I got here because people on here pissed me off and that made me want to put together a system that makes them jealous. Or it could be that I am obsessive about sound the way I like it and went too far. :surprised:

 

I got here because people on here pissed me off and that made me want to put together a system that makes them jealous.

Go find a homeless shelter to donate to, and stop pissing your money down the toilet.

You're a ****ing retard, and NO ONE will ever be jealous of anything you ever own.




Happy MLK.

 

Both of you need to take out a time share on the same clue.

HE WAS KIDDING!!!!

Uptight much?

To the OP, I know what you are saying, but I have NEVER been able to really enjoy a bad recording or music on a bad system. If I am working I still enjoy music even if it's on a crappy one speaker 20 year old stereo, but to truly enjoy it, I need it to sound right.

I do obsess too much about how the way sound is reproduced, but to say that this gets away from the art of music is false. If I hear Richard Thompson on a crappy stereo, I hear a good guitar player. If I hear him on my stereo, I hear every nuance of a master artist's fingers sliding down the strings and pouring his soul into his guitar. Now THAT'S MUSIC!

 

HE WAS KIDDING!!!!

Considering all the "my system will sound better than yours" and "I'll have the best sounding system in my state" ****, combined with his schizophrenia and psychopathic behavior, I seriously doubt it.

 

It can take a little time evolving the system to a point where you no longer want more from the hardware.

I see car audio as two aspect: hardware and software.

The hardware has certain capabilities you must work within and certain sound signatures you're stuck with.

Software is tuning, and you're bound to the limits of the tuning features and capability of yourself to correctly use these features.

Either of these aspects can be a limiting factor in the system.

If you are unhappy with your current system and find yourself constantly fighting it, tweaking, retweaking, and just not being happy with the system, you (a) can't correctly use the processing available, (b) the processing available isn't flexible enough to "fix" your current hardware, or (c) you have the incorrect hardware. In any case, something needs to be done.

The stock systems generally aren't too bad for sound. A lot of times, the companies do take some effort to get a decent sound out of cheap hardware. They just fall apart in overall output and quality of sound.

I find the biggest annoyance I have in audio, in general, is frequency response. Basically, if I can get 20Hz to 20kHz (ear) flat with no major peaks or valleys in the response, I can be content with most gear. The secondary aspect is sound signatures like level of detail, clarity, openness, etc., but this falls to second fiddle versus frequency response. My suggestion to you is to take a look at the frequency response of your system and see where you have an overabundance of output and where you are lacking in output over the frequency range. Fix them. If this can't be done by software, you may need new hardware or possibly invest in new processing.

The easiest route I've enjoyed for this is simple pink noise. You grab a pink noise track ( Realm of Excursion -> Downloads) and play it. Then run through your EQ settings and balance out the frequencies. The end goal is to not have one frequency overshadowing another nor any frequency range lacking. In the end, the entire spectrum should sound broad and even in intensity. Once you get the response set right, you will find your music is far better balanced. If you find problems or an unable to fix some of the response, you may need to add additional processing or step to different hardware to get the desired end results. Sometimes its an environement issue where the cabin is resonating or canceling out certain frequencies. If you get this, you may consider moving the speakers around a little. However, if you're at stock locations, you're stuck with it and need to address it another way.

I'll say Boston Acoustics in generally offers good hardware that is typically neutral in nature.

 

Well, 20 years ago, I started playing with a little system in my reg cab Chevy S10. The bass always sucked "until" I did a blow through, and then holy $#!+ ! I tried a lot of different things after that, but could not ever top it, and finally just left that system alone. It played great for > 7 years < without a single hardware failure...... until the truck finally failed {257,000 on a Chevy S10 is not too bad though, huh ?}

Well now, you see, I had been "listening too" a very nice sounding system for all those years..... but not having to do anything, in the way of car audio construction, design, or install. 7 years is plenty of time to get rusty, and / or, move on to different things. For me it was hard-core trophy Largemouth fishing that started eating up all my time.

So after that, I had several used vehicles, that really were not worth putting a high end stereo setup in.

Which brings me up to June of 08'. I had the good fortune of being able to get a brand new F150 Supercab. I hadn't really planned on putting a high end stereo in it...... But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense;
I plan to own this truck for a VERY long time..... Maybe 12 or 15 years ?
I have a Supercab, which I had planned to rip out the rear seats since before it was delivered to me {I NEVER have more than 1 passenger... and no kids... but wanted more in-cab storage space}
And what the heck, a modest little 3 cube box will still leave me tons of in-cab storage space

So anyway, it's just been SOOOO long since I didn't have to struggle between "loud enough" and "so much distortion I couldn't stand it"...... and then "never enough bass".....

Really hoping to get this system dialed in, so I can just enjoy it, and start getting back to hard-core fishing ....and more long distance photography trips.

Peace,
Fish

 

I just recently took my car to the shop for some body work. I was given an 08 Charger as a rental and the sales guy said "it's got a great sound system." I just laughed. After getting in and driving away I realized that it didn't sound that good, but after realizing that it was just a rental and there wasn't anything I could do to tweek the sound, I just let it be. Now I am driving around really enjoying my music again. It seems that this hobby and the quest for perfect sound in my car has really distracted me from the ultimate goal. The goal to have a nice system was to be able to enjoy my music, but it's turned into much more of a critique of every song.

I hope that when I get my car back I can be satisfied enough to enjoy my favorite songs without picking them to pieces and racking my brain trying to figure out what I need to "fix."

 

I tend to agree with Mvw2 but on another site they did dis my boston comps, lol. I'm really on frequency response and stereo imagining. Get a somewhat flat response and give me rears to pull the stage back to me for width, and that gets me close. I prefer to change hardware than tune excessively. I've had some real cheap systems that sounded good, just start with a good HU/processing and front drivers the rest you can pick out what works or not. I get used amps and drivers all the time, selection is more important by far.

I've actually learned to not get my system 'perfect', because then good music that is not produced that well sounds bad and I hate that....takes away from the enjoyment. What I like most is subs with bottom, 20Hz bottom, and I like to play with stuff (swap/test equipment) just little time to do so lately. At one time I was a little obsessive about it, but then realized other things were more important so I just take it for what its worth. Maybe that is why I don't deaden my whole car.

Not one to hammer other people on internet sites, but Tspence has come up with some different ideas about car stereo. Hey some people have to do it themselves to figure it out, and that is fine. I prefer to consider it entertainment. And audio is a pretty flexible subject since it is one's own interpretation. I would only recommend anyone consider finding a goal other than building the loudest system for daily use, and I don't mean SPL. You will thank yourself later, since when something you hear is the loudest you really can't tell if it gets louder anyway.

 

Although I'm not that much of an audiophile, I recognize what guitarman is saying.

At home I have a simple audiosystem and listen to the music I actually like. In the car with a more advanced system, I tend to listen to music that sounds great with my setup, not necessarily music I like.