How similar are cars and Hi-fi - Yes, will come to that !

[flanker.r]

Hi All,

While hi-fi is definitely my long time interest and one that is bound to continue throughout my life, working on cars has been passion. If I was bitten by the hi-fi bug during my adolescence, I cant remember when I fell in love with the IC engine. Studied about cars with vigor, worked on them with passion, tuned them to their limits on the Irungattukottai track, secretly repaired them on weekends and now finally, Yes, I have started my own garage

My garage IgNite is on ECR, about 1.5 kms from VGP. IgNite is a garage like no other. We work with aviation grade tools and equipment brands like Stanley, Proto and Rigid- Ya they are the Mark-Levinsons, Krells and Quads when it comes to tooling, use highly advanced information systems that put us directly in touch with manufacturers specifications, OE part numbers, DTC, etc. IgNite is prepared to service the next generation of cars ones equipped with OBD II and CAN. Computerised diagnostics and advanced automotive electronics is cakewalk for us

IgNite undertakes engine repairs, transmission service, suspension overhaul, body work, painting, blue printing and routine service of all cars with levels of quality and efficiency never before seen and at prices that will make you realize what a long drive, Oops! ride your authorised dealers have been taking you so far. I strongly believe that quality car service need not be expensive and this belief is reflected at Ignite very strongly. Run by a true enthusiast, IgNite is all set to redefine ways cars are being serviced

Look forward to seeing you at IgNite for a chat about cars and of course Hi-fi. You can contact me on 98419 55158.

Lets get back to what made you read this thread and start comparing the two. For a start, I feel a good car too has something similar to our Hi-fi equivalent Of PArT. Any idea what its called in the auto parlance ?

 

[marsilians]

Congratulations and best wishes flanker.r

Very few people work in a "career role" as against a 'job role", the difference being you enjoy what you do while most others don't.

The closest I have come to working on a car is changing a timing belt and water pump as the major endeavours. Brakes/wheels are routine. I see a parallel in tinkering and learning but thats where it ends. In HT, ou don't tinker with others toys whereas in cars you may end up doing it.

My HT gear & music collection is more expensive than my car but then I drive a shitty one but it does get me to where I want to go.

Hi All,

While hi-fi is definitely my long time interest and one that is bound to continue throughout my life, working on cars has been passion. If I was bitten by the hi-fi bug during my adolescence, I cant remember when I fell in love with the IC engine. Studied about cars with vigor, worked on them with passion, tuned them to their limits on the Irungattukottai track, secretly repaired them on weekends and now finally, Yes, I have started my own garage

My garage IgNite is on ECR, about 1.5 kms from VGP. IgNite is a garage like no other. We work with aviation grade tools and equipment brands like Stanley, Proto and Rigid- Ya they are the Mark-Levinsons, Krells and Quads when it comes to tooling, use highly advanced information systems that put us directly in touch with manufacturers specifications, OE part numbers, DTC, etc. IgNite is prepared to service the next generation of cars ones equipped with OBD II and CAN. Computerised diagnostics and advanced automotive electronics is cakewalk for us

IgNite undertakes engine repairs, transmission service, suspension overhaul, body work, painting, blue printing and routine service of all cars with levels of quality and efficiency never before seen and at prices that will make you realize what a long drive, Oops! ride your authorised dealers have been taking you so far. I strongly believe that quality car service need not be expensive and this belief is reflected at Ignite very strongly. Run by a true enthusiast, IgNite is all set to redefine ways cars are being serviced

Look forward to seeing you at IgNite for a chat about cars and of course Hi-fi. You can contact me on 98419 55158.

Lets get back to what made you read this thread and start comparing the two. For a start, I feel a good car too has something similar to our Hi-fi equivalent Of PArT. Any idea what its called in the auto parlance ?

 

[flanker.r]

Thanks Marsilians,

Yes, I am throughly enjoying what I am doing at IgNite and its so much more satisfying.

Another parallel I see is that the steady state condition as I call it - the duration for which you are happy with a particular performance level you have attained is slightly more long lasting in cars compared to hi-fi. Your ears get better adjusted to a tweak in Hi fi and your resolving capability improves so much that very soon you are looking for more. This also happens when you tune cars, but the duration is lesser than in hi fi

 

[moserw]

Congrats flanker.r,

Great news and certainly very happy for you. Hopefully next time I drive down to Chennai I can visit you and we can have our discussion on cars and Hi-Fi. I am flying down to Chennai tomorrow, but its a short trip and only as I have to visit the U. S. Consulate. Hopefully I can soon make a trip just to visit IgNite. Congrats once again...

 

[venkatcr]

Congratulations Flanker. Very few of us get to do what our passion is. It must feel wonderful to go to a place that you love and earn doing what you love. I shall certainly drop in one of these days.

Cheers

 

[reignofchaos]

Most of us hifi lovers are car lovers too . I'm a bigtime car enthusiast and don't mind driving down to chennai every other month for MMSC track days. They are super fun. My car is still bone stock though other than better tyres.

 

[thevortex]

Thats very nice to hear, Flanker! I will drop in one of these days. My car, needless to say, is in need of a once over. No, make that a twice over!

 

[flanker.r]

Thanks so much everybody.

Your words truly mean a lot to me. Guys, do drop into Ignite anytime for a chat about cars, electronics, life and yes definitely hi-fi. And yes, of course your cars will definitely be attended to too!

Thanks again

 

[thevortex]

Hey flanker - do give us the answer to your question. What term do you have in the auto parlance as an equivalent to Hifi?

 

[flanker.r]

I am not aware of any term as such but the closest resemblance is something called a designers wheel which illustrates the performance tradeoff when an automobile designer leans towards any particular side. For eg, if a car has good acceleration it is traded for top speed all other things being equal

Maybe we can relate this to the ADSR envelop we have in music and used extensively in synthesizers. One fact for sure is that a test drive contributes to the final judgment in design of a car much lesser than a blind test does in audio equipment being approved for production.

 

[thevortex]

I am not aware of any term as such but the closest resemblance is something called a designers wheel which illustrates the performance tradeoff when an automobile designer leans towards any particular side. For eg, if a car has good acceleration it is traded for top speed all other things being equal

Maybe we can relate this to the ADSR envelop we have in music and used extensively in synthesizers. One fact for sure is that a test drive contributes to the final judgment in design of a car much lesser than a blind test does in audio equipment being approved for production.

Hmm... a test drive does not contribute too much to the final designing of a car? Thats interesting. Why so?

 

[flanker.r]

It is possible to determine the actual behavior of an engine or transmission at design stage itself. Infact, the entire geometry and handling can be almost accurately determined by equations. With the emergence of CAD, this closeness has narrowed down even further and any engineering domain is extremely objective. Hence a road test serves as a platform for basic tune up and finalizing on settings.

Compare this with audio - a blind test can determine if a particular component makes it to production or not

has this ever happened in cars. I don't think so

 

[thevortex]

It is possible to determine the actual behavior of an engine or transmission at design stage itself. Infact, the entire geometry and handling can be almost accurately determined by equations. With the emergence of CAD, this closeness has narrowed down even further and any engineering domain is extremely objective. Hence a road test serves as a platform for basic tune up and finalizing on settings.

Compare this with audio - a blind test can determine if a particular component makes it to production or not

has this ever happened in cars. I don't think so

Well, flanker, I am no expert on automobiles. Nor on Hifi for that matter! However is it not correct that even though you make lots of calculations on paper and on the computer, it does not always translate to real world behaviour on road? Or has technology gotten so far that it is able to accurately and reliably predict real world car response - all through simulation?

 

[flanker.r]

Technology has got pretty close to simulating real world dynamics in vehicles, but still a test drive is required to fine tune settings.

All that I am trying to say is that while specifications like acceleration, torque, gear ratios and BHP provide some useful information about a vehicle's performance while frequency response, impedance and sensitivity do not essentially convey the tonal characteristics or listenability of audio gear.

Do not get me wrong. I have highest regard for audio equipment designers and electronics is as much a science as mechanics. Just that our hearing seems to be so well developed that other senses!

If I consider working on cars close to my heart, listening to music on decent hi fi systems is close to my soul. No one field is superior than the other. Am just thinking loud as to similarities and differences between the two fields

 

[thevortex]

Yes, well, I am also thinking out loud here. There are parallels in the automotive industry as well. Take the Enfield Bullet for example. Raw figures say that it has around 32 BHP and makes close to 40 nm of torque. Thats on paper. In real life, an 18 BHP bike is going to win on both the acceleration as well as top speed aspects. But then the Bullet is not really meant for fast, rev happy driving. It is meant for cruising - everything is in the drive not the destination kind of bike.

Take the Fiat 500 for example. If ever there was a car which deserved the term pocket rocket, this is it. Just 500 cc and it can put much larger cars to shame. Just like how a cute little standmount can shame much larger floorstanders in terms of speed, precision, imaging and the disappearance acts.

So, I guess, I too am arguing your side in a way - lots of similarities between the two, automobiles and hifi.

 

[reignofchaos]

Take the Fiat 500 for example. If ever there was a car which deserved the term pocket rocket, this is it. Just 500 cc and it can put much larger cars to shame. Just like how a cute little standmount can shame much larger floorstanders in terms of speed, precision, imaging and the disappearance acts.

Its not a 500cc anymore in the modern version - the normal one has a 1.4L petrol or a 1.3L MJD which does duty in the swift/palio etc. The Abarth/Abarth SS have a 135bhp/165bhp turbocharged 1.4L petrol.

 

[flanker.r]

Very true !

There are so many similarities between cars and Hi-Fi- both at physical level and also in a much more philosophical and emotional level

It's great to know that there are so many automobile enthusiasts here

 

[flanker.r]

Hi Guys,

Thanks to all the members who visited IgNite

Finally got the system hooked up.

It consists of a Marantz CD-63SE, fed to a Cyrus 2 amplifier with the Cyrus PSX driving the Mission 780. A workshop without a radio ? Can't be right? Pulling FM waves is a Nakamichi ST-2 tuner.

Truly a deadly combination - the Cyrus 2 and the Missions. Makes me wonder if my home system which is actively tri-amped and drives a flagship MA FS justifies what it cost me ! But ya that's how this field is right?