Shenlon

iTrader: (4)

Hello all,

I'm looking into replacing my stock Monsoon system in my WS6 with a carPC based system. I am not very up to date on current product offerings, but am looking to spend around $1k for speakers and amp(s). I listen to a wide range of music from rock to R&B to classical. Most of my listening is rock.

My question is if I should choose audio components any differently because it will be driven by a carPC instead of an aftermarket head unit. I am also undecided on exactly what the speaker setup is going to be. I'm pretty sure that I want to drop the hatch speakers and put a solid sub on the driver's side in a stealth box. Is it worth replacing the sail panels or just spend the extra coin on better front speakers? Should I have 2 separate amps, one for the sub and one for the other speakers?

I don't need super expensive components, but if spending a little bit more will get me much higher quality components, then I will definitely spend the extra cash.

Thanks in advance to anyone that responds, I am trying to research this on my own but feel like I'm getting overwhelmed with options so I figured I would just see what the great people here have to say on the subject.

SublimeZ

iTrader: (2)

speakers don't know what the source is. If sound quality is your goal, forget the sails. Concentrate on front speakers and sub. (do you go to a concert and stand with your back to the stage?)

couple of good research spots- mobilesoundscience.com and mp3car.com

Good luck. Car pc's are a special breed of difficult...

squee

iTrader: (16)

Ok, first off I'm gonna have to disagree with almost EVERYTHING SublimeZ said. First off, there not really difficult. Also, he apparently has no knowledge of soundstage. You want highs from up front (not behind you, thats why stuff like coaxials behind you will throw it off) and the sub in the back near the hatch, with good midbass in the middle (sailpanels). That way the highest frequencies come from the front and the lowest at the back with the rest in between.

Go with good sail panel speakers. Forget the hatch speakers though. There just rear fill and not needed. For the sail panel, use a good 6.5" midbass. For the front, a good 6.5" component set, powered by a good 4 channel amp. As for the sub, go with a nice stealth enclosure, or like I did, a single ported 12" ProBox enclosure. It hits hard as ****, with great sound quality. Its best for the sub to have its own amp. GOOD 5 channel amps are hard to find, so 2 amps is usually the best route. As for the carputer, Bybyte makes a nice double din size unit. Your gonna need a frontend as well. I like Centrafuse the best since its the easiest to use and has the most plug-ins. Since you also want sound quality, a good Pre-amp EQ is a smart thing. I plan on going with the Audison Bit.1, but there not cheap. You can find others cheaper but no where as feature packed.

Shenlon

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the replies thus far, keep em coming.

I have a screen and double DIN adapter and a 6LE bezel all on the way already, and I'm pretty confident about all the rest of the carPC stuff, it was just what speakers/amps to look at. I do plan on using Centrafuse, however I thought one of the major benefits of using a carPC is that you have a HUGE capacity for proper sound processing inherent to the PC, provided the correct software is used? It seems like adding something else in the signal line would only provide another source for something to get screwed up, or am I wrong?

Can you guys recommend me some quality speaker/amp model/brands to look for around my price range? Thanks

squee

iTrader: (16)

Well that is a legit question, but the problem you'll run into is the RCAs. You'll need a pair for the sub amp, and 2 pair for the highs amp (granted using a 4ch) for best SQ. Your options are basically a external PC soundcard, or a car audio type EQ setup. The Audison is the best by far, but the RF 3Sixty.3 is right up there. They offer things like auto-tuning via the software and microphone thats included, and a ton of other ****. Just keep in mind, you have to have some kind of way to go from 1 3.5mm speaker output to 3 pair of proper RCAs (for instance, you don't want just any signal going to your sub amp via the RCAs).

As for speakers and amps, I LOVE the older ~02-03 RF amps. I'm using a Punch 400.4 and a Power 550S. They are very underrated and clean sounding. Speaker wise, I'd go with something like Focal, CDT, Rainbow, etc. Just depends on your budget.

These are rather nice, but a little pricey:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p-3372-165...-speakers.aspx

As are these:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p-7033-slx...nt-system.aspx

These are a great speaker as well:
http://www.woofersetc.com/p-9225-pc2...nt-system.aspx

Just a few to consider. Its a little hard to say though without a budget. How much are you looking to spend on the speakers?

SublimeZ

iTrader: (2)

squee is correct, I have never done a carpc. However, the 3 people I know running them all have issues. Turn on thump, system noise and boot time being the major ones.

soundstage- many vocal cues come from the midbass. Putting them behind your head WILL pull your stage back. Unless you turn them way down. A waste IMO.

KISS- keep it simple. a 2 way front plus sub is the easiest to tune, and most bang for your buck.

and to Mr. Squee- My system will make your jaw drop. It's like sitting in front of studio monitors . I run full active, with morel large format tweets, exodus neo mids, a dayton 15" sub, and arc amps.


ok, I'm out. to the op, choose wisely who you take sq advice from on car boards. They're a great place to find install info on specific vehicles, but short on people who know what the hell they're doing with sq. Good luck.

Shenlon

iTrader: (4)

Turn on thump is easily eliminated by using a proper power supply ( http://store.mp3car.com/Carnetix_CNX..._p/pwr-026.htm ). There's no getting around the boot time issue, but it doesn't have to be terrible either. My system will probably boot in under 20 seconds (the machine that I'm posting on boots in ~15, so this is realistic with the proper hardware and setup) and will be set to boot on car unlock, so I really don't think it will be terrible.

I do appreciate bringing up concerns, for instance the EQ I was planning was strictly software with no hardware solution like the Audison.

Here's another question: In general, is relocating the tweeters from the stock door location (TA) up to the A-pillar worthwhile? It looks like using the 6LE tweeter pods ( http://6litereaterdesigns.com/store/...roducts_id=184 ) would be very easy to integrate into a system overhaul, but I have never heard the difference in sound stage and don't want to spend the $175 if it's not at least going to be a noticeable/appreciable difference.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be sure to check those models out.

luna123black

iTrader: (1)

Just a few pointers want to make here. If your just looking for something to play music a car pc is fairly easy but not really worth it just for music. If your looking for the whole experience it gets much more complicated. Centrafuse well easy to set up has a lot of issues. The gps is worthless. Sq is far from the best and a host of other problems. Just do a search on their forums and you'll see its filled with complaints. As far as plunging road runner has a lot more than Centrafuse but not very user friendly. You can get good sq from a car pc but its a lot easier to do it from a standard set up.

As far as sq you really want to focus on your front stage. Most will tell you not to even bother with sails and hatch. Just a good front stage and a sub. I personally like a little bit or rear fill so I do run sails.

I would not consider the rockford amps for sq. Id be looking more at zapco or Macintosh if you can afford it.
With all that said I Centrafuse on my system with rainbow fronts and rainbow vanadium subs. Powered by zapco amps. I built my system a year ago and I still haven't worked out all the kinks. A car pc is not a install and forget kind of thing. It is a lot of work and you must enjoy tinkering and learning as its always changing.

squee

iTrader: (16)

To be honest, sound stage is all perceptive. With the sub at the very back I prefer a little something in between. Midbass in the sails fills the gap. You just don't want any highs coming from back there. I think I have mine setup to where nothing over about 250hz is coming out of em.

You would be pretty surprised at mine as well. I have CDT HD Euro Golds up front, with the upgraded Satnet crossovers, with Upstage, and just some CL6s in the sails, with a Probox ported 12 box (there custom Camaro hatch box) with a Fi BTL 12.

For the tweeters, I would either put the in the a-pillar pointing towards the windshield, or get the tweeter pods from 6LE. Leaving them in the doors won't sound as good. There supposed to be pointing at you, or be bouncing off glass towards you. Alot of people complain about the tweeters being blocked by your leg.

As for the booting times, XP is probably the best OS to use since its less flashy than Vista or Windows 7 and uses alot less memory. They have a few programs you can find online that take your copy of XP and completely removes all unnecessary things from it to use less memory and boot faster. Depending on how much you have it remove, you can get it down to around 4-500mb if I remember right...You can get XP to boot in less than 10 seconds pretty easy, if not faster.

I honestly don't see how Centrafuse will affect SQ. I personally never liked RR. Its not really about the frontend so much as the soundcard/EQ setup I think.

While I agree with Zapco and Macintosh amps being great for SQ, I would probably choose Zapco or Audison over Macintosh. To overpriced in my opinion. You really have to hear the OLDER RF amps though. They REALLY are a clean sounding amp and have gobs of power while being really affordable. You have to keep in mind, I don't think he's gonna wanna spend 2k on amps alone...