All I want is something that plays my usb stick with mp3's , and also takes cd's ; I don't care about the dvd thing. I dont' trust these names , but SOny , Pioneer ,etc don't make a model (yet) that plays of solid memory media . I am just worried about sound quality ( only had sony's and pioneer or kenwood's in the past in the past )
Thursday, June 08, 2006 - 10:44 pm, by: Marius Hainal(Torque)
I know what you mean , but the amps in these usually have poor sound quality , bad signal/noise ratio . They sound like the amp I built when I was in school to listen of my tape walkman
The decent brands play well on medium volumes without distoring too much , at least you can understand the music ...
By the way , you fix the stackers and such , would you be interested in a TT unit + stacker ? Not to fix it ,just if you need it . The stacker works , but the mechanism that spins the cd is faulty ; if you give it a whirl by hand , it is plays OK . And it plays the cd I burn on my pc as well .
Friday, June 09, 2006 - 04:09 am, by: Steve Trace(Clawz)
That's pretty nice, so one of those flash sticks with mp3's on it, and you got music eh? I wonder how big flash memory comes in. I was looking at a stereo that has a direct plug for my ipod in it, but it was like $500, that looks pretty good alternative!
Friday, June 09, 2006 - 11:28 am, by: Mark Paddick(Sparks)
Yes, I would like the stacker for spares. (it has a faulty spin motor by the way, only available new with a new laser for $385 but I have some goods 2nd hand ones). I could give you around $100 + postage for the stacker.
The amps in these head units are pretty much all the same these days. They will have a nominal output of around 45 to 50Watts/channel and signal/noise is fairly good these days. There will be little difference between el-cheapo brands and top flight gear in this respect (all the IC's come from the same place). As an example I just helped a mate fit the 2Din unit from BrashImports to a Merc 560 SEL (great unit, looks factory in the Merc). We expected that the internal amps would be fairly useless in this system as he has some VERY good speakers (Boston Accoustic 6.5 splits and high end sub) and runs Jaycar 2x 150 amps. In fact the internal amps now run the rear speakers and work well. They are not up to running the Bostons as they don't have enough power but are fine for the rears. With lesser speakers they would be OK. No sign of exessive noise or distortion as long as they are not driven real hard. External amps will always be better.
The real nice part about the head unit in question is its' ability to play the new M4a format which is HEAPS better than MP3 and nearly as small file sizes as MP3. I can't tell the difference from a CD in my home system. In the car the CD will always sound better because it is digital audio all the way to the power amps whereas the M4a or MP3 etc has to come through the TV analogue input and therefore has more noise than CD (or even tape and radio as they are digital audio too). If I can figure a way to feed digital audio into the EMV system (working on it and I think I've found a way) then it should sound as good as the factory CD. This will also mean that I can feed digital audio from the DVD stacker in thus getting rid of the noise that comes from the analogue outputs. This is a problem with any aftermarket DVD, mp3 etc source and the EMV system. There is always a noise problem on the analogue input when compared to the CD. With the head unit above that should not be a problem.
With flash memory up to 2GIG now this becomes a nice option and having it plug directly into the head unit should get around the noise problems if they've got it right.
Friday, June 09, 2006 - 03:40 pm, by: Marius Hainal(Torque)
Mark , check your email ..
Yeah , I got a 1gb stick I use to play music right now through my radio with an mp3 player that is also a radio transmitter ..
Quality is quite bad compared to what I was used to with my stacker and cd's ( burned from the same mp3's I listen to now , so they were not original cd's , quality is lower ). But when I used to chuck in an original studio recorded cd of good quality , it was really obvious.
Friday, June 09, 2006 - 03:46 pm, by: Mark Paddick(Sparks)
There are a few other options too; javascript:MM_openBrWindow('ShowLargephoto.asp?id=8550&IMAGE=','','scrollbars,resizable,toolbar,widt h=460,height=500')
This type of setup can be used with any system that has an aux input. The main drawback is that there is no USB or internal hard drive support but it will accept just about any flash memory card and these are up to 2GIGs now..
Ben Socratous TryHard SA Iv'e got less interior that all of you!!!
Friday, June 09, 2006 - 05:57 pm, by: Ben Socratous(Socrates)
Another problem with these el-cheapo ebay decks is that they usually only have one set of rca outputs, and the line voltage of these is quite often very low. This equals not much room to manouver in terms of adding amps and subs.
Stephen Howlett TryHard victoria soarer/ 1992/tt auto & 1996 V8 & parts 4 sale
Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 12:02 pm, by: Mark Paddick(Sparks)
Jaycar, DSE, Altronics etc all carry a version of that too. Fine if you don't mind the reduction in quality and noise from FM modulation. A direct connection like in the head unit above will always be better. Whether you'll notice the difference using mp3's is another question.
The el-cheapo 2Din unit from Brash's is a rare exception as it has Front, Rear and Sub RCA outputs as well as built in 50W amps.
Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 07:43 pm, by: Marius Hainal(Torque)
Nah ; those fm modulators are not good . Got one of those , and that's how I listen now . I NEVER listen radio ; the adds ( spelling ? ) drive me mad ...
I mean I do listen radio now , but just what my mp3 modulator is sending. I would prefer one with usb , as I already have 2x1gb sticks from work ( + a few 128mb I can always keep handy for when my wife gets in , she is not too keen on speed /thrash metal ).
Difference in sound quality is obvious when you use FM modulation , compared to plain mp3's through the amp.
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