Your car and its sound system

In the UK I has a BMW 5 Series with the upgraded Hi Fi Speaker System - was pretty happy with it.


Here is Oz I have a Toyota Land Cruiser with the standard sound system and I am just as happy with it - pretty good sound as far as I am concerned.

Adrian

I have a Toyota Corolla, 2003 model, with stock CD/radio 4-speaker system; am actually very happy with it! I've had home systems that didn't sound as good, certainly. That is not the case now, however. I suppose that there is high-end audio available for cars, but my system is sufficient.

quote:

Originally posted by Expat in Oz:
(...)
Here is Oz I have a Toyota Land Cruiser with the standard sound system and I am just as happy with it - pretty good sound as far as I am concerned.

Adrian

Excellent car to transport speakers up to the size of a Cremona with ! (You need help to carry her, though...)



Stefan

quote:

Originally posted by sjust:

quote:

Originally posted by Expat in Oz:
(...)
Here is Oz I have a Toyota Land Cruiser with the standard sound system and I am just as happy with it - pretty good sound as far as I am concerned.

Adrian

Excellent car to transport speakers up to the size of a Cremona with ! (You need help to carry her, though...)



Stefan

You're right there stefan - good for all sorts here in Oz. We got it to accomodate the influx of visitors we were expecting from the UK now that we are down under and it has proved most useful - seats up to 8.

The other good thing is for off roading. Tomorrow I am off to Stockton Beach up near where Bazz lives. I am going to take it into the sand dunes and along the 30km beach. It is fabulous, driving along the edge of the Pacific on the sand with good loud music and the breeze.

Might load it with the Cremonas soon.

Cheers
Adrian

quote:

Originally posted by Expat in Oz:
In the UK I has a BMW 5 Series with the upgraded Hi Fi Speaker System - was pretty happy with it.

Are you talking about a BMW system or a third party upgrade?

Cheers,

Edo

It was the upgraded BMW system - from memory ten speakers and a power amp.

Adrian

quote:

Originally posted by sjust:

quote:

Originally posted by Expat in Oz:
(...)
Here is Oz I have a Toyota Land Cruiser with the standard sound system and I am just as happy with it - pretty good sound as far as I am concerned.

Adrian

Excellent car to transport speakers up to the size of a Cremona with ! (You need help to carry her, though...)



Stefan

The fuel efficiency of the Land Cruiser is even lower than the efficiency of the average American speaker.
By the way, how did you like the MA recordings?
Regards,
Haim

If you buy an Aston Martin Vantage V12 for a mere £175,000, you get a Linn in-car system thrown in as standard! Don't know if this comes with their "cheaper" cars as well, though.

Graham

According to all reports Expat you are not assisting the environment with that SUV, as we now need to call them. Keep that sound system turned down to acceptable levals thankyou.

My Lexus has a good 6 speaker system which sounds excellent. Trouble is, it keeps eating my CD's and I have to get replacement units fitted - all under warranty, but it's still a pain. I'm waiting for no.5. in 3 years.
My wife has just bought a Renault Sceneic MPV (so I can ditch the Lexus & get an Elise), but it comes with a cassette player & radio!! I could go to a charity shop and hunt out some cassettes, but I don't think I will. As it's all moulded units, it isn't easily changable, but there is a switch for the CD changer - which we don't have. I wonder if I could get one? The controls are all on the steering column, so it can't just be an easy swap even with a third party converter face plate.

My 'other' car is a Caterham. The sound system is just by the passengers elbow, it is connected to the cylinder head. It sounds great. The volume control is under your right foot.



Bruce

quote:

Originally posted by Lomo:
According to all reports Expat you are not assisting the environment with that SUV, as we now need to call them. Keep that sound system turned down to acceptable levals thankyou.

Question: Why do they calls those monsters SUVs?
Answer: Because with the current oil prices they will all turn very soon into SOUVENIRS...
Haim

quote:

Originally posted by Expat in Oz:
It was the upgraded BMW system - from memory ten speakers and a power amp.

That's the famous DSP system. My fünfer has the standard system, and although I'm quite happy with it, I'm still wondering whether I should look for a s/h DSP or possibly something third party.

Cheers,

Edo

I've been trying to get sound to rival my Naim system in my new Mini, I think I'm as close as I could possibly get with a Nakamichi head unit, 2 Genesis dual mono amps, Dynaudio component speakers and a Genesis sub. I've had to work hard on the soundstage by putting the speakers equidistant from the driver's seat and soundproofing every panel. It's been on an RTA machine and sounds wonderful, great imaging and timing all present and correct. But there's something missing in comparison to my home set-up, that extra something that's hard to put into words.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by Expat in Oz:
It was the upgraded BMW system - from memory ten speakers and a power amp.
That's the famous DSP system. My fünfer has the standard system, and although I'm quite happy with it, I'm still wondering whether I should look for a s/h DSP or possibly something third party.

Cheers,

Edo

Edo, I have had the DSP in a 5 series, the car being unfortunately written off in a crash about a year ago. I then acquired another 5 series, which had the standard BMW Business system. I found this to be inferior, but I could not get a response from BMW when I enquired about a retrospective upgrade. I then decided to go for a third party system comprising Nakamichi cd player, DLS amp, DLS front speakers and Genesis subwoofer. This is significantly better than the DSP, the only drawback being that the head unit does not look so flush in the dashboard. However, IMO the gains outweigh this minor disadvantage as the music sounds so much better.

Bianchi Boy,
Check that out:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LX8q1P0Bs1Z/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=500cda9833&wm=cl

This unit which I am using can time correct four speakers and two subs. The only thing you have to do is measure the distance of each driver from youe ears. A calculator on the Alpine website will tell you what kind of a time delay the speakers need for perfect imaging. I have two time corrections set up in the memory of my Alpine, one for the driver and one for the passenger.
I do not know to what music you listen to. In such a small space you might be better off without a sub,and achieve a cleaner more delicate sound, closer to the Naim's. I get a great detailed and deep bass with my Z6s without any sub. I also opted for cloth seats for the car which are more comfortable and are much better for the sound.
How do you like the MIni? My family used to have one, and as far as I can remember, it was a lot of fun riding in it. That was forty years ago.
Regards, Haim

HR - Glad you're happy with your Alpine, they make some really nice equipment. I very nearly bought one as well! I have a friend with one of the F1 status head units, it's very good indeed and something I seriously considered before settling for the Nakamichi. Because I'm only running one pair of components and one subwoofer I didn't really need (or want) electronic time alignment in a such a small car with a simple system.
I wanted to keep the system as pure as possible without the source electronically tampering with the music, That's why I chose the Nakamichi. It's a very basic but very high quaity head unit - you can even turn the display off just like you can on Naim equipment.
The thing that made it all work well was setting it up with a real-time analysis machine, measured from the driver's headrest. You can then easily see which frequencies are being absorbed by that individual vehicle, it's very handy indeed, especially if you want to compete in ICE competitions. I've integrated the subwoofer so you can't actually tell when it takes over from the components, unlike most other cars fitted with subs. (Boom boom boom!)
The new Mini is nothing like the ones from 40 years ago, but it's a great car nonetheless - I love mine.
I would really love to see Naim do a high end car CD player and amplifier with the kind of dealer support that Naim already have, maybe Aston Martin would swap over from the Linn systems they are using!

Bianchi Boy,
I have a couple questions.
Did soundproofing make a big difference?
What is ICE competion?
What did you do after the RTA measurements. Did you equalize the system?

Haim

Infiniti G35 with the standard 6CD changer. Works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by HR:
Bianchi Boy,
I have a couple questions.
Did soundproofing make a big difference?
What is ICE competion?
What did you do after the RTA measurements. Did you equalize the system?

Haim

Yes, soundproofing makes a lot of difference, I use Dynamat to deaden the panels so they don't reverberate. Cuts down on road noise on the move too.
An ICE competition is another subculture like our world of Naim - people compare how loud or how clear their car audio is, rules are at http://www.soundoff.org/rules.htm
Once you've got an RTA machine hooked up you can adjust the gain on the amps, the high pass / low pass frequencies for setting up the point where the sub takes over and you can put some equalisation in if you need to, but you try and minimise that when you plan the installation in the first place.
It's as much of a long and slippery slope as home hi-fi!

Yes, oundproofing makes a lot of difference, I use Dynamat to deaden the panels so they don't reverberate. Cuts down on road noise on the move too.
An ICE competition is another subculture like our world of Naim - people compare how loud or how clear their car audio is, rules are at http://www.soundoff.org/rules.htm
Once you've got an RTA machine hooked up you can adjust the gain on the amps, the high pass / low pass frequencies for setting up the point where the sub takes over and you can put some equalisation in if you need to, but you try and minimise that when you plan the installation in the first place.
It's as much of a long and slippery slope as home hi-fi![/QUOTE]

Bianchi Boy,
Thank you for all the information. This is way out fo my league. I am sure your system sounds great, and I hope you win all the competitions you decide to enter (have you?).
I resisted the idea of external amps and wires, and that is why I went with the Alpine 9833, which gave me the most quality power in dash to drive the component speakers. I do think, though, that even in a small space as your car, time correction makes a big difference. At home we would never listen to the music sitting so much off center as we are doing in the car, and in relation to the short distanaces to the speakers, even a couple of inches of difference are crucial. The longest time correction that I have in my RSX is only one millisecond (delay for the speaker in the left door), but when I switch from factory zero setting into the time correction setting the music jumps into focus and balance. I really enjoy it.
Best of luck,

Haim

PS
In what state do you live?

I'm with Bruce on this one

All I can hear in my car is the induction scream from throttle bodies in my left ear, and the odd pop and bang on the over-run from the exhaust... its not quite a caterham, but a heavily modified S1 Elise

No Hifi at all in the car to spoil the sound effects

Simon

Its a matter of taste I suppose

I have the HK upgrade in my BMW and if I had specified it as an option from new I would have been somewhat disappointed.

Personally I prefer the natural sound system - the note of the exhaust system

Personally I prefer the natural sound system - the note of the exhaust system [/QUOTE]

This is fine with me when I drive to the Post Office to get some stamps. But every time I drive my daughter to her college in Boston (Straight through, 945 miles each way), it is the music which keeps me going.

Haim

I have a VW Golf - sound systemis crap.

However, I take my driving seriously and don't listen to it much as I prefer to concentrate on driving.

On motorways, I listen to whatever local station there is and always have the TP setting activated.

i prefer to listen to my music in the home........