Car Audio

History

From the earliest days of radio, enthusiasts had adapted domestic equipment to use in their cars. The commercial introduction of the fitted car radio came in the 1930s from the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. Galvin Manufacturing was owned and operated by Paul V. Galvin and his brother Joseph E. Galvin. The Galvin brothers purchased a battery eliminator business in 1928 and the corporation’s first product was a battery eliminator that allowed vacuum tube battery-powered radios to run on standard household electric current (see also Rogers Majestic Batteryless Radio). In 1930, the Galvin Corporation introduced one of the

first commercial car radios, the Motorola model 5T71, which sold for between $110 and $130 and could be installed in most popular automobiles. Founders Paul Galvin and Joe Galvin came up with the name 'Motorola' when his company started man

ufacturing car radios. A number of early companies making phonographs, radios, and other audio equipment in the early 20th century used the suffix "-ola," the most famous being Victrola; RCA made a "radiola"; there was also a company that made jukeboxes called Rock-Ola, and a film editing device called a Moviola. The Motorola prefix "motor-" was chosen because the company's initial focus was in automotive electronics.

In Germany Blaupunkt fitted their first radio to a

Studebaker in 1932 and in the United Kingdom Crossley offered a factory fitted wireless in their 10 hp models from 1933.

The early car radio receivers used the battery voltage (6.3 volts at the time) to run the vacuum tube filaments, and generated the required high voltage for the plate supply using a vibrator to drive a step up transformer. The receivers required more stages than the typical home receiver in order to ensure that enough gain was available to allow the AGC to mask signal fading as the car was driven. When cars switched to 12-volt batteries, the same arrangement was used, with tubes with 12-volt heaters.

In 1952 Blaupunkt became the first maker to offer FM receivers.

A common feature of modern car radios is the Seek function which allows tuning from one station to the next at the push of a button. It may be a surprise to some that this facility was a popular option on some Ford products in the 1950s. It was known as the "Town & Country" radio since it used a pair of switches marked "Town" and "Country." Pressing the Town button actuated a motor to rotate the tuning mechanism while the receiver sensitivity was reduced so that only local (stronger) signals would be received. When a station was tuned, the motor stopped. Pressing the Country button had the same effect except that full sensitivity was enabled so that the very next available station would be selected. In addition, for repeated seeking operations, pressing a foot switch on the driver's floor up to the left where the "dead pedal" is located on modern cars would reactivate the Seek at whatever sensitivity was last selected.

The introduction of semiconductors (transistors) allowed the output stage to change to a transistor, which soon lead to the elimination of the vibrator, and the use of "space charge" tubes that only required 12 volts on their plates without a high voltage plate power supply.

Advances in electronics allowed additions to the basic radio and Motorola offered 45 rpm disc players fitted to some Chryslers from as early as 1956. Tape players using reel to reel equipment followed, but their bulk ensured limited popularity. This changed in 1964 when Philips launched the Compact Cassette. During the 60's Lear invented and introduced the 8track cartridge in competition with the cassette system. Other early manufacturers and enthusiasts began building extra audio amplifiers to run on 12 voltsRockford Fosgate, was one such pioneer. The company a/d/s also brought an amplifier to market in 1978. (the standard voltage in automotive electrical systems). Jim Fosgate, later to become the founder of

In 1983, Zed Audio became the first company to build a 200 watt per channel car amplifier, which was invented by company founder Steven Mantz.

At first, speakers from the home audio and professional markets were simply installed into vehicles. However, they were not well suited to the extremes of temperature and vibration which are a normal part of the environment of an automobile. Different manufacturing techniques, and different component materials were used in construction to adapt to these conditions.

Car audio competitions started in the early 1980s in a quest to find the loudest and/or most outrageous installations. For example, in 1985, Wayne Harris famously modified a 1960 Cadillac Hearse to feature three 24-inch subwoofers as well as eight 12-inch subwoofers. Little consideration was given to sound quality early on, but in the early 1990s, several organizations, including IASCA, began car audio competitions focusing on sound quality. The two styles -- SPL vs. sound quality -- have become almost mutually exclusive. The loudness competitions have become known as dB drag racing. Currently, MEASQ conducts Sound Quality Competitions nationally in Australia. This back to basics competition format was developed by Marc Rushton, the founder of one of the largest enthusiast organisations known as Mobile Electronics Australia.