Learned'd VIII: Less Bewbs, Same Nonsense

[sx moneypit]

Why the hell is this like the 12th thread down?

Mornin' Aaron!I guess we don't have a night crew anymore.

[RobPaulson]

herro! i r so proud of my new vehicle.

Adam! I need your expert audio knowledge! Got the 'basic' stereo purposely to make replacing it easier LOL, it's project time and I actually have a good job for funds this time =)

[Dattebayo]

Just switched over to TWRP, loving it.

[Ace2cool]

herro! i r so proud of my new vehicle.

Adam! I need your expert audio knowledge! Got the 'basic' stereo purposely to make replacing it easier LOL, it's project time and I actually have a good job for funds this time =)

Home stereo or car? Cause I can help with car. I don't know shat about home though.

Dave, told you TWRP is teh shiz.

[RobPaulson]

Home stereo or car? Cause I can help with car. I don't know shat about home though.

Car. Yeah i'm looking for a good touch screen unit. I owned an avic back in 2008 and HATED it. It was slow to respond to touch, slow in general (took FOREVER to boot), basically had an AWFUL experience with it. So I don't know where to begin

I'd say budget for touch screen is last in the equation if possible, i'd really like to get the sound filled out as cheap as possible first. So with the stock unit, if i can jack a sub/amp combo INTO that first, then build out all my speakers/amps/HU and install all that at once, that'd be tits.

Could ~$400-$500 get me a decent sub/amp/box? What kind of box for a hatch? (I like tight, punchy clean bass. Listen to a lot of metal core and reggae, i know, its weird lol)

[WDRacing]

I don't know shat

Had to quote that...

[MinisterofDOOM]

Home stereo or car? Cause I can help with car. I don't know shat about home though.

Car. Yeah i'm looking for a good touch screen unit. I owned an avic back in 2008 and HATED it. It was slow to respond to touch, slow in general (took FOREVER to boot), basically had an AWFUL experience with it. So I don't know where to begin

I'd say budget for touch screen is last in the equation if possible, i'd really like to get the sound filled out as cheap as possible first. So with the stock unit, if i can jack a sub/amp combo INTO that first, then build out all my speakers/amps/HU and install all that at once, that'd be tits.

Could ~$400-$500 get me a decent sub/amp/box? What kind of box for a hatch? (I like tight, punchy clean bass. Listen to a lot of metal core and reggae, i know, its weird lol)

What about dash-mounting a ~7'' tablet and running audio from that through a non-touchscreen headunit? Save yourself some bucks, and you can run Linux or Android on it and get access to plenty of FLAC-compatible audio players.

[WDRacing]

That's what I do in my BMW, I use my phone or tablet constantly.

[Dattebayo]

The cords coming out of it would make it look like crap. It obviously wouldn't be very clean looking, unless you wanted to get risky by disassembling it and soldering some connections. Then you'd still need an amp, crossover, sub and EQ.

[WDRacing]

Well you need an amp and sub etc, regardless. If you want to permanently mount the tablet in the car and you can't hide 2 cords...well then you're just not good at this sort of thing.

Also, having a cord coming out of a tablet doesn't "make it look like crap" at all. That's like saying, omg, don't use an ipod, it will look like crap.

Having a tablet will also allow you to use apps like torque for data logging and multiple gauges to view real time info.

[Dattebayo]

In my opinion it would look like crap and hiding wires would be a pain. But my friend here reminded me of another idea... I was at the security supply house the other day and they are selling android tablets designed for home systems. All the cable connections are in the back, so maybe that would be a good version to mount? It's not some cheapo Chinese manufacture either, and they cost around $150. Just a thought.

[RobPaulson]

What about dash-mounting a ~7'' tablet and running audio from that through a non-touchscreen headunit? Save yourself some bucks, and you can run Linux or Android on it and get access to plenty of FLAC-compatible audio players.

I have a nexus7 and can wifi hotspot my phone . . . thats f'king brilliant dude!

As for the cords, why not just have it connect via bluetooth? I'm sure there are headunits with bluetooth connections like the factory functionality no?

[WDRacing]

I used to hotspot my phone, but I eventually just added the tablet to my share plan, $10/month. I never listen to anything but Pandora anymore. Satellite radio sucks, regular radio is 10 to the 10th friggin power on the suck scale. Streaming media is where it's at these days.

[WDRacing]

All the cable connections are in the back, so maybe that would be a good version to mount?

THAT is a good idea dude.

[Kompresshun]

I've considered doing a cheap permanently mounted tablet for a while too. There's really no point in the two cars we have right now though, so I just use my phone for everything and play it through the aux input on the factory stereo. I was a bit disappointed when I found out my Kindle Fire HD wouldn't support Torque and the OBD II adapter though.

[Ace2cool]

What about dash-mounting a ~7'' tablet and running audio from that through a non-touchscreen headunit? Save yourself some bucks, and you can run Linux or Android on it and get access to plenty of FLAC-compatible audio players.

I have a nexus7 and can wifi hotspot my phone . . . thats f'king brilliant dude!

As for the cords, why not just have it connect via bluetooth? I'm sure there are headunits with bluetooth connections like the factory functionality no?

There are. Most aftermarket head units nowadays will have some kind of device support, be it iPod integration, USB support, or input mode (that would have my vote if you're using a tablet.) Just route the input cable from the tablet to the head unit and put the head unit into input mode when you want to use the tablet for media.

As far as subs, for punch and tight sound, you want a sealed box. It transfers the sound to the vehicle as well as the air, so you get the kick bass right in the spine. It's glorious. I had 2 Kicker 05CVR12 rounds, and a JL500.1 powering them. If you're mainly doing rock though, I'd go with 10's. I already had my box from my old speakers. I got the new speakers on Amazon for $67 apiece shipped, and got a generic box from best buy for $100. The JL500.1 cost around $150-200 (can't remember.) It was plenty enough to rattle the mirrors. For speakers, I had Pioneer 4 way in the rear and Infinity Audio 3 ways in the front. That was about $200 for the set (they were 4.25" cause of s*** bose system.) 6.5" are more common and could be cheaper in a lot of cases. Go for 3 or 4 way if you don't want to mount tweeters. They put enough treble off without hurting your ears, which is a problem I find with a lot of tweeter setups.

So for about $600, you could have a decent setup. That's not including head unit though.

[WDRacing]

I've considered doing a cheap permanently mounted tablet for a while too. There's really no point in the two cars we have right now though, so I just use my phone for everything and play it through the aux input on the factory stereo. I was a bit disappointed when I found out my Kindle Fire HD wouldn't support Torque and the OBD II adapter though.

I didn't buy a Kindle because they suck. Android or well...nothing imho. I have my phone or tablet hooked up via aux in my BMW.

My 240 is getting the tablet only mod done one of these days. The head unit is dead, the factory amps are f'd etc. So I'm gonna rip out all the factory stuff and redo the entire center console. It will allow me to get creative with gauges as well.

Of course that's just one of a million projects I have/want to do.

[Kompresshun]

I have no issues with the Kindle aside from that. It works well, is straightforward and simple to use, and reminds me a lot of how our iPad functions. Personally, I despise normal Android tablets because they function too much like my phone and I just don't care for all of the tweaking that most people like about them. Every Android tablet i've owned has been sold within 6 months, yet my iPad and Kindle Fire HD both get plenty of use. I rarely use Torque anyways, so my phone is perfectly fine.

If I do a tablet mount, it'll probably be a iPad 1 or iPad2.

[RobPaulson]

I used to hotspot my phone, but I eventually just added the tablet to my share plan, $10/month. I never listen to anything but Pandora anymore. Satellite radio sucks, regular radio is 10 to the 10th friggin power on the suck scale. Streaming media is where it's at these days.

check out spotify, it requires an app for pc use but its worth it. i pay for the service, i think its like $8/mnth, worth EVERY penny.

[RobPaulson]

As far as subs, for punch and tight sound, you want a sealed box. It transfers the sound to the vehicle as well as the air, so you get the kick bass right in the spine. It's glorious. I had 2 Kicker 05CVR12 rounds, and a JL500.1 powering them. If you're mainly doing rock though, I'd go with 10's. I already had my box from my old speakers. I got the new speakers on Amazon for $67 apiece shipped, and got a generic box from best buy for $100. The JL500.1 cost around $150-200 (can't remember.) It was plenty enough to rattle the mirrors. For speakers, I had Pioneer 4 way in the rear and Infinity Audio 3 ways in the front. That was about $200 for the set (they were 4.25" cause of s*** bose system.) 6.5" are more common and could be cheaper in a lot of cases. Go for 3 or 4 way if you don't want to mount tweeters. They put enough treble off without hurting your ears, which is a problem I find with a lot of tweeter setups.

So for about $600, you could have a decent setup. That's not including head unit though.

phuk it i might just go all the way with a sub/amp and let that settle for a bit. i've always wanted a 10inch JL w7... LOL

[Ace2cool]

I mean, I wasn't exactly bargain shopping. Except with the subs. I got a hell of a deal on those. Are you gonna utilize stock wiring or run new wires to your peripheral speakers as well?

[RobPaulson]

i'll have to do this in steps.

1. sub and amp with as much stock/factory equipment as possible.
2. speakers and head unit

Saw on a subaru forum some guy rigged up a metra DIN to hold the nexus 7 in his dash, very cool.

[Kompresshun]

check out spotify, it requires an app for pc use but its worth it. i pay for the service, i think its like $8/mnth, worth EVERY penny.

Ditto. Spotify is worth the money for sure. I was skeptical at first, but i'm absolutely hooked on it now. I keep my playlists downloaded to my phone just in case I lose data connection though. I can't even remember the last time I bought an MP3 since I made the switch.

[WDRacing]

I haven't paid for music since 1999.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I still haven't converted to the Pandora-style music streaming service for a number of reasons:

1: It's not my music.
2: They all SUCK at the "generate a playlist based on a suggested song or artist" thing. ESPECIALLY Slacker and Xbox Music.
3: My car plays CDs and AM/FM and that's it.
4: If I wanted to hear RANDOM music I'd turn on the local FM pop station and let my ears slowly die.
5: Streaming music and its quality is dependent upon internet availability.
6: I don't like the idea of paying for a subscription to stuff that I no longer own after the subscription ends.
7: I don't want to hear ads. EVER. If I wanted ads I'd turn on the local FM pop station and let my ears slowly die.
8: I want files that I OWN, that are DRM-free, and that I can convert and transfer to whatever format or storage media I choose.

I've experimented with Pandora and Slacker and Xbox Music in the past. I didn't stick with any of them.

Google Music is basically the solution to all of the above problems. It allows me to make my own library available anywhere, but I still own the files, can download them for personal use, and I can listen to the song I WANT to hear, not the one the stupid service decides it thinks I want to hear. To get the same functionality from Spotify (offline mode, no ads, your own library) you have to pay $10 a month. @#$% that.

Also:
Spotify's website is terrible. Lots of huge, colorful graphics obscuring very limited and partially broken functionality.

[Kompresshun]

Trust me, I avoided Spotify for a long time and thought it was complete BS. The benefit from my point of view is having almost any song you want available to you at any time. You can set up custom playlists and it will all play just like your own music library. I still keep my own music on my phone too, but I haven't played any music stored on it in months now.

The other bonus is that me and my wife both have different music tastes. We'll listen to each others music, but she doesn't usually care for hard rcok, metal, and ect so I can have a custom playlist of her music available without having to actually purchase the crap.

[MellowZ32]

[Razi]

Lets paint it.
I got tons of spraypaint.

[MellowZ32]

I'll paint your face

[Razi]

Good