There's nothing like driving down the highway
with the sunroof open and the car stereo singing loudly

::::::::::  Car stereo truths I've learned  ::::::::::

1.     The cheaper the car,  the more you can justify spending on your car stereo

2.     A proper system sounds good on flat  (that means no loudness or tone boosting)

3.     Extended bass,  not exaggerated bass

4.     Use a good home stereo as your sound reference

5.     A car that sounds like a boom box is still a boom box

6.     Clean power,  not WATTS

7.     Don't drill that hole unless you can live with that hole

8.     Sedans make better speakers than trucks or hatchbacks

9.     You get what you pay for

10.     You will forever be paranoid of thieves - even with an alarm system installed!

11.     SQ (Sound Quality) is harder to attain than SL (Sound Loudness)

12.     3D imaging with a frontal soundstage... do you know how hard that is to create in a car ???

Just remember...

The stereo shouldn't look like a 10K diamond in the sun...just sound like one

Don't sacrifice sound realism for LOUDNESS

Resist putting "steal me" stickers all over your car

You may still want that trunk space !


:::::::::: Here's the mobile beast I've got ::::::::::

Head Unit:     Alpine CDA 9813
- the motorized swing-face mechanism is a bit tacky but the deck performs well
 3 sets of 4 volt outputs for clean signal transfer to the amplifiers

CD Changer:     Alpine 6 CD Changer
- mounted right in the center armrest compartment
- very convenient for long drives

Amplifier 1:     Zapco - Studio 300x
- incredible mid-bass reproduction for the front speakers
- accurate SQ (Sound Quality) amp

Amplifier 2:     Precision Power (PPI) 2440
- 4 Channel amplifier bridged to 2 channels for the rear deck speakers

Amplifier 3:     Soundstream L'ill Wonder
- 2 Channel amplifier bridged to make 137 watts
 for the subwoofer
- Hawkins Bass control

Front Speakers:     MB Quart - Q Series - QSD 216
- 6.5" titanium coated mid-bass driver
-  titanium dome tweeter
- the most inpressive overbuilt gold plated crossovers I've ever seen

Rear Speakers:     MB Quart - Discus Series - DTC 169
- 6X9 coax with titanium tweeter mounted in the rear deck

Subwoofer:     MB Quart - Reference Series - RWC 254
- 10 inch bass driver with dual 4 ohm voice coils
 - mounted to a modified and heavily reinforced, sound deadened HAMMER sub box
- uses a VERY tiny box (0.65 cubic foot) to create low bass -  

Sound Deadening:     Dynamat Extreme and Brown Bread
- sound deadeners applied throughout the doors and rear deck of the car
- creates solid bass and incredible imaging from your speakers
- Brown Bread is the best sound-per-dollar mmoney you'll ever spend

Wiring:     Monster Cable and Dragster Fusing
- redundant fusing throughout the car
- 10 gauge Monster Cable speaker wiring

" No ... I'm not obsessed ! "

 

Back to the  GARAGE  to look at some more junk


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