"half_eaten" wrote in message
lkaboutaudio.com...
Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is it about car audio that doesn't
allow for as much of a dynamic range?

Engine and road noise. If you're sitting in your parking lot with the
engine off, you get plenty of dynamic range. If road noise is, say 50dB,
then you just lost 50dB of dynamic range, because the lowest parts have to
be that loud just to hear them.

I do definately agree that my home
system sounds MUCH better than my car system quality-wise, but why is
that? Is it just speaker size, amplifiers, or what?

Generally home audio is more advanced than car audio - bigger market for
high end stuff. But certainly it's possible to put together a worse
sounding stereo at home than in a car. Also imaging will almost always be
better at home - the room is bigger and the acoustic space is much more
predictable and workable.

The home stereo definately is higher quality, but I love the powerful
punch on the car system.

It's possible to get good bass in a car, mostly due to the small size I
guess and lack of an "imaging component" to bass for the most part.