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We grown-ups sit on our spreading-out behinds and listen at home, like it was intended. No reason to blow a couple of grand on a rolling frathouse, backseat love-machine! We don't have to sneak around anymore.
No question that most audiophiles who read <I>Stereophile</I> are concerned about the performance of their home systems, but what about their car systems?
Not that important listen mostly to radio. The important things in audio is simply not possible in a car. Fitted a front loader the spin the occasional CD, mostly on the one home after a new purchase, to play on the real thing.
I trashed the OEM deck in my Honda and installed an Alpine head unit and Alpine five-channel amp. I used Boston Acoustics speakers all around (including sub). While I don't "bump" as much as the kids, and the quality is nothing near my home stereo, I still get much better sound for the drive to work. As a bonus I get to hear the wife tell me to "turn it down" every time we get in the car. :-)
Since being an audiophile usually means being relatively well-off (upper middle class and above) and being well-off (in the USA at least) means owning a fairly late model vehicle, it would not be out of line to say that plenty of audiophiles have pretty nice vehicles. And the audio systems in newer vehicles sound great right from the factory. So now when I get a new car (I still buy cars - not SUV's) I just get the best stereo available from the manufacturer and then I never worry about it again.
The ugly truth comes out - I don't have a car. I did have one in the past, though, and probably will again, and I'm tempted to say that good sound quality in the car is not that important. First of all, doing any sort of critical listening while driving strikes me as a very dangerous thing. The driver should be concentrating on the road and the traffic, not the music. I suppose your passengers might appreciate good sound... In addition, I don't think getting reference-quality sound, or even anything resembling it, out of a car system is really possible, so even if I answered "yes, it's important," would difference would it make?
Fifteen years ago I tried to purchase a quality audio system for my car. The task was impossible and the system I purchased was never more than OK. I have listened to friends systems and never judged them worth the effort I expended on that system so long ago. My last car came with a factory installated system that was on a par with acceptable sound(meaning you don't turn it off or switch to all sport talk in 10 minutes). Although I have not heard a highend sound surround system yet I have wondered if my reaction may be first to the surround aspect of auto sound.
I'm lucky - two of the six household vehicles have an excellent sound system. I have an acoustic instrument recording business, so a reasonably good car system is essential. I would add that most car systems (even expensive ones) are little more than loud boom boxes.
over the years i've always replaced the stock speakers with Infinity units. my first car had 2 Infinity subs powered by a pair of Infinity DPA amps in a bandpass box (very bad). my next car had a single Infinity sub powered by a different amp, and currently i have no sub in my car. long live Class D!