The transmission of sound in vehicles has come a long way over the years. In the 1930’s the first car radio was invented and installed in most automobiles known as Motorola. In the United Kingdom, the first factory fitted car radio was made by Crossley. In the 1950’s, Ford made the ‘seek’ option on radios. The ‘dead pedal’ in modern cars on the left hand side of the driver’s floor was once used for the radio to activate the last used seek option for searching for a radio station. In the 1960’s, Phillips produced and launched the first compact cassette and Jim Fosgate built one of the first audio amplifiers that run on 12 volts, now standard in all new cars.


In 1983, the first 200 watt per channel car amplifier was built by Zed Audio which was then adapted to cope with the extreme temperatures and vibrations experienced by cars. In the 1980’s car audio competitions started with the first occurring in Bakersfield, California known as The Summertime Car Show and Sound Off Competition which continued into the 1990’s.
Nowadays, cars are fitted with standard stereos that have a CD-radio that an MP3 player can be attached to and a USB. Additional features can include a DVD player, USB flash memory, a control interface for GPS, trip odometer and back up/parking cameras.


Many car enthusiasts also install subwoofers, a particular type of low frequency sound producing speaker and deadening materials to reduce vibrations from the subwoofer bass tones. Unfortunately, high volume custom made stereos that are installed by many car enthusiasts are illegal in many parts of the world due to their low frequencies and noise pollution. Additionally, they can also affect the hearing of those in the car, damaging irreplaceable hairs in the cochlea in the inner ear and if the base is too high, it can cause nausea and possibly cancer if used for extended periods. Nevertheless, keeping the stock standard stereo can be considered boring to a male who like to accessorise and compete over who has the better car sound system.


If you are the type of person who does not care for competitiveness over an affordable new car system, you can simply save money and stick with the standard stereo that you already have in your car. It will still play music just as clearly as any car enthusiast’s stereo and it won’t put your wallet or your health at risk.