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Trouble is from a design point of view you are at a disadvantage with car audio as there's only a 12V DC rail to start with so traditional class AB amp design is out the window, class D is the way to go but even then design is harder and more complex because of the lower starting voltage.
I live in a road that gets traffic in the morning and evening rush hours. Every day we have the pleasure of listening to the car stereo of people with no musical taste making sure that everyone within a 5-mile radius knows it. How can they be driving with due care and attention when a bomb could go off outside their car and they wouldn't hear it?
You're in a car. You're supposed to be paying attention to the road, not the music. If the quality of the tunes is distracting you then heaven help whoever you're sharing the road with!
FM stations are all awful
DAB stations can be a bit better, but CDs and mp3 are the only way to get a good sound. I think my 1989 Daimler had a compressor in the hifi that you could turn on to assist with the car's residual noise floor
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
https://www.jaguar.fr/Images/JJM100221802_tcm96-41254.pdf
it was just an automatic volume control
I had a great one in an Omega Elite once too, lots of extra amps and speakers fitted as standard
My wife is profoundly deaf and also struggles to hear the DJs & News on the radio in her BMW yet I think it sounds bloody amazing and can hear the news clearly even with the roof off on the motorway.
A car is a crappy boombox and car stereos are designed to enhance that, so sad little suburban boys can pretend they're Chicano gangsters. Combine that with some road noise and speech just disappears.
I spent ages wiring up some decent speakers for our kitchen, as my wife and I spend a fair bit of time cooking together with the radio on.
The combination of full frequency speakers, taps running, pans and kettles boiling and general clanging around makes Radio 4 totally indecipherable unless it's rattling the windows with volume.
We now use the good speakers for music and a £4.99 mini radio for speech.
If you read my OP you would know that it is speech not music that is the problem. News and sports bulletins.
@Garthy my wife, who had very good hearing, has a problem hearing news bulletins in the car. A better factory fitted player would solve this problem. Charge an additional €500 for the car or make the audio system upgrade an optional extra.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
https://img.jamessimpson.co.uk/2010/11/PICT0078-1.jpg
@57Deluxe - Clarion seem to make lots and lots of these OEM units, or at least they used to. The unit in my Ford was the same, I think £329 was the cost of a replacement.
If you're minded to go hunting, there's usually an aftermarket bracket that'll convert the hole in the dash to a single DIN so you can fit any replacement.