Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TheBoy]

and none of the rewiring / reprogramming that is needed from BOSE.

Thats the advantage of the Bose - dead easy, and a worthwhile sound enhancement. And cheap.  And best of all, can keep a factory look to the HU.  For those that way inclined, you can have Satnav on the display in instrument panel, which is far better than having to look down at stereo, and far superior to portable devices.  And all controlled without lifting a finger from wheel.

I was under the impression that BOSE needed a seperate wiring loom, different speakers (you are going to have to change them anyway) and that Joe Public then had the inconvenience of having to get someone to activate the BOSE with a Tech2 - all extra costs ?

Keep the head unit, Satnav on the instrument panel and fingertip controls, but buy a decent small 4 channel amp with high level inputs (£100ish), new speakers all round (£100ish), and you could have absolutely stunning sounds, 100% original looks and still have enough change from a a couple of hundred quid for a bag of chips.

Agreed. But thats £200

Actually, as you know, just the amp can deliver better sounds from even shitty speakers - my old GTE I amped (only because I realised that the Kenwood I bought (cheap, due to having a contact) didn't have an amp, preouts only), and that sounded pretty reasonable even with Standard speakers.  I did have to replace speakers in the end, as I was young and I mullered them

That stereo then whent in my Rover, Mrs TheBoy mullered a few speakers in that - but she just walked to the track and accidentally borrowed replacements every time!  Then it ended up in her Dad's Rover.

That was a great setup, bearing in mind I got it in 1992, had the soft touch cassette buttons, 10 disc changer, and a pair of amps, and an IR remote. From the mid 90s, it only ever saw CDRs , and was still working flawlessly 2yrs ago when her dad changed car...

[Dave DND]

That was a great setup, bearing in mind I got it in 1992, had the soft touch cassette buttons, 10 disc changer, and a pair of amps, and an IR remote. From the mid 90s, it only ever saw CDRs , and was still working flawlessly 2yrs ago when her dad changed car...

Ahh, the good old days when aftermarket stereo stuff was bulletproof and built to last -

I must admit that last year we have seen a bit of a revival in the workshop of some very old school stereos coming out of teh woodwork and being brought back up to fully working condition - and everybody of all ages is saying the same thing - Nobody like the el cheapo chavved up stuff of today - and thats even coming from the Chav`s !!

I don`t like wishing doom on anybody in this economic climate, but I do hope that we start to see a reduction in some of the Chinese tat makers that are shipping crap audio over here!

Are you listening SONY

[Martin_1962]

It truely is one of the wost compression algorithms I have seen....its a pity Sony wouldn't allow wider use of the minidisc ATRAC setup!

I have to say though, adding the Bose setup to an Omega is pretty plug and play and they can be got for 50-100 quid for everything!

MD is so much better than MP3 for sound

[Martin_1962]

That was a great setup, bearing in mind I got it in 1992, had the soft touch cassette buttons, 10 disc changer, and a pair of amps, and an IR remote. From the mid 90s, it only ever saw CDRs , and was still working flawlessly 2yrs ago when her dad changed car...

Ahh, the good old days when aftermarket stereo stuff was bulletproof and built to last -

I must admit that last year we have seen a bit of a revival in the workshop of some very old school stereos coming out of teh woodwork and being brought back up to fully working condition - and everybody of all ages is saying the same thing - Nobody like the el cheapo chavved up stuff of today - and thats even coming from the Chav`s !!

I don`t like wishing doom on anybody in this economic climate, but I do hope that we start to see a reduction in some of the Chinese tat makers that are shipping crap audio over here!

Are you listening SONY

I have two Sony ICE components Head Unit - well made and still looks good, and a CD Changer which is flimsy and the cover has fallen off. The older one is the better device

[Marks DTM Calib]

MPEG1 - Audio Layer 3 is a lossy compression algorithm....its based around trying to remove components from the sound track which are considered to be of lower importance. There is nothing you can do about this and increasing sample rates etc will NOT compensate for this fundamental floor (they just help reduce quantisation noise)  

This is where is starts going wrong, the trouble is that although these components are not the main stage of the music, they do add to the depth and presence which is why listening to them can be tiresome and loose the depth and clarity of the original soundtrack (try playing them on a good home stereo).

There are much better altenatives out there now (although they are more processor hungry), I only mention ATRAC as it appeared just before this god awful alternative so would have been a viable proposition....particularly as it evolved using FEC to give greater compression with less degredation of sound quality....but sadly Sony kept it a bit to close to thier chest!

[DC]

Mark, despite everything you say about MP3 being completely right, if we put in equation that:
1. A car is not an ideal accoustic environment with all background noise etc
2. Most of us do not listen to a very musically demanding peaces in car
3. Prevailant loudness war and evident reduction of dinamic range in mastering of modern music
my conclusion is that MP3, when created using a higher bit rate setting (192kbit/s or more), offers good enough compromise in car environment even for those of us who consider ourselves demanding music lovers.
I for one am happy to use MP3 in the car and with the music that I listen in it, yet at home where I have a good Hi-Fi system, I admit MP3 would just not be satisfactory enough.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Mark, despite everything you say about MP3 being completely right, if we put in equation that:
1. A car is not an ideal accoustic environment with all background noise etc
2. Most of us do not listen to a very musically demanding peaces in car
3. Prevailant loudness war and evident reduction of dinamic range in mastering of modern music
my conclusion is that MP3, when created using a higher bit rate setting (192kbit/s or more), offers good enough compromise in car environment even for those of us who consider ourselves demanding music lovers.
I for one am happy to use MP3 in the car and with the music that I listen in it, yet at home where I have a good Hi-Fi system, I admit MP3 would just not be satisfactory enough.

Lol, I didn't at any point comment on where it should and should not be used.....I only commented on the quality aspect which MP3 is not!

And as said, upping the sampling rate does little to help!