FAO :Skodapilot etc

Get one, I have one and it's great, sounds about as good (not analysed it yet) as my more sophisticated but more expensive Yamaha UA20 external DAC / Amp.

This is what I was on about Tim, is this what you meant?

and its cheap, 39 quid

Ron

yep, I've got one (got mine from pee-cee-werld) and it sits on the end of a

5m USB cable in my hifi rack, opical connected to my DAB and to my MD, analogue into the tape loop. Sound quality is good, connectors are better than the Extigy (which is all minijacks) and it does the job for playing MP3s (but playing them through a monitor audio based system means you CAN hear how crap some MP3 compressed audio is).

I also have a Yamaha AP-U40 (I think that's the model - it's not here it's on my live rig) for live recording into the laptop and live cue of sound FX from the laptop. That's a better unit sound quality wise and it has coax SPDIF which goes stragiht to my mixing desk. It's a better unit, but more expensive and bulky.

With the MP3 blaster just get a long USB cable (I can get up to 5m, email me if you want to buy) and put it right next to your amp so you don't get interference in the audio lines from the rest of the car. You won't be disappointed.

"house cable" is GREAT stuff. Makes *EXCELLENT* speaker cable too ! Use it for everything :D

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You tried it on your PC, it is well worth it.

Sounds like a pretty good build. I would say tray both map products, but my preference would be Navigator over streets, because of the routing and voice.

A lot of the MP3car.com guys, who have more room to work than me use the Extigy USB, so it should work nicely.

I'm online, but away.

As it was. For now, I'm happy with it. Keeping things how they are for now.I may pull it, and route the cable tidier, and cover any that are visible with a length of black split loom (bundled together).

I may pull it, and route the cable tidier, and cover any that are visible with a length of black split loom (bundled together).

What a few of the MP3car.com guys do is use Cat5 cable (somtimes more than one piece, and make power and audio/video cables as bundles, with connectors on, to keep things tidier.

Looking forward to seeing it. Sounds like it will be a cracker. Good idea with the spare facia.

!!!!

Cat5's suitability for carrying power, is ZERO. You WILL start a fire ! By all means send A/V down it, but do NOT send current/ground !

Aye. Makes me laugh when hifi buffs spend ££'s per metre on exotic cabling for thier speakers - anything over about 12p/metre and you're wasting money :-)

Andy

I have - I myself am an accomplished PC Modder :)

Neon Lights have a very low current draw though - CAT5 shouldn't cause a problem there. It's not in the same league as powering a 400w 12V Car Sub :)

The field of 'Hi-Fi' is completely riddled with myth and nonesense, generated by people who don't understand what they are talking about, and perpetuated by the idiots who beleive it. After enough repetitions it becomes accepted as self-evident truth. It's a great field if you want to fleece people with more money than brains :-)

Yoik. :-O

I remember a piece in which a particular amplifier was claimed to give the music a more 'amber' sound...

Cat5 is normally about 24 gauge, which give a resistance of about 0.08 ohms/metre, so you loose nearly 0.1v per amp flowing per metre used. (for single strand)

You need to have about 12amps flowing before you exceed the rating temperature of the insulation, (i.e. nearly 100amps if you use all 8 strands), so fire risk is not very high.

Potential problem you _will_ have are;

voltage drop - due to the relatively high specific resistance of the cable, as the current increases (e.g. with heavy bass), then the effective supply voltage at the recieve end of the cable will fluctuate.

Noise - CAT 5 is good for signal work due to the overall shielding and the twisted-pairs. Including (inherently noisy) power lines within the shielding eliminates both advantages.

As nom said, it's fine for A/V or control type signals, but there are better cables for power.

Andy

Lol no-one would run a 400watt sub from cat 5 cable, what Carl meant I think was, you use it for switches and small 5v dc power lines, to run to the front of the car.

Anyone who tries to run a 400 watt amp on cat 5 cable is a madman, I use massive thick fused oxygen free cable for my main power, about the same thickness as the starter motor cable.

Ron

btw customs intercepted my Screen from the states, but I have said it's going to be repaired and sent back in 6 months, then I will ship back some dodgy item for about 10 quid postage, and not pay the import duty... ssshhhhh

This way it costs 15 quid :)

Damn customs intercepting 2nd goods jeeez

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Bugger, you got caught then.

Damn. I'm so glad I got away with it.

is this housed in a normal sized case? and if so how are you going to attach it to the car so it doesnt move around.

been playing around with this idea for a while but didnt want to shell out on a mini itx board, psu and case.

Chad

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Go the Mini-ITX route. Unless you are installing it in bus, a truck, or a good sized van, you will notice the sapce lost.

I wont cus my boot is huge, even with me sub, video player etc in there I still got room for 2 suitcases, Mini ITX route I just cant justify, as I dont think the onboard video is ganna be up to much, I need agp gf4 mx at least.

Ron

just read What Hifi (or whatever its proper name is). I can now see why i dont buy it. Its like, certain people spend crazy amounts on hifi systems, just for the fact that hifi that costs lots of money = good hifi that makes their love of music 'better'. Like spending 100k on a really insane car, yet leaving it sat in a garage (except for when EXSPENSIVESHINYCARMAG team come to do an article :P)

pi...(grrr)

btw, great quotes from above mag include 'these cables are worth every penny as they make the music so much more emotive and involving. (cables are £319/m

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Sound does appear to be it's weakness. Pretty crackly, although it could be the way I have the cables run, and goign through an FM modulator.

They obviously don't realise that by the time the signal's got to the speaker outputs there isn't all that much difference that different speaker cables can make - there's still x amount of lower quality wire within the amplifiers/CD players themselves that potentially degrades the signal.

Peter

If you connect up all 8 strands though, because they're individually insulated, doesn't the current flow down the strand of least resistance ?

Doesn't this voltage drop generate heat - lots of it ?