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New Car Audio Setup - Officially Active!

4K views 28 replies 8 participants last post by  CaptainMorgan 
#1 ·
So I started talking about this in my door pods thread, but I figured now I'm far enough this deserves a thread of it's own.

This whole plan was dependent on getting a DSP to go active. For those of you who aren't sure what I mean, that's using a sound processor to apply the crossovers to the signal before the amps, and then amplify the tweeters and woofers separately. This gives you a whole new world of tuning possibilities compared to using off the shelf audio gear.

My awesome parents who still like to see my smile like a little kid on Christmas got me my miniDSP 2x8 with DigiFP I/O card. Here it is out of the box, just a big circuit board. Look at the RCA connectors on it for a size reference, it's almost as big as a typical amp.


I built a nice little box for it that I'll grab pictures of later that turned out pretty cool for a cheap and functional solution.

I built new RCA interconnects to hook this up to the amps. Nice dual shielded coaxial video wire, professional grade stuff. The DSP being in the trunk also means very short runs and not exposed to really any of the other electronics in the car by proximity. The DSP gets it's signal from a digital sound card in a laptop over a toslink cable.

Here is a sample image of what the software interface looks like. This page is where most of the action happens. The other tabs are activating the right inputs and outputs that you want to use and choosing the correct signal to go to the correct output.


Here is the routing page.


Here is an example of a crossover setup page.


Here is an EQ page. Every single input and output channel has it's own full parametric EQ, so you can correct on a per driver basis as well as a total system basis. This will let me correct for issues like reflections that are unique to the left and right sides separately.



I just spend a couple of hours tuning with the DSP software, wow is this stuff cool. When the laptop connects to the DSP all changes are applied in real time, so I actually could get a decent tune (without EQing) by ear. Mute all channels except corresponding L and R of same driver, and slowly attenuate the near driver down until the sound is coming from the center of the dash. Then do the same thing with the other drivers.
I really like being able to mess with crossover points in real time. I can actually tell very distinct differences in sound when I shift the crossover frequencies, even if only by relatively small margins.

One of the best parts is my noise floor is amazing. On a good audio file it's almost absolutely nothing, even amplified to ear bleeding levels during only vocals.

Now I need to get it to final install phase so I can actually enjoy it. Right now everything is just sitting in the trunk for testing and I need to run a wire to the IGN power circuit for the laptop turn on/power lead. It'll automatically boot up when I turn the key, and not stay on to drain the battery when the car shuts off (It'll hibernate after 15-20 minutes, that way if you're just getting gas or running inside it'll stay on for you off the laptop's battery).

I'll get a ton of pictures for you guys, but for now it's time for a break. I'll be back at it late tonight I'm sure.
 
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#2 ·
I'm sure it has been explained somewhere, but how is your setup configured? I've put bits and pieces together, and now you mention a laptop. I always assumed, when you mentioned DSP, that you would be using something like this, but I suppose you are; just in a DYI project? Is the laptop mainly for the DPS software? Interesting and I'm curious to see the final product.
 
#4 ·
The laptop is the interface for programming the DSP, but I'm also running the sound system from a laptop that stays in the car. I don't have a screen in the dash ready to go yet to fully utilize it, but I'm working on it. I'm waiting on funds to get the last couple of pieces ready to go, time to get the savings back up first after Christmas bills. I need my new solid state drive for the laptop before I really bother with configuring the front end and all the software just how I want it.

The DSP I'm using is similar to something like what you showed, but more DIYer to it. It's cheaper but it comes more raw with you getting it set up more yourself. Looking at the Helix interface it looks to have just about all the same capabilities, just laid out differently. The biggest change I see is that it using a high number of bands graphic EQ where as the miniDSP uses a large number of parametric EQs.

Basically here is my setup.
Laptop (source unit) - miniDSP- 3 amps (Boston Acoustics GT-2200 for front woofers, JL 300/4v2 for tweeters and rears, and a cheapie Pioneer amp for the subs) - Legatia L6v2 woofers, ScanSpeak Illuminator D3004 tweeters, JL 8W0 woofers.
 
#8 ·
Nice set of equipment and those door pods. Now for the fun stuff, spending the next 8 years dialing it in. In car audio, it never sounds 'good' enough.

How many bands per channel of EQ does the mini-DSP have?
 
#9 ·
Niqce set of equipment and those door pods. Now for the fun stuff, spending the next 8 years dialing it in. In car audio, it never sounds 'good' enough.

How many bands per channel of EQ does the mini-DSP have?
Five bands parametric, which should be plenty with how adjustable it is.

Considering that when eqing on a per driver basis you only have to consider the frequency range within the crossover points I doubt I'll need more.

I'm going to have it dialed in much sooner than that, I'll be putting together an RTA setup very soon to be able to do high level tuning. I hope to have it well before the meet and I'll gladly bring it to tune other people's systems.
 
#10 ·
As promised here are a few pictures. It's still obviously only semi installed, but it's getting there fast. The wires are now all dressed to the bottom of the computer/DSP board, but past that they are still loose. I wanted to make sure I had everything working before I started running them under the other trunk sub floor boards.

Here is the DSP in case before it's all hooked up.


The digital IO card is attached to the top of the case above the main DSP board. I used some longer bolts, plastic spacers I cut out of spare material from the case.




Now here we are all hooked up for now.







In this semi installed state I don't have the touchscreen in the car yet. But my wireless keyboard I got for the car can control winamp within a playlist blind just fine for the moment.

I'm at the point where I need to remove the old RCA runs to the front of the car and the HU and run USB, IGN on power wire for a relay, and a video wire for the screen.
 
#16 · (Edited)
So you're going to be using the laptop to store your music and playback from Winamp. Are you using a lossless format for the audio files? How are you keeping the laptop charged / powered on when the car isn't running? Or do you shut it down each time? <edit> Saw your plans to run an IGN wire to the back to power on

128GB wouldn't hold a 1/5th of my music if it was lossless. 1TB+ drives are just as cheap as a decent SSD now a days and since you do not need fast read / writes for audio playback, i'd go with storage over speed any day of the week.

What is the audio out source on the laptop? I see what looks like an optical jack on the external box you have. Is that what is feeding the DSP? It's a little hard to tell by the pictures.
 
#17 ·
I'm using FLAC (lossless) and playing from Winamp for now, but the SSD is only going to be to hold the software. Eventually I'll be using a 1 or 2 TB 2.5" external to carry around my music on. I want the software run off the SSD. Fast boot times and not having to fear for mechanical failures in a mobile installation for the boot drive are the reasons. I agree though that you don't need the fast read/write times for music playback, hence I'm going best of both worlds.

As far as the power for the laptop, I'll explain further. There is a guy over at mp3car that builds (or built, not sure if he still does it) a module for turning on the computer. You splice into the power button for the device, in my case I spliced into the docking station, and there is a USB wire that you plug in as well. The USB is just to detect if the computer is already on so it doesn't shut off the computer when you're starting to car with it already on. The module will automatically boot up the computer when you start the car.

I have a DC power transformer for the computer. I'm running it to the IGN power so it can't drain the battery, but I set the computer to stay on with it's own battery power for 15-20 minutes before hibernating. Even if it gets hung on shut down it's isolated from the car battery, it'll only kill itself.

I do have an optical out from the computer. That's a PCMCIA sound card. It's the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook. It's an older model that isn't made anymore, but it's pretty nice. If I wanted to I could use it as a DSP that's pretty powerful with the kxproject driver set, but what I have now is even better.
 
#21 · (Edited)
i notice the difference, even encoded at 320. i try and find lossless encoded sound for whatever i can.
but still, i have over 250gb in mp3/m4a, and over 150gb lossless(flac/ape/wv/wav,aif)). i do have more lossless, but most has been burnt to cd. but it's easy enough to rip it back. i prefer burning for storage. cd/dvd's don't crash, taking everything with them.
and my new head unit recognizes wav on a usb drive, so i don't need to travel with cd's anymore.
 
#22 ·
Someone finally made a HU that reads wav over USB? I looked for something that could play that or a lossless over USB for years and it didn't exist. I figured that USB drives like that couldn't accommodate the data transfer rate necessary. That was the last straw that pushed me in the computer direction.

I really don't have that long of a history building up a library. I don't listen to any of the same stuff past really the beginning of college.
 
#29 ·
Just an FYI guys, I haven't disappeared on this project. I'll be ordering the SSD soon, I'm tired of waiting for a special deal and I've got a huge paycheck coming in. That'll let me take a huge step forward as I haven't bothered to do anything with the software on the computer yet knowing a fresh install is coming.

Also about ready to put the touchscreen in the dash as well, so I'll be returning to finishing the bezel as soon as my jobs settle down.

The big thing I've been keeping up with is research and learning the whole tuning procedure that I'll follow. I'll put that stuff in a separate thread for funsies.
 
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