, MP3 music, and Bluetooth capabilities, car manufacturers were slow to implement what customers wanted.
Fast forward to today, automotive manufacturers have upped their audio offerings exponentially. With options such as Beats by Dre, Bang and Olufsen, Bose, and Harman coming in as factory installed upgrades, customers can choose an integrated system that works well with the car right off the lot. These systems work seamlessly with car features such as speed-controlled volume, navigation, and even have interfaces that work with the smart phone of the driver.
I cannot remember the last time I slid a CD into a CD player, but it was probably only to make sure the CD player was operational.
As I look at the dash of my new truck, I don’t even know how I could install an aftermarket head unit. The large screen protruding through the center of the dash not only controls my tunes, but also my cabin temperature, navigation, and even has the owner’s manual installed on it.
The basic sound system that accompanied the truck works well enough, but there is some aftermarket support to add a subwoofer for extra bass. I fear at 45 years old, I am too experienced in life to make that an option for me.
I bet it makes history podcasts sound terrible.
In the future, I expect the car audio section of Best Buy to get smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing into history. It is a great reminder of my youth standing here now. Times change, and the market for car enthusiasts will follow what sells.
As for me, I will see you on the road!
