Projects Music in cars: Stereos (MP3) and speakers- what works good?

FYI, for those situations where a system works fine around town, but gets drowned out by road & wind noise on the hwy, if you install a system with enough volume to be heard over the road/wind noise, that will likely be loud enough to cause hearing damage. For short duration you might be OK, but if you're gonna be traveling somewhere long enough to burn a tank of gas, you'll probably cause some hearing damage, and guys, that kind of damage is non-reversible. Besides that, it causes a lot more fatigue. IMO, just enjoy the sound of the loud pedal and don't add any extra noise to the situation. Just my $.02. Protect those ears, you only get one pair. Tinnitus is a bitch...

 

I use the motorcycle amp and speaker mounted under dash out of sight and have cable to mp3

 

Hello,

Just the other day, I remember reading about and posting on a “music for cars” thread. I was wandering around an electronics section of a store waiting for my wife to get finished registering a phone for her 97 year old dad. So, as I wandered around, I found and listened to all of the presented Bluetooth speakers. Since you did not want to install a modern version of an in dash receiver with speakers in the foot panels, these small format speakers are the best alternative for cars or anywhere.

The models are from the big names in speakers that we have all heard or perhaps have for our home stereo speakers. (Altec Lansing, JBL, Bose, Beats, etc.)

Here are my results in order of cost and quality of sounds. If cost is no matter, the Bose system or small format speaker is the outright winner. At $299.99, it is not cheap, but what Bose product is, in the industry? But, the sound was so good that my wife walked over and asked if we could put these in the office for listening to our music. Luckily, no other shoppers were in this section and I was playing the music as if I was inside of my old 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. The bass was very good and loud. The mid tones made you think you were listening to big 15 inch home speakers. I would buy this one if I needed one for my old cars. Plus, you can take it anywhere and play music thorough your ipod or phone Bluetooth system. But, later at home, I found this same speaker on Amazon at $269.

The next “bigger” speaker at number 2 was the one from JBL. The size is actually larger in width than the Bose, but the bass sound was not as good. The bass was OK, but not as good. They were side by side on the display. I kept going back and forth and the winner was still Bose, with this JBL in second. It still costs $299.99. For the “in-room level” with the music not blasting, this JBL had clear sounds at all levels. But, the Bose was just that much better. So, for the $299 level, the Bose was the champion.

The next level down in cost was $229 down to $200. $199.99

The clear winner here was the JBL Pulse 2 model. It has very good sound, but not as much bass as the bigger JBL or the Bose. But, the neat thing was the color changing extra that made this speaker very cool in my book. The music sounded good but not as good as the $300 models. The bass was just not very powerful. The color LEDs jump around with the sound of the music that is playing. How fun is that? It is quite a bit smaller, so it could fit in the glove box or on the dash. If car noise is prevalent, it could be attached to the door sill with Velcro next to the driver. It is very handy. The one in second was the Beats Music Pill Plus model. $229.99 It is slightly smaller than the tubular large JBL AT $299.99. The sound was similar to the JBL, but less bass. For a company that started with headphones that had great bass, this one should be in second place. It sounded a little “tinny.”
Finally in 3rd place in this less than $230 category was the other Bose speaker. It looked like a large pencil box so the speakers are quite small, but the sound was really good for the smaller Bose Bluetooth category. At $199.99, and its utilitarian rectangular shape, it can go anywhere with ease. The sound was not as decent as the JBL or the Beats, but it is a Bose and the good sound for the cost was there.

There weren’t too many speakers in the $140 range, but JBL made a really small format version that had OK sound. The best thing going for this smaller format is the smaller format and access to sounds better than your IPod or phone. It was small enough to fit in a purse or large jacket pocket. Yes, I guess you could walk around with this thing in your jacket pocket and hear your music via Bluetooth.
Hopefully, one of these will fit your needs for music in your car without changing the look of the custom dash. Amazon was less cost and at a Bose Factory seconds at major outlet malls, it could be even less cost.

It was fun blasting music in a store to kill the waiting time. Plus, it was pouring rain outside (yes, it rains or pours in so cal...) and let up by the time we were finished. Yeah!

Jnaki
That rain we got is heading east, so get ready USA...

 

One must listen before buying, is correct, as sound is perceived differently from person to person.
As someone actively involved in the Audio field Bose doesn't cut it for me, but it does for others.
So demo something somewhere just like a test drive.

Thanks for your take on different brands!

 

TEASER ALERT: I have an idea on this subject and I will share it but I need another week or so to finish the project. I'll share it on a tech thread when it's done, I think it will be worth the wait. Chris, you might like this...

 

Hello,

Somewhere I read that if you have your stereo on loud and can’t hear the sound of your car, you are missing out on the best part of owning that car. When we were driving around in the salmon pink (racing red) 40 Ford Sedan Delivery in 1961-64, we did not have a honking stereo. We had my small red or white Sony AM, portable, hand held radio. The red one was my dad’s as he used it to listen to baseball games. Mine was a white one similar in build and leather cover.

I recently found the white one in another box in the garage attic while looking for some old photos. Sometimes, it hung from the rear view mirror or a dash knob. The empty shell in the back of the delivery made a great hollow chamber for the best music we could hear. Once, we even tried wiring a borrowed drive-in speaker to the small Sony Radio. (found in the same attic box) Better, but not much…Driving this cool sedan delivery all over town was still fun even without the best built in radio.

The delivery was noisy, burned a little oil, sometimes the La Salle trans needed a double clutching to get into the next gear, and the flip up hood, cowl panel gave us old style, air conditioning on those hot summer days to and from the beach. When that rear sedan delivery door window was out, the air flowed so much faster. We drove this delivery all over So Cal to enjoy it to its fullest.


After all, being carefree teenagers in 1961, a cool car, stick shift, a van before the modern day vans all added to our enjoyment. Our little Sony am radio made those quality, low buck, sounds while cruising So Cal. Ingenuity at its finest for little money spent. Yes…that was fun.

Jnaki

We had access to the first three on this list below, but in high school, money was for gas and surf stuff. We had to make do with what was available. Today, a separate mp3 player like an IPOD would be in a bluetooth mode or wired to those portable speakers. Behind the seats or below the seats would keep the original look of the interior. If a front sound was necessary, these speakers could be strapped under the dash, since they are wireless.

A far cry from additional 8 track players, LP/45 record players, reel to reel tape players, cassette tape player/recorders, cd players, mp3/ Ipods, and now, wireless phones/bluetooth devices.

We would have been in heaven if we had an Ipod and one of those new wireless speakers under the dash of our cruising 40 sedan delivery as teenagers. At least our 58 Impala had speakers front and rear for the stock radio.

 

I used a Kenwood Bluetooth amp and a pancake subwoofer under the seat, a pair of 3" speakers in the OEM dash speaker hole, and a set of 6x9s in the rear side panels.

With some slight modifications, the Bluetooth controller fit into the ashtray. I love the setup.

 

Put a small system in for the wife.

Me personally....Cam Shaft and Twice Pipes is all the music I need.

 

When these bluetooth speakers first came out I bought a JBL Flip ll speaker for $100 which is OK for me. I still like the sound of my Flowmaster 40's. The main thing was I didn't want to hack up my dash or hook up permanently installed speakers. The real advantage of the bluetooth is you can use it anywhere and in different cars. I've already used in it four different cars. If I were to do it right now there is a lot more bluetooth speakers available and I would probably get a better quality speaker. The car in my avatar had a Custom Auto Sound radio in place of the stock radio when I bought it. Its not something I would recommend as I don't even use it. The sound quality is not there. To me the IPOD/Smart phone and bluetooth speaker is the way to go.

Gary

 

You can RESIST and tuck and hide speakers under the dash, firing down.....
Or you can EMBRACE and use vintage looking speaker covers as an additional feature. My '52 Chevy Panel truck project is getting a pair of vintage school PA speaker covers in the back and a pair of drive-in speaker front halves for the kick panels. Now granted, my ideas are kinda'sorta from the same decade as my vehicle, but the idea can still work for the 40's and older rides with a bit of searching and imagination. Look for cast/brass/chrome/pewter/wooden grills, etc. that were used for all kinds of different things.

Attached is a photo of speaker covers that are similar to the ones I'm using. (Sorry, mine are out getting sand blasted and painted at the moment.)

 

WHAT?......................just kidding, I have a hearing problem myself. It does suck but can be a blessing in certain situations. Its to the point now where I have to crank the music up just to hear it. The exhaust in my cars, shooting, work and loud music all contributed.

 

This. Cheap and easy.