CAR PC or Deck
03-07-2008, 09:04 AM
#1
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 10
CAR PC or Deck
I've been going back and forth between getting a nice SQ Deck for my car or installing the CAR PC that I just happen to already have.
I have a 5ch amp and Focal Audio Components (4" 6.5" and TN51)
I would need to get a USB sound card to set everything up.
Just would like some opionions.
I have a 5ch amp and Focal Audio Components (4" 6.5" and TN51)
I would need to get a USB sound card to set everything up.
Just would like some opionions.
03-07-2008, 09:24 AM
#2
What is this Car PC that you do have?
Alot of decks have USB input anyway for a thumb or external drive anyway. One thing I will say gonig for SQ is that ther'es not much music that sounds very good with an SQ setup.
Alot of decks have USB input anyway for a thumb or external drive anyway. One thing I will say gonig for SQ is that ther'es not much music that sounds very good with an SQ setup.
03-07-2008, 09:40 AM
#3
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Posts: 10
It has a Via chipset I think 1.2Ghz and I have a 7" liliput screen
03-07-2008, 12:24 PM
#4
I would def do a carpc, I want to for my next car audio rebuild, which will come with another car sometime.
if you are interested in going active and processing like x-over, ta, basically unlimited ability to eq, room correction, plus whatever else is available in terms of plug ins, pc is the way to go, it gives you great flex.
another great benefit is having all of your music collection right under the thumb. to tell you the truth i'm getting tired of switching cds on my drz...
the downside is to carefully put it all together and choose right components, both hw and sw.
i'd do car pc right now, but finances are tight.
if you are not going to use the pc for processing + big music collection, then why bother, just use a deck.
if you are interested in going active and processing like x-over, ta, basically unlimited ability to eq, room correction, plus whatever else is available in terms of plug ins, pc is the way to go, it gives you great flex.
another great benefit is having all of your music collection right under the thumb. to tell you the truth i'm getting tired of switching cds on my drz...
the downside is to carefully put it all together and choose right components, both hw and sw.
i'd do car pc right now, but finances are tight.
if you are not going to use the pc for processing + big music collection, then why bother, just use a deck.
03-07-2008, 10:25 PM
#7
ya mp3car is the hot fire, im running a car pc and have been for about a year,
first thing first tho i had the same board you had and it was not fast enough for SQ processing.
if you've looked into software and hardware yet you'll know what im about to be on about, im using an m-audio 1010, the LT woudl suffice aswell but i wanted the balanced lines for my zapco amps, then for software im running console with all the plugins for EQ, phase, crossover, delay, channel allocation, visualization and a tansient eq/booster which i really like. i used mostly voxengo stuff and electri-q for the stuff voxengo was no good for.
the via board couldn't even handle the visualization part and was slow as all well when even an attempt at processing was made.
i ended up using my old desktop board and proc, an old asus board and amd 2.8 proc. so of course my case is big for the car, i can load my board up full of full size pci cards. but its all taken up the spare tire well so its out of the way.
also, quick boot is possible i was using the hibernate mode so it was pretty quick, with remote start its even better, i got it booting rite now whent he car remote starts, or i can turn the pc on from my remote.
however so far hard drives dont seem to like cold, the computer is mad slow as hell rite now casue the winter has corrupted to drive nearly beyond repair and im to lazy to get different drives cause i insist winter is nearly over, i just need to re-install my windows and all will be well again. im using a roll-up keyboard i store in my glovebox and have a usb thing in my center console.
don't expect it to be cheap either although if you got 3-way focals i guess thats not really a problem, the only reason i went for car-pc was because i thought 31-band eq's were to expensive and they didn't have time delay/channel allocation, and i wanted GPS, which is sweet. and casue its a computer you can watch movies or play games should the need arise, which is a bonus.
first thing first tho i had the same board you had and it was not fast enough for SQ processing.
if you've looked into software and hardware yet you'll know what im about to be on about, im using an m-audio 1010, the LT woudl suffice aswell but i wanted the balanced lines for my zapco amps, then for software im running console with all the plugins for EQ, phase, crossover, delay, channel allocation, visualization and a tansient eq/booster which i really like. i used mostly voxengo stuff and electri-q for the stuff voxengo was no good for.
the via board couldn't even handle the visualization part and was slow as all well when even an attempt at processing was made.
i ended up using my old desktop board and proc, an old asus board and amd 2.8 proc. so of course my case is big for the car, i can load my board up full of full size pci cards. but its all taken up the spare tire well so its out of the way.
also, quick boot is possible i was using the hibernate mode so it was pretty quick, with remote start its even better, i got it booting rite now whent he car remote starts, or i can turn the pc on from my remote.
however so far hard drives dont seem to like cold, the computer is mad slow as hell rite now casue the winter has corrupted to drive nearly beyond repair and im to lazy to get different drives cause i insist winter is nearly over, i just need to re-install my windows and all will be well again. im using a roll-up keyboard i store in my glovebox and have a usb thing in my center console.
don't expect it to be cheap either although if you got 3-way focals i guess thats not really a problem, the only reason i went for car-pc was because i thought 31-band eq's were to expensive and they didn't have time delay/channel allocation, and i wanted GPS, which is sweet. and casue its a computer you can watch movies or play games should the need arise, which is a bonus.
Last edited by SHOwagon; 03-07-2008 at 10:29 PM.
03-08-2008, 06:29 AM
#8
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 10
I've actually been reading alot on MP3CAR and alot of the people seem to recommend the M-Audio 1010.
Couple questions for you, how did you hook it all up to the amp? I have a US Amps AX-5600 and I'm planning on running the 4 Focals and the sub off this amp. How did this hook up to the M-Audio?
I was also thinking of getting a Flash drive to run windows to speed up the process and just use the Hardrive for my music.
Couple questions for you, how did you hook it all up to the amp? I have a US Amps AX-5600 and I'm planning on running the 4 Focals and the sub off this amp. How did this hook up to the M-Audio?
I was also thinking of getting a Flash drive to run windows to speed up the process and just use the Hardrive for my music.
03-10-2008, 05:03 PM
#10
since your amp is only RCA's you can use the 1010LT, their was a writeup on mp3car about how the guy did the internal routing, it was in the audio bit under 'advanced options' or something, since it's RCA it's just like connecting head unit to amp, on the computer you can choose what comes out of each channel, so you can plug ur amp rca's in anywhere and tell ur bass frequencies to go their.
as for turning amp on, that has been a bit of pain for me, currently i am using the serial port 'amp on' app or whatever it's called, i found it in mp3car in the download section, it's not that hard to set up and nicely gets around the dreaded turn on thump. although to get it to a high enough voltage to turn my amps on i had to use a transistor to flip a relay to get the amps on, a bit of a mess but it works.
as for turning amp on, that has been a bit of pain for me, currently i am using the serial port 'amp on' app or whatever it's called, i found it in mp3car in the download section, it's not that hard to set up and nicely gets around the dreaded turn on thump. although to get it to a high enough voltage to turn my amps on i had to use a transistor to flip a relay to get the amps on, a bit of a mess but it works.
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