Big Mike's Audio Overhaul Progress Thread!

[chris2523]

I can say this... Anything sounds better than stock and waiting for that stock amp to just quit one day. All of that stuff is cheaply made.

I never even use the CD player anymore lol. With the iPod, CD's are pretty much useless when you have 3 to 4K songs inside the console.

These two things i agree with completely!

 

[LaserSVT]

I like MP3 format and using USB drives and such but take a MP3 and play the same CD song back to back. On a quality system you will be amazed how much difference there is. Its the little things that make the music come alive.

Like Seals "Loves Divine" you can hear the background noise level difference when he goes from one sample to the next on CD but its almost gone on the MP3.

Or Yes Talk where you can hear him take a breath before the solo and its not there on the MP3.

Or Fleetwood Macs "You Make Lovin Fun" where the cymbols just sizzel when Mick smacks them. They are only just a boring cymbol in the MP3 version.

Building a Better Spaceships "Bulletproof" where he goes into the quick drum transition. On CD when he smacks the drums they are alive and you can feel the kick. Record that CD to an iPod and all the impact of that transition is lost. You can hear it but no longer feel it.

I hate data compression.

 

[kaha]

MP3 format is way outdated. Much better is Ogg-Vorbis. That's what I rip my music CDs to.
Way cleaner sound and smaller file size.
Now to find a head unit that'll play .ogg files...

 

[chicken]

I like MP3 format and using USB drives and such but take a MP3 and play the same CD song back to back. On a quality system you will be amazed how much difference there is. Its the little things that make the music come alive.

Like Seals "Loves Divine" you can hear the background noise level difference when he goes from one sample to the next on CD but its almost gone on the MP3.

Or Yes Talk where you can hear him take a breath before the solo and its not there on the MP3.

Or Fleetwood Macs "You Make Lovin Fun" where the cymbols just sizzel when Mick smacks them. They are only just a boring cymbol in the MP3 version.

Building a Better Spaceships "Bulletproof" where he goes into the quick drum transition. On CD when he smacks the drums they are alive and you can feel the kick. Record that CD to an iPod and all the impact of that transition is lost. You can hear it but no longer feel it.

I hate data compression.

i dont wanna ask, seal? really? anyway, my pioneer has some sound retriever function for use with mp3s, says it brings it back to cd quality. does it.....kinda there is a noticeable difference when turning it on and off i wouldn't say cd quality but close

 

[billcu]

I like MP3 format and using USB drives and such but take a MP3 and play the same CD song back to back. On a quality system you will be amazed how much difference there is. Its the little things that make the music come alive.

I agree.

I don't think I even like 3K to 4K songs anyway.

 

[Big Mike]

Dead camera batteries, so I need to go out and snap some pics... I got both door panels off, stock speakers out, driver door sound dampening installed, speaker wiring installed, and left front midbass and x-over mounted. As soon as I figure out some mounting options for the mid and tweeter I'll finish up the left door and get into the right side.

 

[LaserSVT]

i dont wanna ask, seal? really? anyway, my pioneer has some sound retriever function for use with mp3s, says it brings it back to cd quality. does it.....kinda there is a noticeable difference when turning it on and off i wouldn't say cd quality but close

Yes, Seal is one of the bst artists to use to set sound stage and to properly set tonality.

The way his music is recorded you if you can set him so it sounds like hes in your lap then you have the sound stage set properly.
He uses a lot of real piano in his stuff and that is one of the hardest instruments to reproduce and not sound like it was reproduced.

 

[LaserSVT]

Dead camera batteries, so I need to go out and snap some pics... I got both door panels off, stock speakers out, driver door sound dampening installed, speaker wiring installed, and left front midbass and x-over mounted. As soon as I figure out some mounting options for the mid and tweeter I'll finish up the left door and get into the right side.

I was wondeing about that too. Not enough depth there to 3-D mount them. Is there enough room to make another small hold next to the factory hole? Mount the mid in the factory locastion and you only need a hole large nough for the tweeters cone to fire through. It would help with imaging cause mids would be aimed at your head and the tweeters would aim right in front of your face.

 

[BlackLS06]

i dont wanna ask, seal? really? anyway, my pioneer has some sound retriever function for use with mp3s, says it brings it back to cd quality. does it.....kinda there is a noticeable difference when turning it on and off i wouldn't say cd quality but close

You cant raise quality once its lost.

 

[Big Mike]

I was wondeing about that too. Not enough depth there to 3-D mount them. Is there enough room to make another small hold next to the factory hole? Mount the mid in the factory locastion and you only need a hole large nough for the tweeters cone to fire through. It would help with imaging cause mids would be aimed at your head and the tweeters would aim right in front of your face.

That is my plan, and preliminarily so, it seems to be a good one. the only other scenario I was considering was to mod the grille by cutting a hole in it above the section where the stock tweeter hole is below it, and sink the mid/tweet 3d assembly into it and fasten it in back with hot glue/epoxy/etc. The 3d setup really does sound immersive. I figured out how to mount the giant crossovers so this shouldn't be hard. Initially I wanted to mount all four 3d assemblies up front, but I don't know if I can manage it.

What about putting the 2nd pair of 3d mid/tweets in the kicks?

 

[Big Mike]

I just realized the DEH-2700 low end Pioneer deck that came in my car has a parametric 3 band, which is a plus, it will surely help me live with it for a little while.

Here's a pic, as promised, of the door as it's coming along. I'll pick up some more good batteries so I can use an actual camera. But I wanted to at least add a cell pic.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

lookin good

 

[chicken]

Yes, Seal is one of the bst artists to use to set sound stage and to properly set tonality.

The way his music is recorded you if you can set him so it sounds like hes in your lap then you have the sound stage set properly.
He uses a lot of real piano in his stuff and that is one of the hardest instruments to reproduce and not sound like it was reproduced.

in your lap huh? sounds like you've got the gay! i get using the "crappy music" to set your shyt up, hell i usually set up my systems to country.....then never play any of that crap again once its set :yuck:

You cant raise quality once its lost.

i agree, but it does sound better with it on rather than off. honestly i just think it bumps the treble up a bit. but sadly cds are going the way of the cassette and 8 track, and we will have ipods and mp3's till apple makes some other gimmick that everyone has to have

 

[Lownslowlsc]

i agree, but it does sound better with it on rather than off. honestly i just think it bumps the treble up a bit. but sadly cds are going the way of the cassette and 8 track, and we will have ipods and mp3's till apple makes some other gimmick that everyone has to have

The higher frequencies are pretty much what asr tries to restore. Which are most affected when compressing audio into mp3/wma format.

I have to use mine sometimes when a certain song is abit dull. I'm going to try and re-tune it w/ the asr on and see if I can see a diff. But so far to me it's just kinda like a "loudness" setting.

 

[Big Mike]

I do use mp3s and other compressed formats, but I try to be sure I get the highest quality I can. I dont use apple devices or computers though, just my preference.

On a side note, I wish the weather were better. The heat, and resulting gallons of sweat, really drive me nuts. I miss my carport. Install in walmart parking lots sucks, but thats the breaks of untrustworthy neighbors.

 

[kaha]

1.) I like Seal.

2.) Ogg-Vorbis is a much better format than mp3 for clean sound. Smaller filesizes, too.

 

[Big Mike]

I only like seal if I'm with a gal who does. I do use his music to tune, I learned it from a demo cd when I used to work at circuit city. Sinatra is good for tuning too,but I actually like old blue eyes.

 

[kaha]

Interesting to know, Mike. I have no clue about tuning, but always figured that the best for that would be Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

 

[Big Mike]

I use floyd, outside of the fact that they are my favorite band. I use ''wish you were here'', ''learning to fly'', and ''welcome to the machine'' as reference material for my installs.

 

[kaha]

I use floyd, outside of the fact that they are my favorite band. I use ''wish you were here'', ''learning to fly'', and ''welcome to the machine'' as reference material for my installs.

I knew you were a good man when I voted for your surgery. Got "Pink Floyd" tattooed on my left bicep.

 

[LaserSVT]

Robert Plants "Im in the mood", Cars "Moving in stereo", Yes "State of Play" and anything from Sheffield Labs is good to tune with.

 

[Big Mike]

I have a few sheffield and telarc discs including sheffields autosound 2000 set and the focal samplers.

 

[BAD97LSC]

hey bill you want a really good clear sounding song, try "water of love" from dire straits, it slams in my car and knocks my compass module off the mirror everytime!!!

 

[LaserSVT]

I have a few sheffield and telarc discs including sheffields autosound 2000 set and the focal samplers.

Man I would kill for some CD rips of the 2000 disc and the Focal stuff! Can only find a few tracks online but they are MP3 so a good portion of the material is lost.

hey bill you want a really good clear sounding song, try "water of love" from dire straits, it slams in my car and knocks my compass module off the mirror everytime!!!

Thanks, gotta give that a try.

 

[BAD97LSC]

its a good song, then again i like anything from dire straits anyway, money for nothing is another loud ass song from them!