Get on the bandwagon Groucho; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cool-little-hidden-radio.961414/
I can't even figure out what to look for if I did go that direction. But, it still doesn't address an EZ spkr situation. Something that easily transfers from car to car, sounds good, and doesn't look like shit (or easily hidden)
it is. go to best buy and ask someone to show you the portable speakers for an MP3 player. buy one. problem solved.
The key phrase here is 'sounds good'. By and large, the other qualities you're after (small, inexpensive, portable) are mutually exclusive to good sound IMO, but everyone's definition of 'good' can vary widely. I don't know why, but people who use MP3 from iPods and phones will accept as 'good' sound quality that will get you laughed out of any decent audio store. I personally have never listened to any wireless/battery-powered speakers that had what I consider to be acceptable sound quality (ok, I'm a bit of an audiophile); nearly all end up sounding like those you heard on that motorcycle... Give some thought to using some small 'bookshelf' type speakers. I have a pair of ADS 2-way bookshelf speakers that are small (7"x 4"x 5"), in a sturdy cast-aluminum enclosure with provisions for mounting, and have very good sound (for their size) that I bought over 30 years ago (for $250 in 1985!) . These have been used in multiple cars over the years and they're currently in my avatar. Now I'm sure this particular speaker is long discontinued, but given the large number of speaker manufacturers out there, somebody is making something similar. One reasonably sure way of judging speaker quality is by weight; good speakers will be heavy (my ADS units weight 6 lbs. each, and that's without any batteries or wireless bits). Spend a bit of time auditioning speakers, and remember that they need to be able to reproduce enough volume to overcome road/wind noise. Downside? These won't be wireless or battery powered and you'll need a head unit with at least 25 watts to drive them; a outboard amp would be better. Ask about the power requirements, and keep in mind that 'car audio watts' and home stereo watts aren't always the same; if you want clear sound, divide the car watts by two to get home RMS watts. How much should you spend for speakers? IMO, you should spend at least 75% of what the rest of the system costs. No matter how good the electronics driving them are, poor speakers will make the whole system sound bad.
Just got back from Best Buy. I walked past the JBL Flip 2 three times!! Jesus, it's a freakin TOY. I couldn't believe how tiny it was. I laughed hard to myself after seeing it. It sounded as toyish as it looked to me. Very tinny. No depth. What I did find is the Beats Pill XL for $300 that sounds pretty damn good. It's a bit hard to tell with the ass music they use for demo's. I was embarrassed to crank it up for any period of time. Fucking hip hop ass. BUT, it might have the sac to hear well at highway speeds in the older cars
Just my opinion but I couldn't justify spending the extra money for the Beats. I couldn't hear any perceptible difference in sound quality over the JBL Flip 2. The cheapest Beats was double the price of the Flip2. I'd rather spend the difference on something else. Can't help but think your paying extra for the Beats brand name.
The sound was day and night. It really was. JBL-like a $10 transistor radio from the 60's. I told the sales guy to turn it off immediately. Totally useless for my taste. I wouldn't buy it for $20. The Beats-far richer sound and pretty good bass from a small package. And for me, I'd rather spend $300 on something I like rather than $100 on something I don't. I'm pretty picky on how my music sounds. Oh, and I really have no idea what the Beats name is. Never heard of it before today
Beats products are designed for bass heavy music like hip hop. It is a company owned by Apple who use Dr Dre as a front man and they are heavily geared towards reproducing the extremely low end frequencies that type of music uses hence that is the type of music they demo on them and other devices to try and up sell you to their products. You would have probably found that the difference would have been far less noticeable had they not been demoed with the type of music they did. That is not to say they are not a good product by they do have a marketing scheme to get people to buy them.
@Groucho What I did for a friends car, is what I will be doing for mine...this is a simple set-up alot of guys are using: Use an amp and proper automotive speakers, and use your MP3/ipod/smart phone as the head unit. Mount the amp anywhere in the car, and hook up the speakers like normal (4 speakers use a 4 channel amp, 2 speakers use a 2 channel). If you are running a MP3 player or non apple smart phone, buy a cord with RCA's on one end for connecting to the amp and headphone jack on the other end to connect to your device. Wire the amp so you get power with the ingition switch or run a stand alone switch to turn the amp on and off. Your device will control the volume and sound levels if your device has a built in equilizer (pretty much all devices have a built in equilizer these days). If you have an Ipone or Ipod, you can buy a cord that will connect to any amp and directly to the Ipone/Ipod port...this is handy because it will charge your device through the amp while connected. For his application we used 4 speakers, 2 in the package shelf and 2 in the top of the dash. The amp is mounted in the trunk out of sight and the cord in burried under the carpet and comes out in the center console glove box. We left the stock AM radio in the dash for appearance. So we get modern sound with old school looks.
Check out my solution Groucho...100 bucks , I was gonna buy a pill too, till I looked into this unit, read the reviews on Amazon...got JD mcphersons new release streaming on mine right now....and I'm in the other room!
For now I ended up with this. Big Jambox by Jawbone. It's on sale for $200 (reg $300) at Best Buy (last day's today for that). It's got a lot more balls and depth than some of the tiny ones that were suggested, while being not much bigger at around 10" long. It came with the $10 cord to patch to my MP3 that most didn't include and claims 10 hrs batt life on each charge. I'll try it in a noisy car soon and report back. What I like about this is I'll have music in any car from here forward without any additional expenditures.
Wish you would have saved 100 bucks and bought the one I suggested.....you could have put the hundo towards more chrome reverse wheels! Hope it sounds good of ya
None of the stores around here had the one you suggested so I could hear it before buying. I had no interest in buying one mail order without hearing it first, waiting for it, most likely not liking it (none of the $100 units came near what I wanted), reboxing, driving to a shipping store, waiting in line and paying out of pocket to send it back.......then wait for the credit on my card. NONE of that's worth saving $100 to me. I'm an antzy old fuck who likes instant gratification. haha. I appreciate all the help and suggestions, but after listening to around 15-20 Bluetooth spkrs I was certain nothing near the $100 range was for me. I'll most likely toss it in the 57 GMC Monday and roll around for a few hours, fairly confident it'll please me, and if not I'll drop it back of at Best Buy on my way home. The whole thing barely took 2 partial days of questions answers and shopping, plus I made lunch adventures of it. Pulled pork @ Dickies BBQ was yesterday. Beats arm chair shopping. LOL
Guys with the little bluetooth spkrs............what happens as the battery runs down?? Lower volume? It just stops playing with no warning? I'm talkin the ones with no charge indicator. THX
Hey Groucho, how's the tunes playin'? Just looking for some hindsight, honestly. How are you liking it?
I got this one for $200. It was on sale from $300, and it was my top 2 pick after hearing a lot of them (and before seeing it on sale). It sounds pretty decent, even in my noisy 57 GMC truck. Not as good as a whole system but far better than the $100 ones that were suggested. Those just weren't good for me. Plus it'll go from car to car in the future without me having to spend 2-300 dollars on sounds for a car I'm selling. The battery charge also lasts very close to the charge in my MP3 player that I use with it. So, that's a good thing too. (see the hands holding it in the pic on the box to get an idea it's size)
I haven't gotten anywhere near fixing the sound in my Caddy, yet. Since late December, she's gotten the engine cleaned, re-gasketed, rear-main seal replaced, and repainted. The last three weeks, the transmission has been completely overhauled while replacing the rear main output shaft bearing. I'm driving down to Myrtle Beach in two weeks for the Assorted Nuts get together, and desperately needed some music for the drive. So, I bought the JBL Charge 2 portable bluetooth speaker from Best Buy. It sounds pretty good in the house playing from my iPhone, but I'll have to find out how it sounds in the Caddy at highway speeds when I bring her back from the shop on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Yeah, mine too filled my whole house with music at a lower volume setting. It's a whole different thing going 65MPH on the freeway in an older vehicle with the window down. Let us know how yours does.
gosh, it was so much easier to stick a 8-track in a tape head. then came cassettes , oh forgot about F M instead of A M.................................... I'm so confused...................
What's ridiculous about the JBL Charge 2 is that while it pairs up almost instantly with my iPhone and my wife's iPad, it absolutely refuses to work with my Windoze laptop.
Definitely. Gonna find out tomorrow morning when I get the 55 back from its transmission overhaul. It's a 30-minute highway drive back to the house and another 15 minutes to work, so it will be a very realistic test run.
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