Pimped cars with speakers and subwoofers

Location: Southwest Austin by Southpark Meadows
Two rooms + Private Bath for 1 Roommate
Pictures
About the House -

• Located near Southpark Meadows in a quiet cul de sac.
  
• Your rooms and restroom are towards the front of the house. My room is in the back.
  
• Modern kitchen with kitchen island
  
• Laundry room includes washer & dryer
  
• Google Fiber internet included (Currently 1 Gbps but open to higher tiers if needed)
  
• Ethernet drops in every room
  
• YouTube TV
  
• Livingroom includes home theater with large TV, surround sound, and game console
  
• Fridge is nearly always empty because I might cook only once or twice a week.
  
• Garage has a power rack, two benches and a set of adjustable dumbbells. I park outside until late evening then move my car inside each night.
  
• House has a handful of smart features such as locks, exterior cameras, and some various HomeKit devices.
  
• Housekeeping at least once a month is included.
  
• AC on 70, Heater on 65
  

About Rooms:

• First Room: 11’ x 11.5’ (Doesn’t include closet)
  
• Second Room: 10’ x 13’ (Doesn’t include closet)
  
• Bathroom is between the two rooms
  

About Me -

• 1 single male (mid 30s)
  
• I work in IT for a utilities company with fairly normal hours (~8 AM – 6 PMish)
  
• I’ll cast music or podcasts to my speakers occasionally. It’ll most likely be:
  
• Music: Trance, house, 90s – 2000s hip hop
  
• Podcasts: NPR Marketplace, The Indicator, The Daily
  
• The house is still a work in progress so expect some hammering, drilling, shuffling on the weekends. I will always make sure you’re aware of this well in advance.
  

About You -

• Communication is key. Please communicate if something bothers you.
  
• Stable job / income
  
• Non-smoking / No pets
  
• No pets
  
• Career and goal focused
  
• Motivated, tidy, and respects the space. This is an invitation to be part of a home and not just rent a room. Keeping the space clean and treating it as if it was your own is a must.
  
• Open to chat and bond while respecting the need for privacy.
  

Application Fee: $49 (Processed through RentSpree)
Rent: $1,000 per month, $500 security deposit
Lease Term: 6 Months to start then 6 - 12 Months available
Bills: Split 2 way
Move In: Available Immediately

So I'm a high school sophomore (soon to be junior) who is getting super into cars. I'm gonna have my license in 2 months and really want to start looking at cars. I'm getting a job this week so my budget is gonna be max 12k. I've already considered a few cars including
350z, 2011 135i, 128i, 2006 mustang gt premium, civic si manual
Big things for me are good speakers, not crazy expensive maintenance (BMW 😬), and I really want to have the fast feeling. I have only driven automatic but manual looks and seems like so much fun that I really just wanna go for it. This will probably just be my weekend car and on weekdays I can take a prius so I wouldn't be putting crazy miles on it or anything. My brother has a m235i with a valvetronic muffler and it sounds phenomenal which is why im looking into bmws but the reliability problems seem so real like oil gasket, water cooler, thermostat, etc. I love the look of the 135i but the reliability seems shaky even with the n55 so I'm looking into the 128i which seems far more reliable with the n52. is that true? is it worth just going for the 135i since it won't be a daily and seems like so much fun? I also saw the mustang gt and the interior looks perfect. I love the look two and the horsepower, sound is pretty nice on the v8 and it seems quick. I've heard that Z's are the best option but every single one I see is beat to shit or would blunder in a smog check. I really need some advice on the other ones im looking at or some new options. also i don't plan on doing crazy modding but i just think the n54 is a bad idea which is why im tempted to go n55 135i.
I know everyones gonna say miatas but i dont like the look of miatas lol and interioexterior is a big deal for me. I've also already considered wrx, gti, etc, i dont like the look of those.
Could you guys tell me what i should check out and concerns i should have with what i am looking at?
also just assume that i have like no money right now (its true)
sorry for the rant but thanks for yalls help. im in california btw.

I have a JVC KW-M780BT which is hooked up to four 6.5 Kicker CS door speaker. The head unit produces 22 watts RMS x channel and the door speakers are rated for 100 watts RMS @ 4ohms. Are the speakers overpowering the built in amplifier and that's why the head unit is shutting down and would adding an amp fix this? Or could there be an issue with the head unit? I feel confident that it's not a wiring issue since the head unit and the door speakers have been professionally installed. Any and all help is welcome, I'm knew to this car audio stuff and have no idea what I am doing.

Hey everyone.
A while back I upgraded my cars stock speakers to the Alpine S Series but never got around to installing an amp. Now is the time.
Currently I'm comparing the Pioneer GM-A6704, and the PIONEER GM-D8604.
My stock head unit doesn't have RCA. The A6704 has a high level input, but underperforms for power output as I'd like to push my alpines as close to redline as possible. As far as I know, my options are to take the hit on power output and get the A6704 and use high level, or get a high level to RCA converter and buy the D8604.
What should I look for or avoid in an HL-RCA converter, is it worth using one? Is there an amp with 80/240w output @ 4ohm that takes high level? Any other ideas or recommendations for how to solve this. (Stock headunit has BT and works well so don't need to upgrade it)
Also, I'm currently running my boss AR2000M off the rear right high level, I assume powering the speakers up is going to have an impact on this. Would It be worth re-running an RCA line from the new amp into the sub?

So basically I’ve been bartending a year and a half and got poached into a new cocktail bartending restraunt. My friend who I knew was struggling with money with his previous job (another job I got him by reccomending him) was looking for a new job so I got him a position that leads directly up to assistant manager. I didn’t have to do that I did it to be kind and now am beginning to regret it. It’s a half an hour commute and we’re a week in I’ve been driving us there and back every day as the plan, sometimes after 13 hour shifts at 2am. I don’t ask him for a penny petrol money. We signed ourselves up for some pretty nasty shifts 10am - 2pm and 5pm - 2am fro thurs Friday sat. So we’ve been sleeping at max 5 hours a night so tension is very high. I actually want to kill him. He is a better cocktail bartender than me, I know this he took a mixology course. But he doesn’t even clean up after himself I have been left running up and down cleaning mine and his shakers. He collects glasses when asked but never puts them in the glass wash he just leaves me to do it while he makes 70% of the cocktails. When I do try to do something he massively micromanaged me points out every mistake I make infront of our new manager. He makes up his own cocktails and makes them look the same he doesn’t follow the specs but it looks like he’s instantly learnt them off by heart? While im reading off the fucking laminated sheet looking slow af. Today my manager told a customer who was asking for a job he was in trouble for having too many staff to say no, I didn’t hear the girls question so I went over to my friend saying I was worried they’re cutting staff. He said to me that he’d back out because it was my job first. Then when my co worker came and we talked to her ab it and she explained the whole story he said and infront of everyone and I quote “well they would’ve got red of you anyway because I’m way better at the job” like what the actual fuck . I spoke to him about the not washing his stuff and he said it was a bad habit and not on purpose and claimed he had done glass washes (he hadn’t) As we set off in my car from the job I got him I asked if he wanted to connect his phone to my speaker he said no I went to connect mind he snapped that he didn’t want to listen to anything he just wanted silence I said well I’m driving and i want to listen to music but it’s cheaper than a taxi he snapped “I can get a taxi if you want “. I love the job other than working with him, we’ve never fallen out before this but I am finding it intollerable

Hi everyone, it's my first post here on this cool community. I follow regularly this section and I find it quite interesting.
I am a professional stock trader and investor. But before I reached this status ,I will talk about my past and my big disappointment in day trading, specifically forex !
Here is my journey.
When I was in university in 2014, way before the instagram and Tik Tok influencers era,I discovered trading accidentally and I was hooked how fast you can make money. I was thrilled and excited. I made many spreadsheet how compound interest could make me rich quick. I had $200 to start and I thought that by making at least 2% per day , I could have turned it into a beautiful $2.6 million in 2 years . And the third year, I thought that I would have $150 million . I was convinced that I could have been a self made billionaire in less than 5 years. I dreamed of a beautiful and rich lifestyle with fancy mansions, cars, yachts , beautiful girls and provide a beautiful financial future to my family. 😍
The brutal wake up to reality .
The first day, i have lost 10% of my account 😔.After 2 weeks my balance was only $10. I was frustrated, angry and in tears. My dreams of a financially freedom vanished suddenly and I was very depressed and traumatized.😭😭 I just wanted to escape my miserable economic situation. I graduated and had many crappy jobs. I I still tried day trading on other markets for another 4 years with a lot of failures, tears , frustration and angriness. 😡 I tried Bitcoin ,but I bougth at the peak in 2018 before its crash !🙈 I gave up for 1 year !
I changed my mind in 2020 and tried stock trading and investing in momentum stocks. Then , the magic happened there ( I will do another post about my strategy very soon ) . However, I am still not millionaire!
Being rich is not a sin, it's a blessing to be financially secure forever. Day trading is full of empty promises and many people fall everyday in this trap. I know that I am not alone. It takes years of suffering before being successful at something.why would it be different in trading?
Tell me guys, have some of you had the same dreams before starting trading and suddenly you had violent wake up like me ? Please be respectful and don't be shy to tell your story .
Please share your experiences with me .
Sorry for if my English is not perfect because I am a French and Spanish native speaker.
Thanks for reading. 🙏

Starting with WirePlumber 0.5, the configuration system has changed and there is no automatic migration or import of the old Lua scripts into the new system. See:
https://pipewire.pages.freedesktop.org/wireplumbedaemon/configuration/migration.html#config-migration
You may have customized your audio Lua scripts to fix, for example, the subwoofer and center speakers being swapped in their output. This causes the output of the center speaker to be garbled. This is a common problem with Linux and audio cards, such as for USB-attached Dolby 7.1 surround sound cards.
To see whether you have version 0.5 or later of WirePlumber:

wireplumber --version 

On my computer, the following steps are how I fixed the problem of my center speaker and subwoofer outputs being swapped after applying the latest updates on my Trixie machine today.
Get the exact node.description property string of your sound card:

pw-cli list-objects Node 

Make a backup copy of the relevant conf file:

cd /usshare/wireplumbewireplumber.conf.d/ sudo cp alsa-vm.conf alsa-vm.conf.BACKUP 

Edit the alsa-vm.conf file and add another matches section, similar to this:

{ matches = [ { node.description = "CM106 Like Sound Device Analog Surround 7.1" } ] actions = { update-props = { audio.position = ["FL","FR","RL","RR","LFE","FC","SL","SR"] } } } 

The description of your sound card is not likely to be the same as mine ("CM106..."), so replace that string with your own. Note that using a wildcard ("CM106*") used to work in the past, but, at least on my computer, the wildcard method did not work and the exact description had to be used instead.
Hence, your entire alsa-vm.conf file might look like this now, but with your own sound card description substituted in for mine:

# ALSA node property overrides for virtual machine hardware monitor.alsa.rules = [ # Generic PCI cards on any VM type { matches = [ { node.name = "~alsa_input.pci.*" cpu.vm.name = "~.*" } { node.name = "~alsa_output.pci.*" cpu.vm.name = "~.*" } ] actions = { update-props = { api.alsa.period-size = 1024 api.alsa.headroom = 2048 } } } { matches = [ { node.description = "CM106 Like Sound Device Analog Surround 7.1" } ] actions = { update-props = { audio.position = ["FL","FR","RL","RR","LFE","FC","SL","SR"] } } } ] 

Restart the WirePlumber service:

systemctl --user restart wireplumber.service 

Test your audio output to confirm that the center speaker and subwoofer speaker are being used correctly; for example, in Gnome Settings, go to Audio and click the Test button. If they are still swapped, edit the above alsa-vm.conf file again. Experiment with the relative order of "LFE" and "FC" in the audio.position property. These represent your low-frequency subwoofer and center speaker. If your front left/right, side left/right and rear left/right speaker outputs are incorrect too, then experiment with changing all of their relative orderings.
After saving your edits, restart the WirePlumber service and test again.
I hope the above is helpful. It took me a non-trivial amount of time to figure this out...

I know that both a popcorn ceiling and ceiling fan (albeit a still one) are factors that diminish the effectiveness of up-firing speakers. And up-firing speakers already put me at a disadvantage compared to ceiling or height speakers. However, I’d like to know, especially from those who have personally tried this, whether I still have a solid shot at getting up-firing speakers to work in my small apartment living room, whose ceiling has these disadvantages.
Fortunately, however, all of my rooms have a ceiling height of 8’8”, which is an advantage when it comes to up-firing speakers.
I’m debating between buying a 5.1.2 vs a 5.1.4. So, I’d also like to know whether I’d definitely need a 5.1.4 to make the up-firing speakers work at least decently.
In case anyone needed to know, if I go the 5.1.2 route, then my surround sound system will be this one:
VIZIO M-Series 5.1.2 Immersive Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Bluetooth, Wireless Subwoofer, Voice Assistant Compatible, Includes Remote Control - M512a-H6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TV6GJF7/?coliid=IJH3TX0Z9M6P8&colid=2WSHF74GQAT2V&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_lstpd_DFHJ0JNP6RAJ18H2J1NB
But if I go the 5.1.4 route, then my surround sound system will be this one:
VIZIO Elevate 5.1.4 Home Theater 48" Sound Bar Dolby Atmos and DTS:X (P514a-H6) (Renewed) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PMZGCCX/?coliid=I17O34F6ERC5WI&colid=2WSHF74GQAT2V&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_lstpd_DFHJ0JNP6RAJ18H2J1NB_1
So, as you see in my speaker choice, both of these will support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Correct me if I’m wrong, but these 3D surround sound technologies technically don’t even require any height speakers at all as they use advanced audio processing to simulate sound coming from above. As such, shouldn’t this also help to compensate for the disadvantages of my apartment’s living room?

Hey all!
So, I’ve bought the first car where I will not be able to swap out the head unit. So I’m now entering DSP territory.
I’m wondering, first and foremost, if anybody has any firsthand experience with adding audio to their own ‘24 Tucson Hybrid and how it went.
Failing that, I’ll just be sort of looking for general advice on what sort of DSP is actually needed so I can get proper equipment and make sure I’m not overdoing it.
My car has an 8 speaker Bose system. Sounds alright, so I’m not too worried about updating every speaker or anything right now. Mostly just looking to add a sub. The existing system has some sort of sub, but it’s really limited to mid-bass stuff with some real slight rumble at certain higher frequencies. Not sure if that needs removed or what.
Thanks for any advice and happy to answer any clarifying questions.

WPA – A Completely Average Roadtrip
Disclaimer: Not canon, and I don’t use patreon so please don’t spoil me. Also, any opinion held by a character is that of the characters and not my own. Enjoy.
Town of Ljosalfington, local time 14:00, week 7
Emma Booker
“Again Illunor, I warned you before that this is a utility vehicle, not a party rated smart-limo. I am already compromising more than I should by allowing you to use the sample cooler as a minifridge, one which I can’t even use!” I said as I loaded the materials I had just purchased into the back of the high-G All terrain fusion-ethanol-electric hybrid 24th-century legacy pickup truck that I had printed out earlier this week, carefully avoiding the heavy ordinance hard point.
“That is hardly an excuse for that abysmally cramped leg space barely fit for cattle, never mind the bare minimum for standard decorum suitable for nobility. If this is what a car is like, then I don’t see why you care for your technology,” complained Illunor, who was sitting around idly with a malformed garish bowl of icecream that he had stashed away from lunch.
“If it bothers you so much, perhaps you could help next time with your ‘bigger-on-the-inside’ magic,” I retorted as I slid the last core sample into the back before covering it up with a tarp and strapping it down.
I had originally planned to visit Ljosalfington by myself to acquire much needed exo-materials to test various mana manipulator configurations as I worked to develop my first wand as not all of the materials I needed were procurable locally from Elaseer. I eventually yielded, much to my regret, to allowing Illunor to come with me as he insisted on wanting to deliver a letter personally in town after Thacea had pointed out the wisdom of not travelling alone.
We continued our back and forth for a bit yet as I finished securing my payload a voice called out to me from the direction of the town.
“Excuse me a moment, I couldn’t help but notice but are you from the academy?”
I turned to see an elf dressed in a plain brown buttoned up tunic matched by a slightly shabby pair of trousers with what appeared to be a lute upon his back and a plain and unenchanted longsword on his belt gesturing at our robes. Mine especially were new and unusual, tailored by the academy to go over my armour and allow access to the anchor points and allow me to exit my armour with minimal hassle. Illunor scoffed at what was evidently a commoner’s arrogance at approaching nobility and turned his head away in disgust. I glanced at Illunor and shook my head before turning to face the new man. I had time to spare, and any opportunity to engage in a hearts-and-minds dialogue with the locals outside the bounds of the managed environment of the academy was more than worth the time to chat. Especially as most of the other locals seemed to be content in ignoring me.
“Yes, we are currently studying at the Transgracian Academy. I am Cadet Emma Booker representing the United Nations of Earth and Luna from Earthream, and my aloof compatriot is Lord Illunor Rularia of the Vunerian courts. We were just about to head back but are in no rush. May I ask your name and what brings you by?” I asked with my hand outstretched in greeting.
“Ah yes, yes. My name is Edhel Redoehdelnif, a wandering bard by trade like my father and his father before him. My apologies, Cadet Emma Booker, I am unfamiliar with Earthrealm,” said Edhel as he grasped my hand with both of his and shook it tepidly yet vigorously. Or rather, tried to, as the motors on my suit resisted his efforts.
“News doesn’t seem to spread all that fast around here, so it makes sense you haven’t heard of us. We’re a new realm, and only just got here. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Edhel Redoehdelnif,” I replied.
“Absolutely fascinating! And a knight no less, or perhaps a squire? I’m sure you have many stories to tell of Earthrealm. Say, by chance are you about to head back to the academy? I have business in Elaseer and the usual coach has been absent as of late so I would rather not go it alone,” said Edhel.
I was hesitant to bring a stranger back in the car with me, even if Illunor was present. However, the opportunity that meeting a bard presented was too good to pass up from an intel perspective and to win the favour of the populace at large.
“That is a great idea. I think I have room for one more…” I paused before gesturing towards Illunor, “provided everyone is ok with it that is.”
Illunor gave a huff and turned his head away in silence.
“Very well, I will allow this. But he will not be joining me in your sorry excuse for a coach,” said Illunor dismissively.
Illunor approached the backseat expectantly and the door opened for him automatically, allowing the dlc kobold to gracefully enter and lounge across the length of the seats, once again ignoring the seatbelts. I sighed as I made my way to the driver’s seat, and Edhel entered from the passenger side as he marveled at the automatic doors and the interior.
“What a strange carriage this is! Although I must say, shouldn’t you be retrieving your horses? I didn’t see any harnesses or sense any artifices,” inquired Edhel as he attempted to make himself comfortable on the car seat, lute in front of him.
“Oh no, this thing doesn’t need horses or magic,” I said with a chuckle as EVI started the car. The elf raised his eyebrows at the sudden hum of the engine and made an expression of alarm when the car started driving itself without my input. “See, purrs like a kitten.”
“Earthrealm must have some large kittens if they purr like that,” noted Edhel, “but you must be concealing the enchantments somewhere. Such a thing as this with such strange yet precise craftsmanship is only possible in the crownlands.”
“Nope, no magic,” I said cheerfully.
“Then how?” Asked Edhel.
“It’s rather simple really. Are you familiar with the workings of a mill?” I asked, deciding to keep things surface level and elementary to avoid provoking the IDOV threshold.
“Somewhat, though I confess to not being familiar with their workings. Are you suggesting this is akin to a mill?” Asked Edhel perplexed.
“It’s the same principal. A mill works by taking a source of rotation such as a waterwheel or windmill, transferring that rotation along a series of rotating shafts and interlocking gears, and finally putting that energy to work by rotating a millstone,” I began as the car pulled out onto the smooth cobbled road in the direction of Elaseer. A notification popped up in the corner of my vision indicating my recon drone swarm had shifted from a holding formation to a convoy screening formation, and while the roads were clear I kept the speed at 60km/h to account for my passenger’s apparent distaste for seatbelts.
“Rotation…” muttered Edhel. He turned to face one of the wheels and EVI pinged an alert for a probable match for a detection spell, “fascinating.”
“Edhel, what are you doing?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, perhaps I should have asked first. Yes, I can see how it all fits together. But the source of this rotation? I see no mighty river or great wind to power this, so where does it come from?” Asked Edhel, not really apologizing. Elven arrogance, it seemed, was not limited by class.
The act reminded me of Sorecar when he inspected my gun, but where the armourer had been respectful with it, Edhel was more flippant. I considered the possibility that he was a spy sent by one of her peers or the crownlands, though this did not mesh with the methods I had seen so far. Edhel may have been just overly enthusiastic. In either case, I quickly decided to only reveal the antique design for the ethanol engine, and not that of the batteries or the emergency coupler to my suit’s fusion reactor.
“Right, well please ask first next time. As to your question, I won’t bore you with the details, but the rotation is generated by creating a periodic sequence of explosions inside of a machine – a manaless artifice – called a combustion engine, said Emma.
“So that’s what that sound is…” pondered Edhel, “are these artifices typical in Earthream?”
“You are awfully inquisitive for a commoner,” noted Illunor as he inspected his nails for dirt, “and rather accepting of something which should be impossible.”
“I wouldn’t be much of a bard if I wasn’t, my lord,” said Edhel shifting uncomfortably in his seat, “perhaps some music might set the mood better?”
“That would be preferable, bard. I have heard enough of the Earthrealmer’s Road Trip Playlist and would like to listen to some music of real culture,” said Illunor.
The bard agreed and proceeded to awkwardly play a ballad about an adventurer who slew a hydra in some frozen wasteland. Partway through, I politely interrupted the Edhel to point out the seat controls much to his fascination and Illunor’s grumbling at their common nature, and after some adjustment the bard went on playing and I half-heartedly listened while I paid attention to the road and my drone feed.
Particularly after EVI detected something unusual and alerted me to its presence.
”Attention Caded Booker. There is a disabled vehicle blocking the primary route to destination. Heat signatures in the woods are consistent with that of an ambush.”
“Damn it,” I muttered.
I glanced at the drone feed to see a broken cart strewn horizontally across a wooden bridge over a brook. On the surface it looked like a pair of civilians who required aid and assistance, but off in the woods were several heat signatures, several of which held weapons of varying levels of enchantments. Occasionally one of the pair on the bridge would talk with them, suggesting they were in cahoots rather than hostages. I recalled crossing that very bridge not a few hours earlier, so the blockade was very recent.
“EVI, did we pass that cart on the way here?” I asked.
”Negative,” replied EVI.
I grimaced. I had been trained to handle road-side ambushes, but it was only something that was a theoretical possibility. Something that should only occur in a warzone or a corrupt and unstable polity. I knew I had the capacity to handle such an encounter, even non-lethally, but that didn’t change the fact that these were civilians and as such were the responsibility of local law enforcement. Combined with the fact that I had passengers I was responsible for and engaging the ambush was a risky option.
“EVI, give me a list of alternative routes,” I commanded.
”Affirmative. Here is a list of routes in order of recommendation,” replied EVI.
I looked over the routes superimposed on a map of the region and quickly dismissed taking a shortcut through the forest and cutting through farmland. A detour caught my eye that extended the journey by roughly ten kilometers and I immediately sent a pair of drones to scout it out before committing to the detour.
“Are you alright, Cadet Emma Booker? You seem distracted,” asked Edhel, snapping me back to reality.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just focused on driving,” replied Emma.
“I suppose it must be quite taxing to command an artificed carriage of this complexity. Perhaps it might ease your mind if you were to regale me a tale of a hero of your realm?” Said Edhel, strumming a complex tune from his lute as he spoke as each and every pluck triggered a low-level spell.
“Well, that may be a problem. We don’t have any monsters to fight, and wars are a thing of the past,” I said while desperately tip-toeing the subject of aunt Ran, the subject of war, and our voyages through the cosmos, “though we are not without the adventurous spirit. We certainly have many stories of grand voyages. Some mythical and fictional such as The Odyssey as told by the Greek poet Homer and some historical such as the race to the south pole.”
“The south pole,” muttered the bard, “so you have explored all of Earthrealm then? I suppose that makes some sense, if you have artifices such as this then traversal of a globe would be quite manageable.”
“You are quite perceptive,” I said, not wishing to elaborate.
“A great performer knows his audience,” said Edhel with a charming, honest, almost human smile.
I felt a pang of homesickness as an intrusive thought reminded me that I could have gone to a real college surrounded by friendly faces my age, engaging in nightly holostreams and dreaming of adventures in the stars from the safety of a college dorm room. The sight of Illunor in the rear camera was the only thing that kept me grounded, as I almost felt like I was back at home on a road trip rather than returning to a fantasy feudal court, constantly evading death at every turn with the fate of humanity on the line. As such, and prompted by EVI, I barely had the wherewithal to take the planned detour.
A fact which did not pass by Edhel.
“I believe you may have taken a wrong turn, Emma,” he commented.
“Nah, I’m just taking the scenic route. I came from that direction on the way here, and you have inspired me to see the other road and I figure it should only add a few extra minutes to our travel time,” I said, gesturing at a paper map which I had referenced exactly once, “though on that subject, you seem to know these lands quite well. Do you have any recommendations on places to visit in the Nexus to scratch that itch?”
Illunor raised his eyebrow at the detour excuse, knowing full well this was not part of the plan. I worried that he might complain about the issue and but thankfully remained silent as he snacked on the contents of the misused sample storage unit. Edhel himself took on a more pensive posture.
“I’m happy to have been such an inspiration, Emma, though I am sure an explorer such as yourself has little need of such. I would normally suggest the skyward fountains of Verdellan or the cloud tides of Asturia, but that may be too casual for someone of your calibre. Perhaps the severed chasm or the fire marsh of Bhandahova may be more to your liking. Or perhaps…” Edhel leaned in, “I have heard rumours of a dragon in the glassy obsidian wastes of Vurcanar.”
I chuckled at that, knowing how I was fortunate enough to fish a dragon scale out of the nearby lake for the ECS. “The thought of going dragon hunting had certainly crossed my mind…” I mused aloud.
“Yet you sound hesitant. Perhaps it is too much for a newrealmer. Perhaps a slime or a dire rat might be more appropriate,” he said with a tease.
“No, it’s not like that! It’s” I stammered, before attempting to change course after realizing I had been goaded, “what I mean is, I was under the impression that dragons were an endangered species. Where I come from, hunting endangered animals is usually illegal, and big game hunting in general is frowned upon. We do make exceptions in the case of problem animals such as if a large predator starts hunting humans, but as a rule we prefer conservation and try to find ways of coexisting with wildlife such as the use of barrier fences and scaring away dangerous animals rather than being forced to cull their numbers. Having a species go extinct would prevent future generations from appreciating them and risks destabilizing the ecosystem they are a part of. Now if this dragon was actively razing villages and eating civilians and livestock, that would be one thing, but this does not look to be the case. I don’t imagine the Nexus has any settlements in this wasteland, and the dragon clearly wants to be left alone. Killing an innocent dragon would be murder.”
I grinned to myself after delivering a diatribe that would have made my tenth grade social and environmental studies teacher beam with pride, though by the expressions of my passengers my view did not appear to be shared. Edhel’s mouth was agape in shock and fascination, while the Venurian in the back seat merely huffed in disapproval.
“I assure you Newrealmer, there are no innocent dragons,” stated Illunor with a hint of terseness breaking through his otherwise regal demeanor.
“Illunor, I understand that Venurians have personal reasons for not liking dragons, but you can’t just extend that disdain to their descendants or those uninvolved just because they are the same species,” I said.
“If I may interject on your behalf, my lord, I believe I can address Cadet Emma Booker’s concerns,” said Edhel with a bow. Illunor nodded in approval.
“Very well, you may proceed,” he said.
“Thank you, my lord. My dear Emma, you must understand that dragons are not simple animals driven entirely off of instinct as it appears to be the case in Earthrealm. They are monsters. Intelligent, long-lived, violent, greedy, cruel, territorial, selfish flesh-eating monsters. They are evil by the very nature of their being, unable to change by their own accord, and unwilling to change when His Eternal Majesty offered them freedom from their nature. It isn’t that they want to be evil. As intelligent animals – intelligent monsters – dragons are capable of understanding morality, and many have tried to overcome their evil nature at great expense to themselves. A well intended and noble sentiment, yet a doomed one as like all animals, they all succumb to their nature in the end. Overcoming one’s nature is impossible,” said Edhel. His eyes took on a stoic, almost remorseful gaze as he spoke, and Illunor nodded with approval.
I was appalled by this claim, not by the contents so much as how blatantly false it was. As a representative of the human race, I was a living counterexample to his whole argument. We had remained physiologically unchanged as a species since the last Ice Age, and yet in spite of that, in spite of our many flaws, we had found peace and balance. If we could do it, anyone could do it.
“Will all due respect Edhel, that is nonsense. Monsters aren’t born, they are made. It is the mark of any intelligent species can adapt their behaviour to their environment for better or worse, and under the right care any so-called monster can grow to be a force for good,” I began, but while I searched for the right words Edhel shook his head.
“I appreciate your race is an empathetic one, Emma, your idealism is unfounded. As flesh eaters, a dragon must take the life of another animal or person to survive, or they will perish. As such, every dragon has taken a life. As long-lived creatures, they will have amassed a significant number of kills. As the land can only support so much animals, a dragon must be fiercely territorial and aggressive to remove competition, lest they starve. As such, even the most kind-hearted dragon alive must be violent and greedy, and their intelligence fuels this even more so if they know a bountiful land of morsels exists just outside their range.
Now perhaps a multitude of dragons may find a way to co-exist together in some settlement, but to support such a venture would require a large territory of prey, or a livestock animal. Perhaps they could support a large colony by farming grain for their livestock, but that would require effort on their behalf. As large animals, such efforts require a great deal of energy. Yet that size makes it easy for them to intimidate smaller races to do their labour for them, and to keep their client race in line dragons must be cruel. And even so, as their numbers grow so do their needs. As such, they must expand into the lands of their neighbours to survive until there is nothing left to devour, at which point they must turn against their own lest they starve. As such, it is the nature of dragons to conquer and devour. That is why there is no such thing as an innocent dragon,” finished Edhel.
I was speechless, not because I believed Edhel had a point, but because I was horrified at how easy he found it to rationalize the extermination of an entire sapient species. If this was how the elves thought, then it wasn’t the dragons who were the monsters. I suppressed that dark thought. Edhel’s thought process was a product of his culture, not a feature of his elven heritage. If there was any hope of peace between our people, I needed to show him there was another way of being. I needed to prove that co-existence was possible, no matter one’s nature.
I took a deep breath to steady myself before replying.
“That- that is a callous way of seeing things,” I began, though the shock was still there in my voice, “you speak as though there is no natural equilibrium with a dragon, that their only state of being must be to be cruel, to devour, to conquer. But I see things differently. In fact, I might wonder if a fledgling civilization might see the presence of a dragon as a boon rather than a curse. Being intelligent, the locals may be able to come to some agreement with the dragon. Perhaps they might leave some land as a hunting ground or offer up a share of their cattle or guard the dragon as it sleeps. In exchange, the dragon might allow them to build a town outside its mountain and protect them in times of danger. An equitable exchange. A civilization might even create artificial lairs to attract dragons for this very reason. True, some dragons may behave tyrannical towards their town, but a well armed populace of a large city would be more than capable of fighting such a threat, and a rational dragon might reason that threatening their own populace would put their reliable source of food and shelter at risk. You see, it’s all a matter of perspective.”
“You certainly are an imaginative one, Emma, to wonder up a quixotic world where the hare and the fox live together in harmony as equals. Even so, you seem to have ignored one key detail to such a society. What would happen should the dragon not be fed for months on end?” Asked Edhel with his eyebrow raised.
“The same thing as stranded a dozen starving, stranded Elves!” I spat back.
[Alert: Vehicle speed above recommended limit for conditions. Recommendation: slow down. ]
“I am driving slow!” I seethed, not realizing I had sped up with manual control enabled.
“I grow tired of this common prattle,” interjected Illunor just in time to prevent an awkward silence, “bard, play us another song.” “As my lord wishes,” said Edhel with a bow before turning to me with another smile, “perhaps a more soothing melody would be in order? A love song perhaps, to honour Cadet Booker’s compassionate nature?”
I said nothing as Edhel began to strum his lute again to the tune of a love story of a pair of doomed lovers named Ramian and Junette, hating his cheeky knowing grin that only served to get under my skin further as I focused on calming down and slowing the car back to a more reasonable pace before investigating a priority alert which I had been blinded to moments prior.
[Alert: hostile roadblock is absent, location unknown.]
Shit.
“Illunor, we may have a problem,” I said.
“Shush, Newrealmer, have you no class? We are almost at the best part! I’m sure it can wait,” replied the contextually clueless lizard.
I had never wanted to throttle Illunor as much as I did now.
“Illunor, shield, now,” I said with a raised voice.
“I don’t see-“ he started, pausing mid-sentence as his ears perked up.
[Alert: Multiple manafield and spell signatures detected!]
I took evasive maneuvers as Illunor tried to piece together a shield spell, fumbling it twice as panic appeared to set in and providing me with a reminder that Illunor was a civilian, not a soldier. A hail of arrows pelted the exterior of the truck, piercing but not penetrating the composite armour. I was tempted to do nothing but just drive away from the arrow fire, but a foreboding premonition of danger filled me as I recalled Sorecar’s hunter-seeker arrows.
Seeking to avoid that fate, I triggered the active defenses.
The smoke screens deployed around the vehicle, obscuring the sight of any who depended on visible light to see me. A barrage of decoy flares equipped with wooden cores shot upward at angles and diffusing to the side like a pair of giant wings which when combined with the MFD, short for mana-field dampener, inside the vehicle meant that the pelting hail of arrowfire softened to a whirr as the arrows whiffed over the top of the truck, retargeted away from the soft flesh of my passengers and even invoking friendly fire amongst the ambushers.
In the chaos, EVI and my drone swarm fed me complete tactical information on the ambush. Of the 26 individuals at the first blockade, 20 were accounted for, and 3 had died from friendly fire. Ahead at the bridge, 5 more of them were at the bridge where a barrier had been hastily erected to cage me in as the river valley was too deep to cross.
“Illunor, we need a bridge,” I said, taking stock of the wellbeing of my passengers.
The bard was huddled down low and suppressing his manafield, but otherwise rather composed. Illunor, on the other hand, was cowering in the gap between the seats with his hands covering his eyes and his tail tucked in.
“A bridge is no small request, Ne- Cadet Emma Booker,” replied Illunor, “and your ‘Emeffdee’ has blinded me to the outside of this moving death trap.”
“If I drop it, can you at least make a ramp?” I asked as I circled the battlefield. Or tried to, at least, as earthen ramparts emerged from the ground from a yet unseen source to cut off other avenues of escape.
“A ramp? Surely you don’t mean-“ he stammered.
“Yes or no,” I said.
Illunor paused, before taking an unsteady breath.
“Yes. But not with that Emeffdee,” he replied.
“Good. Steady your nerves and prepare to make a ramp ahead of us on my signal,” I said, “in the meantime, get your seatbelt on. This is going to be hairy.”
As I circled around to make my approach on the bridge, the final combatant made his appearance on a nearby tree, revealing himself as an elven mage. An alert focused on the air around him indicating he was preparing an unknown high-tier spell, and I locked the predator drone on him indicating the elf as a high-priority target if our escape plan failed, and I was forced to use lethal force.
If I was forced to kill.
It was one thing to know you may have to kill in the line of duty, but it was much harder to reconcile that with reality. No number of simulations could match the real thing, and a part of me wanted to simply offload the responsibility to EVI to keep my hands clean, but to do that would be betraying my duty as a human being. I breathed in deep and tried not to think about it, instead hoping to rely on the ace I held in my sleeve instead.
“EVI, ready the spell jammer,” I said unevenly.
“Acknowledged, the prototype Exo-Radiation Wave-Field Distruptor is primed. High risk target identified and locked, permission to engage?” EVI asked, forcing me to address the dreaded question.
“Negative,” I replied, “hold your fire. If the ramp fails, then you have permission to engage,” I said.
“Affirmative, on your mark,” replied EVI.
I lined up the truck with the bridge and bolted through the smoke, keeping a careful eye on the mage as I went. His spellform took on a more concerning shape as I accelerated, and I realized I could not afford to let him finish his spell. I triggered the spelljammer.
A terrible roar erupted from an array of speakers printed from mana-resistant materials that would have made Godzilla herself beam with pride. The sound was decidedly unnatural, gnarly, dubstep drop composed of an electric eel, a whale, a mountain lion, and a tyrannosaurus rex all being simultaneously assaulted by a swarm of angry cybernetic murder hornets as an equally chaotic wave of mana blasted outwards from the exterior of the truck, with the interior thankfully sheltered by audio and mana dampening.
The ambushing assailants cowered and panicked, and it was enough to cause the Elven mage’s spell to backfire in his face as his form exploded into ashes, meeting a horrific fate which I had tried so desperately to help him avoid. With all the combatants momentarily incapacitated or dead, I lowered the dampener and turned off the smoke.
“Ramp!” I shouted, snapping the lizard back to reality.
The Venerian nodded and hastily formed an earthwork ahead of us right before the blockade, and the truck leapt off the ramp with a not insignificant amount of air beneath our wheels. I braced for impact, regretting skimping on the shocks in the name of preserving materials, but the impact never came.
[Alert: Friendly spell designated ‘Feather Fall’]
Illunor thankfully had enough wherewithal to gently land the steel brick, and I sped off into the distance away from the trap that had unfolded behind us, leaving the interior of the truck in an awkward silence as we each processed our brush with death in our own way. “How many are dead?” I asked EVI.
“6 hostiles confirmed dead,” replied EVI.
I drove on in silence. Those were six deaths I had tried to avoid, and I became lost in thought as I wondered what I should have done differently to avoid the confrontation entirely.
Edhel broke the silence with a bout of laughter.
“Terrific! Absolutely terrific! Why, I can conjure up many a tale from this encounter alone! I live for this kind of inspiration!” Exclaimed Edhel a little too chipperly considering the circumstance.
“I would rather not hear stories about how I bravely ran away,” I moaned in deadpan sarcasm.
“You think too little of yourself, Cadet Emma Booker. It is plain to me that you are no ordinary rabbit. Make no mistake, I see it as a privilege to bear witness to the roar of a vorpal hare!” Said Edhel as he supressed his laughter, “though I am afraid with all the excitement that I must finish my song some other time.”
“How about I play some of our music?” I offered after the elf revealed his thrill-seeking side.
“Splendid, I would like that. Perhaps something of your ‘Roadtrip playlist’ you speak of? It sounds like a collection of your voyages,” said Edhel.
“That would be an improvement on the truth,” said Illunor dismissively as he eased from his state of shock, “it is little more than noise under the pretense of music.”
“Illunor…” I muttered to myself before turning the mic on, “no, no it’s not like that. I have terabytes of pre-recorded songs from various artists back home which can be played by… an artifice called a speaker. A playlist is a set of songs which are grouped together, usually to listen to in specific situations such as studying, partying, or travelling. The latter collection is what Illunor is referring to.”
I very deliberately chose not to reveal my ‘Unfortunate Daughters’ playlist.
“An artifice which plays music, and a magicless one at that. I must say, Emma, I fear for the bards in your realm,” said Edhel with a laugh.
“Your fear is misplaced, Edhel. Entertainers live like kings where I come from,” I retorted with a smirk of my own, “well, the ones with talent at least.”
“Well, well, I suppose I have to hear my competition!” Said Edhel with a laugh.
“Do as you must, though let it be known that I warned you,” said Illunor as he watched a play on his sightseer.
I had EVI compile a list of songs that left out content offensive to Nexian sensibilities or violating OpSec and as it compiled I mused over what type of sample spread I wanted to show off. Then it struck me. What better way to show off our culture than with some good old blue jumpers and nova rock! Sadly, jumpers were unavailable to show but I still had a whole list of modern artists to choose from.
Moments later, the car speakers sprung to life to the tune of ‘Innocent Youth of Mine. Edhel’s eyes lit up like a child visiting a zero-g gravity park for the first time, seemingly star-struck by the antique electric guitar and the synthesizer-drums in particular.
“What… what is this? I have never heard anything like this!” Proclaimed Edhel.
“Dreadful, isn’t it?” said Illunor, doing what he did best and pretending to hate it.
“Oh there is a lot more where that came from,” I said with a cheeky grin of my own, “this one is called ‘Innocent Youth of Mine’ by ‘Cannons and Poppies’. It’s part of the Nova Rock genre.
“And those strange instruments?” Asked Edhel.
“Oh, you mean the electric guitar and the synthesizer. They are electronic instruments, taking advantage of channeled and modulated electricity to create near any sound we can imagine,” I replied.
“Channeled electricity… are you suggesting these sounds were made by some form of lightning?” Asked Edhel.
[Suggestion: Avoid topic of electricity due to OpSec risk]
I nodded at EVI’s warning, thankful that it caught me before I discussed the very thing that all of my equipment ran on.
“It’s not exactly lightning, but close enough,” I said.
“If I had not witnessed to your display of power earlier, I might have perhaps been more skeptical of such a claim, but I suppose a lady must keep her secrets.” said Edhel with a raised eyebrow and chuckle, “but I digress, this music is most interesting.”
“There is a lot more where that came from,” I said with a cheeky grin of my own.
“If I ever have a prisoner in need of torture, I will turn to you first,” replied Illunor, “if you are willing to subject your peers to this madness then I cannot imagine what you would force upon your enemies before dunking them in ice.”
“In your dreams,” I retorted.
I played a few other songs including Astrodesee’s ‘Meteor Struck’, the Martian classic ‘Hotel Cydonia’ and even ‘Switching to Warp’ before Elaseer emerged from the distance, and I pulled up outside the gate to drop Edhel off.
“Here already?” Asked Edhel.
“Well, yeah. I was just running a quick errand, I didn’t want to go too far,” I replied casually.
“That was a distance worth at least five days of walking by foot, and you call that a ‘quick errand’?” Asked Edhel. I shrugged, and he laughed.
“Well in any case, thank you for allowing me passage in your car. I must apologize for my lack of gift or payment…” said Edhel. “Don’t worry about it, it was on the way,” I replied.
“I see, how generous. Perhaps we might one day meet again?” Asked Edhel.
“Maybe, but I’m not sure how likely that is. The academy takes up most of my time,” I replied, “though you never know. I still have a lot of quest hours to complete.”
“Is that so? In that case, I hope we meet again! Goodbye Cadet Emma Booker and farewell Lord Illunor Rularia,” he said. “And good travels to you, bard,” said Illunor.
I waved off Edhel and drove back to the academy, Illunor still sulking in the back seat.
“Perhaps next time, you should steer us away from danger?” Suggested Illunor.
“I tried, but we were tracked,” I replied.
I groaned inwardly at the additional work needed to fix the truck. EVI compiled a list of upgrades for future engagements, batting away my idea for a ‘turbo mode’ and a ‘jump boost’. Though at the end of the day, meeting the bard wasn’t a complete loss. It felt good to talk to someone almost normal for once, and I hoped I met him again.
Edhel Redoehdelnif
I watched as Cadet Emma Booker’s vehicle went off into the distance, getting one last look at the Earthrealmer’s strange artifice before turning towards the gate. The voyage was an exotic experience, not unlike that of a fever dream or a peak into a world completely alien to my own. Indeed, it was a struggle to contain my excitement and enthusiasm and process the experience rationally as I made my way through the southern gates of Elaseer and turned the corner of an alley before entering an impossible structure that did not exist.
“You are earlier than expected,” said the shadowy figure of my handler as I made my way to the meeting hall.
“The Earthrealmer’s means of transportation proved far more expedient than anticipated, my lord” I spoke as I knelt before him, “even with her unexpected departure from the anticipated road and the ambush we traveled for scantly more than an hour.”
“Yes, I will require a full report from you. Perhaps you can shed some light on the ‘smoke dragon’ my men claim intervened on the Earthrealmer’s behalf,” said my handler.
“Smoke Dragon, my lord?” I asked.
My handler responded by activating his sight-seer, revealing how the ambush had appeared from the outside. The Earthrealmer’s uncanny artifice traversed down the road, a pair of manafields displaying proudly from within until the archers began their assault. The artifice then transformed as smoke billowed out from its pores and wings sprung forth above until it was the form of a mighty wrym with a pair of glowing eyes springing forth from its ever extending head where it then gave forth a terrible unholy roar which sent waves of mana outward. The mage working to seal the area and trap their mark vapourized in an instant as his spell backfired. It was apparent to Edhel that his exceptional experience in the carriage was merely a muted rendition of the events unfolding around them.
It would seem the hare had the shadow of a dragon.
“I do have some insight, though I must confess the Earthrealmer did very little in the way of direct action. I suspect she has some unseen means of commanding and scrying through her artifices,” I said, “one which does not utilize magic as we know it.”
“Such a statement is heresy,” said my handler, “but such special circumstances are your reason for being. I will require you submit your memories for verification. What is your appraisal of the new realmer?”
“The girl is far more dangerous than a surface appraisal would suggest, though she prefers to conceal that power rather than utilize it out of a misplaced sense of compassion. Her people appear to have a boundless creative drive through which such artifices are birthed, though again it is misdirected towards more common applications. I believe that if properly tamed, this human animal may provide us with great works of art,” I said with a bow.
“I see. Does the girl know you work for us?” Asked my handler.
“She may harbour some suspicions, though did not voice them outright beyond concealing her knowledge,” I said, “though nothing significant. Provided our next meet is under believable circumstances such as a festival she should view me as cordial.”
“She has indeed proven clever,” conceded my handler, “very well, I will make arrangements for your paths to cross again. Perhaps I will arrange for her to be a contestant at the next inter-academy tournament. In the mean time, prepare your report and don’t wander far. This is a priority assignment.”
“As you wish, my lord,” I said with a bow and a smile.
Emma Booker had proved to be an interesting animal indeed, and I hoped our paths crossed again.

Bought the Ocean Blue Land model just over a week ago for $65,000 out the door ($74,800 MSRP). Options it came with are the relaxation package for the four captains chairs, floor mats, the ocean blue paint, and the brown interior.
Positives:

• i-petal. I didn't like it at first because I was coming from an ICE car and I thought it took too much control away from me but I've grown to love it. However I found out from another post that when it's active, both motors are being used even in ECO mode so for long trips when I'm trying to save battery, I need to keep it on level 3 regen instead.
  
• 210 kWh max fast charge speed. Using a 350 kWh charger, I went from 30% to 80% in around 13 minutes. That's fantastic. Long trips bothered me the most about owning an EV and this calmed my nerves.
  
• The size of this car. I'm 6'6" so sadly I can't drive small cars. This car fits me perfectly. I can even fit in the third row. Second row has to be up all the way but I can fit with plenty of headroom.
  
• Air fan in the seats. God this is so nice on hot days. Cools my sweaty back so fast when getting in a hot car.
  
• LED mood lighting. Kids loved this more than me. Reminds me of my 2010 Kia Soul where it had LED lighting around the door speakers.
  

Negatives:

• Side Mirror. The reflections off the inner part of the mirror was bothering me because I kept thinking someone was passing me really fast. See this pic. The red circle area. Driving, the trees reflect off this area and it just messes with my mind, man.
  
• Smart Cruise Control. It sometimes would speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down.. in seconds. I've never been sea sick or car sick but it was getting me there if I kept it on.
  
• Fast charging price. OMG.. I'm using my Electrify America free killowatt credits Kia gave me and thank God I did. $0.56 per kWh fee. Took a trip one state away which I've done many times and it would have cost me more in electric than it does in gas if I didn't have the free credits. I hope that price isn't the standard at all stations.
  
• i-petal. Yes it's on my positive but it's also a negative. Mainly because it DOESN'T STAY ON after you turn off the car. Come on Kia. What the hell? For city driving I want this on all the time and right now I have to turn it on every time I get in the car. So stupid. Simple software update will fix this.
  
• hood. Driving highway speeds, air got underneath the hood and was shaking it quite a bit. If the hood comes off the latch then I'm suddenly in turtle mode and have to pull over to fix it. Should be a better air barrier in front.
  
• 14 speaker sound system. Can't really feel the bass even on bass heavy songs and bass turned up to 10. They went cheap with that system. Again my old 2010 Kia Soul had a much better sound system than this car does and that was only 8 speakers.
  
• edit last one: wireless fast charging sucks. Every time I use the wireless fast charge my phone gets super hot. it even warns me on the screen that my phone is too hot to charge. No other wireless fast charger I have does this. So why does the built in one do it?
  

I know that both a popcorn ceiling and ceiling fan (albeit a still one) are factors that diminish the effectiveness of up-firing speakers. And up-firing speakers already put me at a disadvantage compared to ceiling or height speakers. However, I’d like to know, especially from those who have personally tried this, whether I still have a solid shot at getting up-firing speakers to work in my small apartment living room, whose ceiling has these disadvantages.
Fortunately, however, all of my rooms have a ceiling height of 8’8”, which is an advantage when it comes to up-firing speakers.
I’m debating between buying a 5.1.2 vs a 5.1.4. So, I’d also like to know whether I’d definitely need a 5.1.4 to make the up-firing speakers work at least decently.
In case anyone needed to know, if I go the 5.1.2 route, then my surround sound system will be this one:
VIZIO M-Series 5.1.2 Immersive Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Bluetooth, Wireless Subwoofer, Voice Assistant Compatible, Includes Remote Control - M512a-H6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TV6GJF7/?coliid=IJH3TX0Z9M6P8&colid=2WSHF74GQAT2V&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_lstpd_DFHJ0JNP6RAJ18H2J1NB
But if I go the 5.1.4 route, then my surround sound system will be this one:
VIZIO Elevate 5.1.4 Home Theater 48" Sound Bar Dolby Atmos and DTS:X (P514a-H6) (Renewed) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PMZGCCX/?coliid=I17O34F6ERC5WI&colid=2WSHF74GQAT2V&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_lstpd_DFHJ0JNP6RAJ18H2J1NB_1
So, as you see in my speaker choice, both of these will support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Correct me if I’m wrong, but these 3D surround sound technologies technically don’t even require any height speakers at all as they use advanced audio processing to simulate sound coming from above. As such, shouldn’t this also help to compensate for the disadvantages of my apartment’s living room?

So I'm a sophomore (soon to be junior) who is getting super into cars. I'm gonna have my license in 2 months and really want to start looking at cars. I'm getting a job this week so my budget is gonna be max 12k. I've already considered a few cars including
350z, 2011 135i, 128i, 2006 mustang gt premium
Big things for me are good speakers, not crazy expensive maintenance (BMW 😬), and I really want to have the fast feeling. I have only driven automatic but manual looks and seems like so much fun that I really just wanna go for it. This will probably just be my weekend car and on weekdays I can take a prius so I wouldn't be putting crazy miles on it or anything. My brother has a m235i with a valvetronic muffler and it sounds phenomenal which is why im looking into bmws but the reliability problems seem so real like oil gasket, water cooler, thermostat, etc. I love the look of the 135i but the reliability seems shaky even with the n55 so I'm looking into the 128i which seems far more reliable with the n52. is that true? is it worth just going for the 135i since it won't be a daily and seems like so much fun? I also saw the mustang gt and the interior looks perfect. I love the look two and the horsepower, sound is pretty nice on the v8 and it seems quick.
also i don't plan on doing crazy modding but i just think the n54 is a bad idea.
sorry for the rant but thanks for yalls help. im in california btw.
I know everyones gonna say miatas but i dont like the look of miatas lol and interioexterior is a big deal for me.
could you guys tell me what i should check out and concerns i should have with what i am looking at?

I have a Rockford Fosgate P500-12P which is a subwoofer with a built-in amp that was in my car. Is it possible to supply power to the amplifier and connect the sub via pre-out connection in my receiver? Thanks!

I figured this is the best place to ask this sort of question but essentially my mixes are not sounding how I would like them too. For example, I’m going for an early tame impala sound overall, specifically drums like those on lonerism album. When tracking and rough mixing them they sound good/fine but then when I listen to the whole mix in the car and compare it with that album my mixes feel like there “in the speakers” I’m not sure if that even makes sense because of course the music is in the speakers but when I listen to tame impala the mixes feel like there coming out of the speakers. I guess I’m trying to say there’s a lot more depth to his mixes IE drums further back bass mid vocals upfront like the stage analogy and my mixes I guess in terms of space and depth feel like all the same volume all competing for the same space and energy. So how do I get my mixes or elements of my mixes to be “further” back etc ? Any advice is much appreciated, thanks!
Edit: I also wanted to add this. I recently started using parallel processing on my drums to get more compression or saturation without losing initial attack and low end BUT when I try to push the drums further back in the mix they feel like they loose all of their thump. I’m comparing and thinking about the song “feels like we only go backwards” by tame impala when I say this because those drums although may be an A tier element aren’t trapped in the speakers right in your face at least to me they feel a bit further back but still retain that thump. How does he achieve this? It doesn’t sounds like he’s using reverb to push them back or further away?!? Am I missing something or am I just not hearing it correctly?

Hello, just want to provide some backstory as to how I ended up in this predicament. I moved to the U.S when I was 14. I came from British territory so the whole grade system is different over there. When i enrolled in school in the U.S they asked what “grade” I wanted to be put in. My mom puts me in tenth grade since i already did ninth grade back home, so I start and finish my sophomore year no problem, then half way through my junior year the school realized that i had nothing for ninth grade in the system. Big error on the schools part for realizing this a year and a half later. So I have to redo ninth grade in the middle of my junior year. That was the pinnacle for me I stopped caring for school even more than I already did, I completed ninth grade failing all the classes, they move me back up to junior year, I’m failing all my classes in junior year, I get kicked out of school and put in a school for kids who struggle academically. I attended that school for almost 3 years and still hadn’t graduated. I just couldn’t do it anymore and dropped out. I couldn’t do it anymore and I had never been good in school I had never passed a test, I was one of the only Spanish speakers in my class and was the only kid to not pass Spanish class?? , I made the choice that school isn’t for me and in the moment I thought I was okay working working for the rest of my life, but now after a year of dropping out I realized I actually want to be something :(
I’m now 19 and wake up every morning knowing that this choice will affect me in the long run I’m not doing bad right now, I live in an apartment with my girlfriend, my mom pays rent, I drive her car, I have a good paying job, I work for a generator maintenance company, I don’t have bills to pay. I know this won’t last very long and I no longer want to be my mom’s baggage.
What do I do?? Please help. Sorry for the long post if some parts dont make sense just ask.

Hello, just want to provide some backstory as to how I ended up in this predicament. I moved to the U.S when I was 14. I came from British territory so the whole grade system is different over there. When i enrolled in school in the U.S they asked what “grade” I wanted to be put in. My mom puts me in tenth grade since i already did ninth grade back home, so I start and finish my sophomore year no problem, then half way through my junior year the school realized that i had nothing for ninth grade in the system. Big error on the schools part for realizing this a year and a half later. So I have to redo ninth grade in the middle of my junior year. That was the pinnacle for me I stopped caring for school even more than I already did, I completed ninth grade failing all the classes, they move me back up to junior year, I’m failing all my classes in junior year, I get kicked out of school and put in a school for kids who struggle academically. I attended that school for almost 3 years and still hadn’t graduated. I just couldn’t do it anymore and dropped out. I couldn’t do it anymore and I had never been good in school I had never passed a test, I was one of the only Spanish speakers in my class and was the only kid to not pass Spanish class?? , I made the choice that school isn’t for me and in the moment I thought I was okay working working for the rest of my life, but now after a year of dropping out I realized I actually want to be something :(
I’m now 19 and wake up every morning knowing that this choice will affect me in the long run I’m not doing bad right now, I live in an apartment with my girlfriend, my mom pays rent, I drive her car, I have a good paying job, I work for a generator maintenance company, I don’t have bills to pay. I know this won’t last very long and I no longer want to be my mom’s baggage.
What do I do?? Please help. Sorry if some parts don’t make sense, just ask and I’ll try my best to explain.

I’m over fighting with my pc audio outputting to my Fosi Amp and Dac so I’d like to move to powered speakers.
I’m looking at running either the Klipsch Pro media Heritage 2.1 or the Edifier 1700BTs and I’ll pair it with my Sony SACS9 subwoofer. I’m looking to upgrade the sub in my living room so I can just pop it in my office with the Edifiers if I go that route.
The Edifiers will be about $80 less since I won’t need to buy a sub but I’m not sure if their quality is the same as the Klipsch speakers.