(no subject)

[greatbear]

I took the day off, partially from feeling under the weather, but also to catch up on some paperwork and tasks around the house. One of these projects has been to finish up installing the new stereo in the Stratus. Leave it to me though, it was not just a simple headunit swap. I picked up an Alpine IVA-D310 headunit, along with a Sirius tuner module and iPod adaptor interface module. For the time being, I had planned on keeping the stock amp and speakers that came with the car, since it actually sounds pretty decent, being biamplified on all four corners and with an acceptable amount of power. Try as I might, though, I could not get the new headunit to play nice with the stock amp. The stock HU has it's own power amp, but that feeds the separate amp where an active crossover takes over and sends highs to the tweeter amps and lows to the woofer amps, and these signals then head out to the individual speakers. The new HU has a similar internal amp and output configuration, but it's playing hell with the amplifier.

In the screechiest, tweeters-only way possible.

I had a pile of instruments checking signal levels, voltages, and whatnot, and there is no differences at all between the stock head and the new thing. Except there is no woofer action at all. Makes no sense whatsoever. So, I am going to toss the original cassette radio back in the dash, and pack the new mess back up in the box and tackle it some other day. After mucking around with the new setup, it's also become clear that I will probably be adding a subwoofer to the stupid thing because it's set up with a non-defeatable crossover that needs a sub by default. I really did NOT want to get stupid insane with this thing. I got the DVD headunit mainly because of the big touchscreen and expandability, possibly adding navigation at a later date. My 'boom car' days ended in the 80s. So, unless I bail out totally on this system, I'll have to buy speakers, a small sub and whatnot to get it going. Right now, I am contemplating the former.

I never thought I would say that. I used to live and breathe this stuff, winning trophies and coming up with some crazy setups of my own as well as for others, before there was such a 'hobby'. Then again, I was half the age I am now and with scads more enthusiasm. I'm not lacking in abilities, just motivation. Maybe I'll get bitten with the bug again.

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'd say go for the small sub. You'd be surprised at what it can do that the stock speakers, 6x9's X4 can do. In my Mom's 04 Stratus, I think she has the standard CD unit and the bass is kick ass as it is, but I think a tad loosy goosy though. Roll off the extreme bass to the door speakers and use a small sub to fill in and I think you may find it tightens up greatly. You don't even need to turn it up much, enough to give what you need and no more. It's especially true if you listen to trance/techno stuff, rock or heck, even jazz.

I just wished the stock head unit in my ford Ranger had halfway decent bass. It lacks it to a huge degree and I think has not a huge amount of power to begin with. Hell, my stock Honda Accord LX-I cassette deck ran circles around it and it's an '88 model Vs my 92 Ranger's head unit.

It's a suggestion mind you. :-)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The '00 Strat has biamped coax 6x9s in the back deck, and biamped 6 1/2 separates up front, with the tweets in the dash. That setup makes for a really good overall soundstage and separation. Since the stock stuff is biamped like it is, I'd be best off abandoning the original wiring, running my own to the four corners, getting 'conventional' speakers and starting from that. I just did not want to spend the money right now, or tackle a time consuming project when I got so much else going on.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Ah ok. Curious, is her's the optional infinity setup? Mom's is the mid level single CD unit and what looks like 6x9's in all four doors if I recall right.

But her's was also we think a possible rental initially.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's not the Infinity, but it's the 'premium' version. It had a cassette headunit, but is lacking the in-dash 6-disk changer that plugs into it. Had I known this would have been such a pain, I woulda scoured some of my favorite junkyards for the changer instead. Thing is, I want iPod control and Sirius, and wanted it to be 'stealth'. The IVA-D310 when closed up looks very subdued to the point of seeming like a 50 dollar headunit (but not tacky like one). Having the big touchscreen helps with my big paws, and would be perfect for a navigation system too.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Ah just curious.

I'll be happy with a modest priced CD unit in the truck than what I have now.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's surprising what you can get for about 100 bux nowadays. CD player with mp3 capability, decent 15 or so watts from four channels, bright displays, etc. The midrange gear has gotten a bit crazy with the animated displays and Transformers-inspired robo-styling. It screams Too Fast Too Furious Steal Me Now. In a car like my Mini, the headunit matches the styling of the rest of the controls, every aftermarket HU I have seen in a Mini sticks out like a sore thumb. Blaupunkt has some subdued designs, but not like in the past.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

The deck I'd been looking at is from Panasonic and had that classic shaft style to it and plays MP3, had a jack for an mp3 player and runs $120.

Ones with out the mp3 capability but same features otherwise are less.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I know the deck of which you speak, that is a perfect setup for a truck. Big controls, easy to use. As much as my truck bounces around when I drive, I wish the controls were a bit easier to deal with than they are, but that's where the remote comes in handy.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Yup, good power I think this deck does 25 per speaker too so it's more than enough to generate good, clean power and bass with some halfway decent speakers.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

And that, my friend, is why I don't fuck with my stereo. Too many wires. It's a glass, leather, metal, and carpet cage. The best you can hope for is for things to sound "not totally crappy".

So what's this about adding navi later? I thought you had a navi, as you mentioned they changed her voice to an umerrikan accent during a tune-up.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's the Mini Cooper that has navi in it from the factory. the car I am talking about here is the Dodge Stratus (known around here as The Strat). I wouldnt mind adding the ALpine navigation system to the car once this stereo is all in place, since it will integrate nicely with no extra gadgetry save for the antenna and will be voice controlled as well. Integrated navi systems are not prone to theft as are the add-on ones plopped onto the dash or windscreen.

As for wiring, I live with that sort of stuff daily. It just gets frustrating when trying to get two units to play well with each other that were never designed to work with together. It's actually easier to make up new wiring harnesses for things like the stereo in some cases rather than adapting what is already in place. I've made entire wiring harnesses for cars for various reasons, mostly for classic and antique cars who's original wiring has succumbed to the years and is more of a liability and hassle than anything else. Or worse, the wiring and electrics could be made by Lucas.

The MINI has the entry-level CD head unit with a changer. I added an aux input connector when it became available in order to fit my JVC Sirius tuner to the mix. Fully expecting to do an upgrade of the tunage soon after getting the car, I found the stock headunit to be quite a good setup, surprisingly so, in fact. So, it has stayed, and probably remain there. Same could be said for the uplevel original setup in the Strat, except it's a cassette-radio. I dont listen to tapes anymore, radio sucks around these parts except for a couple stations, and I dont relish the thought of using a cassette adaptor to connect my iPod or play CDs via a walkman player. I had hoped to get the new head to work with the existing amp and speakers at least for a while. Looks like this might not be the case. :(