Automobile Culture Series: The History of Car Audio

📖 Mark Snow Journal – Japanese Car Enthusiast Magazine
🕒 Published: July 12, 2021
🔗 Original Post: WeChat Article

Car audio has become a standard feature in most modern passenger vehicles. Furthermore, many brands originally from the home audio or professional audio industries have been introduced into automobiles. For example, the audio system in Acura vehicles is branded by tuning master ELS Studio. While today this seems like an obvious comfort feature, car audio has actually gone through nearly a century of evolution.

As with previous articles in this series, we will not delve into professional aspects; this series only introduces the history of development.

As radio broadcasting was still a new technology in the early 20th century, the idea of using it in vehicles had already been placed on the "to-do" list of Lee de Forest, the "Father of Radio." He held over 180 patents related to radio, motion picture sound recording, triodes, amplifiers, and more. In 1907, de Forest conducted the earliest experimental entertainment broadcasts, marking the first time in human history that entertainment was delivered via radio. On January 13, 1910, the world’s first public radio station was launched in New York, a milestone event in the entertainment industry. Just as automobiles transitioned from being a privilege of the aristocracy to personal ownership, the emergence of radio changed people's daily entertainment habits. Although Lee de Forest had envisioned listening to radio programs in vehicles early on, progress was slow due to the 6-volt car batteries at the time, which were insufficient to power vacuum tube receivers that required 50 to 250 volts to operate.

Lee de Forest was not only the pioneer of radio technology but also the founder of the world’s first radio station. He was also an innovator in the application of radio to transportation. In 1912, he invented the audio power amplifier, commonly referred to today as a car amplifier (Audio Power Amplifier).

The world’s first car radio was born in 1930 in Chicago, USA, produced by Galvin Manufacturing Co..
"Galvin?" The name might sound unfamiliar. Yes, this company, founded in 1928 and specializing in home and car electronics, developed the first-ever car radio, the 5T71, in 1930. The product was branded as Motorola, combining “Motor” (automobile) and “Ola” (sound, from the Spanish greeting ‘Hola’).
So now you know—if someone asks how Motorola got started, don’t say "mobile phones"—the correct answer is car audio or car radios. In 1947, Galvin Manufacturing Co. officially changed its name to Motorola Inc.

This is the world’s first commercially available car radio, the 5T71 radio introduced by Motorola in 1930.

Although the 5T71 radio was available for sale, it was far from being widely adopted. The primary reason was cost—this car radio was priced at $110, while a new car cost around $600 at the time. That means the radio alone accounted for nearly one-sixth of the car’s price. In today’s terms, that would be like paying $5,000 for a sound system in a $30,000 car—something that 98% of car buyers would likely reject. As a result, Galvin Manufacturing Co. continued to struggle financially until 1933, when radio prices dropped to $55. This was when Ford began purchasing them as standard equipment, and BF Goodrich tire chain stores started selling them. This led to Motorola radios finally becoming a bestseller.

In 1936, General Motors' subsidiary Delco produced the first car radio integrated into the dashboard, debuting in models like the Chevrolet Master Deluxe. This marked the beginning of car radios becoming a standard comfort feature in vehicles.

This is the world's first car radio integrated into the dashboard, installed in the 1936 Chevrolet Master Deluxe. However, only the control panel was integrated—the receiver and speaker were still separate components. Nonetheless, this was the first true integration of car audio systems into vehicles, setting a precedent that continues today.

In Europe, car audio lagged behind the United States in its early stages. By the time of the Second Industrial Revolution, the United States had surpassed Europe in technology, especially in the development of consumer electronics. The Ideal Company, a German firm, was the first in Europe to offer car radios, launching the AS5 model in 1932. However, this radio was enormous and extremely expensive—costing 465 German Marks. If we convert that to today’s value, a car priced at €12,000 would require an additional €2,100 for the radio, making it a luxury item. Ideal Company was acquired by Bosch in 1933, and in 1938, it was rebranded as Blaupunkt, a brand still recognized today.

The first European car to offer a radio was the 1933 Crossley Golden and Silver series from the United Kingdom. However, as a luxury car brand, nearly all buyers selected the radio option, just as today, Rolls-Royce buyers would rarely purchase a "stripped-down" version.

Due to the large vacuum tube components, early car radios could only receive AM broadcasts (Medium Wave or Long Wave). Since the receivers were massive, they had to be mounted in the trunk. Furthermore, their power consumption was so high that they could only operate while the engine was running, as 6-volt car batteries would quickly drain otherwise.

This Blaupunkt AS5 radio from Ideal Company was so large that it required a wired remote control for tuning. (Image credit: Internet)

By 1952, the first FM car radio was introduced by Blaupunkt, named the AutoSuper A52KU. It cost 498 German Marks—equivalent to about €1,280 today, making it quite expensive.

• In 1953, Becker launched the Mexico radio, which featured automatic station search and scanning—a groundbreaking advancement in high-performance car audio.
• In 1956, Mopar introduced the 914HR transistor radio, but due to stability issues and high costs, it was discontinued.
• In 1963, Becker developed the first fully solid-state car radio, eliminating vacuum tubes and making car radios more compact.
• Starting in 1974, some European countries introduced carrier-wave technology, enabling traffic updates to be broadcasted to drivers. This system replaced regular radio broadcasts inside tunnels, a practice still used today.
• In the 2000s, car audio further evolved with the introduction of digital radio, satellite radio, and even digital TV broadcasts.

This Becker Mexico radio is regarded as the pioneer of high-end car audio. At a time when only AM/FM radiosexisted, it was one of the first to offer automatic tuning and station search features.

This 1963 Becker model was the first all-transistor car radio, marking the beginning of car radio miniaturization.

In 1969, Becker also introduced the first car audio system with stereo output. Becker was dominant during the radio era, but fell behind in the cassette, CD, and digital audio age.

🚗 [The translation continues, covering the history of cassettes, CDs, MP3s, and modern car audio innovations.]🚗

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