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In that case coaxials will do ya.
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Sep 24, 2018 00:17
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MrOnBicycle posted:I love all these aftermarket CD changer spoofers. Works so drat well and costs next to nothing compared to getting a new fascia and head unit. Best thing is that I still retain the bluetooth connection to the different protocol for calling etc. Well worth looking into if you want to stream Spotify or somthing without getting murdered / not having OEM look. I got one for my IS300 for like $30 on aliexpress. Added USB and Aux In to a 2003 car with neither, no cutting, and with a $5 adaptor, works on any Toyota with a CD Changer option from like 1999 to 2008 or so, after which time basically everything had aux in from the factory.
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Oct 25, 2018 11:37
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I would expect opportunistic thieves have moved on to dashmount GPS and dash cams as the target of choice now.
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Oct 28, 2018 00:00
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Dynamat is for silencing ringing or vibrating metal panels by increasing their effective mass. It might solve the problem, but not cheaply. Closed sell foam is what you want for rattling trim like that. I wouldn't waste your money on a specific car audio solution - just grab something from a hardware supply store or whatever. If it doesn't fix the issue, or it just moves elsewhere, then you wanna consider deadening the roof.
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Oct 31, 2018 09:57
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Atomizer posted:So, uh, this seems like a really slow-moving thread. :/ Nobody can help me with my fuse question above? I'm fairly sure I used to typically fuse 8AWG with 20A. It's been a while, but that feels about right to me. 40A for 4AWG, 20 for 8. If it blows the first time you use it, I'd probably upgrade to 4AWG anyway. As for your EQ issues, you should be able to overcome the "ear pain" by loving with the upper-mids. High frequencies won't be causing that, the abrasive hearing loss-inducing frequencies are closer to the middle of the spectrum. If you've been trying to remove it using the higher frequency sliders, that might explain your problem. It'll sound muddier, but it will still ear-gently caress your head. The factory HU in most cars is generally voiced and tuned to not blow the factory speakers or your ears, and it was probably EQd specifically for those drivers. An aftermarket HU will usually be EQ'd close to flat, meaning you will need to gently caress with it if the factory speakers aren't voiced very pleasantly.
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Dec 3, 2018 08:38
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Some of the cheap class D stuff is actually underrated at certain ohm loads. I wouldn't trust any of the AB stuff though, it's a lot more expensive to make power efficiently that way. The newer Class D amps tend to be around 80-90% efficient into 4ohm loads though, which means it's relatively trivial to make 3/4/500W RMS for under 100 bucks!! If you can handle his weird mannerisms, bigdwiz on YouTube basically puts a bunch of cheap and quirky amps through his amp dyno all day for fun, and films it. He's done a bunch of Boss and Ignite cheapies, and a few of the Chinese mini amps too. It surprised me how many of the $100 class D amps actually made kilowatt numbers at 1ohm.
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Dec 4, 2018 23:24
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JVC seem to have bought Kenwood, so while they had some awesome value products around 2006 or so, JVC seem to have moved back to the entry level, while Kenwood has all the bells and whistles head units. Even then the price difference is tiny. I honestly don't rate alpine or pioneer very highly anymore. If you want android auto or carplay you're looking north of 500 bucks and the cheaper stuff isn't that good. I have an Alpine double din Bluetooth unit and it is pretty flakey. It randomly factory resets when you hang up a call and to be honest the equivalent Kenwood I helped a mate install 6 months later has better features and cost less. I've talked to a few ex-competition and installer guys now working retail flinging car stereo and electronics gear and they all seem to love it for the price. Apparently the Sony 7" touch screen head units are pretty good value too. The main thing to look out for with cheap head units is the preout voltage if you're looking to amplify down the track. 2V is garbage, and some amps won't even be able to compensate for the low signal with the gain control maxed. 4v is pretty standard, and 6v is very good. Even then, most amps come with speaker level inputs now so you're not turbo hosed if you change your mind.
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Jan 2, 2019 13:55
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jiggerypokery posted:I want to be able to stream audible and spotify through my 2010 Opel Vivaro's radio. I assume I need a bluetooth and/or usb radio installed. Is there no aux in? They were pretty much becoming universal by 2010. Sometimes they're hidden away, but if all you want to do is connect your phone audio that will be significantly cheaper. If you want track skip and play/pause though, you're probably going to be spending some money. Either way, the Crutchfield website will tell you what you have and what you might need to get where you want to be.
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Jan 4, 2019 10:06
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jiggerypokery posted:There is a hidden aux in which I tried but it isn't balanced so you hear the phone charging when it is plugged in to the cigarette lighter usb adapter. It also has poor SNR. This is unacceptable. I'll check that site, thanks! Yeah gently caress that. Throw the lot in the bin. You should be able to find all the integration gear you need, although it may limit you to pioneer and alpine, which is fine tbh because at the point where they allow steering control they're generally pretty good.
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Jan 6, 2019 01:20
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My understanding of things is that Alpine gear is good when you want a lot of SPL without going deep into the abyss of enthusiast/competition car audio (much like Kicker). You're not gonna win an SQ competition but you probably won't blow it up by running it way too loud either. Pioneer and Kenwood are good options when you're budget conscious and want to spend exactly the amount of money you have, because they have a million options at various graded price points, and the mid-high tier pioneer stuff is actually good value. Focal is entry level to mid tier SQ gear and by all rights very good for the price, Polk, Hertz and Infinity are good quality and often available cheap on sale, and Morel and Boston Accoustics are for audiophiles with too much money.
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Jan 18, 2019 03:03
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I have one of the pioneer monoblock class D ones, and they're insane value for money. They actually make the advertised power into 1/2ohms too. Bit over according to a youtube dyno test I saw.
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Jan 18, 2019 04:09
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STOP Fix your earths. 99% of the time this sort of issue is caused by lovely earthing. A lot of cars have lovely earthing, but fortunately there's also tonnes of resources online detailing how to fix this. Before you upgrade your alternator or battery, I'd take the cheaper option and ensure your amp, engine block, and alternator are earthed properly to the body and the battery. In Car Audio circles it's called the Big 3 Upgrade. Also make sure your amp ground has a good connection to the body of the car - bare metal not paint. Here's a youtube video that might be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p82xRzCr-lc Try that before you change out your alt.
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Jan 29, 2019 08:02
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Do you know where the amp is? It's usually under the dash or under the seat, and it's fairly trivial to rewire to there from the head unit. My IS300 actually has an amp delete harness installed that runs from an ISO connector behind the head unit to the factory amp location. If it's under the seat, you can run your wires under the centre console and pop them out there. Will be an afternoons work, but much easier than running them all the way to the doors. Ideally you should have enough slack to cut the connectors off and just bridge each side together, then you don't have to run any wire. Use crimp connectors vs solder, as solder has a tendency to melt in automotive applications, and speaker level signals aren't as prone to interference as line level. Heat shrink is still a good idea if you have some.
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Mar 10, 2019 07:35
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The stereo may also have been programmed by a halfwit, and the larger drive capacity itself is an issue for it. Car stereos are kinda garbage when it comes to keeping up with modern IT capabilities. Remember all those cars from 2010 that had USB ports that only worked with OG iPods as opposed to iPhones and Touches which were well established at the time?
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Apr 24, 2019 16:52
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What are you trying to do? Those TPA3116 amps on AliExpress will take anything from 12 to 24v, are way more efficient than any head unit and will probably put out more wattage to boot. If I was looking for something to run off a lithium pack, I'd definitely go that route. They also love laptop power supplies.
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Jul 15, 2019 14:31
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falz posted:Sorry, this is off topic. Is there a similar thread for Home Audio? Actually what I'm looking for is something related to a A/V furniture recommendations (floating / wall hanging, like ikea BESTA). The hilarious part is that having discrete amps at the speaker location actually makes far less sense than the common way of having an amp in or near the head unit and running speaker cables, because line level interconnects are way more vulnerable to electromagnetic interference than speaker level interconnects, which is a bit of a THING in car audio. Is the Bose R&D shop next to a solvent factory or something?
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Oct 10, 2019 06:35
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taqueso posted:My XC90 has 12 (i think) speakers installed and 16 locations where they can be mounted. How many channels can I drive with a typical double-din headunit? I'm guessing it is typical to combine tweeter/woofer pairs with crossovers and/or reduce the number of total speakers? Most head units have 4 channels, generally put out between 10 and 15W RMS (if you're lucky) into 4 ohms. You would be able to drive 2 speaker pairs with that (either woofer and tweeter with a crossover, or single drivers). The factory system will have several amps powering all that. Sometimes you can tap into the factory audio system, but more often they use proprietary technology to control the volume of the power amps, so it's not always a solution, and if you're replacing any speakers the whole lot has to come out. If you want to significantly upgrade that system, you will want to get a good head unit with 3 4v RCA preouts, and a few of the new small form factor 50W class D amps most manufacturers have now to power the main front and rear drivers, use the head unit for some of the smaller drivers (most head units have digital crossovers now), and chain it all together off the front and rear RCA preouts. Unless you're replacing the speakers, this isn't worth doing. Or just get plug a Bluetooth receiver into the aux in and use the factory stereo, it's not terrible. Edit: or of course, you could replace the front speakers and tweeters, run them from a small amp, disconnect all the others and tell your passengers to eat a dick.
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Nov 23, 2019 00:43
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I would say at the minimum you can definitely rationalise the number of speakers you need. Very few cars benefit from having more than a few good speakers in the front, and a sub somewhere in the back, other than to give the passengers something to listen to. Too many rear cabin speakers will just make things sound shittier up front. Or course, if you didn't need to move people around you would have almost any other car, so I'm guessing that's a requirement. You could probably get away with a set of coaxial speakers in the rear though, and cut a bunch of splits out altogether. My is300 has "8 speaker sound" for instance - the rears are actually bi-wired coaxials, and they consider the front tweeters as separate speakers so really it's just a 4 speaker system that will run off a 4channel head unit just fine with an adaptor harness. Not sure what weird layout the Volvo has but almost definitely will allow you to combine mids highs and midbass into a single driver. I wouldn't bother putting discreet tweeters in the rear.
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Nov 23, 2019 01:13
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deoju posted:Sweet, thanks. Feel free to post a picture of the finished product when you're done... Or link to the project thread if you're doing one. And remember the polarity. Never cross the streams.
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Jan 22, 2020 01:03
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This may be a controversial opinion, but I'd add that it's getting to the point where factory audio is good enough sounding that if you care enough about sound to bother ripping out built in infotainment kit, you should probably make the factory ICE a higher priority when choosing the vehicle. Older vehicles where it's as simple as getting a fascia and harness kit, different story.
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Feb 24, 2020 05:20
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I have a strong suspicion that using seat or seatbelt mounting bolts as a ground may be illegal is some jurisdictions, not due to any electrical properties, but because the bolt and mount etc were designed around not having a ring terminal shoved in there. It should be safe as long as it's torqued correctly, but it's something to consider.
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Apr 13, 2020 01:51
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For common cars, crutchfield will usually be able to sell you a cable harness and fascia kit that basically makes the whole experience plug and play, as long as you're comfortable using a screwdriver and maybe a 10mm socket. I would not recommend going DIY if you have to cut into the factory wiring because basically every inexperienced person who's done this as a PO of one of my cars has done a terrible job of it. Generally there's a YouTube guide showing you how to get the dash apart and remove the factory head unit.
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May 23, 2020 00:52
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Hey so I have this Type R 12" DVC sub I've had for ages, and due to space concerns I had to put it into a sealed box about 1cu ft, which is suboptimal but I had to fit a pram behind it. I'm running it off a 400wrms pioneer class D monoblock, which is also suboptimal but it was cheap. It's wired up for 2ohm operation (2x4ohm voice coils) For a while, it's been making terrible noises if you turn it up past Mum Volume, but it works fine at lower volumes. Would a blown voice coil do this? They still fetch a pretty decent amount second hand so I'm probably gonna replace it with a cheap pioneer or kenwood for now but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do with it?
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Oct 18, 2020 02:40
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I guess it's remotely possible that the sub is running so far out of it's efficiency range in a sealed box that 400w@2ohms isn't cutting it, but I would have thought it would have started breaking up a fair bit louder than it is. When I had it in a slot ported box with that amp, it was just as loud as it was before the 1000w alpine thing it came with blew up. I guess I'll find a cheap sub for this box and keep an eye out for a slotted box or slap one together later.
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Oct 20, 2020 15:52
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My next plan was to play around with the wiring, make sure that it's not trying to run on one VC etc. The amp is supposed to be 1ohm stable but I recognize that's not definitive. It's a GM-D8601 which I've seen recommended in here a few times https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Amplifiers/GM+Digital+Series/GM-D8601
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Oct 22, 2020 23:52
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Coredump posted:Make sure you're not having the speaker wire slapping the cone inside the enclosure too. Possible seal between the sub and the box is leaking as well. Or the terminal cup if you used one. If you used binding posts then you can scratch checking that. Update: I grabbed a second hand 400w/4ohm Pioneer and it basically sounds the same so it's either the box leaking or being a weak POS; the amp; or the fact that the box is 1cu ft and sealed and the amp just not having enough watts to drive those subs in an undersized sealed box. I guess I'm going to have to break out the router and table saw after all.
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Oct 29, 2020 14:19
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Don Dongington posted:Update: I grabbed a second hand 400w/4ohm Pioneer and it basically sounds the same so it's either the box leaking or being a weak POS; the amp; or the fact that the box is 1cu ft and sealed and the amp just not having enough watts to drive those subs in an undersized sealed box. FYI if anyone cares, it was the cheap parts store box. I took a good look inside today and noticed that what little caulk they had run along the inside joins had started to separate. Probably due to me shoving a 500W Type R in there and actually running it at rated wattage, which is not what these are really intended for. I grabbed a tube of silicone and went to town on the inside seams, the corners, the terminal cup and then made a Blu-tac gasket for the sub and lo and behold, no more distortion. I left the 4 ohm svc pioneer in there for now, because the Alpine will almost certainly blow the thing apart again. I'll get a proper box built for it during the Christmas break.
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Nov 15, 2020 16:10
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Coredump posted:Parts Express has flat pack sub boxes meant for home theaters but can be used for car audio if the shape is right for you. They look to be good quality with the bracing they have on the inside. True story. Unfortunately by the time I paid for shipping to Australia, I could pay one of the local shops to build it for me. But I would suck it up and beg the wife for a couple afternoons in the workshop before I did that.
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Nov 16, 2020 06:42
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Don Dongington posted:Unfortunately by the time I paid for shipping to Australia, I could pay one of the local shops to build it for me. But I would suck it up and beg the wife for a couple afternoons in the workshop before I did that. Hey kids I did the thing  Pretty much solved my subwoofer woes. Cribbed a design from the internet with window braces and all that malarkey, and then used the specs from the Type R manual to work out a nice compromise between boot space and frequency. Seems to be tuned to about 35hz which is what I was going for. Much more efficient, although I used enough screws that it should be good for north of 1000W, so if I see a more powerful amp going for cheap, I'll jump. Finish is that Duratex paint. It's really easy to use, just make sure if you used any filler or bondo to prime it with a couple coats of rustoleum, which you would be using to black out the port and the subwoofer mounting area anyway  Gonna try it on a guitar cab next.
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Jan 26, 2021 11:33
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Can a TPA3116 run at 2ohms? Even the cheapest ones of those can manage 18w at 14V and you can pick one up for like $15 on AliExpress.
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Jan 29, 2021 14:23
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i own every Bionicle posted:Actually, even better. Cheap enough to try and throw into a bin for other stuff if it doesn’t work. It looks like it can be made to work with as low as a 1.6 ohm impedance if the output filtering is L=10 uH and C=1uF. If you bridge the channels then it will halve the impedance load on the amp if I recall, but also there is no benefit to doing so as most of these amps if not all of them can manage 30-50w per channel into 2ohms. Most people are using them to drive 8ohm bookshelf speakers so they wouldn't be getting anywhere near the advertised power, but you should be sweet. You can also get mono versions, but they're usually just 2 channel amps bridged on the board and advertised as 100w. You would need to make sure they're safe to run at 2ohm, and tbh it would be cheaper and easier just to run half a stereo amp. It won't hurt one of these.
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Jan 30, 2021 00:51
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i own every Bionicle posted:So I got my second TPA3116D2 installed (I reverse wired the first and it went Are you using an unshielded RCA cable, because that's the most common cause of ignition noise. That said, those AliExpress amps have pretty cheap filtering, which is why I run them off laptop power supplies, so it couldn't hurt.
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Feb 7, 2021 11:52
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) to drive my OEM rear sub and now I got King Kong in the trunk. Well maybe a rhesus monkey.
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Any sub operating in an enclosure on the minimum end of the scale is going to be underperforming at low frequencies - yes you could put a 15" Comp in a 1.8cuft box, but you would not be getting the most out of it, and it would start to roll off pretty noticeably north of 30hz. Based on what you've said, the frequency response of the 8 at its peak performance is going to totally pale compared to a 10 or 12" in an optimal box. If you were space limited, you would be much better off with a 10 or 12 in an appropriate sized box, vs an 8 in an oversized box or a 15 in an undersized box. Cone area translates more strongly to volume than low frequency response, so an 8 or 10 is also going to underperform there too. I've had 10s, 15s and 12s of various qualities in all sorts of sealed and ported boxes, and my take is that a 10" that competes with a 12" will usually cost more than a 12" with similar performance; a 15" will always leave you with a stupid grin on your face, provided you have enough room for it and the massive box it requires; a 12" is a really good compromise between space and bass, and provided you put the right box around it and give it enough amplifier, should be enough for most non-competition setups.
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Feb 24, 2021 02:47
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So I have an interesting dilemma: I have an 03 IS300 which I have fitted a 2-din Alpine CDE-W265Bbt to. Head unit has been good to me, with the exception of bluetooth for calling. Early on it would hang and factory reset itself fairly regularly after finishing a bluetooth call. After a while, it stopped doing that, but then the audio from the mic input stopped working. Have tested the mic and tried another working mic, pulled the thing apart to look for any obvious issues and can't see anything, so I've basically exhausted my limited knowledge of electronics repair there. Replacing it would involve spending 2-300 AUD for basically the same thing, likely with shittier preouts. Obvious upgrade solution would be to swap it out with an AA head unit; however the DIN slot in these is mounted wayy down low, as the optional NAV was a separate module mounted up on the dash. Mine wasn't optioned with it, so it just has a little felt "shelf" there that I took out to run the BT Mic cable through. If I just chuck an android or AA unit in there, I'll be taking my eyes way off the road any time I want to look at it, which is not ideal, and if the screen ends up being a cheap TN, I may not even be able to see it at that angle. Alpine works well for everything else. Good crossovers, time alignment, EQ, and as a bonus can be controlled through an Android app, with a preset library. Also 4v preouts, and while aux in is front panel only, I've already looked, and it'd be trivial for me to solder a pair of RCA's or a 3.5mm jack to the board. I have a fair few shielded RCA cables that are missing a plug on one end that I can cut down for this. Currently amping my sub and aftermarket front splits. Rears run off the HU's internal amp which is often just switched off. Plus, it fills the hole and looks better there than the original CD/Tape player. So as I see it, my choices are: - Something like this, mounted on the dash, and shoved in the glove box if I'm parking anywhere particularly iffy, connected to my phone via AA, or using FLACs via a gigantic SD card: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...arch-mainSearch (Have considered using a 7" generic tablet, but for the price of one of those and a decent mount, I can get one of these android auto things ready to go.) - Getting a mate to 3D print a shroud somebody uploaded onto one of those maker sites that fits the factory nav location, and can accommodate a Raspberry Pi touch screen, and using either a Pi 3 I have lying around, or my old Pixel 5 that has a bad screen but otherwise works, if I can get it to actually work, which is apparently a bit dicey on the newer pixels, as they don't support USB C display natively anymore. The pi option is obviously more time consuming, more likely to suck, won't support android auto, or likely give me decent nav. The Pixel option could be cool if it works, as it's got way more grunt than anything you will find in a car usually, has good enough battery life to last probably 3-4 days in low power mode with the radios turned off, and TBH I have no other use for this device since it was replaced by a 6 (Screen repairs run $500 AUD for these). Not sure if I could get the Pixel 5 to host AA, or whether I'd have to use USB tethering to just give a data connection from my actual phone. Either would probably work just as well. Either solution would probably involve - Some sort of USB hub, ideally one that take a USB PD charger and allow me to fast charge my phone while using AA, and connect the DAC and whatever else in the event I get an android device with only one - a Behringer UCA202 USB DAC that I have lying around that works via USB OTG to extract good 2 channel audio from whatever source, connected to the aux in on the Alpine. I ran this in a car once and it didn't pick up any noise that I can remember. The audio hardware on the Pi is notoriously garbage, and the DAC on that android unit is going to be lovely. Also it's fewer things to unplug - a single USB cable and the power cable should do it. Ideally I'd be using spotify (or maybe Tidal, I've been meaning to check that out) via USB, out to the DAC, into the Alpine, which will then split it, EQ it, and send it to the amps. Mostly just wondering if anybody has any other ideas, any experience solving a similar problem, using a pi for this, or any experience with any of these portable suction cup units?
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Mar 1, 2022 05:50
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Wasabi the J posted:That is, in fairness, how head units with Android Auto and Carplay work, too. Well, not quite. Android Auto/CarPlay units do get the audio (and video) signal from your phone, and probably stuff like maps data etc so they can display it - but the key feature with AA/Carplay is that it doesn't use the phone's lovely DAC or shittier headphone amp to get the audio signal out. It gets a digital audio signal from the phone at whatever bitrate the source is pumping out, and then uses the DAC on the car play unit to convert it to an analogue signal for the amp (either the built-in amp or via RCAs on the back if you're running separates). This is a huge advantage over bluetooth, as most head units only support lossier formats such as aptx or SBC at best. I once compared the sound quality coming from spotify (which is already compressed even on the highest quality setting) on the built in head unit in a 2018 Hyundai Tucson via bluetooth vs android auto, and it was actually significant - and this is a factory head unit, not a $400 Alpine or Pioneer with good quality DACs. If you're using lossless audio sources like ALAC/FLAC, Tidal's audiophile tier or similar, it's going to be even more pronounced. Aux in still requires the phone's audio hardware which is not going to be as good as even a factory head unit these days (as most of them are contracted out to someone like Clarion, JBL, H&K etc), and also you kinda want to be able to charge your phone in the car. Cool if you have a wireless cradle, but that's still $50 you could have put towards some speakers or a better head unit. Bluetooth is fine for most, as road noise and the actual listening environment in a car means you're not really going to notice that much difference - but if you're bothering to upgrade parts of your system in the first place, you'd be a little nuts to not go AA/CP these days, as it's a huge baseline improvement in quality. Don Dongington fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Jun 17, 2022 |
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Jun 17, 2022 02:44
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We all know that the Ultimate Force in amp teardown and review is Big D over at WillestonAudioLabs Sure, the dyno he uses was built by SMD, but I challenge you to find someone else on youtube who manages to test more amps - including weird poo poo, cheap poo poo, big brand halo stuff, and the odd 40 year old Orion Cheater Amp. He even did a couple of aliexpress-grade pcb amps which was how I discovered him in the first place, when I was looking at grabbing one to play with. Plus he's an absolute crack up. https://www.youtube.com/c/bigdwiz It's the Big D you deserve.
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Jun 24, 2022 04:43
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intheflesh posted:Well thanks for reminding me that BIG D exists. Love his content, but I had only ever seen him in the context of old skool stuff. I guess it is still just shocking to me how far the low end of the market has come in the past twenty years. Hahah you're very welcome. Look, while I think in Car Audio things are a lot more noticeable, I would say the last 5-10 years have seen a general massive leap forward in both the availability of actually reliable, good quality cheap electronics. There are a fair few sectors that have traditionally been dominated by a select few brands, however you can safely say that the actual construction of most of their stuff has been happening in China for at least 15-20 years now, since consumer electronics manufacturing as a whole moved from Taiwan and South Korea. I think the big difference is that Chinese domestic manufacturing has both taken cues from the QC processes brought over by those brands moving their factories in, and a general improvement in understanding around where it is okay to cut the odd corner or use a cheaper component and where it isn't. Another space it's been really visible is guitar effects pedals - it used to be that you bought Boss if you wanted cheap, and spent a fucktonne on a more boutique brand if you wanted something else. Now, you can buy a $30 pedal from Ebay/Amazon/Aliexpress that sounds almost identical to something that cost $200 a few years ago, and will generally last as long as something made by MXR or EHX if treated right. intheflesh posted:Aside from the WICKED SICK MONSTER ENERGY 110% ERXTREME branding, I'm feeling pretty good about Skar amps. What am I missing here, would this be stupid to run the front channels then have the rears bridged to a 12"? Another thing that's analogous to the whole effects pedal situation is that some of the budget brands are actually starting to achieve Known Quantity status, Skar seems to be a big one in car audio. That comes with a downside, in that they sometimes become harder to find, or start being marked up by online retailers or the brand themselves. But given the absolutely insane margins the big US and Japanese brands seem to charge for similar quality kit, you're still going to be better off for your money unless you want something really feature rich, like the AudioControl stuff. Pioneer seems to be the one exception, they seem to be happy to chuck out their amps and low/mid tier head units for drat cheap while the quality seems to be even better than when I was first getting into building systems. Kenwood have gone the other way, they've stayed cheap but the quality has come up quite a lot since the hey day of car audio, but they don't have a particularly big range, and are still mostly competing against other more reputable brands in the low-mid tiers these days. Car Audio speakers I think are the one area that I haven't really seen any major competitors to the big brands pop out and achieve popular status, but I know there are a lot of contenders on Amazon. I just don't know if I'd go through the trouble of replacing factory speakers for an unknown quantity, vs just throwing money at something by Kicker or JL. I'd say your front components also have the greatest impact after adding a sub, so it's probably not the worst investment either.
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Jun 29, 2022 06:28
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the spyder posted:I've been binge watching his dyno tests and 100% agree. It's the Big D I didn't know I needed in my life. Alpine always used to make the best single DIN source units, I had one of their top end early 2000s ones for years (CDA-7894 or something like that) with 6v preouts, time alignment, internal amp shut off and even an aux in via a cd stacker adaptor. These days all that stuff is practically standard on all their units, plus you can set them up with an app via Bluetooth which is pretty great. I have a double din one in my car atm and my only complaint with it is that the Bluetooth has been a bit iffy and now doesn't work at all for sending audio via voice calls but I think that's actually an issue with my unit specifically. It is about 6 years old by this point.
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Jul 6, 2022 01:22
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The other thing with speaker wire if I recall (and this applies to power too) is that the length of the run matters as far as power handling goes. An 8" run of 8ga between a (fused) distribution block and an amp isn't going to melt and cause a fire as long as the longer run to the battery is 4ga. This revelation saved me a shitload of time and effort, especially given that even some cheaper monobloc amps in the 500w range have 8ga terminals, and 4ga > 4ga distribution blocks are nowhere near as easy to grab as a 4 > 8. If you mount the block close to your monobloc, and run a short run of 8ga to that and whatever run you need to your 2/4ch amp, which is going to be just fine and probably can't take a 4ga cable anyway, you're going to have way fewer headaches IMO. Just make sure any time you go down a gauge you have a fuse there, and save yourself the pain of trying to trim down 4ga copper to fit in a terminal designed for 8. Same applies to speaker wire - if you're just slapping a pair of 150w splits in, a short run of 18awg factory speaker wire running through the door hinge into the speakers isn't going to hurt you the way having 18ga running all the way from the dash to your boot might, and while it is probably -optimal- to run fresh new 16ga ofc all the way from the amp to the terminals on the speaker, more often than not you're going to spend more time on that metre or so of cable than the rest of your system combined. Fusing isn't as big a deal here because you're not dealing with massive current. If you're doing a big spl build and throwing in big power speakers you're probably doing a heap of fabricating to begin with, so drilling holes or unwrapping a factory loom is probably less of a waste of time for you. If you're just putting in some nice aftermarket speakers, meh. I usually run 16ga up the centre console and terminate behind the deck into the factory loom, which is probably not as good as running fresh wire to the door looms (and tends to make space a premium back there), but time is money, friends.
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Jul 27, 2022 07:40
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I've been having some really lovely experiences with crimp connectors lately, mind you - mostly where connecting speaker wire runs from a boot mounted amp into flyleads off an ISO loom has been concerned. I went and bought a different brand of connector, tried different style crimpers, each time I ended up behind the dash inside of 2 weeks because I'd lost a channel. Maybe it's the difference in wire gauge between the stuff they use on those ISO harnesses, or they just don't like thicker high-strand copper stuff, but yeah. I used to use screw connectors similar to the sort used in home care electrical wiring and found them to be reliable as hell, but they take up too much space to really be viable for a double din mechanical install I've found. Solder has its own drawbacks - and if you use it in a door skin or under a bonnet you're a drat numptie - but if you're getting that sort of heat under the dash your car is probably already on fire. I think if I ever do that sort of thing again, I'll just depin the ISO connector and use a gauge somewhere between the pathetic gauge they include with aftermarket speakers and the thicc stuff I have lying around for home hi-fi purposes.
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Sep 22, 2022 11:32
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