Q: I have a 2006 Audi A4 with the base stock audio system, no NAV. The system sounds mediocre at best at low volumes, but once turned up the sound is overly compressed with no dynamics to speak of. Can you tell me if compression is built into the stock head unit or the amp? It seems that compression, or some type of limiting, is common in a lot of cars these days. Yes, there's less distortion, but the audio quality is just as bad. I do AV production work and I know I'm hearing compression in this "system." However, is there proof that there's some form of compression/limiting in the stock Audi audio system? And, what other cars do you know of? I also had a stock Mitsubishi Infinity system that had some compression effect as well.Thank you for your help.Tome Trajkovski
A: Tome, that's what happens when carmakers live and die by the reliability ratings. Every time a car goes in for repair, the statistics are gathered for publishing ratings. Carmakers will do almost anything to prevent failures, which are pretty good these days. Yet the maniacal quest for "zero failures" continues, and the audio system is considered just another part that can fail and bring down the ratings. As a result, factory sound has been using some form of audio compensation since the mid '90s. For instance, GM radios were introduced with an unmentioned feature where the bass would rolloff as the volume was increased. In this way, as the sound-pressure level went up, the bulk of the power that produces bass is reduced to protect the cheap factory speakers. Car audio specialists were adding subwoofers and then having to deal with reduced bass instead of increased bass. Why not just use a better speaker? Probably cost issues.
As the use of DSP processor chips increases, the audio gymnastics that the gear can perform also increases. Most of these chips are found in head units more than in amplifiers, but the basic problem is the same: The carmaker doesn't really care about sound. They'd rather offer the feature regardless of how bad it is. For example, I'm considering replacing the Escalade we built several years ago, and the new EXT is a big improvement. However, the stock navigation system is about three generations old, using dual CD slots in the dash. What were they thinking?
The message here is that sound quality appears to be important to you, and you're involved in sound on a professional level. Get your ride down to a trained installation specialist and have a real system installed.
Q: I have a 1990 Volkswagen Cabriolet and I'm installing a Clarion CD player. I have the CD player installed, but when I turn it on, the sound shuts off after about four seconds. The stereo stays on but it has no sound. If I turn the CD player off and on again it does the same thing. I've heard that this is a problem that happens in all Volkswagens, but I don't know how to fix it. Any help would be appreciated.Thank you,Nick Downs
A: Nick, it sounds like your Clarion is going into its protection mode soon after you fire it up. In your case, with no outboard amplifiers, I'd begin by looking at the speakers and speaker wiring for defects. If you still have the stock speakers, they're pretty old, and a ground fault in the voice coil would cause this type of problem.