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RE: car stereo-philes needed (Long, for Arcives)
Duane,
As a certified Stereo Nut (Audio-phile) as we are more lovingly
called, I would be happy to shed a little light. I'll do it like an
outline
1) Dont listen to any Salesman. Buy what YOU like and what sounds good
to YOUR Ears. A few listening tips. Remember, what sounds good for 10
seconds may not after a 2 hour drive. Boomy, Bassy, speakers or overly
bright speakers tend to give more ear fatique and make you wish you had a
passenger to talk to. Even though they may ROCK when you want to crank
it. Buy speakers (and other components) with nice tonal balance that have
good bass extension (meaning they play well down low but are not Boomy.
Listen to the vocals, do they sound natural?? does it sound like music or
sound coming from a wall??? Bring a few favorite CD's with different
types of music to listen. go into the other room and listen to their
$3,000 home AUDIo speakers and see how they compare.
Now again, buy what sounds good to you. Trust your ears. Also, I
always listen twice on different days. I once came in a second time and
hated the speakers I had liked so much. I was mad when I listened to them
and was in the mood to rock out but missed that they sucked in every other
department.
Ideally you dont want speakers in the dash. Just run 4 speakers.
Two in front doors or kick panels and two in rear deck. That will give
you the best imaging. The rear doors are to close to your ears and mess
with the soundstage. Dash is to close to windshield and ends up bright
and with unpredictable soundstage and imaging.
SPEAKERS - I wont even try to cover all the brands. But, I LOVE
BOSTON. I think they are the greatest bang for the buck you can buy. And
for some reason they seem to work really well in Audi's. Get some RC-51's
for the front doors and either the same or the C-700's plate speakers for
the back deck.
Other options are ADS speakers (look for them on E-Bay), they
sound great but sometimes lack the mid-bass range.
Diamond - sound great. Expensive. Worth the price IMHO
MB Quartz - sound great. Expensive. Not worth the price unless
you get a great deal. IMHO
2) EVERY component makes a difference. Speakers, head unit, amps, even
the speaker wire. And the interconnects. While I cant say that for a non
audiophile, spending a thousand bucks on wire is worth it, dont skimp.
RAdio Shack $8 a spool wire works but it sucks. $20 tires work to, they
are black, hold air for a while, and are mostly round. But would you put
them on your 5ktq. Nope. Judging from the 4ktq you had (which is now
locally owned and I see a few times a year) you dont dkimp much. Dont
skimp here. Aim for the middle of the road of what the average stereo
shop had. Good 4-8 Gauge Power Cable to run the amps depending on how
many , what you have. Quality connectors for Battery and distribution
blocks to send power to each amp. I also like having a separate Circuit
Breaker so I can easilly cut power to the head unit and everything else
(amps, crossovers, etc) in the process. Expect to pay maybe $50 for a
semi-decent set of interconnects. This is minimum. The $15 set at Radio
Shack wont do. (Do you like Alternator Whine???) A frined got amost
$1,000 in interconnects. Of course he only paid a couple hundred due to
connections but its possible. But $50 gets you into the decent range
where you wont have problems. More than a $100 may be overkill for most
people. Speaker wire, again, middle road. You dont need $5 a foot
speaker cable but I know people who have it in their car. (my HOME
speaker cable is prohibitively expensive but its less likely to get stolen
or ruined as well)
3) Remember, its a car system. I spend my money on home systems since I
think they sound much better. Cars are so limited by placement options.
But that said, I listen to more music in cars than at home so recently
I've been spending quite a bit on the car systems.
4) Amps, Again, listen to them. Some amps are bright, some are Power
houses, some are great all around. Off the top of my head.
Soundstream- I use a Reference 300 for a Subwoofer Amp. Its got
Balls galore but its bright. Hook it up to my main speakers and I go
nuts. My SONY sounds better on main speakers.
Sony - OK. Better than their CD Players, not as much to go wrong.
Their ES series is OK
PPI - not to bad. Great sub amps, OK in music dept.
Adcom - Reliability problems, sound ok, balsy
Alpine - V12 series is pretty good. I like them. Decent sound,
power and features.
ADS - I love them. Sound great, lots of power. Newer stuff is
sort of proprietary though and they like to be connected with ADS
connectors. But if you have the $$$$$, it works GREAT.
Extant - Sounds grea, Lots of power, Expensive. But a wonderful
amp that I have limited experience with.
To many more to list.
5) CD, etc head Units. This is the one Item I say, buy the extra 5-year
warranty. for the extra $80 its worth the protection for your $350 -
$1,000 unit. For a really nice system, look for 4v Pre-amp Outputs. At
least 2 sets of outputs. And a big plus is a 3rd variable Subwoofer
output if you plan on having one.
I am partial to Alpine. Reliability is good, good skip resistance
(although most CD players now are not to bad) And I like a real volume
control instead of a button.
Nakamichi is making a come back and I'm really impressed with
their new units. Sound great, nice features, look good, good power. Dont
know what Reliability will be like. Buy the Service plan (warranty) If
its like their older units, you may need it.
6) Alarm Want to keep the new stuff in the car. Get a good one. If you
only spend $500 on stereo gear, dont bother. But if you have $1000+ in
gear, get one. And spend the money to protect your baby and her toys.
Cheap ones go off all the time when cars pass and dogs bark what never go
off when they are supposed to. :-)
Ok, I'll shut up now. Any questions??? If so, let me know. Its a nice
break from the car daily grind.
L8R
Todd Phenneger
Way to many Audi's
Way to much Stereo Stuff..........................
...........Nah, cant have to much.
P.S. High school kid apprached me the other day asking about my "Boomers"
I would have slapped him had I been a girl. I said "What!" He said, you
know, your thumpers. Ahhh, you mean my ....Sub Woofer...????? Yea.
i guess thats the new Lingo. Shows what I know.
--------------------------------
Vandal(s) just removed the head unit and sub/amp from the '86 5QT. Would
like to hear from some fellow listers who know car stereo and can provide
advice on potential head units, amps, speakers, etc. Please respond
directly.
Thanks!
Duane
Todd Phenneger
1983 ur-q / black / getting a MC
1984 4000 quattro / modified/ turbo conv almost done.
1987 4000 quattro / Saphire Metallic Blue/ Girlfriend's
1996 A6q / Volcano / Dads Car
*****1985 5kt / PARTING OUT!