Car Audio

I don't bother trying to optimize my car sound system, because there is so much background noise. Since most "good" car audio systems are essentially huge boom boxes, I wouldn't want to shoot for the cliche nirvana anyway.

Up until recently, I was basically satisfied with the factory system in my 97 Chevy Malibu. I thought the front speakers were dying, so I recently replaced with with some "ok" 4x6" units from Boston Acoustics. It turns out that it was a rattle in the door panel, since the new speakers have the same problem. They do sound a bit better, though.

I was using a Sony Discman via a cassette inteface to play CDs, which finally became too annoying. I replaced the head unit with a Jensen CM715K. It's a 1.5 DIN unit that fits the dash hole in my Chevy. It includes a cassette player, single CD player, and controls an external changer. Its amp is 4x50W.

It sounds fine, although I tried turning it up last night and determined that it's really not all that good. However, when I'm going down the road, I don't really notice a problem.

Of course, if I was forced to run the noisy air-conditioner at home while playing the stereo, I would probably be happy with my old Panasonic midi system . Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.

[This message was edited by Mike Hanson on WEDNESDAY 23 August 2000 at 22:56.]

stock radio in 3-series bimmers are quite good -includes cd player as well. I would not even think about modifiying it, I`d rather save the money for the home system. david.

I've had various systems in various cars, but tend to favour the simple set up .A good component (bass unit and tweeters) set up front with a sub in the boot and 1 or 2 amps. As a quick guide - Mission do some excellent in car stuff (amps & speakers), Sony make the most musical sounding CD head units (the CDX780R i use is excellent) - great bass control and timing. A UK company called Genesis make amps which really are the dog's undercarriage - a bit like a Naim amp for the car.. (both in sound / Build and Price !)

James.

www.coupe-sport.co.uk

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stock radio in 3-series bimmers are quite good
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The system in my 1 year old UK spec 3 series is pretty dire. It's the standard one (plus a 6 CD boot changer - which is fun, but doesn't help the sound !).

David - do we simply differ in our views, or have you heard something different ?

Tristram - I heard a Harmon-Kardon system in an Audi about a year ago (before I chose the BMW) - that was a lot more acceptable, for the car at least

Ian

It is actually a BMW 330CI that I am waiting for (:D) and the stereo I heard in the 328 was the stock HK. The salesman told me that the quality of the sound of the radio was not as good as the CD. However, numerous others have indicated that the stock system was surprisingly poor.
Did you look at any alternatives Ian? tw

Tristram,

No I didn't look into alternatives. My car is a company car, and I was already on the limit of the monthly lease allowance I'm given.

Having not investigated the options I'm slightly confused by what you're saying - you mention a "stock HK" system in the 328 - what else is available ? Or do you simply mean the 328 didn't have a CD changer ?

Either way, if it's anything like the one I heard in the Audi it's a lot better than what I have

Still, I only have a 25 minute commute home each day, so it's not too bad.

Ian

Hi Tristram,

My company car is a BMW 323Ci Convertible (2 months old) and it came with the standard 'BMW business' Radio Cassette an I got the dealer to chuck in 6 disc CD changer. The sound is pretty crap with the radio to be honest but a bit better with the CD, I think the problem is the speakers as opposed to the system and I'm going to get mine changed to some Mission ones, as they are hidden behind the door panel you won't be able to tell!

regards

Dev

c:\desktop\turnmeon.jpg

I went 'active' in my car system a long time before I did at home. In a nutshell I have an Eclipse CDTuner 'preamp', an Eclipse 12 Disc changer, a Rockford Fosgate digital equalizer/active crossover[EPX2], a 4channel Rockford-Fosgate amp actively driving the Dynaudio tweets/midrange units up front, and a pair of 10 inch Oz bass units built into the back driven with a bridged Rockford-Fosgate Performance Series mega amp. The bass drivers have a rather unusual 'aperiodic membrane' at the strapped on behind then which is a quasi 'isobarik' type loading.
What does this all sound like?? It will never be mistake for even the most humble naim home system. Having been spoilt at home I do most of my musical listening with the DBLs ane my active car system plays National Public Radio. Yesterday was different though... I drove back from Tampa to Chattanooga (560 miles) and played a boatload of CDs on the way back. It really DOES sound pretty good. But a DBL/6pack...it ain't.

Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo

http://homepages.go.com/~rontoolsie/index1.html

Thank God nobody has yet posted what I was thinking they were going to post!

Andrew

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

I use all ADS components (electronics and speakers) since they produce a slightly more "musical" sound. The Sounstream cassette deck was NOS and is great - it is a deck only, no built in amp, with Class A outputs. This goes to the electronic crossover. I have not yet bi-amped the mids and tweets but plan to eventually. The weak link is the subwoofer which slows the system down considerably when the sound level is cranked up. When it is not cranked up, it is a very "quick" sounding system. I think the fact that ADS uses bi-polar transistors instead of MOSFETs is the reason for quickness. For some reason, it seems many of the amps (car or otherwise) I've heard that use bi-polars have this characteristic. Anybody know?

Mike

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I think the problem is the speakers as opposed to the system and I'm going to get mine changed to some Mission ones
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Dev,

Let us know how this turns out.

Thanks,
Ian

I neglected to say.... I have two 'stiffening' caps added parallel with the power supply line. These act as a resevoir for DC power (which is what car components need) and when say the power amps are causing the DC voltage to sag- not uncommon with subwoofers- these caps kick in what they have... sort of like an electricity grid.

The value of these caps.... 1 FARAD each (yes.... thats one million microfarads). They are each the size of a roll of paper towels. If you run a high power car system (or even a lower power one with finesse) you need these. These truly are supercaps. Without the capital S.

Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo

http://homepages.go.com/~rontoolsie/index1.html

I have an Eclipse head unit and cd player, MB quart separate component speakers, two 10" JL audio subs in a sealed enclosure, and two Alpine amps. I think it sounds good and is alot of fun to listen to when driving. It is totally different than listening at home but just as enjoyable to me. It is possible to get great full range bass in a car that is musical if you adjust the crossovers properly. This is one thing that is entirely too expensive for me to bother with in my Naim system.

Jim

I don't have any BMWs

I do have an Audi, which I had fitted with the "optional" Bose sound system. Whilst I wouldn't call anything from Bose "HiFi", I would say that the drive units and the discretely hidden sub-woofer are subtle (not like the typical boy racer boom box setup). The sound is always clean and rhythmical even up to deafness levels.

I don't know if Bose do a system for BMW, but it might be worthwhile asking.

Cliff
Trainee Perl Hacker