what is a car audio line driver and what does it do
It will increase/boost the line voltage from the receiver to the amplifier,so you can have more gain between settings.
I am considering on buying a hybrid Saturn Vue Greenline. My only concern is this: is hooking up car audio systems (large amps and subs) in hybrid vehicles well documented/possible?
If so, what are some good sites explaining this?
can you do it... yes
well documented... no
Car audio system - 2 550 watt amplifiers, 2 10" subs, 2 250 watt 6x9s, 1 .5 farad capacitor, upgraded battery and alternator. After installing the capacitor according to the manufacturer's wiring diagram, I find that the car battery is draining while parked with the system turned off. The amps are powering off, the only apparent cause is the recently added capacitor. After removing the cap from the system, the battery drain appears to have stopped. Is this normal for a capacitor to drain the battery under these conditions, or could it be malfunctioning?
Sounds like the capaciter is doing its job, its charging from the battery, if its not fully charged before the car turns off, it will continue to take in electricity.. unless it has a bypass for when the car is off, some cheap ones dont..
I am wondering why one would want Dual batteries in a Car Audio Setup?
Is this done so that when the audio system is on when the car engine is off it will have more current to give?
Will dual batteries have any effect on the power delivery to the audio system when the car is running?
Can I just hook two identical model batteries in parallel?
Some wisdom is appreciated, Thanks.
DO NOT wire your batteries in parallel as OR suggests or you will be listening to your system with the engine off one day and you won't be able to start your car.
The purpose of a dual battery set-up is to have one battery for your car audio system and one for your vehicle. This is done by using a battery isolator. This way you can listen to your stereo without draining your starting battery.
Make sure you use two of the same size batteries or your isolator will only allow the larger battery to charge as much as the smaller battery. Use deep cycle batteries or Optima's. Preferably a sealed Gel cell battery if your secondary battery will be located within the passenger compartment of the vehicle as a regular lead acid battery can and will give off hazardous fumes.
The isolator will not allow a back feed of one battery to the other. You can then Cap away till your heart's content on your amplifiers.
I had this identical set up on my car back in the day and I never had a power problem, starting problem or light dimming problem. It will cost you some money but it is the right way to do your system.
At this car audio shop they have a box with a cd deck in it, 2 6x8 and a sub, and its running in their office, also ive seen pictures of a deck, 2 speakers, 2 subs running in someones home, How can i hook up my car audio in my home?
I wish people wouldn't answer this if they don't know (sigh).
Not only does the power supply need to be 13.8 DC volts but also supply the right current for the job.
Just for an example, a 150 watt RMS system requires a 13.8 volt DC 25 Ampere supply at a cost of $74-$100 just for the supply.
I have a surround sound system that has a six inch sub. I want to take that one out and install an Alpine Type R 10" sub into it. Im not big on audio stuff, so I was just wondering if I am able to put a car audio sub into a surround sound sub? Also do you think it will mess up my surround sound system if i changed the six inch sub to a ten inch?? Thanks.
Actually with that sub, you can as long as it's the 4 ohm DVC version. Since it is a DVC (Dual Voice Coil), it can be wired for 8 ohms which is what home systems run on (I'm assuming that's what you mean).
Wire the sub like so - http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j230/sparky3489/SERIES-DUAL.jpg
Be sure to put it in the right enclosure. Here's how http://spkrbox1.spaces.live.com
Im looking for a website that will help me put together an audio system for my car. My audio system is ok, but Im an audiophile and want to upgrade. I mainly want iPod input, new speakers, maybe sub-woofer, and amp/other necessaries.
www.crutchfield.com is the best i've seen so far. just go to car electronics and click on outfit my car
I have connected the front two speakers to the player and the back two speakers are connected to the amplifier.
To improve the sound quality of my car audio, can I connect the front speakers also to the amplifier?
Will an additional subwoofer connected to the amplifier make any appreciable difference in sound quality?
First question, yes and no. You'll have to get a separate amp setup for the front connection. The amp must have high level inputs(not the same as RCA) or you use a line level converter. If they are stock speakers, the amp can't be much more than 25 watts RMS X 2 @ 4 ohms. Each channel of the amp must match the RMS watts of each speaker.
Second question, yes and no. Typically, you'll want a separate amp for a sub. Yes, because the added sub (on it's own amp) will bring out the bass.
From all the things I've read online, you need experience to get hired as a car audio installer, but I see no way to get that experience without working on systems of your own beforehand (which is out of the question, I don't have that kind of money). It also doesn't seem that difficult of a thing to pick up as you go, but where do you go to get started?
Ben, Try making friends at a car audio shop. Typically, if you show interest and ask a lot of questions; many shops let people hang out in and around the installation bays. This especiallyworks if you are young and the owners are young or hip. You may want to trade some sweeping and cleaning time to learn. Shops are always having to be swept and cleaned; its a dirty job sometimes.... Good luck!
Can anyone suggest an audio setup for a compact car (Honda CIty 2003) with an alpine IVA-D105 head unit?
My car is a small 4-door, 5-seater with interiors similar to the Honda Jazz/Fit. The biggest difference is that the City has got a trunk where as the Jazz/Fit is a hatchback. It does not have the space behind the back seats of a hatchback. Its just got that space behind the back seats and the rear wind shields, like other sedans have.
My head unit is wasted on its stock 2 speakers found at the front doors.
I prefer alpine as they are readily available where i live in.
Fish, do you suggest to get the SPR-17C or to go spend some more to get SPR-17S?
check this site out www.cardiscountsounds.com
www.carstereofiberglass.com How to fiberglass a custom 3 Subwoofer Enclosure and get professional results. Easy to follow step by step methods for ...
It could happen. It doesn’t take a genius to see that printed paper as a way of delivering information will soon join cave painting, stone carving, and the 8-track tape in media heaven. It’s time for something new, and if Apple doesn’t lead the charge to a new way of offering up that info to an increasingly connected public then someone else will.
A well thought out tablet and a good support system for delivering content would definitely change things. The leaders of the print industry seem to think so as they scramble to get in bed with nearly any technology that promises a path to the hearts and minds, and therefore wallets of the news reading public. You may have heard that Conde Nast, Time Warner, Hearst, and others have bAnnd together to establish a content distribution model. They aren’t the only ones taking action. Barnes and Nobles is offering up the Nook eBook reader that’s based on both LCD and ePaper technology. Not to be out done, now Borders has hooked up with Kobo, an eBook distributor, in an effort to keep from being left behind.
As all of this occurs Apple remains as quiet as granite. All of the supposed leaks point to a tablet, but, as is typical with Apple, we won’t know for sure until someone wearing an Apple logo decides to tell us. (Steve Jobs IS Apple, no logo needed.)
Which leads us to speculate. Something I’m quite fond of doing. I even wager a bit on whether my soothe saying bears fruit.
Well, instead of hypothesizing about about the possibility of an Apple tablet and all that it could do to save the print industry, enhance our lives, reverse global warming, and promote world peace I’d like to prognosticate a bit on the iPhone. If you’re thinking it’s all been done and there’s little else Apple can do to keep their super-phone from being equalled or surpassed by the wannabes then I’d have to disagree with you. Vigorously.
There’s a direction Apple could take its strange smartphone from another planet with powers far beyond those of mortal smartphones, and that new direction could further shake up the mobile phone industry as we know it today. That new direction can be capsulized into one word, which may strike fear in the hearts of every other handset maker: iChat.
Don’t laugh. Hear me out.
Text chats are fine and I use them a lot. What's nice about them is that the recipients of my messages don’t have to respond right away. In fact, they don’t even have to be near their computer. The message just sits there waiting until it gets noticed, as opposed to a phone call, which demands immediate attention. IP text chats don’t use the telcos’ SMS or MMS services, you just need Internet access.
While it is true you can call a person and leave voicemail, to do so you’d still have to go through the phone company’s cumbersome voice system. With an instant message text you type a message and move on. You don’t have to wait for a reply, you’ll be notified when you get one and it’ll just sit there until you decide to read it. iChat or similar apps can offer the same convenience and add bit more; you touch to connect, talk, type, or video yourself, then move on.
On the receiver’s side there would be any combination of iChat sessions waiting for responses, in any of the three medias. You’d see a message pending, touch it and it opens
I wouldn’t be concerned about file sizes sucking up server or phone space, compression techniques have greatly improved and video messages don’t have to be HD to be useful, it just can’t suck.
Where are the phone carriers doing during all of this iChatting? They provide the access to the Internet and will likely charge us dearly for it, but they will have to come onboard because to say that the industry is moving in that direction is like saying an avalanche is moving downhill. Also, while video and voice chats are a step above texting they are one step below phone calls in that the conversation is not in real time, thus it may not be considered in the same league as voice over IP telephony, which makes telcos anxious.
Besides, we already have IM apps available. What’s lacking in those apps is the integration that only Apple can bring to the table.
I know what you’re thinking, “There’s no face facing camera on the iPhone so... wassup with that? I do’t want to become a contortionist to use a video chat session on me phone.”
New hardware is wassup. And new apps that make use of that new hardware. Apple’s iChat may be first online, but you can bet your collection of Wookie dolls that app makers will follow soon after with new and improved apps and services.
Photo courtesy of Gizmodo
Now, let’s add a bit more meat in this stew.
Imagine using a speech recognition software as an interface to iChat. Apple has been dabbling with voice control interfaces and it wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t testing the waters to see if people would take a shine to it.
Here’s a scenario we might see in the not too distant future: A woman, let’s call her Ann, is in a rush, she’s running late and must pick up a cake for a birthday party.
Ann checks the time on her iPhone for the forth time in so many minutes and frowns. “I’ll never make it in time,” she says to herself as she throws herself into the driver’s seat of her hybrid car and shuts the door.
She slips her iPhone in its charging dock, starts the car and pulls into traffic. An alert appear on her iPhone. Her friend, Donna, just left her a voice message in iChat. Ann touches the alert window and an iChat session appears and the voice message is played over the car’s audio system.
“Hi Ann, I’m out of my appointment early and I’m near the market where you ordered the cake, do you want me to pick it up?”
Ann smiles. Donna has saved the day again. She touches the iChat window again and the iPhone asks, “Would you like to reply to Donna?”
“Yes,” she replies and a tone let’s her know that the iChat session is ready.
“Hi Donna. I owe you big. Yes. Please pick up the cake and I’ll meet you at the party. I can be 10 minutes early since you’re getting the cake. Thanks again.” She touches the screen to end her recording and iChat sends it on its way.
Another tone from the iPhone sounds and Ann touches the screen. “Percy has left you a video message. Shall I play it?” the iPhone asks.
“Yes. Voice only.”
The screen on the iPhone remains dark and her boyfriend’s voice pipes through the speakers. “Hey Sweets. Just letting you know I did get your dry cleaning. I’m on my way home now, but the traffic is nasty, so I may be a few minutes late. Did you get the cake?” He makes an embellished kissing sound and says, “See ya in a bit.”
Ann smiles and blows a silent kiss back at the phone, which asks, “Would you like to reply to Percy?”
“Yes.”
A tone sounds and she starts her reply.
Ann does all of this without taking her eyes off the road and the traffic around her.
It’s true we have a ways to go before that scenario can be realized, but I don’t think we are that far off. Consider that Apple has been dappling with voice interfaces a lot lately. Also consider that Apple seems to insist that -- to borrow a phrase from an old wine commercial -- they will deliver no feature before its time. Apple wants iChat on the iPhone to be great, OK and good enough is not good enough, especially with such stiff competition on its heels.
One final point; if Apple does have a tablet in the product pipeline video and voice chats using it would be huge. Why? Because the bigger screen would allow for multiple video chat session without eyestrain. If the tablets are WiFi only (no data plan through a telco, but I suspect that’s highly unlikely) then iChat would be a slam-dunk.
I have a feeling that iChat could be one of those sleeper features that you never realized you wanted until it’s available, then you wonder why is wasn’t there in the first place.
So, is iChat on the iPhone is the next big thing from Apple? It’s anyone’s guess but I’m willing to bet real American dollars on it. Real. American. Dollars.
Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.
I agree,but I’m a practical type of guy so here’s the thing; people already text while driving even though the danger in doing so is obvious.
In fact, people still drive while intoxicated, with seat belts off, and with kids not in car seats even though laws have been passed and the dangers advertised.
If creating a system that provides less distracting communication while driving is on someone’s drawing board then I’m all for it.
Will it stop the senseless deaths and injuries due to idiots who can hardly walk and talk at the same time much less drive and talk?
No, but it will likely save a life or two over pure texting.
Besides, as Dean pointed out, you can opt out of the video part and just get the audio.
Of course some people won’t bother opting out and will attempt to watch and drive. These are the same brainless saps who refuse to use turn signals, believe the rear view mirror is the perfect vanity mirror while changing lanes, and think a yellow light is a challenge. It’s sad to say that we are stuck with them until they collectively wrap themselves around a tree at 70mph.
Mark Savage from Olympia, West Australia, visits relatives in Napier each year and rents a car to get around. "We decided it was time for some music and tried to insert a CD, but there was one in the player. My wife, Karen, pressed the play button and Jimmy Buffett's Fruitcakes hit us as a blast from the past. On our trip to Napier in February 2007, our first CD - Fruitcakes - got stuck. We stopped at a car audio place but the repairman said he'd have to take the whole thing apart. We decided against it. When we returned the car this time the car rental people checked their records, and it was the same car. We hope they will send our CD back, but we have a feeling our white Touring Station Wagon Toyota Capella will go on playing Jimmy Buffet all the way to the wrecking yard. What are the chances, with a fleet of 600 vehicles in one company, to get the same car?"
* * *
A study of older twins published this month in the British Medical Journal reports the younger a person looks the longer they are likely to live, despite chronological years. "Perceived age was significantly associated with survival, even after adjustment for chronological age, sex, and rearing environment. The likelihood that the older looking twin of the pair died first increased with increasing discordance in perceived age within the twin pair - that is, the bigger the difference in perceived age within the pair, the more likely that the older looking twin died first." Various factors may be instrumental in this relationship, including smoking status, body mass index, and sun exposure.
CHENNAI, India, Dec. 15, 2009 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global automotive supplier Visteon Corporation is one of the contributors to the Tata Nano, the recently introduced ultra low-cost car. Visteon supplies the audio system that can be outfitted by the dealer, as well as a lightweight air intake manifold designed to offer quiet performance for the 2-cylinder Nano.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091215/DE25548 )
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001201/DEF008LOGO )
Mr. Debasis Ray, a spokesperson for Tata Motors, said: "Visteon has been working very closely with us to make the Nano a reality. We appreciated Visteon's innovative engineering and manufacturing expertise to provide us with leading-edge solutions without compromising quality."
The Nano's innovative audio system is based on Visteon's well-received "Tiger" radio platform and was developed jointly by the Visteon Technical Service Center in Chennai, India, and the Visteon China Technical Center in Shanghai, China. Visteon's platform approach helped reduce development time while providing flexibility that allows audio features to be scaled to different applications.
The audio system features a customized bezel with a highly integrated human machine interface (HMI) and an innovative mounting system to meet the vehicle's unique requirements.
The accessory audio system provides a range of in-car audio entertainment solutions and comes with customized speakers and a radio antenna. Four variants of the audio system are available to meet different needs of Nano owners - from AM/FM radio with auxiliary input to a more sophisticated system including CD player, USB port and Bluetooth® wireless technology capability.
The Bluetooth® feature allows the driver to wirelessly connect a mobile phone for in-vehicle, hands-free communication and to stream music directly from the mobile phone to the vehicle audio system. The system's auxiliary and USB ports allow the user to connect a USB flash drive or MP3 player for use in the vehicle.
Visteon partnered with Nippon Audiotronix, a well-known company in the Indian automotive audio market, for marketing, sales, distribution and service support of the Tata-branded audio system throughout India. The audio system is currently available to order at Tata Motors dealerships across India.
Visteon also supplies the Nano's engine air intake manifold, designed to evenly distribute the fuel-air combustion mixture to each intake port in the cylinder head. The air intake manifold, which is made from a plastic material, was engineered by TACO Visteon Engineering (TVEC) and is manufactured by Tata Visteon Automotive (TVAP), both joint ventures between Visteon and Tata AutoComp Systems Limited.
Using plastic instead of traditional aluminum in the air intake manifold generates a 35 percent weight reduction. Comparatively, this product yields superior performance by ensuring consistent air delivery to the engine. The acoustic performance is also improved with lower inlet orifice noise, vehicle interior noise and vehicle 'drive-by' noise levels.
"We are proud to support Tata's breakthrough initiative to offer the most affordable vehicle in the world," said Steve Meszaros, president of Visteon's electronics and interiors groups. "In supporting the Nano, we applied our expertise in supplying the low-cost and small car segments while leveraging our extensive global footprint to exceed our customer's expectation."
Visteon Corporation is a leading global automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative climate, interior, electronic and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers, and also provides a range of products and services to aftermarket customers. With corporate offices in Van Buren Township, Mich. (U.S.); Shanghai, China; and Chelmsford, UK; the company has facilities in 26 countries and employs approximately 30,000 people.
SOURCE Visteon Corporation
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