Car audio system

Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the vehicle occupants. Until the 1950s it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions since then have included FM radio (1952), 8-Track tape players, cassette players, CD players (1984), DVD players, Blu-ray players, navigation systems, Bluetooth telephone integration, and smartphone controllers like CarPlay and Android Auto. Once controlled from the dashboard with a few buttons, they can now be controlled by steering wheel controls and voice commands.1955: World's first All-Transistor car radio - Chrysler Mopar 914HR / Philco model C-5690.A 1950s Philips car radio using both transistor and valves. This model used a range of special space charge valves that only required 12 volts for their plate (anode) voltage.GM Delco Transistorized 'Hybrid' (vacuum tubes and transistors), first offered as an option on the 1956 Chevrolet Corvette car models.A car stereo head unit in a dashboard1942 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet radioDashboard of VW Hebmüller with Telefunken Radio (1949/50)1964 Mercedes-Benz W110 190c dashboard with original FM Blaupunkt 'Frankfurt' head unit.BLAUPUNKT Köln Radio - German 1958 FORD Taunus 17M P2 deLuxe1990 Ford Sierra CLX Radio-Cassette head unit in a dashboard with cassette storage1978 AMC Matador sedan factory AM-FM-stereo-8-track unit with album by The Blues BrothersA set of speaker drivers removed from a passenger vehicleA car audio amplifierTwo 10-inch sub-woofers in the trunk of a carAs technology keeps evolving, head units are now paired with climate control system and other essentials. They are now equipped with anti-theft system for protection purposes. Vehicle audio is equipment installed in a car or other vehicle to provide in-car entertainment and information for the vehicle occupants. Until the 1950s it consisted of a simple AM radio. Additions since then have included FM radio (1952), 8-Track tape players, cassette players, CD players (1984), DVD players, Blu-ray players, navigation systems, Bluetooth telephone integration, and smartphone controllers like CarPlay and Android Auto. Once controlled from the dashboard with a few buttons, they can now be controlled by steering wheel controls and voice commands. Initially implemented for listening to music and radio, vehicle audio is now part of car telematics, telecommunication, in-vehicle security, handsfree calling, navigation, and remote diagnostics systems. The same loudspeakers may also be used to minimize road and engine noise with active noise control, or they may be used to augment engine sounds, for instance making a smaller engine sound bigger. In 1904, well before commercially viable technology for mobile radio was in place, American inventor and self-described 'Father of Radio' Lee de Forest did some demonstration around a car radio at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Around 1920, vacuum tube technology had matured to the point where the availability of radio receivers made radio broadcasting viable. A technical challenge was that the vacuum tubes in the radio receivers required 50 to 250 volt direct current but car batteries ran at 6V. Voltage was stepped up with a vibrator that provided a pulsating DC which could be converted to a higher voltage with a transformer, rectified, and filtered to create higher-voltage DC. In 1924, Kelly's Motors in NSW, Australia, installed its first car radio. In 1930, the American Galvin Manufacturing Corporation marketed a Motorola branded radio receiver for $130. It was expensive: the contemporary Ford Model A cost $540. A Plymouth sedan, 'wired for Philco Transistone radio without extra cost,' is advertised in Ladies' Home Journal in 1931. In 1932 in Germany the Blaupunkt AS 5 medium wave and longwave radio was marketed for 465 Reichsmark, about one third of the price of a small car. Because it took nearly 10 litres of space, it could not be located near the driver, and was operated via a steering wheel remote control. In 1933 Crossley Motors offer a factory fitted car radio. By the late 1930s, push button AM radios were considered a standard feature. In 1946 there were an estimated 9 million AM car radios in use. An FM receiver was offered by Blaupunkt in 1952. In 1953, Becker introduced the AM/FM Becker Mexico with a Variometer tuner, basically a station-search or scan function. In April 1955, the Chrysler Corporation had announced that it was offering a Mopar model 914HR branded Philco all transistor car radio, as a $150 option for its 1956 Chrysler and Imperial car models. Chrysler Corporation had decided to discontinue its all transistor car radio option at the end of 1956, due to it being too expensive, and replaced it with a cheaper hybrid (transistors and low voltage vacuum tubes) car radio for its new 1957 car models. In 1963 Becker introduced the Monte Carlo, a tubeless solid state radio, with no vacuum tubes. In 1964 Philips launched the Compact Cassette and in 1968 a dashboard car radio with a built in cassette player was also introduced by Philips. In 1965 Ford and Motorola jointly introduced the 8-track tape in-car tape player as optional equipment for the new 1966 Ford car models. In subsequent years cassettes supplanted the 8-track, and improved with longer play times, better tape quality, auto-reverse, and Dolby noise reduction. They were popular throughout the 1970s and '80s. While the CD had been on the market since 1982, it was in 1984 that Pioneer introduced the CDX-1, the world's first car CD player. It was known for its improved sound quality, instant track skipping and the formats increased durability over cassette tapes. Due to the ability that allowed drivers and passengers to change up to 10 CD's at a time, car CD changers started to gain popularity in the late 80s and continuing throughout the 90s. Stock and aftermarket compact disc players began appearing in the late 1980s, competing with the cassette. The first car with an OEM CD player was the 1987 Lincoln Town Car, and the last new cars in the American market to be factory-equipped with a cassette deck in the dashboard was the 2010 Lexus SC430, and the Ford Crown Victoria.