PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

[andy1881]

Okay, screen has now been purchased off ebay so project underway.

I have a couple of plans but my primary one is to completely strip out the headunit and feed the amps for all the speakers directly off the pc. Now Ive tried this in the house with a pc, a car amp and a couple of speakers and quality seems absolutely fine.

Is there any reason I shouldnt be doing this audio-wise? I'm talking about interference/power ratings etc

cheers

andy

 

[Anonymous]

the only problem i can see you having is ajusting the volume. that is why we are running it though the HU.

Tafi

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

The same as Tafi really...

If you have a touchscreen you won't have a problem, but if you havent you really need a Head-Unit...

Daz

 

[andy1881]

Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

yep, same touchscreen you have daz, so volume should be controlable via windows, cool, will let you know how its going, thanks for advice guys

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

ya, but even with a touchscreen is can be Dangerous to do the volume on the move, as you take your eyes off the road to do it. its not like a HU where you have a big button to do it. and its also illegal to have the screen on in the front of the car unless its for GPS use.

Tafi

 

[andy1881]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

not got the screen yet but from the looks of daz's pictures there is a volume button on the front of the actual screen - is this just for the internal screen speaker or does it use the usb to control pc volume?

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

The volume on the front screen does control the Windows volume...

But again i have to agree with TAFI, i am concerned about you using the sceen to control the volume...

Your best bet (if your bypassing the Head-Unit), is to invest in an external volume control knob and mount that on the dash...

Daz

 

[Dank_army]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

Hi,

You will almost have to pre amp the output from the pc before running it to your amp. You need a line driver because the voltage will be prob 1v or less from the pc - to get a good strong signal you need to be from 4v to 8v.

John

 

[Lee]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

could he not use the little nob u get with the creative speakers??? run it from the pc to ur dash and u can turn the nob when driving then hid it when ur at a show or something??

Lee

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

get an infra red sterring wheel remote (such as the kenwood one - any should work) and an IR receiver connected to the PC. You can then program any button on the remote to do almost anything on the PC.

I imagine you would still want a radio and CD player in the car tho, so you might as well run it to the head unit.

Jonathan

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: PC-in-a-Car audio advice needed!

Dank_Army - You could be right about the voltage, as i have never measured it i can't comment...but since he has bench tested it with no Head-Unit and he his happy with the sound quality i'd say it should be OK.

Lee - You could use the little knob you get with creative speakers, but if he hasnt got a spare set it would not be cost effective...You can probably get a volume control or variable potentiometer from Maplins..

Daz

 

[tommy S]

another problem

The small problem i came up with with all this PC stuff is that you have to wait for it to boot up before you can listen to any songs. Now i know thats not gonna be a problem for most people but i need my tunes for that quick trip to the shop and its hardly worth turning the PC on for it.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: another problem

This can be a problem...

...another reason to use a head-unit...

I have managed to get my PC to boot up in less than 20 seconds by removing the majority of the startup items that i wont be using in the car...

I also found that using XP you can get it to boot in about 10-15 seconds if you use the hibernate feature...

What you will also find if you don't use a head unit, is that you will need an amp for every set of speakers, as the PC outputs 8 Ohms, and car speakers run on 4 Ohms...

Daz

 

[dan]

ebay...

is this the type of screen that you are all using?

i'm not doing this but just out of interest how much did you pay for the screens?

 

[dan]

here's the link...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3070012327&category=14946

 

[Anonymous]

Re: here's the link...

Yep...thats the one

Just watch out for the postage 37 beer tokens!

Daz

 

[dan]

Re: Re: here's the link...

very very nice indeed!

cant wait to see the final thing from you guys...

i think a full page should be dedicated to them on the bravo-guide when everyone's got their pics of the finished thing!

 

[anon]

laptop

I used to use a little laptop for music when my HU broke, I made some rca leads to connect in to the phonon plug, (they are only ~£3 quid but i am poor) and there used to be a music station thing on the net something like mp3 jukebox and the volume was a big slider, that worked with the touch screen on my laptop fine. I did not ever really get the volume i expected but it was ok, (was poor quality at high volumes on laptop, but i think that was the laptop)

also really cool as you can downlaod pure tone gens. so you can set crossovers and things, and it is really weird to sit and listen (not often admittedly) and we all know the use of 33Hz (never tried it though, has any one else?)

 

[Anonymous]

Re: laptop

Isnt 33hz the frequency to send subliminal messages to your brain...?

Daz