Go Back   AstinaGT Forums > Performance & Technical > Audio Hi-fi

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 15-03-2009, 01:07 PM   #1
Commander Damo
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Australia
Car: 03 Mazda 323 Astina Shades Manual
Posts: 30
2002 BJII SP20 sound system idea

Hello, I'm jotting down some ideas for each car I'm considering to buy and since I can't have performance mods (Provisional License), its audio for me.

Anyways, I come up with an idea of replacing the head unit in a 2002 BJII 323 SP20 with a 7" or so LCD touch screen, with a small form factor PC in the back controlling everything audio for it. Is there any screens that you can fit into the hole decently left behind by the old head unit?

Here is a few pictures to try and explain what I want to do, the pics are from my Dad's 2003 BJII-J48 Astina, sorry for the differences, but its as close as I could get to the 2002 SP20.



The head unit would be removed completely, the LCD with touch screen would be placed in the left over hole.



A PC, I'm guessing mATX sized case in the boot, with DC-DC PSU and a SoundBlaster X-Fi sound card, or AuzenTech (Same stuff basically) feeding sound to a 4 channel AMP, which are hooked up to 2x 5X7s in the front and 2x 6.5" (Or 6 what ever is the standard size) all aftermarket speakers in the back. There should be enough ventilation in the boot for the PC to run fine. I'm guessing the sound from a PC sound card would be much better than one from a head unit?

While I'm at it, does anyone know the dimensions of the sun visors in a SP20 BJII?

Help and ideas would be greatly appreciated too, thanks very much! I'm sort of going for a neat look.
Commander Damo is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Old 15-03-2009, 03:17 PM   #2
marcs_sp20
Moderator
 
marcs_sp20's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Ipswich, Queensland
Car: 2002 Mazda Astina SP20 2006 Mazda 6 GY Wagon
Posts: 9,769
why not run the carputer from in the glovebox, surely you'd still get good ventilation, also under a seat would be fine...

Sun visors are all the same thru the BJ range, so you could get the dimensions yourself off your dad's BJ...

Oh and tell your dad to clean out the boot, its a little cltuttered
__________________
[URL="http://www.astinagt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=590"]
marcs_sp20 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-03-2009, 06:15 PM   #3
Commander Damo
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Australia
Car: 03 Mazda 323 Astina Shades Manual
Posts: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcs_sp20 View Post
why not run the carputer from in the glovebox, surely you'd still get good ventilation, also under a seat would be fine...

Sun visors are all the same thru the BJ range, so you could get the dimensions yourself off your dad's BJ...

Oh and tell your dad to clean out the boot, its a little cltuttered
A PC with a mATX case wouldn't fit in the glovebox, the case is fairly large, similar to one like this:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=7692

I'd go ITX, but they've only got at max, one PCI slot and are a hell of a lot more expensive.

I did a half arsed measurement this morning, but it was a half arsed effort so I'd ask here. I'll do it again some time. What I'll do is measure the little groove thing it fits into and if the replacement ones I've spotted fit into them we're as good as gold.

That IS the boot being clean haha, usually its stacked full of stuff, from fertilizer (lol that was fun...) to a CRT TV. Its our all terrain multi task vehicle. The only places we haven't taken this beast is flying or the bottom of the ocean.

Last edited by Commander Damo; 15-03-2009 at 06:18 PM.
Commander Damo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-03-2009, 06:16 PM   #4
Rhys_Mazda323
Junior Member
 
Rhys_Mazda323's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Helena Valley, Perth
Car: 2002 323 Protege Limited Edition
Posts: 147
Send a message via Yahoo to Rhys_Mazda323
do you really need a carputer?

you can always do what i did and put in an in dash DVD player
controls your audio, connect to iPod, plays movies, can have tv or satnav program plugged in etc

looks like this



perhaps the money you were going to spend on the carputer could be better spent on the rest of your audio...?

just a thought
__________________
Rhys_Mazda323 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-03-2009, 06:55 PM   #5
Commander Damo
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Australia
Car: 03 Mazda 323 Astina Shades Manual
Posts: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhys_Mazda323 View Post
do you really need a carputer?

you can always do what i did and put in an in dash DVD player
controls your audio, connect to iPod, plays movies, can have tv or satnav program plugged in etc

looks like this



perhaps the money you were going to spend on the carputer could be better spent on the rest of your audio...?

just a thought
Carputer would be nice, I got a fair bit of my music in FLAC format which I'm not sure a fair few head units would be able to play. Though, if not, the Fusion CA-IP500 looks like a freakin' good head unit, your iPod just slides into the head unit itself. I can build a HTPC with decent specs for roughly <$500. Less if i sacrifice on HDD and go with a cheaper C2D. Screen, dunno the size gotta measure it up. Roughly about 24CM diagonally, 12"? Thats over the volume button though (with a bendy ruler at night).

I'm open to options really. Thanks for the advice, keep it coming!

Last edited by Commander Damo; 15-03-2009 at 07:15 PM.
Commander Damo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-03-2009, 07:51 PM   #6
bourbon
The Hairy Mod
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: southside ya'll and North Side, Brissy
Car: MINI Cooper S 2003
Posts: 8,110
i wouldnt use a pre built case...id make someone DIY...as youd make it alot smaller and thinner that needed...put the buttons anywhereyou want and so on....buy a cheap old ****y case and rip it apart for brackets and so on...
__________________
For All your crash repair panels & lights, clear lights contact us at
PANEL HOUSE 45 RANDALL ST SLACKS CREEK QLD 4127
PHONE : 07 3808 8737 FAX : 07 3808 8735
bourbon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-03-2009, 09:48 PM   #7
DavoAust
Senior Member
 
DavoAust's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Brisbane
Car: Red '93 3000GT / Black '08 Ninja 250R
Posts: 2,930
Send a message via MSN to DavoAust
the biggest problem with this is that you end up with a solution no better than buying a 7" HU, for more money (case + parts + screen) which won't work as well as a HU (feel like waiting for your HU to boot up? what about OS issues? decent software to use on a small screen?). its not fun, i debated this (electronics nerd that i am ) and decided to just get a HU with a memory card slot.

it mostly comes down to, do i want the wank factor of having a pc in the car?
__________________
Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you.

'97 1.8L Hardtop
'93 3.0L TT 3000GT
DavoAust is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-04-2009, 10:06 PM   #8
phildough
Banned
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Brisneyland, Queensland
Car: 2002 Mazda Frankenstina
Posts: 2,868
If anyone is really keen on this whole carputer thing I have got a couple of 12V computers complete with power supplies,
one has a full 12 V to atx power supply(designed exactly for carputers) with low voltage auto shut down etc,key removal timed shutdown etc, and the whole pc is smaller than the yellow pages, so you could put it under a seat.
I bought them a while ago and have never gotten round to installing it in my car,so they are unused/unloved. If anyone is really interested i could part with them.
All you need is a screen with either a VGA, S Video or composite input.(i had a 7 inch vga touch screen(sorry sold that though))
I got a head unit that played dvd's full of mp3's and a free GPS so I gave up on my idea.
phildough is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-04-2009, 11:51 PM   #9
DavoAust
Senior Member
 
DavoAust's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Brisbane
Car: Red '93 3000GT / Black '08 Ninja 250R
Posts: 2,930
Send a message via MSN to DavoAust
phil if you put up the specs i'm interested
__________________
Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you.

'97 1.8L Hardtop
'93 3.0L TT 3000GT
DavoAust is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-04-2009, 05:12 AM   #10
Q2CDIS
Junior Member
 
Q2CDIS's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: the getto (st marys)
Car: mazda
Posts: 191
Send a message via MSN to Q2CDIS
Ive had a carputer n ive still got it now just sittin in my room.. They r so not really worth it ay... Betta off just gettin a double din dvd player wit usb input n get ur self an 160gb hard drive..
Q2CDIS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-04-2009, 06:55 AM   #11
phildough
Banned
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Brisneyland, Queensland
Car: 2002 Mazda Frankenstina
Posts: 2,868
Specs are as follows its a Via C7 1.0 GHz, 512mb ddr 400, 80 gig notebook hdd, 150w to 12v to atx psu. All in a slimline case. I can take pics if anyone wants.
This is the motherboard
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/ma...herboard_id=81
phildough is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time now is 11:57 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
2001- 2010 AstinaGT