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Ok - Its slowly dawning on me that the car will be on the road soon, and my mind is suddenly on music.
I don't really want a head unit in the car, as I think it'll spoil the look. That and I don't have a great deal of space in the dash.
What I was thinking of was an amplifier in the boot, connected to my iPhone via a dock connector cable. This would give me music and navigation prompts as I have the Navigon app for it, and I could probably get it charging as well.
Is this possible? I've looked at some amps, but I haven't got a clue in this area!
I have also been thinking about sounds. It's a pity that you can't get a radio that has a sepperate face unit - there would be much more scope for siting it then. I know most of them come off nowadays - its a pity that you cant get a ribbon cable or suchlike to join the face to the body.
For me one of the most important parts of having sound in a car is the traffic news - it has saved me many a long queue in the past....
Robin
PS - Just to spur you on...
Boy was it chilly this morning - but what a great way to start the day
I was thinking 4 speakers... Two in the quater panels behind the seats, and two in the footwells. Do you think that'd be enough, Patrick? (You're the audio guru around here... )
That's not really an issue, all you need to do is extent the cables and fit the mounting plate somewhere. Tis done in audio circles quite often
Thanks Patrick - I thought that you might have something to say on the subject ;-)
Do you know of anywhere I can find out more? I guess that the interface between the face and the body isn't always the same and some are more suited than others to this trick.
In terms of extending the face plate, I can't seem to find anything at the mo except this photo:
What your doing is taking the front panel of the headunit off (not the face plate) and extending the ribbon cable then mounting the front panel somewhere else and clipping the face on to it.
Chris Cussen wrote:
And convert the whole boot space to a boom box with a 12" woofer. I'd recommend at least 500w for that.eep:
is that all I've got 1200RMS for my 12" ib sub in my daily and x2 280RWS per side for my front components. And mines a SQ non boom system Well I'd be getting that if I ran a 0db sine wave through it but I like my dynamic music so having a power reserve is essential. Car speakers are not very efficient so you end up with silly power requirements.
The system I have in the Sportster is keeping it relatively simple. I've got two wide bands for the top end and two 16cm's for the low end. I'm running them active - ie there is not passive crossover. The frequency cut is taken care of on the amplifier with a low and high pass in the right place (take a bit experimenting to get right). Each driver has up to 50rms available - the wide bands are using less of the power and the the midbasses a lot more. The lower the frequency the more you end up needed. It could ideally do with a small sub to take care of the really low stuff with it's own dedicated amp - but that's a little overkill.
Thanks Patrick - I thought that you might have something to say on the subject ;-)
Do you know of anywhere I can find out more? I guess that the interface between the face and the body isn't always the same and some are more suited than others to this trick.
but apparantly it developed a fault so he ditched it later.
I managed to get a CD/radio mounted in my dashboard but not one of my better decisions. It's a complete waste of time when driving as you can't hear a thing. I tried an amplified aerial mounted under the fibregalss scuttle but that doesn't work very well either.
Yes my remotely mounted front face plate worked for a few weeks and then stopped working - not quite sure why but could be my dodgy soldering! However I've returned the Kenwood unit back to standard and it now works a treat in my wife's car...
For the Cabrio I've ended up with a Sony head unit located in the boot and controlled via a Sony wired remote joystick mounted on the steering column.
This works really well but does have the disadvantage of not having the radio / track display on the dash (not the end of the world though). I quite like having the ICE located in the boot as its perhaps a little more secure in an open top car.
Finally, I would agree with Peter that it's all a bit pointless really as you cant hear the radio when your on the move (not with my exhaust anyhow !)
I might try the MP3 into power amp combo, as I've got an amp lying about somewhere, but to be honest I'm not fussed about having music in a car like a Marlin, if I want to sit in an armchair and listen to music I've other vehicles to choose from.
Though Patrick's set up does seem awesome.
I tried an amplified aerial under the scuttle but it doesn't work. Not tried plan B yet but I think it would have to be a normal one maybe mounted behind the seats.
I was thinking 4 speakers... Two in the quater panels behind the seats, and two in the footwells. Do you think that'd be enough, Patrick? (You're the audio guru around here... )
I have seen a couple of (kit) cars with one of those stubby arials (black about 30cm) mounted on the rear bumper.
In theory you should be able to mount the arial somewhere in the car as the fibreglass bodywork shouldn't impeded the signal at all. Like all things in life though - size matters. The longer the arial (in general) and the higher it is mounted the more signal you will get. It also needs to be vertical - or as near to that you can get it.
As long as the ones behind only play sub frequencies, and the ones in the footwell are aimed at you then you'll be fine. But then again it depends how worried you are about sound stage. If not then your good to go
eep: 
Well I'd be getting that if I ran a 0db sine wave through it but I like my dynamic music so having a power reserve is essential. Car speakers are not very efficient so you end up with silly power requirements.
