With the rise in popularity of digital media files over the last decade, car audio enthusiasts find themselves being more likely to carry a USB memory stick than a stack of compact disks. When it comes to organizing all those MP3, WMA, AAC and FLAC files, most manufacturers suggest that you don’t put all the songs in one folder. Read on to find out why.

How Car Radios Understand USB File Structure

Unlike a computer, your car radio is very limited in its ability to interpret different USB drive formats and the subsequent file structure. Most systems require that the USB drive be formatted using the FAT or FAT32 file format. Some new multimedia receivers can understand NTFS and exFAT file formats, so larger storage devices can be used.

Next, you need to maintain a standard long file name format that allows for a total of 255 characters, including the file extension (.mp3, .wma or .flac). An important part of the standard is avoiding command characters such as /, \, *, :, ?, “, <, > and|. These characters may be misinterpreted by the system and result in a file being unreadable, or on extreme cases, cause the system to stop reading subsequent filenames.

Folder Structure and File Limits

In most cases, you are limited to no more than eight folder layers. So, beyond the root folder, you may have subfolders by genre of music, artist name and album name. This configuration is fine as the music is stored four layers deep. It is worth noting that extremely long folder names may, depending on the radio and its available memory, cause problems. We recommend keeping everything as short and efficient as possible.

Different source units have significantly different limits on the total number of tracks they can play and the number of files or subfolders they can interpret. Many radios have a limit of 255 or 999 files or folders per directory and can only detect up to 999 files. Some radios increase this to 5,000 or 9,999 tracks. A few units on the market can read an impressive 65,535 files per folder, and there are a couple with supposedly no limits at all.

Don’t Put All Your Files in One Folder

When you are planning on buying a new radio, it’s worth spending a few minutes to find out whether it will play your music as you have it organized on your USB stick. Some radios won’t randomize songs in different folders, and others are extremely finicky about the total number of files. If you need help choosing a receiver that will sound great and play your digital media collection, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer and give the radio you have in mind a try!

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.

Hybrid and all-electric vehicles are a great platform for stereo system upgrade. While your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer can’t tap into the main battery pack, the electrical system on these cars or trucks is more than adequate to power an amplifier to drive new speakers or a subwoofer. There are several options for upgrades and accessories that can transform your vehicle – let’s check them out.

Limitations of Factory Sound Systems

As with most new cars and trucks, the limiting factors in the performance of the factory audio system are weight and cost. While companies like Harman, Bose, Bowers & Wilkins and Rockford Fosgate are more than capable of delivering listening experiences that can rival a live performance, they are limited by the budget for each vehicle and the amount of weight that can be added. Weight negatively affects the handling, braking, acceleration and fuel economy. That results in audio systems that sound acceptable, but not great.

Upgrading Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Stereo Systems

In almost every case, adding a subwoofer to your car or truck will make the biggest impact on the overall performance of the sound system. Right now, look at the bass setting on your car radio. Is it turned up? Even one or two notches require the factory radio and speakers to work a lot harder. Imagine if you could turn the bass down and dedicate an amplifier and speaker to reproducing low-frequency information. Your speakers will sound better and the overall system will be more lifelike, play louder and deliver better clarity.

Subwoofer systems come in all shapes and sizes, from compact solutions designed to fit into the corner of a cargo area to unique cylindrical subwoofers that fit inside a spare tire. These all-in-one bass upgrades offer great value.

If a product isn’t already available for your vehicle, talk to your local specialist car stereo shop about building a custom solution. The salesperson and installation team can design a solution that uses one of the many shallow subwoofers available to create an enclosure that fits your vehicle perfectly and delivers amazing bass.

DSP and Speaker Upgrades

Modern audio systems often include incredibly advanced system tuning, and many vehicles include a center channel with an upmixer to ensure that the sound delivered to every seat in your vehicle sounds great. Understanding how to work with these systems and incorporating a digital signal processor requires specific training and experience. Make sure the shop you choose to work on your vehicle understands your needs and the complexity of these factory systems before they dive in.

Speakers are, without a doubt, the most important aspect of any audio system. Imagine spending thousands on a home audio CD transport, a stand-alone DAC and an amazing amplifier, only to connect a set of speakers that your uncle or cousin rescued from bulk recycling day. Upgrading the speakers in your vehicle with something truly awesome, then re-tuning the system with a signal processor to work with those new speakers, is a truly night-and-day experience.

Can I Upgrade the Radio in My Hybrid or Electric Vehicle?

In almost every case, the answer to “Can I upgrade my radio in a hybrid or electric vehicle?” is no. Does this mean you can’t upgrade the audio system? Not at all. Many companies make interfaces that are designed specifically to work with factory-installed source units to make adding amplifiers and new speakers easy and reliable.

Choose Your Installer Wisely

Upgrading the audio system in a hybrid or electric vehicle isn’t much harder than in a conventional gasoline or diesel-powered car, truck or SUV. With that said, be sure that you choose a mobile enhancement retailer who is knowledgeable about the requirements for your specific vehicle and has the training to deliver the results you want.

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.

One common misconception about speakers is that underpowering them can cause damage. This fallacy is supported by minimum power ratings from several manufacturers, which adds to the confusion. Never fear, we’re here to explain why you simply can’t damage a speaker by providing it with only a little bit of power, and we’ll clarify how this myth originated.

What Damages Speakers?

Other than poking a dust cap or punching a hole in the cone or surround with a screwdriver, only two things will damage a speaker: too much power and too much excursion. Too much power will cause the adhesives that bond the voice coil winding to the voice coil former to fail, subsequently allowing it to unravel and get jammed in the motor. Too much excursion can cause the spider to be damaged or the voice coil former to smash into the backplate and become deformed.

Why Do Speakers Need Power?

If you want to produce sound, you need to send some amount of power to your speakers. How much power you send determines how much sound is produced. More power is fine, up to the physical or thermal limits of the speaker design.

If you feed a speaker with 1 watt of pink noise, it will play pretty loud. Depending on the size and design, a pair of conventional coaxial speakers getting 1 watt of pink noise can easily produce more than 95 dB of output in a typical vehicle. From a theoretical standpoint, an additional watt of power will increase the output to 98 dB, and doubling the power again to 4 watts produces roughly 101 dB. The process continues until the speaker cones can’t move any farther or the driver fails.

Going the other way, those same speakers will provide 92 dB with 0.5 watts of power, and 89 dB with 0.25 watts. With only 0.125 watts you get 86 dB, 0.0625 watts would be 83 dB and 31.25 milliwatts produces 80 db. That’s about the same noise level as a modern sedan cruising at 65 mph. Power and output levels continue to decrease at a logarithmic rate until you simply can’t hear the music. Clearly, less power won’t cause any damage to your speakers.

What About The Myth of Not Having Enough Power?

The myth about not having enough power and damaging speakers is based around what happens when you drive an amplifier into clipping. Let’s say you have a radio with a 20-watt amplifier rated at 1% distortion. You “can” get a lot more power out of that amp, but it will include a LOT of harmonic information. If you were playing a 1 kHz tone at a total output level of 30 watts, you would hear significant 2 kHz, 4 kHz, 8 kHz and 16 kHz energy being produced. This addition of high-frequency energy can strain the thermal capabilities of the tweeters in your system.

If you don’t have a powerful enough amplifier to reach the volume levels you want, you can damage the speakers by feeding them too much high-frequency energy by driving the amplifier into clipping. It’s the extra power in these harmonics that damages speakers.

Choose the Right Amp for Your Speakers

If you’re considering upgrading your car stereo system, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer so you can audition different speakers for your vehicle. Choose speakers with a smooth and accurate response and an amp with excellent noise and distortion specs and that can produce as much power as the speakers are rated for. This combination, when installed and configured properly, will sound amazing and last for years.

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.