Would I lose sound quality/clarity/power in this scenario?

[30D_///AMG]

I have an external CD-player (a discman) with one of this old school tapes that go into the cassette players and play the CD's music. I am only a high school student, but I am philharmonic, so I need the good stuff, but I dont have the money (somehow this reminds me of Family Guy :-)). Would it make a significant difference if my head unit was a CD player? If it makes any difference, I have a 800W amp, 2 12" subs, 2 Boston speakers (front of my W123), and 2 Audiovox speakers(rear). Thanks guys/girls.

[Ramblin]

I suspect if you gain something it would be frequency response (low and high) and soundstage. Those add on tapes actually transmit audio like a microphone into the head of the tape player...For the most part they work well but obviously can be improved on. Move to a CD player.

[jbaj007]

Make a big step up to 1990's technology and get a CD head unit .

There's lots of student-budget units available that would work well with your set-up (new and used). You're losing a lot of non-distorted amplification range, frequency response and clarity with your current arrangement.

Plus; I could never get those durn things to work right in the old days when they were new.

[30D_///AMG]

Sorry for the delayed reply (I've been busy with work). I suppose I should put the next ~$100 I make towards a new head unit, or an iPod with iTrip :-). What about that setup? Sound should be okay with an iTrip right? I most probably will just get a head unit when I get the chance, but in the far future, when I can afford an iPod, I want to know if the head unit needs to be good, or can it be kinda crappy. Thanks in advance.

[Ashman]

get yourself a pioneer head unit with a CD-RB10 make sure the headunit has IP bus and you can run an rca as input into the radio, or get an alpine unit that has the ipod connector where you can control the ipod trhought he head unit.

The itrip is a pos it is a waste of money. works like crap. sound quality is poor, and the wireless fm transmitter is flakey at best.

I would either find yourself a headunit with an aux jack, or get a pioneer and that aux input cable, or an alpine that can control the ipod.

You should be able to get away with a pioneer deh-p3600 or deh-p2600 (or the newest models) or go one better and get a pioneer deh-p4600 which can play mp3's off a cdr. you should be able to find them for decent prices. I can get the pioneer 4600 for $140.00 or less in downtown los angeles. If you want to add the ipod later, look for the alpine that can use the ipod interconnect kit to workt he ipod through the radio and try to pick one of those up. buy a good stereo, it will last longer, and the price difference between a good one a cheap one is not that much.

Alon

[danwatt]

If you can only find a head unit with an aux in on the back, you can wire it to where your fader dial is (since it will be useless) and put a stereo mini input in.

So living large with a Mercedes and mercedes repair bills on a highschool generic beer budget? Been there done that. The good news....YOU ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING! Don't change.

Secondly- I know any Mercedes parked in a highschool area will have a shiny new head unit removed nearly instantly....I live in Boston- I know there is a direct relationship between student density and car stereo theft. (and it usually isn't the students doing the stealing)

So IMHO here is some advice on how to get excellent sound without getting your windows smashed.

First off...What Portable CD unit do you have? Some sound terrible. Do you have any grounding hum in your system? If no hum....continue. Sounds good with good headphones? Good ...continue.

Let's forget about using your tape deck head unit altogether. I'm assuming your Boston Acoustic speakers are good enough to sound better than your tape deck's dirty, old, decrepit, rusty, tape head is capable of reproducing. Forget FM also- it's very frequency limited...and sometimes compressed. Ashman knows what he is talking about FM modulators simply suck. The only thing that they are good for is for synching a bunch off boom boxes at the beach to a single IPOD. Tape head modulators are also poor in quality.

SO.... if you have decent sounding CD unit- and there are some impressive older portables out there...I have (3) Denon DCP-150's with remote controls and another Denon DCP-100, the all metal portable CD players that had the best fidelity- so I would tell you- you are not on the wrong path ----value wise. Some older Sony's that your parents may still own but not use anymore are also alright (like the Sony 777). The 2002-2003 Panasonics were okay as well. If you like- I'll send you a Denon FEDEX to listen to with a return FEDEX coupon...if you want to buy it you can- or if you just want to enjoy it for a week or two and send it back on my dime...that's fine too. There is a huge difference in portable CD players.

If you go to headphone.com and check out the headroom staffs picks http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=2&subTopicID=28

you might find something you like. I would call them up and ask them about what is good- they really care about the source quality of portable CD players. They have tried just about everything and are a great group of people to deal with.

The best portable head units EVER made according to Ty at Headroom are the older oversampling metal Denon's and actually they sound better than a lot of home CD players- and frankly much better than almost ALL of the Car Head units, save for perhaps a handful of expensive Nakamichi models (almost all of the better sounding units are currently discontinued except the cd 700 II) newer doesn't always mean "sound better" for instance some older Alpine head units sound better than todays Alpine head units. I owned the Mcintosh MX-406 and the MX-4000 Cd head units and frankly they sounded pretty bad when compared to a good home CD player and didn't sound nearly as good as the Denons. Here's something interesting. A really good sounding clean source will make the music sound "louder" (even though in reality it is exactly the same sound level) and have more impact and better bass.......even if you drive the amps to the same levels. Sounds impossible? I wouldn't have believed it either but we did a lot of tests and found at levels just below clipping the ear perceived the cleaner less distorted source to be louder than another source played at the same level but with more distortion.

So lets get you up and running for under $20.... or possibly $0.

Get this http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-1982

-or feel like splurging...perhaps adding a cheap all in one TV/VCR to cram between the seats and still have another jack for your rich girlfriend with the IPOD (and all her awful music)?

get this http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-1983


(ooooooohhhh.....(Homer Simpson Voice).....GOLD PLATED RADIO SHACK CONTACTS ohhhhhhhhh......) lol..
and you can feed in up to 4 sources. But you might have more trouble fitting this in somewhere- unless you take it out of it's case. The two switch one can be jammed just about anywhere.


Don't want to spend the $20? Hate the Radio Shack el cheeso 70's styling ? (looks like crap......but It's a really good theft deterent....) Want to save your party budget? Want it to sound even better? For absolutely Nothing? $0.00?

Then ..... make one yourself from parts salvaged from an old receiver or pre-amp (best)- it will be better quality....just go to your local dump and look in the old electronics section. Then take the parts to some schlep in your school's Av dept. and buy the guy a pizza (or set him up on a date with a nerdy chick) to kludge together a custom switch for you. Should take him about 20 minutes with a regular soldering iron. You average Pre-amp will have selectors for cd, dvd, tape, aux 1, aux 2, video 1, video 2, tape 1 tape 2....etc. All of those inputs are identical - so don't worry about putting a discman into a tape slot. BUT do avoid using the PHONO jack - that is a very different gain switch. Just block off the phono switch completely....if the pre-amp has one at all. Make sure the poor sap takes the time to test it with a voltmeter and marks the inputs and outputs for you- to save you guess work later (test each input with your discman before you install it to make sure there is no hum or ground loops)- and make sure you mark those inputs/outputs where you can see them when installing it). Have him strip the RCA's on the back of the unit for you. He can use tin snips and snip off a whole row for you leaving them mounted on the back plate.

You might just get a nifty looking shiny source selecting knob from the pre-amp selector switch that will look *****in in your benz!

Clean those switches contacts with alcohol and cramoline. (remind the av guy to do that....regular tape head cleaner will work fine for this.) The selector switch off of ANY preamp will be better quality than a radio shack part.

Anyhow- take the rca's that were going to your amp and put them into one input and get a mini jack to RCA cable for your discman and plug that into the second input. And so on. Plug the output into your amps...DONE.

You can then select inputs. (Word of caution- always keep your volume almost all the way down on your cd player so you don't clip your amps- or you can turn down the gains on your amp a bit). You'll control the CD volume from your CD player like before.

If your discman skips you can get a gooseneck discman holder to isolate shock. You can also use sorbothane gel (found in some shoe orthotics). Or sometimes a little open cell foam will do the trick.


Bottom line- no one is busting your window for a discman....or any switcher that says radio shack. No one has to know you have a amp in your car but you. Chicks just care if it sounds good and booms.

Always turn down the volume at least 1/2 a mile before your park your car. And stuff an old tape casette with tape trailing out of it into your existing head unit to make it look like its busted. (I used to put a zip tied bunch of old RCA cables cut into my bezi box to make it look my my stereo was recently stolen). Worked just great for me. I used ADVENT powered partners in my car, and when I go to the beach I took the powered speakers (+ small 12 vt. battery) with me with the discman to the beach.


I hope that helps- I feel your student poverty man.....and I understand you want quality...but no credit card debt. I've done several of these systems from my friends and they have all sounded excellent.

If you want to spring for a head unit and sound is your priority- then you could go for a used Nakamichi 700 head unit with tape section. Who cares if the tape section works..????!!....they have an aux input for your Cd player and you could pick one up very cheap. Here is a link for one that recently sold on Ebay. Do check to see that the head unit you buy will fit before hand...ebay has a section for that...and you can also check with an installer- or perhaps crutchfield. This unit went for a whooping $102.50 (used) but it had electronics in it that were worth about $800 (new- and that was 1980's dollars) in the Mid 1980's that still sound amazing today- frankly far better than almost all the head units on the market today at any price. The 80's was a time when engineers and marketing people were deluded into thinking that the average consumer could tell the difference between good sound and bad sound. Today they realize a flashy bright display is more important...or the number of inputs...or some stupid EQ curve button like"stadium" or "Church" or "Club" which all sound like distorted reverb crap! You say you have musical "philharmonic" ears..(I believe you do if you were considering using a good sounding discman in the first place) ..trust your ears- they are the best guide you have for good sound.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3288&item=5744235453&rd=1

I can assure you the pre-amp section and tuner section of this unit sounds better than most of the units available today. Also......who breaks into a car to steal a head unit that has a tape instead of CD???? Nobody. Your ears will love the sound quality of the pre-amp section and also really like the great capture ratio and fidelity of the fm section.

ps. Those 928's were vault solid....my 1994 E500 has the same feel. Ever drive the 944 Turbos?

[30D_///AMG]

Thank you so much on all the input!!! I will look into getting a new head unit soon, seeing that my dad closes his eyes and shakes his head every time he hears me talk about my whole setup. He offered to buy it all for me, so hey, I might as well, eh? Oh, and the deck I currently use is also a Nakamichi. I can't recall the model # off the top of my head, but I showed the physics teacher at my school (which used to work at Skywalker Sound) and he was pretty impressed that I had a Nak' deck.

And about the Porsches: My parents et al don't let me touch the 944's because they are stick, and I don't know how to drive one yet :-(, but the 928S is QUICK! I can feel the G forces when I punch the accelerator.

What sort of budget are you talking about?

The Nak Cd-45Z is a favorite value leader for many.

IF price is not object go for a Nakamichi TP-1200 - basically a remote pre-amp where the pre-amp section is mounted right next to the amps and the head unit acts as a wired remote control. It's got individually trimmed .01% tollerance resistor pots for volume- and frankly the more clarity I have ever heard from a car stereo component- in fact on par with some far more expensive home units in the $5000+ range.

I can't say I am impressed by the MB-100, and would think you'll enjoy the sound quality of the Cd-700 far more as well as being able to load discs directly into the headunit.


One funny side note.-

My car went in for its 60K service so I had a loaner Dodge Neon. Miserable sound system. (after writing the above post I got motivated to do a temporary college system for my rental car)

So I put in a Acoustic Energy Model Aego 5 surround system in the car $1200... Used a Denon Portable Cd player model Dcp-150 as the source unit.

I used Blu-tack ( a blue putty adhesive) to temporarily adhere the speakers to the dash. And velcro to adhere the rear surrounds onto the rear parcel shelf.

Powered it up and EQ'd it- (if anyone wants the EQ, delay, balance, bass mode, and speaker placement settings email me) and it simply sounded amazing. Shockingly real with excellent imaging. It pounded- and when the doors were opened- music flooded the street.

The 8 hour drive went by like it was nothing.