Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Origin, Development And History Of The Car Stereo System

Ever since car was used, various enthusiasts had adapted domestic equipments to use in their cars. The commercial introduction of the fitted car stereo system came in the form of radio the year 1930s from the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation.

The Galvin Manufacturing was owned and operated by Paul V. Galvin and his brother Joseph E. Galvin. The Galvin brothers purchased a battery eliminator business in 1928 and the first corporation product was a battery eliminator that allowed battery-powered radios to run on standard household electric current.

It was then in the 1930, the Galvin Corporation introduced the first commercial car radio, the Motorola model 5T71, which was sold for dollar 110 to dollar 130 and could be installed in almost all popular automobiles.

The name Motorola was coined when the founders Paul Galvin and Joe Galvin and his company started manufacturing car radios. The Motorola prefix motor was chosen because the initial focus was in automotive electronics.

Evolution of the car stereo system was subsequently taking place in various parts of the world . In the year 1932, Germany Blaupunkt fitted their first radio to a Studebaker and in the United Kingdom Crossley offered a factory fitted wireless in their 10 hp models from 1933. Thus began the evolution for the car stereo system.

The early car stereo systems were radio receivers that used the battery voltage 6.3 volts at the time to run the filaments, and generated the required high voltage using a vibrator to drive a step up transformer. The receivers required more stages than the typical home receiver in order to ensure that enough gain was available to allow the AGC to mask signal fading when the car was driven around. Soon after that when the cars switched to 12 volt batteries, the same arrangement was used where instead of tubes 12 volt heaters were used.

However, it was German Blaupunkt in the year 1952 which became the first in the market to introduce the FM receivers, it was a step of advancement in the car stereo system market. With the introduction of FM receiver, the seek function stepped in.

The seek function would allow the user to tune from one station to the next at the push of a button. After this followed the introduction of semiconductors. Semiconductors allowed the output stage to change to a transistor, which soon lead to the elimination of the vibrator, and the use of space charge tubes that only required 12 volts on their plates.Thus, there was another advancement in technology.

With the advancements of electronics with time, it allowed new additions to the basic radio and Motorola. It followed tape players using reel to reel equipments. With Phillips joining in with the introduction of compact cassette, tape players also began to be used in cars.

By 1978 amplifiers were introduced in the markets and then it was no looking back. Today, car stereo systems have revolutionized with the introduction of CDs and DVDs. Now the modern cars have radio, cassette players, CDs and DVDs players, and also MP3 or MP4 players. Even the video system has been attached with it.





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