Noob Ice Questions

Mini Technical Sections I.C.E & Security
1

after insisting I wasnt going to change my standard phillips radio cassette player Ive realised, in putting new speakers into a under seat kickboard that the radio cassette is crap. I have no cassettes, and when I do find some random rubbish to put in it sounds terrible , radio is better, but the manual tune element is very irritating cause move a few miles and you are having to keep tweaking the tune..

looking into it I dont want cassettes or CDs .. I only used mp3s and noticed they do car radio mp3 players that are half the depth of standard stuff - the USB port is all I want.

now as for channels and wattage - is the main figure the combined output of all the channels ? so when it says 200W output that actually means 50w per channel ? and does that also mean there is no point getting speakers that exceed this ? so in that case each speaker only needs be 50w potential ?

does having like 100w,200w … 900w speakers require having amps and such ?

also how loud is something like 50W? in speaker terms ? and what does it mean if you turn up your stereo and you get to the point where the speakers are distorted and nasty ? does that mean you are going past the limit of the speaker or the stereo ?

also finding it difficult to find a ‘new’ stereo that looks inkeeping with the cars aged retro interior… i think having something with multicoloured rainbows of graphs and graphic exualisers will just look OTT in my mini.

something like these look particuarly crappy and plain for the job -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-STEREO-WITH-MP3-USB-SD-CARD-RADIO-AM-FM-/180911411782?pt=UK\_In\_Car\_Technology&hash=item2a1f291246#ht\_2048wt\_686

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SINGLE-DIN-DIGITAL-CAR-STEREO-RADIO-USB-MP3-1-2-DEPTH-FM-SD-AUX-LINE-HEAD-UNIT-/230741021017?pt=UK\_In\_Car\_Technology&hash=item35b93c9159#ht\_4910wt\_920

these would be great - but very pricey …

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Retro-Blaupunkt-Black-Style-Spindle-Classic-Car-AM-FM-Radio-Stereo-Aux-In-/310392357431?pt=UK\_CarsParts\_Vehicles\_CarParts\_SM&hash=item4844d38237#ht\_1731wt\_1199

2

Right then… many questions and it would seem you are victim to many mainstream misconceptions and misunderstanding, But that’s ok we are here to help and educate

OK so let’s start with HeadUnits.

They do NOT produce 4x50 or whatever they say, this is marketing BS and should be pretty much ignored.
Why? Well they are talking about Maximum power, which without the context of distortion figured is pointless, they could be talking about 50watts at 50% THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) or 100%.
In reality most headunits produce about 10 to 15watts RMS. RMS figure for any audio are the only figures to pay any attention to.
http://www.teamrocs…s/headpower.htm

So what does that mean for you.

Well unless you want a subwoofer and an audio system to completely cover road noise and push in to Hi-Fi territory then you lost likely don’t need an amp.
But your right in thinking that the lack of power creates distortion, too little power pushed too hard creates a square wave (distortion) sound awful and can damage speakers. Although with the small amount of power a headunit has the damage is less likely.

And no you don’t strictly have to match power output to a speaker power handling. I have a pair of mids rated at 100watts rms with close to 300watts rms up there arse. But they have been very carfully setup to use the power as headroom for the amp not to produce loads for volume (having headroom ensures you don’t stress the amp).

Equally having 50watts in to 100watts speakers is fine, but if you are looking at something like a subwoofer then efficiently must be taken in to consideration. If a speaker is only 60% efficient and you are only powering it with 50watts… you are only going to get 27watts of bass

I hope that clears some stuff up a little..

Now the first two units you linked to look very nasty and will sound crap. What realistically is your real maximum budget for this headunit?
And what about speakers, what do you currently have?

3

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Now the first two units you linked to look very nasty and will sound crap. What realistically is your real maximum budget for this headunit?
And what about speakers, what do you currently have?

thanks for the reply.

this all started cause I hated the original 30w boxes on the back parcel shelf, I had no intention of replacing the head unit initially, so it was purely to re-locate the speakers.

so looking at options I bought an under seat rear kick board with 6x9 holes cut into it ?(stealth covered) again - I wanted to keep it retro and not make a fuss and not seeing any speakers for me was desirable.

then I looked into speakers - I really didnt want anything special. but all 6x9’s on ebay were expensive … I only wanted to pay up to £20 for speakers as they were just going to be a replacement for the originals. eventually I chanced on some second hand mx5 6x8’s from someone at work who was breaking an mx5… I have no idea what wattage these are and cant seem to find details.

so I fitted these to the kick board, wired them up to the original speaker wires and all worked as expected.

problem was I realised then that cassette sucks… plus I have no cassettes anyway, radio was alright but the manual tune function was a pain in the arse.

plus the different speakers on the mdf board did sound nicer than the originals.

I know lots of people say its not good having speakers like this pointing at your backside, but Im not really ‘that’ into pumping out perfect sound and just wanted the convenience of some type of sound.

that got me thinking bout the media I do listen to - mp3s … not to mention most the mp3 units Ive seen without the cd function are much smaller and Im hoping that would provide an easier time fitting?

anyway - Ive got no interest (at the moment anyway) in subwoofers or amps, I purely want a headunit and speakers.

I also dont want a headunit that looks too fancy … the vast majority look too hitech. but proper retro look ones come expensive too.

as for what Im after - its hard to say,. not massive volume. or bass really. I suppose clean sound, a head unit that I can plug a usb stick into, and looks sufficiently bland or retro. while now lacking too much on power. speakers that match this or wont lead to distortion when I turn the volume up ?

price wise I dont want to be getting into hundreds of pounds really, im not looking for high power or volume or bass - more like standard modern motoring ..

4

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as for what Im after - its hard to say,. not massive volume. or bass really. I suppose clean sound, a head unit that I can plug a usb stick into, and looks sufficiently bland or retro. while now lacking too much on power. speakers that match this or wont lead to distortion when I turn the volume up ?
..

Repeat after me, Speakers do not create distortion, It’s what is powering them.

5

To get a good clean sound that wont get distortion with just a HU is difficult from what I know, as you buy a cheap HU and the level it starts distorting and clipping at is low.

From my experience I have an Alpine ida-x305s. Which is a dedicated iPod HU. Very good sound quality running of its own internal amp, and no distortion.

But you get what you pay for, they normally retail at about £230 - £250. I have no distortion up until about 95% volume.