Is accurate quality stereophonic reproduction possible in the car environment?

[captainobvious99]

Is accurate, quality stereophonic reproduction possible in the automotive environment? I'm doing a research project and want to gauge the opinions. Thank you for your answers!

[wogg]

I voted yes, but there's a whole lot of "if" involved and it will never match a decent room setup. The biggest IF is the difficulty in getting your head in a proportional triangle with the R and L speakers equidistant to your ears. Then there's the often massive distance gaps between typical speaker and tweeter placements (mid in door, tweeter in pillar or dash) and a myriad of obstacles between you and the speakers.

Due to pretty fixed listening locations, you can EQ the tonality arguably more effectively in a car than you can in a room, but that doesn't help phase and time alignment and you'll suffer when it comes to imaging IMO. Another downside is road noise and vibration when moving, with about 60dBA give or take 10ish of ambient noise at cruise you don't have much room for signal to noise. Small air space is awesome for bottom octave response though.

[6thplanet]

Pretty much what he said, some vehicles lend themselves to achieving this better than others. With the right approach it can be done.

[Paul Carmody]

Another downside is road noise and vibration when moving, with about 60dBA give or take 10ish of ambient noise at cruise you don't have much room for signal to noise.

This. The first time I brought an SPL meter in the car with me was a real eye opener. Even in "luxury" cars with lots of built-in absorption, there's still that 70 dB noise floor. You might be able to get car audio to sounds exciting and fun--in fact, it seems like a pretty popular hobby. But shooting for accuracy is like trying to walk up a down escalator.

[JavadS]

Keys to doing it well assuming good quality components: take into account interior resonances, and for front stage speakers work to get them as close to equidistant from the listening position as possible. But space constraints make car audio so much more difficult to do well than in the home.

[craigk]

Is accurate, quality stereophonic reproduction possible in the automotive environment? I'm doing a research project and want to gauge the opinions. Thank you for your answers!

No. You can build a really nice sounding system. You just have to take it for what it is.

[Psycoacoustics]

[QUOTE=Paul Carmody;n1274943]
This. The first time I brought an SPL meter in the car with me was a real eye opener. Even in "luxury" cars with lots of built-in absorption, there's still that 70 dB noise floor. You might be able to get car audio to sounds exciting and fun--in fact, it seems like a pretty popular hobby. But shooting for accuracy is like trying to walk up a down escalator.[/QUOTE

I've heard some pretty good car systems,,,,,, while they were stopped and the engine wasn't running. Start her up and start moving,,,, the sound goes to [email protected]%L in a hand basket pretty quickly for me.

Besides, these days my commute to work is when I get all my news and you really don't need an expensive system for that. Money is better spent at home from where I sit.

Mark

[UpperCut]

Hi there,

Opinions as I can see are already miles apart as it is if it comes to sounds reproduction in general! I would agree with ‘NO’ if it comes to a normal size car yet as larger they get better the chances to be able to not only create good sounds, but Hi-Fi quality! The best are of course Vans like 7-8 seated Etc. So here I like to say ‘YES.

First up it is predominantly the available air volume which has to make it all count, and which would be needed to create that type of quality sound you are looking for.

Years back I made some 3D model drawings to visualize the outcome of certain speaker systems (here it was a German Manger system set up) in a home Environment (Image 1), but more reasoned I made these (Image 2) for my own Vans. Here it was the AIM to achieve exactly that what you are asking – best of both worlds Hi-Fi quality sound reproduction in an automotive set up.

So the second Image is based on a totally disconnected original set up (if the original sound set up should be used it would only be recommended to be of any use if it is only coming in as a Fill-In arrangement!) but otherwise exactly the same way I have this myself in one of my Vans (4WD, 7 seated Mitsubishi Delica) my second one has that Fill-In as well, but it is still work in progress presently (this is in a Nissan El-Grand).

Anyway, getting back to the second Image and the set up there I like to mention that this is only showing an idea, but what it all comes down to is – Placements, Angles as well as the Volume all combined into the design & development of the right enclosures to be used to create such quality sounds.

If you would be working of a normal set up that would look like the Images 3 & 4

Image 5 would be very close to a perfect working Hi-Fi in automotive set up!!!
Yet there is still one change to be made, but which I do not have an Image of as that in the end was established through moving enclosures around and listening for the best and that could be different from one car or van so I believe!

rgs UpperCut

[Sydney]

Agreed on the inevitable Road Noise issue; it is noticeably quieter in an Electric Vehicle, so the sound system didn't have to be played as loud, with less "masking".
Recording engineers work at the Apex of a Triangle, Equidistant and unobstructed in regard to the speaker channels, Vastly different from the compromised placement of listeners and speakers in a vehicle.

[Chris Roemer]

Not while it's in motion, anyway.

[SPLEclipse]

Yes, it's absolutely possible. I wouldn't consider something like road noise to be an issue in much the same way I wouldn't consider noise from a neighbors apartment or a busy road outside to negate an excellent home system. You obviously mitigate those kinds of things but they shouldn't be descriptive of the system itself.

The biggest difference between home and mobile systems is in the tuning. The vehicle becomes part of the system, whereas a home system typically removes the room from the equation.

[UpperCut]

[QUOTE=SPLEclipse;n1274991]Yes, it's absolutely possible. I wouldn't consider something like road noise to be an issue in much the same way I wouldn't consider noise from a neighbors apartment or a busy road outside to negate an excellent home system. You obviously mitigate those kinds of things but they shouldn't be descriptive of the system itself.

I would agree with most that what you said simple because it has to be very similar in the set up to a home system yet also very different, and that would be that in a vehicle the Imaging of the sounds has to be concentrated opposite from that we have in a home environment - so the main sounds would have to come mainly from the very back of the vehicle both for the (normal terms front & rear speakers) which now become (Front now becomes the very rear and the Rear now would be the front yet are sitting in the center).
Funny enough if that is not the case Imaging is not possible – Sorry do not ask why because I’m not sure about that yet this way it works absolutely perfect!!!

Rgs UpperCut

[craigk]

[QUOTE=UpperCut;1274992]

Yes, it's absolutely possible. I wouldn't consider something like road noise to be an issue in much the same way I wouldn't consider noise from a neighbors apartment or a busy road outside to negate an excellent home system. You obviously mitigate those kinds of things but they shouldn't be descriptive of the system itself. I would agree with most that what you said simple because it has to be very similar in the set up to a home system yet also very different, and that would be that in a vehicle the Imaging of the sounds has to be concentrated opposite from that we have in a home environment - so the main sounds would have to come mainly from the very back of the vehicle both for the (normal terms front & rear speakers) which now become (Front now becomes the very rear and the Rear now would be the front yet are sitting in the center). Funny enough if that is not the case Imaging is not possible � Sorry do not ask why because I�m not sure about that yet this way it works absolutely perfect!!! Rgs UpperCut

Total bull$hit.

[craigk]

[QUOTE=UpperCut;1274992]

Yes, it's absolutely possible. I wouldn't consider something like road noise to be an issue in much the same way I wouldn't consider noise from a neighbors apartment or a busy road outside to negate an excellent home system. You obviously mitigate those kinds of things but they shouldn't be descriptive of the system itself. I would agree with most that what you said simple because it has to be very similar in the set up to a home system yet also very different, and that would be that in a vehicle the Imaging of the sounds has to be concentrated opposite from that we have in a home environment - so the main sounds would have to come mainly from the very back of the vehicle both for the (normal terms front & rear speakers) which now become (Front now becomes the very rear and the Rear now would be the front yet are sitting in the center). Funny enough if that is not the case Imaging is not possible � Sorry do not ask why because I�m not sure about that yet this way it works absolutely perfect!!! Rgs UpperCut

Total bull$hit or should I say troll $hit.

[Æ]

This. The first time I brought an SPL meter in the car with me was a real eye opener. Even in "luxury" cars with lots of built-in absorption, there's still that 70 dB noise floor. You might be able to get car audio to sounds exciting and fun--in fact, it seems like a pretty popular hobby. But shooting for accuracy is like trying to walk up a down escalator.

One of my show off pastimes is to actually run up the down escalator in a dept. store or the mall!