Car Audio Industry, Training and Peter Steinbacher's Story
A car's sound depends as much on the people who design and tune the system as on the speakers and amplifiers inside it. In the view of Peter Steinbacher of Pssound, a UK high-end installer, the gear is already good enough and the missing piece is knowledge, above all system design and tuning. That is why he shares what he knows, trains people in person and says high-end sound only sells once people have heard it.
The short version
Peter's view is that the hardware is already good enough, and the shortage is people who can design and tune a system.
His master class packs about 60 hours into four long days, and he doubts tuning can be taught properly online.
It is not for beginners, groups are small, and from 2025 booking early costs less than booking late.
He shares most of what he knows, because he thinks the industry only moves forward when knowledge is shared.
He says high-end sound sells once people hear it, which is why he built a competition-winning Honda and travels to events.
He came from Hungary, worked as a live-sound engineer and taught himself fabrication before founding Pssound in 2016.
In January 2026 he became Audiotec Fischer's International Sales Manager and Head of Education, and says Pssound carries on.
Why Peter says knowledge is the bottleneck
Peter's view is that equipment is no longer the weak link. Good speakers, amplifiers and DSPs (digital sound processors, the boxes that shape the sound) already exist, so people now have to learn to set them up. Tuning is the biggest gap: he has found only a few people worldwide, in America, Europe and China, who tune correctly, far too few for the size of the market (watch). For the basics, see our tuning guide.
In January 2025 he called the lack of a real source for learning the industry's biggest problem. By October 2025 he also saw a culture problem: places to learn system setup and DSPs exist, but people do not go (watch).
He worries that the generation that started in the 1990s may only be around for another ten years or so, so he focuses on people who want help, including older people who never had any (watch).
How the master class works
Peter's System Design and Tuning Master Class squeezes about 60 hours into four days (people arrive the day before), covering design, installation and tuning. At eight hours a day that would be an eight-day course, he says (watch). Days run from about 8 am until midnight or later. The first two are classroom theory, over 25 hours covering design and every step of tuning, before anyone touches a car; the last two are practical. Big manufacturers' trainings can look more polished, he says, but his aim is knowledge you take home.
Practice is the most important part, he says, not PDFs and talking. On the first practical day trainees build a three-way (separate speakers for highs, mids and midbass) plus sub tune while he goes from car to car, spots errors at once and has them redo the step. On day two they swap cars and deliver almost without him (watch). Practising on your own car is the most valuable part, he adds.
Why not online? Peter says nobody is there to correct you, and mistakes such as reversed polarity (a speaker wired to push when it should pull) and wrong delay only show up in person. He shelved the online course he planned during Covid but has not ruled one out for people who cannot travel (watch).
He explains the logic behind each step and lets everyone make the mistakes first. Experienced people are the hardest to teach, because they compare his steps with their own habits until they hear the results.
His dream is a full-time installer school of two to three months, from stripping and soundproofing a car through wiring and fabrication to the tuning master class, so shops struggling to recruit could hire installers who are ready to work.
Who the master class suits, and how to book
It is not a beginner course. Peter calls it deep water and now pre-selects attendees, because inexperienced people get overloaded. It suits shop owners, competitors and very serious DIYers. His advice is to watch all his YouTube and Patreon videos first and really understand them.
Groups are small. Melbourne had ten people, which he found too many. He capped later classes at eight, and from August 2023 at six, maybe four, so nobody waits while he checks cars one by one (watch).
From 2025, pay six weeks ahead and the price stays at the last two years' level; last-minute bookings cost 10% more. A deposit secures a place, and the rest is paid before the training or in monthly instalments (watch). Places can go before any advertising.
To book, email Pssound; a video call follows. Peter gets about 50 emails a day and answers them himself, so if you hear nothing, re-send, message him on Facebook or Instagram, or call (watch).
Why he shares openly, and what he holds back
Peter's view is that the industry can only go forward if people share what they know. He calls keeping everything to yourself the old, wrong attitude: there is plenty of work for everyone, he says, and jobs are not coming because quality is missing. Once customers experience quality they want it, and owners show their cars to friends (watch). Sharing, in his view, strengthens the culture rather than the competition.
What he holds back has changed. While competing in 2019–2020 he kept his measuring system and tuning method private. By 2023 he said he holds nothing of his experience back in the training, and in 2024 that he no longer shows how to tune on YouTube (watch). In 2026 he said he has never hidden secrets, because that would not take the industry further.
Much of the detail goes on Patreon (daily build updates, weekly topics, full measurement evaluations), launched in November 2020 to pay for the time videos take; it had 400+ members by 2025, about 90% of them DIYers. YouTube earns Pssound nothing, he says, and music copyright often blocks demo videos.
He points to results: many cars in the Entry and Skilled competition classes now install midbass and subs the Pssound way, and Torsten from Denmark won Entry 3000 in 2023 and Skilled 4000 in 2024 in that style (watch).
Hear it to believe it: demo cars and events
Peter's other core idea is that high-end sound sells once people hear it. He tells shops they need a demo car to show customers what is possible, because after hearing an amazing system nobody struggles to sell one (watch). In China, he says, two owners who came in for a small upgrade and a check both ordered full systems after hearing the Morel Cayenne demo car.
Some manufacturers complain they cannot sell enough high-end sound-quality gear, yet bring only bass cars to indoor shows. Show people only a Big Mac, he says, and "all they'll pay for is a Big Mac" (watch).
His own demo car was a Honda, built to earn trust. It began in 2014 as a side project and became known for its infinite baffle subs (subwoofers mounted in a sealed wall, with the boot or the outside air as their box) and a full custom dashboard. About 90% of the trophies on the Pssound shelf came from it (watch).
He travels to big events because people come to hear his cars. At the Euro finals in Salzburg some wait about eight hours for 15–20 minutes in a Pssound car, to check in real life what his videos show (watch).
Peter's route from Hungary to Pssound
Peter, originally from Hungary, grew up in a small flat in a concrete block, where the walls carried bass and neighbours banged on the pipes, so a sound system in a car meant freedom. He came to the UK with a backpack, started in a double garage and worked as a sound engineer.
Live sound shaped him. His website says he fell in love with sound at 14 and became a live-sound engineer at 20. He spent 12 to 13 years mixing concerts, shows and festivals. He tunes to what real instruments sound like, not to competition habits (watch).
He taught himself fabrication. He wanted to be a carpenter, but his parents kept him out of trade school, so he bought power tools and taught himself, using the library because there was no YouTube.
In 2014 he decided that to make it in the trade he had to show people first. With live sound still his full-time job, he built the Honda in half a year and documented every step on a UK forum. His website says he founded Pssound Ltd in April 2016.
Around 2017–18 it clicked. After years of struggling for consistency, integration and solid staging, he learned to apply his live-sound and tuning knowledge to get consistent results in a car, and his first Euro finals in 2018 brought Team UK many trophies (watch).
Covid ended live events for two years and car audio took over. In 2021 he got a shop and hired Eddie, and in mid-2023 Pssound moved to a new workshop in Hailsham, East Sussex.
In January 2026 he became Audiotec Fischer's International Sales Manager and Head of Education (watch). A company interviewer said it chose him because it sells in 67 countries and cannot train every market, and because he comes from a shop owner's standpoint. He says Pssound carries on.
How the shop works, and how markets differ
Pssound's work has narrowed over time. In 2021 it did about three or four bigger projects a month, or fewer, plus some one- or two-day jobs. By December 2024 it took only large projects that stay a month or two, and left simple jobs to other shops.
Nobody taught him how to price work, so he charges by the hour. Waiting lists grew from the usual two to three months to six to seven by February 2023, and in 2025 the shop was booked up for the year within the first week of January.
Content brings trust. A Belgian owner committed without meeting the team or hearing one of their cars, based on 400+ YouTube videos, about 800 Patreon posts and owner interviews. If you are choosing a shop, see our guide to choosing an installer.
Peter has offered a tuning guarantee: bring any existing fully active system, and if he cannot deliver results you do not pay. He says it has never happened (watch).
Markets differ. Peter says the UK has no culture of big audio spending, so Pssound cannot get the projects US shops do, while the US market is vastly bigger (watch). He puts China's very expensive builds down to budget and scale: Shenzhen has about 20 million people and probably over 50 million live within an hour's drive.
Infinite baffle is old, not his invention. He says people did it 20–30 years ago, and the industry went another way because prefab boxes are cheaper and easier to sell. See our subwoofer and infinite baffle guide.
Common mistakes to avoid
Blaming the gear when the real gap is system design and tuning knowledge.
Treating videos, or a short online class, as a substitute for practice with someone who corrects your mistakes.
Arriving at the master class unprepared, without having watched the videos or used a DSP and measurement software.
Showing customers only ordinary work, when Peter says people who never hear the better car will never consider it.
Sending one email and giving up, when Peter gets about 50 a day and advises you to chase.
Watch Peter explain it
This is an independent, plain-English summary of Peter Steinbacher's public YouTube videos, written by VA3 Car Studio. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Pssound. The links jump to the moment in each video where he makes the point.
Part of our series: Car audio lessons from Pssound, start here
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