Some Vintage Car Stereo Speakers

vintage cassette

Music is the food for soul that arms us against all the distress and disasters that the world threatens us with. The dryness of urban life and the speed and the hazards of day to day living build inside us a thirst for a fresh breeze where we can breathe freely. But where is the time when we can indulge in something that the heart desires! We are always in a hurry. The extreme pressure and tension of work and other petty matters make us forget our own lives. After all, we are not machines, but human beings.

That is the feeling and philosophy that initiated the incorporation of music systems inside a car. Even within the very busy schedule of your daily life, you may spend a few casual moments while traveling and while driving your car. Your car becomes the only place where you can relax and where you can taste the real flavor of life. This is the realization that led the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation to install a radio inside cars. Before that people used to carry their own domestic music system or radio system inside the car for pure fun and relaxed entertainment. The oldest form of car stereo speakers came to the market as Motorola 5T71. That was the first commercial form of car radio. This was priced in the range of $110 to $130.

The popularity of this model encouraged the original manufacturer and some others to develop the car stereo speaker system. To touch the popularity of Motorola at that time many companies introduced same sounding products like Victorola, and Radiola. And the vintage car music system as the form of jukeboxes came to the market as Rockola. Even in other spheres such as the film industry, the craze became contagious and they adopted the name Moviola for a film-editing machine.

The wind of change reached the international market. In 1932 a German company named Blaupunkt installed their first old form of car stereo speakers inside a Studebaker. In 1952 Blaupunkt became the first company again to install an FM receiver inside a car. This became another milestone in the development of car stereo speakers into its modern forms and specifications.

The vintage car stereo speakers used to use low configuration and low capacity models of transformers, vibrators, capacitors and amplifiers. With the introduction of 12 volt battery cars, the capacity of the fitted music system also increased. This saw the emergence of Ford's popular 'Town and Country' model. The installation of semiconductors facilitated the advancement from the old forms to the new forms of the car stereo speaker. In 1956 the first modern versions of car speakers hit the market when Motorola fitted a 45 rpm disc player inside a Chryslers car. The old reel to reel system of cassette player also was tried, but its popularity was limited because of its clumsiness. But this also took a step ahead when Philips introduced compact cassette in the market in 1964.

The vintage car stereo speakers were the simple home audio speakers. But as they were not suitable for extreme heat and vibration of the car, modified versions were introduced in the market. Extra audio amplifiers began to be used for high sound quality. The real competition began in 1980s when various manufacturers attempted to produce the loudest or the most extravagant car stereo speaker systems. Wayne Harris developed a vintage model of Cadillac Hearse in 1960 to incorporate three subwoofers of 24 inch and eight of 12 inch. The experimentation with sound quality began in 1990s with leading manufacturers like IASCA invading the market.