Why should you deprive yourself of great tunes in your car, where — for better or worse — you probably spend a large chunk of your life?

Travel Treble

When you're mulling over the options list on a new car these days, the bewildering array of audio choices might be enough to make you want to check the "radio delete" option and simply duct-tape a boom box to the back seat. But the right system can give you as much pleasure as the one you carefully researched for your home. And why should you deprive yourself of great tunes in your car, where - for better or worse - you probably spend a large chunk of your life? The best part is that you can get your vehicle with a killer sound system already installed. (Which isn't so bad, considering that all that came included with your home were a few windows and toilets).

You can easily play any MP3 Player in your new Honda.

Why should you deprive yourself of great tunes in your car?

Most modern car stereos, even basic ones, offer decent sound quality. So before you get wrapped up in how many speakers a given car packs into its doors and dashboard, find out how many audio inputs it offers, because the best stereo in the world is useless if you're stuck listening to the same CD on repeat (unless you have a 4-year-old, in which case you'll be hitting repeat anyway . . . ). The system in the new Honda Civic Si, for instance, can play music from normal compact discs, CDs encoded with MP3 files, XM satellite radio, a flash memory card loaded with digital music files, or an MP3 player plugged into the standard auxiliary input jack. That last item might be the most useful of them all, since it allows your device to play through your stereo without a sound-quality-degrading middleman like an FM-broadcast adapter (though, if you have to use an FM broadcaster, the ones by Monster work quite well).

Speaking of sound quality, a subwoofer is the single most dramatic addition you can make to a car stereo. If you love to turn it up to 11, bass is the biggest weakness of most stock systems. Manufacturers are beginning to recognize this, and even some inexpensive cars are offering optional trunk-mounted subwoofers that give the whole sound system a more satisfying, rich sound.

As cars get more expensive, it becomes harder to decipher how much you're paying for an audio upgrade, because the best systems are typically bundled in packages with other equipment. For instance, if you want the top-flight 11-speaker Mark Levinson system available in the Lexus LS430, you'll need to shell out approximately $4,980 for the "Modern Luxury" package.

Likewise, it's nearly impossible to break down the à la carte price of the stunning 15-speaker Bose 5.1 Studio Surround system available in the Cadillac STS. But when you're mentally checking out of a traffic jam by sonically replicating your favorite concert inside your car, you'd probably agree that whatever your stereo upgrade cost, it was money well spent.

Posted on July 17, 2006