What year did car audio change

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

Did things change after 1999?

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

i bought it at a flea market for 10 bucks. it is grey and red. hard to explain the looks of it. it's slotted, kinda like a cheese grater.

ahh i think i know what your saying, has a plastic decal in center. is not bat style and the one you have is not as good as the older ones. doesnt make it bad by any means.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The change came with the advent of the high powered Class D amps and the almost simultaneous demise of IASCA and explosion of dB Drag. When the industry quit focusing on quality and accuracy and instead started caring primarily about how loud it could get (not with music usually either but with test tones) because that's where the bulk of the consumers were, that's when things changed. DEI bought out 3 of the quality brands and ran the names into the ground about the same time.

You can still build an efficient system if you want to. It won't be an SPL competition system by any means but loud to the ear is a totally different thing and hearing damage is easy to achieve. The best reason to do this is that you can have a good system without having to replace the alternator, add batteries and spend gobs of cash on wire. The thing that you have to consider is speaker efficiency. You're not looking for something that can handle 150w per side for your mids/highs because that power handling comes at the cost of efficiency. Home audio type drivers are a good choice. Same with the subs. A sub that can handle a ton of wattage isn't going to be very satisfying on significantly less. Remember that the old Kickers were only rated for 300W. Same with the original W6 JLs. Those were some of the most highly regarded subs during the old times.

I have a pair of the old US Amps USA-25s that were 12.5 watts per channel. PPI also had the ProMOS 12 that was 12 x 2. There were several companies that made 15x2 and 15x4 amps. Of course the king was the Soundstream Reference Class A 6.0. IASCA rating was 12.5 x 2 did over 500w bridged into 1/2 ohm. That was a fairly legit rating. The Orion Concept 97.3 was a totally different story. Rated at 1 x 2 but was really a beefed up 2100 HCCA capable of well over 1600W. That one pretty well killed the IASCA power classes. Orion didn't even pretend that those were legit ratings because they were basically fed up with the outright lies that were passing for power ratings at that time.

 

[mcsoul 10+ year member]

I think everyone remembers the "good old days". That hot chick was all over you,

music sounded better, smoke tasted better, you could party till 7am.

Now I'm married, got 2 kids, tons of bills and new car audio sounds like crap.

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

systems are a lot louder these days...name one back in the day doing 150+ daily tuned low on four 8's //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif Mark Fukuda could barely do a 150 in a yellow walled S10 Blazer with 8 15's.....

fukuda was doing 156 or 157 in 93 or 94. that was the only year he beat us(using george reeds meter). we were doin 156 and some change and jumped to 159 in 1995

and the change happened when they introduced the high excursion subs

 

[Ali1 10+ year member]

As soon as Sony introduced themselves into car audio

 

[87linkin 10+ year member]

I remember my 2 memphis power reference 15's in a sealed box and an oldschool rf punch 500@2 amp doing a 146.8 in a towncar (in trunk)

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

I'm thinking what made subs so much louder back in the day is nostalgia. and inaccurate mics.

If you take a pair of old Kicker Comps from the mid 90s and hook them up to a 300w amp, sure it will sound good and get decently loud. I installed a pair in my friend's S10, in fact. They weren't ridiculously loud or anything, though. Same story with another friend of mine. He has an old S10C he bought off me powered by a 1989 Punch 150. It's a nice sub and amp combination, but nothing incredible. No doubt, older systems had to be more efficient to achieve the loudness they did, though.

I'd be willing to bet money that you can make a newer 10" louder than 2 old school 12's though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

We did a 156 on an AC meter with two SI Mag 15s on an MA Audio MA5082HX in 2002... it was their massive "4000-watt" Class-A/B amp that we maybe saw 1000 watts from on a stock electrical setup with no extra batteries and a single run of 1/0 wire in a Ford Explorer.

This is no where NEAR a 156 on the Term-Lab - not even close.

I think it is just nostalgia... I recall my first systems with junk equipment as being incredibly loud and now I don't think twice about 150 dB.

 

[Ed Lester 10+ year member]

Term Lab was introduced in 2003. It was not around before that at all.

My car with 2 15s walled did 164 dB in 2002 on the Audio Control and old dB Drag Mic.

Sitting in it would knock the wind out of ya.

Then in 2003 with the Term Lab, I could only manage a 156.3 dB tops.

Now my HHR does a 153.2 dB on the TL but I can do a 160 on the old meters with one amp and 4 12s non walled.

So its only perception that has changed.

Cars are getting louder, more easily. but the measuring standards changed in 2003.

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

i guess a 163 in 2005 sealed up is ok with 3 15s then? yes on a tl

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

i guess a 163 in 2005 sealed up is ok with 3 15s then? yes on a tl

Considering most people never seen a 150, i think it kicks azz.

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

DBBOOM in the hizzle

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

DBBOOM in the hizzle

Yeah, every one watch out for lightning and flying rocks.

 

[Ed Lester 10+ year member]

i guess a 163 in 2005 sealed up is ok with 3 15s then? yes on a tl

Thats is awsome on the TL.

If you took it back in time to 1996 you would do a 170 and be the all time world Record holder over Alma Gate's 164.9 in extreme class with 64 10s. and about 128,000 watts of power and vacuum sealed doors.