My Stereo sounds like crap!

[Old_Man_HyPsi87]

Lets see what I get out of this:
Pioneer DEH-P7500mp
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/p...B,00.html?compName=PNA_ProductDetailComponent

6x9 Orion Colbalt series 93cx 100 watt 3 ohm: in the rear deck,

probably got the original speakers in the doors and dash(concert sound II)

I have a SENTREK SPA-185 amp 80w+80w probably crap to you guys but it
worked for me?...not hooked up to anything right now.

I have a set of Orion XTR 5.2's(5 1/4")component speakers,it has tweeters and(I guess) crossovers or bass blockers(not sure what you call them) the problem on these is that one of the 5 1/4"s is blown and in the trash.

finally, a 12" Punch HE-2 sub, not hooked up.

I am looking for good enough sound to hear over the engine and wind noise at least.

Laugh at me but I listen mostly to country music, but I like to rock out on Boston, AC/DC, Dire Straits, graduated from High School in 1984, there is more on the rock list but you should get the basic idea...

should I start by hooking the amp up to the 6x9's?
I want the sub, but don't have enough amp for both.

Any ideas?...try to be nice! I don't have much money, and have other priorities with the car and family as well.

Just wanted to pick some brains out there and see what happens.

Thanks, Jeff

 

[TURBOV6]

Use the deck to power the front and the rears and turn on the HPF (high pass filter)

Use the amp and bridge it to the punch woofer.

 

[Old_Man_HyPsi87]

Thanks for you input turbov6!
I already have the front and rears hooked up to the head unit only, but I will check on the high pass filter. But yeah right now it sounds like an AM transistor radio from the 70's !!!
I drive a 2000 Ford Expedition and the factory system in it sounds WAY BETTER than this setup.
I was online last night and that stereo I have is like $400.00!
I am thinking that I need an amp for, at least the 6x9's...probably the 5 1/4's
in the door also.

 

[Old_Man_HyPsi87]

Do the speaker covers on the doors come off alone? Or are they part of the door panel? (CSII)

 

[TURBOV6]

Thanks for you input turbov6!
I already have the front and rears hooked up to the head unit only, but I will check on the high pass filter. But yeah right now it sounds like an AM transistor radio from the 70's !!!
I drive a 2000 Ford Expedition and the factory system in it sounds WAY BETTER than this setup.
I was online last night and that stereo I have is like $400.00!
I am thinking that I need an amp for, at least the 6x9's...probably the 5 1/4's
in the door also.

If you turn on the high pass filter you can play it louder. Set the crossovers settings for 100-120 for the fronts and 80 for the rear.

If you add an 4-ch amplifier definetly the mid's/high's will sound much better. But for what you got use the amp for the subs.

 

[Old_Man_HyPsi87]

thanks TURBOV6 !
I am thinking a 4 channel is in my future. Christmas is around the corner!

 

[TURBOV6]

Another thing to check why you sounds might sound like crap is speaker phase. When you start installing stereo components yourself with min experience there is a 50% chance you crossed the speaker wires.

 

[Old_Man_HyPsi87]

Another thing to check why you sounds might sound like crap is speaker phase. When you start installing stereo components yourself with min experience there is a 50% chance you crossed the speaker wires.

OUCH!! I was born "at night"! not "last night"
I am not completely stupid, just not a stereo system guru.
Good point though! Besides these speakers have small and large ends on them,so even I couldn't mess these up. LOL!

 

[Old_Man_HyPsi87]

Just bought an amp

I think this will do what I want.eBay Motors: NEW JENSEN JPA460 600w 4/3/2 CHANNEL CAR AMPLIFIER AMP (item 270184223491 end time Nov-15-07 17:48:20 PST)

 

[Instro84]

if it were me i'd invest in a better quality amp to match the head unit and speakers.

 

[nick368]

Sorry to Hijack Post

I'm shopping for a head unit, replaced the front speakers with 3.5" Infinity, the doors with 5.25 Pioneer and the rear deck with Kicker 6x9. When I look on Crutchfiedl it shows that there are more speakers in the car...did I miss something.

Also, what brand radio is good for dependability (Pioneer, Kenwood)?

Also is there a kit that works better than others for a flush radio install?

 

["Turbo-T"]

Kenwood and Pioneer make decent head units, go for the Premier or Exelon lines if you can.

To the original poster, replace the stock speakers; they're junk, wrong ohmage for any aftermarket stereo and have probably turned to dust as of now. Concert sound or not, stock speakers are pure garbage.

Replacing factory speakers with good aftermarkets is the first bang for the buck anyone should make. A good head unit should only be next.

If running 3.5's in the dash I'd put on at least a 400 hz bass blockers so you don't blow them. If you have 6.5's in the door you could probably get away with not running bass blockers on them but I'd run 200 hz blockers on them, you can get these for $11 at Circuit City.

Then use your amp to run your sub. If the amp you have is a 2 channel bridge it if possible if only running 1 sub, or if you are going to run 2 subs try and get 2 subs with dual voice coils. This way you can run each voice coil in parralle to produce a 2 ohm load per channel, then run your amp 2 ohm stereo. This way you can maximize the efficiency of your amp.

 

[TURBOV6]

Kenwood and Pioneer make decent head units, go for the Premier or Exelon lines if you can.

When you use the word "decent" it makes others think it's no good. And please explain why only go for the premier or the excelon models? All they usually offer is extended warranty and a little more features. But for a average customer that don't want to spend the extra $$$ for up scaled model the entry level models will just do fine.

 

["Turbo-T"]

When you use the word "decent" it makes others think it's no good. And please explain why only go for the premier or the excelon models? All they usually offer is extended warranty and a little more features. But for a average customer that don't want to spend the extra $$$ for up scaled model the entry level models will just do fine.

If my use of "decent" makes others think they're no good then that's their problem now isn't it?

Decent to me means "good for the money".

The reason why I said "decent" is because IMO Kenwood and Pioneer make good brands but they're just that....good. Entry level. If you want cream of the crop go Alpine or Eclipse. If you want cheap go Jensen or Audiovox.

Now getting back to why I also said "Premier" and "Excellon"...well I used to own an Excellon....and yes it did have more features than a typical Kenwood....BUT it also had a better sound as well.....you could crank it all the way up without having any clipping (which BTW is detrimental to speaker life), the sound was clearer...I think the RCA outputs were either 4 or 8 volt, I can't remember...but for what it was it pretty much blew every car stereo I ever owned out of the water, and mind you I've owned ALOT of car stereos over the years, all but one of them were good/top brands.

All of the Kenwoods or Pioneers I have owned were good but didn't have as near as good sound quality as my Excellon.

 

[TURBOV6]

BUT it also had a better sound as well.....you could crank it all the way up without having any clipping ....

Ok on the excelon models and some premier models the difference in the sound is the DAC (ditigal to analog convertors) it's 12bit vs 24bit. Which makes the deck sound a bit better. But most people won't be able to tell the difference in the two.

Kenwood decks does not have a clipped output. Pioneer decks clips past 62 on the volume on the newer models.

 

[GNTurbo6]

Do the speaker covers on the doors come off alone? Or are they part of the door panel? (CSII)

They can be separated from the door panel but the screws that hold them on are on the back.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Ok on the excelon models and some premier models the difference in the sound is the DAC (ditigal to analog convertors) it's 12bit vs 24bit. Which makes the deck sound a bit better. But most people won't be able to tell the difference in the two.

Oh yeah I almost forgot, I tried running two different Kenwood head units with a subwoofer set up I had, the base model Kenwood seemed to only have the typical 1.8 volts and the bass circuitry I think wasn't set up for much low bass at all because the subs would barely have any boom to them, then same set up I switched over to the Excellon I had and all the sudden I had lots of bass with 4 volt pre outs, plus I was able to really taylor the bass in and the built in hi pass filters were really nice as well. What's more I even tried adjustments on the amp and even that did little to no difference.

 

[TURBOV6]

I had, the base model Kenwood seemed to only have the typical 1.8 volts and the bass circuitry I think wasn't set up for much low bass at all because the subs would barely have any boom to them, then same set up I switched over to the Excellon I had and all the sudden I had lots of bass with 4 volt pre outs, plus I was able to really taylor the bass in and the built in hi pass filters were really nice as well. What's more I even tried adjustments on the amp and even that did little to no difference.

Ok let me get things cleared up so there is no confusion on this.

Ok yes it's true by switching over a higher voltage preout deck things do get louder if you switch between the 2 because it's just output volatge. That's why amplifier gains come into affect. You will conpensate the gain (input voltage) for the difference in the pre amp voltage between the different players.

To properly tune amplifier is to use a ocilloscope and a test tone disc. So what I am trying to say is yes if you swapped out a 4 volt deck over a 1.8 volt deck definetly the subs will be louder but it you readajust the gains properly both will sound identical. Usually amplifers high/low pass filters is better than the one on the hu because of the steeper crossover slopes.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Ok let me get things cleared up so there is no confusion on this.

Ok yes it's true by switching over a higher voltage preout deck things do get louder if you switch between the 2 because it's just output volatge. That's why amplifier gains come into affect. You will conpensate the gain (input voltage) for the difference in the pre amp voltage between the different players.

To properly tune amplifier is to use a ocilloscope and a test tone disc. So what I am trying to say is yes if you swapped out a 4 volt deck over a 1.8 volt deck definetly the subs will be louder but it you readajust the gains properly both will sound identical. Usually amplifers high/low pass filters is better than the one on the hu because of the steeper crossover slopes.

Yes I know a 4 volt will be louder than a 1.8 volt. It will also be a cleaner signal as well..but that's not what I was trying to get at.

The overall sound quality of the standard Kenwood I had vs. the Excellon was different. The Excellon had a much more better sound, crisper highs and boomier lows than the base model Kenwood had, all of this on the same subs, and same amp.

 

[8UWITH6]

You guys should hear my 8V pre-out source unit, its crystal clear

Get some quality equipment and try to match your speakers front to back with similar quality stuff. I urge you to go to the stereo shop and listen to a few different brands that you are interested in. Every brand sounds different even with the same source unit powering them. You have to figure out what sound you like, and adjust them from there on the source unit. I have always been a fan of Rockford Fosgate, Kenwood, and PowerBass stuff. When you have 3 different brands in 3 different locations in your car (speaker wise) it may sound different.

Ill put this out there for whoever wants to read it, but if your looking for quality equipment, at a great price, Im going to say try out a pair of PowerBass 6x9s. A friend of mine turned me onto this brand about 2 years ago and I have been very very happy with them. I have always been a Fosgate guy, but PowerBass is my 2nd choice now. My WE4 is going to have all PowerBass interior speakers and subs, but they will be powered by a Rockford Fosgate source unit and amps. The GN is ALL FOSGATE

HTH