Just wanted to give a big wave to everyone. I'm a lab admin in a EE group, musician by night, and a pretty solid two-channel home audiophile (I own a newer vinyl playback device, if that's a clue).

My previous car was a Jetta, and that had a perfectly ok stereo (esp. for stock). I wasn't expecting much (considering the resonating cavity), but was content.

Moving to the S2K has been a reminder to how crappy the stock stereo is. Crap. So, at our last area Megameet (SACS2KDAYS), I did some listening. . . and, wow. Cool.

Is my car stereo ever going to sound as good as my home stereo? No. Can my car stereo at least be musical? OH YES!!!

Thanks to everyone for putting up those thorough FAQ's. I'll let you know when I finally get something put in (or when I put it in myself). I'll also do my two-bit write-ups as I go shopping.

-8D

 

I'm also a fellow 'home' audiophile on my way to building a system for my S. I'm sure it's possible to get a pretty good sounding system in this car, at least I hope so.

I upgraded the HU and speakers and it still sounds terrible. I still need an amp(s) and a sub + some better front speakers along with all the other needed equipment.

A car may not be practical to have a proper 'listening session', but it's still possible to enjoy music while driving...just on a different level.

 

There is one thing that I have found to be true in car audio....you get what you pay for. (There are rare occasions when you get an AWESOME deal, but for the most part it rings true).

Happy Hunting!

John

 

I agree - the car is not a good place to do in-depth listening (save nothing of the safety factor ).

The first system I heard was a Pioneer HU, with Soundstream woofers and tweeters, and had a set in the rear behind the seats.

The pleasant thing about that setup was that while there are supposedly phasing issues, clearly they had been taken care of by both fader and the fact that they fired directly into the seat, allowing only the diffuse energy to "spread" in the car.

 

Throwing more hardware at the problem may not be the answer. All I've done is add a second run of speaker wire to each door so that the tweeter and woofer can be driven separately, bypass the filter cap on each tweeter and install an Alpine CDA-9833 head unit. All the rest has been careful adjustment of the Alpine's crossover and time delay settings. I didn't even touch the equalizer.

I think the system sounds great now. Does it rival my home system? No, but nothing built into a car ever will. If SJC = San Jose, you're invited to come and listen sometime.

 

Yeah - the bang for buck factor in car audio is starting to look pretty proportionate.

Home audio is not at all like that. There are companies that putting out INCREDIBLE pieces of equipment for very reasonable prices. However, much like car audio, the devil is in the details (baffling, cables, etc.).

Tonight, or this weekend, time permitting, I'll take a listen to the Dynaudios and tell you what I think.

 

[QUOTE] Throwing more hardware at the problem may not be the answer. . . .All the rest has been careful adjustment of the Alpine's crossover and time delay settings.

 

What companies are we talkin about for these incredible pieces of equipment? And what do you consider reasonable prices?

Not trying to give you a hard time, just curious.

 

Recommended- from personal experience.

Peter

 

Music Hall, Jolida and Antique Sound Labs to start. Mind you, this stuff is a bit more than say Denon or Marantz, but the quality of the sound is substantially better, and still way cheaper than some of the grand prix equipment (Halcro, McIntosh, Audio Research, Krell, etc.).