YACT: Car Audio Upgrades

[minendo]

I recently added a JL 12w3 and JL Slash 250/1 to my Infiniti system in the Durango, but have decided it is time to upgrade the deck and add a carputer. However, I am not sure which route I should go with the headunit/carputer screen. I am trying to decide if I should add a deck with flip out touchscreen or purchase a standard deck and install a separate touchscreen.

I am leaning towards buying a standard deck, a separate touchscreen, and fabricating a new customized dash.

Any opinions/suggestions/ideas?

In the future I will also be customizing the truck instead of having a somewhat standard single ported 12" box.

 

[doze]

Do people still permanently install PC's in their car? Wouldn't a laptop with vehicle mount be easier to work with?

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: doze
Do people still permanently install PC's in their car? Wouldn't a laptop with vehicle mount be easier to work with?

I thought about this, but decided I wanted to go with a permanent install as the laptop just becomes a pain in the ass to manage in my mind.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I'm not sure myself so consider this a bump if nothing else, but you might want to ask some the shops in your area and see what they recommend or what they normally do for people.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I'm not sure myself so consider this a bump if nothing else, but you might want to ask some the shops in your area and see what they recommend or what they normally do for people.

Not too many options around here and I did find a decent shop in town that does nice customizing (boxes, trucks, dashes, etc). They want me to go the route of carputer so they can use me as a technical resource for others that want to go that route.

 

[Kaido]

What's your budget? MP3car.com sells a transflective (sunlight-readable) LCD for about $700 (7" and 8" models available). From my research, they are supposed to be the best you can get as far as sunlight-readable displays go. You can remove them from their shell to mount in-dash if you want:

http://store.mp3car.com/category_s/82.htm

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I'm not sure myself so consider this a bump if nothing else, but you might want to ask some the shops in your area and see what they recommend or what they normally do for people.

Not too many options around here and I did find a decent shop in town that does nice customizing (boxes, trucks, dashes, etc). They want me to go the route of carputer so they can use me as a technical resource for others that want to go that route.

Tremendous resource:

https://www.timekiller.org/carpc/index.php

Also check out StreetDeck & RoadRunner if you want pre-made software.

 

[Kelvrick]

Carputers are big projects to undertake to get them working right. Are you going to go atx/micro-atx/itx or an old laptop? How are you going to use an inverter and regular PS and deal with the noise or are you going to use a dc-dc regulator with the plugs for your board/laptop? What about mac-mini and other sff computers. Are you going to have a professional fabricate the dash? Is there a stock durango nav dash peice you can use as a starting point?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I'm not sure myself so consider this a bump if nothing else, but you might want to ask some the shops in your area and see what they recommend or what they normally do for people.

Not too many options around here and I did find a decent shop in town that does nice customizing (boxes, trucks, dashes, etc). They want me to go the route of carputer so they can use me as a technical resource for others that want to go that route.

If you do go that route, see if they can fit in a discount for being their first customer to do this. They'll get a chance to do something new so that they can offer it in the future and you'll get what you want at a discounted price.

Also, when you select parts, consider which brands have the smallest failure rate. For every XXX products they receive from a company, X or XX of them will be bad and so they'll have to do some basic paperwork and get new ones to replace the damaged ones, within usually 30 days or so of the shipment's arrival. You don't want to pick equipment that's going to have a lot of issues. They should be able to give you some information on this or at least guide you to the better brands.

 

[nboy22]

I had a lilliput.. pretty basic model I bought off of ebay it it was nice. There are some other ones, called "Xenarc" that I would recommend over lilliput.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: minendo

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
I'm not sure myself so consider this a bump if nothing else, but you might want to ask some the shops in your area and see what they recommend or what they normally do for people.

Not too many options around here and I did find a decent shop in town that does nice customizing (boxes, trucks, dashes, etc). They want me to go the route of carputer so they can use me as a technical resource for others that want to go that route.

If you do go that route, see if they can fit in a discount for being their first customer to do this. They'll get a chance to do something new so that they can offer it in the future and you'll get what you want at a discounted price.

Also, when you select parts, consider which brands have the smallest failure rate. For every XXX products they receive from a company, X or XX of them will be bad and so they'll have to do some basic paperwork and get new ones to replace the damaged ones, within usually 30 days or so of the shipment's arrival. You don't want to pick equipment that's going to have a lot of issues. They should be able to give you some information on this or at least guide you to the better brands.

They will be doing the full fabrication and customization of the dash. Discounts are already worked out and I can receive further discounts if I allow them to use my vehicle for shows. Budget is up in the air and I plan to go with mini-itx with a direct wired psu unit from mp3car.com.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: nboy22
I had a lilliput.. pretty basic model I bought off of ebay it it was nice. There are some other ones, called "Xenarc" that I would recommend over lilliput.

I was looking at the Lilliput 7" touchscreen as a friend of mine has one and has not had any complaints.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: doze
Do people still permanently install PC's in their car? Wouldn't a laptop with vehicle mount be easier to work with?

Wouldn't a portable CD/DVD player be better as well?

 

[Jinny]

out of topic, but i think a deck with a usb input + 8 gig flash thumbdrive or ipod etc would be better.

 

[alkemyst]

Really like the guy above with the laptop suggestion...all these things can be bundled into the headunit or concealed so your passenger seat doesn't look like a shopping cart at best-buy.

They sell HD equiped headunits and jukeboxes.

It all depends on one's budget.

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: Jinny
out of topic, but i think a deck with a usb input + 8 gig flash thumbdrive or ipod etc would be better.

Yeah, but that does not give me navigation options.