Why does car hifi often sound so good ... ?

[terrybooth]

My car Hi-Fi is awful (2008 Octavia).

I know 'premium' systems are available as upgrades but I really can't imagine they'll ever be that good unless you're in something rather special.

Maybe something from Linn (oh that didn't work did it) or Naim (if you want a Bentley) or B&W? :D
[EDIT] You could listen to it through your Hublot headphones.

[jammy395]

The simple reason music sound's so good in a car has now't to do with what type of car hifi you have or indeed what type of car. ( Hearse's need not apply ).
It is to do with GLASS - There's loads of it in a car & glass deflects the sound wave's all round the interior makeing any type of music sound quite sublime.
If in doubt whilst driving along try opening the front 2 window's - the sound quality will drop expotentialy as you have now removed 2 glass panel's - Sound
will now sound a bit crap...For further proof try listening to music in a convertable with all window's down...Crap yet again.....

VOILA - The mystery solved................

[zebbo]

Oh I don't know about that Jammy, Hotel California used to sound pretty damn good in my 67 TR4A with the roof down!

[phil66]

I have noticed that lyrics can be easier to pick out on some tracks in the car, could it be down to the lack of frequency extremes highlighting the range of frequencies present in the human voice? Hence your "understandable" comment.

Guy.

With "understandable" I mean a stressless way of playing music, tunes suddenly fit together and make the song ! That makes me hum that melody the whole day long ... :D
Shure we have a lot of damping seats there absorbing a lot of the resonances; and allmost no parallels causing standing waves; AND we have a little percentage of glas surfaces .....maybe good for for mid high frequences ??
AND I think everybody uses a kind of "equilizer" setting - fitting to the personal sound taste ... ( I do not think about the ones that let jump your car to the bass tunes ...)
The funny thing is that the good car hifi sound does not depend on the media played ..... 30 years agoe we had cassettes, then CDs; and now ... who knows .... !

[jammy395]

Oh I don't know about that Jammy, Hotel California used to sound pretty damn good in my 67 TR4A with the roof down!

Yes Zebbo, But i mean whilst acctualy driving...!!! - Not sitting in yer TR4A parked up in the garage...........

[guydarryl]

Don't know about the glass theory; with the windows down in my diesel Polo I can't hear the stereo

[guydarryl]

Oh I don't know about that Jammy, Hotel California used to sound pretty damn good in my 67 TR4A with the roof down!

Yes Zebbo, But i mean whilst acctualy driving...!!! - Not sitting in yer TR4A parked up in the garage...........

Don't spoil it Jammy, I had mental images of TR4, music, country lanes, nubile in passenger seat etc etc