The Lotus Cars Community banner
  • Hi there! Why not register as a user to enjoy all of the benefits of the site? You may register here. When you register, please pick a username that is non-commercial. If you use a name that appears on any search engine commercially, you must pick another name, whether it applies to you or not. Commercial usernames are for supporting vendor use only. If you want to become a supporting vendor and grow your business, please follow this link. Thanks!
21 - 29 of 29 Posts
Discussion starter · #21 ·
Agreed Viggen.

If you ever get a chance, look at some of the legacy speakers or Avantgarde Trio Classico($140,000 per), or Dynaudio Evidence Master ($100,000).Seems insane to me but....
I run Martin Logan Areius I's at home in my main room.

Anyway as to my Esprit. The PO installed a Premier BT790 head unit .Almost as many adjustments as my pre/pro at home, and it's Blue tooth ready as a bonus You can get them used now for cheap. I highly recommend them.

The front,side and rear speakers are all boston. Dont know the model number on the front and sides,but the rears are sx65's. Great crossover and low range down to 55hz.. Not low enough for pipe organs that can get down to 30hz or so, but as low as a majority of car subs go :)
See below for photos.

Alan
 

Attachments

Alan, if you decide to get rid of the door speakers, and if the PO did not give you the original piece that went there let me know, I got some knock off lower front door speaker pieces and thus my OEM ones are not installed..
 
With that deck I do not think its a 6.0/1 setup due to the deck probably just having dsp and not surround sound :)

I am to poor to have anything expensive in the home theatre/audio setup.... I just use the old infinity kappa 8.1's and hope to someday get something a bit nicer. I have been getting kinda frustrated due to my cars audio setup sounding better. Thinking of upgrading my amplifiers at home, present use 4 parasound amps and am thinking of trying a class d amp, ever messed with those before?

I just use pheonix gold elite amps, hertz Mille front components and a hybrid audio sub....
 
I'm sure you have a much better system in your Esprit, then the sonically and time aligned matched 6.1(now6 without the .1) that is installed in mine.

My system from the PO was time matched ,so that it feels like I'm listening to a singer or group in front of me .The sound reaches me,it then passes by and I hear it later behind me as you would at a concert.

This is unlike most systems installed in cars to day ,a bunch of speakers all blasting at you at the same time with no coherence, or time consideration what so ever. That along with bloated bass that sounds like no instrument ever made by man . No thanks.:(

So tell us about your system. I'm always looking to improve mine and maybe you can give me some tips. :)

Enough of that, Kenny,shipping the sub today will PM you after it's done.

Alan
Actually I have just the basic system that comes in most Esprit's and I rarely even play that rudimentary system. I am one of those that listens to every sound that the car makes from the engine to the sound of the tires on the pavement. I believe that no matter how much money you throw at a car it is as hostile as an audio environment can be. It is my opinion that the listening environment is the most important item in the list of audio do's. So if it is other than plain background music I feel it is better to go sit in your audio room and listen to music.

My Esprit is a purpose driven car and not used for mere A to B transportation. where the journey is the focus, not the destination. My main use of the Esprit is to remind me of the days when my senses and reflexes were sharper that allowed me to take calculated risks of a higher caliber. I have found myself scaling back even though I am not close to exceeding the performance envelope of the car. So for me audio other than mere background noise is out as I have a hard enough time as it is driving the car without distractions. Also the mere fact that every 10 lbs of extra weight is worth 1 HP that does not propel the car quicker does not endear me to what I consider non essential gear in our performance aging cars.

I do not disparage people who put in or feel that they need a more robust sound system for their car. For a long time it was my profession to do the bidding of others in the world of home audio. The audio therapist as my wife used to call it. It is the owners call what is important and to prioritize the requirements for their cars.

All of my personal audio gear is old and really simple stuff with minimal processing that I removed from people homes as they updated their equipment. Its old but it was free and OK stuff. A 1990's Conrad Johnson pre-amp and tube amp and a pair of aging Apogee Diva's in a room just to listen to music. Even then I find it hard to just sit down and listen as I used to do in my younger years. As in car audio the home audio seems to be background in nature now or not on at all while doing other tasks.
 
Discussion starter · #25 · (Edited)
With that deck I do not think its a 6.0/1 setup due to the deck probably just having dsp and not surround sound :)

I am to poor to have anything expensive in the home theatre/audio setup.... I just use the old infinity kappa 8.1's and hope to someday get something a bit nicer. I have been getting kinda frustrated due to my cars audio setup sounding better. Thinking of upgrading my amplifiers at home, present use 4 parasound amps and am thinking of trying a class d amp, ever messed with those before?

I just use pheonix gold elite amps, hertz Mille front components and a hybrid audio sub....
Agreed,
While it's not true surround but , since the deck will let me do separate eq'ing of the front speakers and rear speakers and careful use of the front/rear fader and balance controls , I can do a decent job of replicating surround sound.

Never tried the class D amps, although I've heard good things about them. I use Aragon 4004 in my analog audio room, and outlaw monoblocks in the HT set up.

Sounds good while stock in LA traffic.



My car is used for much the same as you . Once I get out of the city. The radio is off and the gas pedal is down. Couldn't hear the radio even if I wanted to :)

I am still somewhat confused. In your last post, you say you don't disparage folks in regards to the car audio systems, yet your first post in this thread seemed to do just the opposite. If I misunderstood your first post,I do apologize.

As a side note , hang on to that Conrad Johnson gear, it is still very well regarded.

Alan
 
Agreed that car is not best environment for music.. BUT....

A. Home equipment like some of you guys mention having is HOLY CRAP batman expensive.

B. Can't really crank up the volume at home. At least not without checking to see if someone else is home first or bothering neighbors possibly. In the car? YUP! As long as not at a stop light which is just rude..

C. When done right, and doesnt take big $$, car systems can sound pretty bad ass. One I put in my 300ZX had amazing sound and even a great friend (he ended up buying the car from me) who had a recording studio was amazed at the staging, in fact he at first thought I somehow had speakers hidden in the front windshield center defrost vent!

Ive heard high $$$$$ car and home systems which sounded like crap, ie. a large portion of it is how well it is tuned. I have a pretty damned nice home theater set up which cost me less than $4000. For that got Sony Pearl 1080p projector, screen, Sony Receiver with 1080p pass through, Sony Blu-Ray player, Russsound in wall speakers (they are large and walls are lined inside with dynamat) and a 15" subwoofer (forget the brand). Also have a Philips Pronto Pro wifi remote to control everything since all the equipment is hidden in a closet.
 
Agreed,

I am still somewhat confused. In your last post, you say you don't desparage folks in regards to the car audio systems, yet your first post in this thread seemed to do just the opposite. If I misunderstood your first post,I do apologize.

Alan
I am guilty of a poke at the person who made the enclosure. A speaker in a box with spring loaded wire clips and carpet glued over it. If an installer is going to charge good money at least give them a decent binding post and mounting plate. So not directed at you unless you made the enclosure then its another matter LOL.

Way back in the old days I used to work next door to a custom car audio place. I worked for a small neighborhood home audio shop. It was there I met Jim Wolford. We tried for a long time to come up with a sub. He had the CAD and audio programs to come up with the volumetric specs for the speakers and enclosure. We followed all the rules for enclosure bracing, material density, port size and length, density of audio batting and a sorts of things. We used many different speakers and enclosure designs as we had a huge parts bin to draw from, try things and exchange. After maybe a year we gave up on the subs and moved on to other projects as we were never satisfied with the results. Jim started making a simple spiked speaker stand that later turned into Sanus systems. I was a part of a small group of custom install people discussing things via prodigy a very basic network chat system that included many founding members of CEDIA. In the mid 90's I left audio as I moved to more intensive electronics projects.
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
Now it makes sense, and nope, didn't make the enclosure.

I do go to the CES show in Vegas every January. I have seen some exceptional products, and I've also seen some monumental failures.

In regards to speaker design, whether it be stereo, sub's or surround speakers. It is an exacting field that requires , not only the proper combination of materials, but also a sixth sense as to what combo will meet or exceed the parameters you're trying to reach. Very few people have the knack. :)

Alan
 
I do miss CES in the old days it was twice/yr LV and Chicago.

I hear you about speaker design, its hard.
I suppose the sub we made was okay but we were Velodyne and B&W dealers. Being exposed to the Velodyne ULD-18 and B&W 800 series for hours on a daily basis twisted our perception on what an average speaker should sound like that we never really recovered from.
 
21 - 29 of 29 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top