What does a Bluetooth adapter do for my car stereo?
Bluetooth wireless technology allows easy connection for communication without cables or wires. In the case of car stereo, a Bluetooth adapter is usually for use with a cell phone that has Bluetooth capability. Most brand/model specific Bluetooth adapters will allow you to Place, Answer and End cellular phone calls in your car, hands-free via your head unit. When you're not using your Bluetooth to carry on phone conversations, you usually also have the option of listening to Bluetooth streaming audio devices. For some Bluetooth streaming audio devices that support command and control protocols, functions such as presets, play/pause, and track up/track down may also be available. With many stand alone Bluetooth audio streaming devices, you will have basic output volume control only.
What is a FM Modulator?
A FM Modulator let you play your Audio Devices Wire-Free through your Car Stereo System’s FM Radio. These audio device could be MP3 players, iPods or anything with a headphone or audio line level output (not speaker level). FM Modulators take this signal an convert it to a FM frequency that they transmit out. This transmission can be tuned in on your FM radio just like a radio broadcast. The quality of sound is not as good as a direct input, but it will allow playback over an audio system that has no extra audio inputs.
How can I add a Gaming System like Playstation or XBox to my car stereo/video system?
First, you'll need a voltage invertor to convert the 12v power to 110 AC current that the gaming system requires. Look on the game unit by where the power cord plugs in and see the wattage listing for it and get an invertor that is greater than that. . Generally, a 400 watt inverter or larger is used. Now you can power the game system in you vehicle. You will need an available video and audio input on your car's video system. This may be a front or rear panel input on your indash unit or an auxilliary input on overhead or freestanding monitors. If your gear doesn't offer this (at least an extra video input), then you won't be able to add a gaming system to it. Often, you might only have extra video inputs. In this case, you'll have to use a FM Modulator to transmit the audio signal to your FM section in your car stereo.
If I want to compete in car stereo Sound-Offs, what do I need to do to get started?
The first thing is to decide is what type of competitions you want to enter. There are two general categories you can pursue, loudest vehicle wins or best sounding vehicle wins. There are variations of these categories depending on which competition organization you choose to compete in. The most popular is the loud vehicle wins (SPL) type of competition. The competition organizations that primarily cater to this are USACI (United States Autosound Competition International) and dB Drag Racing. If sound quality (SQ) is of more interest to you, IASCA (International Auto Sound Competition Association) and MECA (Mobile Electronics Competition Association) offer SPL and SQ division to compete in.
After you decide which style of competing (SPL or SQ) you want to be involved in, the next thing you'll want to figure out is how seriously do you want to compete. If SPL is your choice (the most popular one) here's a few things to consider when making that decision. There are trade-offs for both the dead serious and the casual competitor. The serious competitor will do extreme things to their vehicle and audio systems to increase the chances of winning. Things that might make the vehicle impractical to use as a daily driver and leave you with an audio system that may not sound great in normal listening situations. Similar to a drag racer whose vehicle is extremely fast for a very short period of time if driven in a straight line, but is next to impossible to use on the street for regular driving. Many of the hardcore SPL competitors will have a vehicle devoted strictly to competition use and not daily use. They have another vehicle for a daily driver. Also, the serious SPL competitor will usually have much higher levels of expense involved with their set-up. One reason for this is the relation between power and increases in decibels is logarithmic. Every time you double your power, theoretically you only gain 3 dB. You also only gain 3 dB when you double the amount of woofers you are using. So if your system is already very large and powerful, doubling it only squeezes out a few more dBs. These are a couple of the reasons why most people truly fall more in the casual competitor category. Unfortunately, with many car audio shops out there, when you tell them you want to compete, they'll just start shoving the most extreme equipment they can get you to buy into your vehicle.They may do this without devoting any attention into making sure that your vehicle (primarily the electrical system) can support all this extreme equipment. They also may fail to tell you that in most competitions, these systems only have to run at outrageous levels for about thirty seconds. The set-up is not meant to run hours at a time like a normally used car audio system. Dealing with shops like this will generally result in easily damaged equipment, undue frustration and an end result that doesn't truly fit your needs.
Being more a casual competitor doesn't mean you don't want to have fun, be competitive and win. It just means you also want to use what you compete in as a normal vehicle. That's why many of the Sound-Off organizations have added classes to cater to the casual competitor. We recommend you visit all the Competition sites above and see what classes they offer and check out the rules for the class that sounds appealing to you. This would give you a good idea of what you need to focus on with your vehicle and it's audio system. Then seek out a dealer like Car-Fi who will help you determine how you really want to use this competition oriented sound system and help you design a solid game plan to acheive your goals. Back To Top
Where can I find the current rules for USACI, IASCA, dB Drag Racing and MECA ?
For USACI and MECA, we have downloads availavble on our site for the USACI Rules and MECA Rules. We also have a USACI Membership form on file. For IASCA, visit their Competition Classes pages and choose your appropriate class to view the rules. For dB Drag Racing and check out their Rules and Regulations page and Bass Race page.
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