C30 Electrics : Retrofit High Performance Audio

[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by Missing Lincs

........the environment in a car is a big factor. It's not like listening at home, you are sat in a small, funny shaped, metal box with road, engine and wind noise. It's never going to be perfect.....

Spot on Missing Lincs, I agree with you that perfection in sound is impossible in a car for the reasons you have given (engine noise, road roar, wind noise) but the aim is to get as close as possible to perfection.

The pursuit of excellence is part of the fun !

The problem is that once you know what good-quality sounds like you can't un-know it !

I am hampered in this respect by working at the sharp end of the music biz for so many years and listening regularly to multi-million pound sound systems at both live gigs and recording studios...... :-)






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[bondbill2k2]

Well my volvo dealer gave me a list of parts including harness wires and a usb module, without fitting it was around £500 just to add a USB, they said i'd be better off fitting the pure highway DAB with bluetooth that they're advertising on the parts counter but didn't give me a price on that.

Heres the fitting guide:
http://accessories.volvocars.com/en-...fault/V50_2010

[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by bondbill2k2

....... they said i'd be better off fitting the pure highway DAB with bluetooth.........

I had an Alpine EZYdab unit professionally fitted by Car & Home Stereo of Macclesfield to my C30 in two hours and it cost £150 in total.

They did a superb job and I highly recommend the Alpine DAB unit.

I couldn't be more pleased with the sound quality or the service from C&HS and Macclesfield is not far from Wolverhampton.... !

Here is the link: http://carhomestereo.co.uk/tag/car-audio-macclesfield/


(No connection other than as a satisfied customer....)






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[bondbill2k2]

Originally Posted by BOBAD

I had an Alpine EZYdab unit professionally fitted by Car & Home Stereo of Macclesfield to my C30 in two hours and it cost £150 in total.

They did a superb job and I highly recommend the Alpine DAB unit.

I couldn't be more pleased with the sound quality or the service from C&HS and Macclesfield is not far from Wolverhampton.... !

Here is the link: http://carhomestereo.co.uk/tag/car-audio-macclesfield/


(No connection other than as a satisfied customer....)






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That Alpine unit is the same as the Pure Highway 300 offered by Volvo, Alpine just rebrand it. Pure have released newer versions of these now anyway in form of the 400 and 600 which also has bluetooth music streaming built in but the same fitment so I expect any car audio specialist could complete the install.

[canis]

Originally Posted by BOBAD

The problem is that once you know what good-quality sounds like you can't un-know it !.

Indeed. I was something of an audiophile, a long time ago now. Gradually I'm going deaf - such is my curse. So I don't really care anymore. I can't tollerate mobile phone music though. Hurts my ears.

Originally Posted by BOBAD

Don't fit any speakers to the rear unless you want to destroy the soundstage at the front.

I'm curious why this should be so. Would you mind explaining?

[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by canis

.... I'm curious why this should be so. Would you mind explaining?

Not at all..... Fitting rear speakers drags the soundstage to the rear of the front seats just so the back passengers can hear the music.

We are talking music in stereo here not "surround sound".

In an ideal listening situation, if you were sitting in the front seat, you should be able to position the instruments along the windscreen from side to side.
This is known as the soundstage.
Fitting rear speakers simply drags that soundstage towards the rear of the vehicle.

:-)





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[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by bondbill2k2

.......That Alpine unit is the same as the Pure Highway 300 offered by Volvo.......

Is correct.

In which case it is even more remarkable that it costs so much more to have one supplied and fitted by a Volvo dealer rather than a specialist car audio dealer.

http://carhomestereo.co.uk/tag/car-audio-macclesfield/







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[Missing Lincs]

Originally Posted by BOBAD

Not at all..... Fitting rear speakers drags the soundstage to the rear of the front seats just so the back passengers can hear the music.

We are talking music in stereo here not "surround sound".

In an ideal listening situation, if you were sitting in the front seat, you should be able to position the instruments along the windscreen from side to side.
This is known as the soundstage.
Fitting rear speakers simply drags that soundstage towards the rear of the vehicle.

If you change your audio source to one of the higher spec units that have digital processing you can move the sound stage depending on who's listening. I changed the audio in my V70 for a Pioneer which allows you to change the soundstage. When driving solo you can optimise for this, similarly it can be different for two front seat passengers or a car full of passengers. Clearly it's not perfect for the driver when set in the mode for front and back, it's not bad though.
I was brought up as a hifi purist then one day I discovered 'sound optimisation', tailoring things to what is most pleasing rather than what is most 'true' to the original. The latter is in inverted commas as let's face it, who knows what the original was meant to sound like - probably only the studio engineer at the time of recording.
I like my sound bass heavy, hence I have sub-woofers all over the place, at home, in the car, for the TV. For watching movies I have a dbx sub-octive synthesiser just like they use in the cinema to make the floor move with low notes and explosions!
It might not be faithful reproduction but I like it.
I was sceptical about digital sound processing and 'changing the soundstage'. I first came across the idea in home cinema sound, how could the same room (my living room) be made to sound like an auditorium or a church? My ears were being deceived.

[BOBAD]

Originally Posted by Missing Lincs

...... it can be different for two front seat passengers or a car full of passengers. Clearly it's not perfect for the driver when set in the mode for front and back.......

Exactly. As nobody ever sits in the back of my car the sound quality is expressly set up for front seat occupants only.

......I like my sound bass heavy, hence I have sub-woofers all over the place, at home, in the car, for the TV. For watching movies.......

Me too. I have a 7.1 system at home based on Onkyo amplification and B&W speakers.

I love it, but I go for pure sound quality rather than effects.

Your system sounds interesting though.






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[bondbill2k2]

I've decided to just upgrade the speakers and purchased this little Bluetooth receiver FM transmitter which is surprisingly decent quality, small, fairly neat looking device. I plan to run the cable from the rear charger port along the side of the centre console then run the cable behind the waterfall keeping it out of sight and leaving the front charger port free. If anyone is interested its the AUKEY bluetooth FM transmitter off Amazon.