I recently installed my first deck, after YEARS of paying others to hack my system...it was definitely a learning experience...so now that the bug has hit me...I plan to continue to fiddle with it...why not? it's free from here on out....well sort of...
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first off the questions: while taking out the deck, I discovered that the the installer had run the speaker wire from the amp to the VW harness and tapped into the OEM speaker wire.. referring back to home audio, that's got to degrade the sound quality. Directly sound path is the best and tapping different wires in the signal path, mixing metalurgy (spelling?) has got to be bad ...so next week I plan to UPGRADE my speaker wire and wire it directly to my front Focal 136KX.. The question is, what wire do you recommend? I'm tempted to use some home stuff. In setting up my home system, I discovered that wires make a huge difference. in the car world there are really only a few brands that sell "supposedly" quality wiring...but in home there are tons of choice (and prices that go into the 1000's). I've got my eyes set on the AudioQuest Type 4...a highly regarded home wire that's reasonable in price....I think $900CDN speakers deserve $100+ wiring? is there any difference between car and home wiring?
now the advice: I came accross a little box made by Anamir Electronics in PA a few years ago called Crystal Line...It's an Audio Line Enhancement Driver. My installer had sold it to me years ago ($$$), but thinking it was always just an "upsell" piece. it did work but was it really worth it?.. Not only is it a line driver but a current balancing and line conditioner. When I was installing my Clarion, there was something wrong, causing an alternator whine. I checked the grounding and it was done correctly....I decided to plug the Crystal Line back in (had taken it out to ease installation - less wires to worry about) and voila, noise gone and everything (excuse the pun) was crystal clear......so I went back and found the sales info.....
It (the CL180P) incorporates many advanced and patented electronic circuit innovations to achieve maxiumu levels of clean, accurate, transparent, detailed and focuesed signal conditioning and preamplification.
The unique Cyrstal-Line current balancing circuitry in combination with extraordinarily low DC coupled out impedance eliminates all sourcs of distortion and interference related to the cables it drives. It also elimiates ground loop and magnetic field interference noises and distortions related to it's input cables.
• able to deliver full 9volts rms w/ a response of 0Hz (DC) to 50,000Hz with a tolerance of +/-0.025db.
• does not use DC blocking capacitors in the signal path
• conditions line with an output impedance of 0.25 Ohms (shorts out interference noise due to electric fields or dielectric poroperties of the cable or capacitance.)
• minimizes the inductance of the cable with current balancing
I sound like a salesman, but I'm SOLD on this little box....I've RARELY seen this box mentioned but even on my 4V clarion or Sony it made a difference. Maybe it's the "lazy" way to install a system but it works. They don't have a site, but you can call 215-638-1600 for more info or to have them fax info to you.
[Modified by focal, 9:44 AM 2-8-2002]
first off the questions: while taking out the deck, I discovered that the the installer had run the speaker wire from the amp to the VW harness and tapped into the OEM speaker wire.. referring back to home audio, that's got to degrade the sound quality. Directly sound path is the best and tapping different wires in the signal path, mixing metalurgy (spelling?) has got to be bad ...so next week I plan to UPGRADE my speaker wire and wire it directly to my front Focal 136KX.. The question is, what wire do you recommend? I'm tempted to use some home stuff. In setting up my home system, I discovered that wires make a huge difference. in the car world there are really only a few brands that sell "supposedly" quality wiring...but in home there are tons of choice (and prices that go into the 1000's). I've got my eyes set on the AudioQuest Type 4...a highly regarded home wire that's reasonable in price....I think $900CDN speakers deserve $100+ wiring? is there any difference between car and home wiring?
now the advice: I came accross a little box made by Anamir Electronics in PA a few years ago called Crystal Line...It's an Audio Line Enhancement Driver. My installer had sold it to me years ago ($$$), but thinking it was always just an "upsell" piece. it did work but was it really worth it?.. Not only is it a line driver but a current balancing and line conditioner. When I was installing my Clarion, there was something wrong, causing an alternator whine. I checked the grounding and it was done correctly....I decided to plug the Crystal Line back in (had taken it out to ease installation - less wires to worry about) and voila, noise gone and everything (excuse the pun) was crystal clear......so I went back and found the sales info.....
It (the CL180P) incorporates many advanced and patented electronic circuit innovations to achieve maxiumu levels of clean, accurate, transparent, detailed and focuesed signal conditioning and preamplification.
The unique Cyrstal-Line current balancing circuitry in combination with extraordinarily low DC coupled out impedance eliminates all sourcs of distortion and interference related to the cables it drives. It also elimiates ground loop and magnetic field interference noises and distortions related to it's input cables.
• able to deliver full 9volts rms w/ a response of 0Hz (DC) to 50,000Hz with a tolerance of +/-0.025db.
• does not use DC blocking capacitors in the signal path
• conditions line with an output impedance of 0.25 Ohms (shorts out interference noise due to electric fields or dielectric poroperties of the cable or capacitance.)
• minimizes the inductance of the cable with current balancing
I sound like a salesman, but I'm SOLD on this little box....I've RARELY seen this box mentioned but even on my 4V clarion or Sony it made a difference. Maybe it's the "lazy" way to install a system but it works. They don't have a site, but you can call 215-638-1600 for more info or to have them fax info to you.
[Modified by focal, 9:44 AM 2-8-2002]
