Ornlu Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Hmm, the MP3's your son had must have been low quality. All of my mp3's are from CD's I have ripped myself, only 256 kbps Vbr only filtration being above my audible spectrum besides the normal compression. File sizes around 6-7 megs average. Still about 1/10 the original size. I use Lame MP3 encoder with Audio Grabber for ripping. Ripping is a BIG part of encoding mp3's, they have to be off of a new CD, it's best to rip at lower speeds 1-4x as you are less likely to get a file with an error, use CRC error correction and you should get a clean wav to work with. No matter what you do with it OBVIOUSLY the cd will sound better, but to be honest on my Klipsch PM's I can't tell the difference between the mp3's I rip and the originals. On the B&0's at home it's a different story, but let's face it, these are multi media speakers. You also have to keep an open mind, if you rule out the mp3 before it even starts playing, psycologically it will sound worse. I've ripped over 350 CD's, I keep the CDs in my room as backup copies, not one hairline scratch on one of mine. Sweet deal in my mind. About the sound quality. Are you using the original speaker wires that come with the PM's ? Because those are crap. Get some nice 12 guage monster cable and mono miniplugs from radio shack (gold plated), then you will have yourself a much richer sound and no scratchies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 ya, most mp3's sound very good, your son is downloading (or ripping) the wrong stuff. You should not have anything below 192bit. At 256bit you really can't tell the difference at all. I rip all my stuff at 192 bit just to gain a little extra space. I only have the mini ipod which has only 3.76gig capacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannan36 Posted April 2, 2004 Author Share Posted April 2, 2004 OK, I hear ya on the MP3s. One of these days I'll get around to trying a good extracter like EAC.lame and check it out. re: speaker wires I'm using Monster already, the ones from Klipsch. The mini-stereo plug is flimsy, but the set definitely sounds better with them vs the thin factory wires. re: front speakers I failed to mention they are mounted horizontally on the dash, in each corner. The Rockford/Fosgate 'lectronic crossover doesn't do anything, based on testing in my garage. Not worth pursuing. I think I'm going to try to do something about the open port on the sub. It points backwards, under the rear seat where I think a lot of sound gets absorbed in the thick carpet and insulation, as well as the underside of the back seat. Need something to reflect the sound better, like a sheet of wood, or something... /Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannan36 Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 Update: - I removed the 4.1 amp/sub from my truck. Simply not enough power esp for the sub in the truck environment - kept the satellites - installed my trusty old 4x20W RMS Hafler car stereo amp (Hafler was a division of Rockford Fosgate) to drive the satellites with - installed 10" Precision Power sub with a 200W RMS PP car amp The system sounds amazing now. /Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 you wanted more bass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannan36 Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 More bass, yes. The 4.1 sub just didn't cut it in the truck. I also think the satellite speakers sound much better w/ the car amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooting_monkey Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Sadly in a real test, such as a referance room, the 4.1 sub would give that 10' generic sub a thrashing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooting_monkey Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Also how could there not be enough power. In a truck the speakers are probably pretty close to listening position, therefore they can crank 110dB from where you are at. I would like to see a $1000 car system that can do the same, at <1% THD on the sats and <3% THD on the sub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hannan36 Posted April 23, 2004 Author Share Posted April 23, 2004 The 4.1 sub in the truck did not perform well at all. Performance may have been affected because of the modified sine wave power supplied by the inverter to the sub/amp, because the 4.1 system sounds great in my garage - which is why I thought of putting the 4.1 in the truck in the first place. On the Klipsch home page, the marketing writeup of a guy who installed a 4.1 in his suv said he had to add another sub, which sort of backs up my claim of not enough bass w/ just a 4.1. I don't have the room for another sub however, so I'm using what's considered a quality amp and sub. The amp is rated at THD: 02% and S/N Ratio: >110dB. I think a primary reason for needing more power is to overcome the sound-proofing that was put into the vehicle. Ford went to great lengths to make that interior quiet (and as sound absorbing). The satellites always sounded sweet, both w/ the original amp and my old Hafler. imho. /Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmpeethree Posted May 7, 2004 Share Posted May 7, 2004 i think your PCDP would be fine if you used a headphone amp. could get a used one off head-fi.org for really cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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