A continuation of the discussion in "The New Beck Speedster". Since the topic changed to stereos.
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OK, I love sound. Probably because I grew up being influenced by my father. He's partially deaf in one ear, I have been tested and hear slightly above normal human range in one ear. Those old ultrasonic TV remotes, drive me crazy. I feel and hear the different buzzes in one ear.
But, back to the subject. My father is a video/sound/motion picture engineer. He has sound and video patents in several countries, written some of the THX standards and consulted for Ray Dolby and many more. So, I grew up hearing the difference. All that being said, my father has a 15 year old cheap stereo at home, a $65 vcr and drives a car with one working speaker. As he says, "Why would I want to reproduce my AM stations on anything expensive?"
I learned many things growing up, like speaker technology hasn't significantly changed in 50+ years. The nice stuff just got cheaper. Many big brand names are just that, big brand names and some big names actually produce less than optimum sound. For instance, try going into a professional home theater store and buy a set of Bose speakers. They won't carry them. Yet, go to Radio Shack and purchase an optimus deck and you just got a nice pioneer product with a different label.
All this being said, the most important part of you stereo is you. You are the one listening, speakers don't have to be expensive to sound good. Proper placement and mounting are also important factors. Ideally, you would like the speakers pointed at the occupants. A car is a far less than ideal listening enviroment, especially a convertible. An expensive EQ would not be money well spent, mainly because you can't equalize the cabin of an open top car.
The other important factor is equal sound range. A huge bass tube is worthless without some high and mid range speakers and vice versa. I often wonder about these guys driving around with massive bass setups. It's the equivalent of only pronouncing the last sillable of each word you speak. But, hey, some guys need the extra vibrations to maintain an erection. --upid --ittle -hits!
As far as stereo decks, thanks to mass-production, just about anything that outputs enough power for your selected speakers will work well. I once built a system for a friend of mine using a walkman, a single amp, and a few speakers. It sounded amazing. He took the walkman out of the car everyday and never got another stereo stolen.
In the end, whatever you build, you are the ultimate critic.
-=theron
(Message Edited 8/12/2003 4:39:33 PM)
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