The most important thing you want to do when picking out a new car stereo is to make sure that you are getting a system that you are going to fully utilize. It’s like what is the point of getting a receiver with an HD radio and DVD player if you are just going to listen to your iPod and if you love listening to the radio you really need to look into satellite and HD radios that can take your radio to the next level.

After you’ve picked out a receiver it’s time think about upgrading your car speakers which is the best way to improve the way to the sound in your car. With an upgraded speaker system you will enjoy more longevity as well as better sound all around with crisper brighter highs and cleaner bolder lows. What you need to look for in new car speakers is higher sensitivity which will give you more volume and clarity and tweeters. Tweeters are one of the most over looked components of a new sound system and they can really have a big impact on the overall quality of in the sound of your car. If your car doesn’t have a place for tweeters then you should look for new speakers that have them built in. The good thing about those with built in tweeters is that they generally have built in crossovers that send different frequencies to different speakers which will make them considerably clearer.

The next component to better crisper sound is an amplifier. Most people just add an amp when they add a subwoofer but even when you are not adding a subwoofer an amp can greatly improve the how good your speakers sound. An amplifier with a high dampening factor will make your speakers extra crisp and clear by having greater control over how and when your speakers vibrate to keep them from vibrating when they aren’t supposed to. Amps with high dampening factors have a higher output impedance.

To figure out how much power you are going to need you need to look at the RMS power levels of all of the speakers you are going to be powering and compare that to the RMS power rating of the amp. You need to get an amp that is rated within 25% of the total power needed because you do not want to over or under power your speakers. You also need to get an amp that has as many channels as you have speakers this allows you to divide up the amps power and if you are getting a subwoofer then you need to make sure that it has a dedicated sub channel.

The final step in any good sound system whether you’re listing to Busta Rhyme, Bono or Bach, is a good subwoofer. Adding a subwoofer contributes tons of depth and can make any sound system much fuller and richer. What you need to look for in a good subwoofer is high sensitivity, a large frequency range, lots of available power and low impedance. You also need to look at the type of enclosure that you want to get and here you have three main options, sealed, ported and bandpass. Sealed enclosures produce the deepest most precise sound and require more power but ported and bandpass enclosures are louder with bandpass being the loudest.