Are we Loosing Interest in Car Audio?
04-01-2009, 08:44 AM
#21
This thread definitely ignited my curiosity. I decided to re-record some reference discs to my ipod at different bit rates and compare them to the cd in my home and in my car. The discs used are: Alpine's speed of sound test disc from 1990 and boston acoustics test disc from around the same time. I ripped the discs at 112, 160, 192, 256, 320, apple lossless, and wav (which most of my music is ripped with). The listening tests revealed 2 things, 1. The ipods pre amp level is lower than the cd's by about 3-4 db's, but the quality is the same(this may be a cd player phenomenon and may be different from brand to brand, in my case it was an Alpine 9835 cd player with a 420i interface, and a NAD c542 cd player in the house). 2. Below 192 kbs it's fairly easy to tell the difference, above that it's nearly impossible...in the house. In the car while moving, i couldn't hear a difference above 160 kbs...and even sitting in a quiet garage last night, i couldn't hear a difference above 192. My conclusion is that if you use your mp3/ipod players properly, you can get the best of both convenience and sq.
Last edited by Denonite; 04-01-2009 at 08:52 AM.
04-01-2009, 09:23 AM
#22
you old school guys make me laugh. not everyone is a car audio nerd like yourselves and not everyone cares about zip ties on their wires every 6 inches or whatever.
people just want sound, most people dont have the time or the need to distinguish between mp3, cd, radio or whatever. they just want it fast and easily accessible.
get with the times. the interest in car audio has not died perse. it has infact increased. every single car these days has car audio installed in it from the factory, atleast a cd player. so how can it be dead? if by car audio you mean nerdy *** installs with xover points set to the T then yah, that is dead, well it was never that big to begin with it i dont think. same goes for spl type installs. those are neiche markets. but car audio in its general terms didnt really go anywhere.
there is a diference between "sounds good" and "sounds good enough"
most people just fall under the "sounds good enough" category.
people just want sound, most people dont have the time or the need to distinguish between mp3, cd, radio or whatever. they just want it fast and easily accessible.
get with the times. the interest in car audio has not died perse. it has infact increased. every single car these days has car audio installed in it from the factory, atleast a cd player. so how can it be dead? if by car audio you mean nerdy *** installs with xover points set to the T then yah, that is dead, well it was never that big to begin with it i dont think. same goes for spl type installs. those are neiche markets. but car audio in its general terms didnt really go anywhere.
there is a diference between "sounds good" and "sounds good enough"
most people just fall under the "sounds good enough" category.
Last edited by Father Yuli; 04-01-2009 at 09:25 AM.
04-01-2009, 09:26 AM
#23
I have to admit I'm kind of in between the two worlds.
I too carry around my iPod in the car as I prefer getting a 250$ piece of electronics stolen as opposed to 2000$+ worth of CDs, and I'd rather not need to swap CDs continuously as most of the time I want to listen to 2~3 songs by an artist and then change. And, a 6 CD changer when you have over 150CDs is still tedious before long.
But, when I rip my CDs, It's always 192 to 320kbps VBR with all settings for maximum quality. So like Denonite and others have said, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference, even with reference stuff.
But when I feel like listening to music, I go and sit in a shopping mall parking lot away from any potential sleeping people, and stick in my CDs for a couple minutes / hours of true auditory bliss !
I may be one of the lucky few of my generation to still put quality high up there. If I can get convenience and quality, great ! If I can't, then quality goes first.
Even in the home audio market, when I see those little crap-*** speakers that could easily fit in my pocket, and then a sales person tries to get me to listen to them claiming they sound great... WHAT ?!?! What's so good about a speaker that can't reproduce any midbass or treble properly ? All you get is a big-*** sub and some average quality midrange... how am I supposed to enjoy this ? "Yeah, but it's small, so you can put it anywhere !", the guy says... IT STILL SOUNDS LIKE C*** !!! *sigh*
I could go on and on, but yeah... people just sacrifice quality for convenience, cosmetics, space saving, etc...
I too carry around my iPod in the car as I prefer getting a 250$ piece of electronics stolen as opposed to 2000$+ worth of CDs, and I'd rather not need to swap CDs continuously as most of the time I want to listen to 2~3 songs by an artist and then change. And, a 6 CD changer when you have over 150CDs is still tedious before long.
But, when I rip my CDs, It's always 192 to 320kbps VBR with all settings for maximum quality. So like Denonite and others have said, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference, even with reference stuff.
But when I feel like listening to music, I go and sit in a shopping mall parking lot away from any potential sleeping people, and stick in my CDs for a couple minutes / hours of true auditory bliss !
I may be one of the lucky few of my generation to still put quality high up there. If I can get convenience and quality, great ! If I can't, then quality goes first.
Even in the home audio market, when I see those little crap-*** speakers that could easily fit in my pocket, and then a sales person tries to get me to listen to them claiming they sound great... WHAT ?!?! What's so good about a speaker that can't reproduce any midbass or treble properly ? All you get is a big-*** sub and some average quality midrange... how am I supposed to enjoy this ? "Yeah, but it's small, so you can put it anywhere !", the guy says... IT STILL SOUNDS LIKE C*** !!! *sigh*
I could go on and on, but yeah... people just sacrifice quality for convenience, cosmetics, space saving, etc...
04-01-2009, 10:15 AM
#24
you old school guys make me laugh. Not everyone is a car audio nerd like yourselves and not everyone cares about zip ties on their wires every 6 inches or whatever.
People just want sound, most people dont have the time or the need to distinguish between mp3, cd, radio or whatever. They just want it fast and easily accessible.
Get with the times. The interest in car audio has not died perse. It has infact increased. Every single car these days has car audio installed in it from the factory, atleast a cd player. So how can it be dead? If by car audio you mean nerdy *** installs with xover points set to the t then yah, that is dead, well it was never that big to begin with it i dont think. Same goes for spl type installs. Those are neiche markets. But car audio in its general terms didnt really go anywhere.
There is a diference between "sounds good" and "sounds good enough"
most people just fall under the "sounds good enough" category.
People just want sound, most people dont have the time or the need to distinguish between mp3, cd, radio or whatever. They just want it fast and easily accessible.
Get with the times. The interest in car audio has not died perse. It has infact increased. Every single car these days has car audio installed in it from the factory, atleast a cd player. So how can it be dead? If by car audio you mean nerdy *** installs with xover points set to the t then yah, that is dead, well it was never that big to begin with it i dont think. Same goes for spl type installs. Those are neiche markets. But car audio in its general terms didnt really go anywhere.
There is a diference between "sounds good" and "sounds good enough"
most people just fall under the "sounds good enough" category.
Last edited by Denonite; 04-01-2009 at 10:20 AM.
04-01-2009, 10:30 AM
#25
We live in a society of convenience. iPod is here for a while. Get used to it, implement it into your profit margin somehow and push quality after the fact. People are still spoiled brats. That won't change. In my part of the world, people are still spending money.
My company name is "SoundsGood". It's what we do. Yes, we do spl too, but we try to encourage quality instead of rattle. We go through a lot of Hushmat!!!
The amount of SQ cars has grown over the last 4 years of our existence. There are 13 IASCA sanctioned shows this year in my area compared to 4 last year.
I believe that the more that people are educated, the more they will spend their money on real equipment instead of Blose, JBL and Infinity oem crap!
My company name is "SoundsGood". It's what we do. Yes, we do spl too, but we try to encourage quality instead of rattle. We go through a lot of Hushmat!!!
The amount of SQ cars has grown over the last 4 years of our existence. There are 13 IASCA sanctioned shows this year in my area compared to 4 last year.
I believe that the more that people are educated, the more they will spend their money on real equipment instead of Blose, JBL and Infinity oem crap!
04-01-2009, 10:48 AM
#26
i dont think education has anything to do with what people will buy if whatever they have already sounds good enough. i know about car audio, yet im probably never gonna go out there and buy focal speakers, even if i can afford them. JBL sounds good enough for me.
people look/hear sq cars and say wow that sounds good. but thats about it. why? because who really wants a complicated install like that?
same thing goes for spl cars. who wants an ugly and extremely overpwered/unballanced install like that?
people look/hear sq cars and say wow that sounds good. but thats about it. why? because who really wants a complicated install like that?
same thing goes for spl cars. who wants an ugly and extremely overpwered/unballanced install like that?
04-01-2009, 11:35 AM
#27
^^got to agree with yuli again. I've got at least 30 good friends that have been in my car a number of times, and while they really like the tunes when they're in there, they always prefer to talk or carry on a conversation while driving. Once in a while we're all in the same mode and want to just listen to the tunes, but none of them are interested enough to get an after market system. They prefer to jam at home or at a club.
04-01-2009, 08:12 PM
#28
I'm not saying that they gotta spend $12000.00, but upgrades can make a significant difference. My friends aren't dropping tonnes of dough in my shop either. It's a specific kind of person that will throw large amounts of cash to make their car sound like mine, but there are those that catch the bug by listening to our SQ cars.
It's not much different than listening to an SPL vehicle. The bug is just that, an incentive to compete against other like minded folks. Some of us just take it to an extreme.
My company show people that it doesn't always have to be. We have a customer that has spent about $3000.00 and it sounds sweet! He's done it on a budget and over months, but he keeps spending to get that ever so elusive quality tweak. He's very happy! He's like a company spokesman now. It's great advertising.
It's not much different than listening to an SPL vehicle. The bug is just that, an incentive to compete against other like minded folks. Some of us just take it to an extreme.
My company show people that it doesn't always have to be. We have a customer that has spent about $3000.00 and it sounds sweet! He's done it on a budget and over months, but he keeps spending to get that ever so elusive quality tweak. He's very happy! He's like a company spokesman now. It's great advertising.
04-01-2009, 08:55 PM
#30
It doesn't have to be, but it's still more than most people care to do. The fact is, if you like sound systems you'll spend on it, if you could care less, you won't! I don't care about photography, so i have a crappy little 100.00 camera. I'm sure photo nuts are saying the same thing about the general public and their lack of concern over the visual quality of their photos. Only audio geeks care about sq or audio at all. Most people are quite happy with the oem systems and the run of the mill stereo systems.
