We have a 1995 Mazda MPV that we take to music festivals. It’s still got the crapulent original stereo/cassette deck in it and blown-out speakers. For something we take to music festivals, that’s absurd.
In the basement I have some bits from cars past, including four pretty decent Kenwood speakers, a Kenwood head unit (both circa 2004) and a relatively old car amplifier (circa 1990, but unused since about ’94).
My question arises because the newish head unit is CD-only; no aux input. Most of our music is on our phones now, so I’m wondering if it’s reasonable to expect good sound from the crappy stock head unit with a CD Cassette adapter plugged into my phone, with the speakers being driven by the amp.
Or are we better off adding an aux input to the newish head unit and calling it a day?
The horrible sound quality on older Japanese cars was definitely a joint effort between their terrible head units and their dismal speakers. If the speaker enclosures are such that it’s easy to change the speakers, it would definitely be worth a try to just do that and see if that yields acceptable results. Don’t bother with the amp.
Otherwise, if you do change the head unit, you might consider installing an inline FM modulator (like this, for example) so you can still play tunes off your phone. The modulators that hook directly into the antenna port on the back of the radio work much better than the dongle ones. Alternatively, these days there’s some reasonably priced head units that are USB/AUX/SD only with no CD player that sound pretty good. Even a new cheap CD player these days (with an aux in) will probably yield similar or better results to even a slightly nicer one from 2004.
Cassette adaptors are pretty bad at the best of times. Just go with the AUX input, unless your head unit has an FM receiver - when you might also consider an FM sender unit . Although that won’t have quite the same quality as a direct input, they are not too bad, and it might be a good compromise of quality and convenience.
I’d go for the Kenwood speakers you have, no amp, and spring for a new head unit with Bluetooth streaming capability. That way, you can pair with any of the passenger’s phones and trade off who controls the music. And, there would be no wires to fool with. You can get a new head unit that has bluetooth streaming input for as low as $80 at Crutchfield.
I’ve had good luck with a cassette adapter in the past - a Phillips. Quality is variable as others reported problems different adapters in a related thread awhile back. Probably get a name brand, they are all low cost, and don’t be afraid to take back to store and exchange if the particular one you got doesn’t connect well. Clean the cassette head before trying as well.
We use a cassette adapter thing in another car, do are used to its limitations. Plus, who are we kidding? It’s a 95 Mazda minivan with enough’character’ to drown out any limitations the adapter could have and then some.
The shop was from a car that had a subwoofer; I figured it might make up for an assumed anemic stock head unit. Good t to know I may be able to get good sound just changing the speakers.
The head unit is usually “bad sounding” for a few reasons:
1 - it’s being used to drive the speakers, and is terribly underpowered for doing so
2 - the actual signal being output is crappy and unshielded (in addition to being underpowered, so that turning up the volume introduces noise like static or hissing; or for CD players, having no “pure digital” audio channel and converting everything to analog with some el cheapo circuit)
3 - on some “upgraded factory” head units (i.e., the OEM “Premium” audio option), there can be a sound processing unit added that is “tailored to the acoustics of your car” - which is to say, they compensate for small, underpowered speakers by bumping up the bass frequencies, or adjusts the frequency response based on your driving speed to compensate for road noise (instead of the “proper” solution of adding cabin soundproofing material like Dynamat).
Ironically, if you have a bare bones stock head unit from your mid 1990s budget type car, you will probably avoid scenario #3 which is actually the biggest PITA to deal with if you’re looking for good quality sound in your car.
Start by upgrading your cabin speakers, that will make the biggest difference in how the music sounds.
Adding better amplification to drive those speakers more cleanly (i.e., close to no distortion as you crank up the volume) would be the next most impactful change. Though many an aftermarket head unit (like a Kenwood) will have decent enough power to drive cabin speakers just fine at normal listening levels.
If the car has a subwoofer run off the head unit I think that would likely have sounded just awful.
Most car manufacturers don’t bother with high-quality audio components as its one of the easiest things to do yourself. Only on upper-end cars, or an option, do you see decent audio.
Any ways, you say you have an amp, just use that with no headunit. Plug your headphone out into that and you should be good to go. You’ll have to be wary of the volume setting so you don’t blow your ears out.
Another option would be to just get a Bluetooth audio adapter. Amazon sells them ,etc. There is one by JVC called the BTA-100. It has a lineout for a headphone jack so you’ll either need to cut it and put on RCAs or get an adapter. It actually has a “lower” audio output compared to other audio devices I’ve used so that might be perfect for your amp. It’s about the size of an average male thumb.
Thanks. Just called and found out that a local shop will install a head unit and speakers for a hundred bucks.
My only experience with Bluetooth for a radio is years old and based on a short rental car. We found the amount of static and noise introduced was pretty intolerable—have things changed in the past five or so years or should we go with the plug-in aux jack and be done with it (assuming we go the new head unit route)?