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  1. HU: Alpine 9833 Age: 2 years old Am not sure whether the problem lies with the HU, wiring (as suggested by some during MU) or the amp. It happens intermittently. While listening to the CD/Radio. Sometimes, there is no sound from the front right speakers. Sometimes, there is no sound from the front left speakers. Sometimes, there is no sound from both front speakers. What is the cause? What should I do to resolve this?
  2. Any comment on this Amp? ARC Audio
  3. Anyone knows where to get??? [/size] WILSON AUDIO Ultimate Reference CD
  4. http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx...2482&terid=2485 I have just received the Nov 07 issue of B & W's newsletter and am surprised to learn that B & W has ventured into car audio. Perhaps the timing is right now to offer Jaguar buyer's some after market high fidelity car audio system. Jaguar XF will feature the latest Pro Logic II 7.1 channel surround technology from Dolby Lab. The newsletter stated that the system in the XF will incorporate a total of 14 loudspeakers, to perhaps rival its Mark Levison counterpart. What about this, having four metal-dome tweeters, nine Kevlar-diaphragm woofer and mid/bass units, including a solo front center and rear-surround pair and a single, rear mounted high-powered subwoofer. The 14 B & W speakers are driven by 440 watts of amplifier power. Well, I am not sure of the SQ for sure, this XF model will only be launched in 2008...but will sure be an eye-opener and EAR-opener... What do you think?
  5. Hi All, Just received a sales booklet from Audio house. they pricing is really mad.. and i saw Garmin Nuvi 200 selling at 200 plus only... not just only that, other stuffs are selling very cheap too.. so who is using nuvi 200, is it good?
  6. Dear all, Just wanna find out what kind of headunit does most of us have here ....
  7. when down to the showroom and test out the audio found that the Lexus's audio system sound quality out perform the Audi especially with CD's include Tom Drums, Palcebo, Obssession after testing, told sales thank you ask if I wanted a test drive told him no money face black like charcoal dare not return for a long long time any opinion on the audio?
  8. Below extracted from: http://www.udrive.com.sg/?intCategoryID=4&intPostID=42 For info only! *If anyone does attend - please post feedback - I can't attend as I would not be in Singapore then. GPS & CAR AUDIO SYSTEMS - LEARN FROM THE EXPERTS! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discover how you can enhance your driving experience with the latest in-car mobile technologies. Experts will share tips on navigational devices such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), in-car mobile multimedia systems and car audio systems and how these devices can help you with your daily driving needs. What
  9. Any bros familiar with Zed Audio Amps? Not the amps that they manufactured for other brands but their own series like the deuce or Gladius. Able to get these amps locally?
  10. Do you recommend OR do you use software tuner/enhancer to fine tune your MP3? If yes, what software are you using?
  11. I just bought a used Audio Arc amp and it giving me headache. There is static noise coming out of it especially when there is no music been played. The only way the noise goes off is when I off the CD player. Anyone know if it the amp too sensitive or is it a faulty amp. Anyone know where can I get it repaired? Thanx
  12. Hello, Will be getting my new ride in a week, a Grand Vitara. Thinking of improving on the sound system, but don't know much about ICEs at all. Can someone recommend good and reliable places to go check out? Somewhere where the people are knowledgeable and helpful, won't anyhow chop newbies? Thanks!!
  13. System Noise Explained I found this article interesting and relevant to car audio. Although its meant in home environment, I thought the terms used and the phenomenon described, can be translated into our car environment. Enjoy reading. This article is abstracted from Galen Carol Audio. http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/systemnoise.html System Noise I
  14. Good Read for ICE Newbies... [/size] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Understanding Car Audio Systems Part One of a Five-Part Series By Scott Memmer In the last decade or so, automakers have placed increasing importance on in-car entertainment systems. The core of these technologies has always been the audio system -- the noisemaker, if you will. What appeared in our dashboards more than 50 years ago as a tube radio the size of a breadbox now rivals the technical complexity of a 767. This series is not written for aficionados, but for the average consumer who wants to gain a working knowledge of the basics of car audio design. By the end, we trust you'll have a better understanding of this technology. What are the basics of car audio systems? How does each of the separate components operate? In the series to follow, we'll address these questions in a user-friendly and approachable format. One note before we get started. This series will cover only original equipment manufacturer's (OEM) systems, the ones that come in your car from the factory. Unfortunately, in our limited space for this column, we're unable to deal with the vastness of the car audio aftermarket, which changes every day. Perhaps in future Tech Center articles we'll delve into this area. The good news is, most of the design concepts we're discussing here apply all the way up the line to really loud and pricey systems. A car audio system is composed of four different groups of components. These are: head units, amplifiers, speakers, and auxiliary input devices (such as a CD changer or a graphic equalizer). Let's take a look at each. The Head Unit This is the heart and soul of your system. Without this component, your car audio system can't and won't work. The head unit, or, more simply, the radio, is the central processing device in the system. Consider the way your mind works. Let's say you want to shout at somebody. Your brain tells your vocals chords to raise to a certain volume level. The words form in your mind, your mouth opens, and out comes a shout. In a similar fashion, the head unit controls all the functions in your car audio system. Music too loud? Turn down the volume. Too soft? Turn it up. Want more bass? Add bass input. All changes and controls come through the head unit. If you could see behind the radio in your dash, you'd find a dozen or so wires going off in all different directions to other systems in the car. These are like the nerves in your body, transmitting signals to and from the various components. In addition to volume, bass, etc., the head unit may contain other systems within its casing. These include: tuner, cassette, equalizer, CD or amplifier. Some of these words look familiar? That's because we mentioned them above. You see, in a home music system, where you have much more room, many stereo setups will include a separate box for each one of these components -- CD, cassette, etc. You may have a home system like that yourself. In a car, with its space limitations, these components are often crammed into one box -- the head unit. This depends upon a number of factors, such as heat, space, cosmetic design and other concerns, and every car is different. The Amplifier All car audio systems have an amplifier, even if it's a small one (and based upon the factory systems we've been listening to lately, a lot of them are really dinky). Occasionally the amplifier will be attached to the rear of the head unit; however, in most systems it is hidden elsewhere in the car to better dissipate heat. Signal amplification is actually a two-stage process, handled by two separate components. These are the preamplifier and the power amplifier. The preamplifier (preamp, for short) is like that little voice whispering in your ear not to eat ice cream at midnight. It's a very tiny signal coming directly from the radio (in fact, the preamp resides inside the head unit). Whether it's reproducing a cassette signal, a CD signal, or an FM broadcast, the preamp puts out a signal inaudible to the human ear. This is where the power amplifier takes over. It's the power amp's job to take the signal from the preamp and boost it into the audible range. We'll cover this in more depth in our Amplifier column in this series. Again, because of heat, most amplifiers are located away from the head unit. The Speakers The speakers take the boosted signal from the power amp and deliver it to your ears. The way loudspeakers work is a fascinating process and will be dealt with at length in our Speaker column in this series. Essentially, loudspeakers transform electrical energy (the amplified signal) into mechanical energy (the motion of the speaker cone). For now, know that all sound is vibration. When you snap your fingers, this action sets off a chain of frequencies in the air that eventually vibrate the membranes in your eardrums. You hear: "Snap!" Sound energy is measured in wavelengths, known as hertz, and goes from 20 to 20,000 cycles. A cycle is the distance from the top of one wavelength to the top of the next. Traditional loudspeaker design calls for three components to reproduce sound energy: woofers, tweeters and midrange drivers. As the name implies, the woofer reproduces the lower frequencies, such as a large dog barking. The tweeter, also aptly named, replicates the higher register -- a bird singing. The midrange handles the frequencies in between. Car audio manufacturers use various assortments of these drivers to achieve the sound they want. We'll go into this at length in a future installment. Auxiliary Input Devices Components such as CD changers and equalizers, not to mention cell phones, navigation systems, MP3 players and many of the newer technologies, interface with the head unit for amplification and signal processing. We'll delve into this area in our final installment. We hope this helps you gather a basic understanding of car audio technology. Look for an in-depth view inside the head unit in our next column. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Understanding Car Audio Systems: The Head Unit Part Two of a Five-Part Series By Scott Memmer http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/techcenter/articles/44842/article.html Understanding Car Audio Systems: The Amplifier Part Three of a Five-Part Series By Scott Memmer http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/techcenter/articles/44841/article.html Understanding Car Audio Systems: The Speaker Part Four of a Five-Part Series By Scott Memmer http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/techcenter/articles/44843/article.html Understanding Car Audio Systems: What to Buy, What to Avoid and What to Add Part Five of a Five-Part Series By Scott Memmer http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/audio/articles/44900/article.html
  15. Hi. Any recommendations for me to change the stock audio in the A5? I want to transfer my current ride's audio to the new ride, including HU, front components n rear speakers. Old ride is a sunny so i m not really sure if it will fit with the new ride or not. Anyone tried the installer at the roof-top of Sim Lim? if yes, is he good with Skoda?? My old ride was installed by him.
  16. nowadays, when i listen to music, i can hear 'po' sound from my rear, not sure which is causing it. woofer or speaker. last year, still ok, no 'po' only when my HU is on, and i turn on Headlight, i can hear 'piat' sound, like current ganna shortcircuit now, when i blast, i can hear the speaker/woofer cannot take the base, the sound i dont know how to describe, as in 'blot blot' like the wood going to drop out feeling i am thinking of re-wiring and get a problem inspection of my current audio setup. using 2x volcano amp using 2x Hertz speaker & 2x tweeter please insert the contact so that i can arrange the time with the workshop. thanks.
  17. Hi Gurus, Need some advice here. I am new to audio set up in cars. I just installed a full Pioneer DVD 5.1 set up in my small car and I need to help to tune. Any advice?
  18. Just change my car AUDIO system to PIONEER that can play MP3 songs. The player is able to play MP3 CDs which i bought however when i tried to play my own compiled R-W CDs(Which i have copied mp3 songs into), the player cant detect any songs! I checked thro the songs format, they are all in MP3 format leh. Any bro and sis can advise. Thanks
  19. Hi bro, Hope you guys can help me out. My car comes with PIONEER audio system which have an cable to connect to IPOD player. Unfortunately, i do not have a IPOD and infact is using CREATIVE V PLUS (also mp3 player). The IPOD connect cable is flat in the head wherelse CREATIVE V PLUS is using our normal mini USB cable. Is there any adaptor or what which i can use to connect my CREATIVE to my car audio. Pls advise THANKS
  20. Hi guys just when to fix up my speakers and HU at this place. Boss and the staff very friendly. Although the shop a bit expensive in my opinion but they will give you very good advised and will not hard sell any items in their shop. Just like to share with you guys. Cheers :)
  21. any good reliable not too high end audio shops to recommend? going to collect my car soon. thinking of getting an amp, sub, & speakers. any brands to look out for? hopefully not too ex.
  22. Hello MCF'ers, I have some doubts need you expertise for advise.... 1) is it possible to hook in sub-woofer for Build-In Audio ??? 2) If Yes, any good and reliable shop to recommend ??? 3) will it void the warranty ??? Thanks...
  23. Some one asked me recently a relevant question on damping factor, here is one article that explain it in a more layman manner. Abstracted from http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/damping_factor.pdf UNDERSTANDING DAMPING FACTOR [/left] Loudspeakers have a mind of their own. You send them a signal and they add their own twist to it. They keep on vibrating after the signal has stopped, due to inertia. That's called "ringing" or "time smearing." In other words, the speaker produces sound waves that are not part of the original signal. Suppose the incoming signal is a "tight" kick drum with a short attack and decay in its signal envelope. When the kick-drum signal stops, the speaker continues to vibrate. The cone bounces back and forth in its suspension. So that nice, snappy kick drum turns into a boomy throb. Fortunately, a power amplifier can exert control over the loudspeaker and prevent ringing. Damping is the ability of a power amplifier to control loudspeaker motion. It's measured in Damping Factor, which is load impedance divided by amplifier output impedance. Let's explain. If the speaker impedance is 8 ohms, and the amplifier output impedance is 0.01 ohms, the damping factor is 800. That's a simplication. Since the speaker impedance and amplifier output impedance vary with fre- quency, so does the damping factor. Also, the impedance of the speaker cable affects damping. Thick cables (with low AWG) allow more damping than thin cables with (high AWG). The lower the amplifier's output impedance, the higher the damping factor, and the tighter the sound is. A damping factor of 1000 or greater is considered high. High damping factor equals tight bass. How It Works How does an amplifier control speaker motion? When the loudspeaker cone vibrates, it acts like a micro- phone, generating a signal from its voice coil. This signal generated by the speaker is called back EMF (back Electro Motive Force). It travels through the speaker cable back into the amplifier output, then returns to the speaker. Since back EMF is in opposite polarity with the speaker's motion, back EMF impedes or damps the speaker's ringing. The smaller the amp's output impedance, the greater is the effect of back EMF on the speaker's motion. An amplifier with low output impedance does not impede the back EMF, so the back EMF drives the loud- speaker with a relatively strong signal that works against the speaker's motion. When the speaker cone moves out, the back EMF pulls the speaker in, and vice versa. In short, the loudspeaker damps itself through the amplifier output circuitry. The lower the impedance of that output circuitry, the more the back EMF can control the speaker's ringing. To prove it to yourself, take a woofer that is not connected to anything. Put your ear next to the cone and tap on it. You might hear a low-pitched "bongggg" if the speaker itself is poorly damped. Now short the speaker terminals and tap again. You should hear a tighter thump. Damping factor varies with frequency. As you might suspect, damping factor is most important at low fre- quencies, say 10 Hz to 400 Hz.
  24. Hi bros, I just bought over a full system from fellow forumer. Now the problem is where should i go to transfer his entire system into my ride?? Any recommendation before i walk into any shop to ask? Thank you for any contribution!!
  25. Have you listened to any album in DVD audio format? Or have you ever wondered why DVD Audio sounded nicer? Here is an article explaining in layman terms why DVD Audio should be the way to go for audiophiles and alikes. Abstracted from http://timefordvd.com/tutorial/DVD-AudioTutorial.shtml You may have heard of DVD-Audio (sometimes referred to as just "DVD-A") while shopping for a new DVD player. So what's the deal with DVD-Audio? What is so good about the DVD-Audio format? How is it better than the popular audio CD format? Is it something worth looking into? What do you need in order to enjoy DVD-Audio to its fullest potential? For answers these questions and more, keep reading... It's a DVD![/url] The first the thing you need to know is that DVD-Audio is part of DVD specification (you probably guessed that already). The DVD specification dictates the physical aspects and data capacities of the DVD format, as described in our DVD Tutorial. Be sure to read that first, if you haven't done so already. As you have guessed, DVD-Audio is the audio application format of the general DVD specification. DVD-Audio includes: Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) High Resolution Stereo (2-Channel) Audio Multi-Channel Audio Lossless Data Compression Extra Materials which include still images, lyrics, etc. We will go into more detail about each of these DVD-Audio unique features. Pulse Code Modulation (PCM)[/url] There are a number of ways to represent an analog audio signal as a digital signal. Think of the analog audio signal as a continuously variable voltage that fluctuates in frequency and amplitude to represent the frequency of the sound and the loudness of the sound, respectively. By far the most common method of digitizing an analog signal (i.e., representing the analog audio signal as a stream of digital 1's and 0's) is Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). PCM is the same digital technology as used by the audio CD format. PCM works by sampling an analog signal at regular intervals and encoding the amplitude value of the analog signal in a digital word using. The analog signal is then represented by a stream of digital words. Without trying to get too technical, you might be interested in knowing that digital sampling theory (the Nyquist criterion, to be exact) says that in order to reproduce an analog signal with a certain frequency, you must sample at least twice as fast as that frequency. Given that we humans can hear sounds with frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, we need to sample at least at 40,000 Hz (or 40,000 times per second) in order reproduce frequencies up to 20 kHz. That's why the CD format has a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz (or 44,100 times per second), which is slightly better than twice the highest frequency that we can hear. Note, we emphasized the phrase "at least". While sampling frequencies twice that what we can hear is a minimum requirement, it can be argued (mathematically even) that twice is not fast enough to accurately capture the characteristic of these high frequency signals. That's why in PCM, higher sampling frequencies offer better accuracy in reproducing high frequency audio information. The CD format's 44.1 kHz sampling frequency is barely adequate for reproducing the higher frequencies in the range of human hearing. The other part of PCM is word length. Each sample, or snapshot, of the analog signal is characterized by its magnitude. The magnitude is represented by the voltage value in the analog signal and is represented in the digital signal as a data word. A data word is a series of bits. A bit is binary digit that has a value of "1" or "0". The longer the data word, the wider the range of analog voltages that can be represented as well as finer gradations of values in that range. In other words, the longer the word length, the wider the dynamic range (i.e., the difference between the softest sounds and the loudest sounds) and the finer the nuances of sounds can be recorded. The CD format has a word length of 16 bits, which is enough to reproduce sounds with about 96 dB (decibels) in dynamic range. Is the 44.1 kHz sampling rate and 16-bit word of the audio CD format adequate? While audiophiles and discerning audio enthusiasts would definitely say "no", we would guess that most "everyday consumers" would initially think "yes". Those who are into high fidelity music reproduction say that the audio CD sounds cold and exhibits occasional "ringing" effects in the upper most frequencies when compared to high quality analog recordings on the LP and studio master analog tapes. Many of these enthusiasts are right, and some of their claims can proven mathematically and empirically. That is why the consumer electronics manufacturers have designed the DVD-Audio format. We would hazard to guess that once the "everyday consumer" hears the new DVD-Audio format on a properly calibrated, good quality audio system, they would be able to readily hear the differences and the improvement over the CD format. High Resolution Stereo (2-Channel) Audio[/url] One of the novelties of DVD-Audio is that it offers much higher resolution Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). DVD-Audio supports sampling rates of up to 192 kHz (i.e., the audio signal is sampled 192,000 times per second, or more than quadruple (4 times) the sampling rate of audio CD) and up to 24-bit word length. As we explained above, the higher sampling rate means more accurate and realistic reproduction of the higher frequencies. Is the 192 kHz sampling rate enough? At over nine times the highest frequency of human hearing, you would think so. But only careful listening tests of a high quality and well-balanced system will tell. Though DVD-Audio supports up to 192 kHz sampling, not all audio program material has to be recorded using the highest rate. Other sampling rates are supported: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, and 96 kHz. For two-channel stereo mode, high resolution audio usually means a sampling rate of 192 kHz. The word length is increased up to 24 bits, meaning that a theoretical dynamic range of 144 dB can be achieved. We say theoretical because it is not currently possible to achieve such high dynamic ranges yet, even in the best of high-end components. The limiting factor is the noise level inherent in the electronics, due to thermal noise and other factors. The best signal-to-noise ratio that can be achieved in today's state-of-the-art components is about 120 dB. So it does seem that the 24-bit word length should be more than enough for the foreseeable future. Thought DVD-Audio can actually support word lengths of 16-bit and 20-bit, high resolution stereo usually means a word length of 24-bit. Multi-Channel Audio[/url] Another novelty of the DVD-Audio format is its capability for multi-channel discrete audio reproduction. That is up to six, full-range, independent audio channels can be recorded. Once you hear your favorite artists and albums recorded in the multi-channel format, you too may be convinced that it's wonderful experience and may realize that there's some missing in stereo recording when you switch back. There is real strong compelling reasons for multi-channel music. Among them, it allows us to hear not just the music, but experience the performance as though it's live in our own living room. No stereo music program, no matter how wonderfully recorded, can approach this feeling. Usually, the sixth channel is used as the low frequency effects (LFE) channel, just like in a 5.1-channel home theater system, to drive the subwoofer. But the sixth channel is actually full frequency and can be used as a center surround channel (placed behind the listener, as in a home theater EX system) or as an overhead channel (placed well above the listener) for added height dimensionality to the soundstage. The application and placement of the six audio channels in a multi-channel DVD-Audio format is only limited by the imagination of the recording artist and the recording/mixing engineer. Note that multi-channel DVD-Audio does not always mean 6 channels or 5.1 channels Sometimes it is just 4 channels (left front, right front, left surround, and right surround) or 3 channels (left front, center, right front). And in terms of sampling rates and data words, multi-channel DVD-Audio can use up to 192 kHz and up to 24-bit word length. But practically speaking, multi-channel DVD-Audio usually uses 96 kHz sampling, because of data capacity limitation of the DVD-Audio disc. Remember, 6-channel audio uses three times the data capacity of two-channel stereo when both use the same sampling rate and word length. Speaking of data capacity, DVD-Audio uses a form of data compression in order to fit the high resolution stereo and/or multi-channel digital information. Lossless Data Compression[/url] To store the massive quantity of digital audio information efficiently, the DVD Forum has approved the use of Meridian's proprietary lossless (i.e., no digital information is lost in the encoding and decoding process) encoding/decoding algorithm as part of the DVD-Audio format. It is appropriately named Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) algorithm.
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