Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
RillAkBea
Oct 11, 2008

I had a Legacy B4 with the McIntosh system and it was very nice. Except mine had trouble reading CDs and if you wanted to change the head unit you actually had to rewire the entire system because it had a proprietary cable between the head and the amp.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Cage posted:

I have a 99 ford explorer with the stock radio/cd player. I also have a 6-cd radio from a 2004 ford mustang that is sitting unused. Is there any chance that there are some wiring kits that will let me throw the 6-cd in my explorer? I don't really know what terms I should be searching for.

edit: The connections are indeed different, I already checked.

You need a "reverse harness" for the Mustang, which should plug into the radio, like the Metra 71-1771. Strangely they list this as '98+ Ford which should theoretically fit both your donor and recipient, perhaps you need this one instead?

One of those, plus whatever normal adapter you'd use to connect an aftermarket radio to the Explorer (70-1771?)

Killstick
Jan 17, 2010
Anyone have any experience with BAVsound's "stage 1 upgrade" kit for bmw e39s? Pending investigation i might have to replace the speakers in my car to get sound back and i was wondering if their 400$ kit was super overpriced or not. Am i better off buying individual speakers (assuming i have to replace all of them). How much value would you put on the fact that the kit is "ENGINEERED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOUR BMW".

I'm primarily looking to get sound back, not necessarily upgrading it above standard. Although good sound is nice and the bmw standard speakers are terrible.

Olympic Mathlete
Feb 25, 2011

:h:

There's a question in the FAQ specifically asking "what are the specs?"

...which they don't answer because that apparently doesn't matter to anyone but the people making the kit.

The standard speakers are likely low end trash installed simply to say it has a stereo, like a lot of OEM installs. You could put pretty much any decent drivers in your doors and have a better sound than standard.

I'm not seeing $400 worth of drivers in that kit myself.

89
Feb 24, 2006

#worldchamps
I've got a 2008 Pontiac G5 with all stock car audio. Well, it's obviously not very good and I'm looking to upgrade on a budget of under $200. Am I making the right decisions here?

New head unit:
JVC KW-R910BT - $105
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HX53F2K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

New front speakers:
Kicker 40CS654 Pair of 6.5 300 Watt 4 Ohm Coaxial Speakers W/ Grills - $65
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9H8L4K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1SX1R00E2EUMR

Can I do better than this? I'm not really concerned about a subwoofer and I know an amp is suggested, but the head unit has one built in.....I'm a little new to this.

Tamir Lenk
Nov 25, 2009

I continue to hunt down components for my zero-space Alfa. For speakers, I can probably jam a couple of 5.25" rounds in the kick panels, but (a) I'll probably have to fab up surface mount because there is precious little room behind that panel, and (b) if it juts out too far, it will interfere with my clutch foot on the driver side. As I shop for speakers, I cannot get a good sense of the depth dimension. "Shallow" and "flush mount" sound like good parameters, but Amazon doesn't always identify the depth dimension, or show it in a product picture. Moreover, some "flush mount" speakers seem to need a lot of room behind the panel.

So, Goons, please tell me what are good speakers with an overall depth (including the behind the panel portion) of less than 3.5" or so.

Bulk Vanderhuge
May 2, 2009

womp womp womp womp
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/cat_f627-2356_i34_5-25-speakers-shallow-mount.html

Top and bottom mounting depth is a listed specification for speakers.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Recommend me some speakers for the front of my car (2006 Saturn Ion, non-premium 4 speaker stereo, aftermarket head unit)

Prefer components. 6.5" openings in the doors, standard depth (don't need shallow speakers or mounting rings), would prefer 3/4" to 1" mounting on tweeters so I can use OEM parts to mount them. I've been out of the game long enough that I really don't know what's good and what's not.

I threw some MB Quart components in my old car, not realizing they were no longer owned or made by by ZE GERMANS, and was hugely disappointed (way too harsh, muddy mids). I'm leaking toward Infinity, Pioneer, or Polk, simply because they're brands I know, with Pioneer at the bottom of the list. Infinity and Polk are tied; I have all Infinity at home and like them, though the sub in the car is a Polk that does really well (especially for a single 12).

Budget: $150, so if I'll be better off with coaxials, I'll go that route, and when I have more money later, those coaxials will get moved to the back whenever I put components up front.

88h88 posted:

The standard speakers are likely low end trash installed simply to say it has a stereo, like a lot of OEM installs.

FWIW, my lovely Ion came with coaxials stock. That's something I've never seen in an econobox, or even in a lot of midsize cars, and they actually sound amazingly good for stock (though they ARE getting replaced sooner rather than later, and it sounds like the surrounds have finally left this earth). Just needed a sub for a bit more bump.

The rears are full range crap, but that's to be expected.

Entangled posted:

e: poked through some old Subaru OE headunits and saw tags from Panasonic, Clarion, and lots of Matsushita. I forgot how many of those came with a weather band.

Matsushita = Panasonic. Same company, they just didn't fully embrace the Panasonic name in the US until the mid 2000s. Which is weird, because they sold more stuff as Panasonic to end users, while they used Matsushita for either really high end stuff, OEM car audio, or "Panasonic by Matsushita" holding company stickers on stuff they sold. I always wonder why they kind of dropped off the face of the earth in the US, they always made good stuff under the Panasonic name. They did sell under other brands as well, such as Quasar (purchased in 1974 from Motorola), which seemed to be their lower end brand IIRC.

That said, the 3 you named seem to be the primary suppliers of OE head units for a lot of makes. I'm fairly sure the factory stereo I pulled out of my GM was Matsushita (may have been Clarion, but finding out requires walking out to the garage), and the factory stereo in my Altima was definitely Clarion. Most Hondas I've owned had Matsushita head units stock, though I think they also used Clarion.

I still have an (ancient as hell, it's older than a lot of posters in here - 1992 is old by electronics standards) Panasonic alarm clock. With a ~*~ cassette player ~*~ and stereo speakers (the surrounds are long, long gone). It's outlived probably 4 or 5 alarm clocks; anytime I get a newer one, it always winds up dying and I dig out the Panasonic.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Entangled posted:

e: poked through some old Subaru OE headunits and saw tags from Panasonic, Clarion, and lots of Matsushita. I forgot how many of those came with a weather band.

Matsushita = Panasonic. Same company, they just didn't fully embrace the Panasonic name in the US until the mid 2000s. Which is weird, because they sold more stuff as Panasonic to end users, while they used Matsushita for either really high end stuff, OEM car audio, or "Panasonic by Matsushita" holding company stickers on stuff they sold. I always wonder why they kind of dropped off the face of the earth in the US, they always made good stuff under the Panasonic name. They did sell under other brands as well, such as Quasar (purchased in 1974 from Motorola), which seemed to be their lower end brand IIRC.

That said, the 3 you named seem to be the primary suppliers of OE head units for a lot of makes. I'm fairly sure the factory stereo I pulled out of my GM was Matsushita (may have been Clarion, but finding out requires walking out to the garage), and the factory stereo in my Altima was definitely Clarion. Most Hondas I've owned had Matsushita head units stock, though I think they also used Clarion.

I still have an (ancient as hell, it's older than a lot of posters in here - 1992 is old by electronics standards) Panasonic alarm clock. With a ~*~ cassette player ~*~ and stereo speakers (the surrounds are long, long gone). It's outlived probably 4 or 5 alarm clocks; anytime I get a newer one, it always winds up dying and I dig out the Panasonic.

Eikre
May 2, 2009
Just bought a teenage Mazda econobox. I just needed to get myself back on wheels after someone ran over my previous (much cooler) car, but now that I've got it, I figure I'll just cruise with it for another year or so and let my insurance be cheap until one of my tickets falls off the record. Gonna need some better tunes in the meantime.

Does anybody have any experience with these things?



I don't know if these are a common product, but if they aren't: They're bluetooth/AUX receivers that spoof the connection for a CD changer or a tape-deck so that you can extend the functionality of your stock head unit.

Many aftermarket head units at this price-point look like tacky pieces of poo poo, with fixed-brightness LEDs that burn with the intensity of a loving dash-mounted supernova, so this kind of product seems like a welcome alternative. But I'm interested to know if anybody could say how good their DACs are, compared to a complete unit of similar cost, and if there are any competitors of this manufacturer who make similar products, so that I can shop around.

On the other hand, if anybody is a huge zealot for a particular unit that they think would look great in a 2001 Protege and that I can install for ~$150, now's the time to rep it.

Also: if you watched the video on that page, you see the guy remove a panel that covers the space that would otherwise be filled with a cassette player. I'm thinking I'll actually leave that panel off, have the AUX/USB charger cables come out of there, and find a way to affix the base of a smartphone mount in the space so that it doesn't mar any of the exterior surfaces. It'll place the phone right in front of the obsolete radio controls, prevent any of the finished surfaces from being marred, and shouldn't look entirely unaesthetic. Although, it might look just janky enough to deter a thief. Do people even do that anymore? Steal the radios out of old beige sedans? Whatever. Any suggestions for the phone mount I should buy to try this with?

djhaloeight
Jan 23, 2007

techno mafia.
Well I'm building up a new system in my Crown Vic. I've already had the head unit and interior speakers upgraded for awhile. Pioneer x2500BT for the head, soon to be upgraded to an Apple CarPlay compatible model. Speakers upgraded to Infinity REF-8602CFX, and there's a flip-down screen on the headliner. A big three upgrade is in the works also.

For the trunk, I chose Soundqubed HDC3.0 12" subwoofers. I've got a vented box coming that's tuned at 34hz, with about 2.5 cubic ft airspace for each sub, which is right in their ideal range. Power will come from a Hifonics Brutus BRX3016.1D amp. It's rated at 3000watts @ 1ohm. I know Hifonics isn't what it used to be when Zed Audio used to manufacture for them, but myself & friends have had good luck with their newer stuff. There's a YouTube video that even shows in detail that Hifonics uses the same board as a Soundqubed amp (which is much more expensive), but with better components and caps etc. My old BRX2400.1D was CEA-2006 compliant and did rated power. They're decent amps for the price. I've also got an AudioControl OverDrive Plus to maximize the line out from the head unit to the amp.

The sub are rated at 1500watts RMS/4500 peak. Has anyone here used Soundqubed equipment? They get pretty good reviews from what I've seen, and are aimed at the DIY community. Their sound deadening is pretty good too. Cheap, and easy to apply, and it doesn't smell. I'm gonna deaden the entire back deck/trunk/lid because I have a feeling I'm gonna be rattling everything on my car to death.

TL;DR
Anyone used Soundqubed equipment / subs? Thoughts on performance?

djhaloeight fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Aug 29, 2015

PBCrunch
Jun 17, 2002

Lawrence Phillips Always #1 to Me
My experience with subwoofers with multiple spiders is that they tend to be SPL-biased, and their sound quality is poor compared to similar speakers with single spiders. From what I can see on the spec sheets, the HDS300 speakers seem like they would sound better.

I would suggest a higher tuning frequency in your application. Placing a subwoofer enclosure in a trunk generally works to lower the effective tuning frequency by a few cycles. The effective tuning frequency of the enclosure you describe in the application you mentioned is going to be below 30 Hz, which is probably going to be too low for most types of music.

These are just my thoughts.

Super Aggro Crag
Apr 23, 2008




And, of course as always, kill Hitler.


Are there any decent 8" free-air subs that don't cost as mich as the JL?

The Ferret King
Nov 23, 2003

cluck cluck
Just finished installing speakers and I was wondering what folks use to set their EQ levels. I have access to a 3 band EQ on the head unit and that's it (no amp controls). If there are apps or instruments that will help me with this, I'd like to go that route as long as it's not too expensive. I don't trust my own ears.

The Locator
Sep 12, 2004

Out here, everything hurts.





The Ferret King posted:

Just finished installing speakers and I was wondering what folks use to set their EQ levels. I have access to a 3 band EQ on the head unit and that's it (no amp controls). If there are apps or instruments that will help me with this, I'd like to go that route as long as it's not too expensive. I don't trust my own ears.

Since you are the one listening to it, use your ears. After all, who cares if you have an amazing flat frequency response if you don't like how it sounds to your ears?

To actually use 'equipment' to tune, you would need a spectrum analyzer, a mic that's capable of handling the entire frequency range you want to tune (most cheap/small mics roll off the bass very hard), and a source for white noise (can be an MP3 file or whatever). Oh, and a way to put the mic in the position your head would be so that it's tuned for where you'll be listening.

You can sort of do it on the cheap with a spectrum analyzer tool built into your phone and the white noise, but with only 3 fixed bands (I'm assuming not adjustable bands, i.e. parametric EQ) to tune, you really aren't going to be able to do much that will make a full spectrum look flat, and in the end, you'll just end up re-tuning it to your ears anyway in all likelyhood.

The Ferret King
Nov 23, 2003

cluck cluck
So using your ears is absolutely the best way?

parasyte
Aug 13, 2003

Nobody wants to die except the suicides. They're no fun.
You're going to be the one listening to your system, and a car is a noisy enough environment that going for perfectly flat is probably not the best goal. As mentioned, 3 bands isn't really enough to tune for flat response anyway. Just make it sound good to you.

Olympic Mathlete
Feb 25, 2011

:h:

3 band EQ ain't poo poo so don't worry about it. And yeah, setting it up to your ears is best because it's your loving stereo.

If someone's stereo is wrong I just tweak it while they're not in the car, they never change it back. :haw:

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

How can I get the wires/pins out of the standard ISO plug?



I have one of those tiny amplifiers and and got everything working by just sticking the wires in, but obviously that's a terrible solution even in the short term. I was thinking of pulling the relevant pins/wires out and soldering them to the amp until I can figure out the rest. If there's a better way to do this without additional equipment, that'd work too. Thanks.

Tamir Lenk
Nov 25, 2009

mobby_6kl posted:

How can I get the wires/pins out of the standard ISO plug?



I have one of those tiny amplifiers and and got everything working by just sticking the wires in, but obviously that's a terrible solution even in the short term. I was thinking of pulling the relevant pins/wires out and soldering them to the amp until I can figure out the rest. If there's a better way to do this without additional equipment, that'd work too. Thanks.

I can't quite tell from the image, but usually the brass pin/plug bits are clipped into place with a leg that springs out. You should be able to use a thin pick to close that and then back the wire out.

Something like this:



That's not quite the same connector, but you should find a similar release in there.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

Thanks. Yeah there was a tab like that on one side, but it was impossible to see and very difficult to feel with the screwdriver because the pin wobbled a round in the socket a lot. But once I got the first one the rest were easy.

How many amps can i pull off the switched +12v line in the harness? I hooked up the amp with the switched +12 as the remote, but the tablet I want to power next obviously doesn't have a remote switch and I don't want to connect it directly to the battery. Realistically the tablet and accessories shouldn't use more than 2-3A @5v, but better safe than sorry.

Also, not exactly audio but... my 12->5V adapter has VIN, GND and VOUT connections. The rest is clear enough, but any ideas what VOUT is? Would that be the 5V? It does actually have the USB sockets as the output so this is a bit confusing.

Olympic Mathlete
Feb 25, 2011

:h:

VIN would be voltage in which is your 12V feed from wherever you're stealing it. VOUT is voltage out, your 5V the little bit of kit is spitting back out for whatever you're wanting to power. GND being ground, obvs.

Xy Hapu
Mar 7, 2004

I installed a phone in my car but I am having a problem with noisy audio (humming/buzzing at erratically changing frequencies, popping, crackling) that I can't seem to track down. The noise mostly disappears when there's audio playing, but it's really bad when the phone is idle. I made a billion flow charts to help myself figure out what the problem is but it's just left me even more confused.

Here is my setup, the headphone amp is there because I get insufficient volume with just the phone. The power adapter is using the same ground and switched 12v the stock radio used.


The noise disappears entirely if the phone is not plugged in.


It also disappears if the headphone amp is not plugged in.


Since sharing a power adapter seemed like the problem, I tried plugging one of them into a second power adapter going into my cigarette lighter socket, but the noise remained.


Then I tried connecting one of them at a time to a portable power source that was completely isolated from my car, and the noise disappeared.



To rule out a load related issue, I tried plugging the power adapter into a different phone, then plugging in the headphone amp but isolating it from the audio signal. The noise went away.



To rule out the car amp and its ground, I plugged headphones directly into the headphone amp. The noise remained.


At this point it looked like it was some kind of ground loop issue, so I bought a ground loop isolator. I placed it after the headphone amp, which didn't do anything for the noise, but it did entirely remove the alternator whine.


Then I placed it before the amp; the volume of the noise decreased by half but it was still audible, and its character remained the same. The alternator whine came back.


This seemed to support the ground loop theory, but I couldn't make sense of how the ground loop was happening, so I tried testing it by connecting only the ground to the phone, no power. The noise disappeared!


Powering the phone externally with only the ground connected to the power adapter resulted in the same.


So that's where I am as of today. I am far from an expert, but don't my last two tests rule out a ground loop problem? I was also under the impression ground loop noise was a steady hum/whine, not the crackling, popping, buzzing mess I'm getting. Aside from the alternator whine there's also no correlation between the noise and what the car is doing.

If so, what could it be? I have swapped out every component aside from the car itself, even wires, with no change. I verified the ground and connected the power adapter directly to the chassis with no change.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

^^^
Really looking forward to seeing what's up with this. I was getting pretty serious noise as well whenever the phone was plugged in for charging and it seems to go between with/without alternator whine for no reason. I thought I'd just need the ground loop isolator but obviously it doesn't seem to fix everything.


88h88 posted:

VIN would be voltage in which is your 12V feed from wherever you're stealing it. VOUT is voltage out, your 5V the little bit of kit is spitting back out for whatever you're wanting to power. GND being ground, obvs.

Thanks!

cephalopods
Aug 11, 2013

I'm planning to get a new stereo with integrated bluetooth, since mine has a loose USB port and I'm sick of losing power to the bluetooth dongle I'm keeping in my glovebox every time I hit a bump. I think I've decided on this one.

I'm going to have to replace the wiring harness, right? I haven't looked behind the dash yet so I have no idea what the PO's wiring job looks like, but I'm replacing a Kenwood with a Pioneer anyway. I looked at the manuals but they're presented in such different ways I can't really compare them.
I've done some DC/electronics stuff before but never anything automotive; if I have a clear picture of what I'm in for and any ancillary stuff I need, before I start, I'm sure I can deal with it.

The manuals:
Existing KDC-255U
MVH-X370BT

(Also if anyone wants to suggest another stereo in the same price range, I'm all ears. I have an Android phone and I have not listened to a CD since long before I had a driver's license. My car (06 Focus) has space for a double-DIN unit but I don't want one.)

RillAkBea
Oct 11, 2008

cephalopods posted:

I'm planning to get a new stereo with integrated bluetooth, since mine has a loose USB port and I'm sick of losing power to the bluetooth dongle I'm keeping in my glovebox every time I hit a bump. I think I've decided on this one.

I'm going to have to replace the wiring harness, right?

If it's already an aftermarket head in there you won't have to change the harness. The harness just splits the OEM plug into it's component wires with which you play a fun color matching game with the head unit's harness, which it will come with.

I have the version of that head without bluetooth functionality and for what it's worth I like it. It will also gladly read from a micro SD in a USB adapter so I just carry my whole music collection everywhere. :v:

MikeyTsi
Jan 11, 2009

Ground loops typically happen in cars because you're powering something that's sending audio with something that uses a lovely ground, like a cigarette lighter port; or if you have multiple ground paths for the same set of components (this is why every audio book on earth tells you to ground absolutely everything to the same spot). This would seem to support the ultimate root, that when you remove internal power from the equation, the problem goes away.

Here's a good description (Wikipedia):

A ground loop is the result of careless or inappropriate design or interconnection of electrical equipment that results in their being multiple paths to ground where this is not required, so a complete loop is formed. In the simplest case, two items of equipment, A and B, both intended to be grounded for safety reasons, are each connected to a power source (wall socket etc) by a 3 conductor cable and plug, containing a protective ground conductor, usually green/yellow, in accordance with normal safety regulations and practice. This only becomes a problem when one or more signal cables are then connected between A and B, to pass data or audio signals from one to the other. The shield (screen) of the data cable is typically connected to the grounded equipment chassis of both A and B. There is now a ground loop.

Another thing to consider is your source, have you tried using another source to see if the problem goes away? You could have a combination of a ground loop plus a poor quality source and/or crappy amp.

MikeyTsi fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Sep 9, 2015

cephalopods
Aug 11, 2013

RillAkBea posted:

If it's already an aftermarket head in there you won't have to change the harness. The harness just splits the OEM plug into it's component wires with which you play a fun color matching game with the head unit's harness, which it will come with.

I guess the question I was really asking was "are Kenwood and Pioneer plugs compatible?" But after looking at both models on Crutchfield, the wires are arranged differently.

I should probably look behind the existing unit and see what state the PO left the wiring in. Maybe I'll get lucky and he actually bought an adapter instead of just hacking at wires.

MikeyTsi
Jan 11, 2009

cephalopods posted:

I guess the question I was really asking was "are Kenwood and Pioneer plugs compatible?" But after looking at both models on Crutchfield, the wires are arranged differently.

I should probably look behind the existing unit and see what state the PO left the wiring in. Maybe I'll get lucky and he actually bought an adapter instead of just hacking at wires.

In short, no.

There are some things that are compatible, like Blaupunkt was/is using Sony CD changers so you could mix and match those, but the plugs they use tend to be proprietary and/or different wiring.

Xy Hapu
Mar 7, 2004

MikeyTsi posted:

Another thing to consider is your source, have you tried using another source to see if the problem goes away? You could have a combination of a ground loop plus a poor quality source and/or crappy amp.

Yeah, sadly it didn't change anything. Taking the amp out of the equation didn't do anything either.

Thanks for the explanation. The part I don't get is, are ground loops unavoidable if you have two pieces of grounded equipment connected to one another? From what I could find you just need a sufficient ground to prevent the electrons from using that path, but it seems unlikely there would be enough resistance at that connection to prevent that. And no matter how much I beef up my ground I can't seem to get rid of the noise. It's odd to think my setup is fundamentally impossible without creating a ground loop.

...can I just put some very tiny resistors on the connection between the two?

Xy Hapu
Mar 7, 2004

After spending way too much time trying to fix this properly, I decided to call it and settled for the bodgiest bodge job I've ever done: one ground loop isolater upstream to filter the alternator whine, another ground loop isolator to filter out half the buzzing, and a third in series with the second one to filter out the rest. I can still hear a faint hum, so I'm seriously considering adding a fourth one. Amazingly I don't hear any degradation in the sound quality, which I am taking as a sign from the audio gods to continue throwing isolators at the problem.

Needless to say I am deeply ashamed, though I am hoping to make up for it somewhat by properly fixing the alternator whine soon, which I think is due to a bad diode.

MikeyTsi
Jan 11, 2009

Xy Hapu posted:

Yeah, sadly it didn't change anything. Taking the amp out of the equation didn't do anything either.

Thanks for the explanation. The part I don't get is, are ground loops unavoidable if you have two pieces of grounded equipment connected to one another? From what I could find you just need a sufficient ground to prevent the electrons from using that path, but it seems unlikely there would be enough resistance at that connection to prevent that. And no matter how much I beef up my ground I can't seem to get rid of the noise. It's odd to think my setup is fundamentally impossible without creating a ground loop.

...can I just put some very tiny resistors on the connection between the two?

No. It's unavoidable if you have two pieces of grounded equipment USING DIFFERENT GROUND POINTS, and it decides to use the loop path instead of using the ground like a good boy. It's most common when you end up using the cigarette lighter/power port to power something that also does audio, since for some reason those have the shittiest grounding on earth an you'll pretty much always get noise. You might have some luck by running your own power port; run it to the battery, fuse it properly, and then run the ground for it to the same place as your amplifier ground. You could even just run some temporary wiring to test and see if that makes the noise go away before you do it permanently.

What are you grounding your amp to, by the way? In my setups I've grounded my amps to one of the rear seat bolts, since they're nice and big and you typically get a really good chassis ground out of them without having to drill holes or anything.

When I was still doing audio like you are, I originally had one of those mast dealies you could plug an iPod in to that plugged in to the lighter socket. Tons of whine until I plugged in an isolator. Of course now everything I do is either streaming via bluetooth or plugged directly in to the head unit (iPod), so I don't hear whine any more.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





MikeyTsi posted:

In short, no.

There are some things that are compatible, like Blaupunkt was/is using Sony CD changers so you could mix and match those, but the plugs they use tend to be proprietary and/or different wiring.

Or old Aiwa headunits and Sony headunits. Same physical plug, almost all of the pins are even in the right place. Except that where Aiwa puts their amp turn-on, Sony puts a power antenna turn-on. (Either that, or the Aiwa and Sony use the same pin for that and the Aiwa harness I tried only had antenna turn-on, no amp-turn on.)

Xy Hapu
Mar 7, 2004

MikeyTsi posted:

No. It's unavoidable if you have two pieces of grounded equipment USING DIFFERENT GROUND POINTS, and it decides to use the loop path instead of using the ground like a good boy. It's most common when you end up using the cigarette lighter/power port to power something that also does audio, since for some reason those have the shittiest grounding on earth an you'll pretty much always get noise. You might have some luck by running your own power port; run it to the battery, fuse it properly, and then run the ground for it to the same place as your amplifier ground. You could even just run some temporary wiring to test and see if that makes the noise go away before you do it permanently.

You aren't kidding, I measured a shitton of resistance between the cig lighter's ground spade connector and its body, they're bridged very poorly. I ended up soldering a wire between the two, and while that fixed the lovely ground, it didn't solve the noise problem. I also don't know how great the ground springs on the power adapters are, I guess I should take one apart and connect the ground directly to the PCB, and connect the positive directly to the battery like you said.

MikeyTsi posted:

What are you grounding your amp to, by the way? In my setups I've grounded my amps to one of the rear seat bolts, since they're nice and big and you typically get a really good chassis ground out of them without having to drill holes or anything.

I'm not sure actually, it's the stock amp buried inside the trunk somewhere. However the noise is still there even if I'm using headphones and nothing is connected to the car aside from the power--in this scenario, there should be no ground loop since there is only one ground point, right? Unless I have an actual bad ground.

Raluek
Nov 3, 2006

WUT.
That part could just be a noisy switching power supply, maybe? I guess you could just have several sources of noise.

E: What does the noise in your headphones sound like? Is it a hiss, a buzz, clicking, or...?

Raluek fucked around with this message at 07:35 on Sep 15, 2015

Xy Hapu
Mar 7, 2004

The noise is consistent regardless of what setup I use, and is a mix of a static hiss in the background combined with a dial up modem type screech that changes pitch every so often for no reason I can discern. If I unplug any one device both types of noise disappear entirely.

You might be right that it's the power supply, I'm not sure how to find a 'good' non noisy one though; the adapters I've tried all had great reviews, but the noise is the same.

Olympic Mathlete
Feb 25, 2011

:h:

A lot of modern 'digital'/class D amps have noise on them without any input. I have a nice Peavey one for my PA kit and it outputs a light white noise type tone no matter what you do or don't have plugged into it. The several oldschool class AB amps with massive toroidal transformers I have don't output any sort or noise even with the gains all up.

There's something very odd going on with your setup but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

Olympic Mathlete fucked around with this message at 10:15 on Sep 15, 2015

Raluek
Nov 3, 2006

WUT.
The only thing that's making me think that it's not the SMPS is that the noise persists if you plug in two separate adapters to run your two pieces of gear on, but if you disconnect one or the other from power the noise disappears completely. Hm.

Lolcano Eruption
Oct 29, 2007
Volcano of LOL.
So I installed Polk db speakers on my sedan with factory HU and while the highs and mids were definitely much cleaner, the bass output is much lower.

Unequalized, the stock paper 6.5 inch speakers were able to rattle the mirrors. The Polk db speakers with the bass turned all the way up in the eq can't even do that. Can someone explain to me why this is?

In any case, now I need to get a sub but I have some questions.

1. Do "subwoofer wiring kits" include everything I need to somehow attach a sub to the factory headunit? if not, how do people normally go about that?

2. Why do people always face the subwoofer rearward facing out of the trunk? Wouldn't it be better facing inwards towards the back of the rear seats?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Humbug
Dec 3, 2006
Bogus

Lolcano Eruption posted:

So I installed Polk db speakers on my sedan with factory HU and while the highs and mids were definitely much cleaner, the bass output is much lower.

Unequalized, the stock paper 6.5 inch speakers were able to rattle the mirrors. The Polk db speakers with the bass turned all the way up in the eq can't even do that. Can someone explain to me why this is?

In any case, now I need to get a sub but I have some questions.

1. Do "subwoofer wiring kits" include everything I need to somehow attach a sub to the factory headunit? if not, how do people normally go about that?

2. Why do people always face the subwoofer rearward facing out of the trunk? Wouldn't it be better facing inwards towards the back of the rear seats?

Stock speakers are engineered to give a lot of bass, while beeing cheap and requiring little power. They often have very loose return dampers, meaning they can give bass with less power, but also have less control. Aftermarket speakers can have higher power requirements.

1. Subwoofer wiring kits usually include wires to get power to an amplifier, speaker wire to connect the amp to the sub and RCA and remote cables to connect the amp to an usually aftermarket HU. If you want to connect it to a factory HU, you will first need to see if it has unused RCA outputs (they usually don't). If it doesn't you will either need a vehicle specific adapter if available or a high to low level converter to use the speaker signal going from the HU to the speakers. Like this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaker-Converter-High-Line-Level/dp/B004UA753G These are often poo poo.

2 Subwoofer frquencies are not really all that directional. Pointing it into the rear seats may make the cone impact the rear seats, giving worse sound. Subwoofers can have quite a long stroke. If it has grating over it, pointing it forward shouldn't be a problem

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply