A DINOSAUR OF A CAR GUY LOOKS AT MODERN SOUND IN VINTAGE RIDES
The new age of electronics is nearly impossible to understand- let alone stay ahead of the learning curve.
As a well-qualified member- in- good- standing of yesteryear, I have supreme confidence that I will never be ahead of the digital age learning curve.
So I asked for a little help from Chris at Vibe Audio when I decided to tackle the concept of current in-car sound and its startling evolution over the past eighty years.
The first audio in a car was a radio offered by the original Motorola founders in the early 30s. It appears that Bill Lear and Elmer Waverling sold their technology to Paul Galvin, and he parlayed it into a very popular after-market option for a hungry radio-less car buying public.
Even a Depression was not enough to slow down the consumer's appetite for sound in a 30s-era car and the rest is history.
Bill Lear was not finished with car sound as he was the man behind the 8- track upgrade on the Muntz 4- track, which was an upgrade from the original 3-track in-car system.
We can't forget in-car turntables as a sound option along the way, nor can we ignore the birth of FM in the car radio.
I am most familiar with life after the 8-track tape-eaters as a car sound source. They were clumsy and inefficient and I would have traded a first-born child for a then-new 8–track player as a teenager.
The unilateral action of an 8-track meant that songs were split into odd tracks that interrupted songs and clicked to the next track. But the tunes were playable over and over (until the tapes died a horrible death in the 8-track player) and that was the irresistible allure of 8-tracks.
At least until in-car cassette players- they were my first entry into car sound. They were recordable and they played right through to the end of the tape-side, theoretically without chewing your mix tapes. It was a 100% guarantee that your cassette deck would consume your tapes at some point in your life.
The next significant phase for car sound had to be the CD player. They offered clear sound and less opportunity to dine on CD's. It was not impossible but it was less likely than a tape.
The ultimate car sound to date has to be the new digital MP3 style players. They can store every song that you even remotely like- and thousands of others that you may not even know existed before you downloaded them. They do this in a package the size of a credit card.
You can categorize them and file them under just about anything that floats your boat in music.
Chris took us through the new age of car electronics and introduced us to car units with USB ports that will connect to a huge world of Internet stations, Bluetooth communication, XM radio and Netflix. It is a mind-boggling world of serious in-car options and all of them point toward a new ultra-connected e-world.
Therefore I was a little surprised when I saw a segment on a popular collector car show that sang the praises of a multi-disc CD player as a good option for new technology. As a member in good standing of the Dinosaur Club I got the feeling that this guy was pitching to me and my technology–challenged peers. He was telling us that CD technology is about all that I could grasp with my Baby Boomer old tech mindset .
That was wrong-we grew up on Star Trek...
The evolution of car sound has gone way past the multi-disc system. Digital systems don't eat your songs and you will never get tired of thousands of song options in your car sound system.
Chris confirmed my opinion that multi-disc systems now make about as much sense in the evolution of sound as Cro-Magnon man makes as the next step in the evolution of man.
Give us more credit because even old dog car guys can still learn some new car sound system tricks and end up with the best sound system they have ever known in their beloved old rides.
Jim Sutherland
More car stories and many car opinions at http://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/
