Improving your sound system on the cheap
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 7,579
Likes: 87
From: Chester County PA
I can barely hear it w/the top off & windows down. As soon as I find a deal on a corner sub box & sub, I'm upgrading mine.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 2,209
Likes: 16
From: Yorktown Heights NY
If you think CD's sound good now, you should hear some of the properly mastered CD's of the 80's & 90's. Truth is all modern pop recordings regardless of the format, are severely dynamically compressed, and bass boosted, to play loud and boomy, through a 9 year old kids ear bud speakers. I have high end home audio equipment, and find all of these modern recordings totally unlistenable on it.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,708
Likes: 83
From: Arkansas
Racer
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 251
Likes: 0
From: DFW texas
what i found was the more you turn it up, the more the center dash speaker overpowers the rest of the system which leads to a mid range trainwreck. The center channed is flat and seems to have a higher set volume than the other speakers. By disconnecting the center channel, it was almost like having a new system. I can now turn up the volume enough to get the bass I want without getting the screaching center channel headache. Its easy to test, throw in a cd or mp3 and cover the dash speaker with a pillow or whatever yo have that will kill the sound. To me, it made the difference of replacing the whole system which I was ready to do. The xm radio still sounds like crap, but this will help the overall sound. This is just my opinion.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,708
Likes: 83
From: Arkansas
..........this is probably the simplest way to explain it but you are correct...........wma lossless would be the best..........Anyway.........my vert has the BOSE 9 speaker upgrade and I notice that when I put the top down it boosts the audio output automatically.........any of you guys with verts experience that?
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 933
Likes: 0
From: FL
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 14,475
Likes: 785
From: Las Vegas NV
At full volume the Bose system isn't loud enough to override a normal conversation ... that's coming from the car next to you with their windows up. It's almost like it was designed for people with hypersensitive hearing or something. The amp and speakers are total garbage. When I first got mine my wife asked me to turn up a song she liked and it was at full volume already. Even she, who hates LOUD music, thought it was bad.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 3,608
Likes: 13
From: New Rochelle N.Y. 2013 Grand Sport
not when i burn music. putting the i pod through the required programs when you are putting music on it (EQ, DYNAMIC RANGE EXPANDER ETC,)where you can tailor the sound as your putting it on the i pod far exceedes the cd quality in store bought music. most music for that matter. its all in the recording.
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 31
Likes: 1
Whether you can tell the difference in bit rates will depend on how good your hearing is and how old you are. Your hearing gets much worse with age. That is just biology. There is an app in Appzilla on the iPhone where you dial in your age and it plays a noise appropriate for your age. Unfortunately I can't hear the one appropriate for my age. 
I can hear the next age up. My cats can hear all of them.
I can hear the next age up. My cats can hear all of them.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 3,608
Likes: 13
From: New Rochelle N.Y. 2013 Grand Sport
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 8,514
Likes: 235
From: Currently somewhere in IL,IN,KY,TN,MO,AR,MS,AL, or FL
The reason lossless encryption is called lossless is because it doesn't lose anything. ITunes loses a lot to make the files smaller. Once it is lost it can't be found again. There is also a big difference in creation software as to what they keep and what they lose even at the same bit rates. The MP3 standard only defines how to decrypt the data file. It says nothing about how to convert audio to a data file. What is kept and what is lost is up to the software author. ITunes keeps boomy base and tinny highs at the expense of making the middle muddy. There is as much difference in encryption software as there is in playback equipment. All MP3s are not created equal.
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 1,931
Likes: 1
From: "Sweet Home Alabama"
So when I load a store bought CD on my iTunes, and then make a copy of that store bought CD...the copy will never sound as good as the original because itunes is degrading the quality?
I am obviously clueless about the whole process
I mostly listen to the ipod using a Pac2 interface, but also burn CD's, until I get burnt out on them.
That type ipod interface is much better than using the jack on the car radio to plug in the ipod, correct?
Last night I made CD's, Led Zeppelin and James Brown
Still blows my mind how many great songs JB had made, he was Superbad....
Bert
Roll Tide!
I am obviously clueless about the whole process
I mostly listen to the ipod using a Pac2 interface, but also burn CD's, until I get burnt out on them.
That type ipod interface is much better than using the jack on the car radio to plug in the ipod, correct?
Last night I made CD's, Led Zeppelin and James Brown
Still blows my mind how many great songs JB had made, he was Superbad....
Bert
Roll Tide!
Team Owner
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 82,175
Likes: 1,319
From: McKinney TX
St. Jude Donor '21-'22-'23-'24
Usually better to start a new thread when it's off the subject. Might even get better responses for this subject in the Audio/Electronics forum.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 3,608
Likes: 13
From: New Rochelle N.Y. 2013 Grand Sport
At full volume the Bose system isn't loud enough to override a normal conversation . The amp and speakers are total garbage. When I first got mine my wife asked me to turn up a song she liked and it was at full volume already. Even she, who hates LOUD music, thought it was bad.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,312
Likes: 72
From: East Amherst NY
it's almost like AM radio 
Lately I've just been using Pandora through my iphone4-USB connection (over 3G)....sound is MUCH better than XM and you can make your own stations and greater variety for music (but not sports, news,etc)
Last edited by 05dsom; Apr 7, 2012 at 12:29 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 5,738
Likes: 81
From: Milford NH
TO the Op, Do you have the Navigation unit? The no navigation Bose in my 06 coupe sounded much better. Trough my navigation Bose XM sounds the best followed by Pandora through my hand held followed by a CD.