Innovations and Evolutions: Car Steros
I'm sure each of us have heard a car stereo, whether they be good or not. Some light up with LED lights, some just barely have enough lights to show the time. Some hold CDs others hold tapes and some just connect wirelessly, but how did they start? What did radios look like in comparison to now.. how did they evolve into what we know now? I used to have a Kenwood stereo in my old car but with my current car I couldn't switch it out. I loved having the ability to change the bass and the LED lights. In fact, I loved it so much I used a JVC radio and connected it to my old car speakers and set it up as a sound system for my dorm room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1930 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first car radio was considered a luxury rather than a commonly seen vehicle feature. The first car stereo cost somewhere around $130 which today would be about $1,500 today, so not very cheap. The features of the radio weren't very impressive, they were powered by a single radio and the AM feature wasn't the greatest with little range. By using AM sound waves, the sound quality was never really that good either. Below is a video of what a car radio used to look like, big difference!
During this time, car radios went through some significant changes. They now had FM capabilities beginning in 1952. Now radios had FM/AM built into them, continuing into modern car stereos. I don't think I've seen a car stereo that doesn't allow for FM/AM. In 1955, music could now be played "on demand" by using 7-inch records that could fit on a turntable that slid out of the dash of the car. Mobile-One Auto Sound says "While innovative, it was somewhat impractical as the records would skip while the vehicle was in motion."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1960s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here we see the invention of 4-track and 8-track tapes that removed the issue of skipping records while the car was in motion. This leads to the enjoyment of cassette tapes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1970 - 1980 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the time when cassette tapes become popular, but not until the walkman gains its popularity. Not only could you mix tapes, but now sound quality was being improved in vehicles. You could buy after-market sound systems but they were often difficult to out in so car-manufacturers built multi-speaker systems with amplifiers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1980 - 1990 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At this point in time, CD players were coming into the rescue to make up for the lack of sound quality with cassettes. Not only did they have better sound quality, but they lasted long since they didn't degrade at the rate tapes did. CD players became a regular appearance in vehicles towards the end of this time frame and came built-in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2000s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MP3 players come in here and give people the ability to play music that you can just plug into your vehicle. AS phones became more advanced, the ability to plug and play with your phone advanced along with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~ 2010 - present ~~~~~~~~~~
At this point car stereos have reached wireless play and screens. We have the car systems that connect to our phones and display maps or allow us to stream music. MacRumors stated that "Automobile manufacturers have been building CarPlay support into cars since 2015, but there's also a way to get it CarPlay in [vehicles previous to 2015]." They still have FM/Am capabilities and usually have a CD player built in. Aftermarket stereos can have displays if a car doesn't come built with it, or they have LED lights, and even special sound features like bass boost.
Musical Elements in Car Stereos: As mentioned, car audio has improved along with the radio capabilities. Depending on the car stereo, you can change the settings to accommodate to the music your listening to. For example, the JVC I have you can change the balance of the music, the level of bass being produced. You can mess with the EQ setting and change the sound effect to fit the specifics of your car. If there is a song with a heavy bass and you love the bass you can increase it to feel it more within your car, if you don't want that you can lower it or leave it at the starting level. If there's quiet dynamics in the song, you can change the loudness of the stereo to hear it better without having to turn of the entire system. You can manipulate the radio to hear certain parts of the song better like the voices or the instrumentalization. Below is a video about using these settings and showcasing the features of a JVC stereo.
Citations"
Clover, Juli. “Carplay: Everything We Know.” MacRumors, MacRumors, 2 Oct. 2024, www.macrumors.com/roundup/carplay/.
“The History of Car Radios.” Car and Driver, www.caranddriver.com/features/a15128476/the-history-of-car-radios/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.
Sound, Mobile One Auto. “The Fascinating History of Car Audio.” Mobile One, Mobile One, 29 Sept. 2021, www.mobileoneautosound.com/post/the-history-of-car-audio .
YouTube, youtu.be/C10kXiJxmGc?feature=shared. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024. https://youtu.be/v0LkeR6mA-Q feature=shared
YouTube, youtu.be/v0LkeR6mA-Q?feature=shared. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.
Hey Sarah, it was really interesting to learn about the history of car stereo systems! I normally do not really think about car stereos, but rather take them for granted, so it is nice to gain some more insight into their history. It is crazy to think how the first car stereo unit was created in the 1930s; I would have assumed that it would have been a much more recent invention.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I can see how far car audio systems have been developed, and it is brilliant to state the least. It is quite unbelievable that the progression from mere AM radios to today's modern, wireless, touchscreen devices is incredible. How great it is that one can select preferred settings of the sound depending on the type of music being played, such a feature is very crucial, and it was informative learning about some of the icons of sound improvement throughout the decades. I did like the video demonstrations and the historical facts you included that give a clear depiction of the development of car stereos. One cannot believe that at some point technology has evolved and how integrated it is today in every aspect of our lives. Thank you very much for this post as this is an interesting post to learn the history of car stereos.
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