Gotta Know Where You're From To Know Where You're DAT

Anybody remember the DAT? The Digital Audio Tape? No, probably not. In the car audio world it came around back in the mid to late 80's, but never made it very far. The introduction of the MiniDisc combined with some good 'ol hard lobbying by the RIAA stunted the format's popularity outside of the professional recording world. Because DATs could make identical clones of digital content, the format made the RIAA very nervous.

DAT offered extremely high sound quality compared to analog cassettes, even higher than CD sound quality in some cases due to higher bit rates, some as high as 96 kHz/24 bits. And even though it looks like it would function like an analog cassette tape (they look very similar to DV cassettes used in today's DV video cameras), DATs had digital markers embedded in the code stream that allowed skipping and fast forwarding capability similar to that of a CD.

However, DAT's short life did not stop the car audio industry from introducing a few DAT car stereos into the world. Alpine, Blaupunkt, Clarion, Eclipse, Sony, even Mitsubishi all offered some pretty nice looking stereos for a short while. I stumbled on a great website that has a pretty cool small gallery of some of the decks that most people probably didn't know even existed. I dig the cosmetics of the Clarion and the Alpine myself. Anybody out there have any experience with these old school high-end gems?

Source: Farenzo
Source: Wikipedia 

Old School Hoarding - Show Us Your Stockpile!

By Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals

If you haven't figured out by now, I am a huge fan of Old School installs and equipment. When you bring up old school equipment, you'll typically hear the same accolades regarding old faves: build quality, build location (the good 'ol US of A, Europe, etc), or some emotional connection you made to a piece of gear you lusted after as a kid.

Old school amplifiers are things I remember fondly. Ones that LOVED getting pounded by low ohm loads. And because IASCA had some really weird power classes, amplifiers were built to get you into various power classes. One of my favorite classes of amps were the so called "cheater amps". Here's a few that pop to mind:

The Orion HCCA Series

Old Is New--And Improved! SoundStream Reference Amps

As many of you know, I'm a firm believer that car audio is going to see a renaissance of the classics just as the automotive industry has in the last few years. Many of us old folks often reminisce about the good 'ol days of car audio, discussing brands that used to be, products that share a special place in our heart, or demo cars that "changed our lives". When brands and products come up, SoundStream is definitely one of the favorites, and their Reference Series the topic of many conversations. Well, after a 10 year hiatus the SoundStream is bringing the Reference Series back! But not as the same 'ol amps we remember. Change can be a good thing, and certainly is in this case. Over the last 10 years amplifier technology has come a very long way, and SoundStream has taken advantage of the time passed and have made significant improvements to the Reference Series:

"...4:1 power supply ratio, precision wound toroidal transformers and inductors, polystyrene capacitors, high speed switching J-FET OP amps and precision tracking potentiometers."

The Reference amps can also take advantage of SoundStream's BLT-4 balanced line transmitter for amazing noise rejection and signal strength. Follow the jump for more details and pics of these legendary sound quality amps. Same great looks, same great sound quality, but now with improved performance!

Just a Little Ahead of Their Time....

The new AVIC-F series has sparked a debate over in the SoundDomain forums involving the iPod, mp3/compressed audio, and portable devices. The SD card format kept coming up because of its portability and relatively universal format, and for some reason, this made me think of the Rockford Fosgate RFX-MP8.3. Anybody remember this?

Back in 1999 or so Rockford released the RFX-MP8.3 right about the same time they entered Best Buy. The MP8.3 was a changer designed to connect to Rockford car stereos (yes, Rockford used to make car stereos). It was a great idea in concept, except it only accepted MMC cards rather than SD or compact flash (both of which were more common, and still are today). The unit accepted up to eight MMC cards and included an 8MB card from Rockford, but was limited to 8Kbps to 160Kbps bitrates (fixed or variable).

Clarion also stepped into the future around 1999 with their AutoPC line. This was such a cool concept and nobody else in the industry had anything quite like it.

Retro Cool: Becker Mexico

Back in the 1960's Becker released the original Mexico radio, and instant hit and now a cult favorite for classic car buffs overseas. The original Mexico series had a list of "firsts" for the mobile electronics industry (we've got them after the break), and this future classic will add a touch of modern cool to your classic old school.
Fast forward 40+ years to the new Becker Mexico.... Becker incorporated just about every modern convenience into this retro looking shaft-styled radio. Follow the jump for all the details. Seriously... This radio doesn't look like much, but it packs a wallop!