Should I fit a stero?

[tnsmttg]

If i were you, I would check and make sure it is acceptable and legal to use headphones while driving!

[WestonE]

Point taken on legality of headphones and I am aware of this concern and I can confirm I can hear far more relevant information around me with them on with the noise levels in my Montecarlo. These are not ear defenders or vast woolly ear muffs. If you get a chance to try noise cancelling head phones this will make more sense. I am not ramping the volume up to hear over the back ground noise or shutting out all external sound.

Eric     

[rossocorsa]

aren't noise cancelling headphones supposed to shut the outside noise out???

[WestonE]

I cannot think how to describe this beyond they cut regular drum hiss and thrash.

Eric

[MattNoVAT]

The cut out constant "white noise" like aircraft engine noise, loud car engines, computer room cooling etc. but if someone sat next to you and spoke the irregular sound waves of their speech would be perfectly audible.

They are an essential bit of kit if you spend a long time flying about or working in computer rooms.  I couldn't do without them!

[Hawk]

If i were you, I would check and make sure it is acceptable and legal to use headphones while driving!

It's perfectly legal to use headphones whilst driving - and arguably safer than having a loud stereo.

As Matt says, decent headphones will cut out the 'white noise' and allow you to safely hear all around you.  And have the volume lower than you otherwise would.

I have ridden tens of thousands of miles on a motorbike (inc a daily 150 mile round trip commute to the City) and have always listened to music (my favourites are Sennheiser but Bose also v good) 

[spud]

Never thought the subject of earphones would come up for discussion here (!!) but I use them all the time as a live performing musician. They are, without a doubt, the most important discovery I've ever made in my job as a gigging musician and offer the greatest protection possible on a loud stage environment. For those of you that haven't stood on a stage, next to a rock drummer in full assault mode and a Marshall Stack screaming at you, you would not believe how loud it can get. A drum kit, played properly, is an incredibly loud instrument, the cymbals alone can make you wince and wish you weren't there... In-ear earphones, fitted with moulded earpieces or foam buds, cancel out all the noise and allow me to hear the mix of the band at a volume I'm comfortable with, which is just wonderful compared to the volume I used to have to tolerate and is why you hardly ever see a live performer without them these days.
The best you'll ever find are made by an American company called Ultimate Ears, and the model is called the Triple-Fi 10. These are, in my experience, the finest hifi earphones in existence. As for hearing conversation, that comes down to the type of material used for the buds which are the squashy bits that sit in your ear and provide the 'seal' from the outside world. I use a bud called 'Comply Foam' which heat up with your body temperature and provide a perfect seal which also enhances the sound quality as the bass reproduction is wholly dependent on 100% contact with your skin. Any gaps would ruin the bass. This perfect seal however makes it almost impossible to hear anything that isn't coming out of the in-ear speakers, i.e. conversation next to you. When I have music in mine you could scream at me less than a few inches away from my face and I wouldn't be able to hear a thing from you.
There are ear plugs/defenders that do cut out general noise but allow close proximity voices to get through and there are some earphones that do the same but to get a really nice sound from earphones you need a perfect seal... but with an engine like Eric's who wants music anyway?!

Andrew.

[mangocrazy]

I certainly wish I'd discovered earplugs earlier in my life. I spent best part of 10 years working in a computer room environment, and had ridden motorcycles for over 20 years before I first discovered them. If I'd known about them sooner I'm fairly sure I wouldn't suffer the advanced hearing loss I experience now - conversations in pubs/crowded places are very difficult and I've lost the frequency range above 8-10 khz in my hearing. I'd give a lot to have my ears back, working in the way they used to...

[lukasdeopalenica]

I have already mounted a Pioneer KE-5000. It is a cassete player with a digital tuner from early 80s, probably one of the first of the type. Obviously I do not expect such great music effects, just I want to have a lovely and working unit from the era. I also would like to use the space provided by the manufacturer for the speakers - behind the pockets near footwells. I know it is not the best but original. I have run new speaker leads despite the original ones are fixed, but they, even quite thick, are likely oxidized. The only concern I have is how to match it with a proper speakers. As the head unit has not so impressive output (2x6W) what speakers should I use to get an optimal result? Nowadays speakers have quite high outputs, at least 25Watts... My headunit may not drive them properly. Any advice would be welcome

[spud]

I must've missed this last post... The Pioneer KE-5000 is a really cool retro unit!
You're quite right, modern speakers are usually much more powerful than the older type but the figures are less accurate than they use to be... in fact, blatantly fraudulent generally... There is only really one figure to take any notice of- wattage expressed in RMS terms. "Root Mean Square". You'll see many manufactureres of hi-fi equipment, particularly car hi-fi equipment, stating power figures in 'Peak Power' terms. This figure is bull$hit, basically. It's a (usually) made up number. It is supposedly the absolute maximum amount of noise that a speaker can reproduce for a short period of time. The clues are all in that previous sentence... ignore totally anything that mentions 'peak'. The power output of the Pioneer KE-5000- is it 2x6wRMS? If so, that's not too quiet at all. To match any speakers with it you'll need to find out the RMS figure for the unit and then try to match the speakers as closely as possible to it. You'll probably have to get speakers with a higher power handling capability as you're unlikely to find any 6wRMS speakers these days but keep as close to it as you can and it will perform better. Let us know how you get on.

Andrew.

[rossocorsa]

Too much talk of so called power of speakers you are more likely to blow a speaker by clipping an underpowered amp, speaker efficiency is a relevant issue as high efficiency will accommodate lower amplifier power

[lukasdeopalenica]

Unfortunatelly finding of good quality 130mm speakers rated less than 25Watt is nowadays really hard or even impossible :/
what do you think about u-dimension EL COAX- 5?

[rossocorsa]

Why would they need to be rated at less than 25w ? As long as they are efficient it would not matter to use a lower powered amp you just must not run the amp into clipping. The power rating is just the maximum clean power that a speaker can handle


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[spud]

Unfortunatelly finding of good quality 130mm speakers rated less than 25Watt is nowadays really hard or even impossible :/
what do you think about u-dimension EL COAX- 5?

They look fine to me- from what info I can find on them they look well made and not cheap n nasty at all. Capable of too much power for your unit really though but, as we agree, it's hard to find anything smaller these days. Pioneer TS-G1321i are closer to what you need. JVC CS-V517 even more so.

Andrew.

[spud]

Why would they need to be rated at less than 25w ? As long as they are efficient it would not matter to use a lower powered amp you just must not run the amp into clipping. The power rating is just the maximum clean power that a speaker can handle

You are correct about the amp not clipping, but, as an extreme example of your point, if you put a 100W RMS speaker onto a 6W amp it will sound awful. A speaker needs to be driven. Yes, you'll never blow it by overpowering it but you'll get no power from it either because the amp won't have the energy to move it.

Andrew.

[lukasdeopalenica]

A speaker needs to be driven. Yes, you'll never blow it by overpowering it but you'll get no power from it either because the amp won't have the energy to move it.

That's the point that I was afraid of and also not sure 

[rossocorsa]

That's why you need to look at the efficiency of the speaker, they can still be efficient even with high power handling. All this high power stuff is silly on a car anyway at home my amp is only 20w channel and out is plenty loud enough, in a car true 20w would be deafening

[spud]

That's why you need to look at the efficiency of the speaker, they can still be efficient even with high power handling. All this high power stuff is silly on a car anyway at home my amp is only 20w channel and out is plenty loud enough, in a car true 20w would be deafening

Absolutely. The figures quoted for car hi-fi stuff is insane. Ear damage stuff.

Andrew.

[lukasdeopalenica]

Thanks Guys for your tips. I have just ordered a set of TS-G1321i that you suggested. I will report the results when I test them 

[raz1966]

i got a stereo in mine but i never have it on, i prefer to hear the engine