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Your thoughts on car audio...

Crash! said:
What can you do?

My lounge is hardly accoustically perfect, but a car is pretty much the worst place designed for humans to sit in relative comfort and listen to music at the same time. There must be a way to get it to sound OK, though.

I'm sure between you lot you've come up with some interesting ways to at least drip feed your addiction whilst in motion. I'd love to know what they are.

Hands up then if you've bought a car solely for the stereo, looked out for a car with the audio upgrade specified, gone mental trying all sorts of aftermarket or DIY upgrades or whether you just put up with what comes out of the speakers. Was it the right choice?

I'm sure a number of you drive company cars and are therefore limited. Would you make any changes if you could?
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http://milbert.com/bam235ab

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Products/pages/categorylanding.aspx?CatId=CarAudioAmps

I have heard some really good systems in cars. the key is getting an installer who knows what they are doing, and not just focusing on contest winning bass levels. The best system i have ever heard had B_W speakers and JL audio subs, with a MOSFET amp stack.
 
GTM said:
Junk.. those are my thoughts. The car is just way to compromised an environment to get anything close to high quality sound. Plus if I had my way I'd outlaw all those megawatt car systems that make my windows shake when they drive by.. if the system can be heard to any significant degree from the pavement when a car drives by with the windows up it's too loud IMO and should be outlawed.
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isnt a car about the same size as the average UK listening room?

:eek::D
 
I don't have a car. Sold my first/last one in 1995.
If I had a car, any cheap radio would do for me.
 
Some music is "easier" to listen to in the car, I'm thinking classic rock, anything you want to listen to louder. I live in a flat, so high decibel sessions don't happen, not anymore, at least. Other stuff, say electric period Miles Davis needs quietness, so not for the car.
 
It is a quandary, as many of us spend many hours in the car.

Like Serge, I tend to listen to R4 more than anything, and on long journeys, I wear ear plugs, as road noise alone sends my tinnitus into overdrive.

I seem to recall that back in the 70's or 80's, one of the magazines used to recommend putting a pair of Videotone Minimax II's on the parcel shelf.
 
I like the standard Volvo V7O's job best (other cars included Audi, Merc and BM) Interestingly I heard a grumpy Chris Rea saying that was why he ran a Volvo.
 
Hi Crash.

I've always found success to be had with upgrading in-car speakers. They tend to be pretty cheap and nasty, and although they operate in a harsh environment with lots of background noise, you can still hear improvements by replacing the standard cheapies with something better. Check the web, or preferably local shops where you can audition them to get a rough idea of what you like. Of course, the 'audition' won't be perfect in terms of set-up, but neither is the car.

Messing around with door panels etc. can be a pain, and you need to be careful not to break / lose fasteners, or damage the areas where they locate. On reassambly, I've found that long strips of sticking plaster (the sort with no antiseptic pad, that you can cut to fit) can be applied out of sight to the mating surfaces of the different panels, and helps reduce buzzes and rattles.
 
Used to spend a decent amount of time commuting, so put a system in my old CRX many moons ago...

Nakamichi Head Unit (Tape)
Audio control 1/3 ocatave EQ
Nacamichi Active X-over (Bass split)
JL Sub (single 10" dual voice coil) in a 3rd order box - tuned to 38hz
Kef Kar seperates up front. (B110 auto version, T33 auto version \w passive xover)
PPI Amp (200 watts for Sub, 50 per side up front)
1 farad cap.

Sounded great. It all fit into the lockable storage compartment behind the seats. Sub in a small box in the back of the hatch (fitted not just a square box)

Have thought about putting somthing in my Civic SiR hatch, but after almost 10 years, don't think its going to happen.

But to tell the truth - I do miss it.
 
Thanks all. Some interesting thoughts.

Maybe my biggest barrier to investing is that I'm prone to the odd

Crash!
 
standard V70's are pretty good, can agree with that

the bose system in my Cayenne is fabulous .... big sub in the boot, tons of speakers ... i dont think of it like home audio though, to me its good in the car if it goes loud and sounds full with a full complement of frequencies, completely different thing ... i do all my dance/house/techno/pop music in the car (dont listen to that stuff at home) .. oh, and a sub is essential and does NOT mean huge booming bass when done correctly

just updated my 911 with some hertz speakers, crossovers, hertz amp & sub, custom moulded glove box sub enclosure, a Parrot asteroid HU, its tricky to get it to work but worth it ... beforehand when i just had 2 rubbish oem speakers you could barely hear it so apart from anything else, upgrading it means I can hear the damm thing
 
While a car is a compromised environment, it has the advantage of being sufficiently small that you can pressurise the air inside and push it about. You do have to stop things rattling and seal speakers etc, but it can be done. Just don't expect it to be done at the factory any more than TVs are fitted with decent speakers at the factory. Hey, they rattle too!
 
You won't get your car stereo to sound as good as your home stereo but I find there is something about the motion and the passing scenery that makes listening more enjoyable. I think sound and vision are linked in our brains and this is why we like music videos and stereo imaging. You can get good sound in your car. Higher end cars tend to be quieter. Never pay extra for a sound system from the auto manufacturer. Get a good aftermarket system. I have an Alpine head unit, Soundstream amp in the trunk and Focal speakers. It's pretty good. You can play from your iPhone.
 
My car still has the incredibly crappy BMW radio & speakers, and I spend my time listening to this instead:

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MVV said:
Lotus what's your take on a 1999 Suzuki Swift?
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If it's a similar engine to my Jimny it won't have enough power to drive a decent
sound system; alternator belt squeaks on these cold mornings with lights, window heater and wipers on.

Got Bose in the 996 and it's ok; Pioneer head unit, amp and sub in the 928 and it goes deeper and louder. Great for Chemical Brothers, Leftfield plus it's the only place i can play my collection of John Peel compilation tapes now.
Did the upgrade years ago and it was a vast improvement for not much cash and provided a good listening environment for my 240 mile weekly commute which sometimes took up to 7 hours; rarely over 3 hours driving to work on Monday mornings though.
 
My door panels have sound deadening added.
I've got DSP
http://www.audison.eu/index.php?page=productLine&id=5
to act as a three way cross over, do time alignment and EQ
Add to that, a five channel amp and a subwoofer in the boot and it sounds GREAT!
The amp and DSP is bolted to the boot floor woth a false floor added on top of it so that it's all hidden (except the sub of course!) which is one of these http://www.jlaudio.co.uk/car-audio-subwoofer-drivers-tw5 in a custom designed non reflex enclosure.

Car's a Mk6 Golf BTW
 
In my Audi I found that just upgrading the head unit to a Nakamichi brought a huge improvement - it's actually engaging in a way that the regular unit (Grundig, Blaupunkt??) could never get close to. The shame is that it's getting ever more difficult to integrate aftermarket hifi into modern cars.

Best I've heard by far was the Naim Bentley system in the Continental GTC, closely followed by the Spur GT. Superb integration and coherence, way beyond what I've heard from even the most exotic and extreme after-market set-ups.
 
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