Suprising performance from what?

Rob41

Don't stop believin'
Well, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time and I've got to say I'm VERY surprised by how good it sounds. Yes, it is a car stereo!

My main system consists of a few vintage amplifiers including some of the top offerings from Heathkit and Nikko. I use them in an active system with a miniDSP to control a set of my DIY line arrays augmented with two subs below 80Hz. This car stereo (Pioneer AVH-491BHS DVD) has built in active/DSP although not quite as feature rich as the miniDSP it is pretty good. It allows control of 3 separate pairs of channels and sub control. It allows control of crossover points, types of slopes, time alignment, driver matching etc.

I figured it would be barely adequate for use in a home environment and be more of a novelty at best. When I roughed in my basic parameters from memory and turned the system on I was pleasantly surprised. I asked myself how this could even be possible to get this level of sound from a $300 ($250 after price match from Crutchfield) car head unit? All I can speculate is that there are very short signal paths and I'm using a good power supply to provide the DC power, which I think is critical.

It has all the functions of a modern head unit including an HD tuner, Android and i-phone comparability with Pandora and Spotify control, plays FLAC files via the usb port, CD player DVD player, remote and more. You can control everything with your smart phone or the remote.

So I built an enclosure out of 1 3/4" maple butcher block material, sprayed some automotive paint on it, added a push button power switch and added some aluminum feet. I gotta say I'm happy with the outcome and ecstatic about how well it sounds. I will be using it in my secondary listening system in the living room with conventional passive speaker via a Carver amp. I will add a sub to gently reinforce the lowest frequencies for music enjoyment.

Here are a few pics:

a.jpg c.jpg d.jpg
 
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Excellent job. I'm subscribing to see the comments and updates. It probably has remote control too, right?
 
Thanks. Yes it also has a remote control. And based on what I've heard already I'll be building another to actually keep using in my main system. I never would have believed I would be so pleased with this.
 
Don't underestimate the level of sophistication in today's car audio. There are some feature packed units available that would make any enthusiast smile. Add to that they are available for a relative pittance when compared to the half a dozen or so components you would have to buy to match it's features and capabilities.

Nice work, hope you get to enjoy it for years to come.
 
Don't underestimate the level of sophistication in today's car audio. There are some feature packed units available that would make any enthusiast smile. Add to that they are available for a relative pittance when compared to the half a dozen or so components you would have to buy to match it's features and capabilities.

Nice work, hope you get to enjoy it for years to come.

I guess that's why I'm taken aback. I did underestimate it. I searched all over the web for projects like this and all I could find were some crappy old single din head units people would hook up to a wall wart and stick in some box. I thought there was more potential than that for a quality unit and as it turns out I was right. All of the current tech in a nice small package to boot!
 
I have three regulate power supplies looking for a purpose in life. This could, at worst, be a nice secondary or garage system. I'll be looking for more feedback.
 
I have three regulate power supplies looking for a purpose in life. This could, at worst, be a nice secondary or garage system. I'll be looking for more feedback.

Right, and that's what I thought as well. If you try it out, be sure to hook it up as the source for your main system just for comparison. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.



That's actually pretty cool.
Thanks, that's actually the first thing that came out of my mouth when I heard it for the first time. Then there were a few "wow's".
 
I ran a car stereo off a power supply into an Adcom amp and some Bose 601's in the garage for years, sounded better than most of my neighbors home systems.

They usually have very good tuners and CD transports built to take the abuse of a mobile environment: vibration, dust/dirt, temperature extremes etc.

In the last five years or so the technology "trickle down" has added features like DSP, Bluetooth, sophisticated crossovers, equalizers etc.

Maybe the next frontier in Hi Fi ????
 
It kinda gives me an idea. I have Harman/Kardon 1.5 power amp, and I like it a lot. It also just so happens to have 12v remote trigger. Hmmm....:idea:
 
I ran a car stereo off a power supply into an Adcom amp and some Bose 601's in the garage for years, sounded better than most of my neighbors home systems.

They usually have very good tuners and CD transports built to take the abuse of a mobile environment: vibration, dust/dirt, temperature extremes etc.

In the last five years or so the technology "trickle down" has added features like DSP, Bluetooth, sophisticated crossovers, equalizers etc.

Maybe the next frontier in Hi Fi ????

My experiment has made me a believer that it could be the next frontier. So much is now in the digital realm and it doesn't take up much room, and it's not entirely difficult to effectively implement.



It kinda gives me an idea. I have Harman/Kardon 1.5 power amp, and I like it a lot. It also just so happens to have 12v remote trigger. Hmmm....:idea:

That sounds like a great idea! I have a couple 12V triggered Carver mono amps but they are way over powered for my living room. I may have to see if any of my other amps are 12V triggered. One push of a button and voila! :bigok:
 
Well, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time and I've got to say I'm VERY surprised by how good it sounds. Yes, it is a car stereo!

My main system consists of a few vintage amplifiers including some of the top offerings from Heathkit and Nikko. I use them in an active system with a miniDSP to control a set of my DIY line arrays augmented with two subs below 80Hz. This car stereo (Pioneer AVH-491BHS DVD) has built in active/DSP although not quite as feature rich as the miniDSP it is pretty good. It allows control of 3 separate pairs of channels and sub control. It allows control of crossover points, types of slopes, time alignment, driver matching etc.

I figured it would be barely adequate for use in a home environment and be more of a novelty at best. When I roughed in my basic parameters from memory and turned the system on I was pleasantly surprised. I asked myself how this could even be possible to get this level of sound from a $300 ($250 after price match from Crutchfield) car head unit? All I can speculate is that there are very short signal paths and I'm using a good power supply to provide the DC power, which I think is critical.

It has all the functions of a modern head unit including an HD tuner, Android and i-phone comparability with Pandora and Spotify control, plays FLAC files via the usb port, CD player DVD player, remote and more. You can control everything with your smart phone or the remote.

So I built an enclosure out of 1 3/4" maple butcher block material, sprayed some automotive paint on it, added a push button power switch and added some aluminum feet. I gotta say I'm happy with the outcome and ecstatic about how well it sounds. I will be using it in my secondary listening system in the living room with conventional passive speaker via a Carver amp. I will add a sub to gently reinforce the lowest frequencies for music enjoyment.

Here are a few pics:

View attachment 1105500 View attachment 1105501 View attachment 1105502
Awesome job!! Would you mind me asking what DC power supply you are using?
 
Thank you. I'll be updating in a few days with pictures of the matching Sansui SF2 speakers I'm currently refurbishing for my wife. New drivers, LR crossovers and of course paint to match the Pioneer head unit enclosure.
 
When I was in college I wanted some of my own mics for recording musical performances. I had to start small. So I bought 3 AKG D-12 mics for $90.00 each. They became very famous as kick drum mics by professionals. I never used them that way. I thought they made fantastic solo mics. Smooth like a RCA 77 ribbon, but not so delicate or so large. Later on I used Altec C-20 and C-30 mics out front and the D-12's were used exclusivly as so or section sweetening mics.
 
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