Info on Car audio ??

[rida125]

Ok so for a class i am taking in high school i am studing how car audio works. I have been able to find the information on how speakers work and how the amp works, but it gets tough when looking for some of the smaller information. So I got a few questions i would like answered.

(1) What does RCA stand for? And RCA is to bring the music from the HU to the AMP, Right?

(2) The Remote Wire, How exactly does that work? I know that that is what turns the amp on and off automatically with the radio.

(3) When talking about amps, and you say the amp has different numbers of channels what exactly does that mean? Does that have anything to do with the number of speakers you are able to power off that one amp?

(4) What are all the different kinds of speakers in cars for like a performance set up? like their are tweeters, subs, and different types of subs like what are they, and what exactly are they for?


Thanks

[Alerojester]

ok on (1) i can only tell you half of that and yes RCA send a signal from the HU to the amp, kinda like speakerwire, if anyone wants to correct me feel free

[Silentalero]

Ok so for a class i am taking in high school i am studing how car audio works. I have been able to find the information on how speakers work and how the amp works, but it gets tough when looking for some of the smaller information. So I got a few questions i would like answered.

(1) What does RCA stand for? And RCA is to bring the music from the HU to the AMP, Right?

The Definition im not sure, but as far as what they do. They are there to bring the signal from the headunit to the amp is correct.

(2) The Remote Wire, How exactly does that work? I know that that is what turns the amp on and off automatically with the radio.

Think of it like an ACC wire. (you know when you turn your key partially and the radio goes on) It works off that, its basically a small amperage wire that tell the amp when to turn on and off when the radio is on. Your Power is constant and the ground is your return so neither one of those could tell the amp what to do without leaving it on 24/7. Which in turn would kill your battery

(3) When talking about amps, and you say the amp has different numbers of channels what exactly does that mean? Does that have anything to do with the number of speakers you are able to power off that one amp?

Thats exactly what its for. A 4 channel amp is meant for interior and will have less amps because its being spread to 4 speakers inside the car. 2 channel is for subwoofers because its putting out a higher amps per channel. Getting a little more involved your starting to dig into bridging and wiring diagrams.

(4) What are all the different kinds of speakers in cars for like a performance set up? like their are tweeters, subs, and different types of subs like what are they, and what exactly are they for?

This is a loaded question, but here's a basic breakdown


* Tweeter - meant for highs (or vocal)
* Midrange speakers - exactly that, midrange audio
* 6x9's - Meant for a basic low bass (nothing to hard hitting)
* Component speakers - These are a midrange and tweeter set that has a crossover. And what the crossover does is takes the audio signal from the speaker wires and breaks it down to midrange and has a bass blocker to send the high signal to the tweeter.
* Subwoofer - strictly low end hard hitting bass.

Also keep in mind there are various sizes to these speakers for each type of car.

Thanks

:ninja:

[Cashdollar2009]

Silent iz da man. :scpimp:
Btw, RCA was derived from the Radio Corporation of America, as they were the first to introduce this type of cable in the early 1940's to allow mono phonograph players to be connected to amplifiers. ;)

[Ryan from Ohio]

Actually hes wrong on some of it.

1) RCA is derived from Radio Corporation of America:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_connector

2) The remote wire is nothing more than a control wire. It is a small amperage circuit simply meant to control power via a relay. Thats the function.

Actually our "power" is the return. Since electricity flows from Negative to Positive. We all think backwards...

3) Different channels for different setups. 5 channels for an all in one mindset. 4 channels can be mixed- 4,3,2 channels. 2 Channels can be run as 2 or 1 Channel (for the most part) and monoblock 1 channels.

The amount of speakers you can power off a single amp is not a set number. I could power 100 speakers from an amp or 1, or more than 100!

To say a 2 channel amp is for subs is ridiculous. You can use it on tweeters if you want...

4)Tweeters, full range, mid range, woofers and subwoofers is the nominal speaker designations. There are classes inside these classes depending on designs...

[cherrington17]

Wire is for carrying electrons throughout the car. :p

[Silentalero]

Actually hes wrong on some of it.

1) RCA is derived from Radio Corporation of America:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_connector

2) The remote wire is nothing more than a control wire. It is a small amperage circuit simply meant to control power via a relay. Thats the function.

Actually our "power" is the return. Since electricity flows from Negative to Positive. We all think backwards...

3) Different channels for different setups. 5 channels for an all in one mindset. 4 channels can be mixed- 4,3,2 channels. 2 Channels can be run as 2 or 1 Channel (for the most part) and monoblock 1 channels.

The amount of speakers you can power off a single amp is not a set number. I could power 100 speakers from an amp or 1, or more than 100!

To say a 2 channel amp is for subs is ridiculous. You can use it on tweeters if you want...

4)Tweeters, full range, mid range, woofers and subwoofers is the nominal speaker designations. There are classes inside these classes depending on designs...You basically repeated what i said, Im not gonna get to in detail with more speakers and mixing channels and confuse the poor kid. He obviously doesnt know much about car audio so at that point your just gonna fry his brain.

:(

[cherrington17]

Although his is a little more clear on things, like multiple channel amps. Rida isn't a blithering idiot, just ignorant to the field. He can handle slightly detailed explanations.


You basically repeated what i said, Im not gonna get to in detail with more speakers and mixing channels and confuse the poor kid. He obviously doesnt know much about car audio so at that point your just gonna fry his brain.

:(
ryan is good at that. :lol:

me "i wanna get this setup"
ryan "well..... heres the 832 step process to accomplish that."
me ":eek: :banghead: "
ryan "btw, you owe me $87,632"
me "http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/faint.gif "

[Silentalero]

Although his is a little more clear on things, like multiple channel amps. Rida isn't a blithering idiot, just ignorant to the field. He can handle slightly detailed explanations.



ryan is good at that. :lol:

me "i wanna get this setup"
ryan "well..... heres the 832 step process to accomplish that."
me ":eek: :banghead: "
ryan "btw, you owe me $87,632"
me "http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/faint.gif "

:lol: Well I don't know his knowledge in car audio so I'll explain it into as basic as i can. Picture a "car Audio for dummies" type explanation. If your asking what a remote wire is I can't imagine you know to much.

[cherrington17]

yes and no. If you've simply never heard of one, the actual idea of one is easy to grasp.

Its not like 90% of the free world if flipping 30 switches to turn on their stereo. :lol:

[Ryan from Ohio]

You basically repeated what i said, Im not gonna get to in detail with more speakers and mixing channels and confuse the poor kid. He obviously doesnt know much about car audio so at that point your just gonna fry his brain.

:(

Well if he is going to write a school paper on the topic he at LEAST should know what hes talking about. It would be bad news if he tried to BS his way through it and his Teacher called him out on it ;)

I wouldnt say I repeated you, just stated the facts besides the obvious. You did cover the obvious well.

:ninja:

[Ryan from Ohio]

Although his is a little more clear on things, like multiple channel amps. Rida isn't a blithering idiot, just ignorant to the field. He can handle slightly detailed explanations.



ryan is good at that. :lol:

me "i wanna get this setup"
ryan "well..... heres the 832 step process to accomplish that."
me ":eek: :banghead: "
ryan "btw, you owe me $87,632"
me "http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/faint.gif "

ALL YOUR DOLLARZ BELONG TO I

[cherrington17]

ALL YOUR DOLLARZ BELONG TO I

NOOOOOO!

[rida125]

Thanks silent, what exactly is an ACC wire?

No and the super sweet thing is, is the fact that i dont have to write a paper about it, I just have to take our class out to my car and explain everything from there.

[jayson_waltz]

Acc is just abbreviation for accecory. It's a wire that is hot (power going thru it) when you turn the key to the acc position (first click) or any farth clicks. The only diff is the REM wire in therory uses the radio as it's key, the wire is only hot when the stereo is on. That way ur amp is only on when the stereo is on.

[Silentalero]

Acc is just abbreviation for accecory. It's a wire that is hot (power going thru it) when you turn the key to the acc position (first click) or any farth clicks. The only diff is the REM wire in therory uses the radio as it's key, the wire is only hot when the stereo is on. That way ur amp is only on when the stereo is on.

what he said

[rida125]

Ok so lets see if i can explain an amp, so what an amp does is take power from the battery of the car, and sends it through many different steps which ideally make that 12 volts from the battery source and makes more power to power the subs?

[JLw7123]

you also need a ground wire a remote wire to radio for it to work. with out those two the subs will not work.

[Alerojester]

you also need a ground wire a remote wire to radio for it to work. with out those two the subs will not work.

i hope he knew that

[rida125]

:lol: yeah i knew that

[cherrington17]

Ok so lets see if i can explain an amp, so what an amp does is take power from the battery of the car, and sends it through many different steps which ideally make that 12 volts from the battery source and makes more power to power the subs?

all speakers run on AC current. an amplifier is taking a moderate amount of DC power, and running it through a circuit to ramp it up to a ridiculous amount of AC power, in order to move the speaker forward and backward, at the times indicated by the signal wires (RCAs)

[rida125]

ok so if an amp did not have a Potentiometer that means that the volume knob on your HU would like have no control over the subs. Like its main job is to keep the volume of the subs at the same level as the rest of the speakers in the car?

Ok and so when you talk about AC power that just means that the power is able to change from low amounts of power to higher amounts of power, for when the subs are hitting then?

[cherrington17]

no... the volume knob on the radio, will adjust the signal voltage on the RCAs.

so... at 0, your sending like... 0.01V to the amp. enough to say its on, but not enough to tell it to do much. at 50% you might be sending 1.5V, and at full 3.0V (numbers are totally subjective here)

[rida125]

Ok so i have re-read this again, to i think it is refering to the actually gain switch as a Potentiometer?


So what exactly is the Potentiometer doing.

http://www.bcae1.com/

[cherrington17]

that "pot" they are referring to... is the volume knob on the headunit.

a potentiometer is a variable resistor (of sorts) it moves a contact along a metal mesh, the farther from origin, the more resistance... more resistance, less voltage.

[rida125]

So the Potentiometer is actually just an adjustable resistor then, used for like changing volumes or other things like that?

Ok so this might be a more dumb question but here it goes, So in a car there is the ground which is going to be the negative terminal on the battery. That line on the battery goes from the terminal to just the metal part of the car.

Then the positive terminal goes from the battery to the fuse box in the engine, and from there it goes throughout the car.

Does that sound about right?

[jayson_waltz]

Basically yes it is

[rida125]

Does anybody think they could explain the amp and what is going on on the inside in a little bit more depth, like i did a very basic version but I was hoping that somebody would be able to include all the pieces like resistors, and semi conductors, and explain all of those, and what exactly they are doing? I have looked it up, but it was very confusing. Ok so here is what I was talking about being very confusing. So if somebody could please explain the following for me so that i would get it.


Electronic Elements
The component at the heart of most amplifiers is the transistor. The main elements in a transistor are semiconductors, materials with varying ability to conduct electric current. Typically, a semiconductor is made of a poor conductor, such as silicon, that has had impurities (atoms of another material) added to it. The process of adding impurities is called doping.
In pure silicon, all of the silicon atoms bond perfectly to their neighbors, leaving no free electrons to conduct electric current. In doped silicon, additional atoms change the balance, either adding free electrons or creating holes where electrons can go. Electrical charge moves when electrons move from hole to hole, so either one of these additions will make the material more conductive. (See How Semiconductors Work for a full explanation.)

N-type semiconductors are characterized by extra electrons (which have a negative charge). P-type semiconductors have an abundance of extra holes (which have a positive charge).

Let's look at an amplifier built around a basic bipolar-junction transistor. This sort of transistor consists of three semiconductor layers -- in this case, a p-type semiconductor sandwiched between two n-type semiconductors. This structure is best represented as a bar, as shown in the diagram below (the actual design of modern transistors is a little different).



A standard bipolar transistor
This is the link to the picture
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/amplifier-transistor.gif


The first n-type layer is called the emitter, the p-type layer is called the base and the second n-type layer is called the collector. The output circuit (the circuit that drives the speaker) is connected to electrodes at the transistor's emitter and collector. The input circuit connects to the emitter and the base.

The free electrons in the n-type layers naturally want to fill the holes in the p-type layer. There are many more free electrons than holes, so the holes fill up very quickly. This creates depletion zones at the boundaries between n-type material and p-type material. In a depletion zone, the semiconductor material is returned to its original insulating state -- all the holes are filled, so there are no free electrons or empty spaces for electrons, and charge can't flow. When the depletion zones are thick, very little charge can move from the emitter to the collector, even though there is a strong voltage difference between the two electrodes.

[rida125]

So i am bumping this back up to the top again :lol:, so is anybody able to explain that all to us?

[cherrington17]

just PM questions to ryan, or google them.

[Ryan from Ohio]

Im going to murder your soul in your sleep Dr Cherry.

[cherrington17]

Im going to murder your soul in your sleep Dr Cherry.

if you find one... let me know its there, before you kill it... cuz i have my doubts. :lol:

[rida125]

Ok so does anybody have any other questions on this topic right now that i might have missed?

[AleroDrime]

Im going to murder your soul in your sleep Dr Cherry.

he traded it for LED's

[rida125]

Ok so also I have seen a few times on here the mentioning of different kinds of subs, like mid range subs. How many different types of subs are there out there and what exactly are they for?

[Ryan from Ohio]

http://www.parts-express.com/speakers.cfm

[BeeMain]

Your amp takes a whisper from your headunit and turns it into a shout for your speakers.

headunit sends information via "RCA" cables to the amplifier. The amplifier, amplifies this low power signal into a high powered signal that can power your speakers. some amps have processors that change or filter in headunit signal but in the end it just amplifies it. Low power in, high out, that's why it's connected directly to the battery.

Do expect to understand the electronics


Does anybody think they could explain the amp and what is going on on the inside in a little bit more depth, like i did a very basic version but I was hoping that somebody would be able to include all the pieces like resistors, and semi conductors, and explain all of those, and what exactly they are doing? I have looked it up, but it was very confusing. Ok so here is what I was talking about being very confusing. So if somebody could please explain the following for me so that i would get it.


Electronic Elements
The component at the heart of most amplifiers is the transistor. The main elements in a transistor are semiconductors, materials with varying ability to conduct electric current. Typically, a semiconductor is made of a poor conductor, such as silicon, that has had impurities (atoms of another material) added to it. The process of adding impurities is called doping.
In pure silicon, all of the silicon atoms bond perfectly to their neighbors, leaving no free electrons to conduct electric current. In doped silicon, additional atoms change the balance, either adding free electrons or creating holes where electrons can go. Electrical charge moves when electrons move from hole to hole, so either one of these additions will make the material more conductive. (See How Semiconductors Work for a full explanation.)

N-type semiconductors are characterized by extra electrons (which have a negative charge). P-type semiconductors have an abundance of extra holes (which have a positive charge).

Let's look at an amplifier built around a basic bipolar-junction transistor. This sort of transistor consists of three semiconductor layers -- in this case, a p-type semiconductor sandwiched between two n-type semiconductors. This structure is best represented as a bar, as shown in the diagram below (the actual design of modern transistors is a little different).



A standard bipolar transistor
This is the link to the picture
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/amplifier-transistor.gif


The first n-type layer is called the emitter, the p-type layer is called the base and the second n-type layer is called the collector. The output circuit (the circuit that drives the speaker) is connected to electrodes at the transistor's emitter and collector. The input circuit connects to the emitter and the base.

The free electrons in the n-type layers naturally want to fill the holes in the p-type layer. There are many more free electrons than holes, so the holes fill up very quickly. This creates depletion zones at the boundaries between n-type material and p-type material. In a depletion zone, the semiconductor material is returned to its original insulating state -- all the holes are filled, so there are no free electrons or empty spaces for electrons, and charge can't flow. When the depletion zones are thick, very little charge can move from the emitter to the collector, even though there is a strong voltage difference between the two electrodes.

[cherrington17]

he traded it for LED's

no way... i traded it LONG before i got good with leds.