May 2, 2025 ZhouGuifeng

Automobile Culture Series: The History of Car Audio Development

By Biaoxue Zhi | Japanese Car Enthusiast Magazine | May 2, 2025

Reprinted from the official WeChat account: Biaoxue Zhi
Original Article Link

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The Early Days of Car Audio

Car audio, now standard in the vast majority of modern passenger cars, even incorporates brands traditionally found in home or professional audio, such as the ELS Studio-tuned system in Acura vehicles. This comfort feature, now taken for granted, also has a development history spanning nearly a century.

📻 The First Radio Revolution

In the early 20th century, radio broadcasting was a new technology. The idea of using it in transportation was already on the to-do list of “Father of Radio” Lee de Forest, who held over 180 patents in radio, film recording, triodes, amplifiers, and more. In 1907, he conducted the first experimental entertainment broadcast—humanity’s first use of radio for entertainment. On January 13, 1910, the world’s first public radio station launched in New York, marking a milestone in entertainment history. 🎙️ Like the democratization of automobiles, radio transformed everyday leisure. However, car batteries only provided 6 volts at the time—far from the 50–250 volts needed to power vacuum tube receivers—so the idea progressed slowly.

Lee de Forest, inventor of the audio power amplifier in 1912, was not only the founder of radio and the first broadcaster but also a pioneer of its application in vehicles.

The world’s first car radio was introduced in 1930 by Galvin Manufacturing Co. of Chicago. Unfamiliar name? That company—founded in 1928 and focused on home and vehicle electronics—named its product brand by combining “Motor” (car) with “ola” (sound from Spanish "Hola"). That’s right—🎙️ Motorola. If someone asks what Motorola originally did, don't say mobile phones—the correct answer is car radios.

In 1947, Galvin Manufacturing Co. officially became Motorola.

This is the world’s first commercially applied car audio system: Motorola’s 5T71 radio, released in 1930.

Although the 5T71 was available for sale, it was far from mainstream. It cost $110 when a new car cost $600—that’s one-sixth the price. In today’s terms, that’s like spending ¥50,000 on audio in a ¥300,000 car—98% of people wouldn’t do it. 😬
Galvin operated at a loss until 1933, when the price dropped to $55, and Ford adopted it as standard equipment. BF Goodrich stores began carrying it in 1934, making Motorola radios a bestseller.

📻 From Dashboards to Germany

In 1936, GM subsidiary Delco released the first dashboard-integrated radio, used in Chevrolet's Master Deluxe and other models. Radios began to be seen as comfort features.

In Europe, car audio lagged behind the U.S. Germany’s Ideal launched the AS5 car radio in 1932, but it was large and cost 465 Deutsche Marks—about €2,100 today. In 1933, Ideal was acquired by Bosch and renamed Blaupunkt in 1938.

The first European car with a radio was the 1933 Crossley Golden and Silver series in the UK. As a luxury brand, its buyers almost always opted for the feature—like no one buying a Rolls-Royce today would skip the audio system. 🌟

Due to vacuum tubes, early car radios could only receive AM. They were so large they had to be installed in the trunk and consumed massive power—radio wouldn’t work with the engine off, or the 6V battery would die. So those scenes in Chinese TV dramas showing radio playing after parking? Total fiction. 🤦

📡 The FM Era Begins

After WWII, car radios were still AM-only. In 1952, Blaupunkt introduced the first FM car radio—the AutoSuper A52KU. In 1953, Becker released the Mexico with auto-seek. In 1956, Mopar tried an all-transistor unit, which failed due to instability.

Becker found success again in 1963 with the first fully solid-state car radio, and in 1969 with the first stereo model. Traffic broadcast integration began in 1974 in parts of Europe. 📢

🎶 Tapes and Turntables

Chrysler’s 1956 vinyl player failed due to vibration issues. The 4-track tape (1962) also didn’t last. But the 8-track format (1964), supported by Ford, GM, RCA and others, took off. By the late 1960s, it was in Rolls-Royces and Bentleys. 🎩

Did you know? Japan’s first karaoke machine in 1971 was based on 8-track technology. 🎤

Still, 8-tracks were bulky. By the late 1970s, the compact cassette from Philips took over. With Dolby noise reduction, A/B sides, and Sony's 1979 Walkman, it ruled the 1980s–1990s. 📼

💿 Digital Takes Over

CDs launched in 1982 (Philips + Sony). In 1984, Pioneer introduced the first car CD player. Sony's CDX-7 soon followed—1DIN sized and fully integrated. 🔊

By the late '80s and '90s, CD + cassette + AM/FM were common in vehicles. The Lincoln Town Car was the first OEM model with a CD unit in 1987. 🎶

🔁 MD, MP3, and the Decline of Discs

Sony’s MiniDisc (MD) system launched in 1992. Though compact and high-quality, it lost out to the more shareable MP3.

By the 2000s, USB, Bluetooth, and smartphones replaced discs. Sony officially discontinued MD in 2013. 📱

Meanwhile, SACD (Super Audio CD), launched in 1999, remained niche—high fidelity, but not car-friendly. Only Sony attempted a car SACD system (DV1000), which flopped. 📀

📝 This article is already over 5,000 words—editors are complaining! So we’ll save discussions about speakers, amps, DSP, noise cancellation, and more for another time.

🚨 Final tip: Don’t choose your car audio system like picking a car brand. Don’t be blinded by logos on the speaker grille—without a good head unit, even the best speakers are just expensive ornaments.