Shawn's Car Stereo

Car Audio

This is the page about my old car stereo. I liked it a lot, but it was just too unreliable. The MDX-400 head unit repeatedly kept breaking down to where it would skip on recordable MiniDiscs. Since my favorite tunes are on MiniDisc, the MDX-400 had to go. I sold it in early 1999 and bought a new system that will hopefully prove more reliable.

Click here to see my previous System Diagram
Click here if you want to see how my previous stereo looked in the dash

Head unit
SONY MDX-400 AM/FM 4-MiniDisc changer, competition quality 4V preamp outputs only. This is one of the slickest head units I have ever seen.
CD Changer
SONY CDX-805 mobile ES 10-disc CD Changer supporting Custom File (user can name discs) and CD-Text (new CDs have disc/track names). Controlled entirely by head unit. Has digital audio output too. I think I paid too much for this especially since MiniDisc has almost made me give up CD's.
Digital Preamp/Digital Signal Processor
SONY XDP-U50D This is a mobile ES digital preamp which has two analog line inputs and two digital TOSLINK fiber-optic inputs. It gives the MDX-400 10 DSP surround modes, several subwoofer cutoff frequencies, digitally aligned seat positions, and more.
Power Amplifiers
Two huge trunk mounted Sherwood XA-5400 4/3/2 ch amplifier. Cost well less than $1/watt NEW, but to my surprise, is not bad at all. 75Wx4 continuous (RMS) into 4 ohms at 20Hz~20kHz. MOSFET power supply, discrete output transistors, automatic cooling fan, gloss black. Got favorable reviews in Stereo Review's Nov. 95 issue, they found it will produce even more RMS watts at 14.4V because the power supply is unregulated (93Wx4 or 219Wx2).
Subwoofers
Two 12" JL Audio 12W1-1 poly-cone subwoofers each getting 150W RMS (or 176W RMS@12V according to Stereo Review's review of the above amps).
Rear Fill Speakers
Pioneer TS-A6908 6"x9" 4-way quadaxial?, 200W max., 28Hz~30kHz. Polypropylene cone.
Graphic Equalizer
SONY XE-8MkII half DIN 7-band with dual frequency selectable subwoofer cutoff frequency, 4 user EQ preset curves and 3 factory preset curves. 3 mode 3-color LCD 7-band spectrum analyzer display.
Amplifier Power Wiring
I used some fire retardant, super flexible, thick insulation AMP KING wiring. 4 ga. 1672 strand OFC main amp power cable which terminates to a generic power distribution block and splits to 8 ga. 665 strand OFC wire (used for amp supply/ground cable). I used a Phoenix Gold QuickSilver 50A Circuit Breaker by the battery. Yes, I know, not as good as a fuse, but a hell of a lot cheaper and should, in theory, be equally as safe.
Front Dash Speakers
Blaupunkt RL4027 4" 2-way coaxial, 70W max., 49Hz~25kHz. Resin laminate woofer and dome tweeter.

Head unit
SONY MDX-400 AM/FM 4-MiniDisc changer, competition quality 4V preamp outputs only. This is one of the slickest head units I have ever seen.
CD Changer
SONY CDX-805 mobile ES 10-disc CD Changer supporting Custom File (user can name discs) and CD-Text (new CDs have disc/track names). Controlled entirely by head unit. Has digital audio output too. I think I paid too much for this especially since MiniDisc has almost made me give up CD's.
Digital Preamp/Digital Signal Processor
SONY XDP-U50D This is a mobile ES digital preamp which has two analog line inputs and two digital TOSLINK fiber-optic inputs. It gives the MDX-400 10 DSP surround modes, several subwoofer cutoff frequencies, digitally aligned seat positions, and more.
Power Amplifiers
Two huge trunk mounted Sherwood XA-5400 4/3/2 ch amplifier. Cost well less than $1/watt NEW, but to my surprise, is not bad at all. 75Wx4 continuous (RMS) into 4 ohms at 20Hz~20kHz. MOSFET power supply, discrete output transistors, automatic cooling fan, gloss black. Got favorable reviews in Stereo Review's Nov. 95 issue, they found it will produce even more RMS watts at 14.4V because the power supply is unregulated (93Wx4 or 219Wx2).
Subwoofers
Two 12" JL Audio 12W1-1 poly-cone subwoofers each getting 150W RMS (or 176W RMS@12V according to Stereo Review's review of the above amps).
Rear Fill Speakers
Pioneer TS-A6908 6"x9" 4-way quadaxial?, 200W max., 28Hz~30kHz. Polypropylene cone.
Graphic Equalizer
SONY XE-8MkII half DIN 7-band with dual frequency selectable subwoofer cutoff frequency, 4 user EQ preset curves and 3 factory preset curves. 3 mode 3-color LCD 7-band spectrum analyzer display.
Amplifier Power Wiring
I used some fire retardant, super flexible, thick insulation AMP KING wiring. 4 ga. 1672 strand OFC main amp power cable which terminates to a generic power distribution block and splits to 8 ga. 665 strand OFC wire (used for amp supply/ground cable). I used a Phoenix Gold QuickSilver 50A Circuit Breaker by the battery. Yes, I know, not as good as a fuse, but a hell of a lot cheaper and should, in theory, be equally as safe.
Front Dash Speakers
Blaupunkt RL4027 4" 2-way coaxial, 70W max., 49Hz~25kHz. Resin laminate woofer and dome tweeter.