Not an entirely stupid thread, and I would say some of the members here have some pretty good points put across.

My 2 cents of observation and years of (more than 12yrs and still passionate about it) car audio, home audio and av indulgence...

1) Commercial products, are just that 'Commercial'. People buy them because the ads are convincing, it's nice to own a branded item, which gives you the ticket to some bragging rights i.e. "Apline F#1 status" LOL, and they do sound reasonably good. Price-Performance is definitely down the drain. It's not in everyone's shopping list, so exclusivity has it's price.

2) Feature-laden vs. actual performance. To capture the masses, technology seems to focus on features and convenience over actual sound quality. As competition becomes fiercer, manufacturers try to increase usability and convenience to justify the worth of the product over the competition. They understand that sound is subjective, so paper spec is more important. Besides, actual performance relies not only on a kick-ass product but how it is applied (the person that installs and tuned them up) and the problem is, they cannot discriminate against shops that sell/promote their product.

3) Actual performance relies on a sum of parts and not just a single hardware. Manufacturer of commercial product are well-aware of this, but they cannot discriminate against other pairing products (which limits their usage, popularity and compatibility) therefore the promises of out of the world performance of a single product is really bullocks. *TS pointed out that a head unit with built in mumbo jumbo may not sound better than a cheap simple player and an external processor.

4) Many products are purely copies or reversed engineering in a different cover. Cosmetics goes a long way. Basic design of amplifiers, cd players etc., with regards to sound quality have been the same for years and popular external designs that sell are being copied everyday. Paper specs can be manipulated, i.e. 4volt head unit preout can be measured in so many ways, so take specs with a pinch of salt, as surface guideline and only a last resort to your selection if you really have to.

5) Other factors to consider:
Realiability, lifespan - Has quality actually dropped in expense of features? Can new products of today last a min of 10yrs. Commercial products are now made not to last. Therefore, your selection of brands + pricing to take this into account.

Did sound quality actually change over the years? - 2ch stereo has been the same for the longest time. The benchmark is the same. Only big difference over the recent years are in the area of DVD, Bluray, TV/Projectors and HD, which is why many of us find home theatre (AV) very entertaining compared to recent years.

and the list goes on........

With regards to noise pollution on the road, that's the reason why we should play louder in the car but playing loud = money! Easier said than done. We definitely need to spend more to achieve a system that can play loud without hurting the ears.

Having said that, many home system are not superior. Try playing it louder at home, does it sound annoying and screamy. Does your family/wife ask you to turn it down because it starts to sound harsh and glaring? Car speakers are much closer to the ears. For a low end setup, you tend to hear tweeter hiss, harsh highs, hard midrange and unbalanced tonal and we are not going to even touch on staging just yet.

However, it is proven countless times that car audio can sound better than home and vice versa. It just takes more time and work, application and understanding on car audio than a typical 2ch stereo at home.

Cost for both can be staggering and in most cases home audio is much more expensive if you factor in power conditioners, big power supplies for amplifiers, and if you have a big room , you need tall speaker towers that will cost you an arm and leg. etc. In that sense, cars being a smaller confinement is easier to achieve @ a lower cost.

It is not wrong spending money on your car. Definitely not stupid too. Like what someone here pointed out, if it makes you happy, so be it. I recently just bought 18" wheels for my ride. Didn't need them to take me from point A to point B, but from apart from yummy looks, I have done my fair share of research to make sure my car was up for it and it did not spoil the ride too much. Anyway, back to the topic in hand......

So, perhaps the TS should edit the post to something milder, more comprehensible and not so harsh. like.... "FOOLISH or WHAT!?, Why invest so much money on ICE? or "DON'T BE STUPID!?, Why invest so much money blindly on ICE?" or even milder, "DON'T BE MINDLESS!?, Spend your money more wisely on your ICE".

It is definitely not immature to call someone stupid. It is just not COOL, and certainly not NICE. It is possible that TS's actions may give some the impression that they are lacking in intellegence and that you are pretty sure that is not true nor is it the impression that they want others to have of them. So TS, you ought to be SLAPPED. Ooops, I meant, adviced to regulate your frustration.

So let us all tune it down a notch or two. We are all equal, none of us here is actually stupid-lah! This is an interesting thread, one which is good to delve further.

If all of us are less foolish, there will be less accessories shops mushrooming everywhere, everyday. It is so easy to convince people to buy. Nice display, nice banners, nice packaging, awesome features and thanks to the banks '0% interest free'. Ha ha ha! What else could stop us from buying blindly.

I may not be the best person here (in the forum) to advice people on what to buy and what not because I am in the car audio line myself.

I have one very simple advice that I tell people/visitors at the end of our meet. It's not one of those trust your ears or mumbo jumbo thingy (instead of thingy I typed crap at first... lol) because how can they trust their ears if they do not know what they want in the first place or have no exposure to it.

Not the exact words I use each time but it is simply - A sound system is for your listening pleasure. If you pay so much, make sure you get so much back. Equal amount in music enjoyment and not just bells and whistles that is nice to have.

The guys/gals that visit us will understand fully or partially because I probably have spent some time talking to them previously on individual items or issues.

Simply put, If you spend a lot on the car audio system, it needs to sound a lot better than someone that have spent less. If not, it's merely shiok sendiri and you'll feel foolish after some years of spending and do a "quit ICE" sale.

In exception of those that really need to liquidate because they are seriously in need for the money (for surgery, wife pregnant etc), quit ICE sale is pure bullocks! it just means the accessory shops have won and taken quite a bit of money from your pocket. I wouldn't say you have lost, but that you have given up the quest because what you spend did not give you sufficient aural pleasure enough to stop your brain from thinking it is a waste. In fact, if the system was really good, your family, wife or gf would have stopped you from selling. They enjoyed it too.

This post has been edited by mnkh27: Nov 14 2010, 12:00 AM

take me kai kai also