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Car audio systems

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:28 am
by eagle6014
Just curious to know what car stereo systems y'all have. Factory or after market? I have a 2014 Buick Verano Premium (turbo) w/ a factory installed 9 speaker Bose. Yeah ok we all know what Bose stands for. But since there was no alternative, it's something I have to deal with. Besides I didn't buy the car for it's audio, the nice Buick ride and the sweet 2.0L turbo engine is why I chose it. The entire audio system is literally integrated into the cars Nav and other systems. Switching out anything would be costly and complicated. So I do not think I will bother with it. That is all, Pat.

Re: Car audio systems

Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:53 am
by admin
I just have the factory installed stereo in my 2009 Hyundai Elentra. I thought about upgrading but I don't really have "listening sessions" in my car, and my commute is usually less than 15 minutes so pretty much a song or two at a time.

I simply don't drive a lot. I only have 32k miles on the car after 5 years. If I had a long commute or just spent more time driving I think I would have considered an upgrade. I do have to admit that sometimes when a really good song comes on I will turn up the volume to "rock out" and then it becomes painfully obvious how lacking the quality is compared to my audiophile setup.

I had XM satellite radio for a few months after buying the car but never renewed the subscription as I was not using it much. If I do go for a longer trip, I will connect my iphone and stream online radio.

Re: Car audio systems

Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 5:41 pm
by Martin Y
Yea I know old thread but what the hey, I'm almost new here.
What i have for car audio is a Nakamichi CD-700 Deck connected to a Butler Audio LD-2 line driver and that goes to 2 - TDB 275 amps. For speakers there are Focal PS -130 mids and tweets on one amp and a Nakamichi 10" sub for low end on other amp. Not a bad sound.

Re: Car audio systems

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:10 pm
by Auriian
i did some competition years ago with a milbert bam tube amp, solen custom passive xovers with big air coils, 4 peerless 8inch face to face in a mirror plexi box, morel 6 inch i nthe doors, vifa 4 inch and morel tweeters in the dash. audi control eql, eclipse cd. all kimber cable interconnect and spaeker wire, streetwires, dual battery... was fun
I'd place and not even have the trunk finished !!

now i just have old sound stream d60ii and d100ii amps with vifa and peerless drivers

Re: Car audio systems

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:13 pm
by Wildcat
Nothing too fancy here--I am not as limber as I used to be decades ago. :D My ride had room for a double-DIN head unit, plus I needed Android Auto to get the navigation into the car without sticking things on the windshield. Ended up with the Pioneer AVH-4200NEX. A really nice feature is that it can not only play back FLAC files, it can also play high-res files up to 24-bit/192kHz, so that means I would not have to spend time converting so many things on my server down to 16/44.1. The rear has two USB ports, and I extended those so both ports were located in the center console. USB port 2 is for the Android phone, so that leaves USB port 1 open for a memory stick. The unit also has an SD card, so I have two large capacity devices and carry around a lot of music. It is ideal on long trips, and it beats shuffling CDs around.

I replaced the factory speakers with some Morel component speakers in the front, and Morels in the rear doors as well. Amplification is from a small Kenwood 4x50w Class D amp that tucks neatly in the dash. (That's the true RMS power rating.) For a subwoofer, I have a single Focal 8" BombA powered sub in the rear. Prior to that, I had a Pioneer sub that mounted inside the wheel of the spare tire. It unfortunately could not handle bass loudly, but I still kept it as there are times I need to haul things, and would have to take out the Focal sub--it works well enough in a pinch, in other words.

The head unit has a feature where you enter the distance between the driver (that's me) and each speaker, so that you can "time-align" all four speakers to an extent. It does make a minor difference. Overall, the system sounds very clean, and having high-res in the car makes things even smoother. :)