Car stereo question

[Raduque]

Below about 100hz or so, bass is nigh-impossible to locate. That's the main reason for wanting to cross subs over low. When it gets higher, it gets easier to know it's in the back. A proper sub setup makes people say GOOD LORD YOUR DOOR SPEAKERS ARE INSANE, because they're not used to hearing subs that aren't obvious.

The long wavelengths also make the distance matter less.

My HU cuts anything over 80hz from the sub output, and I can still localize it quite easily. I think it's a combination of me knowing it's there, and that I can't seem to tune it from being "boomy" at around 70hz without severely diminishing it's output under 60.

 

[QueBert]

If you're willing to put the time into it, you can build one yourself. It doesn't take any special talent; just some effort. If you can't make an MDF box fit, a more 'custom' one doesn't take that much more effort- just get some rough dimensions...and build it out of MDF. Then just utilize the basic structure you've made, but cut out the areas that don't fit, and replace with fiberglass.

Not to over-simplify; it's just the kind of work that one might think is daunting, but once you get into it, common sense and improvisation work well enough, and will yield a better product than a prefab box. Especially one that's just molded out of plastic or something.

For your speakers, I would recommend putting the front comps in and seeing how you like it. You can always add rear speakers later; but you can't get your money back after you've installed them.

If you really want the extra fill, I would just recommend keeping the stock speakers on HU power. They're probably paper cones without a tweeter...look at that as a positive. The extra sound they provide will be more gentle and unobtrusive.

I will look into it, as for the stock speakers on the new HU, they sound 10 times better, but still strain at higher volumes, and the max volume's still a bit low. When I'm on the freeway doing 80 with the top down I want to hear my music, not just hear that I have music playing. I'm actually backing off the comps for a moment, I want to see if the stereo shop will swap out my new HU, I thought I read it had a navigation add on, but it looks like it just has nav if you hook an iPhone up to it, which sucks.

 

[HeXen]

Below about 100hz or so, bass is nigh-impossible to locate. That's the main reason for wanting to cross subs over low. When it gets higher, it gets easier to know it's in the back. A proper sub setup makes people say GOOD LORD YOUR DOOR SPEAKERS ARE INSANE, because they're not used to hearing subs that aren't obvious.

The long wavelengths also make the distance matter less.

It's different in a car. You can cut it at 50hz and tell the subs are in the back if it's not tuned to match the fronts unless the gain is down low enough.

My HU cuts anything over 80hz from the sub output, and I can still localize it quite easily. I think it's a combination of me knowing it's there, and that I can't seem to tune it from being "boomy" at around 70hz without severely diminishing it's output under 60.

That depends on the box and tuning frequency. If it's tuned high, wrong box size or it's a bandpass than it's always going to be boomy. 70hz shouldn't really sound boomy, it's closer to a midbass region. It can sound "muddy" depending on setup or being too loud at those frequency ranges.

 

[QueBert]

Maybe someone could answer this, I'm getting the Pioneer AVH-x8550bhs installed Wed, I'm going to get an iPod and was wondering would I notice any responsiveness difference between using a 4th gen Touch or iPod Classic? I know the Classic's slower overall but I don't know how responsive the HU is so it might not matter

 

[QueBert]

Holy shit the Pioneer's a lot damn better than the Kenwood. Better UI, way louder, better EQ, and much more responsive. It's still not anywhere close to fluid, but it's performance is pretty acceptable. Works beautifully with the iPod Classic 160 I picked up for it too. I still can't believe none of the 2 dozen high end head units support creating playlists directly on them, seem's like that should be basic functionality on a device that supports up to 15,000 songs.

Also came with a remote where the Kenwood was a $40 optional add-on.

 

[QueBert]

f8ck Pioneer, this damn unit sucks for USB HD playback of audio. My songs are tagged perfectly, but Pioneer needs different file naming convention for playback order. So all my albums play back in random order. I have them tagged/named the same.

01-xxxxx.mp3 with each album in it's own sub folder, still it jumbles them up badly. It's also shockingly slow when I turn it on. A good 3 minutes before a song will ever start playing. When I plug in my iPod Classic it pops up and is playing a song within 5 seconds.

Pioneer/Alpine/JVC/Kenwood all need to get a damn unit out that doesn't require iOS to function well. I know Pioneer's new ones have Appradio, and there's some sort of $35 app on the Play for rooted phones, but I don't wanna buy a $99 Pioneer cable and this app just to use my Nexus 4 with my head unit.

 

[Throckmorton]

Why not just use a thumbdrive? They even make tiny ones that barely stick out

 

[Throckmorton]

Meh. Agree to disagree. Some phones, or phones in general, might have interference issues, or otherwise lack decent quality audio processing, but my $30 Sansa playing FLAC is not going to sound any different from a store-bought CD played directly through the HU. Only variable is the volume control, which is why I always put it at the same level.

Also of note, since you are using an external amp- your HU is doing the exact same thing an MP3 player through aux would do- putting out an analog signal that varies in intensity based on the volume level.

What's the 4ch amp for? I'm gonna guess you're bridging the rear channels for a sub? I definitely wouldn't try and rock rear speakers in a two-seater.

The Sansa probably has a better DAC than every single smartphone. Besides, any time you convert audio you're degrading quality

Head unit MP3 -> analog conversion -> speakers
vs
MP3 -> analog -> Head unit -> amplification/processing -> speakers

 

[QueBert]

Why not just use a thumbdrive? They even make tiny ones that barely stick out

I have thumb drive, I'd still have to rename all my songs to get the albums to play back with the correct song order. It's frustrating that Pioneer needs then named "001xxxx.mp3 - 0999xxx.mp3" according to the manual. Mine are 01-99, which apparently isn't good enough.

Every double din 7" HU I've used over the past 3 weeks needs some serious firmware work. It's crazy how limiting and ass backwards they are all when you're not using an iOS device.

 

[phucheneh]

The Sansa probably has a better DAC than every single smartphone. Besides, any time you convert audio you're degrading quality

Head unit MP3 -> analog conversion -> speakers
vs
MP3 -> analog -> Head unit -> amplification/processing -> speakers

I'll agree with the general sentiment of converting signals reducing quality; you're just not going to create a good enough environment (as far as cars are concerned) for it to matter, IMO. And with external amps and an aftermarker HU, it's coming out of the HU as a low-level analog signal and traversing the car to get to the amp(s), anyway.

The signal degradation stuff is mostly about interference and other external factors, too. It's not like you're losing information when you convert to analog.