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Don Dongington
Sep 27, 2005

#ideasboom
College Slice
The 2015+ outbacks are all CANBUS poo poo so the stupidly expensive boxes are required.

I had a look on an Australian Crutchfield analogue and it looks like beyond the head unit and fascia kit, to retain all factory capabilities I'd need:

- A USB port adaptor ($110AUD)
- An SWC interface box ($160 or there abouts)
- A factory camera interface box (another $120 or so)
- The usual ISO to brand/ISO to factory harness and antenna kits

A recent Alpine/Kenwood/Sony etc HU runs $499-599, so overall looking at over $1k AUD. And it's a lease so even more averse to splicing into factory harness etc than I normally would be.

Gross.

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heffray
Sep 18, 2010

Lesson learned: do not use a 5/8" sub box for a Stereo Integrity SQL 12 powered at 800W RMS. Fortunately I also had a $65 3/4" box with a 1" baffle side, so it was a short evening to swap it out. This sub is amazing, 28mm of excursion and designed for small sealed box use.

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005
You should try some kind of flanged threaded insert with socket headed cap screws and washers if they fit.

heffray
Sep 18, 2010

Lowclock posted:

You should try some kind of flanged threaded insert with socket headed cap screws and washers if they fit.

I pulled it because I was concerned that my pre-drill of the screw holes was too big, and they might have pulled out. This was true of several of the holes.

The crack in the baffle board was halfway between any of the holes, I'm guessing the problem is too much air movement for 5/8" mdf.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


I guess in a small sealed box 28mm equates to a fair amount of pressure. Impressive.

Don Dongington
Sep 27, 2005

#ideasboom
College Slice
I've used 16mm/ 5/8" MDF for big-boy subs before - but not without double front baffles, window and corner braces, and screw+glue assembly.

Usually slot ported too, with additional bracing on the port end.

I've had a Type-R blow the corners out of a small slanted sealed 3/4" MDF box before and that's only pushing 18mm Xmax :|

heffray
Sep 18, 2010

Favorable experience: the broken box came from hifisoundconnection.com, and I posted a 3* review of the box explaining my experience with it. I got a phone call from their customer service, sent them the picture of the broken baffle, and they issued a full refund. This is better than I expected!

Xotl
May 28, 2001

Be seeing you.
Not quite sure how to explain this, so apologies if it sounds like nonsense.

My car uses 6x8s (97 Thunderbird, if it matters). I have an aftermarket deck and amp, coaxial JL C3s up front in the doors (not sure what their passive crossovers are set at) and C1s in the back, and there's a sub. The doors are deadened. I'd say I have good low end and even mid-bass, and good high end. Despite that, nine times out of ten the midrange sounds bright yet ... hollow. I don't quite know how else to describe it. If the song is "full" production-wise (especially if it's modern), it sounds proper because all the elements are already there. But there's a lot of songs with a dominant midrange, and in those the vocals and brighter guitars sound incredibly one-dimensional -- flat. Basically, midrange parts tend to sound very shrill and lacking in depth, sometimes even if the song has good low end that's thumping along beside it.

Listening to the same things on my home stereo, there seems to be a natural-sounding bleed from the midbass area to the vocal area so that they're complementing one another, and that doesn't seem to be occurring in my car. In the car, it sounds like the midrange is almost isolated from any deeper elements, so that the low and midbass is being made over "here" and the midrange is entirely separate over "there" unless the song is especially full/lush across the board. I've tamed the midrange shrillness as much as I can with EQ adjustments, but I can't make it sound fuller, just less aggravating. Adding more midbass just makes things boomy without spreading any of the depth down to the midrange. Messing around with head-unit crossovers and front vs back balance hasn't helped.

I was wondering if anyone had experienced this and, if it's a common thing, what the usual cause is. I know the C3s aren't the most world-shattering speaker, but they're not junk either. All the same, I'm willing to spend more on speakers if need be so I'm open to suggestions there.

Xotl fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Nov 28, 2023

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005
You can get a little Dayton IMM6 mic for like $20-40, or a regular full size USB measurement mic for $70-130 which would go a long way towards identifying what you're missing. You could try stuff like flipping polarity of tweeters or woofers or messing with time alignment if it's a phase issue, but it can be kind of hard to identify the effect of what you're doing because you often can't AB that quickly enough.

Lowclock fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Nov 28, 2023

LloydDobler
Oct 15, 2005

You shared it with a dick.

Yeah when I've had issues like that it was because I was mis-identifying which frequency range I was actually missing and I'd learn something new like it was my crossover points rather than EQ that was screwing it up. Play with more settings or get a mic feedback setup like Lowclock suggested.

The other possibility is something I run into all the time, where you set it up to sound good while parked and then noise from the car or the road wipes out certain frequencies and it sounds terrible when driving. That's the worst problem with my convertible, I had to set it up to sound good at around 45 mph, which is where I spend most of the time driving. Highway speeds with the top down, you can't hear the stereo well enough to enjoy it, and stopped it sounds all muddy.

Last time I didn't like the way something sounded a friend agreed it sounded like rear end so he set things back to default and then played with it from there, and made it sound great in a few seconds. I had gone down a rabbit hole where I reduced some frequencies in the EQ to try and eliminate some high volume distortion. But that forced me to increase the gain which ended up distorting a wider band and I ended up sounding even worse than if I just used the default "rock" eq setting. The worst part is that I was chasing particular badly produced tracks trying to make them sound good instead of making known good ones sound good and ignoring the bad ones. My friend set me straight.

But yeah I'm also mad that my living room setup sounds so much better across all tracks. I think it's just the low noise environment.

Xotl
May 28, 2001

Be seeing you.
Yeah, that mic looks easy to come by. I'll check it out. I'm also going to check the seal on the speakers in the doors, in case they were sealed badly.

I've certainly encountered the "sounds better when not driving" effect. Just one more thing I had to compensate for, but by this point I feel I've made every tweak possible through the head unit (including resetting it all, going back to flat, and starting over with different settings a couple of times) and there's nowhere left to go in that regard.

Thanks.

Don Dongington
Sep 27, 2005

#ideasboom
College Slice
Worth noting that some cars also just have lovely acoustics. My IS300 was a notable example of this. Something to do with the design of the cab meant a massive hole around 100hz, which is probably the last place you want that when you're limited to 6.5" drivers mounted in a door cavity.

I applied about 20 kilos of sound deadener, cut MDF blanking plates for the doors and installed some beefy kevlar woofers running off a discrete amp and hosed with crossover points and different sub boxes for years, and to be honest my Outback sounds better with stock everything and no sub.

Xotl
May 28, 2001

Be seeing you.
That's something I hadn't considered, but at the same time Thunderbirds were apparently very popular rides at audio competitions in the 90s, so I don't think that's the case here (unless they always did some standard thing to the car as part of that process that I'm missing out on).

defmacro
Sep 27, 2005
cacio e ping pong
I'd like a new receiver for my 2015 Honda Civic LX Sedan with a screen that support CarPlay. I looked up compatible headsets on crutchfield and they seem to fall into ~$300--400, but mostly brands listed as bad in the op and $1000+ Kenwood ones. Is there really no in between here? If the $400 ones work I'd probably just go with that so I'm curious if these brands have improved. I also found this rando Chinese one that on paper seems to do everything I need, but I'm out of my element/understanding here.

Some other questions I have are:
  • What does iDatalink-ready mean? Only the Kenwood ones listed above seems to be ready for that, but the description is really generic.
  • The cheaper ones all say (with a red cancel sign) "Hardwired connection to parking brake required." Does this mean the kit doesn't support this by default? Or is it just a warning to make sure I connect that wire so it works?
  • I already have a rear camera, but it seems that some of these come with a camera. Anything I could do with that? I can just keep using my existing backup camera, right?
The expensive Kenwood ones seem to support more features with the extra install kit, so I suppose I'm leaning that way. Especially since it's unclear to me how to do the parking brake connection myself. But would be happy to save a lot of money if I can go with the others just as easily.

Mr. Apollo
Nov 8, 2000

iDataLink makes adapters that let you keep using other OEM hardware in your car (like steering wheel controls, amplifiers, speakers and subwoofers, back up cameras, etc.) with an aftermarket head unit. iDataLink compatible means that they make adapters that will work with that head unit.

defmacro
Sep 27, 2005
cacio e ping pong
Ah okay, that makes sense given all the features supported by the Kenwood ones. Thanks!

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Regarding the parking brake connection - yes, the head unit will have a wire for that, and you will need to connect it in order to access the setup menus deeper that very basic stuff, and any video capabilities. You can't just ground it - they got wise to that after the first generation. You have to pull and release the e-brake a few times to unlock.
Of course, the aftermarket has addressed that: they make circuits that will just repeatedly apply and release ground for a few seconds that you can wire in.

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

defmacro posted:

Ah okay, that makes sense given all the features supported by the Kenwood ones. Thanks!

For the record I installed a pretty awesome ATOTO 7" touchscreen in my 2008 Honda Civic with a dash modification kit. All in was like $300 for the kit and head unit. Has wireless AA and Car Play

trevorreznik
Apr 22, 2023
Argh. Bought a boss DIn unit+backup camera to replace my stereo from crutchfield for $90 and paid a semi local place to install it ($250). Almost got home when I realized the Am radio isn't working. Any way this is an easy fix? Don't want to spend an hour going back down to this shop

Edit: ah, picked up some faint signals. Am antenna is probably broken rather than disconnected. Screw it

trevorreznik fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Feb 3, 2024

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


What is "AM"?
:P

edit: it also wouldn't surprise me if the radio just has terrible AM, because no one cares.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
I upgraded my cassette stereo with an aux input (next to the cigarette lighter). Now if I'd find where I put that last plug so I can cover up the unused button space.

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005

His Divine Shadow posted:

I upgraded my cassette stereo with an aux input (next to the cigarette lighter). Now if I'd find where I put that last plug so I can cover up the unused button space.
One of those little ebay Ai-Net adapters? I had a bluetooth one that worked great considering it was like $8. It actually outlasted the head unit since almost all the buttons became unusable since they debounced them wrong.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
Nope it's all DIY'ed, I went in and cut the audio paths from the tuner and soldered in new wires and an aux-port, new hole through the back of the stereo as well to run the wires.


Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005

His Divine Shadow posted:

Nope it's all DIY'ed, I went in and cut the audio paths from the tuner and soldered in new wires and an aux-port, new hole through the back of the stereo as well to run the wires.
Well at least it works and it wasn't anything special to begin with, but you definitely could've saved yourself a lot of trouble.

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.
I bought one of those and they didn't work. And I don't want bluetooth so I never bothered trying those. I am happy with this solution and it's far more rewarding than just buying something to boot.

Lowclock
Oct 26, 2005

His Divine Shadow posted:

I bought one of those and they didn't work.
Ah yeah I guess that would make sense since it's probably before aux out was a popular thing so it probably wants a handshake or something. There's some decent documentation of the M-Bus protocol out there. It would be really cool to like translate AVRCP or something with a little microcontroller and actually make it display track names and progress and change tracks with the head unit controls and stuff.

Lowclock fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Feb 19, 2024

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Lowclock posted:

Well at least it works and it wasn't anything special to begin with, but you definitely could've saved yourself a lot of trouble.

....aaaaand now I need to go check what model the two Alpine cassette-deck changer controller head units I have are. My memory is supplying 7904 and 7906, but I'm not confident of that. I do have a working CD changer for them, and one head unit is basically the same head unit but with more features.

edit: no, those aren't right. 7904 is the classic CD player.

edit again: OH MY GOD LOOOK AT THIS THING
https://www.ebay.com/itm/296229614099

Darchangel fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Feb 21, 2024

Zorak of Michigan
Jun 10, 2006

I've never wanted anything more and less at the same time.

Don Dongington
Sep 27, 2005

#ideasboom
College Slice
My god.

All it needs is a little 7" turntable to pop on top, and a pair of Minimus speakers to go with it.

paberu
Jun 23, 2013

I'm looking at upgrading my Honda Accord 2012 to an android auto/carplay car dash. Primarily just want a screen for backup camera and something to directly connect to a phone for navigation, I listen to podcasts mostly so some form of decent audio output would be good.

I've found some cheap units on amazon - https://a.co/d/ddLSiGL that look like they will fit the bill and seem to come with everything needed to get it installed in the spot where the clock/radio usually sits. Are these any good or should I look at something else? Most other car stereo's from Crutch field/Best Buy install into a din slot and it's going to make the screen sit in a pretty awkward spot since they are located pretty low.

toplitzin
Jun 13, 2003


If you go through any of the previous posts, the repeat answer is atoto, atoto, or atoto.

paberu
Jun 23, 2013

toplitzin posted:

If you go through any of the previous posts, the repeat answer is atoto, atoto, or atoto.

I can't find anything from Atoto that is not just something you stick in a double din slot, which is way too low on the accord to be useful. I might be missing something?

I'm wanting to replicate this, but with a cheaper unit (the podofo linked above looks to be the exact same hardware as the Dasaita unit).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIDtnz3bbJI

toplitzin
Jun 13, 2003


They used to have a few with remote installation/fully adjustable screens.

Edit: also, chat with the crutch field folx, they probably have some info but on their site.

toplitzin fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Mar 22, 2024

Ehud
Sep 19, 2003

football.

If I don't care about ever having a rear view camera and I prefer buttons, is there any reason to go for a touchscreen head unit?

I just got this little 2009 Mazdaspeed 3 and I'm trying to figure out how I want to upgrade the stock head unit. I feel like I could get a little oldschool single din unit and have more $$$ left over to swap out the speakers and whatnot.


edit: I think all I really care about is bluetooth to play spotify and upgrading the overall audio quality to not sound like butt like it does right now

Ehud fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Mar 27, 2024

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Krakkles
May 5, 2003

Only other reason I can think of is if you want Android Auto/Carplay, which it doesn't sound like you care about.

I vastly prefer buttons and a loving volume knob over the touchscreen crap that is now the norm, do it!

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