Ok, here's a dumb car audio Q.

Auditioning speakers or other audip parts for home use is pretty easy. Listen to them in the shop, if you're serious about the parts demo units at home for a week, like 'em, buy em. (I tend to shop at stores that will loan units for demo or have 30 day MGB, which is nice when you're buying $3000+ systems).

Now, since you can't really do this for car audio, how should one audition car speakers and amps, i.e., what should one look for? Do mids need to sound strong in the showroom, i.e. are they soaked up by road noise?

I listen to a mix of classical, folk, jazz, and electronic / techno. Home setups are (1) Linn Tukans with NAD electronics and (2) Vandersteen 2Ce Signatures with Arcam amp and CD player, Nordst cables. I like the mid-forward sound of the Linns on vocals and the excellent balance of the Vandys.

As Trader Joe's says, thanks for listening.

Doug

As you mentioned, it will be nearly impossible to do real world testing, unless you get lucky and find someone with the same car and equipment.

Your best bet is to go to a shop that has a lot of quality choices. Go about your selection in a systematic way. If you are looking for a component set, listen to two sets of speakers. Pick the one you like best. Select another set and do the same comparison Does it sound better? Keep doing this until you find the one that sounds best for you. Make sure you only change the components you are auditioning, meaning use the same head unit, amp, and music when doing your speaker selection.

Listen to recommendations, but only as a starting point. Ultimately, you are the one who has to spend the money, so you should buy something that you like.

Thanks for the response, but this is only sort of what I was thinking of. More than trying to mix the right components, or listen to speakers in the shop, I was trying to figure out *how the speakers will sound different in the car.*

If I had to guess, I'd say that the mids and lower mids are going to get muted most due to road noise and mounting location. The tweeters are obviously going to be very direct, so little change there.

Doug