Not sure if it's been mentioned, but you don't have to worry about baffle-step losses in a car, so not only do you gain sensitivity over your average home speaker, but you also don't have the very severe baffle diffraction that you get with rectangular boxes. A car's interior is like an infinite baffle.
My Honda Civic has the Premium audio system with a factory subwoofer in the boot. Even with the Dynamat on the doors (fully sealed around cables etc), and fibreglass exhaust wadding behind the drivers (Glued to the Dynamat with waterproof glue) it's not a patch on my home hifi. The door speakers do now have some serious midbass punch though (Qtc 1.1 measured with my DATS), and the frequency response is better than it was due to the fibreglass.
It will be interesting to hear how it sounds when I fit the 10" Peerless 830452 subwoofer in the absolutely tiny, 9ltr sealed box under the rear seat. Although it looks like it won't produce much deep bass on paper, cabin gain from the small interior gives a huge boost to low frequencies. It's well worth typing "Cabin Gain" into a Google Image search to see how much you can gain at low frequencies in a small room.
If I were to replicate this at home, I'd cover the walls in acoustic foam, and I'd either use coaxials or keep the midbass / tweeters close together (and at ear height), rather than miles apart like they are in my car. The other problem with a car is the fact that you're sat much closer to one speaker than the other.
My Honda Civic has the Premium audio system with a factory subwoofer in the boot. Even with the Dynamat on the doors (fully sealed around cables etc), and fibreglass exhaust wadding behind the drivers (Glued to the Dynamat with waterproof glue) it's not a patch on my home hifi. The door speakers do now have some serious midbass punch though (Qtc 1.1 measured with my DATS), and the frequency response is better than it was due to the fibreglass.
It will be interesting to hear how it sounds when I fit the 10" Peerless 830452 subwoofer in the absolutely tiny, 9ltr sealed box under the rear seat. Although it looks like it won't produce much deep bass on paper, cabin gain from the small interior gives a huge boost to low frequencies. It's well worth typing "Cabin Gain" into a Google Image search to see how much you can gain at low frequencies in a small room.
If I were to replicate this at home, I'd cover the walls in acoustic foam, and I'd either use coaxials or keep the midbass / tweeters close together (and at ear height), rather than miles apart like they are in my car. The other problem with a car is the fact that you're sat much closer to one speaker than the other.
I remember some crappy old car I had from the 90s with its mediocre factory sound system. Its didn't boom, punch or rattle, but it did one thing surprisingly well. Image.
Perhaps it was the way that the in-dash speakers bounced off the windscreen that did it, don't know. But it was very enjoyable. There was no CD player or cassette but our local public radio at the time was all classical music and listening to symphonic music in that car was fun. The image was wide and somewhat deep. I bought a fair number of CDs because of what they sounded like on the radio.
There wasn't the big bass sound that fancy car systems have and gets talked about (more BASS!) , but the "sound-stage" or image, made the listening a lot of fun. That's what I think about when good sound in a car is mentioned.
Perhaps it was the way that the in-dash speakers bounced off the windscreen that did it, don't know. But it was very enjoyable. There was no CD player or cassette but our local public radio at the time was all classical music and listening to symphonic music in that car was fun. The image was wide and somewhat deep. I bought a fair number of CDs because of what they sounded like on the radio.
There wasn't the big bass sound that fancy car systems have and gets talked about (more BASS!) , but the "sound-stage" or image, made the listening a lot of fun. That's what I think about when good sound in a car is mentioned.
The magic of near-field listening!
Though I am surprised it worked that well for you, in spite of the fact that you were sitting much closer to one speaker than the other.
-Gnobuddy
Yes, that was surprising. It wasn't completely symmetrical of course, but the balance control did help.
Since then I've listened for the same effect in every car I've driven. None do it quite as well as that old car did, but some do OK. I suspect that the slope and curve of the windscreen were just right, and the speakers pointed in a way that made it work. I should measured and modeled it all, but never did.
Since then I've listened for the same effect in every car I've driven. None do it quite as well as that old car did, but some do OK. I suspect that the slope and curve of the windscreen were just right, and the speakers pointed in a way that made it work. I should measured and modeled it all, but never did.
I did a half unintentional experiment this morning. I left the Spotify player on mono from yesterday's speaker testing. I realized this just before I started playing music in my car this morning. I decided to leave it on mono.
I must say I was slightly surprised, I expected much worse results. There was still some sort sense of space and "envelopment" by the music was maybe even better than in stereo. I think this must be caused both by the placement of the speaker components and the dual mono operation. The effect is not that strong when I listen my Kallax Synergy+Sub speaker in true mono only.
I must say I was slightly surprised, I expected much worse results. There was still some sort sense of space and "envelopment" by the music was maybe even better than in stereo. I think this must be caused both by the placement of the speaker components and the dual mono operation. The effect is not that strong when I listen my Kallax Synergy+Sub speaker in true mono only.
I am considering updating the stereo in my car. I replaced the front speakers and added tweeters long time ago. Now I wondered if there were actually any speakers in the back door - after playing with the fader settings, I was surprised there are!
That might actually explain, why I like the sound in the car that much - the front speakers are quite a bit more sensitive than the stock ones and it required some serious fader setting to notice them as separate sources.
Could that be that extra "ambience" that made the difference when the back speakers were at a relatively low setting? Now I set the fader so that I move the setting back to notice the rear speakers and then back off a bit.
That might actually explain, why I like the sound in the car that much - the front speakers are quite a bit more sensitive than the stock ones and it required some serious fader setting to notice them as separate sources.
Could that be that extra "ambience" that made the difference when the back speakers were at a relatively low setting? Now I set the fader so that I move the setting back to notice the rear speakers and then back off a bit.
Everyone is concentrating on getting the right sound in or on the listening position. I think there are many options. But the OP started to say he wanted the sound confined in his listening booth because of the family members.
I think that is much harder. I can hear cars playing their music a block away and sometimes my windows rattle when some really powerful installation passes by. It is also a well known fact that higher frequencies are easy to damp in a room, but low frequencies are much harder. Building bass traps is a complete science on its own. If the bass is not trapped I assume it traverses into the rest of the building.
Am I correct? Can someone comment?
I think that is much harder. I can hear cars playing their music a block away and sometimes my windows rattle when some really powerful installation passes by. It is also a well known fact that higher frequencies are easy to damp in a room, but low frequencies are much harder. Building bass traps is a complete science on its own. If the bass is not trapped I assume it traverses into the rest of the building.
Am I correct? Can someone comment?
We know the sound of one-note bass coming through walls. Some boundaries/frequencies are transparent and some are reflective. Additionally, some damping will occur at these boundaries. If it reflects, it likely means you will be using less power to sustain it and there is an increased chance it will be damped within your room.
It would be much cheaper with this Listening Booth to test LC-OFC (cables) and even Oxygen Free Rooms. 😊
OK. I was joking. But another thing you need to consider is whether you want your head fixed or allow it to move.
Directional perception and imaging relies on two types of cues; Moving Head and Fixed Head cues.
If your system is designed only around fixed head cues, you may want to install a Greene-Lee Neckbrace. This is no more complicated than some car headrests.
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For a listening cabin I would build the speakers in to the internal corners using them as waveguides to remove the earliest reflections. This would increase listening distance and the distance between the speakers in this limited listening space.
Apart from passive wall damping, I would consider active absorption.
Apart from passive wall damping, I would consider active absorption.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I call them CTY -- Closer To You, speakers and performers both -- as if sitting front-row before a deep soundstage floating beyond the wall.
My office "bed-closet" and casement window have been over-populated with various omni, dipole, LX-cardioid, OB-chimney-into-ceiling-corners, and many other experimental contraptions (more than a few shown in the Fullrange Photo Gallery). I've also done "open-wing" crossfeed stereo headphones, single-console wall-bounce stereo, and near-field 15-inch reflector-point-source hemispherically omni-directional to very high frequency. I always made sure the surfaces very near or behind me weren't reflective.
My office "bed-closet" and casement window have been over-populated with various omni, dipole, LX-cardioid, OB-chimney-into-ceiling-corners, and many other experimental contraptions (more than a few shown in the Fullrange Photo Gallery). I've also done "open-wing" crossfeed stereo headphones, single-console wall-bounce stereo, and near-field 15-inch reflector-point-source hemispherically omni-directional to very high frequency. I always made sure the surfaces very near or behind me weren't reflective.
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I've been planning to build a semi-soundproof/anechoic knock-down "cabinet" using 4cm acoustic panel....
To focus bass output at the listening position, I'd suggest near-field OB/OB-Uframe or (better) push-pull dipole with acoustic panel stopping both "ends".