Do DIY kits for car stereo receivers exist?

nathanm · « **on:** 11 Apr 2003, 08:43 pm »

I got to thinking about my desire for a no-BS car stereo once again and I thought before I go further I would see if anyone knows of a kit someone out there is selling. There's plenty of kits for home stereo amps and whatnot, but it seems nothing for car audio.

Anyone have any ideas how I could cobble one together from parts of other stuff? Like where could I get a bare CD transport for example?

It seems like building my own is the only resort. Everyone else seems to be happy making the scientific calculator models.

jesserparker · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 12:01 am »

this is something i have recently been contemplating as well.

for amplification you could (and i'm going to) build a gainclone powered off the battery. its perfect for this application: small, cheap, doesn't consume much power, and practically begs to be powered off a large battery.

as far as speakers go, i was going to use some fostex 3 or 4" fullranges, and i can fit a tqwt under my dash running down towards the footwell. we'll see about that though.

but my quandry is the cdp. i am morally opposed to buying a head unit with a built-in crap amplifier that i am never going to use anyhow, and the cdp/preamp only units are (being aimed at a higher price range) much, much more expensive, claiming to be filled with "quality" parts.

right now i'm contemplating just powering the gainclone from the line-out of my portable cdp until i find something better. but of course i'd rather have an installed and more professional looking unit in there

JoshK · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 12:59 am »

dudes....I don't even have a car and I have thought about this many many times. I say build the deck to be a preamp with an alps pot or cermet pot. Have it control a mp3 filled hd, take a cd input and use a discman, build an external amp, add speakers, rock on on interstate ##!

jesserparker · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 02:19 am »

yeah, that's pretty much what i'm saying, but i'd still prefer the convenience of an in-dash setup. still looking for a good cdp i can mount in the dash.

Andrew Lamb · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 04:19 pm »

I think to get any sort of stock look to your car, you're going to need an in dash CDP. I would opt for one of the less flashier ones, possibly with a digital out if you can find one.

After the CDP, you can run it into your own preamp of sorts, just set the CDP to it's highest unclipped output, and put a pot inline with the preouts, mount the pot in the dash, and add your favorite stainless knob and faceplate. This can go to a DAC if you wanted, yes, there are a few out there for car audio, or mod your own if you so desire... shouldn't be that difficult.

Then you can go to your favorite high quality amplifier, and do what you want with the speakers. I favour kick panels a considerable amount, although the extra work and time spent on them, and the room they require, is usually less than ideal for the average daily driver.

This is just my opinion of what I would do... heck this IS what I do, and I think it sounds fairly nice.

WorldWind · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 06:19 pm »

<for amplification you could (and i'm going to) build a gainclone powered off the battery. >

Tell me what this is, is it a tube amp? ......

I have the source and speakers all done what I need now are five tube monoblocks to power it. 2 at about 15 watts two at 40 watts and one at 60 watts.

jesserparker · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 06:45 pm »

ah yes, gainclones,
if you've heard of the 47 labs gaincard 47 amp, which has been getting rave reviews (has been said to equal the best SE tube amps money can buy, including the Ongaku), its the same idea, hence the "gainclone" name.

the basic idea is to use a power op-amp, ala gaincard- and minimum parts and the shortest signal path necessary. the gaincard has only 9 parts per channel, and a signal path length of only 32mm. hence you get an exceptionally pure signal, and it is extremely small, and extremely inexpensive.

http://home.ca.inter.net/~cfraser/Gainclonehome.htm
http://www.t-linespeakers.org/gainclone/Gainbuilder.htm
http://home.student.utwente.nl/f.s.bouwman/audio/thor-amp.html

several people have built these for car stereo as well. do a google search on "gainclone" and you'll discover a wealth of information about them, and everything you could ever want to know about them or ask can be found in their forum

http://pub134.ezboard.com/ffakeidsfrm1

which is huge.

check it out, you'll be impressed. hope this helps,

jesse

jesserparker · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 Apr 2003, 06:51 pm »

oh yeah,
and i'd definitely suggest this over a tube amp for car use anyhow, as you'll have some serious microphonic problems with the tubes in a car, and the filaments aren't going to like being "jiggled" as much as they will be in a car. of course, nothing does, but solid state won't be quite as picky.