whats the fuss about FM?

[Steve Walker]

Both my current and previous cars have used the speedo - and there is a setting for how much it increases the volume with speed.

[John Walliker]

Car manufacturers do things in ways that may not seem obvious. They are very conservative. They don't like complaints about their products. They are very concerned about ease of manufacture and reliability. They also watch every penny. Far more so than most people imagine. A system that uses the road speed and engine speed is very predictable. It may not compensate perfectly for noise levels as it won't know about road texture for example. On the other hand it will not do unexpected things like changing the volume when a window is opened. Microphones are relatively expensive components and generally have poor sensitivity tolerances. They also don't like very high temperatures as the electret can depolarise if they get too hot. High humidity can also be a problem. If the information is already there to do the job without adding any extra components then that will be the chosen method. Road speed information is often available to a car audio system without adding a single component. As a designer one would have to make a very strong case to get agreement for any solution that added cost.

John

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

I seem to remember that mine has this too, buried deep in the settings menu.

[Chris Holmes]

<Snip>

[Chris Holmes]

<Snip>

I like to think I have a good memory, but I?d forgotten doing this.

I?d also forgotten how fantastic HiFi was when it came along. Now you can buy something for £50 or less and it sounds (to my ancient ears) as good as my dad?s 70s HiFi, you wonder what the fuss was about, but you couldn?t buy decent sound for the equivalent of 10 pints of beer back then.

Another Chris