mazdeuce - Seth said:In reply to ClemSparks :
Bluetooth speaker on the seat is the easy button, but there must be something a smidge more elegant.
This is precisely where I'm at.
I always have my phone in my pocket. I don't want to have to always remember to grab the speaker. heck...I don't even want to have to remember to grab the right keys.
I strongly considered the boom box route but space is at a premium so I opted to make use of the door speakers. Using an amp with a remote allowed me to hide it completely out of sight. My amp has aux capability but I never use it. Just a matter of preference I guess.
I have been very unimpressed with sound quality on anything bluetooth. Most receivers have either a 3.5mm input or USB (better). My ipod sounds worlds better when it has a wired connection running in both my truck (JVC) and my Honda (factory stereo). Quality of sound may not be your highest priority though because racecar. Just my .02.
In reply to barefootskater :
I will be trying multiple iterations because it's a much cheaper way to kill time than buying actual racecar parts.
ClemSparks said:93gsxturbo said:Guys, you are missing the "easy button" on this.
Mini Jambox (get it now before they are gone!)
12VDC to USB power adapter (switched) plus a little cord
Screw a piece of aluminum or heavy plastic to your dash/somewhere with two heavy O-Rings underneath it, use the O-rings to secure it.
Light, great sound, portable, looks good, runs on battery or USB power, aux in, hands free calling if you don't have extreme background noise.
If I ever get a classic car, this is what I will be installing in place of a proper stereo unless I want boom boom boom. I travel with mine just in case I get a car without bluetooth radio, which is shockingly common on a few year old service trucks.
I've had one of those for sevral years. Unless the sound quality and/or power (volume) have increased 100% recently (and it very wall may have...mine is an early version), this is not a viable option for me. It's fine for casual listening around the house, but not good for listening in a car while driving. That's my personal experience.
Now...the Bose version that the wife bought that is a little larger (and a lot expensiver) works quite nicely. But I'm also looking for something a little more elegant.
An actual Mini Jambox or a knockoff? If you are unsatisfied with the performance of your bluetooth speaker, get a Jambox before they are all gone. Mine gets loud and stays clean. Plenty loud for windows down cruising, not much good in open air/open exhaust 70 MPH freeway driving but not much is.
mazdeuce - Seth said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
Using a wired jack is the easy answer, its just that kids these days and their bluetooth things. I had two different kids and my wife who each wanted to play their music in the truck this summer. In order for that to happen they had to either sit in the front middle seat or hand their device up to us in the front. Bluetooth might not work, but I've been impressed with how well it works with the aftermarket stereo in my wife's truck.
I know a $10 solution for that problem.
93gsxturbo said:ClemSparks said:93gsxturbo said:Guys, you are missing the "easy button" on this.
Mini Jambox (get it now before they are gone!)
I've had one of those for sevral years. ...
An actual Mini Jambox or a knockoff? ... Mine gets loud and stays clean. Plenty loud for windows down cruising, not much good in open air/open exhaust 70 MPH freeway driving but not much is.
I have a mini jambox brand one, yes. It's a good speaker for listening to music around the house, barn, yard, etc. But it's not good for listening to while driving. And as far as I'm concerned, the problem we're trying to answer here is something we can hear while driving. Frankly, my iphone's built-in speaker is good for listening to while cruising slowly but not at 70.
I'm afraid those last two sentences will sound mean/jerky. I don't mean it that way. I'm just trying to say that if we're trying to do mobile tunes at volume levels similar to a typical car stereo...but with our mobile bluetooth device as the "head unit" then there's a difference between that goal and something that you can't hear with the windows down rolling on the highway. I guess that's the idea behind something that will power typical car speakers.
In reply to apexanimal :
I have one of those! I love it but it’s not ideal in my Miata. Hardtop on and windows up it’s ok, but not loud enough otherwise
In reply to apexanimal :
Nobody has $72 for tunes. 
I'm super impressed that it played music successfully enough to be heard with the windows down all week for you two. My hope is to replicate that sort of thing for more like $20 and be able to build it into the car.
I wanted to do the input to amplifier and skip all the BS in my old beater “appliance” truck. When it was my pride and joy(i bought it new in feb 2000, still got it, it had thousands of $ worth of audio in it. Pair of 12” subs, component speakers in door(all polk higher end speakers), alpine flip out dvd. Then I realized how silly and ridiculous all that crap is and got rid of it all. Tried a sony head unit that i ended up despising. It worked ok, just hated it. Took it out and shot it a few times for fun. Rolled with the bluetooth speaker for a while but it was nowhere near good enough.
Anyways i went from spending hundreds+ on a head unit to spending under 30$ on this cheap “boss” one. Price has gone up some, but,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B65J5B8/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_8EAEBbM0DSMPS
BOSS Audio 625UAB Car Stereo - Single Din, Bluetooth, MP3/USB/WMA AM/FM Radio, Detachable Front Panel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B65J5B8/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_8EAEBbM0DSMPS
It works great, sounds as good as my old speakers, does bluetooth, required zero trickery and the real big one for me was the balancer or tuner. Its not berking with frequencies and all these BS adjustments that seemed to make zero difference, its a legit bass, treble, front/back, right/left. Super cheap and streams. I use volume and track up/down. The rest is useless. I would 100% buy another.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
cause hacking up hoopties is sooooo much better than sweating about rod bearings on my trip to work.... haha
So it works. Kind of. The board is hooked to the old lighter power, there is a speaker that I pulled from the door of the Insight back in that hole. The hole is a whole different story.
I've been listening to podcasts through my phone for the last couple of days. It's plenty loud in my stock Accord. I haven't tried music yet buy my standards for sound quality are 80's Chrysler low, so I bet it will be fine. The big issue is when it hooks to bluetooth. It YELLS that it's hooking up. Whatever volume you have to board turned up to, it does the loudest that it possibly can. Ideally I'd have the board turned almost all the way up and control volume with my phone. If I do that then every time I start the car I have some Chinese lady screaming that bluetooth is ready. It's jarring. I have some very small speakers on order that I'll try with this board and at some point soon I'll try another board without bluetooth and with a proper volume knob and see how that is. I still think I can make a $15 system that weighs just a couple of ounces that will work.
I noticed that problem (loudly announcing brue-a-tooth connected) was mentioned in the reviews for one of the other options listed early in the thread (the one that looks like a giant cartoon/novelty volume knob). I gotta say, that's a bummer. Shucks.
I suppose with that one...at least you have the option to place it somewhere with access to turn it down while it's connecting. Still an annoying "feature".
keep in mind that an open center console creates a whole bunch of road noise... or at least it did in my miata.
the insight speaker will probably will work better if it's in an enclosure... like maybe a PVC tube and end cap?
you might also look up the youtube channel "DIYPerks", he's got a bunch of builds with various amp boards, plugged into a wall and with a battery pack... most using bluetooth.
In reply to sleepyhead :
I agree on the noise, the console will be closed somehow. I think the main takeaway is that this might just work. Is it really worth it to peel 8-10 lbs of the car? Maybe? There are certainly easier ways to accomplish that at this point.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
re: Nelsons
16 oz = 1 lb
sleepyhead said:In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
re: Nelsons
16 oz = 1 lb
And 10 lbs is probably like adding .65hp
Patrick said:sleepyhead said:In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
re: Nelsons
16 oz = 1 lb
And 10 lbs is probably like adding .65hp
"Adding power makes you go faster, adding lightness makes you go faster, and stop faster, and turn better" -Woody
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