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Cheesy car amp...anyone try one of these?

Sansui Louie

Sansui Louie

Curmudgeon
I think we used to have a Car Stereo forum here, but I no longer see it. Guessing it wasn't utilized enough or was phased out for some reason...

I'm looking at options for a stereo in my sailboat. I'd grudgingly put in a regular car receiver, but am entertaining other options including a vintage mini-system (120V), or installing a car audio power amp and some sort of either preamp or just a series of jacks and selectors for external sources such as my android phone, a portable cd player, etc.

On a famous auction site, there seems to be a plethora of cheap chinese 12V integrated amps....with speaker terminals, a few input jacks, a bass, treble and volume knob. Has anyone tried these out? I'm guessing they're complete crapola, but sometimes a person is surprised. Or, is there a quality counterpart?
 
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Why not just an actual car receiver deck? Almost all of them have aux. input these days, and you have a lot more choices. I believe they also make versions of them specifically for boats (water resistant, I suppose?).
 
Mostly because I absolutely LOATHE the controls on them now. Total pain in the ass to operate. Waaaaaaay too many useless 'features' and ridiculous menuing systems. I'm out to sail, not operate a Command Module in a Saturn V rocket.

The only plus I can see is that a lot of them come with remotes, which might be nice to have out in the cockpit.
 
Sansui Louie said:
Mostly because I absolutely LOATHE the controls on them now. Total pain in the ass to operate. Waaaaaaay too many useless 'features' and ridiculous menuing systems.
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Okay, that is true - good point. Maybe there are exceptions? I haven't looked at car stereos (I mean, outside of people's cars) in a decade. Seems like they can't ALL be stupid, but maybe they can. At least they brought back volume knobs :D.
 
dumptruck said:
Okay, that is true - good point. Maybe there are exceptions? I haven't looked at car stereos (I mean, outside of people's cars) in a decade.
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There's one. But it's not inexpensive. There is a company that makes modern-feature versions of the old 2-shaft car stereos, aimed primarily at the classic car crowd. Those actually look easy to operate.

I bought a Pioneer a couple years ago for my Saturn. I leave the damned thing on NPR all the time...the CD player stopped working after the first year and the remote disappeared, more than likely fell out of the car at some point. Operating it without the remote takes 3 physicists and an olympic gymnast.

Which gets me going on another rant...with all the talk of distracted driving and cell phones, why the hell don't they turn their wrath on Detroit for building cars with all this menuing bullshit? Whatever happened to Volume and Tuning on the fricking radio???? I took a ride in a Prius recently and it's enough to drive someone with ADD to an orgasm! I want a radio that has Volume and Tuning knobs, and I want heat controls (and any others, for that matter) that I can operate by FEEL. I don't want to take my eyes off the road to fart through 17 menu screens to turn on the windshield wipers. What the hell????
 
I have a car stereo / CD player in my boat, I think it's a Sony. It's got a remote with volume and mute on it, probably some other things but that's all I ever use. I mounted a piece of PVC pipe on my instrument cluster in the cockpit to stick it in. Works good. I mainly listen to XM satellite on the boat, and my satellite receiver also has a remote, but it only seems to have a range of about 3 feet, even with new batteries. I've also seen people run wiring from the either the AUX input of a receiver or the MAIN IN inputs on a plate amp to the cockpit to connect an iPod that's attached to the instrument cluster with velcro. There are various aftermarket sheaths for iPods and iPhones that will keep the weather out, and you'd probably mainly be listening in nice weather anyways.

Never really thought about it, but you're right about car stereos... they haven't changed size physically in 40 years but have about 20 times more buttons on them. I really like the stereo in my dodge truck right now. It has a volume knob (yes KNOB) that's also the power on/off switch. Base and treble are sliders, balance and fader are small knobs that recess when not in use. You can scan and jump presets via buttons on the back of the steering wheel as well as control volume so no need for a remote. Speakers are Infinity and sound great. Best car stereo I've ever had.
 
The little "Lepai" branded (ostensibly) Class T amp that PartsExpress is selling is reasonably well made and sounds... not bad at all. Does this help or hinder? :-)
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/sho...m1010X497171X5688b4b6012405be34071b26aa2a8b21

NakBX100running.jpg
 
MHardy, that is precisely the one on the famous auction site that I refer to.

So it sounds pretty decent? Can you give a little more of a 'review'?
 
Yes, yes I can. I couldn't resist picking one up when they were on special (about 10% off) a few months back. I've tried it with various speakers, culminating (with some trepidation!) my Altec 604E Duplexes.

Here is how I described it Someplace Else...

[Spun] a couple of [Wailin] Jennys tracks on the [Duplexes] sans subwoofer. Sounds good. Brighter than the 2A3 amp, but that may be "real" (i.e., extended flat HF response). Plumbed in the subwoofer. More Jennys. Quite smooth. Brighter than the 2A3 but nary a trace of sibilance or even any harshness. Excellent resolution of what the brocade jacket types would have to call inner detail (e.g., the interplay of the Jennys close-miked harmonies). Switch to live Jennys. Very nice.

Decide to go for the gusto. One of my favorite challenges for this system is the fairly recent (no date on the CD or its package) remaster (with two bonus tracks) Redbook CD of the Black Crowes' Shake Your Money Maker. This is pretty well recorded -- in fact, it features some of the best sounding fuzzy/gritty/grungy Stones-esque guitar reproduction I'm aware of -- but it can get pretty shrill if everything's not hunky-dory. Listen to the second track Jealous Again. That guitar is just fine (the Duplexes love to reproduce that guitar sound). Everything else is fine, too. Bright but clean; everything well defined and in its place. Listenin' stoopit loud now, I am put to mind of the line from Allen Toussaint's song Brickyard Blues (known to me via Three Dog Night) "Just let me lay back and grin like a monkey".
Monkey-grinning, that's what I was doin'.

Listened to Hard to Handle and my fave off that album She Talks to Angels (both versions). It was just dandy.

So. Yeah. Not bad for 20-ish bucks.
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Not to discourage anyone from becoming a Subscriber (I've been one since there was a Subscriber to be)... but I will, nonetheless, mention that the Polk Audio forums have a car audio subforum. I don't go there, but I do spend some time at other Polk forums and it might be worth a perusal (if not a post).
 
Nor was I. I was mildly surprised at not seeing the logo under your name Louie, my next thought was that in these times it can happen to anyone!
 
Sansui Louie said:
? I took a ride in a Prius recently and it's enough to drive someone with ADD to an orgasm! I want a radio that has Volume and Tuning knobs, and I want heat controls (and any others, for that matter) that I can operate by FEEL. I don't want to take my eyes off the road to fart through 17 menu screens to turn on the windshield wipers. What the hell????
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Many of us on two wheels call them the Prius Attack Squad. I am not sure if it is the "car" or the type of person attracted to that "car," but I have yet to see a single person operate one effectively. And I live in the Bay Area, perhaps the Prius capital of the world. The roads are a much scarier place now. I mean, I can fit my 3/4 ton extended cab, long bed pickup in a compact spot if pressed, but I routinely see Priuses parked over the lines. Their drivers seem either too busy reading their fuel efficiency animations or too stiff necked to check their blind spots, too. If you see a Prius, plan for evasive action!
 
Hilarious.

Last car I rented had a computer screen where the radio and heater controls should be. :wtf: I bet it won't work any better when the car gets old than the other kind does. :no:
 
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