Secondary Head Unit

[Chris_19Si]

Yep. That's why I'm just running a separate system to simplify the controls and allow the factory system to run navi voice and calls. Haven't tried calls yet to see if the factory mids in the doors are the only ones for calls. Seems like the center speaker handles navi. I played a text the other day and had no voice out of center. The mids and tweeters are part of new system. Need to take a call to sort out if center plays all voice. Might try neural also to activate center for more sounds.

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[spdmn75]

What brand/model is the secondary HU? Any issues with it?

It's a Sony RSX-GS9. It runs independent and I can switch between them with a push of a button.

 

[Chris_19Si]

Got new amp in and set gains and crossovers. Set the EQ for about 86dB, but haven't driven the car to make another preset for highway listening. The interior ambient sound level is 76dB, so I need to do a few adjustments to sound good over that. The MB Quart HU has a few custom EQ presets, so I should manage to switch between driveway tune and highway tunes.

 

[spdmn75]

get some wire ferrules on those power wires

 

[Chris_19Si]

Good idea. Thanks! Got excited to listen to it, and rushed due to 23 degree weather. Winter sucks for outdoor stereo installation.

 

[Chris_19Si]

I finally ended up buying my wife a new phone so I could take her old phone and use it exclusively for Spotify to Bluetooth into the secondary HU. I tried everything I could think of to run Spotify to my secondary unit while keeping Android Auto up on the factory unit, but AA keeps stealing the audio output from my phone. I recently tried using the headphone jack and my AUX RCA inputs for the secondary unit, while connected to AA to see if I could run music through headphone jack, but once AA starts, it cuts the signal and diverts audio to Bluetooth for AA. There are no features in Spotify, Pixel phone, or AA to manage the audio stream.

I still have to try Amazon Music to see if there are any controls in their player that allow me to separate the audio stream that are different than Spotify, although I think the issue is with AA.

 

[Chris_19Si]

A quick update to this secondary head unit. I had foam baffles in the doors for the mids and it killed my midbass. I recently uninstalled the baffles and the mids are finally signing. The 10" sub is still too weak to overcome the car's low frequency resonance, so I need to move up to a 2 ohm 12" sub to max my amp out. That should cover the bottom end. I still need to clean up some wires and route them cleaner in the trunk, but overall I think it was worth adding this system.

One more thing. The center dash speaker only covers the Navi voice and not phone calls. The door speakers covered phone voice. I thought about rewiring the front factory speaker wires to the rear speakers to have phone voice back, but the car is still too loud to have a conversation and not worth the effort.

 

[Chris_19Si]

It's been a while since I posted anything on this, so I'll comment on the one 10" Image Dynamics sub I am using. It lacks the power to round out the bottom end over the noise and vibration from the mods and exhaust. I am looking at replacing it with two 12" Focal single 4 ohm voice coil drivers. The cone area and running them wired for 2 ohms should allow about 500W from the amp to get me where I want to be. Just need to find a box or make one before buying the drivers. Adds more weight to the unit to remove for racing, but would help on enjoying my commutes more. The rest of the system is fine. I did end up using a second phone that I download Spotify to. The bluetooth connection takes a few seconds to start, but that's ok. It helps deconflict the issues I was having with android auto. The wife is used to the new HU now, so she's taken over the entertainment while we are in the car together. Family times are improving.

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