Car-Fi/Travel fi

Hi Arjun,
The system is made by some as OE supply to the car maker. It is having a pair of mid+tweeter in front, a pair of full range on the rear doors and a sub woofer at the back. CDs and FM are the sources. Like you mentioned they do produce a soundstage Best part of it is that the sub and midwoofer do blend well, not a window breaker

Regards
Anil

Hi Arj,
I remember you have asked about this on another thread which I had started on behalf of my friend.
I did a bit of research on car audio...I found Focal and Dynaudio speakers to be really really good. You dont need anything more than a component speakers at the front + Sub below your seat. The sub needs to be carefully chosen as it has to be tight and fast rather than slow and boomy. Box-based subs are a total no no as they sound very boomy and boxy. A sub which can be fitted without a box (suspended) needs to be chosen and instead of putting on the rear (commonly used) they sound much better if fitted under the driver seat. Just a 8 inch sub is enough. You dont have to pump them up to get good bass...they sound sweet and tuneful..the rest of the job is done by the components at the front.

Arj, could you plz give the full model No. of the Pioneer HU, & of the Hertz Spkrs?
I dont want a power Amp/ Sub at the present.
Also the price you paid for these two components.
Tx

Hi Kamal,
I have auditioned the Pioneer head units alongside Alpine here in Bangalore. The Alpines absolutely killed the Pioneers in sound quality. The Pioneer sounded typically Japanese, bright and tizzy with a recessed mid-range while the Alpines sounded typically british...very smooth, detailed and hifi-ish.

Abhi, I agree on the Alipine, but the problem in India is
1. Not all alpines are genuine and if so with Warranty
2. Alpines are way more expensive inspite of the above.(Especially since i wanted 2 Pre outs)

anyway i found this Pioneer not to be so bright and definitely better than the JVC/kenwood counterparts.

focal and dyns are Waaaay too expensive (3 times more)..i dont think we can reproduce a home audio setup in a car without spending too much..the ground noise being higher and more importantly music is secondary and driving primary and i dont like to have my car driven by a driver as i like driving a bit too much !

Regarding speakers, I loved Hertz , they are an italian company, and have very neutralish speakers unlike the tizzy JBL/polk/Infinity range

regarding subs, ported designs are a no no but you do need a boxed sub else you will not get enough bass..a sealed bx sub would be ideal..but i really do not like ppunding bass in my car and hence a 6x9s act as decent back fills (they go down till 45..which are enough for me)


Anyway I have no Compunctions in using the equalizer in my car to reduce the treble and bump up the Mids neutrality is not a concern here..just want all instruments to be audible !!

Kamal,
i think the HU is a 4990 (or so)
an amp is definitely recommended (over a sub) as the built in Amp in the Head unit is pretty wimpy..a standard sony 4 channel (around 6k) will increase the bass/midrange response.
Regarding setup, Front components Dsk 165
rear coax dcx690 (On back door with additional damping). speakers are around 12K, amp 6K ,HU 9K. this is the entry level hertz..if you want to spend more for better quality their Energy series is something..but that requires a better amp as well.

ani, if you have a soundstage the the OE speakers are good ! not so easy to do that in a car...

Hi Arj,
I havent heard the hertz speakers hence no comments...
But somehow when I compared some speakers available here I found Inifinity to be lot more soft and neutral compared to Sony, Kenwood and Boston Acoustics. I found JBL does much better stuff in car audio than in home audio...seriously

Regarding boxed subs...wherever I have heard them I hated them for their boxy and boomy nature...but when I heard some suspended subs, I was floored by their tactile-ness and tuneful nature. Quantity of bass..I didnt pump them up. We were listening at moderate volumes. But the fact is all subs are not suspendable.. . If you buy a sub which is suppose to be in a box and instead you suspend it on a wooden plank, you immediately lose the warranty (unless the dealer is co-operative). So you have to mention explicitly about how and where you want to fit the sub in your car so that the dealer can provide you with appropriate models.

Hi Abhi, I am actually a fan of the Higher end JBLs (ie home stereo) they have a problem that you mentioned only with their lower end products.
Sony and Pinoeer of course should not be mentioned in the same breadth..but Blaupunkt has a pretty good speaker collection..especially components..I have their coaxials in my wifes car and i thought it is rather nice.

wrt car audio pionoeer and JBLs dont match in large vehicles but they do well in smaller vehicles. (Dont ask me why..am still a babe to car audio whch is a different animal) but they do match with Warmer (But more expensive) HUs

Hertz are one of the less heard but specialised car audio products..i was recommended it and can vouch for it now.

( BTW www.Team-BHP.com is a very good Indian forum and it has some really nice and knowledgeable folks on car audio with the indian market/context/budget in mind..i got a lot of pointers from them..)

Of course the SQ variation between the showroom and the Car is too different to compare as car acoustics is too different (Size, shape, dispersion,Car seats, placement constraints and ground noise makes it very different)..so i did not spend too much time in hearing components in the showroom, but did have the fortune of listening to some setups.. hence my comment on the JBL (GTO series). Infinities are much better, but need a better quality amp (JBLs own amps are great but cost close to 8-10K)..they do tend to be bright with Sony amps.


Although i started out on diapers on car audio am a bit more confident these days as I spent about 1+ months in researching the above and talking to experts/dealers/installers and finalising my budget (Which was miniscule compared to what folks seem to go for !!)

I dont know much about suspended subs (I presume they will consider the car as their enclosure ??), so will try to find out more about it, but do try to hear a sealed box sub, they are the most recommended but most of folks who go for subs go for tubes or ported boxes which are hoorribly boomy.

Wanted to post a positive experience regarding car audio. I bought a Mitsubishi Cedia Sports last week. The test drive car that I'd driven had a different, absolutely atrocious kenwood audio system and I had more or less made up my mind to completely trash the included audio system after hearing that. Luckily my car came factory fitted with a Blaupunkt MP46 Bahamas head unit, blaupunkt 6" components in the front and blaupunkt 6"x9" ovals on the rear parcel shelf. I was very surprised to find a decent sounding non boom-boom setup that actually had proper instrument separation and one that was fairly accurate. Thank god I don't need to blow another large packet on car audio :Y.