Car audio at home!

[HCVP]

Finally ready to be painted.I'm just waiting for the weather to clear up a bit, it's been pretty humid lately, so not really ideal for painting.I also brought a new Cambridge Audio 650A, to run them

[Uber_Flacky]

Very nice mate, Good job

[HCVP]

Yeah they sound unreal. Vocals are amongst some of the clearest i have heard.Only problem is that they don't have any bass response.Though i'm pretty sure that is because of the enclosure design, being sealed, extensively dampened ect.I'm planning on getting some 8's, or 10's, for middbass, and bi amping them in a 3 way set up.

[Joe Bellissimo]

Now you can listen to the wonderful ADs all day long

[HCVP]

Undercoat going on now. I haven't decided what colour to paint them in, i'm thinking i'll just keep it simple and paint them black. There's a few tiny little imprefections in them, because i couldn't get the filler completely flat, and i think the black will show up the least.Who know's with enough coats, they may even level themselves out?

I gotta start making some stands for them soon too.

[SuperSixty6]

^ I haven't read any of this Thread other then your last post, So excuse me if i am on the wrong path - Haha!

However, When painting cars for example, Black surfaces have to be PERFECT. Black shows imperfections the most. Just a heads up....

Cheers,
Super6

[HCVP]

I've actually pulled the plug on this project lol.In the end, i decided to leave them primed and roughly rubbed back, as they were, might throw a coat of cleer on for good measure at some point..Its kind of a rustic like look, and becoming quite popular in some designer furniture stores these days lol.

Where the idea came from, i was in a bedding store, and there was all this rustic looking white furniture, quite expensive too.I asked the lady why it was so expensive, she said because of the effort gone into acheiving the finish.To which i replied, are you kidding me? I spend hours and hours trying to get a perfect finish, only to **** it up and have it turn out like this!!

Anyways, i had fun with the speakers, and actually ran a demo for a friend last week, against a set of Mirage OmniSat V2 floor standers, to come out mile ahead, aside from a lack of low fq response , which is only due to my enclosure design anyway.

These speakers are actually up for sale (minus the enclosures and a set of xovers and tweeters, only single set to go with them and under 10 hours use on them) if anyone is interested..I'd like to see some one with some fiberglass skills pair them up in a front stage setup, with a good 2ohm stable stereo amp...

[Luke's VX Equip]

mate this was dead set what i wanted to do with my home theatre setup but im starting to think is it worth the effort of building it. my dad built his hifi speakers years ago used to be an audio engineer and since he's a carpenter now he made some realy nice floorstanders out of solid oak. i want to do a simular job tho abit smaller like what you have done there ...

i am alot like him with my imagination but sometimes its just easyer to buy some speakers lol my bugget is from 50-200$ for the audio gear what do u think, shood I use car splits or normal tweeters and woofers...
i no that them splits are loud and clear in small aplications being car speakers and thats kinda my idea in a nice pair of frount speakers at the moment i have 3 way teac speakers with 8" drivers plus 3 other 2 way cheapy xms speakers still sound decent tho for surround speakers i am still thinking of keeping the teac frounts but i am just realy keen in hi fidelity sound iv been craving it anything from bose, b&w and so on is just to expensive for me so im thinking otherwise. do you no any good brand speakers at resonable prices just curious of your thoughts. by the ways realy nice speakers

right now im using my dads old onkyo amp but it still sounds great and im running everything on my computer setup in 5.1 for games, music and movies ohh i also have a 15" dtx sub as well biggest home theatre sub in jb i purchased when i was 13 and its still going for 6 years now

[HCVP]

Ok, this is going to be a long post, so bear with me.

You say you crave high fidelity sound? The first and most important desicion you need to make, is whether you want surround sound, or stereo sound.If it's purely for music, then even some best and most sophisticated surround sound setups, cannot compete with some of the most basic 2 channel stereo setups.

The next biggest thing is your room, it's layout, and the way you position your components within it.This will have an effect on your current setup, and you'll most likely find that there are many improvements you can make with your existing gear, before you look at upgrading.The best and most simplest way, in my opinion, is to set yourself up, with your components, in what is reffered to as an equilateral triangle.The distance apart between your left and right speakers, should be the same distance you position yourself away from your speakers, centered, as if you were to draw a triangle.You can also benifit from toeing your speakers in slightly towards you.Too much though, and they will begin to overlap.Try and picture the sound coming from them, like a headlight on a car would project it's light.It's light beam, is quite narrow, and really only useful within a certain range, the same thing applies to your speakers.So that is something you can try with your current setup,try a number of different distances, and see what improvements you might be able make.

Nest thing is sources.Now each source, or component in your setup, are as equally important as each other.Many people say "but it's just an amp, all it's doing is providing power to my speakers right?" Every amp sounds different, from one which will sound laid back, to another which is quite warm, to one which may appear too bright for you.So even a set of speakers that blow you away on one system, may not suits when used on another...Next the sound of your source, what are you using? Do you have a dedicated CD player, do you play CD's through a DVD player, or is your system hooked up to your computer for music?With music, we listen to it in 2 channel analouge.So a lot of time, the music your hear, is very much affected by the type of source you are using to play it.For e.g, if you are using your computer, then the quality of your music is limited to it's built in sound card, and whatever form of digital to analouge converter you are using.

Talking speakers, i'm going to touch on Bose just little, seeing as you bought it up.Now i'm not one of those people that go around slagging off Bose, claiming to be an Audiophile and what not.They do make great products, backed up by some pretty impressive technology.But the question i ask,(and this will help you hopefully when choosing speakers) is what is it you like about Bose?I ask many people, and there answer is,usually, something along the lines of- well they are just so small, there was so much sound coming out of them, i just really wasn't expecting it......Ok, so their reply wasn't anything such as they were impressed by the clarity of the vocals, a lack of harshness that they have experienced with other speakers, or maybe even perhaps hearing more detail within the music, or a sound or instrument that they had not heard before when listening to a familliar song.Does that make sense?

So you really need to decide on exactly what your after, and then look at what you need to achieve that.There's no real sense in just getting a better amp, or a better set of speakers, it needs to go together to be a part of something, part of a plan.At this point , considering your budget, i would rule out DIY, simply because all though it can be fun, and very rewarding, it can often end up costing you a lot more than you originally expected, and if something was to go wrong, then well you have nothing.As far as using car audio components, the main problem there is that they are a difference impedance level, making it hard to match them to HT and stereo recievers.I was able to overcome this issue by wiring my mid woofers in series, but series wiring is not really suggested, or reccomended by many people(that i'm aware of anyway) Also remember that the impedance level will still remain at 4ohm for the tweeter because of the passive crossover used, so you must be very carfeul. But if your keen, don't let what i say put you off, it just requires a bit more knowledge and planning, that's all.

I'd reccomend buying a used set of speakers.Stretching your current budget to $200, could possibly get you something decent if you were patient enough.If your not comftorble buying off the likes of Ebay ect, may join a stereo forum, such as, StereoNET Australia and keep an eye on the classifieds sections.Maybe even a post in the wanted to buy area's could turn up some results also.A quick check of the seller's/responders activity within the forum, should give you a bit of a feel for whether they are a trust worthy person or not.If you have a budget, and a specific component in mind, i'd be happy to help out with some reccomendations for you.

Hope this helps

[Luke's VX Equip]

Ok, this is going to be a long post, so bear with me.

You say you crave high fidelity sound? The first and most important desicion you need to make, is whether you want surround sound, or stereo sound.If it's purely for music, then even some best and most sophisticated surround sound setups, cannot compete with some of the most basic 2 channel stereo setups.

The next biggest thing is your room, it's layout, and the way you position your components within it.This will have an effect on your current setup, and you'll most likely find that there are many improvements you can make with your existing gear, before you look at upgrading.The best and most simplest way, in my opinion, is to set yourself up, with your components, in what is reffered to as an equilateral triangle.The distance apart between your left and right speakers, should be the same distance you position yourself away from your speakers, centered, as if you were to draw a triangle.You can also benifit from toeing your speakers in slightly towards you.Too much though, and they will begin to overlap.Try and picture the sound coming from them, like a headlight on a car would project it's light.It's light beam, is quite narrow, and really only useful within a certain range, the same thing applies to your speakers.So that is something you can try with your current setup,try a number of different distances, and see what improvements you might be able make.

Nest thing is sources.Now each source, or component in your setup, are as equally important as each other.Many people say "but it's just an amp, all it's doing is providing power to my speakers right?" Every amp sounds different, from one which will sound laid back, to another which is quite warm, to one which may appear too bright for you.So even a set of speakers that blow you away on one system, may not suits when used on another...Next the sound of your source, what are you using? Do you have a dedicated CD player, do you play CD's through a DVD player, or is your system hooked up to your computer for music?With music, we listen to it in 2 channel analouge.So a lot of time, the music your hear, is very much affected by the type of source you are using to play it.For e.g, if you are using your computer, then the quality of your music is limited to it's built in sound card, and whatever form of digital to analouge converter you are using.

Talking speakers, i'm going to touch on Bose just little, seeing as you bought it up.Now i'm not one of those people that go around slagging off Bose, claiming to be an Audiophile and what not.They do make great products, backed up by some pretty impressive technology.But the question i ask,(and this will help you hopefully when choosing speakers) is what is it you like about Bose?I ask many people, and there answer is,usually, something along the lines of- well they are just so small, there was so much sound coming out of them, i just really wasn't expecting it......Ok, so their reply wasn't anything such as they were impressed by the clarity of the vocals, a lack of harshness that they have experienced with other speakers, or maybe even perhaps hearing more detail within the music, or a sound or instrument that they had not heard before when listening to a familliar song.Does that make sense?

So you really need to decide on exactly what your after, and then look at what you need to achieve that.There's no real sense in just getting a better amp, or a better set of speakers, it needs to go together to be a part of something, part of a plan.At this point , considering your budget, i would rule out DIY, simply because all though it can be fun, and very rewarding, it can often end up costing you a lot more than you originally expected, and if something was to go wrong, then well you have nothing.As far as using car audio components, the main problem there is that they are a difference impedance level, making it hard to match them to HT and stereo recievers.I was able to overcome this issue by wiring my left and right mid woofers in series, but series wiring is not really suggested, or reccomended by many people(that i'm aware of anyway)But if your keen, don't let what i say put you off, it just requires a bit more knowledge and planning, that's all.

I'd reccomend buying a used set of speakers.Stretching your current budget to $200, could possibly get you something decent if you were patient enough.If your not comftorble buying off the likes of Ebay ect, may join a stereo forum, such as, StereoNET Australia and keep an eye on the classifieds sections.Maybe even a post in the wanted to buy area's could turn up some results also.A quick check of the seller's/responders activity within the forum, should give you a bit of a feel for whether they are a trust worthy person or not.If you have a budget, and a specific component in mind, i'd be happy to help out with some reccomendations for you.

Hope this helps

mate thanks alot more then enough info i needed, i understand what you mean by the impedance being to low on the car speakers so its just abit to much effort for me realy.
still having a think bout finding some good speakers and slapping together a nice box for em but most likley keep the 1s i have or buy a new set.
My aim is to get a nice 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 setup already got my onkyo 5.1 going and im getting a nice sound card soon for games movies and music. thats the reason i wanted a pair of fount speakers since movies use mostly the frount, and music of course is mostly in 2 channel audio, anyways thanks for the help mate ill keep posted when im done with my sound setup

[HCVP]

What are you doing for a centre channel speaker? A centre is just as important as your front F/R.
Rear speakers aren't of as much importance.If you haven't got a centre speaker, you could run your fronts in phantom mode, which means they also recieve the signals that would otherwise go to a centre speaker.Have you got your speakers on stands?Getting them up off the floor, can help isolate them and reduce any unwanted resonance.

Also, because your running a sub, isolating your computer, and or CD player, is important aswell.Getting everthing up off the ground, and in some cases, using isolation platforms, can make a big difference.This can be done fairly cheaply by using peices of timber, and spikes under your components.You can also use spikes under neath the platforms also.If you want to experiment with isolation to see if you can make any improvements, and looks aren't an issue, then some squash balls cut in half also do a great job!

I'm currently working on some for maple platforms myself, one for each component.

[R1DG3Y]

i like the sound of this
might have a crack at it
awesome write up mate

[Luke's VX Equip]

yeah mate i thort of a nice centre speaker as well although ... the only thing about them is they only do vocals and realy annoys me how all these audio producers like dolby digital or Thx only use centre for vocals when say some1 ealse is talking on the right side of the screen and some1 talking on the left side dont use the stereo that much.. which i think is not propper as it shood be where the sound comes from ... i noticed this once when i hooked up left right back and rear and found that absolutly no vocal or even a big majority of the sound wasn't heard then wen i hooked back up the centre i heard way more .... although its probably a preferred thing from the audiance to hear from the centre i guess its more for practicality and prefered sound then pure immersive it will get anoying i although they do give the best of both worlds ...
since the centre is a main speaker i will look to get or make something with alot of clarity ...
i just love nice founts though for everything like music for example, i am kind of likeing tight sort of bass and im kind of getting over the sound of my subwoofer... packs a punch but to big and just prefer that tighter bass for music like trace,house, faster beats... of couse the sub is lovely for rnb or rap.
anyways these are my own personal opinions i have kind of been an ameture audiofile since i was a kid. im not the type of guy that calls myself an audiofile or whatever u call it .. but over my intire life iv loved music and good imensive sound ... 1 think i hate is low quality mp3 files (64kb) i wont even download music at 128kb inless its the only 1 there. Going to upgrade my old 5.1 sound card to something alot nicer when i get my new computer, amd phamtom x6 or the new i7 980x 6 core processors , and of course a new grafics card though my current 1 runs any game and max detail so still not sure when im going to upgrade everything but when i do so i'll deferatly be upgreading my soundsystem ...

hope you guys are familia with computer terms hope im not confusing any1 ?

[paz-6]

1st time ive seen this, love it mate looks exellent, i wanna o something like this now lol

i wanna make 2 seperate boxs for the 2 speakers & some how hook it up 2 my computer for playing all my music ect off.

how woul i hook it up to my computer????

[HCVP]

Anyone looking to enhance their computer's audio output, should be looking at stand alone DAC's rather than spending money on upgraded sound cards.

Paz-6, what do you have to work with at the moment?

[VKCOMMO]

Were all using car audio for things out of a car.. LOL

[alendenial]

Very nice. I am also planning to buy car audio at home. I will also share it soon.

[munazza]

thanks for this superb sharing