I did in 1975. A Fiat 850 with 8 track quad.
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ROLL CALL: Who has surround sound in their car(s)?
- Thread starter JonUrban
- Start date
Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
I don't know how I end up so lucky in this life, but I'm happy to say that I am now the proud owner of this 2014 Acura ILX that features the ELS 5.1 DVDA system!
Oh man, I'm gonna have some fun listening and driving experiences in this automobile!
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I don't know how I end up so lucky in this life, but I'm happy to say that I am now the proud owner of this 2014 Acura ILX that features the ELS 5.1 DVDA system!
Oh man, I'm gonna have some fun listening and driving experiences in this automobile!
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Ryan, thats awesome, I love my 2013 ILX for surround so you should be in for some great listening while driving around
.They upgraded the subwoofer and added better sound proofing from the introductory year that I have so good choice in model year that you bought.
Welcome to the club.
Has anyone else had the idea of using a Surround Master in a car system? I haven't done it, but after looking over the connections on the rear of the unit, it seems it wouldn't be a hard thing at all to do.
quattroatl
300 Club - QQ All-Star
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2006 Acura RL here. I much prefer the ELS Surround system to the Bose that I have, but I can't complain too much!
Should work. You would just need a way to convert the vehicle's 12 vdc to 120 vac.
I had a Tate unit in my vehicle in the 80's and 90's. I had no problems with it. Fosgate actually provided a factory modification for a 12 vdc input.
So, I've had a Panasonic touchscreen DVD 5.1 HU in my car for the past year. I had a JVC before and a Sony before that that got stolen. The Sony was the best at reading discs, it was the MEX-DV2200. Some asshole stole it out of my car one night when I forgot to lock it. Since then I've been dealing with a deck that refuses to play anything but pristine discs. Like, can't play through a fingerprint.
So I fought back. I installed a 4-channel amp alongside the sub and center amp I have, and set up a netbook with Kodi to play 5.1 FLAC and WAV, and even DVD ISO files! It's really nice because it sounds just as good with a Sound Blaster 5.1 USB card, and I don't have to convert files to DTS WAV anymore.
I have a Griffin Powermate I bought on a whim a while back, and I use that as a volume control and sleep function. I have a VGA-to-composite adapter on the way so I can display the laptop screen on my deck. For now, I have a Wifi OBD2 adapter that makes its own network that I connect the netbook and my phone to, and I use my phone to control Kodi -- the netbook lives under my seat and I never have to touch it.
Some screenshots and pics of the setup. Wiring is not pictured as it's still kind of a preliminary rats nest as I finesse the setup. I have the deck wired inline so I still have FM radio and can play DVD on it as well. I set Kodi up so I can AirPlay audio to it as well. Very cool stuff.
https://imgur.com/a/hepEv
So I fought back. I installed a 4-channel amp alongside the sub and center amp I have, and set up a netbook with Kodi to play 5.1 FLAC and WAV, and even DVD ISO files! It's really nice because it sounds just as good with a Sound Blaster 5.1 USB card, and I don't have to convert files to DTS WAV anymore.
I have a Griffin Powermate I bought on a whim a while back, and I use that as a volume control and sleep function. I have a VGA-to-composite adapter on the way so I can display the laptop screen on my deck. For now, I have a Wifi OBD2 adapter that makes its own network that I connect the netbook and my phone to, and I use my phone to control Kodi -- the netbook lives under my seat and I never have to touch it.
Some screenshots and pics of the setup. Wiring is not pictured as it's still kind of a preliminary rats nest as I finesse the setup. I have the deck wired inline so I still have FM radio and can play DVD on it as well. I set Kodi up so I can AirPlay audio to it as well. Very cool stuff.
https://imgur.com/a/hepEv
2016 TLX w/ ELS Studio (DTS-CD)
I know many have said the old system with DVD-A was better, but I only had PLII before this (2013 TL) and used to make LT/RT foldowns of DVD-As and SACDs with oppo downmix for the car, so experiencing discrete surround in the car for the first time was incredible. Since then I've been making DTS conversions of most material (DVD-A/V, BDA) with DVD Audio Extractor but have resorted to Creative DTS-610 and Phillips cd recorder for SACD and CD-4.
I know many have said the old system with DVD-A was better, but I only had PLII before this (2013 TL) and used to make LT/RT foldowns of DVD-As and SACDs with oppo downmix for the car, so experiencing discrete surround in the car for the first time was incredible. Since then I've been making DTS conversions of most material (DVD-A/V, BDA) with DVD Audio Extractor but have resorted to Creative DTS-610 and Phillips cd recorder for SACD and CD-4.
Although I don't have one yet, I checked the web site and the Surround Master runs on 9V DC. You just have to drop the cars 12V (14.4 while running) to 9V. A 7809 3-terminal regulator should work fine, you might be able to find a commercial unit to supply the right voltage just make sure that it can handle the Surrounds Masters current requirement of 500mA.
Likewise car units such as the Fosgate Gavotte and Rocktron CSA12 can be used at home by supplying 12Vdc to the unit.
holland123
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Really. Really interesting. Unfortunately for whatever reason I can't access your pic. How do you handle switching from your headunit as source to your netbook as audio source?
With just 3400 miles on it someone turned left in front of me and my 2017 TLX was totaled (100% his fault). So I just got the 2018 TLX AWD with tech and it still plays the DTS-CDs. Lucky I can make my own because no one even knows what they are at this point.
Plus the 2018 has Apple Carplay and is a really sweet ride.
As an aside... the TLX handled itself just as it was supposed to and the entire front end crumpled like a bag of chips. I walked away with a sore hand out of the whole deal. I recommend it as a very safe car as well as being able to play surround.
Plus the 2018 has Apple Carplay and is a really sweet ride.
As an aside... the TLX handled itself just as it was supposed to and the entire front end crumpled like a bag of chips. I walked away with a sore hand out of the whole deal. I recommend it as a very safe car as well as being able to play surround.
Damn Bob!!! :yikes:yikes:yikes
Glad you hear you're OK. Only 3400 miles and BANG. What horrible luck. Fortunately the luck ran out with the car and not with you!!
2018 TLX sure looks like a slick ride, and glad to hear it (at least) does DTS CDs in real 5.1. The disc players are disappearing from many cars these days, let along 5.1 players.
Geez, again, glad to hear you're OK.
holland123
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
That is sad, glad that u are ok though. Way to many a holz on the road these days.
I actually rode in this car with Bob in May when I drove up for the Midnight Oil show. Glad you are okay Bob!
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About a year ago I purchased an Sony MEX-DV2200, based on the recommendations in one of these threads. I was saving it until I got a better vehicle, however the factory deck in the aging Caravan developed a problem with the radio cutting out, after determining that it wasn't an antenna issue, I purchased an install kit and adapter cable from Walmart and was quickly up and running. I tried The Audio Fidelity SACD "Jeff Beck Group", first all I can say is WOW. I thought that the factory speakers were crap, but they sound fine with this new deck! The surround was even noticeable from outside the van, I could tell that the drums were in the rear and the guitar and vocals in front. A burned copy of Chicago Transit Authority also sounded fine;switching between DTS and Dolby, the Dolby digital sounded flat by comparison. The downside is the deck doesn't do DVD-Audio, but on the bright side most of those also contain DTS tracks. I don't consider that the rear speakers are optimally placed for surround sound in this vehicle, but it still sounds good. I'm less impressed with Dolby plII, but is better than straight stereo.
I had my heart set on car surround for quite a while. But the day finally came when I needed to decide on a new, safe car to haul my little boy around.
The 2017 Subaru Legacy comes with a huge 7" nav unit thing. I asked around as to whether there is a way to replace it with a multichannel unit and the answer is no, at least not without reamping the whole car. Not sure why that is, but I guess there are just no compatible nav units.
On the bright side, the Harmon Kardon stereo system has given new life to my long-neglected CD collection. It's been consuming CDs like crazy. It sounds so awesome, it is helping me decide which CDs were mastering well or not! Also, it is fairly enveloping, so sometimes I don't miss multichannel while driving around.
Also, I'd hate to install mc in my car, only to find out I'm dissatisfied with the surround placement somehow. I'm sure the HK speaker locations are as close to ideal as you can get, but I have read less than encouraging stories from some surroundophiles who made the "upgrade" only to complain about the result.
The 2017 Subaru Legacy comes with a huge 7" nav unit thing. I asked around as to whether there is a way to replace it with a multichannel unit and the answer is no, at least not without reamping the whole car. Not sure why that is, but I guess there are just no compatible nav units.
On the bright side, the Harmon Kardon stereo system has given new life to my long-neglected CD collection. It's been consuming CDs like crazy. It sounds so awesome, it is helping me decide which CDs were mastering well or not! Also, it is fairly enveloping, so sometimes I don't miss multichannel while driving around.
Also, I'd hate to install mc in my car, only to find out I'm dissatisfied with the surround placement somehow. I'm sure the HK speaker locations are as close to ideal as you can get, but I have read less than encouraging stories from some surroundophiles who made the "upgrade" only to complain about the result.
EB I'm a big Subie fan. Currently own a 2005 Outback XT which is a nice car. Lost my CD player a year ago and the AM channels are now gone. Very weird. Anyway I still have fm radio. I love Subaru and was seriously considering replacing our Ford with another Subaru. But in the end went with Acura, in part because of the surround. What I've heard so far is very impressive. Enjoy your Subaru. They are great, fun cars to drive.
What I love about the Acura is that it also has a 15 gig hard drive that you load your CDs into with Gracenote software that acts like a built in iPod. How cool is that?
What I love about the Acura is that it also has a 15 gig hard drive that you load your CDs into with Gracenote software that acts like a built in iPod. How cool is that?
Don't believe I ever shared my 2012 Acura TSX with my friends. Here she is properly serviced and cleaned today ...Yes, she does DVD-A and DTS-CD, all the time and so fine.https://share.icloud.com/photos/0hVAWKfKJ5ve5xmxaUirB-vzQ Still loving the sound in this car. Don't know if it's the dry air but sounding so good lately.
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With thanks to Jon for his amazingly comprehensive assessment of your Acura 5.1 system on earlier posts I thought I could add something to the information vault.
Over on this side of the Atlantic in the UK I had believed that there was zero possibility of having surround music in our cars. As far as I know, none of the manufacturers have offered 5.1 here with the possible exception of Mercedes but if they did it was kept secret.
However, I have recently bought a new car which I thought might have 5.1 on board and to my utter astonishment, it actually does! It is a Skoda Superb Laurin & Klement which is the only model in the range that has both the top spec satnav and the 5.1 amp and speakers. They can be optioned on other trim levels, and on the slightly smaller Octavia, but at a fairly eye-watering cost. It comes equiped with a DVD disc player, 10GB hard drive and two SD card slots in the glove box (not sure if that is only a British description of the passenger storage box and it might not be the only one in this post either!) For this not familiar with Skoda, they are part of the VW empire and as such many of the parts are from VW or Audi cars although I think that neither of those offer 5.1 audio. The information on format support is totally woeful and the only place I have found anything is on the Android MySkoda app and that doesn't make much sense.
So, in for a penny, in for a pound: I have not had the car long enough to fully explore its audio abilities but I do know that it only play a CD or a DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1, even a DVD-A if has a DD file. It will definitely not play DVD-A MLP, DTS or SACD formats. However, I loaded an SD card with digital files to see what it likes and does not like. So far, it likes everything I have thrown at it:
MP3 (obviously I guess)
Stereo FLAC at 44.1/16; 44.1/24; 96/24.
Stereo WAV at 192/24 (although these are files recorded from my vinyl collection using a Sony PS-HX500 hi-res digital turntable. These sound great on my home system but have something akin to massive tape hiss playing in the car and inexplicable. I am going to re-record them at 96/24 to see if that cures it.)
5.1 FLAC at 44.1/24 and 96/24 and they seem to play fine. I noted your comment about zero compression files but have no idea that status of mine but probably have no compression.
As I said, still trying to fathom the overall capabilities but have some observations. Firstly, the sound is startlingly bright! It's possible that the manufacturer (Canton, apparently with some assistance from Harman) may describe it as detailed. All I know is that I have wound the treble down to the minimum -9 and it is just about alright. But, overuse of the loud button does bring a little harshness with it, to my ears anyway. The home system has Spendor speakers which are far more refined.
Only music from discs will provide gapless playing. It is slightly disconcerting when a track starts, stops, then carries on - oh well! The sub-woofer is in the boot (sorry, trunk) on the passenger side much like the Acura, only on the left, like the passenger!!! And the rear speakers are, logically, in the rear doors but have are three-fifths pathetic on their own. No full range speakers, must be a cost issue! However, when playing altogether the surround sound is pretty well balanced with reasonable weight. The system controls are fairly daft though and have taken the longest to understand. As usual, once you get familiar, most of the available pre-sets will never be used.
In conclusion, a pretty good attempt by Skoda and much better than any factory fitted system in any car prior to this. But then again Skoda is not Bentley (although they are owned by VW too!). Off now to listen to The Cars! And I only went for this car because it has 4 wheel drive and is mind-blowingly quick for a large (for UK) 5 seater saloon (sedan??)!
Over on this side of the Atlantic in the UK I had believed that there was zero possibility of having surround music in our cars. As far as I know, none of the manufacturers have offered 5.1 here with the possible exception of Mercedes but if they did it was kept secret.
However, I have recently bought a new car which I thought might have 5.1 on board and to my utter astonishment, it actually does! It is a Skoda Superb Laurin & Klement which is the only model in the range that has both the top spec satnav and the 5.1 amp and speakers. They can be optioned on other trim levels, and on the slightly smaller Octavia, but at a fairly eye-watering cost. It comes equiped with a DVD disc player, 10GB hard drive and two SD card slots in the glove box (not sure if that is only a British description of the passenger storage box and it might not be the only one in this post either!) For this not familiar with Skoda, they are part of the VW empire and as such many of the parts are from VW or Audi cars although I think that neither of those offer 5.1 audio. The information on format support is totally woeful and the only place I have found anything is on the Android MySkoda app and that doesn't make much sense.
So, in for a penny, in for a pound: I have not had the car long enough to fully explore its audio abilities but I do know that it only play a CD or a DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1, even a DVD-A if has a DD file. It will definitely not play DVD-A MLP, DTS or SACD formats. However, I loaded an SD card with digital files to see what it likes and does not like. So far, it likes everything I have thrown at it:
MP3 (obviously I guess)
Stereo FLAC at 44.1/16; 44.1/24; 96/24.
Stereo WAV at 192/24 (although these are files recorded from my vinyl collection using a Sony PS-HX500 hi-res digital turntable. These sound great on my home system but have something akin to massive tape hiss playing in the car and inexplicable. I am going to re-record them at 96/24 to see if that cures it.)
5.1 FLAC at 44.1/24 and 96/24 and they seem to play fine. I noted your comment about zero compression files but have no idea that status of mine but probably have no compression.
As I said, still trying to fathom the overall capabilities but have some observations. Firstly, the sound is startlingly bright! It's possible that the manufacturer (Canton, apparently with some assistance from Harman) may describe it as detailed. All I know is that I have wound the treble down to the minimum -9 and it is just about alright. But, overuse of the loud button does bring a little harshness with it, to my ears anyway. The home system has Spendor speakers which are far more refined.
Only music from discs will provide gapless playing. It is slightly disconcerting when a track starts, stops, then carries on - oh well! The sub-woofer is in the boot (sorry, trunk) on the passenger side much like the Acura, only on the left, like the passenger!!! And the rear speakers are, logically, in the rear doors but have are three-fifths pathetic on their own. No full range speakers, must be a cost issue! However, when playing altogether the surround sound is pretty well balanced with reasonable weight. The system controls are fairly daft though and have taken the longest to understand. As usual, once you get familiar, most of the available pre-sets will never be used.
In conclusion, a pretty good attempt by Skoda and much better than any factory fitted system in any car prior to this. But then again Skoda is not Bentley (although they are owned by VW too!). Off now to listen to The Cars! And I only went for this car because it has 4 wheel drive and is mind-blowingly quick for a large (for UK) 5 seater saloon (sedan??)!
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