You may have spent thousands on your home theatre system or audiophile rack in your bedroom.

But increasingly, we are spending more time listening to our music on the road.

However, most drivers are simply content with the stock sound system that comes with the car.

Many drivers are also wary of visiting car audio workshops, perhaps because they are not familiar with car audio lingo.

This is what Courts Megastore hopes to change with its new push into in-car entertainment solutions.

Yes, you know the retailer for its consumer IT and furniture products, but you will be pleasantly surprised to see a sizable portion of their Tampines Megastore devoted to car audio systems.

According to Ms Goh Choon Gek, director for electrical buying at Courts, it is not that consumers want to shy away from car audio.

"It could be their lack of awareness," said Ms Goh. "No other major retailer has offered this here before.

"At Courts, they can be assured of a conducive one-stop shopping environment. We offer a wide range of car audio components and provide professional installation services."

With several display panels of embedded head units (basically the component that plays your CDs and radio stations), speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers at the megastore, consumers can test the products to see if it is to their liking.

Upgrading your car audio isn't as expensive as you think, but it requires professional installation, which Courts does offer.

Said Ms Goh: "For beginners, they may start by buying a pair of front speakers which can cost between $130 and $300, or two pairs of speakers ranging from $500 to $700."

MP3 WITH DRIVE

And these days, car audio systems are designed to work with portable MP3 players.

You can connect your MP3 player in two ways.

One is the analog way by simply using an audio cable to plug your portable player into a 3.5mm audio jack on the head unit. Models like the Sony Xplod CDX-GT360S offer this auxiliary-in feature.

If you have a USB flash drive with music files, you can simply plug it into a USB port on models like the Sony Xplod CDX-GT460US.

iPod fans can go for various Pioneer head units which are specially designed to work with iPods.

And it's not just about audio bliss - in-car systems now offer visual satisfaction as well.

Ms Goh said: "For family road trips, DVD in-car entertainment systems with flip-down LCD monitors can keep the young ones entertained with cartoons and movies.

"People spend so much time travelling these days, and entertainment on the road can really relieve stress."