- published: 20 Jan 2016
- views: 32669
Car audio/video (car AV) or Vehicle audio for non-car vehicles, auto radio, mobile audio, 12-volt and other terms are used to describe the sound or video system fitted in a vehicle. While 12-volt audio and video systems are also used, marketed, or manufactured for marine, aviation, and buses, and even applications outside of automotive use like slot panels for demo models in stores prior to purchase, this article focuses on cars as the most common application. From the earliest days of radio, enthusiasts had adapted domestic equipment to use in their cars. In the 1960s, tape players using reel-to-reel equipment, 8-track cartridges in the late 60s and early 70s. Compact Cassettes were introduced for in-car use in the mid 1970s and were primarily used until Compact Discs (CDs) came into use in the mid to late 1980s.
A stock car audio system refers to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) application that the vehicle's manufacturer specified to be installed when the car was built. The high tech systems of specialists such as Bang & Olufsen, Bose, Bowers and Wilkins, and Harman International Industries (which encompasses brands such as Harman Kardon, JBL, and Mark Levinson) are available in several luxury car marques. Stock audio systems have gone a long way, and in some preferences may not even need additional after market parts to enhance audio quality and overall power. For example, Bowers and Wilkins have a 1200 watt surround sound audio system with 20 speakers in the 2012 Jaguar XJ series. Stock audio systems are definitely improving the overall sound experience, but anything can be tweaked and modified.
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods.
The term motorcar has also been used in the context of electrified rail systems to denote a car which functions as a small locomotive but also provides space for passengers and baggage. These locomotive cars were often used on suburban routes by both interurban and intercity railroad systems.
There are approximately 600 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people). Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; the engines of these burn over a billion cubic meters (260 billion US gallons) of petrol/gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.
Audio is an electrical or other representation of sound.
Audio may also refer to: