update... & another reeeeeaaaally long post
well, the title of this thread says "..and high end audio", I knew I wanted that even before I picked this car, & picked it specifically for that
first of all, I won't rip this car apart for the system until my Montana's back on the road, most of the time I build as I go with my custom cars, but I'm pretty tired of driving around with my cars in pieces, now that I'm going to be building 2 different cars that I will be driving both, my game plan is to always have one intact while I work on the other
I'm taking my time planning & getting everything togeather... this car I'll pre build & setup stuff before it even goes in, so I can minimize the downtime..
as far as the system in this car, I originally was hoping to be able to do my mod to the alpine & build a hybrid system.... research & testing has shown this to not be a viable option...
I then decided to attempt to build a second PC to act as an audio server of sorts, & using asio drivers & specialty software to do all audio processing... the game plan there was to use a program called console, & with vst plug gin's & some sort of d/a conversion, possibly a dac, but the problems there are pretty widespread, not the least of which is being able to get as many quality outputs as necessary for this, & getting everything to work & co-operate...
there are several threads here detailing the processes & hurdles involved.... & this is going to be pretty processor intense... as my only real option to be able to have my PC actually control all audio processing, this was a very ambitious & pretty time consuming project, at this point it's almost experimental, & there are sure to be many bumps in the road with that method, but in the end I might have been able to actually pull of what I intended, with a bit of help from a few others on this forum with similar goals...
in researching the hardware necessary to put a system like this together, I started to realize that there really is no out of the box solution to doing just what's desired on the PC, & at the highest level of quality... in the end we really are trying to reinvent the wheel, only because the wheel as we need it, just doesn't exist yet... red, me & a few others are actively trying to develop a solution for this, & while I am very enthusiastic about being able to eventually achieve this goal, part of me just really wants to go back to the original alpine system, I mean just hook it all up & it just works, as much as I enjoy a challenge & enjoy developing this, I also don't want to get into yet another long drawn out build, & wind up being at that "in-between" stage for a long time... I really would just like a definite plan of attack that can be executed & just be done as I start it... this was not that by a longshot.....
well, In my research I have come across something very interesting, & the more I looked at it, the more I knew that THIS was what I am REALLY looking for!!!
I am talking about a processor that I have found, this processor is a professional studio or event unit, a professional rack mount processor, now this thing does virtually everything that could ever be needed to do the kind of tunning that I really want...
this unit can do all x-over functions, including notch filtering & different orders, it can do time delay & phase shift... it can do compression & limiting... of course it can do 1/3 octave eq'ing independently on each of it's 8 outputs....
basically it can do anything that could possibly be done to fully tune a car install, to the level that I have never been exposed too... I mean I have built plenty of systems, & even a few competition systems, BUT nothing with anywhere near the control of this piece... this thing is so intense that it even makes the alpine f1 status processor kinda look like a toy in comparision... I mean they are 2 different things really, & of course the alpine is easy to use in an install of a typical car, but this thing is just so much more advanced in the actual tunning abilities afforded by it...
now all this is well & good, I mean I was aware of studio equipment to this extent, but... there is one very big factor that I wasn't aware of until I found this piece.... this thing is actually 100% configurable & adjustable from a PC!!! I mean it uses a GUI interface that is totally sick from an audiophiles point of view.... it can control everything & anything through on screen modules, & I mean everything...
this is EXACTLY the kind of control that up until now I could have only dreamed about.... I mean most of this could probably be done on a PC through console & vst plug gin's, but it would be a real hurdle to get all this set up & configured properly, & then have it all co-operate with the hardware involved.... setting up a server like this would only have a best case scenario of just trying to emulate what this unit does natively... I mean this is just an out of the box perfect solution... it IS the server that I had only hoped to be able to EVENTUALLY build.... all done, & NOT RUNNING ON WINDOWS AT ALL!!!!
the more I looked at this unit, & the more I weighed it vs. doing all this on a windows PC, the more I knew I just had to have this.... I found out about it one morning, & by chance there happened to be a used one on ebay that was ending in just a few hours that day.... so I made my decision quickly & then bid & won the one on ebay
I have come to find out afterwards that this thing is actually used in pro competition cars & I think that a car with this same unit has even won a world champ tittle in iasca, but even they didn't have a cool 10.4" reflective screen built into the dash to tune this with
SOOOOO, this is the latest game plan here, this processor creates no add'l load on the carpc, & in effect actually lightens the load a bit, as now the carpc has to do nothing but spit out a bit perfect unprocessed stream....
the drawbacks I see to this unit are:
#1 size... the unit is only 3 1/2" high, but it is 19" wide & over 12" deeep... I am willing to give this the space it needs though, & I will get this in the car no matter what
#2 cost.... this unit lists for over $3,000!
street price at a deal is still around $2,500, but thanks to ebay I winded up getting this for about half that.... while still expensive for sure, when I compare this to what I would have spent building the PC & all the hardware involved, this cost is really negligible, I mean I was sure to spend close to the same amount anyway, if not more even....
#3 110v ac input power.... this is not too hard to get around, I have a Friend who is an engineer who could help me there, but red has turned me on to a guy who has done this mod before, & it shouldn't be too difficult to get this to run on 12v one way or the other...
#4 only 4 inputs... if surround is a goal this would be a hurdle, but I'm not really interested in surround in this car, if I ever build a surround car my approach would be quite different, even in my drivers of choice... this car is just going to be stereo with a horn & an 8" mid at each front position
#5 no digital input.... this is easy to solve as I can get one high end dac to do the d/a conversion without issue
#6 xlr balanced in/out.... this could actually be a benifit more than a drawback, but I included it as a drawback cause it will need solutions to resolve this... a dac with a balanced output & balanced input amps & the problem is solved, but I had originally hoped to use a few of my mcintosh amps in this car.. I still can really, but I don't know what the output voltage is on this thing, & there could be minor issues with using the mcintoshes...
I've since been looking at butler tube amps as suggested by scottfx, they have direct xlr inputs & that will probably be my solution at this point
the benefits of this unit are :
#1 a 100% complete & guaranteed total solution for my every desire, simple & easy, almost as easy as drop in & done.... hell of a benefit there
#2 no PC server required.... ign-to-sound in seconds, every time, no volatility/ bugs /conflicts/ crashes that would normally be associated with a pc... THAT'S a huge benefit to me....
#3 all easily configurable & adjustable & programmable right through my front carpc.... no fuss or driver issues, & no excessive load on the PC at all... it just works & works well....
#4 this is studio grade high end equipment, there is no question as far as the quality is concerned... this is pretty much as good as I could hope for, provided I give this the rest of the system it needs to support it, I'm pretty much at the top end of what I could do in the car...
#5 it's just plain cool, I mean the chances of me wishing I had done more & latter upgrading it are very low.... this is a no compromise solution at this point
this list could go on & on, but to me the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks to the point that this just became an instant no brainer to me
I pick the unit up tommorow
here's a screenshot of the included software interface.... you can adjust everything, & I mean EVERYTHING.... this is an audiophile/tuners best wet dream
but I did try to talk my buddy into picking it up. It is a real nice price. Now to go buy a lottery ticket...
Linear Mode
