When I was younger I had an $800 honda with a $1000 sound system in it. But for the Marauder I never wanted to mutilate it so I had a mild upgrade of infinity speakers in all 4 corners (forget if they are kappas or whatever) and a jl 6W3v3-4 in the stock sub box (perfect sealed size volume for it!).
I've had it that way for more years than I can remember now but the bug has bitten once more thanks to all the advances in tech and years learning more about electronics and whatnot.
So here is my plan for my second audio system upgrade, let me know what you guys think and if there is a problem in my logic.
audio2.jpg
Headunit:
Made from a 7" touch screen, oem connectors and radio chassis, power control hardware, and a raspberry pi 4 running open auto pro. Will use the hdmi output to run a digital signal to the trunk of the car, avoiding electrical interference.
Extractor:
In the trunk, this will take the HDMI audio and convert it to 5.1 RCAs. This part is a home audio part, will need a buck converter for the 5v needed as well as a trigger switch.
DSP:
The RCAs will be super short connecting the extractor to minidsp's c-dsp-8x12 (https://www.minidsp.com/products/car...dsp/c-dsp-8x12). This active crossover's output is then 12 channels to the amps. One reason I picked this dsp (and the amp chips) was because of their use of new chips. a lot of class-d amps and dsp use really old tech. The chips can be 15+ years old but if it sells they still make it and never update it.
Amps:
The amps should be close to the DSP as well, again keeping the RCAs short. One thing I've learned over time is that commercial amplifiers can be a rip off. A $3,000 amp hailed as sounding great can have $15 digital chip at its heart.
I was really impressed with texas instruments TPA3251 (https://www.ti.com/product/TPA3251) chip when it came out. It is a class-D that is 90% efficient and not many external components needed, keeping the size small. I made their design for a 700 watt amp (https://www.ti.com/tool/PMP11769)
but it lacked a remote turn on lead and a few other problems. I couldn't quite figure out how to alter the pcb well enough. I didn't want to fool around with all that again so I found http://www.3e-audio.com/ who make a 4 channel 100x4 tpa3251 based amp. Problem is this is for home use so it needs a
boost converter and a trigger switch for each one. 3 of these handles the 12 channels. Side note, you know how everyone raves about the ICEpower stuff? those are tpa32XX based as well.
Speakers:
what to do with 12 channels? I'm thinking 3 way component speakers up front. 1" tweeter in the sail panel, convert the stock speaker location to a 3.5", and use a custom door pod to add a 6.5" https://www.customspeakerpods.com/19...crown-victoria.
It will take a lot of work to get everything to look nice. Some people don't use any rear fill but I'd like to build this for rear seat passengers as well so 2 way components in the rear. Not sure where the tweeter will go yet but will convert the stock location to 6.5".
I'll keep the jl 6W3v3-4 in the stock sub box, it will use 2 of the channels summed (and bridged from the amp) and feed it 150w, all other speakers get 100w.
So it should , in theory, sound great and be way cheaper....in theory...