Thread: Full carputer stereo replacement? Opinions Welcome.

Just curious, What preamp / EQ are you using? Are you connecting the PC to it analog or digitally?

jasonsp6,

Let us know what you accomplish with the software climate control setup. I would also like to install a screen in my dash, but that would require removing my HU and climate controls.

The hauphauge wintv usb fm radio is the best bet. That d-link is crap, i still have mine that i want to sell, just been too busy to sell it. The fm quality is great and the reception is awsome, 100 times better than d-link peice of crappola, and if you want to invest in a powered tv tuner, you can have tv as well (you can get like one choppy channel with the supplied tv antennea)

You should attach the car antena to the hauphauge, the reception is much better with that and it's relitively easy to do.

I don't have a head unit and i have no problems. I have MB Quart Q series speakers in my car all the way around and the sound quality is awsome. Only problem is the ease of use. I'm sure life would be easier controling the volume and treble and bass and all that jaz with a headunit, but its not essential. Got my audio out going straight to my phosgate amp.

I have been doing the carpc thing for about 5 or 6 years now. I finally ended up selling my carpc due to the fact that it hinders a full SQ install, and that most of the other stuff wasn't necessary after the wow factor ran out after the first few years.

But back to the SQ, right now i have an ALPINE 9815, which has 4v preouts meaning you dont have to raise the level of your amplifier's gains thus keeping your noise floor low.

The sound blaster live has about 1.8v preouts, meaning you have to raise your gains up a lot in order to match that voltage thus raising your noise floor. Even if you use a line driver which i tried when i had the carpc you would have to turn the line driver damn near all the way up, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Also with the computer you dont have good crossover control.
With my headunit i have 2 way and 3 way crossover control, i can adjust every aspect of my system's sound from the front of the car, which is great.

So in my opinion if you insist on doing carputer for whatever reason, i would not ditch the headunit completely. If you do then you must not care much about car audio.

If your interested in doing the car computer with just mp3 playback then i would recommend you get this. http://www.pjrc.com/mp3

Highquality output rca line level outputs. Connecting this to a vfd and putting it in your din slot would make for a pretty clean install.

still untested but look at this solution for replacing your stereo a monitor and this::
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer...203/index.html

i'm running with no head unit. I've got the new soundblaster Audigy 2 NX plugged directly into the amp. Great quallity, lower noise/signal than the infinity system I previously had installed. As far as graphic equalizers are concerned, the NX's software is pretty comprensive. the one thing it lacks, or i haven't found/figured out yet is crossover functionallity (define cutoffs and have it send signals to other channels)

The SB audigy 2 NX supports 7.1 channels, FYI. It's more compact and feature packed than the former external SB systems I've used (incl. exdigy(sp?).

wow - my thread keeps coming back to life!!

I am still trying to decide what I want to do... right now I am in the process of testing various configurations and will base my decision on what sounds the best to my ears. With the winter weather now here and work I have had very little time to play, hopefully I can resume working on this next month.