Car audio enthusiasts are very familiar with the ways sound deadening can improve the performance of a car stereo system. Many of us have heard interactive displays at our local specialty mobile enhancement retailer that demonstrate the improvement in bass response that a treated door has compared to one that’s, well, naked. Let’s take a look at what sound damping is and how it can improve our time behind the wheel.

What Is Automotive Sound Deadening?

Also called sound damping, or incorrectly called sound dampening, these products are thin sheets of dense butyl rubber that your technician attaches to the metal panels of your car or truck. The additional mass of the rubber makes it more difficult for sound energy to pass into the vehicle.

Many damping solutions include a layer of aluminum, which holds the thin butyl sheet together and acts as a thermal barrier.

Several companies offer a butyl and aluminum damping material that includes a layer of foam on top, which helps reduce buzzes and rattles from objects that make contact with the panel.

Where Is Damping Material Installed?

Relatively flat metal surfaces transfer the majority of the sound energy from outside the vehicle. The doors, roof, rear fenders, floor, firewall and trunk lid or hatch are the prime targets. Having these surfaces treated with a quality deadening product will create results that are easily audible. If you are interested in improving the performance of the audio system, sealing the holes and access openings on the inner door skin with deadening can improve midbass performance and efficiency from the speaker.

Lower Noise Level

Regardless of whether you’re listing to music, talking to a passenger or simply enjoying a drive, having your vehicle treated with quality damping can reduce road, engine and exhaust noise by as much as 10 dB. Having a quieter cabin is more relaxing, and studies have shown that drivers can concentrate better in a quiet environment.

Improved Bluetooth Performance

Imagine that you’re talking on the phone using the Bluetooth hands-free solution in your car or truck and the air conditioner or heater is turned up all the way. The noise from the fan and the moving air drowns out part of what you are saying and makes it harder for the person on the other end of the call to hear and understand you. Reducing road, exhaust, wind and engine noise in your vehicle has the same effect as turning the fan down. Your voice will stand out from the noise and be clearer and easier to understand.

Improved Physical Comfort

If you have a powerful engine in your car, the heat from the engine, transmission and exhaust system will quickly warm the metal firewall and floor, making the interior of your vehicle hot and uncomfortable. Hot rod and custom car builders have used damping materials in their builds for decades to help block heat transfer. Companies like Dynamat, Cascade Audio, Lizard Skin and Hushmat offer products that are designed specifically to reduce that transfer of heat energy into the interior of your vehicle. With one of these products installed, the heater or air conditioner won’t have to work as hard to keep you comfortable.

Make Your Vehicle More Comfortable with Sound Deadening

If it’s difficult to carry on a conversation with your passengers or if the sound quality of your Bluetooth hands-free system is questionable, drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today. They can let you know which surfaces will result in the biggest reduction in noise transfer, and they can provide you with a detailed quote for an installation that will make your vehicle more comfortable.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Though Tesla cars and SUVs are equipped with many amazing features, a host of aftermarket upgrades are available to make owning and driving them safer and even more enjoyable. In this article, we’ll look at some of the most popular entertainment and safety enhancements you can make to your Model S, Model X or Model 3.

Tesla Stereo System Upgrades

That touchscreen in the middle of the dash may look cool, but the stereo systems that come with even a fully loaded Model S Performance pale in comparison to what the aftermarket can offer. The best upgrade you can make is to add a high-quality subwoofer to your Tesla. That factory-installed woofer doesn’t have the excursion capability or power handling to reproduce the bottom few octaves of your music with any semblance of realism, impact or extension. You have numerous options, whether you choose a prefab enclosure, a quality subwoofer and a dedicated amplifier, or choose to have your local specialty retailer create a custom enclosure that blends perfectly with the interior of the vehicle.

If you want a truly amazing listening experience, you’ll want to upgrade the speakers and amplifier in your Tesla. Better-quality speakers produce less distortion, deliver smoother frequency response and can handle more power. Choosing high-quality speakers improves the detail, clarity and intelligibility of your audio system. When you go speaker shopping, don’t be fooled by marketing hype about the “brand heritage” or supposedly exotic materials. Some of the best speakers on the planet use paper cones. Look for technologies that reduce distortion and increase linearity such as aluminum shorting rings, copper pole piece caps and flat spiders. One important thing to remember is that you’re better off purchasing high-quality equipment as opposed to spending a lot of money on an elaborate installation. With that said, if you can afford both, have at it!

Radar Detector and Laser Defense Systems

Even with all the cameras and sensors integral to a Tesla, these vehicles remain an easy target for police radar and lidar guns. Adding a radar detector, whether it’s a portable or a custom-installed solution, will give you some piece of mind. There’s no denying that even the slowest of Teslas are plenty fast, and it’s easy to get into trouble.

If you live somewhere that uses police lidar (also called laser), you’ll want to opt for a custom-installed system that includes a laser defense solution. Also known as laser shifters or laser jammers, these solutions work to prevent police officers from measuring the speed of your vehicle. Once you’ve checked that you are legal, you can cancel the scrambled signal transmission and let the officer take a measurement.

Window Tint Adds Comfort and Privacy

Your Tesla has a LOT of glass. While automakers do work to reduce the amount of UV and IR energy that passes into the vehicle, they face strict guidelines on how dark the windows can be tinted. Adding a premium window tint to your Tesla can boost UV protection to 99%. This protection is the equivalent to wearing a lotion sunscreen with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of 1,000.

If you aren’t particularly fond of coming out of work to find the interior of your car dangerously hot on a summer day, look into a heat-rejecting window film solution. Ceramic and nanotechnology films can block up to 65% of the infrared heat energy from the sun. Not only does the film keep you cool, it also eases the load on your air conditioning system and can increase the vehicle’s driving range.

Wireless Phone Charging Pad

Reducing clutter in the interior of our vehicles not only makes them look better, it can make them safer to operate. Many of us stream audio from our smartphones to the radios in our vehicles. Adding a Qi-compatible wireless charging solution makes it easy to charge your phone, eliminating the clutter and hassle of a wired connection.

Your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer can equip your Tesla with a custom wireless phone charging pad to make topping up the battery easy.

Make Your Tesla Your Own

No matter what upgrade you want, your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer can assist you in making every minute you spend in your Tesla more enjoyable and safer. Drop by a shop today to find out what’s available for your vehicle.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

For most of us, streaming the genre of music we want from an online service is the way to go. Whether we’re in the office, at home or in the car, access to millions of songs is always just a click away. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular music streaming services available.

Pandora

Because of how it chooses the music you want to hear, Pandora is a unique streaming service. Powered by the Music Genome Project, Pandora analyzes between 150 and 450 attributes, depending on the genre of music, to classify each song. Interestingly, the analysis is performed by a musician in a process that takes 20 to 30 minutes. At least 10% of the songs are analyzed by more than one musician to maintain statistical accuracy.

What does this mean to the listener? If you choose a song you like, such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, Pandora will play that song, then follow it with something very similar. Using this example, Pandora, when used via its website with a computer, offers a list of features of the song. They are “Grunge recording qualities, Repetitive melodic phrasing, Extensive vamping, Minor key tonality and A vocal-centric aesthetic.” Similar songs would include “My Hero” by Foo Fighters, “Machinehead” by Bush and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day. You can create your own station based on an artist or genre of music. It’s a great way to get your Synth Pop fix when you’re feeling retro!

There are dedicated iOS and Android apps for Pandora, with integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Many aftermarket source units include a Pandora application built into the radio interface to let you give a thumbs-up to the songs you like.

Pandora was purchased by SiriusXM in February 2019 for $3.5 million. It’s worth noting that Pandora is not available in Canada.

Spotify

It is said that Spotify is a great streaming service for people who know what they want to hear. In contrast, Pandora might be a better source for finding new music. Spotify lets you search by song title, artist, album or genre. Listeners can create and share playlists of their favorite songs. According to Wikipedia, Spotify offers access to 50 million songs and as of the summer of 2019, has 232 million active users. Dedicated applications are available for your computer (Windows, Macintosh or Linux), as well as PlayStation, Xbox and Internet-connected speakers like Sonos, Alexa and Google home.

Spotify has iOS and Android apps that are compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Like Pandora, many aftermarket radios include dedicated Spotify apps.

Tidal

Known best for its amazing sound quality, Tidal offers two levels of service: Tidal Premium, which uses lossy files, and Tidal Hi-Fi, which features FLAC-format CD-quality streams at 44.1 kHz sampling rates and 16 bits of resolution. Bandwidth reduction comes from FLAC compression that only reduces file size and not sound quality. Tidal claims to offer more than 60 million tracks and 240,000 videos.

Another characteristic that makes Tidal unique is access to exclusive music, including “first access” to releases from artists such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kanye West and Jay Z. Many artists are shareholders and co-owners in the company.

Of course, Tidal apps exist for iOS and Android mobile devices. CarPlay and Android Auto both support Tidal.

Qobuz

After a rocky start, Qobuz claims to be the first music streaming service that offers 24-bit Hi-Res files. Users have their choice of Qobuz Premium with MP3-quality 320 kbps streaming, Qobuz Hi-Fi with CD-quality FLAC files at 44.1 kHz/16 bit or Qobuz Studio with Hi-Res FLAC at up to 192 kHz and 24-bit resolution. Qobuz claims to offer access to 40 million songs. Unlike the other services we have listed, there is no free trial for Qobuz. If you’re serious about the quality of your music, then it’s worth checking out Qobuz.

Explore New Music with Streaming Services

There are dozens more popular streaming services like Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon Music and iHeartRadio. All of these have mobile apps that are supported by the smartphone integration solutions CarPlay and Android Auto. If you have questions about how to enjoy a streaming service in your car, or how to upgrade your mobile audio system to get the most out of the music you love, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today. They would be happy to help!

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.