May it afflict intermittent left-channel outages, and an audiophile neighbor who lives for operetta, on the gormless enthusiasts who maladjust the audio in the car-share cars so everything sounds like a Bad Hair Band.

Modern car-audio systems are tuned by professionals to sound reasonable out of the box. Maybe you like a little more punch in the bass, good on ya. Maybe you’re listening to talk radio in a staticky zone, you want to lift the mid-range and back off the treble; who could object?

But what is the pervasive pathology that leaves approximately 50% of all car-share vehicles with the bass and treble cranked right up, and the fader dialed to the back-seat? Maybe they’re using the music for vibrational dandruff therapy? Maybe it’s the right way to listen to Nickelback? Maybe I have a nemesis who spies on my reservations and sneaks around to sabotage the sound just before I get in?

I have learned to Fix The Sound in the parking spot before I mind-meld with the rush-hour. Because I care about good sound, but not enough to die for it.



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From: John Cowan (Dec 22 2015, at 05:04)

It's pretty much the same story in NYC taxicabs, so either taxi drivers like it that way, or (they think) their passengers do. I'm constantly telling drivers to put the sound up front; they usually just turn it off, which is fine with me too.

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From: Michael (Dec 22 2015, at 08:11)

I'm pretty sure Car2Go resets everything when you return the car. The other day I fiddled with things a bit and turned the radio off when I parked the car. Ended up taking the same car home 5 minutes later and the radio turned itself on with the horrid settings as soon as I turned on the car.

Infuriating.

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author · Dad
colophon · rights
picture of the day
December 21, 2015
· The World (148 fragments)
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· · Music (111 more)
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