Ask Fryguy: Stereo systems (home, car, theater)

[Fryguy]

Woah, apparently everybody missed this thread first time I posted it!

Answers in order

Yes OZ stuff is good. There's potentially better for the same price, but stuff like matrix elite is very nice. Solid buy.

I don't have direct experience with kenwood music keg, but I'm assuming it has a proprietary control interface and you are probably screwed. I do not know the answer to this.

*TT*, I am not a headphone expert. Ask Pittm (he had a headphone post). I use open-air circumaural grados that leak more sound than anything. Suggestion would be to check out canalphones like etymotics. And yes bose is crap. I think you would be better served to get good sealed headphones than invest the money into sound canceling attribute.

W6v2 is probably worth 175 ish, amp is maybe 200-250 (this is ballpark number, I don't keep up with car audio stuff much anymore, so I haven't looked at prices in a while, but this should be reasonable). I'd imagine 350-400 for the pair being reasonable. Both of these items should be on ebay, and thus you can figure out a market priced based on this.


For connecting computer to home theater, it depends on what you have available on your computer. Most computers nowadays have digital coaxial or optical output, which sends a digital signal to your receiver. This is the best option (unless you want surround sound while gaming, then you need a card that support DDLive, make another post if this interests you). Your computer is a source for your receiver, just like a dvd player or a cd player. Optical or digital coax is the way to go if you have it, and if not purchasing a cheap card that has it is a good decision. It's digital so there's no quality issues to worry about on your computer (nothing important anyway). If you do not have these connectors, you 99% don't have plain rcas, so you will have to take your speaker output, which is a 3.5mm headphone jack, purchase an adapter that converts this to RCAs, and then plug the RCAs into your receiver. At this point, your sound card is doing the decoding, and the quality of the soundcard becomes very important.

Mikenaked:

As I mentioned above, Bose is pretty awful. Yamaha receivers are usually good though. The most important thing when you are purchasing a receiver is that it has the connections and features you want, and room to grow a bit. Consumer level electronics for home audio have gotten so good nowadays that even for smart audiophiles (not the idiot ones who believe in magic sand and stuff) they are going to be happy in general with the electronics at best buy. If the speakers sound good to you, so be it, they sound good to you. What's important is that you are happy.

As for subwoofer recommendations, take a look at HSU and SVS. Or have me give you the plans for the thing I built [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

http://webpages.charter.net/fryguy/

As for the wiring, this is somewhat dependant on how the people wired your house. At this point I'd like to make a disclaimer that if you take my advice on following the wiring and you blow [censored] up I'm not responsible. Inside the white wire, is it 8 individual wires, or 8 pairs of wires? If it's 8 individual wires, that's enough to wire 4 speakers (+ and - for each speaker) and I'm confused at this point unless your setup is wired for 6-channel audio, which is possible. What is on the other end of these wires and where is it located? My best guess with the information given is that you have a cable for your 2 mains speakers, and a cable for 4 surround speakers (center and 3 surrounds, left, right and rear center). I cannot be sure though based on the information given.

[Fryguy]

Oh, the porting question:

In general, porting screws up frequency response in cars (it interacts with a cars natural gain function in a very negative way, giving a BIG peak somewhere). With 1500 watts you have PLENTY of power for a brahma, so I highly recommend sealing it. If you are ported now, and you like it, great keep it. If you are looking for a little bit better upper bass response, or you feel that the response is a bit too sloppy, then going sealed is the correct choice. I always default to sealed in designs nowadays, and then port if necessary. Sealed has the best physical properties for sound reproduction in general.

[MikeNaked]

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http://webpages.charter.net/fryguy/

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!! Impressive.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to ask my electrician about the wiring situation.

[Fryguy]

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http://webpages.charter.net/fryguy/

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!! Impressive.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to ask my electrician about the wiring situation.

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Probably the best idea.

Hopefully I move out soon so I have the room/money to finish my setup. There will be a major brag post in OOT when it's done [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Baseballer02]

2 12" Rockford Fosgate T2's, ported(port specs have left my mind)
2 Kicker KX1200.1 Amps each running at 1 ohm
Stinger 3 Farad Cap
0 Gauge Wire
Alpine CDA-9855 Head Unit

I have this in the back of a Scion tC.

Any idea what dB I should be able to hit on a burp? What about consistently without damaging subwoofer?

[young Nut]

Fryguy, I own a 2001 f150 supercrew. I am thinking of installing a soundsystem for this truck with a cost of under $1,200. Any suggestions on brands for everything from head units, subs, components, to crossovers? Also, what do you think would be the perfect set up for this truck?

[Fryguy]

No idea, and asking what you are going to hit is very very very dependant on the situation. The absolute best answer to give is "meter it yourself"

A list of a few variables to consider that affect dB, in no particular order:

temperature
speakers being used
enclosure being used
amplifier being used
altitude above sea level
humidity
barometric pressure
car being used
aiming of the car
wiring used
meter being used
placement of the mic
frequency/source material used to generate output
etc.

I can probably take the same speakers in the same car with the same amp and hit 10db different of what you hit when you meter the system. This question is highly frowned upon in most forums, because it is much too hard to give a reasonable estimate that is correct even 75% of the time.

As for how often you can burp it, this is simply dependant on how much extra power you have available in relation to the RMS power of the speakers.

[Baseballer02]

Does anyone use anything other than Termlab meters anymore?

[Shillx]

I'm big into car audio. Right now I have 5.25 in CDT euros in the front (looking to get a front stage setup). Component 6x9 CDTs in the rear. Powered with a Directed 4500. Not ADS or Dynaudio w/ Arc amps but close. Just picked up an Optima yellow top and it is loud.

Sub is a Shiva 12 with a Crossfire 402 to power it. Pretty meh on the bass. I'm looking into a new sub setup. Here is what I'm thinking (I have a Grand Prix).

Treo SSX 12
Diamond 1500W or Directed 1200W (don't know the models)

Stereo Integrity D15
USAmps 900W or Arc Audio 900W

Probably a tough one. Thoughts?

I would also look into something by RE.

[Fryguy]

Treo is blah for daily drivers IMO.

The stereo integrity sub is nice, but I'd take a look at IDMAX. Pretty similar sub, might be able to find it for a better price. Also might want to check out resonant engineering (www.respl.com i think), the XXX is amazing. Also ascendant audio (the sub I have in the link I posted above is ascendant). Err, forget IDMAX, you are looking for a 15, and i'm too lazy to delete what I typed lol. Look at Resonant XXX 15 though.

As for euros, eh, never liked the sound of them. I like the more forward, aggressive nature of focals.

Ask more home audio questions guys [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I got out of car audio 2 years ago after my stuff got stolen for what I said was the last time [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].