Nakamichi CD-400 for car?

[kaos]

I've been reading how awesome this receiver is for car audio because of it's 24-bit DAC. Does anyone recommend this receiver or are there any better ones for that price range? Maybe cheaper, even?

I'm not looking to go all out for my car but I am upgrading the speakers and receiver and so far Nakamichi sounds like the way to go.

What about speakers? I'm not looking to spend much. Anyone got any recommendations?

 

[countraven]

I own a CD-400. I bought it solely for the interface aspect. It's not perfect but it's one of the most simple layouts on the market as far as I know. No silly crap on there. Not to sound dismissive, but in a noisy car environment I doubt the quality of the DAC is the main issue. Then again, your car may be a lot quieter inside than mine! I am driving all 4 speakers with it currently but I think a more powerful amp may be a better way to go. But like I said, my car's noise floor is up around 70db so I'm pretty much FUBAR for sound quality. The deck itself is great and the linear menu is the only thing I take issue with. At least it's got a volume knob!

 

[kaos]

I was also thinking of the Sony CDXM630 or CDXM8800. Those are so slick but is the quality as good as it looks?

Also, what are some good speakers to go with? Preferrably cheap. I heard Nakamichi also makes good ones?

 

[countraven]

I bought some pricey drivers, although I can't recall the brand off hand. Infinity or Kenwood I think. Not really worth the money. They do one thing really well: super bright, steely treble. That combined with the onboard 3-band EQ on the Nak and I've got treble to spare. But I felt I got better sound out of the factory paper cone cheapies. Probably more efficient, a better match to the amp, something like that, I dunno. Unfortunately when I got around to installing the CD-400 the original drivers were all dry rotted. Now that's what I call break-in, when the cone flakes into dust in your hands! Maybe that like what they say about guitars; they sound their best when the wood is so thin that it's on the verge of breaking. Maybe the same holds true for speaker cones. The fancy schmancy aftermarket speakers are built nice and probably won't rot, probably have better specs than factory, but they just don't sound as good. There's lumpy bass, steely treble but not much going on in the middle. Perhaps that papery, honky sound of full-range drivers is condusive to car audio acoustics.

I would experiment with cheap full range drivers if I were to do it over. No sense in spending hundreds in my opinion.

 

[kaos]

werd. i'm not looking to spend much more than like $150 on speakers. 2 pairs of something that will get the job done. but as far as the nak receiver goes, you'd recommend that or no? or is there a better one out there thats cheaper? how about the sony cdxm630/8800 models? are they as good as they look?

 

[kaos]

booyaa

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