Hearing final mix

How do you listen to your final mixes outside of Sonar X3?  I use Focal near field monitors, but would like to hear how my final product sounds on my stereo.  I have a fairly nice receiver and speakers, but I don't want to keep burning CDs to listen to my final mix.  Does anyone have any suggestions?
 

Ive always wanted to recreate the experience of listening to both rough and final mixes in my car by somehow having just the cabin section of a small car set up in my studio.  No front (engine, hood) and no back (back seats and trunk), just the two front seats with side doors, a repositioned back window, and a front windshield with hardwired electricity to run the factory provided car stereo.  Maybe not the most fashionable addition to my home, but it would save me a ton on gas by eliminating those destination nowhere "I need to hear this song in the car" drives.  Unfortunately, I do not have the skills or the tools to dismantle and remove the front and back portion of a vehicle, much less the intelligence to figure out how I would get it into my basement.  But if you do, I have yet to copyright the idea so go ahead and use it(:    

Grizzlylip
Ive always wanted to recreate the experience of listening to both rough and final mixes in my car by somehow having just the cabin section of a small car set up in my studio.

You'd also need to reproduce the noise coming into the cabin from the road, engine, wind etc.
I have studded winter tires right now and a recording has to be pretty special to sound good over the noise they generate on a dry highway.
 

Grizzlylip
Ive always wanted to recreate the experience of listening to both rough and final mixes in my car by somehow having just the cabin section of a small car set up in my studio.  No front (engine, hood) and no back (back seats and trunk), just the two front seats with side doors, a repositioned back window, and a front windshield with hardwired electricity to run the factory provided car stereo.  Maybe not the most fashionable addition to my home, but it would save me a ton on gas by eliminating those destination nowhere "I need to hear this song in the car" drives.  Unfortunately, I do not have the skills or the tools to dismantle and remove the front and back portion of a vehicle, much less the intelligence to figure out how I would get it into my basement.  But if you do, I have yet to copyright the idea so go ahead and use it(:    

That might give you some idea of what listening in that particular model vehicle would be like if it was parked in a quiet place with the engine off. It is not the acoustics of the vehicle space that is the issue of most concern. Mixing for an automobile is a challenge primarily due to the extensive masking that affects frequencies unequally due the the noise from the machinery and airflow over a moving vehicle. The character and amount of that masking noise is not the same in different models, or even in the same model at different speeds. 

jvanbeek
How do you listen to your final mixes outside of Sonar X3?  I use Focal near field monitors, but would like to hear how my final product sounds on my stereo.  I have a fairly nice receiver and speakers, but I don't want to keep burning CDs to listen to my final mix.  Does anyone have any suggestions?
 

As Mettelus said... just get yourself whatever cabling/splitters needed to hook your computer's audio output into your setereo system's inputs.
 
This varies from system to system. Personally I use my laptop's 1/8" stereo mini jack to RCA splitters that go into the Aux In on my stereo's power amp. For that I have to export from the DAW and move the file to the laptop but that's just because it's more convenient than snaking a bunch of wires from the DAW/interface out to my system (but I could easily with other cables and adpaters I have... and in fact use those types of setups to record audio from my laptop into Sonar sometimes VIA my mixer... which I could also use to send to my stereo... or I could use my other mixer... or I could use the straight output from the onboard sound if I wanted... I've got a lot of cables/adapters/splitters for this crap).
 
However... if your stereo system is more modern and has SPDIF inputs and your interface has SPDIF outs and you have a long enough cable to reach (or you have a laptop or something with the interface drivers installed) that might be the best quality.
 
Someone mention an FM Transmitter but those kind of blow... BUT if it's a stereo system with Bluetooth capability and your DAW has Bluetooth capability (or you buy a card or dealiemabob to make it able to transmit... or whatever) then that could be a decent "through the air" transmission setup.
 
Essentially it all depends on the connections and cabling (or transmitting capabilities) you have available.
 
Heck... you could even do this with a home computer network or using VOIP with something like Voicemeeter.
 
Soooo... what are your connections, what cabling do you have, do you have a laptop, etc???
 
Funnily enough before I upgraded my "studio" I used to use my old stereo system and some sh*tty consumer grade headphones to monitor my mixes. I produced an entire album that way. People seem to like it very much. I listen to it now and think it sound like ass but it gets the point across. Not bad for having no freaking clue what I was doing and using absolutely sh*te gear.
 
lulz...

djtrailmixxx
 
 (BTW: for some reason, I often end up with WAAAAY to much reverb, even with lots of treatment and nice monitors)

Perhaps you've deadened your room too much and overcompensate with verb?
 
That would be strange but it's the only thing I can think of that would cause you to use too much reverb sauce while mixing.
 
Or maybe you are getting too close to the mix and should take a week off before printing the final. At that point maybe you'll catch the extra verb and turn it down accordingly.
 
Alternatively... maybe there is a an export issue where you are setting things up so any reverb busses are getting outputted at full blast instead of following your send level settings. That could maybe happen if you were exporting busses instead of a "what you hear" final mix? I can't think of exactly HOW that woudl work but yeah... a full blast reverb bus would be problematic.
 
Whatevs... this just really stood out to me. You should totally start a new thread... maybe even in the Techniques area to sort it out because that ain't right.
 
Cheers.

Thank you all so much for your input.  You've given me many ideas.
 

 
Don't forget to also listen to your playback from another room in the house.  I've read of pros leaving the control room to listen from afar.
 
 

I make rewritable CDs. A little old fashioned, I know, but it's the only method I can use without thinking and adjusting and tinkering.
About test auditioning in the car: I usually do it with car not moving. Due to the studs of winter tyres the asphalt here is made very coarse (IIRC stone size even up to 4 cm at biggest) in most places (and still some places need to be re-paved every 1-2 years), so the tyre-noise can be quite disturbing.