As drivers, most of us only tend to see one part of a car audio system: the part with all the screens, knobs, and buttons. Obviously, there’s a lot more going on behind the dashboard, even more than the terminology suggests. When you are shopping for car audio installation helps to know the names of everything, starting with the difference between a car stereo and a receiver.

But first, what is the head unit?

The head unit is that part of the car stereo you see from the driver’s seat, with all the knobs and buttons. When the first radio tuners were installed in cars back in the 1930s, there was no reason to call them anything other than car radios. But over time, new ways to listen to music came out: first cassettes, then CD players, and all the way up to the current day, when smart phone compatible touch screens are the norm. While most head units still feature radio tuners, calling the audio and video technology in your dash “car radios” would be decades out of date.

What is a car stereo?

One early advance in car radio technology still gives us a term we use today: the car stereo. Short for stereophonic, “stereo” refers to sound coming from two speaker channels (or more than two, as we see nowadays in more advanced car audio systems). Even just two distinct speaker channels, left and right, can make an audio recording sound closer to live performance, by making it sound like individual instruments are different positions in the room.

This means for a car stereo to work, there has to be at least two amplified speakers in the car. So, the term car stereo refers not just to the head unit or radio, but also the speakers, as well as the amplifiers powering them. In other words, your car stereo is your entire car audio system.

What is a receiver?

Meanwhile, if head unit has become the generic term for what you see in your dash, whether it’s a touch screen or less sophisticated media player, what is a receiver? The distinction here is that a receiver includes a built-in amplifier to power the speakers. Combining the head unit and amp simplifies the channel outputs, and lets the head unit centralize control of all its media sources.

Put more simply, a car receiver is a component of a car strereo, which may be connected to a speaker array to provide stereo sound. When looking to install new, after market car audio and video, the quality of the receiver is the first place to start. Speaker upgrades and supplemental amps can come later.

Quality receivers and whole car stereo installation available in National City

At Car Audio City, we’ll help you identify the components and technology to upgrade your car stereo system. Contact us today, and the road will never sound the same. Get in touch today at (619) 474-8551.