I'm more likely to NOT go the "enhance the stock system route "
10-06-2007, 12:23 AM
#1
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Join Date: 05-01-2006
Location: New London, CT USA
Posts: 2,507
I'm more likely to NOT go the "enhance the stock system route "
I made a huge change in our Odyssey car sound system. The van has some real nice integration form the factory with voice and joystick control of climate, sound, radio, Nav, CD changer and more. The stock system is really well made in a lot of ways but the sound was lackluster. Went nuts and built a console sub box with two 10" JL woofers, added two amps and the versatile Kenwood preamp. The Kenwood has two USB ports that can take the following files, AAC-LC, MP3, WMA and JPEG files. I just play MP3s from the travel drive and it sounds great ( For lossy MP3 sound ). The preamp is essentially a Cleansweep on steroids.
Here is an overview:
Fuller thread here in the ODY forum:
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showth...067#post384067
I was thinking of doing something similar to our HHR , because it too has a decent stock system ( And almost sounds good ) and I like its integration. But it is nowhere near as integrated and complex as the Ody stock system since the HHR does not have Nav.
We want Nav in the Chevy, but will likely change out the entire system rather than maintaining any of the stock since the sound will likely not be up to the sound that these great aftermarket systems put out.
I was going for the same style of integration of Car Portal into the stock HHR system, but after actually hearing a stock system compared with what ever I put through the kenwood's USB port, I cannot really justify all the EXTRA expense of keeping the HHR premium system and integrating a Car Portal/amps/etc if the sound from the stock is going to be as disappointing as it is in the Ody.
I'm liking having two touchscreen in the van
I'm always looking for the 7" navigation screen in our HHR. It is so helpful with the rear camera too.
I can see putting in a touchscreen in the HHR either in place of the current radio or built into the top of the dash sitting up in the center dash "glove box"
I'm not real enamored by the pop out flip screen ones since they trend to get in the way of the center air vents.
In the Ody, here's the hardware so far:
1) Kenwood Car Portal KOS-V1000
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-9tH5l7u...1K&search=ipod
2) Kenwood KCA-BT100 Bluetooth Hands-Free Interface
3) JL Audio 300/4v2 Class A/B Four-Channel Full-Range Amplifier
4) JL Audio0 250/1 sub mono amp
5) VR650-CSi Component System 6.5" speaker sets including silk domes tweeters.
Woofers:
Injection-molded, mica-filled, polypropylene cone body, 1.0 in. / 25 mm voice coil, flat-profile/ symmetrical-roll spider, butyl rubber surround.
Tweeters:0.75 in. / 19 mm silk soft dome tweeter, neodymium magnet, ferrofluid cooled and damped. Variable mounting system with swivel/rotation capability.
Crossovers:
The JLs came with 2-way network with 1st order low-pass circuit and 3rd order high pass circuit. Premium Mylar Capacitors and Air-Core inductors. Adjustable tweeter output level. Polyswitch tweeter protection.
I believe we have bypassed them since the Kenwood has electronic crossover controls.
Speaker combos, tweets and woofs ( really mids here ) come in at 4 ohms, 59 Hz - 25 KHz ± 3 dB
6) Some, but never enough, sound dampening around the car. We did the inner rear hatch at the end since a fair amount of noise enters the cabin from the rear.. Someday I'd love to rip out the entire interior and do it right. I dislike road noise intensely. At least now the stereo can really overcome all the other noises that enter the cabin should the need be there.
It is a great joy to actually feel bass once again. I love balancing the bass, rolling off the crossover at various places, and shelving the "Q" just so in the pursuit of great sound. Now I just have to NOT do much of this while driving
So on the HHR, I was enamored with the idea of doing it like the Odyssey and essentially keeping the head units since I have the premium system. But after hearing the compromises of a stock system that has had most of its problems ( Amps and speakers ) removed, I STILL feel the sound is sub par.
For this reason, now that I have actually done it with another car. I'm more likely to NOT go the "enhance the stock system route ". The sound of music coming from any source other than the stock head ( Which has the XM, six disc changer, AM/FM, and the rear seat DVD sound as well as two inputs in the far back for anything ) through the portal, is astounding. Unless I'm missing something, too many compromises are made that even cleensweep technology cannot really clear up with the outputs of these stock stereos.
Here is an overview:
Fuller thread here in the ODY forum:
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showth...067#post384067
I was thinking of doing something similar to our HHR , because it too has a decent stock system ( And almost sounds good ) and I like its integration. But it is nowhere near as integrated and complex as the Ody stock system since the HHR does not have Nav.
We want Nav in the Chevy, but will likely change out the entire system rather than maintaining any of the stock since the sound will likely not be up to the sound that these great aftermarket systems put out.
I was going for the same style of integration of Car Portal into the stock HHR system, but after actually hearing a stock system compared with what ever I put through the kenwood's USB port, I cannot really justify all the EXTRA expense of keeping the HHR premium system and integrating a Car Portal/amps/etc if the sound from the stock is going to be as disappointing as it is in the Ody.
I'm liking having two touchscreen in the van
I'm always looking for the 7" navigation screen in our HHR. It is so helpful with the rear camera too. I can see putting in a touchscreen in the HHR either in place of the current radio or built into the top of the dash sitting up in the center dash "glove box"
I'm not real enamored by the pop out flip screen ones since they trend to get in the way of the center air vents.
In the Ody, here's the hardware so far:
1) Kenwood Car Portal KOS-V1000
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-9tH5l7u...1K&search=ipod
2) Kenwood KCA-BT100 Bluetooth Hands-Free Interface
3) JL Audio 300/4v2 Class A/B Four-Channel Full-Range Amplifier
4) JL Audio0 250/1 sub mono amp
5) VR650-CSi Component System 6.5" speaker sets including silk domes tweeters.
Woofers:
Injection-molded, mica-filled, polypropylene cone body, 1.0 in. / 25 mm voice coil, flat-profile/ symmetrical-roll spider, butyl rubber surround.
Tweeters:0.75 in. / 19 mm silk soft dome tweeter, neodymium magnet, ferrofluid cooled and damped. Variable mounting system with swivel/rotation capability.
Crossovers:
The JLs came with 2-way network with 1st order low-pass circuit and 3rd order high pass circuit. Premium Mylar Capacitors and Air-Core inductors. Adjustable tweeter output level. Polyswitch tweeter protection.
I believe we have bypassed them since the Kenwood has electronic crossover controls.
Speaker combos, tweets and woofs ( really mids here ) come in at 4 ohms, 59 Hz - 25 KHz ± 3 dB
6) Some, but never enough, sound dampening around the car. We did the inner rear hatch at the end since a fair amount of noise enters the cabin from the rear.. Someday I'd love to rip out the entire interior and do it right. I dislike road noise intensely. At least now the stereo can really overcome all the other noises that enter the cabin should the need be there.
It is a great joy to actually feel bass once again. I love balancing the bass, rolling off the crossover at various places, and shelving the "Q" just so in the pursuit of great sound. Now I just have to NOT do much of this while driving
So on the HHR, I was enamored with the idea of doing it like the Odyssey and essentially keeping the head units since I have the premium system. But after hearing the compromises of a stock system that has had most of its problems ( Amps and speakers ) removed, I STILL feel the sound is sub par.
For this reason, now that I have actually done it with another car. I'm more likely to NOT go the "enhance the stock system route ". The sound of music coming from any source other than the stock head ( Which has the XM, six disc changer, AM/FM, and the rear seat DVD sound as well as two inputs in the far back for anything ) through the portal, is astounding. Unless I'm missing something, too many compromises are made that even cleensweep technology cannot really clear up with the outputs of these stock stereos.
10-06-2007, 10:09 AM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 05-01-2006
Location: New London, CT USA
Posts: 2,507
The Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.2 looked intriguing since it has so many EQ options, but the integration within the Kenwood interface and setup was tops.
The Cleansweep is a couple generations old now. JL cleared the way for these OEM interface lines to exist.
But I am still surprised that even after my OEM system was "cleaned" and re EQed, it still paled compared to the aftermarket sound path.
The whole experience has made me rethink interfacing the HHR OEM and simply replacing it all. Replacing it and adding NAV will be cheaper than interfacing and adding NAV PLUS from experience, it will sound better.
10-07-2007, 10:15 AM
#5
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 05-01-2006
Location: New London, CT USA
Posts: 2,507
Thanks!
That looks like it may be the unit I need. The interface is essentially the same as what I'm using in the Ody, so that will be a plus.
I found a video review here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Kenwood_DNX7...7-6760902.html
Great overview here to for anyone who wishes to look into this unit:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-pasdn2D...=detailed_info
One thing my friends who sell Kenwood say is that from their experience, Kenwood suffers from bad FM reception. As an example, in the parking lot outside their place, one of the strongest stations in the area is consistently missed by Kenwoods searching for stations. Other manufacturers units do just fine, but the Kenwoods falter in this area. Has that any validity from your experience?
That looks like it may be the unit I need. The interface is essentially the same as what I'm using in the Ody, so that will be a plus.
I found a video review here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Kenwood_DNX7...7-6760902.html
Great overview here to for anyone who wishes to look into this unit:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-pasdn2D...=detailed_info
One thing my friends who sell Kenwood say is that from their experience, Kenwood suffers from bad FM reception. As an example, in the parking lot outside their place, one of the strongest stations in the area is consistently missed by Kenwoods searching for stations. Other manufacturers units do just fine, but the Kenwoods falter in this area. Has that any validity from your experience?
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