Realistic 5.1 audio?

[zachsEVO3]

So I've never been a fan of putting like 4 100lb W7's in any vehicle partly because my hearing is bad enough already from loud music and working at a track....the 10'" Infinity Basslink I used to have worked just fine.

But I did fall completely in love with listening to music in my new leased VW Jetta...and listening to my friend's simple 5.1 Logitech system from his laptop.

So I know there are some 5.1 car audio systems out there but what are the essentials to creating one soz if possible I can still be a cheap bastard about it? Any recommendations?

 

[snowborder714]

Our car is not really made for good audio. The best way to go about getting decent audio is to get components up front, cheap 6x9's for the rear (might have to dent body behind speaker to get them to fit), and then a sub.

Please do a search for audio setups. Look for posts by RedTurboEclipse as he is pretty knowledgeable and has installed many setups.

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[zachsEVO3]

Groovy, dually noted thank you

 

[jrohner]

5.1 is pretty much for movies not music. Cars with a sub would be considered 4.1.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

unfortunately if you are looking for discrete dolby digital like 5.1 surround sound speaker setup then you will have to spend a lot more.

i personally never seen any equipment for this.

if you want to have something setup like a home theatre setup you will need some kind of deck has a digital output whether it be optical or coaxial. and then instead of your normal 1/2/4 channel amp, you will need an amp that decodes digital audio signal.. DTS/AC3 DD, etc.

or a deck that will properly separate the signals according to which channel (FL, FR, RR, RF, SUB), but then you will need separate amps for each of those channels..

so you can see the complications here, it will be a lot of wiring and money.

when people say "surround sound" it cars, i always doubt them and usually am correct. it can have as many speakers, but the source is still only 2 channel stereo spread into all those speakers.

you probably were impressed by that jetta because you still are on a stock system with just an added subwoofer which makes the sound even more uneven unless you upgraded everything else and tune it properly.

 

[broads72]

You might be better off scrapping the 5.1 idea and focusing on a decent traditional setup. being a hatchback you can get great sound from 6.5" components all around and a single 10" inch sub. There is too much road noise and vibrations in our cars to realistically build a great sounding 5.1 system.

I did it once because I had the equipment laying around, but it just wasn't a practical design due to the fact that it wasn't OEM. That Jetta was designed with it in mind.

 

[spawn87]

ive done audio onmany cars and ive worked with lots of experts in the business and the biggest bang for your buck (besides a good sub setup) is a sound equalizer, you can truly fine tune the sound distribution and quality to your liking and still keep your stock speaker

those are my two cents... but our cars are really not met to have great sound without spending a good amount of cash.