[Bemopti123]

If you're truly and audiophile, you're spending all of the extra cash on gear.  So you're driving this:

You my kind of man

No respectable true performance man would be caught with his or her pants down driving a respectable sports car with a stereo that is better than his home set up.  And BTW, wouldn't it be dangerous to be driving a pedal linked, 300+HP car with a LISTENABLE STEREO?  

     

[maxwalrath]

Exactly. My audiophile vehicle.....some bus tokens.

[Hantra]

The Audiophile Vehicle = A LOT less than one can actually afford.  You COULD be driving a 911, but you choose to drive something else so you can spend ALL your money on gear and wire.  

Also, the Audiophile Vehicle should have an oil and transmission cooler.  So that when we're hauling a thousand pounds of gear, we don't shorten the life of the vehicle.  

So I'm thinking a '94 4Runner.  

[viggen]

Since I buy gear online, this would be MY audiophile vehicle?


Personally, I put most of the fader to the rear fill and turn up the treble abit on my premium Bose audio system in da Acura.  I rather most of the midbass information come from the 6x9 in the back than from the 4" in the front.  The front midbass distorts easily.

[Folsom]

That is a shame because having anything coming out of the back speakers cuts the sound quality in at least half, at least in my opinion.

I like bicycles so.... perhaps a portable setup in a backpack? Personally I think listining to music on a bike is probably dangerous.

[Eduardo AAVM]

Since I buy gear online, this would be MY audiophile vehicle?

Good point...

Here more of the Bugatti Veyron + Burmester Systeme

[Bob in St. Louis]

Marbles--
Before you go and buy a new radiator, check these;

Fuel mixture, too lean cause excessive engine temps - very damaging. (burnt piston)

Fan clutch, loose/useless/weak clutch could cause high temps. (not usually on highway though, but possible)

Usually a clogged radiator would cause temp issues at idle / low speed due to lack of 'natural' air flow.

Temp sending unit / guage. -- Is it really running hot, or are sensors / guage not telling you the truth?

.... a couple ideas

Bob

[PhilNYC]

Exactly. My audiophile vehicle.....some bus tokens.

Are you saying that bus tokens work well as vibration control devices?

 

[Bemopti123]

Exactly. My audiophile vehicle.....some bus tokens.

Are you saying that bus tokens work well as vibration control devices?

 

Nah, the best vibration control or real life size vibrapods are four of these, attached to compressed gas or mineral oil shock absorbants!

[Folsom]

Marbles--
Before you go and buy a new radiator, check these;

Fuel mixture, too lean cause excessive engine temps - very damaging. (burnt piston)

Fan clutch, loose/useless/weak clutch could cause high temps. (not usually on highway though, but possible)

Usually a clogged radiator would cause temp issues at idle / low speed due to lack of 'natural' air flow.

Temp sending unit / guage. -- Is it really running hot, or are sensors / guage not telling you the truth?

.... a couple ideas

Bob

Marbles you got a vacuum guage right? That is how to tune el carbereto to make sure it runs good regardless of super fine tuning. Also you might want to check to see if you got the right powervalve, most people never even think twice about this one! (Do you know how to do these two things with vacuum guage?)

What type of fan are you using? I like Flex-lite's fans cause they flow a freaking lot of air! That or electric to save some horsepower, but they usually do not move near as much. Aluminium is the only way for a radiator. A fan alone might save you from a new radiator.

Heat Be Gone Damn SURE!

I have had one of these on two different vehicles, heat problem, hell no! They are a little loud on vehicles that have no exhaust to make noise, but man they work GOOD. One vehicle is a Chevy 383 with something about .513 lift and 293 duration or so, it has 1.6 ratio rockers ontop of .490 lift and 274 duration so it comes out around that. The thing can run in 90-100 degree weather with it's iron heads and never get hot all day.

[shokunin]

2007 Lexus RX350, featuring Mark Levinson 7 channels system!

It's time to do a test drive

The ML Lexus is decent, at best...  better than your average car OEM stereo, but still very mediocre compared to a decent home rig.  With a little hack to the stereo, the ML allows you watch DVD's on the Navigation GPS screen.  You can watch while parked, but with the hack, your rear-seat passengers can watch DVD's on the Nav while you drive.

[jon_010101]

I absolutely love the system in my 1988 Mazda ... simple paper cones, cloth surrounds, a "bass augmentation" driver under the passenger seat.  Totally lo-fi car stereo, but there is something strangely musical about it.  I can easily ignore all of its flaws and focus on the music (iPod via the cassette deck!).    

Makes my 2005 Subaru system, with its plastic tweets and woofers, sketchy crossover, and digital tone controls sound basically unlistenable.  Thankfully a turbocharged flat-four can make some nice noise on its own   .

[2bigears]

little red corvette,97 six gear with 410's.head and cam car with 450 under the hood.you gotta have your 30 miles per gallon too!! modern hp,ya gotta like it.        

[WerTicus]

Thankfully a turbocharged flat-four can make some nice noise on its own   .

oh yeah love the boxer engine in my wrx with a nice zorst (especially around 7000rpm)

never turn on the stereo - though i know the cd player transmits to FM and you need to tune in the radio to a certain frequency!

[Folsom]

As long as you are not under the impression the WRX's cute little exhaust tone makes it fast   .

Simple is good.... I have heard stock systems that are quiet pleasent to listen to in cars, I mean it is not audiophile home rig, but it is more than good enough. I have enjoyed stock systems in cars more so than anything else. Well the fact that most people put in a deck with no amplifier, new oversized for deck speakers, and a subwoofer, all of which sounds like crap. The real trick is just putting the fade all the way forward. A good stock system will have a subwoofer that is not taken out by doing this.

If you put in a deck and not an amplifier your speakers better top out at about 18wRMS and be pretty sensitive with some kind of Xmax. Usually you will find those features in the cheapest of cheap speakers, but hey they sound better than something big and underpowered.

[WerTicus]

by modifying the zorst from the stock one (which is silent) to a free flowing 3inch... you gain about 50kw atw.

so the cute little note does make it significantly faster!

and at stock level its already faster than a Pontiac GTO which is the only car I know americans have that I have actually dragged.

thats straighline of course the Pontiac GTO has no chance if there is a wet road - or a slight bend


of course this is way off topic - and discussing the merits of any car is pointless unless you've driven it.

take a test drive sometime - the wrx is a bloody nice 'drivers' car.

[Scott F.]

If you're truly and audiophile, you're spending all of the extra cash on gear.  So you're driving this:

Hey, don't knock the Bug. Back in the 70's and I drove one of those. It had one of the best sound systems in it that I've ever owned.

Behind the back seat there is a cavity that is about 3 cu ft (or so). I took and cut a piece of plywood to fit and mounted it over the cavity and sealed  the cracks to make an airtight enclosure. Then I cut in a pair of Jensen Dual Cone 6x9's (full range speakers). Powering the speakers was a Pioneer Stack Set. This was the high end car stereo back in the day. It had a separate FM tuner and a cassette deck (this was all per-CD of course). Behind that I had Jet Sound (JS-70) 70 watt amplifier with integrated 10 band EQ.

My little 72 VW sounded better than everything on the road at the time (at least when compared with the guys I hung with). I got killer bass, and had crossoverless speakers to boot

[Folsom]

I actually like the WRX. They are not slow, you can pass people, but they are at best quick without a lot of work. I would probably want the wagon myself for the room, a bike rack some where on it, maybe a kayak or something.

All to often I hear little kids creaming their pants over normal WRX non STIs. They are quick, not fast. There are a TON of faster cars out there that have been around since the 80's. Hell even the STI is not god like fast either, but fast enough to out run about any cop car besides a B4C. Their true calling is rallying, yup, all wheel drive in the dirt!

Beating down an old muscle car is not hard, most of them where gutless if you ask me. However when you update them say like Marbles did they can get wild in a short amount of money and simpleness. There are a few exceptions of course to those cars, back in the day, that are fast.

I remember someone on here, or DIY forum, a little while ago, had his stock system replaced in a vehicle and ended up hating the turn out! It is funny how that works huh? Stock systems are not that bad usually. Just got to tweak them   . Upgrading is a hard game because there are maybe a handful of retail shops that know anything, or sell anything good. Also really decieving is the higher in price with crappy brands does not always mean better sound! It often just means bigger and louder is about all.

[styx]

The Ford GT can apparently be delivered with a McIntosh sound system. Can't say I've had the privilege of hearing it though

[Folsom]

The Ford GT can apparently be delivered with a McIntosh sound system. Can't say I've had the privilege of hearing it though

Well McIntosh is owned by Clarion now so who knows what it will be like.