Car Entertainment Systems: Smart, Powerful, Evolving

By Albert Westbrook

With the rapid advancements in technology come amazing opportunities to customize your car's sound system and other features. There are many folks out there fascinated and downright obsessed with supplementing their mechanical masterpieces with cutting-edge custom entertainment systems. While the sheer number of options and customizations available allow for an enduring pastime, many milder enthusiasts just want their car to help them stay organized, entertained and "wired in" while on the go.

Beefed-up car audio and smartphone integration are becoming staple features in new model cars, but many find the factory versions of these options to be rigid, impersonal, inconvenient, or they simply don't generate the output they're looking for. This is where customization enters the picture. Many consumers just forego the stock bells and whistles when buying a new car and spring for aftermarket options, which can actually save money due to inflated dealer markups. At the same time, you get superior products for your cash!

Aftermarket Audio And Video

When it comes to in-car entertainment, arguably the most important part for most is the audio system. Music can make a drive considerably more enjoyable, but again, stock sound systems often just won't do.

Custom speakers are often the first audio component installed in lieu of the factory variants. With literally dozens of manufacturers, shapes, styles and wattages available, your imagination is the only limitation. If it floats your boat, you can even have custom work done on your car's interior to have speakers installed where they weren't before. An installation expert can seamlessly do all the interior work, wiring and aesthetics.

A new deck or display also adds major juice and personality to your system. Some can be installed flush into your dashboard, where others can slide out and fold upwards. Many displays also support DVD, MP4, tablets and more, allowing movies to be "sent" to any video displays throughout the car. Bluetooth is very quickly becoming the standard wireless gateway to media for both audio and video so should play a major role in your entertainment package.

Smart To Include Your Smartphone

Face it and embrace it: Smartphones are becoming many people's link to the outside world, and in no place is that more true than in your car. Custom smartphone integration has become almost another passenger in your vehicle. Hands-free mounts and sleek earpieces are no longer the most innovative phone integration available, as car voice control and Bluetooth integration are becoming eerily intelligent.

Music, social media, hands-free or touch screen navigation, weather, traffic advisories, E-mail, phone calls, reminders, and text messages can be completely controlled without lifting a finger. Android and Apple platforms also support applications for many brands of audio systems that transform them into a system remote control.

So you see, car components exist that can satisfy anyone's needs, from the casual technology wave-rider, to the connected entrepreneur, to the dedicated hobbyist. When it's time to buy, think high quality, performance, and select the features that improve the quality of time you spend in our vehicle.