"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
09/26/2014 at 13:22 • Filed to: None
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"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
09/26/2014 at 13:22 • Filed to: None | 1
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I don't understand car audio. Specifically, I don't understand people who put thousands upon thousands of watts in a car giving no consideration to how it sounds or how effective it is, but just want "muh bass"
A guy that I went to high school with (side note: it is glorious to now be using high school in the past tense. That place was a cesspool) had a Porsche 914 with a 1000w amp in the trunk and a 13" subwoofer.... in the cup holder. With no enclosure.
WHAT.
Another guy I know has a lifted S10 with two really nice 600 watt subs in a nice enclosure, but every damn time he gets in the car he reaches back and turns the subs all the way up, completely drowning out any mids or highs that were getting pumped through the stock shitty speakers. Cool.
Honestly, I don't even think the quality of components makes as much of a difference as much as the placement of them and how they are used. My car has a 50 watt General Motors 6-speaker system. My dad's car, five years newer, has an 8 speaker 90 watt system. Guess which sounds better?
My dad's Passat is a great example of how good components can be put together to make an inferior listening experience. Every door gets a subwoofer and a tweeter. Perfectly logical, perfectly German, but it sounds terrible. You're not getting surrounded by the music, it just sounds like it's coming out of the nearest door.
In my Buick? Sub woofers in the rear deck, mids in the lower front doors, tweeters in the front. Gives the illusion of surround sound no matter where you are in the car since none of the speakers are really pointed directly at anybody, as high tones seem to come from the windscreen, bass from behind the seats, and mids seem to come up from the floor. Dubstep drop? It will start at the front of the car and travel behind your head to the rear in a wave. Super cool.
Of course, it took me a lot of fiddling with the bass/treble and front-rear fade to get it to sound decent, so nothing is perfect, but a majority of the people who have been in my car have a hard time believing I don't have aftermarket audio.
Enough masturbating over how awesome the MurderSofa is, let's move on...
Another example of decent speakers: My mom's PT Cruiser. There are only 4, I believe, but they're put in the right positions to give a decent listening experience.
Oddly enough, every new car we've rented (Dodge Charger, Chevy Sonic, Hyundai hoondai haiduyduhdnadi something or another) have had abysmal speakers by comparison to the Buick and even the PT Cruiser, even the Hyundai with its 12 speaker system which had ABSOLUTELY NO MIDS NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO WITH THE EQUALIZER. It was like the designers were too busy putting insane amounts of tweeters EVERYWHERE to even consider people like to hear more than cymbals and bass. Maybe, I dunno, the singer?
The Sonic had a pretty liveable sound system, but there were some gaps in the response range that would poke out and gently remind you occasionally that you had stock speakers.
If I were to customize my speakers, here's how I'd do it:
Upgrade the 6x9" subs to 10" subs. Keep them at 50 watts because I really don't give a shit about volume.
Buy another pair of mid-range speakers and put them in the rear doors.
Put electromagnetic "kickers" bolted to the floor beneath the front seats. These vibrate without making sound and give the illusion of loud bass without wrecking your ears.
That's about it. Get a little lower bass response for some dubstep that goes down further than my subs can manage, and flesh out the mids a bit more.
I see absolutely no need to ever go as far overboard as I see most people go with their 30 subs and 90000000 watts in an Impala with three blown out windows and a set of blown out eardrums.
End rant.
TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 13:39 |
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My dad who has an absolutely fantastic home stereo system he lovingly cobbled together more than twenty years ago sees little point in having amazing sound system in a car. I tend to agree with him.
Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 13:44 |
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It's all about knowing what you're doing. For example you can much improve your shite stock speakers by getting some insulation and stuffing it behind them to make them less tinny. I want to make some upgrades to my system but that will likely just be some higher quality speakers in the stock locations and maybe a head unit (although mine is a decent enough blaupunkt unit now).
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut
09/26/2014 at 13:45 |
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Yeah, right now I'm jamming out to The Strokes on a set of 30-year-old Pioneer 50WPC speakers connected to a Pioneer amp, and I really don't see why people need more. Midrange is fantastic, trebles aren't overpowering, bass is lacking a little bit but it gets the job done (though movie explosions cause clipping). They're plenty loud, too.
505Turbeaux
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 13:47 |
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my first system was a present for my Scirocco. I remember thinking about the kind of music I liked (everything from classical to rap to classic rock to indy and punk) and selecting the components that would work for the car and to have good sound across a wide range. I got Boston components for the front doors, Boston for the rear to fit in the stock speker locations in the deck, and a 12" tube for the trunk, with a Denon tape deck and 5 CD changer and an Alpine 5 channel amp. I still have it all, and it still sounds good whenever I put it in a new car, no matter what I am listening to. I agree with this article, but this has been an argument for the better part of 20 years for me. I gave up
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> 505Turbeaux
09/26/2014 at 13:56 |
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12" Tube? Is that like a tubular subwoofer or something? I've never heard of that before.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
09/26/2014 at 13:57 |
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I was surprised when I pulled apart my door to do some repairs and it was STUFFED with insulation. Props to Buick.
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505Turbeaux
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 14:03 |
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yeah like a bazooka tube, who knows if anyone uses them still. Highly effective with little space outlay...
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> 505Turbeaux
09/26/2014 at 14:05 |
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Huh, those are pretty cool. Lemme grab a 55 gallon drum and a subwoofer...
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Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 14:06 |
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Mine has a tiny mat just behind the speaker, was waiting to get hold of some nicer speakers before I bothered stuffing the door with insulation.
miadaman? yes please
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 14:27 |
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And I've got my Honda Acoustic Feedback System from the 90s. So yea... the high life.
nermal
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 14:32 |
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What's the point? This is what da girlies do when I pump my bass yo....
Mattbob
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/26/2014 at 14:39 |
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good speakers and amps don't go out of date.