# Is there a solution to BOOMING car stereos? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221 "2005-04-20T13:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Canadiangirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Canadiangirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadiangirl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/81 "2005-04-21T16:16:43Z")
I love AC/DC but I don’t expect my neighbours to love it, especially at 3:00 in the morning. So I play it loud, but my neighbours sure can’t hear it. I’m not even sure my neighbours have to love it at 3:00 in the afternoon, when they’re sitting in their backyard, trying to enjoy themselves quietly. If I ask you nicely to turn down the music when you pass by my house because you’re driving slow because it’s an old road and there’s lot of bumps and I’ve already been listening as you’ve been coming ‘round the block yet one more time, you could be courteous and turn it down. If the answer is \*(& you, then better roll up your passenger windows’ cause me and my garden hose are waiting, just for you. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/82 "2005-04-21T16:50:45Z")
Funny thing about stereos. Some previous owner had replaced the stock Subaru stuff with a Nakamichi CD-35z and a high-quality amp, though I don’t think they changed the speakers. Now, I had never heard of Nakamichi before, had no clue about the presence of the amp, and I’m not one to worry about car audio systems. I was just happy that it had a CD player and ignored the fact that I was getting all my audio out of the front speakers. Imagine my surprise when I went to get XM installed and was told that I had a good system and the only reason I wasn’t getting anything out of the rear speakers was that someone hadn’t hooked the amp up to them. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/83 "2005-04-21T17:09:29Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Not to hijack but I have the same problem with “assholes” who drive their ungodly noisy motorcycles down residential streets at midnight. I’m convinced these people are just attention-seeking scum. [Al Swearengen] The cocksucker across the street has a loud Harley.[/Al Swearengen] I don’t know which makes me want to drive an [Estwing rockpick](http://www.apex-ephemera.com/treasure/dixie/graphics/gold/estwing-rockpick.jpg) into his skull more: 1. On weekends, when he guns the fucking thing up the street coming home from a bar and wakes my daughter, age four. 2. On weekdays when he gets up at six in the morning and revs the fucking thing in the driveway for ten minutes before riding it to work. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/84 "2005-04-21T17:43:06Z")
The perfect solution is in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=313028). ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/85 "2005-04-21T19:54:29Z")
\*Originally Posted by chaparralv8 A couple solutions: 1. Super Soaker, filled with urine or liquid chicken manure. Make sure the Super Soaker is expendable. 2. Marine compressed R134a horns. Supposedly about 130dB at six feet. Make sure you wear earplugs. 3. Just unzip at the stoplight. If you’ve got any aim and pressure you’ll get a direct hit. \* > [@PinkMarabou](#): > > Can I do this to your kids when I want peace and quiet? Disclaimer: I don’t have kids. Disclaimer II: I don’t advocate **chaparralv8** ’s solutions. I hate screaming kids. However, this is a poor argument. Yes they both make noise, but screaming kids are something a parent has a variable amount of control over. If you’re driving along with your radio cranked, you have complete control over the volume. Can most parents do better about removing themselves from a situation? Yes. I’m going to say that almost every one of those parents wishes their kid wasn’t screaming though. OTOH, every bass-thumping driver is making noise **on purpose**. ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/86 "2005-04-22T06:40:04Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Really, is this that important an issue? Is it negatively impacting your life in any real way? > . Why yes. I have epilepsy that can be triggered by certain frequencies, including bass. So presumeably being next to your car for long enough could cause some serious problems. I also know a few migraine suffers who get attacks when exposed to throbbing bass. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/87 "2005-04-22T13:04:55Z")
I see more of the too-loud motorcycles and cars than the stereos these days… or I should say, hear. Apparently my new house is sitting on a route popular with a lot of motorcyclers. On that problem, at least, there could be a standard added to the yearly state inspections, with regard to decibel output of the engines… I mean, they’re called mufflers, not loudeners, and I really don’t care how much you spent to trick out your Toyota Camry, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/88 "2005-04-22T14:59:27Z")
I am going to admit that I **do** think there should be laws against it. If your stereo makes enough noise to drown out the sound of an oncoming ambulance, you should have your stereo taken away. People seem to think that driving a car is like sitting at home. You _should_ actually pay attention to everything that happens around you. And, yes, that does include listening to traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/89 "2005-04-22T15:05:05Z")
And don’t even get me started on these frikking idiots who buy these huge fake-mufflers for their car, so their little rinky-dink cars sound like big, bad-ass racing cars. Umh, dude, they don’t. They just sounds like you replaced your muffler with a garbage can. ---
**Author:** ![PETERFI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PETERFI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PETERFI)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/90 "2005-05-01T05:33:01Z")
> [@CapnPitt](#): > > \*Originally Posted by chaparralv8 > A couple solutions: > > 1. Super Soaker, filled with urine or liquid chicken manure. Make sure the Super Soaker is expendable. The old-style aluminum fire exstinguishers, about 3 ft tall, that are pretty much out of service everywhere but may be available in antique shops, etc, are easy to refil with water and, er, whatever and deliver, high pressure contents, of, er, whatever. Not that I would advocate that, no sir, uh-uh. Nope. Not me. Nosiree, bub. Not on your ninny-nanny. No way, no how. Peter ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221/91 "2005-05-01T11:28:46Z")
\>And I don’t see how it’s that inconsiderate. It’s on the streets, fer chrissakes. Look, the streets are for all of us. I have an ear disorder, Meniere’s, that makes me dizzy when I get blasted with somebody’s loud bass. I pull over and let them pass, when that works - but depending on conditions that may be impossible. So that means some stranger is making me sick, so maybe I have to pull over and rest for a while when I finally get the chance. And loud stereos are a pretty peculiar phenomenon, the only thing on the road that cause me this much trouble. It doesn’t seem right to me that this silly thrill should so threaten my independance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-solution-to-booming-car-stereos/300221.md?page=4)