Learning about car audio. I love my factory head unit. Do I have to change it?

  • 6
    Participant count
  • Participants list

HyperSlayer72

CarAudio.com Newbie
13
0
Florida
Heyo, got a question. Heads up i'm very new, just started learning.

From the basics i've learned so far, it seems that a cars factory head unit is quickly replaced for a superior unit on all but the most basic builds.

Is it possible to do a proper SQ/SQL build without replacing the factory head unit... while also not being hampered by its presence?

I'm not sure what this would take to accomplish. Maybe i'm overthinking it. My current understanding is that stock head units can butcher the sound, applying their own poor equalization and amplification. When it comes time to take full control of the sound with external amplifiers and a dsp you'd need a proper head unit that gives you the ability to passthrough the audio to said equipment without altering it. Is this interpretation incorrect?

A second question that I'd like to slap into the post is regarding the act of playing music via an aux on my phone. Would I need to change this behavior as well to ensure my phone isn't ******* up the eq/amplification before it hits my head unit? If it matters at all my phone is an LG g8x with its "quad hifi dac". Regardless, this phone is the only phone has ever been able to drive my hd 600's at high volume/quality.

For those interested I have a mk6 golf with a factory base model head unit... thats right the lowest trim basic non touch screen one with a super tiny blue display and a simple selection of instantly responsive tactile buttons. The head unit does everything I want it to from a functionality and design perspective. I use my head unit for nothing but music and hands free calls. No android auto, no music over bluetooth, no massive touchscreen, no ********. I never text, know how to park without a backup camera and mostly play locally stored quality music off my phone via the line in and occasionally playing some cd's. Photo provided (although I drive a 5spd.)
2010_volkswagen_golf_dashboard.jpg
 
I had a Mark 6 GTI for a while, or rather my ex wife did.
Had to get it auto cuz I was not about to try and teach her to drive stick.
Didn't like the transmission at all.
Anyway, Yes you can keep your stock HU if you want to but if you really want to a proper build you should change it.
You would need a Digital Sound Processor to integrate with your stock system but even if you have a aftermarket HU if you want a SQ/SQL build you should use one anyway unless your HU is equipped with the same functions.
It would probably be cheaper to put a new HU in.
 
I had a Mark 6 GTI for a while, or rather my ex wife did.
Had to get it auto cuz I was not about to try and teach her to drive stick.
Didn't like the transmission at all.

Heh funny enough I prefer my 5spd golf to my friends dsg gti aswell. Can't stand that "gated" accelerator pedal.

You would need a Digital Sound Processor to integrate with your stock system.

Mind detailing out what specifically you mean by integrate? I'm not necessarily concerned with cost/effort as long as its within reason, i'd do what it takes to keep my stock head unit while doing a proper build. Just want to know if its possible.
 
My current understanding is that stock head units can butcher the sound, applying their own poor equalization and amplification.
Yes, they often will have EQ or attenuation built in that may not work well once speakers are upgraded and may have a high noise floor that you'll notice if you amplify things.

If you want to really nerd out in getting good sound you'll want some DSP functions such as crossover, time alignment, and EQ. There are several brands who make outboard solutions for this but also a few head units that have all that stuff built in.

You can always just try the JBL, Audison, Rockford, JL, or similar integration unit and see if that gets you were you need but once you buy some processing power, add an amp, and aftermarket speakers if you can't dial things in to your liking the head unit is probably the weak link.
 
Heyo, got a question. Heads up i'm very new, just started learning.

From the basics i've learned so far, it seems that a cars factory head unit is quickly replaced for a superior unit on all but the most basic builds.

Is it possible to do a proper SQ/SQL build without replacing the factory head unit... while also not being hampered by its presence?

I'm not sure what this would take to accomplish. Maybe i'm overthinking it. My current understanding is that stock head units can butcher the sound, applying their own poor equalization and amplification. When it comes time to take full control of the sound with external amplifiers and a dsp you'd need a proper head unit that gives you the ability to passthrough the audio to said equipment without altering it. Is this interpretation incorrect?

A second question that I'd like to slap into the post is regarding the act of playing music via an aux on my phone. Would I need to change this behavior as well to ensure my phone isn't ******* up the eq/amplification before it hits my head unit? If it matters at all my phone is an LG g8x with its "quad hifi dac". Regardless, this phone is the only phone has ever been able to drive my hd 600's at high volume/quality.

For those interested I have a mk6 golf with a factory base model head unit... thats right the lowest trim basic non touch screen one with a super tiny blue display and a simple selection of instantly responsive tactile buttons. The head unit does everything I want it to from a functionality and design perspective. I use my head unit for nothing but music and hands free calls. No android auto, no music over bluetooth, no massive touchscreen, no ********. I never text, know how to park without a backup camera and mostly play locally stored quality music off my phone via the line in and occasionally playing some cd's. Photo provided (although I drive a 5spd.)
View attachment 27708

You will probably have to delete your factory amp. It might be more of a problem to keep your factory HU than it's worth. You might be losing out on sound quality for factory look.
 
I had to keep my stock head unit in my Mustang GT because everything was integrated into it. I used the JL Fix and the TwKD8 and it worked very well. The Fix essentially takes the signal from the stock radio and “fixes” the eq to a flat signal. The TwK is a DSP so you can then tune the signal to however you like. The JL products are very easy to use as well. You can also just use the Fix if you’d like without a DSP (but DSP’s are definitely worth it)
 
Yes, they often will have EQ or attenuation built in that may not work well once speakers are upgraded and may have a high noise floor that you'll notice if you amplify things.

I know this isn't really relevant but hilariously enough I find the factory (base model) speakers in my golf to be very decent. Not sure if its due to the fact that its already a component setup with a tweeter and mid/sub on each door. More than enough volume, no audible distortion to my ear, good soundstage, generally flat sounding eq. Of course it's lacking bass, and at max volume (which I never use) I do get some audible crackling/hiss like you said regarding the noise floor. Don't let my praise of my stock stereo confuse you, I definitely want to get to into a serious overhaul.

If you want to really nerd out in getting good sound you'll want some DSP functions such as crossover, time alignment, and EQ. There are several brands who make outboard solutions for this but also a few head units that have all that stuff built in.

You can always just try the JBL, Audison, Rockford, JL, or similar integration unit and see if that gets you were you need but once you buy some processing power, add an amp, and aftermarket speakers if you can't dial things in to your liking the head unit is probably the weak link.

Mind defining / giving an example for the terms "outboard solution" and "integration unit"? Still learning all the terminology. I definitely wouldn't be okay with my head unit holding back the build. At the same time I can't bring myself to chance it out.

One thought that came to mind was what if I were to simply turn my factory head into a glorified remote control, using it as a power button, volume knob, pause button, and not much else. I'd have to wire it up to another head unit. Honestly that would be kinda cool, I could strip my head unit down to its front face only and stash a proper head unit behind it. Just throwing out ideas.

One more question, for builds that don't have room for a head unit at all (like on vintage cars), is there an alternative part/device that accomplishes all of the necessary functions of a head unit while being mountable anywhere?
 
You will probably have to delete your factory amp. It might be more of a problem to keep your factory HU than it's worth. You might be losing out on sound quality for factory look.
While i'd be willing to remove/replace anything necessary in my factory head unit i'd need to find out whether I'd be able to fully disable all of its sound handling. Removing the factory amp would be just a small part of the modifications i'd have to make would it not?
 
Amplifiers need 3 things to operate
1) power
2) signal
3) trigger (remote turn on)
Power is as easy as running a fused power wire from the battery to the amp, then a ground to complete the circuit.
Remote wire is a power source that turns on and off with the car. Since the amp is wired directly to the battery it would always be on the remote wire turns the amp on and off with the car. Aftermarket HU's have a wire coming out of the back for this but your stock one does not however this can also be accomplished by tapping one of the cars fuses and running a wire from there.
Signal- (Big part of integrating) This is the hard part of getting an amp to run without an aftermarket HU. You have to run RCA's from the music source (HU) to the amplifier. This is where the sound comes from. Stock HU's don't come with RCA outs on the back of them.
So now you have to find a way to convert the signal coming through your speaker wire into an RCA cable in order to get it to the amp.
Now most amps come with speaker wire (high level) inputs but the amp needs a more powerful signal if you want to work up to its ability.
The signal needs to have a level of power with it . For the sake of explaining it to you we will say 5 volts on average. The power coming from speaker wire is less than 1 volt. An aftermarket HU will put out anywhere from 2 volts- 8 volts depending on the HU. The cheaper the HU the less the voltage it is going to put out.
A DSP allows you to run speaker wire into it and then it converts it to RCA signal and then boosts the voltage to RCA's and a whole other host of things as well.
I think hispls said it the best, it allows you to nerd out on your sound system
Most of them come with software and allow you to hook a laptop up to your system and tune it from there.
This is the one I went with, not saying its the best its just the one that suited my needs the best.
Take a look at it and its options if you want a better understanding of DSP's
https://rockfordfosgate.com/products/details/3sixty3/
 
Mind defining / giving an example for the terms "outboard solution" and "integration unit"? Still learning all the terminology.
JL Clean Sweep, JBL MS8, Audison Bit One, are a few often mentioned that people use for sound processing and getting high level inputs from stock head unit to feed aftermarket amp(s). Rockford makes something like that as well and those are all older products so it may be some are discontinued or replaced with newer models. Might call up Crutchfield and ask them what they have there to do the job for you.

Near as I know most of those types of products would also do processing from RCA inputs so they wouldn't be useless if you do want or need to get rid of the stock head unit down the road you could future proof this project by making sure whichever one you want to try is able to function with high or low level input sources.
 
I had to keep my stock head unit in my Mustang GT because everything was integrated into it. I used the JL Fix and the TwKD8 and it worked very well. The Fix essentially takes the signal from the stock radio and “fixes” the eq to a flat signal. The TwK is a DSP so you can then tune the signal to however you like. The JL products are very easy to use as well. You can also just use the Fix if you’d like without a DSP (but DSP’s are definitely worth it)
I idea of fixing the signal coming out of my stock head unit sounds interesting. My immediate question would of course be how perfect are the corrections being applied by the JL Fix? Are we talking about a true lossless restoration or would there likely still be some amount of unfixable damage to the signal? Btw apologies for the late reply, I meant to type this up way earlier.
 
I idea of fixing the signal coming out of my stock head unit sounds interesting. My immediate question would of course be how perfect are the corrections being applied by the JL Fix? Are we talking about a true lossless restoration or would there likely still be some amount of unfixable damage to the signal? Btw apologies for the late reply, I meant to type this up way earlier.
I can’t add in anything really technical to the convo myself but from what I’ve heard from one of my local shops who really pushes the Fix for all his basic installs, I personally have heard a very noticeable difference in SQ in all of them.
 
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...

Similar threads

Does you car have the noise cancelling mics from the factory? Usually right above the drivers door. If so, snip the wire to one of the mics to...
13
112
A set of rounds in all of the doors, not the front or the front and the rears, with the dash speakers, no mention of the rear doors, didn't...
7
311
I own a 2016 Lincoln MKT. I purchased a FORScan chip to increase the power handling of my aftermarket speakers. However, I'm having trouble...
0
378
You can add a passive x-over between the HK harness and Logic sub. Just know that an inline passive will also affect the HK sub's frequency curve...
5
519
I just had the normal muscle stiffness in the neck and back when you get impacted hard. I wasn’t going to lawyer up until my insurance company and...
21
64

About this thread

HyperSlayer72

CarAudio.com Newbie
Thread starter
HyperSlayer72
Joined
Location
Florida
Start date
Participants
Who Replied
Replies
11
Views
2,658
Last reply date
Last reply from
John Doe
DD451980-D607-41AB-B69C-6745AAE4B848.jpeg

SlugButter

    Mar 28, 2024
  • 0
  • 0
F98C6D78-7734-4659-9FCA-34969BDDC56A.jpeg

SlugButter

    Mar 28, 2024
  • 0
  • 0

Latest topics

Top