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Joined: May 2002
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I have no life
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I have no life
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I can always find money for my car, but I'm "broke" when it comes to anything else.... it's just where you're interests are,,,, and a car can be a great platform for listening to music if you have the money,,,, and considering the time many of us spend in our cars, we like to have good and often loud music. 
98.5 SVT
91 Escort GT (almost sold)
96 ATX Zetec (i brake to watch you swerve)
FS: SVT rear sway bar
WTB: Very cheap beater
CEG Dragon Run - October 13-15
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Hard-core CEG\'er
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Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
... and a car can be a great platform for listening to music if you have the money,,,, and considering the time many of us spend in our cars, we like to have good and often loud music.
Maybe a good platform for loud, not a good platform for quality.
As a listening chamber, an automobile is horrible. Acoustics are wrong, the road noise makes the sig/noise ratio of a CD player nearly worthless.
Between tire noise, engine sound, wind noise, loud is the only option I guess. 
Still don't get it
My name is Richard. I was a Contouraholic.
NOW: '02 Mazda B3000 Dual Sport, Black
BEFORE: '99 Contour SE Sport
Duratec ATX Spruce Green
PIAA 510's, Foglight MOD, K&N Drop-in
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 9,602
Hard-core CEG'er
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I strongly agree with Contouraholic.
I understand the whole "I want to show off" aspect of a mega-dollar sound system.
However you can get the same or even better sound quality from just a few well chosen components. Thus saving you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
For instance I have a nice Kenwood MP3 deck, Infinity 6.5's in the doors (powered by a 300x4 Mosfet amp ~50 each RMS), and a Mosfet 200 watt amp & subwoofer box (2x 10" - 1 each channel for realistic double bass  ) in the trunk.
All components give the lowest available distortion and my cash outlay was about $400. (Yes I am a very smart shopper!)
I'd put it's sound quality up against about anything and it can definitely get loud enough to do permanent hearing damage inside the car. (Not that I force others to listen to my music anyway or like hearing damage myself)
If you have a mega dollar stereo, lots of neon shtuff, DVD, electronics, et cetera then you will always be a #1 target for thieves.
No alarm system will stop them from cleaning the car out. It just alerts the general area that a car is being broken into.
It may stop prolonged theft but not if the thief is experienced.
So if you are that paranoid and have to keep your car outside then a paging alarm system is the only real way to actually know it's your car that is being broken into. Now you are talking a lot more money for the alarm alone and you still as hampered by how long it takes you to get back to your car.
If you don't want them to steal the car itself then the factory PATS does a great job already. It's as good as any amount of money spent on an alarm system that does not page you.
It blows it's horns and allows no power to run through the car better then any aftermarket setup could.
Yes you could state that window shock sensors on an alarm system are better since the thief could slide in the broken window. However he'd still have to take the time and make more noise to break out the entire window.
As for true audiophile sound quality. I leave that to my home stereo setups. 
2000 SVT #674
13.47 @ 102 - All Motor!
It was not broke; Yet I fixed it anyway.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 389
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
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Sorry for the Complete hijack but for the original question. Is there an alarm out there with Remote start and keyless entry for a decent price? Nothing that'll burn a hole in my pocket
99 Contour SE
-Front oval mesh grille
-tinted windows
Future:
Custom exhaust
CTA intake.
thats pretty much it
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My brother got that for his Mazda Truck, cant remember the name tho, its an alarm, remote starter, and it also unlocks the doors, though he dont have Electric door locks 
Former owner of a 1995 Ford Contour GL w/ 2.0L ATX
Proud owner of a 2005 Ford Taurus SE 3.0L V6 Vulcan
--Looking for Commodore stuff (Drives, Units, Amiga, games, etc)If anyone has any of this laying around and wants it gone, lemme know --
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Joined: May 2002
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I have no life
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I have no life
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Originally posted by Contouraholic:
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
... and a car can be a great platform for listening to music if you have the money,,,, and considering the time many of us spend in our cars, we like to have good and often loud music.
Maybe a good platform for loud, not a good platform for quality.
As a listening chamber, an automobile is horrible. Acoustics are wrong, the road noise makes the sig/noise ratio of a CD player nearly worthless.
Between tire noise, engine sound, wind noise, loud is the only option I guess.
Still don't get it
Read where I say CAN be IF you have the money... Most road noises,etc. can be blocked... of course it'll never be as good as a stationary setup in an enclosed building, but it can be pretty good if you know what you're doing and have plenty of money.
98.5 SVT
91 Escort GT (almost sold)
96 ATX Zetec (i brake to watch you swerve)
FS: SVT rear sway bar
WTB: Very cheap beater
CEG Dragon Run - October 13-15
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,228
Hard-core CEG\'er
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Hard-core CEG\'er
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Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Read where I say CAN be IF you have the money... Most road noises,etc. can be blocked... of course it'll never be as good as a stationary setup in an enclosed building, but it can be pretty good if you know what you're doing and have plenty of money.
But even with "blocking, it will never be a great environment. It is a challenge that some feel the need to meet, but I don't get the big $ just to get an o.k. sound from the car. I grasp why people upgrade suspension, motors, brakes. Makes the car safer, faster, better handling, a direct improvement in the car. But since you can never get good quality sound in a moving car, why work so hard to get it? And if you are going to be stopped to listen, a living room has better acoustics and a more comfortable couch.
I lived in my car when I was in the Army and upgraded the radio to a better one. But I still did not go to extremes. My old car (we are talking 1965 Corvair, 1964 Impala - had AM only radio, one weak speaker. Going to a Sony AM/FM Cassette deck was a magnitude of improvement as now I could play tapes and hear them. But putting in 1200 Watts of amp, 15" woofers, just doesn't amke sense to me except in a "look what I did" sense. From an audiophile point of view, it is a waste of time to try to make a moving vehicle a decent music listening area. A good radio/deck with decent volume and sound, some reasonable speakers, and that's about as good as it will get. The rest has to be for "show" and not go.
Not flaming, but to me, an over the top sound system is as bad as a body kit, 4 inch muffler outlet and wing on a Honda Civic DX. They look interesting, a lot of time and effort is put into them, but it is still a Honda Civic DX and though it looks and sounds fast, it isn't fast and will never be. The owner of the Civic will argue the merits, but it is still a Civic DX.
You don't need to defend your choice, I understand it makes you happy and that's important. But I still won't get it. FWIW, I don't understand the video screens, PC and Game Box installs either. I like to drive. If I need a video game I can stay home and play on my PC or Drive to an arcade. The driving part is my favorite part.
My name is Richard. I was a Contouraholic.
NOW: '02 Mazda B3000 Dual Sport, Black
BEFORE: '99 Contour SE Sport
Duratec ATX Spruce Green
PIAA 510's, Foglight MOD, K&N Drop-in
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 21,653
I have no life
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I have no life
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 21,653 |
I understand where you're coming from, but.... I like loud, good sounding music no matter where I am. So I like to have it in my car as well, even if it isn't as good as my home system is, I can try to make it as good and enjoy it better than a lesser system. It's all personal taste I reckon... I also have thought about installing video screens and a game system but decided against it when I realized I can't drive and play games/watch movies safely. Now if I took road trips often with passengers then I might would do it, but I don't take trips very often.
98.5 SVT
91 Escort GT (almost sold)
96 ATX Zetec (i brake to watch you swerve)
FS: SVT rear sway bar
WTB: Very cheap beater
CEG Dragon Run - October 13-15
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