aspain89
Junior Member
I am no expert in car audio, but I have had my fair share of aftermarket stereos. From a simple passive LOC/amp/sub setup to full system upgrades.
My first setup was a basic passive LOC, connected to an amp and sub. I upgraded piece by piece until I had some door speakers, and then upgraded a head unit. Switching from my stock '98 toyota head unit to a hand me down single din JVC from a friend changed the SQ so much. I then upgraded to a full kenwood system, new headunit, 4 channel and monoblock amp, 4 components and 2 12s. Best system I had had up to that point.
I had to get rid of that car and the system, and ended up driving a '00 Lexus RX300 with the premium sound system, when I went to try and upgrade this system I found out that you cannot change out the HU for an aftermarket system without losing complete functionality of the center dash. I had to settle for a cheap passive LOC once again, and the sound quality suffers in the subwoofers.
I have never used an active LOC such as an LC2I, and am currently looking at investing in a new car but am weary of getting another car with the "premium" sound system and not be able to modify the way I want/to the quality I want.
I am assuming the LC2I still wont perform as well as a headunit with preamp outputs, but I cant say for certain. Can someone explain the differences please! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
I am trying to determine which would be best; getting the base model of the car with the changeable head unit but missing a lot of other features I would want from the premium models (heated seats/automatic climate control/automatic lights etc.), or if getting the premium models and attaching a LC2i (or similar) would have comparable sound quality, I know I do not like the passive LOC, so thats a moot point.
tl;dr Trying to learn the difference between passive and active LOC, versus a headunit with preamps and what will give the best sound quality, and if a new HU vs an LC2i would be comparable in sound quality.
My first setup was a basic passive LOC, connected to an amp and sub. I upgraded piece by piece until I had some door speakers, and then upgraded a head unit. Switching from my stock '98 toyota head unit to a hand me down single din JVC from a friend changed the SQ so much. I then upgraded to a full kenwood system, new headunit, 4 channel and monoblock amp, 4 components and 2 12s. Best system I had had up to that point.
I had to get rid of that car and the system, and ended up driving a '00 Lexus RX300 with the premium sound system, when I went to try and upgrade this system I found out that you cannot change out the HU for an aftermarket system without losing complete functionality of the center dash. I had to settle for a cheap passive LOC once again, and the sound quality suffers in the subwoofers.
I have never used an active LOC such as an LC2I, and am currently looking at investing in a new car but am weary of getting another car with the "premium" sound system and not be able to modify the way I want/to the quality I want.
I am assuming the LC2I still wont perform as well as a headunit with preamp outputs, but I cant say for certain. Can someone explain the differences please! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
I am trying to determine which would be best; getting the base model of the car with the changeable head unit but missing a lot of other features I would want from the premium models (heated seats/automatic climate control/automatic lights etc.), or if getting the premium models and attaching a LC2i (or similar) would have comparable sound quality, I know I do not like the passive LOC, so thats a moot point.
tl;dr Trying to learn the difference between passive and active LOC, versus a headunit with preamps and what will give the best sound quality, and if a new HU vs an LC2i would be comparable in sound quality.
