Onlinecarstereo.com, with more than 20 years under its belt, is a company that distributes one of the largest selections of car audio/stereo, as well as accessories, in the country. We are authorized dealers of the industry’s top brands for car audio/stereo like Alpine, JL Audio, JVC, Kenwood, Kenwood Excelon, Kicker, Pioneer, Sony, AudioControl, Audison, Boss Elite, Cadence, Clarion, Dual, Farenheit, Focal, Hertz, Hifonics, Infinity, Jensen, JBL, Lanzar, Massive Audio, MB Quart, Memphis, Power Acoustik, Pyle, Soundigital, and Soundstream, among others. We are also a leading retailer of discount car audio like speakers, tweeters, mids, subwoofers and amplifiers in all shapes and sizes. We have an assortment of in-dash receivers, wireless Bluetooth Audio, satellite radio, video receivers and GPS navigation receivers. With over 8000 name-brand car audio/stereo products and accessories in stock, customers are sure to find something to improve their car audio experience and at prices that will not hurt the wallet.

Not only that, but Onlinecarstereo isn't just limited at providing car audio/stereo equipment. We also carry marine electronics, pro audio and DJ equipment. We also have an array of products for security features for your vehicle such as back-up cameras and remote starters, as well as custom wheels and rims.

Onlinecarstereo is committed to excellence and give the best possible service to our customers, that is why we have a team of helpful and friendly customer service representatives that are more than willing to provide assistance and give you the best online buying experience. We offer low prices, free same-day shipping and a 60-day guarantee on everything that we sell. We have tools such as the vehicle fit guide to ensure that you buy the right car radio systems for your vehicle. And if you are around the Southern LA area, we have shops in Long Beach and Wilmington where we provide car audio installation, wheel and tires installation, and tinting, lowering & lifting services.

Please visit onlinecarstereo.com to see our wide array of products and subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly promotions and save tons of cash. 

DISCLAIMER: The different gift card denominations will be given according to the TOTAL PURCHASE PRICE of a GIFT CARD-QUALIFIED ITEM/S that is in the customer's cart.

Gift card-qualified brands include: Alpine, AudioControl, Audison, Focal, Hertz, Infinity, JBL, JL Audio, Kenwood, Kenwood Excelon, Kicker, Kicker Q-Class, Massive Audio, Memphis, Sony, and SounDigital.

For example: If you buy an Alpine product priced at $100, and a Lanzar product (a brand not included in the list above) worth $600, you will only receive a $20 gift card because only the Alpine product qualifies for the gift card.

Nothing beats driving on a vacation and listening your favorite tunes. While most of us casual listeners are fine with fancy stereos and midrange sound, we often overlook that we can still do more to improve our car sound. A work around this is to invest in a set of car tweeters to enhance your high frequency notes giving you a fuller music experience.

Holiday season has already started and Onlinecarstereo is still keeping our affordable prices for you to enjoy. You should grab your upgrades now until supplies last and the year ends. Here are some of the products on our holiday deals.

Pioneer TS-T110: One of our popular tweeters around. The price is very affordable and can provide enough high frequency for your needs with an RMS of up to 40 watts. The design is very sleek and is very subtle easy installation.

JL Audio C5-075CT: JL Audio has been providing quality electronics for car audio for more than a decade. This C5 series 3/4" tweeters are manufactured with silk dome diaphragm for smoother response. The flush mount design makes it easy to install without much modification.

Alpine SPS-110TW: Alpine has their version of silk dome tweeters. This 1" Type S component tweeter borrows some Type R technology like a copper-clad aluminum voice coil, copper shorting cap, high-grade neodymium magnet, and aluminum bobbin. These features mean that the SPS-110TW deliver best-in-class power handling of 100 watts RMS.

Hertz ST25: One of the newly released tweeters in the lineup, the ST25 is extremely compact size for explosive performance. is the first Hertz car audio compression driver specifically designed for SPL competitions making it one of the bestsellers.

Visit our Tweeter Section for more models. You can also subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly promotions and save tons of cash.

Car audios have come a LONG way since its first inception. It is fascinating how the concept of car audio has evolved from clunky AM radios to ones with operating systems and with multiple functions. For today we’re gonna talk about the evolution of car audio.

1900s - Did you know that the first car audio was presented as early as 1904? Lee De Forest, the “Father of Radio”, performed a demonstration at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

1920s - The first factory-installed car radio was installed on a 1922 Chevrolet (the radio brand was Westinghouse) and almost cost as half as the actual cost of the car itself! Talk about pricey!

1930s - Paul and Joseph Galvin, entrepreneurs and brothers, bought the bankrupt Stewart Battery Company. The company made The Battery Eliminator that allowed battery-operated home radios to run on household current, the equivalent to today’s AC adapters. The Galvin brothers utilized the company’s battery eliminator design and used that to manufacture battery eliminators for their radios.

Eventually, the battery eliminators became obsolete as AC-powered radios were becoming the standard. Paul Galvin met with William Lear and Elmer Wavering, two radio engineers, who created a radio with a design that removed the problem with static interference.

(the first commercially released car audio -- The Motorola)

The brothers eventually came up with the first radio which they named The Motorola, which is a portmanteau of the words “automative” and “Victrola” (a brand name of a phonograph, but eventually became a generic term for any kind of phonograph). Motorola eventually became the big telecommunications company it is today (YES, that Motorola).

1952 - Blaupunkt, a German company, created the first FM radio. Prior to this, the only option of frequency for radios was the AM frequency. A year later, Becker Mexico made an AM/FM receiver with a station search or scan function.

1955 onwards (before 1970s) was a period of trial and error for car audio manufacturers. Chrysler Hi-Fi was the first time one’s own records were played in the car, and was also the first and only car phonograph. It used a mini-turntable (located on the dash of the passenger side) to play its records. This only lasted for a few years, however. This is because one of the Hi-Fi’s fatal flaws is that the record skips even on the smallest bump on the road the car runs into. 

(photo by sv1ambo on Flickr)

The Hi-Fi eventually evolved to Earl Muntz’s Stereo-Pak, who was the pioneer of a 4-track system. Tracks did not skip with this kind of car audio (an upgrade to the Hi-Fi). Muntz then developed the AutoStereo in the early 60s, which had drivers the freedom to customize and select their personal listening experience. After that, improvements were made to Muntz’s idea and the 8-track cartridge system was developed.

1970s to 80s - Cassette tapes eventually replaced the 8-track system. And with the invention of the Walkman in 1979, cassette tapes became much more prevalent. It improved 8-track’s technology with longer play times, improved tape quality, Dolby noise reduction and auto reverse.

1980s to 90s - Philips and Sony were the first to develop the model for the CD which was first marketed for home use in 1982. However, it was Pioneer who developed the first ever car CD player in 1984. Named the CDX-1, this player had a significantly improved sound quality unlike everyone else. Aside from that, CDX-1 was much more durable than cassette tape players and had the ability to skip tracks.

(CDX-1 image from Pioneer's website)

2000s - car audio quality even improved significantly after the CD player phase of car audio. There was the digitization of music, and gave rise to MP3 players. These are portable devices that can hold thousands of songs and can play different types of music formats. By the mid-2000s, in-car audio systems developed the capability to connect these players to the car’s audio systems. Features like the USB, AUX and Bluetooth became staples on car audios.

And with the rise of smartphones and the usage of apps like Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM and the use of car assistant systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, playing music in your car has never been easier. 

Sources: (1) (2) (3) (4)

So check out onlinecarstereo.com for our wide array of car audio products and subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly promotions and save tons of cash!

Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching and that also means that Black Friday and Cyber Monday is also around the corner. This year in particular will be a very different one from all the previous years we have done the two biggest shopping days of the year because of the pandemic.

But where (and when) exactly did the terms “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” come from?

(image source: bloomberg.com)

Black Friday dates back to Philadelphia in the 1960s where newspapers in the state used the term to describe the massive frenzy of crowds at stores and the congestion of traffic that happens on the day after Thanksgiving. The crowd frenzy was paralleled after the original “Black Friday”, which was a stock market panic on September 24, 1869, where the price of gold collapsed due to then-President Ulysses Grant’s interference on the scheme of three investors: Jay Gould, James Fisk, and President Grant’s own brother-in-law, Abel Corbin.

(image source: abc7.com)

Cyber Monday, however, is a much newer term that was coined by Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation and Scott Silverman, and was used as a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States. It was created as a digital counterpart to Black Friday to encourage people to do online shopping and has rapidly become the biggest ecommerce event in the US, whereas Black Friday is more of a brick-and-mortar sale event. 

However, with the pandemic happening right now, Black Friday will probably shift to a bigger online event than it was before rather than doing the traditional in-store sales retailers have done in previous years. So definitely watch out in the coming weeks for upcoming deals and bundles for Black Friday and Cyber Monday at onlinecarstereo.com and subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly promotions and save tons of cash!

We always strive for customer satisfaction when you buy from us here at Online Car Stereo, but sometimes, one might have problems with their purchase and decide to return it. We have one of the best hassle-free return policies out there. If by some reason you are not satisfied with your purchase, unused/uninstalled items can be returned within 60 days.

Making a return is pretty easy!

• Contact us. To start a return, call 1-310-526-8635 and chat with our helpful and friendly customer service representatives. We can also be reached through email at  [email protected] for any questions.
• Get an RA (return authorization). If you call us at our contact number, a customer service representative will be able to assist you through your options and help set up a return authorization. You can also request a return authorization online through email at  [email protected].
• Pack returned items carefully. Returned items should be new and in their original packaging, complete with all the original accessories, manuals and warranty card. We care about the safety of the items so we overbox most of the products to protect them during shipping.
• Attach the shipping label. You will receive a UPS Authorized Return Service shipping label along with a return authorization number. Remove or mark out the original labels, then securely tape the new return shipping label to the package.
• Give the package to UPS. Take it to any official UPS drop-off site. To search for drop-off locations nearest you, call 1-800-742-5877 or visit www.ups.com.

Online Car Stereo will send a “return received” notice through email detailing that the returned item has been received. An additional email will also be sent following the completion of the return process.

There are also important details to consider when doing a return.

Refund or exchange. You can either choose an exchange or a refund according to the amount of the item you purchased. Refunds will be issued to the same credit card, debit card, gift certificate, or other form of payment that was used in the original transaction. The refund or exchange process for items usually gets processed within three business days after we receive the returned item, as we normally conduct additional testing and evaluation. Additionally, depending on the financial institution, the refunded amount will take about 3-5 business days to reflect back on your account.

Shipping costs. Return shipping costs are deducted from your refund or exchange.

For most returns, Online Car Stereo can issue you a UPS Authorized Return Shipping (ARS) label for a flat fee.

New condition. All returns for refund will be subject to a 10% restocking fee (and higher if the item is used/abused). Online Car Stereo may refuse a customer return or charge a higher restocking fee when the returned item is not NEW. Conditions that will lead to refused returns or be charged a higher restocking fee include:

• When the returned item has a different serial number than what Online Car Stereo originally shipped.
• When there are missing parts or the original packaging has been damaged or tampered with.
• When there is damage due to the package being improperly packaged for return shipment.
• When there is physical damage from drops, spilled liquid, or mishandling.
• When the product has been installed or has attempted to be installed and was removed from the original packaging.
• When the item has any signs or indication of it being installed, with scratches, or other signs of use such as physical markings, screw holes, etc.

Freight shipping: Items like Boxes and Large subwoofers may require special freight shipping, and they usually cost more to return. An Online Car Stereo representative will be able to help figure out the exact shipping cost of freight items when setting up the return.

**Online Car Stereo does not accept any returns for Rims, Tires and finance orders. Only exchange or store credit will be granted.

International shipping: UPS ARS labels are not valid for international shipping or shipping on US territories. The customer is responsible for any international shipping charges or duties.

We here at Online Car Stereo will always be committed to give you the best customer service we can possibly give. Always visit us at onlinecarstereo.com to check out our wide array of products and subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly promotions and save tons of cash.