harsh sounding highs

Let me start off by saying that I have installed many systems in mine and other people's cars and this one has by far been the most troublesome.

Here's what I have 2005 Honda Accord DV Value Package; factory radio (basic model), peripheral electronics LOC connected to an MTX Thunder 895 5 channel amp via Stinger RCA cables. Speakers are Infinity Reference 6.5 in front, Alpine 6x9 in rear, and 2 MTX 10's

I want to mention that when I first installed the system it sounded decent, but the volume out put of the left front was not as loud as the right. After searching these forums I thought it may be out of phase. Went to the amp and swithed the speaker wire and BAM left side got louder.

The lasted development is the high freq output. I installed an ipod integrater from Axxess (model AID-HD03). The output volume out of this device is pretty low and the audio sounds as if it's being played through a pipe no matter what I rip music at; 128, 256, AIFF, Apple Lossless, ect. Anyway, in addition to this the high frequencies sound very harsh at time. More or less whith the "s" sounds. Obviously if I turn the volume down this get better.

I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on this and educate me. Is it my factory radio with low voltage out put, speakers? Does ipod output just suck all around with no compromise? Also, if say I were to invest in a different ipod integrater, would I have better luck with that source. Any help is greatly appreciated.

By the way the gains are set properly to best of my knowledge (and ears0 but maybe I did it wrong. Furthermore, please do not respond with GET AN AFTERMARKET RADIO. Thats really annoying and doesn't help me this problem. I have my reasons for keeping my OEM radio for now. Thanks

-------------
2005 Honda Accord DX

I have found that the iPod output just sucks. I use lossless .m4a, myself, and I oftentimes hear this in my system, too. I called Alpine "technical support" to ask if the iPod just supplies a digital stream to the IVA-W205 for internal decoding, to which I was told "Yep.", subsequently, I find out this is a complete lie. (This, I might add, seems to be status quo for Alpine "Technical Support".) The iPod does the decoding, ALL decoding, and passes an analog signal on to just another auxiliary input on the head. I am betting this is the same with your situation. I can ALWAYS hear the iPod (even lossless) vice the same CD. (The new IVA-W505 might not be the same, as it has album art display capabilities, and generally the album art is embedded within the music file, indicating a digital stream... I think... I would HOPE, anyway.) Yes, it sounds FAR better than mp3, but it still irks me, spending all that money on a deck, Blackbird, and iPod Classic 160, to listen to an obviously inferior source.

The head simply parallels the jog wheel, providing and doing nothing more than controlling. There is NO digital out stream, for proper decoding with a high(er) quality D/A section. The hash you hear on the sibilants is just something you must live with.

-------------
It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Thanks for the info haemphyst, but I just realized that I forgot to add that this is happening on certain CD's as well. When I first installed the system the CD source was obviously the best. I don't know remember it doing this when I first installed th esystem, but maybe I just wansn't  scrutinizing it enough. What do you think??

-------------
2005 Honda Accord DX

Harshness like you describe is often related to tweeter positioning.  If you are sitting off-axis from the speakers, you are hearing more distortion and diffraction effects which can exhibit as harshness and will change depending on the material being played.  Also, you have full-range speakers in both the front and the rear?  Try fading all the way to the front and see if the effect diminishes.  You may be hearing cancellations and lobing effects from two speakers playing the same frequencies, especially if you can actually hear the rear speakers from the front seat (you should not actually hear them, by the way, for best SQ performance.  They are there for the rear seat passengers.)

-------------
Support the12volt.com

DYohn] wrote:

---

arshness like you describe is often related to tweeter positioning.  If you are sitting off-axis from the speakers, you are hearing more distortion and diffraction effects which can exhibit as harshness and will change depending on the material being played.  Also, you have full-range speakers in both the front and the rear?  Try fading all the way to the front and see if the effect diminishes.  You may be hearing cancellations and lobing effects from two speakers playing the same frequencies, especially if you can actually hear the rear speakers from the front seat (you should not actually hear them, by the way, for best SQ performance.  They are there for the rear seat passengers.)

---

How does that explain the fact that the sibilants were not there as far as I can tell until after the polarity of the left front speaker was changed??

-------------
2005 Honda Accord DX

jdubicki wrote:

---

How does that explain the fact that the sibilants were not there as far as I can tell until after the polarity of the left front speaker was changed??

---

Huh?  Why did you do that?  Change it back.

-------------
Support the12volt.com

Good point. I am going to go switch it back and see what happens. Let's say that does the trick, do you have any thoughts as to why the left side is not as loud as the right side. As I said before I have a 4 channel LOC and all gain levels are set evenly. I will though double double check them again.

-------------
2005 Honda Accord DX

Ok, I just switch it back and now I feel like a moron. That seemes to have fixed the harsh sounding highs problem. I guess I just need to god back through the system and recheck/retweak the gain levels. Thanks for all the help.

-------------
2005 Honda Accord DX

You Ipod has a set output, checking the gain lvls will do nothing unless you have the ability to increase the gain in the headunit of the input the ipod is using. I don't think you do. A ipod at a lower volumn level than the radio/cd is a feature of most of the ipod adapters on the market.