New Entertainment Setup....in car!

Minimoke

Minimoke

Minimoke

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27 Feb 2009
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317
Hey everyone,
This is the best place I thought of putting this thread, since it is vehicle related; I'm going to be making my car into a moving computer very soon, and would like some peoples ideas and opinions on what I plan to do.

The car, is a 2003 Ford Fiesta Finesse, with the Zetec spec engine. I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do [for those Elton John fans out there :P] It's my first car, and I'll be moving the setup into my future cars of course. Here's what I plan to do:

I will either put the computer in the dashboard, or in a small case under one of the chairs. I will get a double din fascia, and custom fit an optical drive into it. I would then get one of those slide out touch screen monitors and fit that into the fascia. I would have a large hard drive for just media, and use a player such as VLC for the movies, and WMP for the music.


The Sound System

The sound system will consist of 4 component speakers; one for each door, and two for the back shelf, and a subwoofer. The amps will be stored in the boot, along with the subwoofer. The computer audio out will go directly into the amplifier, which will run into a crossover; low frequencies going to the sub, and the rest to the component speakers. I would most likely end up subscribing to Vodafone or T-Mobile for one of thier mobile broadband plans, and I would get a USB GPS reciever for satalite navigation.

The Computer

The computer doesn't have to be powerful, and to keep it as quiet and as cool as possible, I will use a Sempron. I will install a gig of RAM, and a small hard drive for the o/s and programs, and use an external terabyte for the media, so I could take it out and add media to it. I would put it in a small media case, and use a decent motherboard with onboard graphics, and I would use a decent sound card to compliment the audio setup. This is just a rough scetch, but the finished plan will be as precise as it needs to be. Cheers, Chris.
 
hello,

i dont know a huge amount about car comps but my advice would be:

Look for laptop spec optical drives and mounting options for the hdd as your shaking them a lot while driving.

as for the audio, i assume its a three door? if so get comps for the front but get cheaper (not super cheap) speakers for the back just to act as rear fill. Sub should be somthing like at 10" in a fiesta.
Some people will say get a cheap sub as its not important, they are lying....
 
Don't faff around with different apps for each function, get it all tied into a nice front end CarPC app.

No idea which one is the cream of the crop these days however.

Reminds me, I still need to work out why the touch panel in my Lilliput 7" screen has stopped working.
 
try going to mp3car.com they got a great forum with project logs and everything you could possible want, im trying to fill the hole in my dash (thank you south wales police) with a linux based system at the moment.
 
You don't need, or rather don't want speakers on your parcel shelf AND a sub.

As said, fit some cheapy components into the rear panel of the car and go for some good quality components in the front. Your ears point forwards, not backwards.
 
Hey guys,
I haven't looked into car audio for quite a while, so I'll look into that. there's a website called cartft.com, who sell very nice pre-built systems, so I could just get one of their systems. The computer will be the last bit I buy, as I will need a new audio setup regardless. I'm very critical when it comes to audio. I work in recording studios, and anything less than crystal in my own home or car just isn't good enough, and because of this I'm willing to spend a lot of money on getting the sound right. I'll most probably use the same speakers in the rear as I do in the front, just so the sound quality/level of frequencies is the same throughout the vehicle. The sub will be powerful, as my preferred genres are so much better with a good low end system. I'll experiment. Cheers, Chris.
 
Hey everyone,
I've decided to go for a dash-mounted system, with a fold out screen. This one in fact. It makes it all a lot easier, and it's all in one package. I will try and fit a USB optical drive in the din slot underneath the computer, and use that for playing music and adding tracks to the library. I will have an external hard drive under the passenger seat, running a power convertor off of the cigarette lighter, and a USB cable running into the back of the computer. All of this makes it a lot tidier, and it should be a lovely setup. I'll look into car audio soon, I've been a bit booked up. Cheers, Chris.
 
peterattheboro said:
You don't need, or rather don't want speakers on your parcel shelf AND a sub.

As said, fit some cheapy components into the rear panel of the car and go for some good quality components in the front. Your ears point forwards, not backwards.
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to just have a really good set of components up front (make sure they are powered by a good enough amp) and then a 10" sub in the boot (again with a good enough amp) and then nto even bother with anything in the back (unless the OP already has the standard speakers in the back in which case he may as well just keep them and not use them)

In my old mk6 fiesta I always had it set to just the front speakers, which were standard btw, and it sounded much better (imo)
 
Just out of interest do you actually have this car yet? The reason i ask is i saw you post in another thread earlier saying that you were considering a mini as your first or second car and thought it a bit odd you would say first if you had this fiesta already.
 
Hey guys,
A car worth a thruppence? It's worth a good £3000 my friend, it's in perfect condition. And it's not a headunit, it's a fully functional computer, so it's a bit more than just a stereo. The way things are; my Dad had the wonderful idea of buying a decent starter car for me to use, which I will then pass down to my little Brother. This means I will only have to pay for the insurance, meaning I will have a lot more money to spend on whatever I want, such as this entertainment system. But, I am a serious fan of the original Mini, so I'll be looking at one for my second car. [if they haven't all rusted to a pile of dust by then]

Chris.
 
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As for the comments about speakers, I probably will just go for components in the front and nothing in the back, because I don't want to rip the back speakers out if the cars going to my Brother afterwards. I could run the back standard speakers off of the amplifier from the headset, I'll see how it sounds. But I will of course put a sub in the boot, much to the displeasure of my Father ;)
 
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Minimoke said:
As for the comments about speakers, I probably will just go for components in the front and nothing in the back, because I don't want to rip the back speakers out if the cars going to my Brother afterwards. I could run the back standard speakers off of the amplifier from the headset, I'll see how it sounds. But I will of course put a sub in the boot, much to the displeasure of my Father ;)
Click to expand...

Thats the right choice, exactly what i did on my old corsa. If you really want to go to town on the audio you should really dynamat as much of the car as you can, it does make a huge difference and it can sort out some annoying rattles.
 
I warn you now. Car audio becomes an obsession.

£500 becomes a grand before you blink. Remember you'll need serious gauge wire if you're running a decent sub setup (800wrms sub with 2-600wrms of comps is going to be a 2-0 AWG job, not to mention three lots of RCAS, 4-6 runs of speaker cable e.tc e.tc)

I'm so jealous you get to start a fresh install! :p

Custom boot build? Buy lots more MDF than you think you need, buy soundproofer and DONT scrimp on your carpet overlay or the adhesive, cheap stuff looks utter ballbags. A jigsaw, a dremel and an leccy sander are utterly indispensible. Alongside a decent dustmask.

To be completely honest though, in a car that size 6 speakers is rather excessive, and we're talking a big project if you've never done this sort of thing before. As previously mentioned a set of decent coaxials up from, soundproofing in the doors and a 10/12" sub should suffice. Anything more than 600wrms of bass in a cab that size will probably make you soil yourself anyhoo.

Enjoy!

Ant :cool:
 
Built a Car PC for my BMW E46

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17860684&highlight=easyriders

External HDD for media?

Na.

I run a batch file on my car PC's desktop that syncs my media with my NAS Box in the house over WiFi ;):D

101_0125.jpg
 
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Hey guys,
Thanks for all of the replies, the thing I've got to keep telling myself is that this car is going to be driven to college everyday, and I would like to keep as much of the boot as possible. I'm not aiming for a showcase car, I'm looking for a powerful install that's as clean as possible. I probably wont mod the exterior at all, and even if I do it will only be tints and alloys. I'm going for the clean look. I've been browsing caraudiodirect.com for the audio bits, and I've found a few items that I like. Has anyone got any preference to a certain brand of audio equipment? I know the good from bad, but I'm just interested in what you guys would suggest. Cheers, Chris.
 
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