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signalnoise posted:What's the chance I'll get the next owner of my car after my rear end if I don't tell him that on my first attempt at installing a new car stereo, I misunderstood the instructions and clipped all of the cables on the factory wire harness and directly wired it into the stereo's wire harness without an adapter? Next Owner will rue your existence and post on a message board somewhere about this crazy PO who directly wired in his aftermarket head.  MikeyTsi posted:Output wattage on the head unit no longer matters once you go to an external amp, so you're just looking how good the eq is on the head unit for audio tuning. A somewhat quality amp will have crossover settings to help dial the speakers in to their best range. Good point on the amp. EQ on the head is garbage though high boost/cut, low boost/cut, 2 directional balance and switchable 'loudness'. Head swaps I've done before so that's no problem if it comes to it. Follow-up question, I've previewed the instructions for the powered sub I've got coming and it has a remote power wire so I shouldn't need to bother with a relay but would there be a sufficiently beefy power supply to safely leech off in the cabin or should I just go to the extra trouble of running a cable straight from the battery?
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Feb 22, 2017 13:48
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Run a cable. There is no way you're going to find even 8awg power back there, and that's the bare minimum, for even a small 100w amp. I'd run 4AWG or up in order to future proof, and if you need to, get a fused 4 into 2x8 distribution block to get it down to size so you can actually get it into the terminal on the sub. You're going to need RCAs anyway, so just buy a 2ch 4ga wiring kit from your local parts store and it'll have everything you need.
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Feb 22, 2017 14:55
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mariooncrack posted:Why not just use an aux cable? I used one like that for awhile and I got sick of it dying on me while I was driving. I think I'll try the Anker SoundSync (reviewed here); it gets questionable comments from people complaining about sound quality, but it can't possibly be worse than the $5 adapter I used up til a week ago, and that one (while it worked) worked just fine. I've got a pretty high tolerance for lovely sound. jackpot fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 17:46
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Aux cables don't charge (or even carry power), they're just a 3.5mm <-> 3.5mm cable that goes to your phone's headphone jack. You're not using USB or an iPhone cable, right? If you're having issues with your phone hating pause, have you tried another cable? Headphones that have a built in play/pause button are just shorting a 4th pin on the headphone cable, and that pin shouldn't even exist on an aux cable plug - but I've had that happen when cables have a bad connection at one end.
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Feb 22, 2017 18:38
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RillAkBea posted:Follow-up question, I've previewed the instructions for the powered sub I've got coming and it has a remote power wire so I shouldn't need to bother with a relay but would there be a sufficiently beefy power supply to safely leech off in the cabin or should I just go to the extra trouble of running a cable straight from the battery? I'm sure there is* *(If you'd like to set your car on fire) Run a loving cable. You're going to have to yank a bunch of interior to run wiring anyway, running a wire to your battery isn't going to take that much more time.
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Feb 23, 2017 01:28
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Aux cables don't charge (or even carry power), they're just a 3.5mm <-> 3.5mm cable that goes to your phone's headphone jack. You're not using USB or an iPhone cable, right? Also if your headphone jack is going out, most modern ones will auto-pause output if it thinks you've pulled the "headphones" out.
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Feb 23, 2017 01:29
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So... This amp has built in Bluetooth input. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_613M1824BT/Kenwood-KAC-M1824BT.html?cc=01&tp=35782 As in plug in your speakers, pair your device and presto blammo, you're set. The wired remote will even charge your device. My question is this: is anyone aware of an amp that has a direct USB input that can also charge - as in plug in a device, send the audio to the amp and bypass the need for a head unit completely? The goal is to mount an iPad mini via magnets where the head unit is, and have a single cable connected for easy in/out. (Edit) I suppose a less lovely version of something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VFZ0AAE/ref=psdc_10980761_t2_B01EWRQLOA?th=1 pipebomb fucked around with this message at 11:28 on Feb 23, 2017 |
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Feb 23, 2017 10:42
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Car: 2013 Mazda MX-5 Miata So I installed this new head unit and I want to say the sound quality is already better. I have a couple of speakers to install also though. The Miata has 2 speakers in each door, a tweeter and a woofer. There are 2 small speakers of some variety mounted between the headrests, too. I have no idea how to get to those yet, but the door I can do. The question is: Every tweeter I've seen said it will require modification to go into my car. The woofer replacements I got are Infinity Kappa 682.11cf. Should I replace the tweeters too? If so, what should I do to minimize the amount of modification, and what the hell kind of modification are they talking about?
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Feb 23, 2017 15:47
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Aux cables don't charge (or even carry power), they're just a 3.5mm <-> 3.5mm cable that goes to your phone's headphone jack. You're not using USB or an iPhone cable, right? Long story short I tested the phone on a simple male/male 3.5mm adapter I found, and (no surprise) it works great. Also no surprise, it doesn't autoplay anymore because it's the usb cable causing that. So the last question is, I borrowed a 3.5mm cable from someone and plugged it in, and I've got no sound at all on the right side. Is this just a funky cable? When I tested it using my adapter (which I can't use because it's only about an inch long) it sounded fine. jackpot fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Feb 23, 2017 |
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Feb 23, 2017 16:20
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jackpot posted:So the last question is, I borrowed a 3.5mm cable from someone and plugged it in, and I've got no sound at all on the right side. Is this just a funky cable? When I tested it using my adapter (which I can't use because it's only about an inch long) it sounded fine.
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Feb 23, 2017 16:22
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A bad cable could definitely cause that, and that's how every cable I've had eventually fails.
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Feb 23, 2017 19:40
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Got something else with a headphone jack? Try out your cable with something else and see if you get the same results.
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Feb 24, 2017 02:06
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signalnoise posted:Car: 2013 Mazda MX-5 Miata I would return those two ways and get a component system instead of adding a tweeter to a two way. Not sure on the Miata specifically, but every component system seems to list the tweeter as requiring modification cause they generally don't just drop in. Usually if the hole is big enough you can make it work with included mounting stuff. Zillions of people have Miatas so it should be easy to find some install pictures.
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Feb 24, 2017 06:21
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powderific posted:I would return those two ways and get a component system instead of adding a tweeter to a two way. Not sure on the Miata specifically, but every component system seems to list the tweeter as requiring modification cause they generally don't just drop in. Usually if the hole is big enough you can make it work with included mounting stuff. Zillions of people have Miatas so it should be easy to find some install pictures. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B41LZ1M/ ???? I like the mounting bracket thingies for the tweeters, and from what I'm seeing from cutout sizes, should work. Good product or is this a ripoff
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Feb 25, 2017 04:00
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Also do you really need to get like every loving square inch of the inside of the outer door panel when you're doing sound deadening? I am not planning to go huge with my sound system (right now), I just want to kill road noise. My miata sounds ridiculously like, airy? when I'm driving. I applied some yesterday just because I was taking apart the door to see how poo poo was before I put in speakers, and a lot of those places are pretty much impossible to get to without taking off the inner frame of the door. And I really don't want to do that if I don't have to.
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Feb 26, 2017 16:52
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Why are you sound deadening a miata? Its not going to do whit when the top is up and when the top is down... yeah.
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Feb 27, 2017 04:39
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If I can make it not sound like a wind tunnel when the top is up I would like to do that. When the top is down who cares of course
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Feb 27, 2017 05:15
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Some people do the whole outer skin, some people just aim to cover like 70%. You can just do the tap test - rap a knuckle on the outer skin and if it rings, cut out and apply a sheet of deadener, rinse and repeat. You might find you get away with much less coverage. You probably won't make an appreciable difference to road noise, but if you can drop the resonant frequency of the door panels to somewhere below human hearing, that'll probably help your sound some.
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Feb 27, 2017 10:04
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I need help trying to figure out which is the best option for a 2010 Outback 3.6R Limited remote starter kit is; would this be the most appropriate thread on this forum? It's friggin hot in Vegas, and it's got black leather interior, so I just need something that can turn on the A/C while I get ready to clock out at work.
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Mar 1, 2017 01:13
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In what scenario would I want my subwoofer 180 deg. out of phase with the rest of the system?
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Mar 2, 2017 00:29
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SynMoo posted:In what scenario would I want my subwoofer 180 deg. out of phase with the rest of the system? 0% of scenarios.
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Mar 2, 2017 07:14
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SynMoo posted:In what scenario would I want my subwoofer 180 deg. out of phase with the rest of the system? I take it you mean why is it there as an adjustable thing on an amp? It's to make sure your sub is pushing at the exact same time as the other speakers. 180 is there as an absolute worst case scenario where say the voice coil of the sub has been wired backwards (it happens sometimes) and the rest of your wiring is correct, it just means you can then tell the driver to kick at the right time instead of contracting rather than rewiring things. As sound is vibrations in the air a sub is very capable of killing audio if wired wrong, if it's sucking instead of kicking then it'll extract a whole load of energy from the air and your sound will be poop. It's also an adjustment if you're being a cheapass and putting different kinds of subs together and want to get them to work. I have a couple of different subwoofer designs for my PA, the horn length on them is different which means they're out of phase if I just plug them into an amp and play the same sound through them. Obviously this results in less noise than I'd like so by adjusting the phase (ideally with a measurement mic handy) I was able to get them kicking together, moving air together and therefore working as one.
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Mar 2, 2017 12:05
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Can just replacing factory speakers greatly improve sound? I bought a new Tacoma and I am not impressed with the audio (did not get the premium JBL setup).
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Mar 2, 2017 15:23
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Lysandus posted:Can just replacing factory speakers greatly improve sound? I bought a new Tacoma and I am not impressed with the audio (did not get the premium JBL setup).
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Mar 2, 2017 18:07
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It looks like 6x9ish units in the front, and the standard toyota 6.5 mount in the rear doors (if you have those) - but if you buy the speakers from Crutchfield, they throw in the mounting hardware for free apparently so that's nice. As Humbug said though, if you want midbass you're not gonna get it from a speaker swap alone. You'll definitely improve clarity, but stock stereo units don't put out a huge amount of wattage, and even the discrete amp in my IS300 got stomped all over by the cheap Alpine double din I replaced it with. Unless you're willing (and able) to swap out the head unit, or buy an amp and run a Line Out Converter or speaker level inputs, I'd be hesitant to just swap out the stock speakers. What you could do is throw some sound deadener in the door and seal up your inner skins, which will improve bass response and clarity from your woofers, as they're no longer flopping around in front of a giant steel echo chamber. Done properly, this will also prevent the "back wave" from behind the speaker from ricocheting around the cabin and phase-cancelling the front-wave (I'm sure someone in here can explain it in more scientific terms). It costs less than a set of average coaxials (but it does take a bit longer), and will definitely improve the stock woofer performance. It'll also quieten road noise, which means you need less volume to overcome it, which is nice. As you're not trying to prep your car for big SPL, you won't need to worry about applying any to your door cards, trunk or anything like that - just get enough on the flat surfaces on the outer and inner door skins to stop it from ringing when you tap on them. If you can put some eggshell foam behind the speaker in each door, that will also help prevent that back wave from being a problem.. Then, if you can get hold of a jigsaw, you can cut out some blanks to cover the access holes in your doors. I drilled a couple holes and used speednuts to hold the blanks on, then covered them with a good butyl-based deadener to seal them up and prevent rattling. What this does is turn your door into something closer to a sealed speaker box, which will drastically improve your midbass, improve the power handling of your speaker a tad, and reduce distortion at high volumes. I just finished doing my lexus, which still has stock speakers, and the difference is pretty huge. Bigger than the speaker swap I did in my last car. I've actually put off buying speakers for a bit, because I'm so happy with it for now. I used a combination butyl/closed cell foam deadener on the outer skins, and a typical dynamat-style on the inner skins. Here's a couple pics I took during the affair:   I didn't get a pic after I'd finished applying the mat and properly smooshed it down, but you get the idea. If you want it to look real flat and fancy, use a heat gun and a roller. As you can see, I didn't go crazy on the fitment, and I may find I have to go over it again when I do upgrade my splits - but overall I'm really happy with the improvements. Definitely recommend this before going out and buying a set of good components.
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Mar 3, 2017 03:53
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Think of stock car audio as you would speakers in flatscreen TVs. It's only there to tick a box rather than actually be good, "does it make a noise that's vaguely musical? Great, ship it". Absolutely anything you replace stock low end stuff with will be a huge improvement.
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Mar 3, 2017 10:41
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Humbug posted:Possibly, but probably not. Counterpoint to this: I had a 2015 Focus SE, put 6.5" JL C2 components in front, coaxials in back, and it sounded bloody amazing with the sound system set to "Driver optimized". No other changes needed. Stock wasn't loud enough, this was slightly louder (but not quite loud enough). Some cars have brilliantly engineered sound systems that just need better speakers.
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Mar 3, 2017 19:36
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There's got to be a high pass filter hidden in my C220 somewhere, there is just no bass. Geez.
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Mar 13, 2017 03:04
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falz posted:Car in storage for a few more months, will wait a bit to see if anything else changes or comes out during that time
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Mar 13, 2017 16:55
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falz posted:This now seems to be out, $129, probably is what I'm going to grab (HD radio, media only, dual USB inputs). Hopefully kenwood's bluetooth stack doesn't suck balls. I would strongly suggest anything other than Kenwood, their interfaces have infuriated me since the beginning of time.
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Mar 13, 2017 17:17
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I've never had one before, almost always Pioneer and Eclipse. Is it just poorly thought out controls or bugs?
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Mar 13, 2017 18:42
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RIP Paul Walker posted:I would strongly suggest anything other than Kenwood, their interfaces have infuriated me since the beginning of time. Blaupunkt Uber Alles
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Mar 13, 2017 18:58
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falz posted:Is it just poorly thought out controls or bugs? Poorly thought out doesn't even begin to cover it. I've touched probably at least one of every brand headunit over the years, and owned a fair number in my own cars, and Kenwood has been the only one that is properly 100% irritating. I will say that I have given them more chances than I ever care to admit, my most recent one just last year and my first one in TYOOL 2000. They have the features you want, they look great, sound quality is great, everything is great until you go to use the god damned things when it all falls apart. Wasabi the J posted:Blaupunkt Uber Alles Kenwood is like Donald Trump. If you ignore history and just look at the positive parts of the spec sheet, it sounds like the winner. I'm in the Never Kenwood camp, and Blaupunkt isn't Kenwood therefore it is an acceptable option. RIP Paul Walker fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 13, 2017 21:26
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Wasabi the J posted:Blaupunkt Uber Alles Blaupunkt is what happened when a bunch of Sony engineers dropped acid while listening to German Techno.
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Mar 13, 2017 23:57
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I like Kenwood, but that's because of the old DMASK+ head units.
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Mar 14, 2017 18:29
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I was reading this getting all huffy-puffy until I realized that I had a Kenwood deck before, that repeatedly broke, and I therefore replaced it with a Pioneer, which is actually what I have now. So, I agree, carry on!
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Mar 14, 2017 23:16
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One thing I miss about the Kenwood I replaced is that settings, including Bluetooth, are stored in non-volatile memory. The Alpine I replaced it with does not do that.
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Mar 14, 2017 23:33
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CharlesM posted:One thing I miss about the Kenwood I replaced is that settings, including Bluetooth, are stored in non-volatile memory. The Alpine I replaced it with does not do that. I kind of wish my bluetooth settings were in volatile memory. (because you can't delete bluetooth pairing).
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Mar 14, 2017 23:58
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MikeyTsi posted:I kind of wish my bluetooth settings were in volatile memory. Why not??
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Mar 15, 2017 00:02
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CharlesM posted:Why not?? Because mistakes were made, Pioneer, mistakes were made. (There's no capability to delete pairing, unless you try to add another device when it's "full". Which is dumb).
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Mar 15, 2017 00:08
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