Quattro

Wow, Very nice setup.

You gotta love those Tang Bangs.

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Installed
Asus A7N8X-VM - AMD Mobile Athlon 2400
512 Ram - 60GB HD - Opus 150w
Lilliput 7" - Rikaline 6010
[00000000000001100010-] 98% Completed

Check Out My Install!!!

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durwood

Nope. It would be cool, but I never got around to making it motorized. Plus I am not sure I could get it stable enought that it would always work. Every Headunit that I have seen motorized breaks eventually.

The only time I ever flip the screen closed is in neighborhoods I am unsure of or if I am out shopping. Got to keep the sticky fingers away.


Thanks! Ya before the Tang bangs I had some Aura's that sounded pretty good, but these just sound so natural without much EQing. Vocals just sound so natural and open with no harshness. YOu jsut have to be careful not to exceed their frequency reponse and power handling. They break up easily once you reach that point.

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durwood

Look at my new goody! This card, a faster carputer, and a few software programs will set me free from the Alpine PXA-H701...I hope.

My goal is to go 100% carputer for source and sound processing.

I posted a review of this card and once I get it installed and acutally use it I will add more to it. I can't wait!

Attached Images

 

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durwood

The whole fabricated screen mount is nothing but MDF wood. I used 1/2" and 1/4" wood and alot of sanding. There is a 1/4" piece of MDF wood that holds the two sides together. I used two screws to mount the whole assemble to the dash by screwing into the plastic vents through the 1/4" piece of wood on the bottom holding the sides together. It also fits very nicely and is somewhat pressure fitted into the dash. The climate control/radio display Is also just pressure fitted into the dash. It will only come out if I remove either the screen mount or the radio bezel. It really isn't that fancy. If I take some more pictures you will see its very simple.

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CubanAffection

As a fellow 6 owner awesome job, very nice and clean.

I'm currently redoing my interior also with a bunch of goodies. I do have a motorized screen in the map pocket using a linear actuator.

JohnnyO

Thats a great sound card. I have the same one in my HTPC! Its too bad they don't make it in a half height PCI card.

Keep up the good work. -J

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-John

DubPuter Progress [:---------] 05%

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX
Intel 845GL 400MHz FSB Main Board
Intel Celeron 1.8GHz Processor
D Link 802.11G PCI Wireless Network Adaptor

On order - Lilliput 7" Toutchscreen

durwood

Ya the Linear Actuator method will probably hold up better than a motor. Did you have to do any cutting though to get the in your map compartment? I didn't want to cut anything.

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durwood

I am a little disappointed in the ouput voltage from the card. I am going to have to be really careful with noise. Have you used any other cards that you could comapre it to? Just curious.

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CubanAffection

Yeah I had to cut a good amount out of the bottom and the hole for the actuator.

Here's an old video of it: (need quicktime)
http://eden.rutgers.edu/~rudyd/DSCN2814.MOV

I've since re-built it so it closes all the way and sound from the actuator was decreased with dynamat.

JohnnyO

Well I was using a USB turtle beach card which was a peice! The output voltage however on my home setup is not a factor for I am using the cards optical output. I guess some nicely shielded RCA cables would probably work out?

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-John

DubPuter Progress [:---------] 05%

2004 Subaru Impreza WRX
Intel 845GL 400MHz FSB Main Board
Intel Celeron 1.8GHz Processor
D Link 802.11G PCI Wireless Network Adaptor

On order - Lilliput 7" Toutchscreen

RedGTiVR6

nicely shielded, yes, but also how you route everything as well.

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durwood

I am probably going to make my own cables jsut so they are the right length with no extra to spare. I am tired of having extra cable lenght. Its great when you are still trying to figure out a layout, but once its set to go it bothers me.

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durwood

Ok, for the past couple of weeks, I have been gathering hardware and testing software to implement a software/hardware option for doing all my audio tuning. After tons and tons of research, googling, and reading, I had many things to change to make this possible.

With the help of:

REDGTIVR6 (starting the thread of software tunign options and finding most of the programs)
ICEMAN_JKH (First to implement this method and guided me along the way)
Jan at Thuneau (makers of Frequency Allocator/Arbitrator)
and others if I forgot to mention


I now have a functioning computer that is able to do all the processing my Alpine PXA-H701 can do...and its much more customizeable and at a lower cost!

1) I had to upgrade my carputer. Right now its still int he house, but I needed something that could handle the processing power. I did not test it, but everyone I talked to and my own thoughts, the EPIA M10000 was just not powerfull enough to do it.

2) I upgraded to an Intel D865GVHZ Mobo with a 1.8Ghz Mobile Pentium 4-M Processor. (Desktop board with low power mobile processor ) I was using a 256MB 400Mhz RAM until I get my 512mb. Test Harddrive was an ancient 10G Quantum drive.

3) Soundcard- I located an Audiotrak Prodigy HIFI 7.1 card that uses a unique software program called "Directwire" only available with ESI/Audiotrak soundcards. Directwire allows me to send audio from Winamp and PowerDVD to ASIO where I can process the sound using nothing but professional VST plugins. It has User replaceable opamps so you can customize the quality of sound exiting the card.

4) Software used:
Audiotrak Directwire to route audio streams into ASIO.
Console routing program to string/conenct multiple VST plugins
EQ31 VST plugin for 31 band 1/3 octave EQ for left and right input channels
Frequency Allocator Full Version for 4 way Crossover Filtering
Voxengo VST stereo delay plugin on each pair for time delay/alignment.

With (2) isntances of EQ31
(1) Frequency Allocator Full
(4) Stereo Delays

Running on a
Intel D865GVHZ socket478 Mobo
Mobile Pentium 4-m 1.8Ghz
256MB DDR PC3200
Audiotrak Prodigy Hifi with 1024 Latency Setting
Winamp using Direct sound output

CPU usage was 30-50%. No crackles, no sound dropouts. I have not tested it with DVD playback yet.

Below is a screen shot of everything setup in console.

Cost of doing this:

$110 Soundcard
$150 Frequency Allocator
$50 Console
Free 31 band EQ (I am going to donate though)
Free Stereo Delay (I am going to donate though)

$310. That is cheap for what this does. My Alpine cost me more that that, as will other car audio processors will.

Attached Images

 

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RedGTiVR6

hrmm - so it seems then that the only thing I need to do then is find a solution like direct wire?

I'm holding off on purchasing the rest of the software till payday...trying to keep away from the credit cards now...lol

I'm glad you got it all working!

If at all possible, I want to stick with my X-Meridian, but if it's not possible, looks like I'll be purchasing the Prodigy!!

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durwood

hahha. I know I haven't bought the full verisons yet. This was all with the demo versions.

I have a bonus check coming from work and I plan on buying the full versions before Xmas because of the discoutn on Allocator.

RED check out a program called Virtual Audio cable. I beleive it is designed to help you route non-ASIO streams into ASIO for any card. Similar to Directwire on the ESI/Audiotrak products. I think it costs $50. You might want to add it to the Software Tuning thread.

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