RESOURCE LIBRARY Archives - Page 3 of 41 - Perfectionist Auto Sound and Security

What Are Jam to Gun and Jam to Kill?

01/16/2022 By John Schwartz

Having a radar detector and laser defense system in your car or truck is a great way to avoid speeding tickets. The success those systems have in helping you avoid tickets depends a great deal on how you use them. In this article, we’ll talk about laser defense systems and explain the Jam to Gun and Jam to Kill terms.

What Is a Laser Defense System?

Also called a laser or lidar jammer, laser shifter or laser countermeasure system, a laser defense system works to prevent a police officer from measuring the speed of your vehicle using a lidar (laser) gun. Because lidar guns can target vehicles very accurately (within a few feet at a range of 1,000 feet) and measure very quickly (often in less than 0.5 second), there’s no time for a driver to slow down once a detector has alerted him. Laser defense systems identify the light pulse pattern from the lidar gun, then transmit a signal that includes additional pulses that prevent the gun from working.

What Is Jam to Gun?

Imagine a scenario where you are driving at 90 mph in a 65-mph zone. When you are 1,000 feet away from the law enforcement officer, your laser defense system detects the lidar signal and starts jamming. In a scenario when you employ a Jam to Gun procedure, you allow the defense system to continue to transmit its signal and prevent the officer from taking a speed measurement.

The problem with the Jam to Gun method is that the officer will be expecting a measurement. When he or she doesn’t get it, they’ll know you are likely jamming the signal and may decide to pursue you in hopes of catching you speeding or doing something else wrong. You may have avoided the original ticket, but you may not get away without a fine.

What Is Jam to Kill?

A much better process is called Jam to Kill. When your laser defense system is triggered, you should slow down quickly but smoothly. You don’t want the nose of the car to dip suddenly, as that would attract attention. Once you’re at a speed that won’t attract attention, you can cancel the jamming signal transmission and allow the officer to take a reading. He or she may know what you’ve done, but without any proof that you were speeding, they will likely let you carry on your way.

React Quickly and Efficiently

If you are traveling at 90 mph, you are covering 132 feet per second. If the officer is 1,000 feet away, you have about 7.5 seconds before you are beside him. You need to respond quickly and efficiently to the laser alert from your defense system while not drawing attention to yourself. Several laser defense systems can be configured to automatically stop transmitting the jamming signal after a predetermined amount of time. Many users opt to set the system for 4 or 5 seconds. Others prefer to press a button to cancel the jamming signal once they know they are traveling at the desired speed.

For whatever method you choose, it’s worth practicing the process to the point that it becomes muscle memory. When the system triggers, check your rearview mirror, brake efficiently and smoothly, then cancel the jamming signal. Given that you’ll likely waste 0.25 to 0.5 second simply reacting to the signal, being good at completing the process is very important.

Protect Yourself with a Laser Defense System

If you find you occasionally (or frequently) exceed the posted speed limit, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer and ask about having a custom-installed radar detector and laser defense system installed in your car or truck. Custom-installed radar detectors and laser defense solutions are something that you won’t want to try to install yourself as it typically requires the removal of the bumper covers and careful placement and alignment of the laser sensors for the system to function properly.
This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Great Car Audio Starts With High Resolution Music

01/09/2022 By John Schwartz

When it comes to recreating music in our cars, the weakest link in the chain will be the downfall of the entire system. Knowing this, if we start with the best recordings possible, the chances of our music sounding more realistic and lifelike increase astronomically. The equipment required to record, master and distribute high-resolution music helps to ensure that our mobile entertainment systems sound amazing.

What Is High-Resolution Music?

By definition, any music that is recorded with a bit rate (sampling rate) and bit depth (resolution) higher than that of a compact disc is considered high-resolution. This means 48 kHz and higher sampling rates and 24-bit resolution are required. Higher sampling rates capture some harmonic information, but transmitting and reproducing those sounds is extremely difficult.

Where Can I Get High-Resolution Audio Files?

Perhaps the best-known source for high-resolution music is hdtracks.com. This website rightly boasts that it has the widest collection of high-resolution music available. You have a choice of purchasing and downloading albums in AIFF, ALAC, FLAC and WAV formats at resolutions up to 192 kHz/24-bit as well as 2.8 MHz and 5.6 MHz DSD files. File formats vary by album.

Another popular source for buying high-resolution albums is Acoustic Sounds. Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez specializes in DSD format. The itrax.com website is another great source.

If you’re into streaming, you will definitely want to check out Tidal.com and Qobuz.com.

Why Should I Buy High-Resolution Music?

Some people will tell you that humans can’t hear audio above 20 kHz and that we don’t need more than 16 bits of resolution to accurately recreate a listening experience. Let’s say these statements are completely accurate. Why then would we want to buy high-resolution music? The answer is noise and accuracy.

The effort required to build a microphone that records to 40 or 50 kHz requires serious attention to detail. Capturing the upper end of the audible range is child’s play for products of this caliber.

High-Resolution Music — The Sennheiser MKH 800 P48 is rated to capture audio to an amazing 50 kHz while providing exceptionally low background noise performance.

The second benefit of high-resolution recording is a reduction in noise. This reduction comes from the fact that there’s an increased number of bits to work with (65,536 vs. 16,777,216) and the fact that the equipment used must be of a higher performance specification. Digital interfaces capable of working with high-resolution microphones from companies like RME, Presonus, Apogee and Focusrite deliver amazingly accurate digital conversions of the analog signal from the microphone. If you’re a numbers geek, as many of us are, here are some specs from the best studio-quality interfaces:

Frequency Response: 2 Hz to 92 kHz at -1 dB
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 113 dB unweighted
Total Harmonic Distortion: <0.00032%
Channel Separation: >110dB

How to Reproduce High-Resolution Audio in Your Car

Buying great music is one thing, reproducing it in a vehicle is another challenge. Companies like Audison, Sony, Brax, Zapco and Kenwood all make audio components that will output or process high-resolution audio file formats. Of course, to hear that level of detail, you’ll need amplifiers capable of playing to at least 40 kHz and speakers with similarly impressive specifications.

Finally, and most crucially, how these components are integrated into your vehicle is also very important. To make the best use of the high-frequency information audible from high-resolution recordings, your tweeters will need to be mounted on-axis with the listening position or bounced off the windshield from a dash-mount location. If not, the directivity characteristics that are inherent in every speaker will make those sounds inaudible.

A Great Source Helps Ensure a Great Performance

If you’re passionate about your mobile audio system, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today and ask them about upgrading your car stereo to support high-resolution audio formats like FLAC, DSD, WAV, ALAC and AIFF. We know you’ll be blown away by the accuracy and detail.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Popular Chevy and GMC Truck Upgrades

01/02/2022 By John Schwartz

When it comes to personalizing your Chevrolet or GMC truck, your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer offers a variety of stereo system, convenience and functionality upgrades to make your vehicle suit your needs and tastes. These upgrades can make your pickup truck more comfortable in hot or cold weather, allow you to store equipment safely or listen to your music as though you are front-row at your favorite concert. Let’s look at some of the options that are available.

Chevy and GMC Truck Audio System Upgrades

When it comes to listening to music in our vehicles, no vehicle manufacturer delivers a truly world-class listening experience. One of the best upgrades you can make is to add a dedicated subwoofer system. Even if you have a top-of-the-line Silverado High Country, a high-quality subwoofer will improve every aspect of the listening experience.

Chevy Truck Upgrades — MTI Acoustics has subwoofer enclosures designed specifically for late-model Chevrolet and GMC trucks. Their fit and finish is unmatched by any other “off the shelf” solution.

If you have a truck with limited smartphone connectivity, upgrading the radio with a new multimedia receiver that includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto can make your time behind the wheel safer and more productive. These integration solutions use the voice recognition system in your smartphone to allow you to make phone calls, send text messages, get navigation instructions or choose an entertainment option without having to look at the radio.

Safety and Parking System Upgrades

Another popular upgrade is to add a backup camera to your pickup truck. Without a camera, you risk damaging toys or lawn equipment or, most significantly, injuring children or adult pedestrians as you back into a parking spot or driveway. Backup cameras work automatically with an aftermarket radio, the factory-installed infotainment system or a new rearview mirror to show an image of everything behind the vehicle.

Blind spot camera systems are another popular upgrade. These systems add dedicated side-view cameras on either side of the vehicle to let you know if something or someone is beside the truck when you activate your turn signals.

Remote Starter System Adds Comfort Year-Round

While most of us in Canada and the northern US associate remote starters with cold winter mornings, they are equally convenient on a hot summer afternoon to let the air conditioning system cool the interior of your truck. Remote starters include a variety of options for remote controls, including compact one-way systems or two-way remotes with LED or LCD screens that let you know when the vehicle has started. You can even control your vehicle using your smartphone using a telematics solution like DroneMobile or SmartStart.

Window Tint and Paint Protection Film

Many mobile enhancement retailers offer window tinting and paint protection film installation services. Window tint can not only change the appearance of your pickup truck, high-quality ceramic and carbon films can reject more than 60% of the heat energy from the sun to make your vehicle more comfortable on a hot summer day. All window tints block more than 95% of the UV rays from the sun to protect your skin from blemishes and wrinkles.

Paint protection film, also called clear bra, is an extremely durable transparent coating that is applied to high-wear and impact-prone surfaces on your truck. The front bumper, front grille, hood, headlights and mirror covers can take a beating from gravel, rocks, sand and salt. Films from companies like 3M, Suntek and XPEL are made from a thick (6-8 mil) urethane plastic that absorbs impacts and scuffs to keep your truck looking like new for years and years.

Side Steps and Running Boards

If you have a lifted truck or an HD model that has a lot of ground clearance, a set of running boards or side steps can make getting in and out much safer. Modern truck steps are designed to bolt to existing mounting locations under the cab and very few require modifications to the vehicle.

If you like the clean look of your truck but want a step solution, look into the AMP Research PowerStep motorized side steps. This step platform sits up tight against the rocker panel as you drive then folds down to make it easy to get in and out as soon as you open a door.

Toolboxes and Tonneau Covers

If you use your truck for work, adding a high-quality toolbox is a great way to increase storage options. Heavy-duty tool boxes from companies like CamLocker and Dee Zee fit perfectly between the bed rails and include weather seals to ensure that hand and power tools are kept safe and dry.

A tonneau cover is one of the most popular upgrades for pickup trucks. You can choose from hard or soft covers in a variety of rolling and folding designs to suit your needs. Hard tonneau covers offer the benefit of additional security to keep the contents of your truck bed safe.

Upgrade Your Chevrolet or GMC Truck Today!

These are just a few of the options available to enhance your Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, 2500HD or 3500HD pickup truck. If you want to add one of the solutions we’ve talked about or something like heated seats, an upgraded lighting system, rear-seat entertainment or sound deadening, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

LTE-connected Dashcam Solutions Provide Peace of Mind

12/26/2021 By John Schwartz

It was only with the adoption of 3G cellular service that streaming video from our phone systems became a reality. 4G cellular services offer a bump in data transfer speed with a theoretical maximum that is more than 50 times faster than 3G, making it easy and reliable to stream high-resolution video. Dashcam manufacturers like BlackVue have developed cloud-based solutions that allow you to use a Wi-Fi hotspot in your vehicle, smartphone internet access tethering or proximity to a hotspot in your home or office to keep tabs on your vehicle. Let’s look at how it works.

Dashcam Internet Connection

Once you’ve had your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer install your dashcam for you, all you need to do is use a smartphone app to connect your dashcam to an internet connection. Many General Motors vehicles include Wi-Fi hotspots, and Ford recently announced they’d be including 4G connectivity in upcoming models. You can also source a mobile hotspot solution from most key cellphone companies like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint in the US and Telus in Canada.

Once the connection is set up, you can connect to your dashcam anytime it’s powered to see what it sees. You can also configure notifications to be pushed to your smartphone should the motion sensor be triggered while your vehicle is parked or if someone or something comes into the camera’s field of vision. If you are worried about vandalism or theft or want to know which cat is walking across the hood of your vehicle, this is the way to go.

LTE Dashcam — Having the ability to see what your camera sees using the BlackVue Over the Cloud app on your smartphone adds incredible piece of mind.

Several models of Thinkware cameras can send notifications about driving impacts or when the camera enters or exits a preselected zone.

Because these dashcams have an integrated GPS antenna, they can be used to provide an alert if someone tows your vehicle away. The difference between the solutions we’ve discussed is in the ability to see the camera image remotely.

Will We See Dashcams with Built-In LTE Connectivity?

Absolutely! In fact, many are already on the market. The Waylens Secure360 4G is one option. Waylens offers several data plans that vary in bandwidth and cost. There are some solutions from lesser-known brands out there. We haven’t tested them in terms of image quality and video compression nor have we determined how easy their interfaces are to use. Be sure you check those things out before purchasing.

The Importance of a Quality Dashcam

As we’ve discussed in detail, having an inexpensive dashcam is great if you want to know if a light was green or red when you entered an intersection or the direction a car was travelling when it hit someone. If you want to capture details like license plates, something that is crucial in identifying vehicles that have left the scene of an accident, then you need a camera with a high-resolution image sensor, high-quality video compression algorithms that preserve detail and excellent hardware that will ensure the system works when you need it. Expect to spend at least $300 on a good quality dashcam plus the cost of installation.

Protect Yourself with a Premium Dashcam

Undoubtedly, we’ll see more and more dashcams with Wi-Fi cloud solutions and LTE connectivity come onto the market over the next few years. Where a dashcam is like having a co-pilot keeping tabs on everything that happens in front and behind your vehicle as you drive, a connected dashcam is your personal night watchman, guarding your pride and joy all through the night. If you are interested in a video recording system for your car or truck, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Custom-Installed Radar Detectors Deliver Better Protection

12/19/2021 By John Schwartz

When it comes to long-range sensitivity to police radar and a defense solution against lidar, a custom-installed radar detector is your best choice. Not only do custom-installed detectors offer fewer distractions within the vehicle, they offer better range and more features to help you reach your destination quickly and efficiently. Let’s look at a few reasons why integrated or custom-installed detectors are the best choice for defending yourself against speed traps.

Radar Receiver Sensitivity

Radar receivers use a horn-shaped microwave antenna (or two) to channel high-frequency signals from the radar gun to a high-sensitivity receiver module. The best units on the market use a digital signal processor to analyze the output of the receiver and quickly and accurately extract information about the presence of X, K and Ka-band police radar.

As with any antenna, the size of the antenna itself plays a significant role in its sensitivity. Sensitivity describes how weak of a signal an antenna can detect. If you have a larger antenna, you can detect a weaker signal.

Because custom-installed radar detectors typically use larger antennae (which can be mounted to the front of the vehicle), they can detect weaker signals and provide longer warnings. Most high-quality radar detectors will detect radar guns at ranges of between 1,500 and 3,500 feet, depending on the radar gun being used and the system you have purchased.

Dealing with Police Lidar

Most police forces are investing in lidar guns as opposed to radar. Lidar is much more precise in terms of singling out a particular vehicle in dense traffic. Because lidar guns can measure the speed of your vehicle in less than half a second, there is no time for a driver to react.

Some portable radar detectors, on their own, include a lidar receiver and will provide you with an alert that your vehicle has been targeted by an officer. In most cases, if you are speeding, this means you’re likely to get a ticket. There is a slim chance that the warning was received as the lidar gun was targeting an adjacent vehicle, but with a beam pattern that is only 30 inches wide at a range of 1,000 feet, that’s unlikely.

Custom-installed detectors typically include a complete laser defense solution as opposed to a laser warning. A laser defense system detects the light signal from the police lidar gun, then transmits a scrambled beam pattern that prevents the law enforcement officer from measuring the speed of your vehicle. We have a complete article that explains how lidar defense systems work here.

Your mobile enhancement retailer will have the training and experience required to outfit your vehicle with enough lidar transceivers and ensure that they are mounted and aligned properly to provide excellent protection.

A Note on Custom Radar Installations

We’ve talked about keeping the interior of your vehicle tidy in the past. Companies like BlendMount offer some nice options for securing a portable radar detector to your rearview mirror, and your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer can take care of running the wiring to a switched power source for you.

That said, a custom-installed detector takes integration to an entirely different level. Displays can be integrated into a rearview mirror, your dash or the center console for a factory-installed appearance. Some shops, like Ai Design in Tuckahoe, New York, are printing entirely new mirror frames to integrate controls and displays for custom radar detector and laser defense system installations. Talk to the team at your local specialist retailer to find out about the options that are available for your vehicle.

Protect Your Driving Record with a Custom-Installed Radar Detector

If you want the longest-range radar detection available and a viable defense solution against police lidar, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today and ask about their custom-installed radar detector options.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.