Thread: PCI to amplifiers?

one of those cheap 5.1 (aka 6 channel) sound cards off ebay for a few bucks.

made in china, cmedia chipset etc

all the same, all very stable, all average sound quality, some ppl will suggest spending $1000 etc but hell its a car not a place to /enjoy/ music, $5 for the soundcard $995 left for that cinema projector......

PS I run a pci soundcard, a cheap cmedia one, I use its 4 outs, FL, FR, RL,RR into a 4 channel amp, and also connect the FR and FL to my sub amp. works a treat.

just get a 1/8 head phone jack to RCA adaptar, then plug that into your amps.

Originally Posted by lez

its a car not a place to /enjoy/ music

I thought that people generally like to enjoy music in their cars...I know I do...am I alone on this one?

a car isnt good for currect music. Meaning, you will not get good surround sound, you will not haver every speaker act the same way, ect.

Basically, if you like to build indoor audio systems, the carputer will never come close

Although, I dont see why you would have a carputer, or join one, if you think its so stupid.

Ask the SQ guys about setting up a sound stage in a car. It can be done, and it can be done well, to the point of rivaling your vaunted indoor audio system.

Being new to carputers, and still doing my homework, I am still not convinced that a soundcard can compete with a head unit. Although the output may be very high quality the transition to the amps (digital to analog; mini jack to RCA) worries me.

Thoughts?

No it cant, its always going to be a compromise, just having a passenger get in/out changes the accoustics (not to mention spacial volume) so much you will never get the same sound twice, you dont have NTSC as well do you? (NeverTheSameColour as its called in PAL countrys)

No point in a soundcard above the $10 cmedia ones in a car setup, you cant really hear the difference, and I have tried other soundcards.

It maybe the case that a home audio theater will out preform a car in terms of reproducing movie theater quality surround sound, but that is not the goal of most quality car audio set ups. The primary concern is reproducing music accurately on all frequencies. This consists of playing back audio (cd's, mp3's, flac, etc.) and setting up a good front stage. Getting good surround sound and playing music are two very different things. Listening to music has nothing to do with 5.1 simply because music is stereo. You don't need surround sound to play music.

If the problem with 5.1 in a car is that the rear speakers are not of the same quality as the front speaker, than you can always change that...say, by getting the exact same speakers in the rear and focusing on a proper installation...but for simple music playback this shouldn't be necessary. Most people listen to music 95% of the time and watch movies 5% of the time, which is why the primary focus is usually on setting up a good front stage that eliminates the need for rear speakers.

but even if you want to run sterio, and run it into 4 speakers, a 5.1 soundcard (configured for 4ch) is going to be the easiest option, and it will still do surround if you boot up a dvd.

anyhow i was more commenting on the cost/quality overkill not channel setup, I'l leave the 'soundstage' to ppl with more idea on that than me, my bass units sound terrible in my car due to bad positioning.

Originally Posted by lez

i was more commenting on the cost/quality overkill not channel setup

Yeah, I think your right about the cost/quality overkill. Any basic soundcard will do what you want. The $10 ebay one will not be noticeably different than the usb soundblaster by creative. You just have to make sure that you install everything else correctly. For example, keep the rca runs to the amps to a minimum length and try not to let speaker wires run parallel to any power wires...and most of all, find a way to eliminate the infamous speaker pop