Your Car Audio
 

Hey I was just wondering what kind of audio you guys have in your Stangs?

I plan on putting 2 Audioban 12" subs in mine, and shop around for the other parts.

I got rid of the factory deck and made an in-dash 1ghz computer & using a 7" touchscreen vga lcd with it (moulded the lcd into the radio bezel & painted it to make it look 'stock'). Used a wiring harness to hook up to the factory amps and have an extra alpine amp for the highs. Have a crossover to feed the proper frequencies and a sb audigy nx usb soundcard for good sound quality. Bonus of this is I have unlimited mp3 storage pretty much, gps, dvd, wmv and avi movies, etc. Not to mention mobile internet access, rear wideangle backup camera (coming soon), etc ;)

Chris

What did that run your for Chris?

depends how far you want to go..

motherboard with embedded cpu is about ~3-400 now
dc-dc power supply with auto turn on (runs off ignition) and amp turn on 180USd
harddrive - free, but a notebook one runs about ~80 and you need a slimline to ide adaptor which is $10
memory - ~150
7" vga touchscreen - about ~350
gps - 80USD
soundcard - ~250
materials to make case - ~20
materials to fab custom radio bezel - ~50

etc etc.. the list can go on and on :P I got an extra radio bezel off ebay for $20 so i could keep my stock one if I decide to take this thing out. THe extra amp I had laying around, the wiring harness was about $30, wiring was another $50, etc etc. The backup camera is about $300 (replaces your key cylinder in your trunk), and the list keeps going

EDIT: KEep in mind (with the exception of the power supply and touchscreen), most the stuff is 1/2 the price now since I bought most of it a year ago.

Chris

That is pretty kool what you did.
I got a few questions about some of the stuff you put into to make it run.

"to ide adaptor which is $10" What does this do exactly?

"gps - 80USD" Can't you just download software to do this? I haven't really looked into it but I image there is some type of software for a GPS on the PC.

"dc-dc power supply with auto turn on (runs off ignition) and amp turn on 180USd"
How does this affect your car and computer?
Does your computer take alot of the battery power and have you had any problems with your battery because of it?


Also I had a suggestion,
Would you just be able to mount a laptop in the car and have all your sound / video and stuff like that run directly to the Laptop. You could even make it removeable and take the laptop when you need it for school/work.

Have a lookm here: www.mp3car.com

Tons of info and pricibg there... also check ebay... way better deals

Cheers:cheers:

Does not the extra weight slow the car down? :laughhard

Ya and when you get a BSOD do you have to pull over and pull the battery connection and reboot your car?:LOL:

the ide adaptor is because I'm using a notebook harddrive with a desktop motherboard. the notebook harddrive is smaller, weighs less and is much more resistant to shock along with operating angles. A desktop harddrive is not meant to resist shock, its bulky and is only meant to operate horizontally. A notebook harddrive can still operate for short periods of time while on an angle (turning, etc).

as far as extra weight, the 7" lcd weights like 2lb, the computer weighs in at about 5-6lb, then the weight of the amp. no more than 20lbs total, which should only affect your 1/4 time by .02 seconds ;)
the gps is the usb gps module. this is the one i got: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...791830065&rd=1 .. cheapest one out there i think... but it works absolutely awesome. the software is not free, but it can be 'free' :)

the dc-dc power supply lowers the power draw from your battery. i use a 90w one which is more than sufficient for my usage. it wires up to your battery, ground and ignition wire. turns on with the car, and off with the car (i set mine to hibernate, less time to boot up.. < 10sec). for bsod's, run a switch to the ground or ignition wire from the power supply. i have yet to do this, but it son the top of my list. if you get a bsod or the comp freezes, just flip the switch on and off or get a reset switch. i've only had a bsod once, and i just pulled my fuse to restart the comp which wasn't too convenient.

there are other benefits for the dc-dc power supply. very compact, no fan needed with the 90w (about the size of a pci card), low power draw, etc. if you use a standard desktop power supply, 1) it will not fit in-dash, 2) draws wayyyyyyy more power beacuse the inverter takes the dc current from the battery, converts it to ac, then the power supply takes that ac and converts it back to dc. you CAN do this, but its a waste and takes up space.

many people have mounted laptops in their car. if you use a docking station, you can hook everything up to that then you dont have to disconnect anything when taking the laptop out. it uses more space, but if you dont care then go for it.

Wow thanks for the in depth reply, I really learned alot about it now.

I am definatly going to have a setup something like that.

Thanks alot,
Morg

I had a nice little idea yesterday and if you guys could give me some feedback that would be great.

I figure you could easly put a laptop under your car seat and then run wires going to like a in-dash VGA monitor. From another post I understand that running a laptop takes less power then a normal PC. Hell I can even power it up at home then take it out. I would plan on using the laptop for (DVDs, GPS System, Music). I figure it would be pretty easy to wire the VGA monitor to come to the laptop (under the drivers seat, if possible). But one thing I am not sure about is how the laptop would hook into my deck. I am not sure of the quality difference but I might just use my Laptop for all my music. Instead of it going to a CD player / deck. I plan on having subs in there as well. Any ideas on how to do this?

easy... the vga screen i use has a vga cable and a usb cable (for the touch screen). Get a vga extension cable to run to the laptop, and use a usb hub for the touch screen (or just an extension). I'd recommend an external usb soundcard (like the audigy nx, or they have a pcmcia version now also). You run a stereo to rca y-adaptor (one end is like a headphone's jack, the other is 2 rca's). you use that from the soundcard (or you can try the laptop's on board sound first to try to save $$) to the rca inputs on the back of your deck (if it has it which it hopefully does, if not most decks you can get an adaptor to use the cd changer input for an aux input). When you wanna listen to music from the comp, just switch your deck to use the aux input. If you use a good soundcard like the audigy, the sound will be as good if not better then a cd.

with that the display will be on your in dash screen, you use the touch screen to control the laptop and you hear the music/videos/whatever on the car's stereo system.

All I hear is "BLAH BLAH BLAH". Where's the pics!

:gotpics:

Wow thanks for the indept response. I now know exactly what I have to do :) . Ya I have some Soundblaster cards laying around but for a desktop, I will definatly get a laptop with an audigy and a USB connection on it. In my current System my Desktop I have like on-board audio. Its gotta be the best sound I have ever heard from on-board.... its on a AMD Gigabyte board and it has like 7.1 Audio capablity. Also I think it has 2 RCA connectors on it to go to a decoder or something.

Ya I will definatly do that, I bet this will save me alot of $$$. I can usually get good deals on laptops and computer stuff, workin in a PC repair shop has its advantages :tup


Can you wait on the Pictures? like maby 8 months? :LOL: I still need the car first

For my system im running 2 12'' phoenix gold xs series subs, a alpine 700 watt amp, phoenix gold capacitor, and a kenwood deck. I'm Gonna be rewiring my system to a 0 gauge power wire instead of 4 gauge and hopefully i can get a in dash deck. but these plans might not go through cuz im looking to get rid of the old v6 to get a gt convertible.