Tag: Chassis

When it came time to put an audio system in my Chevy Tahoe, I looked carefully at all the brands we carried and after months of going back and forth with different system designs, I decided JL Audio was the way to go. I didn’t want to just replace the factory speakers with JL’s and I didn’t want to just put a subwoofer enclosure in the trunk. I wanted to build a vehicle where our master installer Tom Mangs could really stretch his legs. He was given the equipment I picked out and when he asked how I wanted it installed, I simply said “Make it different than anything else out there”. With no real budget or time restriction, I knew we would be in for a treat.

It’s a common question. And it involves making an additional investment in your car stereo purchase which can make a huge difference. So why should you add an external power amplifier to your car?

Let’s take a look at what a power amplifier actually does. Put simply, an amplifier takes the low level output from a source device (CD player, tuner or MP3 player) and brings its output level to a range that can drive speakers. This range, or power output, can vary depending on the size of the amplifier. Many car audio systems- both OEM and aftermarket- contain power amplifiers even though you might not know it. They can range from built-in amp stages that are actually inside the chassis of the radio to separate external amplifiers that can be located under a seat or in a rear side panel of the vehicle.

Since we just rolled out the full line of products from Clarion, I thought we ought to get right in and talk about their new high end marine unit, the CMD7.

This is a single DIN chassis with a large display face that can really take whatever the ocean can dish out. The CMD7 incorporates solid rubber gaskets for the best seals possible, stainless steel chassis designs, drip shields and rubberized controls to insure no moisture gets in anywhere. It is this attention to detail and the full IPX5 Salt/Fog testing that gets the CMD7 the highest water intrusion protection rating in it’s class. We’re talking as waterproof as you can get!

Kenwood wasted no time with its success of the DNX6960 by rolling out the DNX6980 for 2011 and this year’s model is a winner, too!

Take one look at the DNX6980 and you can see the sleek design and easy functionality the designers and Kenwood were out to achieve.