What sounds better? Your car audio, or your computer audio?

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Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
Eye: A 5.25" bay isn't big enough. Standard DIN size is 180x50mm (about 7x2"), a 5.25" bay is 150mmx42mm
 

zoiks

Lifer
Jan 13, 2000
11,787
3
81
Car for sure.
Perfect 6.1's in the front.
Perfect 12.1 for the sub
Infinity 3way 6x9's
1 Alpine 1000watt amp for sub.
1 4 channel Alpine 400 watt amp for front and rear.
Alpine 7995.
1F cap

Home speakers - Logitech Z680.
 

Ausm

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,213
14
81
I got 3K of sound in my ride so I will vote for my car

2000 Watts of ball rattl'in bass

Ausm
 

gscone

Senior member
Nov 24, 2004
489
0
71
My car audio sounds better than my PC audio, but my home audio blows them both away.

 

gscone

Senior member
Nov 24, 2004
489
0
71
Eclipse HU, Focal fronts and rears, 2 JL W7's and JL Amps...You tell me which sounds betteR?



 

Mr N8

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2001
8,793
0
76
Computer. SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum paired with Logitech Z-5500 speakers.

My car has a factory head unit that works when it feels like it as well as factory speakers. Usually at least 3 of them work at once.
 

Electric Amish

Elite Member
Oct 11, 1999
23,578
1
0
About the same, I guess.

Running stock in my car except I replaced the front door speakers with sony xplode. I mostly listen to AM anyway.

Computer has Altec Lansing 4100's.

I don't pretend I can tell any difference.
 

sharkeeper

Lifer
Jan 13, 2001
10,886
2
0
Definitely not car audio for sure.

Matter of fact, I have never heard a car system that was as accurate as the studio. Perhaps I'am biased. It could be that I'm an organist too.

One:

The system will sound its best when the car is parked and the engine is off. Kind of makes the car useless. Amplifiers require power and unless your ride has a nuclear power plant, it's hard to run for a while on batteries.

Two:

Bass. This says it all. Bass is so overhyped nowadays it isn't funny. I blame the CD for this. See in the days of the 8 track and cassette, recordings didn't have exaggerated bass because it would use up too much precious headroom. Saturate the media and the sound quality tanks. Of course sound quality was the last thing we had on our minds as we listened to Hendrix' guitar riffing through a pair of Utah 6x9's with dual whizzer cones while driving up to Woodstock.

Records really had the bass too and I know this makes audiophiles cringe, but the CD is more capable and accurate at recording pure sinus tones of quite low denomination. Problem is there are no real instruments in the orchestra that go that low. Except one. The organ. Any organist knows this and knows how bass is supposed to sound.

Of course most modern POP muzak uses samples and these often have synthesised bass. Some of it actually sounds good. I've been a Kraftwerk fan for over 30 years. Of course European bass has a different sound that the newer generation and rapper/housefolk find weak and subdued where they want to engage those nasty bass augmentation "features" found on their snazzy head units with enough pixels to embarass the Goodyear Blimp that runs ads over the Rose Bowl!

Yes it would seem now that everyone has figured out to get more than a few 10's of watts from a car's 12 volt electrical system AND mount a low frequency transducer in an enclosure where excursion is decreased from orders of reflex and other modifications of original designs by Kellog, Rice, Thiel, Small, Colloms, etc.

Three:

Amplification:

Car audio systems have too much power. Ok so you just think I'm an old fart. Well the purpose for having power is for dynamic range. To have the dynamic range of a live performance in a car when driving is not possible without destroying the car and killing its occupants! Realistically, to experience a live performance "sound" one needs about 100 dB of dynamic range. If you've ever sat in the pit of the orchestra, you will know what this means. The average car has a highway background noise of 70 dB. That's A weighted dB too! If you revert to a more audiophile friendly C weighting, things become much worse because the background noise will often approach 100 dB! Less for a smooth road and more for a rough road. I don't know how the roads are where you guys live but in the Mid Atlantic region, they're not good!

So we have 100 dB of noise floor. Hmmm that's not looking good. So your 2000W sound system is runs about 106 dB per watt (mostly at low frequencies where it is needed!). This is actually a good figure when everything is quiet. 2kW = 33dBW so the maximum realised SPL is going to be 139dB. Frequency response is hardly flat but this gives an idea. Everyone's RTA is different as is their 1/4 mile! Anyways, 39 dB dynamic range is hardly what I call high quality. Also given the fact that you are coupled to your bass bins in a way that basically sits you inside the speaker-things go downhill fast! Acoustic intermodulation distortion becomes an issue especially in (what else) organ music. It can be heard with Techno as well. Nothing can be done to fix this except reducing the bass levels or adding more treble drivers which makes the sound too bright. Speaking of bright, that's something you rarely hear in car audio unless the perp has a few bazookas in the back and some piezo's up front bouncing off the windscreen in a way that when the windows are open people two blocks away hear the SSSSSSSSSSS in Britany's Mickey Mouse voice that makes the hounds run for cover and puts the railroad guys on high alert for suicide wanderers.

People tend to forget one thing. The immutable laws of physics. The car interior is the most hostile place ever to reproduce a symphony. Granted, there are a lot of creative builders out there that do impressive work, but they all fall short of what can be achieved under ideal conditions met every day in top studios around the world. After all, the purpose of a sound reproduction system is to present to the listener, a reproduction of the original performance with as faithful accuracy as possible.

Too bad most drivers out there fail to realise this and just have a bunch of amps and woofers in their car to show off. It's the equivalent of neffing without an internet,
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
2
81
sharkkeeper:
That's all fine and good, but when the car stereo is a JVC w/ Dodge stock speakers, the sound's going to be pretty good. (by my standards) When the home stereo (computer) is a PC pumping a 14 year old Yorx mini-rack stereo and a set of Packard Bell speakers that came with a P133, sound quality isn't going to be too hot.
 

Viperoni

Lifer
Jan 4, 2000
11,084
1
71
Comp for sure.

Sony MDR-V600's headphones vs. Morel MD1 tweeters and Illusion Audio 6inchers running off a MTX 4424 and an Audiocontrol 4xs active crossover.
 

JonnyBlaze

Diamond Member
May 24, 2001
3,114
1
0
Originally posted by: zoiks
Car for sure.
Perfect 6.1's in the front.
Perfect 12.1 for the sub
Infinity 3way 6x9's
1 Alpine 1000watt amp for sub.
1 4 channel Alpine 400 watt amp for front and rear.
Alpine 7995.
1F cap

perfect system.

my car sounds better also, better to me is bass you can hear for blocks AND clarity

JBlaze
 

MetalMat

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
9,687
36
91
My van has 1 speaker and only the AM frequency works on the dash, tape player does not work. Thats why I use headphones/mp3 player when I drive
 

psteng19

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2000
5,953
0
0
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: Delleet
For over 1500 bucks I've put into my car, I should hope it sounds better.

$1500? WTF did you spend that much money?

I put in a $110 MP3-CD HU, a pair of 5.25's ($30), a pair of 6x9's ($40) and it's recockulously awesome sounding. Thought about a sub, but I have no place to mount one (no trunk on the van).

Escort's audio system is next, but it poses some significant problems- for instance, the factory mounts in the back will have to go, because they're 6x8's and nobody makes 3way 6x8's, and you can barely fvcking hear the door mounts, so those don't have to be as good. The entire door panel has to come off to get at the door speakers, as well. Also, the HU is built into the climate control panel. It's a fvcking nightmare.

I'm sorry but your car setup is weaksauce, so for it to be better than your PC, those PC speakers must really suck.
 

DainBramaged

Lifer
Jun 19, 2003
23,448
40
91
My car audio. Blaupunkt headunit and speakers and two 12" Kicker subs powered by my Alpine amp are enough for me.
 

sharkeeper

Lifer
Jan 13, 2001
10,886
2
0
sharkkeeper:
That's all fine and good, but when the car stereo is a JVC w/ Dodge stock speakers, the sound's going to be pretty good. (by my standards) When the home stereo (computer) is a PC pumping a 14 year old Yorx mini-rack stereo and a set of Packard Bell speakers that came with a P133, sound quality isn't going to be too hot.


Ok I confess!

This has my PC beat because my PC cannot tune AM. I wish they made an AM tuner with USB.

I also like catching stations across the country (skipping) something you cannot do with FM.
 

CVSiN

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2004
9,289
0
0
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: Delleet
For over 1500 bucks I've put into my car, I should hope it sounds better.

$1500? WTF did you spend that much money?

I put in a $110 MP3-CD HU, a pair of 5.25's ($30), a pair of 6x9's ($40) and it's recockulously awesome sounding. Thought about a sub, but I have no place to mount one (no trunk on the van).

Escort's audio system is next, but it poses some significant problems- for instance, the factory mounts in the back will have to go, because they're 6x8's and nobody makes 3way 6x8's, and you can barely fvcking hear the door mounts, so those don't have to be as good. The entire door panel has to come off to get at the door speakers, as well. Also, the HU is built into the climate control panel. It's a fvcking nightmare.


nice ghetto system.. i wouldnt put that system in a Model T... why dont you join us in 2005

Head deck 500 bucks... JL Audio Seperates 250 bucks, 12 inch sub with enclosure 300 bucks
good amps and crossovers... depends....
professional install several hundred bucks...

but if you think all computer sound sucks then you are mistaken =P
buy a good reciever and a GOOD speaker set for your computer and it will rival any car or home theater out there.

50 dollar computer speakers always gonna sound like ass... jugeing by the amount of money you were willing to spend on your car I imagine your cpu speaker budget was considerably less.....

Klipsch Ultra 5.1s
gigaworks 7.1s
and Logitech 5500s the top dogs out there all are around 300-500 bucks

 

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
11,711
8
81
music through my high quality headphones off my pc sound better than the stock audio system in my car
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
bang for buck is pc of course, the advancement over the years is pretty great. way more speaker for your dollar. car audio stagnated long ago, car people are suckers that will pay..so they set the prices to match and cars are horrible sound enviroments.. esp some older ones or cheaper ones. road noise/wind noise, makes it so u have to play that much louder just to overcome the background noise, more or less a tax on your system. sure you can dynamat or whatever, but its costly. headunits/speakers/sub/amp... add it all together with install and kits whatever and it costs so much more than computer speakers its rather disturbing for what you really get.
 
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