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fwdtamiya
07-24-2014, 09:31 PM
This is related to a head unit-less setup. Someone mentioned, to me, the idea of bluetooth speakers in a car, but I couldn't find anything on this idea. Is there something like this that exists? Receivers, I guess, would be on the speakers, so that there's no need for any type of controller, no amp, just a simple lightweight setup.

Why isn't this a thing? Am I crazy? :|

SM16RMSM
07-25-2014, 03:05 AM
I never seen a receiver that has bluetooth capability unless there something running around eBay. I will time to time run around with my Bose SoundLink in the passenger seat just so I can listen to a tune I like. You could do that. The Beats Pill and other should be loud enough.

Agent☣Orange
07-25-2014, 04:49 AM
I see the appeal for BT speakers in the house. I have a few that I enjoy streaming music from my phone or pad. For the car though? I don't see how they'd even come close to automotive audio speakers.

If you just want a simple, headless design, it would be easier to get a small two or four channel amp tucked away in the back, wired to a decent set of speakers and an input cord to your music device whether it's a simple MP3 player or Pandora streaming cell phone.

Golden Stallion
07-25-2014, 05:49 AM
the problem i find with wires is they always break on me eventually . I bought an aux cable in january the day i bought my miata and my cable is already starting to fail on my. I didn't cheap out on it but i feel like even the nicest ones don't last me a year before they get annoying and you have to adjust them all the time. I personally would enjoy bluetooth capability but don't ever use cd's or fm. I just don't want to spend the money for bluetooth HU when i only play music off my phone...not really concerned about weight, just not wanting to waste money. also frees up a damn wire that gets in the way.

Martin
07-25-2014, 08:11 AM
Bluetooth speakers would need wires for power. What's the difference between running speaker wires from your amp or power wires from your battery?

By the way, I'm running a setup like Agent Orange described. Where I can see bluetooth helping would be between my phone and the amp. It would be really nice to get rid of the cable running from the amp into the cabin.

Agent☣Orange
07-25-2014, 08:46 AM
I guess I'm a little lost on the BT speaker concept. I mean for the house, they're very popular but other than sitting one on the hood while you work on your car, where would you find 6.5" powered, BT speakers? And even if they exist, like Martin said, they'd need a power source as well. How good would they sound? Not even close to an amplified set of Hertz or Boston Acoustics I bet.

If the goal is to just go headless, I still think a small 2-channel amp in the tunnel wired to a good set of speakers in the doors would be perfect. If you want to go totally stealth or you break the wire from your phone all the time, you could just get a 12v BT receiver that plugs right into the hidden amp and stream your tunes that way.

Here's one example:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-5tfEzypwP2w/p_822BTREC/Milennia-MIL-BTREC.html

Martin
07-25-2014, 09:12 AM
That little device is exactly what I was talking about.

Agent☣Orange
07-25-2014, 10:05 AM
Cool, well if anyone else wants to go that route (BT-to-amp) this would be the way to go.

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa375/YellowYata/Misc/D95000D9-F156-4807-BB92-230B127673DC_zpsrxvgnacc.jpg

fwdtamiya
07-25-2014, 12:12 PM
I guess I'm a little lost on the BT speaker concept. I mean for the house, they're very popular but other than sitting one on the hood while you work on your car, where would you find 6.5" powered, BT speakers? And even if they exist, like Martin said, they'd need a power source as well. How good would they sound? Not even close to an amplified set of Hertz or Boston Acoustics I bet.

If the goal is to just go headless, I still think a small 2-channel amp in the tunnel wired to a good set of speakers in the doors would be perfect. If you want to go totally stealth or you break the wire from your phone all the time, you could just get a 12v BT receiver that plugs right into the hidden amp and stream your tunes that way.

Here's one example:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-5tfEzypwP2w/p_822BTREC/Milennia-MIL-BTREC.html
That's the problem, I can't find any good 6.5 inch BT automotive speakers, there should be some. I'm not good with car stereos, but I thought the stock speakers required a power source too? What do you mean outside of that?

All bluetooth speakers sound bad? If I set up that bluetooth receiver with a 2/4 channel amp, will it still sound bad? Would it sound worse than with an aux cable?


If you just want a simple, headless design, it would be easier to get a small two or four channel amp tucked away in the back, wired to a decent set of speakers and an input cord to your music device whether it's a simple MP3 player or Pandora streaming cell phone.
But, it wouldn't be easier? You're talking about buying an extra piece of equipment (amp)($$), wiring up the amp, and then paying another price in weight for the amp and the wiring. The benefit of this setup would be no amp, less wiring, no ugly cord running from my media player to somewhere on the dash. Light and simple. But I guess it hasn't hit the automotive world yet, or maybe it won't. Thanks for the information everyone! I guess I'll be keeping an eye out for an amp in future and read up about the differences between 2/4 channel and how to wire it all. :(

Agent☣Orange
07-25-2014, 01:16 PM
Maybe BT auto speakers out there but I've never seen one. I doubt that they'd ever be popular because each speaker would need a self-contained amplifier in some way so that means a power wire and engineering for a harsher car environment which means higher complexity and higher cost. And that's before fitment issues and if they'd even sound good or loud enough. Why would any company build self-powered BT car speakers considering all these variables?


All bluetooth speakers sound bad? If I set up that bluetooth receiver with a 2/4 channel amp, will it still sound bad? Would it sound worse than with an aux cable

I don't mean that BT speakers would sound bad. BT just refers to a wireless connection and not how good the actual speakers are. I'm sure that Bose BT home speaker sounds great on a shelf. Then there are the palm-sized, portable BT speakers that are nice to pair with a phone at a picnic for instance. Neither is bad. One is for home and plays loud and clear while the other sounds small but is portable. If you have an existing super nice home stereo, you can even get a BT adapter to stream music to it. No need to replace your nice big speakers with BT versions.

Since the headphone and Bluetooth outputs from your phone are only stereo, you'll only benefit from two channels of sound (left and right) and there's a bit of sacrifice in sound quality but in exchange, you get ultra stealth and no wires.

To me, it would be easier to get a nice little amp, a pair of good door speakers and that little BT adapter mentioned above. You can get a powerful amp the size of an iPhone, mount it in the trunk near the battery and with a 8ga power wire, what are we talking in total added weight? 12 ounces?

Later, if I wanted a bigger amp or more powerful speakers, I could upgrade either. I wouldn't be stuck with a pair of BT speakers that I can't upgrade.

I'm starting to see what you're getting at but before you get too far into it, could you link to a set of self-powered BT car speakers you have in mind? And when you say "less wiring," you know that speakers must have some wiring right?

Martin
07-25-2014, 02:06 PM
BT speakers are going have amps inside them. And wires for power. I don't see any advantage in that.

fwdtamiya
07-25-2014, 02:24 PM
Thanks for the info about 2 channel.

12 ounces? I was thinking a decent amp weighed more like 5 lbs? I could see the wiring being 12 ounces.


Later, if I wanted a bigger amp or more powerful speakers, I could upgrade either. I wouldn't be stuck with a pair of BT speakers that I can't upgrade.
Huh? The BT speakers would replace just like normal speakers. Why couldn't they be replaced? Well, I gave up on the idea a couple posts ago, when you said they didn't exist. No point in discussing it further.


could you link to a set of self-powered BT car speakers you have in mind? And when you say "less wiring," you know that speakers must have some wiring right?
No. That's exactly why I made this thread. I asked if these existed and stated that I could not find them.
Yes, again, I'm aware they would need a power source. That's exactly why I said "less wiring" and not "no wiring." :lol:

Agent☣Orange
07-25-2014, 02:56 PM
Amps have come a long way in a short time with the latest being much smaller, lighter and cleaner than the trunk-filling monsters a few years ago. Yes, there's going to be that crowd that needs a million watts for earthquake-simulation competitions but most audio manufacturers make their bread and butter from mainstream consumer sales.

I love my amps and have done some very nice setups over the years. I even still have my Alpine PDX-F6 in my closet because it's too nice to part with but with my Vette, I wanted to go a different direction: smaller, lighter, powerful and still clean. My speakers are Polk Audio MM series components which are featherweight and the best vocals I've heard IMO.

I decided to try out this amp for the hell of it, figuring if it was gimmicky and sounded bad, I could exchange it toward the ARC Audio for more than twice the price. I was so impressed, I bought it's twin monoblock for my sub. In the C6 Corvette, the stock Bose amp sits in a compartment under the passenger-side floor. This amp is smaller and more powerful than the Bose junk and fits in the stock location. Since my battery is by the passenger-side firewall, I only needed 3ft of 8ga. power wire and less than 1ft of ground wire.

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa375/YellowYata/Misc/7D0907A8-A8D2-441B-ADBE-CBBB7012A073_zpsgrqckmxf.jpg

In a Miata, you could put this in a tunnel near the battery or anywhere you like, plug in that BT adapter, wire some door speakers and you're done. If you don't want to run new speaker wires to your doors, just use the stock ones, even less work.

MemphisMiata
01-25-2015, 11:55 AM
Part of the BT standard is Stereo (2 channel), so it would be difficult to find an amp/speaker/BT receiever that was incorporated into a single speaker that would mount in the door.

A more popular set up would be similar to what AgentOrange has, but with the BT "dongle" (what the industry calls it) available from Crutchfield or a wide variety of other sources (Google the word Bluetooth dongle). This is assuming that the ONLY music source you care about is what's on your phone.

BTW - if you are trying to avoid the wire plug in to the AUX in on your HU, the BT dongle will solve that as well. Simply plug the BT dongle into the AUX in of the H/U (assuming your HU has that) - and stream away. You'll likely never buy another 3.5mm plug again!