This project is on hold for a couple of weeks as I've been asked to sit in as First violin in a quartet and after my wife my only real love is playing the fiddle so to be continued.
This project is on hold for a couple of weeks as I've been asked to sit in as First violin in a quartet and after my wife my only real love is playing the fiddle so to be continued.
Just a note on amplifiers for this project before I head off. I got an incredible deal that I could not refuse on a pair of Kenwood Excelon power amps, an XR400-4 and a X301.4 BNIB at $200CND for the pair. And I got a good deal on a Kenwood XR1S subwoofer amp at $160USD shipped on Car Audio Classifieds. I'm thinking of using the XR400-4 bridged at 200 watts per channl on the midbasses, the X301.4 on the mids/tweets at 50 watts per channel and the XR1S on the sub at 600 watts x 1
This makes for a nice family resemblance in terms of sound quality and cosmetics IMO.
https://www.kenwood.com/ca/car/excelon/xr400-4/
https://www.kenwood.com/ca/car/excelon/x301-4/
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-x3bDoR...lon-XR-1S.html
Back at it today. I made a major decision regarding this project and decided to bin the Khadas SBC and go with one of the mid-upper end Kenwood DVD receivers. This is a bummer for me but the fact is that while the Khadas equipment is state of the art and very capable for use as I intended it is meant for someone who knows a lot more about Coding, tweaking Code and re-writing it than I do and after looking into learning what is needed to become comfortable with the ins/outs of the process I realized that I just don't have the drive or desire to pursue it.
So I will still end up with a system that will play Hi-Res and have Nav. etc. but it will not be the custom solution I envisioned. Also, I had originally intended to install the Car PC in the dash of our new Camry but when my wife found out that would mean removing the factory system and retro-fitting aftermarket fittings into the infotainment fascia she became dead set against it...so I decided to install the SBC in the glove box and now that I have abandoned the whole Car PC scheme I've decided to buy a used Toyota Corolla for myself and have at it as much as I want while the Missus will drive the new Camry.
I still think I was on the right track with the Khadas gear and the limitations are with me not the equipment so if anyone should have a go at this kind of project please post a build log on it.
Hold the phone!
I've been contacted by a Samaritan who in the interest of seeing this project proceed has offered to help me with any Linux or other coding that will be required so I a very happy to say that my original project is back on. This is yet another example of the car audio community in action and I'll let him identify himself if he so chooses.
I ordered the IR remote extender today:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01KLPEQOE/ref=dp_cerb_3
Going to run it from the Car PC to a spot near the heater controls in the Corolla I'll buy...had a look at a 2016 that was nice but no rush and I will get one upon return from our winter get away. I'm going to mount the mids and tweets on the dash in small 'glass and carbon pods which I will cut the foam shapes for tonight after dinner.
Can't believe I almost gave this project up in a moment of weakness and dumbassery.
Last edited by Donanon; 12-08-2019 at 09:13 PM.
Got the LCD connected and wireless set up today. I was going to use Foobar as my audio player/interface but it's now down to Volumio or USB Audio Pro...Khadas will soon release a Volumio UI for their SBC's which is a major plus for that option. There is room on the LCD for four largish icons and a decent sized player UI which is perfect for me and I'll set up larger screen icons later.
I got a message from Khadas saying that they will soon be releasing a version of Volumio for the VIM3 SBC I am using in this install which means I can forgo the 5" touch screen and use my Samsung 7" tablet as a wireless remote control for the Volumio music player, GPS and various other functions of the SBC with charging for the tablet from the cigarette lighter...this is the only part of this set up that I don't like as I will need to run a charging wire but it might be possible to add an auto connect charging set up to the tablet mount.
Using this app (or the Foobar player with it's remote app) will really simplify things for this install and make everything more stealthy . I have a 3 year old tablet I could use but I will probably buy something like this:
https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...white/11332534
as I want to start out with a new system.
I want the tablet mount to have ease of access and un-mounting so I can take the tablet with me when I exit the car. I was going to mount the tablet directly to the SBC enclosure but instead I'm thinking of using a cup mount holder. A Weather Tech CupFone would be nice but they don't make one in the size I need so it might be something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Macally-Heavy...t_sims?ie=UTF8
or this:
https://www.amazon.com/Holder-Cellet-Compatible-Samsung-Surface/dp/B075G4KRM5/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_sims?ie=UTF8
Last edited by Donanon; 12-13-2019 at 01:51 PM.
Or maybe go back to my original idea of mounting the tablet mount holder directly to the front of the enclosure with something like this:
https://www.amazon.ca/Durable-893323-Tablet-Holder-Mount/dp/B01MS6I0HQ