What's the point of having 5.1 DD decoding in a car?

[jtvang125]

First of off where are you going to put the center channel speaker? Next, do the makers really think that people are going to park their car/suv, play a dvd with 5.1 surround sound but watch it on a 7" screen?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

QFT, good question

 

[Lonyo]

Central dashboard mount.

 

[EKKC]

you wont get the full effect, unless you're a center console storage box with ears. otherwise you'll be too much to the left, front right or rear.
but hell you know people will buy it!

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
First of off where are you going to put the center channel speaker? Next, do the makers really think that people are going to park their car/suv, play a dvd with 5.1 surround sound but watch it on a 7" screen?

I highly doubt any of the "5.1" car audio systems have a center channel. They are there for DVD audio, likely downmixed to 4.0. Which is fine - the fronts are for the soundstage, and the rears are for ambience. It would sound great. It isnt for watching movies, its for music.

 

[spidey07]

because 5.1 sounds good.

I have it in my car and it is incredible.

 

[Yreka]

I have the center speaker mounted on the roof right behind the mirror. Some people hide it in the dash. Yes, I do park my Car/SUV, play a dvd with 5.1 surround and watch it on a 7" widescreen, and know what ?

It sounds great

Excessive ? Maybe, but I wouldn't think I need to explain excessive tastes to someone who drives a Lexus.

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: jtvang125
First of off where are you going to put the center channel speaker? Next, do the makers really think that people are going to park their car/suv, play a dvd with 5.1 surround sound but watch it on a 7" screen?

I highly doubt any of the "5.1" car audio systems have a center channel. They are there for DVD audio, likely downmixed to 4.0. Which is fine - the fronts are for the soundstage, and the rears are for ambience. It would sound great. It isnt for watching movies, its for music.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tbIz5xMWVB...odView.asp?wm=fp&I=113DDX8017&g=168550
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tbIz5xMWVB...-bin/ProdView.asp?g=168550&I=257AVX706

 

[AlienCraft]

Bragging rights. The same goes for anything over 100 watts (amplifiers)and 8 inches (speakers) for subs.

Marketing > common sense in The U.S.A.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: jtvang125
First of off where are you going to put the center channel speaker? Next, do the makers really think that people are going to park their car/suv, play a dvd with 5.1 surround sound but watch it on a 7" screen?

I highly doubt any of the "5.1" car audio systems have a center channel. They are there for DVD audio, likely downmixed to 4.0. Which is fine - the fronts are for the soundstage, and the rears are for ambience. It would sound great. It isnt for watching movies, its for music.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tbIz5xMWVB...odView.asp?wm=fp&I=113DDX8017&g=168550
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-tbIz5xMWVB...-bin/ProdView.asp?g=168550&I=257AVX706

The receivers and the actual 5.1 speakers are two entirely different things.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Bragging rights. The same goes for anything over 100 watts (amplifiers)and 8 inches (speakers) for subs.

Marketing > common sense in The U.S.A.

For subs bigger and more power is almost always better.

 

[thirdeye]

You can't fully appreciate it until you listen to a DVD-A disc. It's truly incredible. I thought it was just a gimmick when I bought my TL, no it's freakin' amazing. Regular CDs sound like crap now

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: thirdeye
You can't fully appreciate it until you listen to a DVD-A disc. It's truly incredible. I thought it was just a gimmick when I bought my TL, no it's freakin' amazing. Regular CDs sound like crap now

I can understand that but most of the DVD headunits today aren't DVD-A compatible. The 5.1 DD is being used for watching DVDs on the 7" screen.

 

[3chordcharlie]

The feature is pretty useless unless you use your car as a movie theatre, or you're listening to DVD-A, which is a pretty limited set of listeners. But it probably doesn't cost much to add, in fact it's probably cheaper to use logic from home-theatre amps than to create a dedicated 4-channel part for car audio.

 

[Syrch]

Guys honestly (and hopefully the audible guy will help me point this out). Even in the most luxury of home theatre/commerical theatre's there is only one area of a sweet spot. If you sit right next to any of the walls in a movie theatre your not in the sweet spot. Now in a car it would be harder to achieve and i agree with that but being able to adjust the individual noise volumn of each speaker to make a sweet spot makes it a viable option. The real question here is does the manufacture go to this extreme and I guarantee you they don't. I do know that if i was on a road trip as a kid and was able to watch TV on my way to my location it would have rocked to have it in a good 5.1 surround sound setup. I'm just saying it is possible but im sure the manufacturers don't do it.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Syrch
Guys honestly (and hopefully the audible guy will help me point this out). Even in the most luxury of home theatre/commerical theatre's there is only one area of a sweet spot. If you sit right next to any of the walls in a movie theatre your not in the sweet spot. Now in a car it would be harder to achieve and i agree with that but being able to adjust the individual noise volumn of each speaker to make a sweet spot makes it a viable option. The real question here is does the manufacture go to this extreme and I guarantee you they don't. I do know that if i was on a road trip as a kid and was able to watch TV on my way to my location it would have rocked to have it in a good 5.1 surround sound setup. I'm just saying it is possible but im sure the manufacturers don't do it.

Plus there's the whole ROAD NOISE issue, which nullifies any quality gains from 5.1 over regular 4.1 on a decent headunit.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: Syrch
Guys honestly (and hopefully the audible guy will help me point this out). Even in the most luxury of home theatre/commerical theatre's there is only one area of a sweet spot. If you sit right next to any of the walls in a movie theatre your not in the sweet spot. Now in a car it would be harder to achieve and i agree with that but being able to adjust the individual noise volumn of each speaker to make a sweet spot makes it a viable option. The real question here is does the manufacture go to this extreme and I guarantee you they don't. I do know that if i was on a road trip as a kid and was able to watch TV on my way to my location it would have rocked to have it in a good 5.1 surround sound setup. I'm just saying it is possible but im sure the manufacturers don't do it.

Plus there's the whole ROAD NOISE issue, which nullifies any quality gains from 5.1 over regular 4.1 on a decent headunit.

Why would road noise nullify that? It nullifies a lot of the benefit of a really crisp system over one that's just loud, but it shouldn't seriously affect spatial effects.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Syrch
Guys honestly (and hopefully the audible guy will help me point this out). Even in the most luxury of home theatre/commerical theatre's there is only one area of a sweet spot. If you sit right next to any of the walls in a movie theatre your not in the sweet spot. Now in a car it would be harder to achieve and i agree with that but being able to adjust the individual noise volumn of each speaker to make a sweet spot makes it a viable option. The real question here is does the manufacture go to this extreme and I guarantee you they don't. I do know that if i was on a road trip as a kid and was able to watch TV on my way to my location it would have rocked to have it in a good 5.1 surround sound setup. I'm just saying it is possible but im sure the manufacturers don't do it.

the 5.1 system in the TL does. It is adjusted to the drivers position.

it really is remarkable. mindblowing even.

 

[Syrch]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Syrch
Guys honestly (and hopefully the audible guy will help me point this out). Even in the most luxury of home theatre/commerical theatre's there is only one area of a sweet spot. If you sit right next to any of the walls in a movie theatre your not in the sweet spot. Now in a car it would be harder to achieve and i agree with that but being able to adjust the individual noise volumn of each speaker to make a sweet spot makes it a viable option. The real question here is does the manufacture go to this extreme and I guarantee you they don't. I do know that if i was on a road trip as a kid and was able to watch TV on my way to my location it would have rocked to have it in a good 5.1 surround sound setup. I'm just saying it is possible but im sure the manufacturers don't do it.

the 5.1 system in the TL does. It is adjusted to the drivers position.

it really is remarkable. mindblowing even.

There you have it, its not a bad idea....though i'd adjust it to make the back seat the sweet spot but thats just me

 

[thomsbrain]

I simply cannot BELIEVE the quantity of bullsh!t that is flying in this thread. if you have no fvcking idea what you are talking about, STFU and you might learn something instead of contributing to the noise.

Volvo has had center-channel equipped Dolby Pro Logic and Pro Logic II systems in their cars for YEARS. The Acura TL and RL have DVD-A equipped 5.1 systems that have both center channel speakers and the .1 subs. The RL can even decode DTS in addition to DD. The Cadillac STS and Escalade also have DVD-A 5.1 systems with center channel and sub speakers. There may be other models out there, but I don't follow these things too closely.

Point being: If even I know that lots of cars come with center speakers and play media that uses those speakers, the rest of you must live under rocks.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

For subs bigger and more power is almost always better.

A lots of young punks (BTW, I'm 20) have subwoofers/amplification in their cars that could easily be recommended for a 16x12x9 room....and still considered over-the-edge.

It's probably the biggest reason I hate hip-hop music. Ever heard the reverb and the rattling glass/bolts in such a pimped out ride?

Brrr....

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Bragging rights. The same goes for anything over 100 watts (amplifiers)and 8 inches (speakers) for subs.

Marketing > common sense in The U.S.A.

I would say

Rampant ignorance that leads to aggression against things you have no comprehension of > Common sense in the U.S.A.

is much more common

but thats just me..

 

[TheTony]

The controlled environment in a car's cabin make it a natural fit for multichannel music.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Yreka

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
Bragging rights. The same goes for anything over 100 watts (amplifiers)and 8 inches (speakers) for subs.

Marketing > common sense in The U.S.A.

I would say

Rampant ignorance that leads to aggression against things you have no comprehension of > Common sense in the U.S.A.

is much more common

but thats just me..

hahah, yeah. I read that response and immediately thought "why did you post such utter bullcrap?" But I restrained.

 

[bondboy]

:beer: