Need Help With Kenwood Excelon KDC-X579

I installed this tonight, however I am not happy with the sound. I am a total dummy when it comes to this stuff so please bare with me.

At the moment all I have in my car is the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X579  CD/MP3/WMA Receiver, Kenwood KFC-1389ie 5-1/4" 3-way Speakers, and Kenwood KFC-6989ie 6"x9" 4-way Speakers. I will be adding Kicker L7's later, wayyy later.

My husband picked all of this out for me, and I installed it into my car. From the looks of it this thing has more options on it than I need. I am totally confused by all of the sound setting options, and that is what I mostly need help with.. I need to get this thing to sound decent for the time being until I add the subs and can take advantage of more of it's features. I am also wondering if I even need this receiver or will something cheaper suit my needs better?

Ok based on what I posted about the speakers I currently have in the car, what should I put in for these settings to get optimal sound? Keep in mind that I would like some bass.. right now I have next to none. My factory had more bass than this does... Yes I know you use SUBS for bass and my 5 1/4's & 6x9's aren't meant to push alot of bass. I'm not wanting to stress those litttle speakers out or anything I just wan't them to bump as much as they can without going too far.  Ok here are my setting options.. all you sound gurus please help me out here..

Bass Center Frequency: Range 60, 70, 80, 100, or 150 hz?

Bass Level: from -8 to +8 ?

Bass Q Factor: 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, or 2.00?

Bass Extend: On or Off?

Middle Center Frequency: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 khz?

Middle Level: -8 to +8?

Middle Q factor: 1.0 or 2.0?

Treble Center Frequency: 10.0, 12.5, 15.0,  or 17.5khz?

Treble Level: -8 to +8 ?

Front High Pass Filter: Through, 100, 125, 170 hz?

Rear High Pass Filter: Through, or 200hz?

Front/Rear High Pass Filter: Through, 100, 125, 170 hz?

Volume Offset: -8 to +0?

If someone could tell me what I sould have each of these settings on I would appreciate it so much. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide me with.

Those settings are mainly for the built in parametric equalizer, and for the built-in crossover.  Let's start with the crossover.

Start with the front high pass set to 100Hz and the rear high pass to 'through."  Ignore the other one for now (which I bet is a "low pass" as it is for a subwoofer.  But just for now set it to "through."  Turn the "bass extend" to OFF.

Now on to the equalizer.  Set the "center frequency" control to the middle of each bands.  Set the "Q" controls to 1.0.  Set all the "level" controls to 0.  Now play some music you like and are familiar with at a normal listening volume.  Start with the bass level and adjust it up a notch or two until it sounds "right" to you.  Then do the same with the midrange and the treble.  If you hear any distortion or other "bad" sounds you have either the volume too high or the level control too high.  My prodiction is you'll like the bass and treble at about +2 and the mid to 0.

Another statement from the wise man^, down to the bone. As i was reading the thread, i was picturing the menu in my head, as I was trying to remember average settings, and didn't see that Dyohn had beat me to the draw, summed up very well, as usual, good thing it isn't the wild west!!!

Did everything you said DYohn and it sounds much better. I actually have some bass now.. whereas before it was totally flat..

kgerry what do you mean by wired out of phase? My knowledge of this stuff is very lacking lol.

Cool!  Glad it helped.