Car Audio Lessons

Start here: a plain-English series on what Peter Steinbacher of Pssound, a UK installer whose cars have won national and European sound-quality titles, teaches about planning, installing and tuning a car audio system.

The essentials of our plain-English car audio series: the 41 lessons Peter Steinbacher of Pssound repeats most, from speaker placement to tuning, amps and fuses. Each links to the video moment and our full guide.

Part 1 of our plain-English car audio series: Peter Steinbacher's core idea is that location, installation and tuning matter more than the price of your speakers. Here is his order of priorities and why it works.

Part 2 of our plain-English car audio series: why the car you start with sets the ceiling for your sound, which platforms Peter recommends, and what to check before you buy.

Part 3 of our plain-English car audio series: why labour, not equipment, is most of the bill, what systems cost in money and hours, and where spending more stops paying off.

Part 4 of our plain-English car audio series: how to judge a shop, work well with an installer, get a proper tune, and decide whether to build a system yourself, using Peter Steinbacher's advice.

Part 5 of our plain-English car audio series: why the tweeter sets how high-end a system can sound, and how aiming, placement and tuning decide whether you actually hear its detail.

Part 6 of our plain-English car audio series: why Peter Steinbacher wants the midrange up high, how much airspace and rigid mounting it needs, and how low it must play to hand over cleanly to the midbass.

Part 7 of our plain-English car audio series: why midbass is the hardest part of a car system, why doors are a poor place for it, and what works better: sealed boxes, kick panels, the firewall, under the seat and infinite baffle.

Part 8 of our plain-English car audio series: what a front woofer is, why a boot sub and door midbass leave a gap in the bass, and how to place, size and tune one.

Part 9 of our plain-English car audio series: why a rear sub should add only the last few octaves, how infinite baffle gives the cleanest low bass, and what to do when you can't cut the car.

Part 10 of our plain-English car audio series: how Peter Steinbacher builds speaker mounts, boxes, A-pillars and amp racks so nothing moves or rattles, from birch ply and threaded inserts to resin and water tests.

Part 11 of our plain-English car audio series: why a quiet, rattle-free car comes before the speakers, what deadening, blocking and absorbing each do, and how to treat doors, trim, boot and roof.

Part 12 of our plain-English car audio series: how much current a sound-quality system really draws, when you need a second battery, and how to fuse, ground and wire it safely, based on Peter Steinbacher's videos.

Part 13 of our plain-English car audio series: why Peter Steinbacher puts the amplifier last, how little power real music uses, and when a DSP amp plus a separate sub amp is the smart buy.

Part 14 of our plain-English car audio series: why music quality comes first, how to get a clean signal past the factory head unit, and how Peter Steinbacher chooses a DSP, its channels and its controller.

Part 15 of our plain-English car audio series: Peter Steinbacher's tuning method, how to measure with one mic and free software, and why the final call is made by ear, not by the graph.

Part 16 of our plain-English car audio series: where to cross over each speaker, how to EQ mostly with cuts, how to time-align and check phase, and why every car needs more than one preset.

Part 17 of our plain-English car audio series: how differential rear fill gives a dead cabin a believable room size, when a centre speaker is worth it, and what good staging means for width, height and distance.

Part 18 of our plain-English car audio series: how to tell a truly good car audio system from a merely loud one, using Peter Steinbacher's 1–10 scale, simple listening checks and the test tracks he plays.