LOL USB drive desire leads to complete system change

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Hi all, I had an idea to eliminate all my cd's and especially the numerous compilation cd's I have made by getting a head unit with a front usb port so I could put all my songs on a travel drive. The main reason for this is to relieve my wife's agony because she doesn't appreciate my highly developed skill of driving on the turnpikes, etc. using my knees to steer and my 6th sense to watch the road whilst I peruse my cd collection looking for something to listen to.

I started with a nice modestly priced JVC KD-AR770 head unit with a front usb port which replaced a 5 year old Alpine CDA-7892. I got a 4gb Memorex travel drive filled with ALL our favorite songs and after much aggravation with the software got it working perfectly. Hmmm it sounded great but I could hear the upper mids and highs of my front speakers sounding a bit ragged...MB Quart Discus DKD-116 6 1/2" coaxials 5 years old.

Listened to what my local shops had to offer...Zapco, Memphis, JL etc and decided on the JL XR650-CSi components. Wow sound great ! I take a cruise the next day and while listening to some AC/DC quite loud "POP" no sound from my fronts or sub but the rear deck fill speakers are working...they are running off the head unit while the fronts and sub are running off of a 5 year old Eclipse 36401 40x4 amp with the rear channels bridged for the sub. Checking the amp...it is hot hot hot. Shut off car and start again. All is well. Off I go but at slightly lower levels LOL. Couple of days later I am at the stereo shop checking out new amps.

After doing some checking on forums and getting suggestions from the manager at my favorite shop I decide on the Memphis M class 16-MCA3004 with 75wx4 at 4 ohms and 230w 4ohm bridged. Install the new amp...holy crap what a difference. The new JL's are even more detailed with great mid bass and the highs are crisp and clean...crossover for the tweets set at -1.5db and the woofs at "normal".

Ah now my poor little 10" MB Quart sub, sitting on my back seat in a half round 1cf sealed enclosure sounds pathetic and in the trunk is practically inaudible. Off to the shop again LOL. The manager shows me the 10" and 12" enclosures and suggests the Memphis Power Reference 15-PR12D4 12" sub in an AE PB112 2cf vented enclosure. He says take them out and put them in the trunk and give them a listen...well it doesn't take long, actually about 30 seconds, to get the impact and punch of the 12" so a few minutes later and I am off on a cruise with the 12 in my trunk.

Now mind you this started with a desire to put my music on a lousy usb drive and roughly 3 weeks later a completely new system...My wife just shakes her head but does love the usb drive...it works in the car and in my dvd player in the house...woohoo. I have roughly 300 plus songs on it in folders by genre...road trip, favorites, hard rock, 60's rock, Christmas even lol. LOL a $40 usb drive wound up costing me around a grand but well worth it...

Oh yeah my son is inheriting my old components...my wife already has a very nice Alpine hu with MB Q coaxials...and we installed the MB's in his doors today...he is happy hehehe. Well that is my story and I am sticking to it.

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[tapout 5,000+ posts]

congrats. been looking at getting a usb drive myself.

 

[LBC99 10+ year member]

A usb drive hu really interests me. I'm tired of burning cd's with only 3 or 4 songs on it. My car has random cds just laying around all over the place //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

Congrats on the system, I can imagine how great it sounds.

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

I have roughly 300 plus songs on it in folders by genre

Is that all the music you have or do you have more that's just not on it? Cause you can just about fit 300 songs on 2 cd's.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

This is why CarPCs are fun. I have a 250Gb hard drive that I can load with all the music, movies, and programs I want and control it all through the touchscreen and a mini keyboard hidden in my center console. Create my own playlists on the fly, load and save them, shuffle the entire collection or just certain folders...No more jumbling for CDs, in fact if somebody likes what they hear, I can pop a CD into the dashboard and burn them a copy of it right from the car //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

I have all the songs I like to listen to on the drive not all I own. The drive is barely half full. I use the WMA format at the best quality settings which takes up more room.

The car pc is a great idea, perhaps in the future lol. For now I am satisfied. I can also shuffle through all my folders or one folder at a time, random through each folder or a thru z in one selected folder. It is pretty flexible for something so small.

 

[pimpedout97x]

iPod ready HU ftw.

 

[sdmtnbiker420 10+ year member]

[No message]

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

Nice little set up you have there. Probably not worth quite what it cost you, but that's OK. I'm a big fan of Memphis products. I've owned four of their amps and a pair of the previous-version Mclass subs. Have not encountered a problem yet.

Would have picked up one of the Alpines with Full Speed iPod controls though.

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

I like the new and varied ways to store and play music. Huge improvements over past methods.

I am not an Ipod person and see little use in them for myself. My daughter and son both love them and they work great but I just have no need.

The carputer is also a great idea but is more than I need or desire at this point.

I realize I could have purchased my gear at better prices online and probably better gear as well for the cost but I am a big advocate of buying locally as often as possible for a variety of reasons. I am also a big advocate of "mom and pop" shops as long as they are doing their best to have competitive pricing, quality/knowledgeable sales people and a good reputation for service/installs.

I think that goes back to my age, 51, and upbringing in a small city where I learned to love and appreciate the small shops from variety stores to food markets. To each his/her own.

Thanks for the replies.