Car Radio, speakers, and installation? (Boston, Medford: weddings, college, live)

[inquisitive2]

Looking to get new speakers and possibly new radio/cd player for car.

I had a stereo installed in a car years ago and had electrical problems after; so, want to find a reputable place with a good history.

Looking for recommendations near Melrose, Wakefield, Reading areas.

Thanks!

[wolfgang239]

Krank it up in Medford does great work. I've had them do various installs on at least 5 vehicles.

[MikePRU]

Not to sidetrack this discussion but . . .

Seeing this thread really made me think about the death of the car stereo industry. Today's OEM stereos are not only quite improved in terms of features and sound quality but also incredibly integrated into the car. I can't think of too many new cars that come with a single or even a double DIN OEM stereo any more. When I was really into car stereo in the mid/late 90's we had in the Boston area several nationally renowned car stereo shops like Rich's Car Tunes and Creative Stereo. You could regularly see their work in car stereo magazines. Rich's closed years ago and Creative stopped doing car audio many years back.

[gf2020]

Automated Stereo, right in Wakefield center

[rethcir]

It is very frustrating. I had to rule out several otherwise good cars for not supporting Android Auto/CarPlay during a recent search. I miss the days of Double DIN.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by rethcir

It is very frustrating. I had to rule out several otherwise good cars for not supporting Android Auto/CarPlay during a recent search. I miss the days of Double DIN.

Android Auto/CaryPlay does seem to be experiencing a very slow adoption rate by car manufacturers. It's very frustrating.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Android Auto/CaryPlay does seem to be experiencing a very slow adoption rate by car manufacturers. It's very frustrating.

If you look on their respective websites, both are available from just about every mainstream manufacturer:

https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/

https://www.android.com/auto/#hit-the-road

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Not to sidetrack this discussion but . . .

Seeing this thread really made me think about the death of the car stereo industry. Today's OEM stereos are not only quite improved in terms of features and sound quality but also incredibly integrated into the car. I can't think of too many new cars that come with a single or even a double DIN OEM stereo any more. When I was really into car stereo in the mid/late 90's we had in the Boston area several nationally renowned car stereo shops like Rich's Car Tunes and Creative Stereo. You could regularly see their work in car stereo magazines. Rich's closed years ago and Creative stopped doing car audio many years back.

It's still alive. It's just a little more involved and expensive and requires a bit more technical know-how. Most of it is DIY though.

But yeah, gone are the days of swapping in a double din although speakers can be upgraded

[rethcir]

CarPlay is getting pretty universal, and the fact they are opening it up to google maps and waze is great.

Some of the manufacturers are beefing with Google over its privacy policies though. That should sort out over he next few years to everyone’s benefit.

For some models, you can order model specific android head units from China, but they’re not world class.

[mdovell]

CD players are a bit harder to find these days. With the ease of a aux in you can plug in nearly anything as long as it has a headphone jack. I had a nice JVC in my old car that was pretty good. Put in a newer one for my current car but the freaking display is hard to read. I know it's "cool" to change the colors but sometimes monochromatic just works. I'd argue that music can only sound as good as the speakers it's being played though. If the hz levels aren't wide you probably can't make out as much. It seems funny these days that the quality of audio has been downplayed if not made worse as more went to digital. TV's especially. Back in the day most TV's had decent speakers (not surround obviously but still) now the focus is so much on the display that speakers are an afterthought. Soundbar companies exist for a reason. I don't think personally that the leap to HDTV really made audio any better.

My old and current car stereo does have hd radio. I tried to be a cheerleader for it but I think in part due to satellite (that I also have) and podcasts (USB drives can be a godsend) it's a hard sell. The boston area had some decent stations, I miss the old radio you that used to be on wbos. It was a mix of college material and alternative with live hosts. I miss some of the live content though. It seems like most seemed to go over to sports or news. Opie and Anthony I thought were good for awhile and Toucher and Rich before sports took over.

I've seen some rather interesting videos of simply mounting an old tablet. It seems like cars are like weddings. The second you want it to work with a car the price jumps.