5 Highly-Rated Auto Zone Car Accessories That Can Upgrade Your Ride’s Audio






There’s nothing wrong with sticking with the audio system that came with your car, especially if it’s a newer model, which have improved their audio systems significantly in recent years. However, if you’re one of the millions driving an older car, you very well could be wishing for better sound quality or more modern connectivity options. Whether commuting to work or taking a road trip, running errands or just trying to get from Point A to Point B, the right audio accessories can make all the difference in how enjoyable your vehicle feels.

And fortunately, upgrading your car’s audio system doesn’t have to mean a complete overhaul. Sometimes, it’s as simple as a handful of highly rated accessories added into your setup. AutoZone is considered the best auto parts retailer by customer satisfaction, and it has a nice variety of audio accessories to choose from, including options for different budgets and installation skill levels. These ones stood out to us the most.

Kenwood Stereo/Receiver

If you’re looking to make a big audio upgrade, the Kenwood DMX400S is one of the most feature-packed options on AutoZone’s site. Currently priced at $301.99, the double-DIN multimedia receiver replaces aging factory stereos with a modern touchscreen interface compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

For your money, you get a 6.8-inch touchscreen complete with navigation apps, music, and messaging, and other compatible apps. It comes with USB and auxiliary inputs along with Bluetooth connectivity. The receiver also includes a rearview camera input, too.

Customers on AutoZone have it at 4 out of 5 stars, based on 35 ratings. Their reviews generally revolve around the unit’s ease of use and touch responsiveness. Several complimented its quick startup times and straightforward installation, as well. And though some users did mention the lack of wireless CarPlay as a drawback, most have no problem simply plugging their phone in to connect.

Boss Audio Wireless Multimedia Player

If you don’t feel like dropping $300 on a new player for your car, there’s also the Boss Audio 455BRGB Wireless Multimedia Player. It’s going for a much more affordable price of $64.99, and it still gives you many of the same conveniences as the Kenwood, just without the touch screen.

It’s a single-DIN receiver, which means you lose traditional CD playback in favor of a slimmer build and more modern digital media sources. We’re talking Bluetooth, USB, SD card, AUX, AM, and FM connectivity options all in one. It also comes wit ha wireless remote control, so backseat drivers can change the station or the source without having to unbuckle and invade your space.

Customer feedback on AutoZone has this at a 4 out of 5 stars, based on 122 ratings. Users say sound quality’s great and installation is easy. Most are in agreement about it being a big step up over their car’s default audio system. Some reviewers do say they get a bad screen glare at certain times of day, but that’s not necessarily the media player’s fault.

Metra Electronics Speakers

Maybe you don’t want to replace your car’s multimedia player at all, whether it already came with a touchscreen display or you simply don’t have an issue with what you’ve been given. That doesn’t mean you should shut the door on all upgrades, however. What about your speakers, for instance?

Over time, speakers can deteriorate and start to lose their clarity. If that’s happening to you, AutoZone sells Metra Electronics 65SP speakers at $21.99 a pop. These 6.5-inch OEM-style replacement speakers give you a dual-cone design, injection-molded polypropylene woofer cone, rubber surround, and 4-ohm impedance. They’re rated for 75 watts of power handling capacity and come with mounting hardware for installation.

Customer reviews on AutoZone put them at a 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on 36 ratings. Many customers say the speakers are both easy to install and easy on the wallet. They add that the sound quality is solid for the price, even if they don’t give you the kind of refinement or output of a more premium aftermarket alternative.

Dual Electronics Subwoofer

If you’re going to upgrade your speakers, you might as well take a look at your subwoofer, as well. After all, audio enthusiasts will be the first to tell you: Better sound quality doesn’t come from focusing on just one single channel. You’ve got to add some low-frequency impact into the mix. The Dual Electronics SBX100 subwoofer gives you exactly that.

AutoZone has these priced at $69.99 each. It’s a 10-inch subwoofer housed inside a vented enclosure built with a black polypropylene cone, rubber surround, and 2-inch voice coil. The subwoofer’s operating range extends from 25Hz to 500Hz, which means much deeper bass frequencies than your factory build. 

AutoZone customer reviews average out to a 4 out of 5 stars based on 144 ratings, which is great for the price. Many praise the subwoofer’s low-end performance along with its sturdy construction. That said, some reviewers do warn that audio quality may take a hit with particularly powerful amplifiers or when pushing it to extremely high volume levels.

Premier Bluetooth Auxiliary Receiver

If you don’t like the idea of a DIY audio overhaul, how about an accessory that just plugs into the aux and calls it a day? The Premier Bluetooth Auxiliary Receiver is one of the simplest upgrades you’ll find on AutoZone’s site. It’s only $19.99, and it gives Bluetooth capabilities to cars that don’t already come with it.

Think of it like a bridge between modern wireless devices and older audio equipment. Just connect it through your car’s standard 3.5mm audio jack, and you can stream music from your phone without needing a whole new stereo system. You even get an operating range of up to 33 feet, which is more than enough for everyone in the car to be able to use it.

This device is one of the highest-rated of its kind on AutoZone, sitting at a 3.9 out of 5, based on 164 customer ratings. Customers say it’s easy and reliable, just as long as you don’t run into any pairing difficulties or connection interruptions. Anybody who’s ever used one of these Bluetooth receivers knows the struggle.





Source link

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get our latest articles delivered straight to your inbox. No spam, we promise.

Recent Reviews


Just a few months ago, Elon Musk accused the AI company Anthropic of stealing artificial intelligence training data “at massive scale” in a post on his social network X

That apparently hasn’t stopped the billionaire from doing business with the company. Musk’s SpaceX has signed a data center deal that will give Anthropic access to more than 200,000 Nvidia GPUs worth of power at its Colossus 1 supercomputer facility in Tennessee.

The partnership will give Anthropic additional firepower to “directly improve capacity for Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers,” SpaceX said in a website post. “As part of this agreement, Anthropic also expressed interest in partnering to develop multiple gigawatts of orbital AI compute capacity.”

Because of this deal, Anthropic said in its own post, the company is raising usage limits for users across some of its products. The changes, effective immediately, double Claude Code rate limits for users of Claude on Pro, Max, Team and seat-based Enterprise plans, remove peak-hour restrictions of Claude Code for Pro and Max accounts and raise API limits for Claude Opus models.

More AI means more data center deals

In the same post, Anthropic listed some of its other data center agreements with companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, and reiterated its intention to keep expanding internationally. In the era of data center backlashes, Anthropic also announced in February that it has pledged to cover the costs of energy price increases driven by data center activity. Critics have questioned how companies such as Anthropic can uphold those pledges.

The deal with SpaceX, which acquired Musk’s AI company xAI earlier this year, may have surprised some, but AI companies are scrambling to secure data center resources as they continue to develop increasingly data-hungry artificial intelligence models.

At the same time, some communities are pushing back on new data center construction, leading some in the industry, Musk in particular, to plan to build data centers in space

Among the groups criticizing the deal is the NAACP, which said in a statement about SpaceX, “Any company that disregards the obvious environmental and health concerns of Black communities to supposedly power a future that will help us all is sending a clear message about who it intends to serve in that future… Anthropic’s use of a data center that pollutes a historically Black community is, at best, an uninformed decision, and at worst, a total disregard for the community’s wishes and health.”

The organization pointed to a lawsuit it has filed against SpaceX over environmental concerns at its Colossus 1 computing center.





Source link