Someone please help with audio!

**trader007** · 09-15-2009, 09:31 PM

ok, thats not my idea of ideal but whatever you want is good. you will need a new amp it sounds like... there are other ways to hack what you have into working, but it wont sound as good as it should.

do you know what size amp you have? how many watts? we could help you pick a decent one for a good price im sure.

**armysgt** · 09-15-2009, 09:37 PM

I'll have to check that out tomorrow when its light out. It's just my 2003 tiburon's stock infinity amp. Just curious, but why wouldn't that sound as good? Hmm, I've seen other tiburons with the ash tray and cig lighter removed and they have a deck in place of that. Maybe that would be better. Then, I would still have my screen and have a deck below it. Ill try and find a pic for ya, hang on a sec.

**armysgt** · 09-15-2009, 10:03 PM

My mouse just took a crap on me gotta go find a new one

**armysgt** · 09-15-2009, 10:23 PM

like this-

**trader007** · 09-15-2009, 10:42 PM

no, i mean if you want to get crazy technical, supposedly having the least amount of devices in the audio chain leads to the best sound... but a good head unit wont change a thing. what i like about having one is the physical volume knob and control that it totally seperate from what windows is doing. it never fails and is always instantaneous across the board of anything youre doing. also, its really nice to have the am/fm radio that, 1) works better then anything you can add to your pc and 2) works even when your pc isnt. you also get a shock-proof cd player with a headunit, which doesnt matter much because its just for cd's, but those too of course work when the computer is down too.

either way isnt a big deal though, it seems about 50/50 on the people that like it and those who rather just feed straight into an amp and rely completely on the pc to do everything.

another really nice thing too is the speed control volume... you can let RR go from 60% at 0mph to 100% when you hit 55mph or whatever, and since the headunit controls the final volume, the speed controlled volume from windows just becomes a varying attenuator. it makes things very automatic, because its always on and just raises the volume enough to compensate for road noise no matter how loud you have the volume on the headunit.

**armysgt** · 09-15-2009, 10:50 PM

Ok, just your opinion, if you were me, would you either just replace the stock or add a head unit to the bottom? Here's my thoughts: I could definitely do without a cd player, that's what my pc is for. i really don;t like the look of a head unit down there if I have a touch screen above it. I just thunk it looks too cluttered. On the other hand getting a head unit would seem way easier to hook up. Then again I guess it would be just as easy to replace my amp. That would have the same inputs as a headunit, correct? Rca's? I'm thinking replacing the amp. What is your setup?

**armysgt** · 09-15-2009, 10:51 PM

that first sentence i meant replace the stock amp

**trader007** · 09-16-2009, 02:10 AM

its really your decision. if you like the idea of the added functionality but dont care for the extra noise in the appearance of your dash, i wonder if you could find a clean looking headunit... the old JVC chameleon comes to mind, when its off its just a flat back glossy panel and still looks clean when its on.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvjahjWu0d0[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN3b2N-GJ-I[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU5chgUexwM[/media]

although, im not suggesting you get one... i dont think they make them anymore, and you would be wise if you do go the headunit route to get something with a 3.5mm input for extra flexibility.

this is a nice pioneer model-

DEH-P880

**armysgt** · 09-16-2009, 12:21 PM

yeah both those are pretty clean looking. if i did go that route, how would i connect my card so i get all my sound? there are the 3 outputs for rear,front and sub. would i just connect the sound straight from the headphone jack on the card? you can't really see them but on the front there is the mic in and headphone jacks.

**trader007** · 09-16-2009, 01:40 PM

well that depends on how many inputs your amp has.... how many speaker wires go into it?

because what you will be doing is feeding the pc audio into your new radio... then the radio will send the signal to the amp as 'high side'. so, likely, there are just 2ch going to the amp- left and right, and the amp itself splits out to 4 speakers plus a sub.

but thats not for sure because i dont know how your amp is configured. youll need to get back to me about that, but for the most part any decent headunit nowadays has both front, rear and sub inputs- and the headunit will mix it all up for the amp to see.

what youre really going through is the problem that OEM systems bring, they are just not made to be expanded or added to. ideally you would both replace your amp and add the headunit, but i dont think the amp would make a huge difference in your case since youre running the stock speakers. a new amp would certainly be easier for you though, after thinking about it, its not the easiest thing to do when you try to add a radio to a spot that wasnt made for it. i can tell you a new amplifier should be a straight hookup, whereas the radio would likely be a weekend project...

i guess im just as torn as you are on what you should actually do

(i can tell you one thing, if it were my car, the rear speakers would go bye-bye in any case no matter what. actually i would sell all the speakers and buy a really good pair of front's. one good pair of fronts will utterly destroy what you have for sound quality and loudness... rear speakers do nothing but add distortion, because they just oppose the sound waves that cant escape your small car. any audio installer will tell you- all speakers up front, subwoofer in back.)